Monday 29 October 2012

My favourite (Youtubers) Halloween-Tips

Hello Muggles,

so Halloween is coming nearer and nearer and although I'm a huuuuge scaredy-cat I quite enjoy it... mainly because of "The Nightmare Before Christmas"! :D

I have to admit that I'm not good at giving advices when it comes to Halloween dresses, makeup etc., so I thought I'd show you some of my favourite Youtubers and their Halloween-related clips. :)

1) MAKE UP


Urrrgh, horrible thumbnail, Tanya (pixi2woo)! But this is what a good Zombie makeup should look like. :)


If you want to look even more unattractive, try out Nicola Haste's (pixiwoo) very impressive but complex Frankenstein-look. :D


One of my absolute favourites is "Miss Argentina" from "Beetlejuice" by Samantha Chapman (pixiwoo) - this is my personal taste of a reeeeeally cool Halloween costume / makeup! :)


If you're looking for a last minute thing, you should definitely check out Sam's (beautycrush) interpretation of Batman's Poison Ivy.


And here we go with another pixiwoo video. I said this in my "Why I wear make up"-TAG but one reason why I "love" makeup is the fact that you can be an artist and turn it into something beautiful and exciting - just like Nic did it with the Emily-look of Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" (which is one of my favourite films by the way)! :)


If you don't like dressing up but still want to look a little bit more "special" on Halloween, have a look at the "Glamourous Party Make Up"... by pixiwoomadness (too much pixiwoo over here^^). 



2) COSTUME



No comment. xD



3) DECORATION ETC.


Although this is in German, I would like to show you because you can understand the very cute and creepy ideas of spooky food / snacks without knowing the language. There is some VERY cool stuff in it, so make sure you watch it! :)


Here you have hilarious Jim Chapman (yes, another Chapman^^) making the greatest pumpkin ever! Long live Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king! :D


***

That's it from my Halloween-Tips... which weren't actually mine. :D
I will now go and make my own Jack Skellington pumpkin - see how it turned out here:
https://twitter.com/HermioneG7/status/263013891469090816

I hope you found that helpful and entertaining and I wish you a spectacular Halloween-feast!

Please let me know how you are celebrating Halloween and as what / whom you will dress up in the comment section! :)

Have a lovely day and see you next time,
Hermione

Sunday 28 October 2012

Why do you wear makeup - TAG

Hello Muggles,

a few days ago the beautiful Megan from Wonderful You  did the "Why do you wear makeup"-TAG and I thought it was interesting, so here we go...

 
1. When did you begin to love makeup? 

This is actually not that easy to answer. When I was about 12 I really loved clear lipgloss - and I wore like the whole content of one lipgloss tupe on my lips every day. xD
With about 14/15 I went through quite a bad "emo" phase (but fortunately it was new to everyone, so I was the only person to look like this... people didn't make fun of me then because they we're probably scared, which would have been a whole different thing if I started 1 / 2 year(s) later xD) and I used to wear red lipstick and a lot of black liner around my eyes... yes, you read right: lipstick around the eyes. This and black liner were actually the only two make-up items I owned. This is embarassing? Why do I even tell you? :'D
Since December 2011 I'm discovering the make up world again and from a very different point. I started to watch Youtube videos and think more about what make up is really about. I'm not super into it but I'm interested and yeah... so long story short: I'm not immensly in love with make up but interested.


2. How do you feel without makeup?

I'm glad to say that I'm fine without makeup! :)


3. What do you like about makeup? 

I like the fact that makeup can underline your natural beauty. Most women probably don't wear makeup to do this but to make themselves look totally different - however in my opinion this is not the point.
I also really enjoy makeup as being a form of art. Take the girls from "pixiwoo" for example; they do the greatest things with makeup and this could definitely be considered as art.



4. Three 'Holy Grail' Items: 

1) Mascara - the classic.
I think the nice thing about mascara is that it really just underlines or highlights what you've already got. Everyone has lashes but some people (like me -.-) don't like their own lashes to be short, straight and light but a little bit more "out there". What I personally love about mascara is that it always makes you look a little bit more feminine, which I go for because I'm almost a little tomboy otherwise. :D
The one I use at the moment is the ASTOR Volume Artist Modelling Mousse in Waterproof - 800 Black
If you know any black, waterproof drugstore mascara, which gives you lots of volume: let me know, please! :)

2) Lipstick  / Lipbalms
I love red-, berry- and plum-toned lipsticks and tinted lipbalms.
The Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Hibiscus is a perfect "your lips but better" product for me. It just highlights my natural lip colour, which I love, plus it is super nurturing!

3) Brow Pencil
My brows are not very full and defined, so I help along with a eyebrow pencil.
Currently I'm using the Catrice Eye Brow Stylist in 020 Date With Ashton, which is a very affordable pencil in the perfect shade for my eyebrows.
I did a whole eyebrow related post some time ago, which you can check out here .


***

That was it for the "Why do you wear Makeup" TAG.
If you want to do this TAG on your blog as well, feel free to do so and leave me a comment, so I can read it. :)
However, I would also like to tag some people:


Have a lovely day and see you next time,
Hermione

Saturday 27 October 2012

Giveaways & UPDATE

Hello Muggles,

first I would like to draw the attention to some amazing giveaways from other people. :)


Anna from "And this little piggy" does an international giveaway at the moment (IT ENDS TOMORROW!).
You can win the Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine and the Soap and Glory Handfood, which are two products I would absolutely LOVE to finally try out!
Click on Anna's blog name to get to the giveaway-post and good luck to you all! :)


Next, there is a big giveaway on Becky's blog. It is international as well and you can win
 a vanilla creme brûlée body wash, dairy milk oreo, two essie luxe polishes, soap & glory mini hand food and mini body scrub. 
How cool is that? :)  Click on Becky's blog name and enter! :)



Here comes another suuuper amazing giveaway. You can win a MAC LIPSTICK OF YOUR CHOICE, which is just the perfect idea for a giveaway, I think!
Click on Hannah Justyne's blog name to get to her side and make sure you enter as it is international again! :)


And here we go with the biggest giveaway! You can win 30 beauty products in all shapes and sizes. Definitely check out Hannah's blog if you're interested in a huuuge international giveaway! :)


Okay, that's it for the giveaways.
If you know any other international ones, you can let us all know in the comment-section down below! :)


***

Now, here comes the little update on a more personal basis.
I started University about 3 weeks ago and I really didn't expect it to be soo busy and stressful.
I don't really have that many hours of actual classes but getting to Cologne (where I study) and back takes a lot of time and I'm also working. This is why I might be a little more absent but I try to write as many blogposts as possible in advance if I have some time!

 So, now I need your help! I would REALLY LOVE to hear something from you - what would you like to read about / what should I write about? I always enjoy TAGs, so if you do one you can always tag me. :) I also tried out to film a Youtube-Video yesterday and it worked quite well, so I hope that I can do videos, as well, soon.

Have a lovely day and don't forget to leave a comment.
If you're reading this without being a subscriber than make sure you click on the little "Join this site" button on the right, IF you enjoyed my blog. It is totally free and just tells you when I uploaded something new. :) :)

See you next time,
Hermione 

Follow me on Twitter: @HermioneG7 

            

 

Monday 22 October 2012

"The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling - REVIEW

Hello Muggles,

today I would like to give you my thoughts on J.K. Rowlings current novel "The Casual Vacancy", which is her first book for adults after writing so many Harry Potter related things.

***

What is it about?
And here starts the difficulty. If you're interested in the book and look online for some content or storyline summaries you know that they're not that easy to find and there's a simple reason for that: It's almost not possible to write about "The Casual Vacancy" without revealing too much. But I will try my best:
The whole story takes place in a very small town in south-west England (am I right, here?) and begins with Barry Fairbrother's sudden death. He is a member of Parish Council and after he dies there are some people, who are quite eager to get his place. There's a voting going on and everything but the main focus lays on the many, many different characters story. There are about 34 characters, who are mostly related to someone else from the town due to family background, friendships or just loose contacts.
The plot goes through all kinds of social origins (mostly English working and middle class) without avoiding the ugly sides of each.
Basically it's about people's behaviour in very stressed situations, I think.


What do I think about it?
Okay, as many people probably I bought the book because I love J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter and her way of writing and creating new worlds through words. Because of my very high image I have of Mrs Rowling in my head starting to read "The Casual Vacancy" was quite hard. I didn't really know what to think about the whole thing until I got to page 150 / 200... so quite a while! I had some problems with remembering all the different characters and their relation to each other and sometimes I struggled with vocabulary because I read in English and those Parish Council vocab is totally new to me and I'm not sure if I got everything right.
What I found extremely difficult is that there are 34 characters but I didn't like one of them very much... I felt more dislike and disrelished most of them (which is far too much real life for me xD There are enough people to dislike in life and this is why I would like to have at least one character in a book that I find super sympathetic) - the only one, who I felt slight sympathy for was Kay Walden maybe but... uhm, not enough actually.
So, after the first 200 pages I got used to it and started to feel some interest in the characters. I especially "enjoyed" reading about Krystal Weedon, who represented the people from very, very difficult social backgrounds (I don't know the exact term for it - in German it is "sozialer Brennpunkt", which would be something like "social hotspot" but with a very negative meaning). I didn't like what I read but I just felt moved by her story and found it incredibly sad to see what's going on there.
While reading I didn't expect the end to be that tragic actually. I don't want to spoiler, so I can't tell you too much only that I didn't expect it and it really left me there being confused and sad and feeling miserable... which I don't consider as bad after reading a book. I like books that make me think a lot afterwards and "The Casual Vacancy" definitely made that but nevertheless it wasn't strong / convincing for the first half. :/
What I really didn't like that much was the language. I know it's supposed to be real but do people really swear this much? I think J.K. Rowling just put that many slang words and curses and raw language in it to clearly distance from Harry Potter - which I don't think is the cleverest thing to do.


Would I recommend it?
Hm... all in all I probably would. 
I would recommend it if you're interested in a good, real-life based novel and if you're not struggling with having many characters and a lot to remember (I know my Mom does have huuuge problems with remembering names and stuff and she literally reads one book every other day, so I don't think she would be able to keep a proper view^^) AND if you have strong nerves. There are some very intense moments, whether it is a very harsh (verbal) fight, someone gets battered or is just being a little too vulgar. There are SO many swear words that I sometimes was glad my English isn't perfect and I didn't know their meaning.
The point that lets me recommend it anyway is the thing that happens in the 2nd half. You just feel a tiny connection with the characters and your interest gets aroused. In the end it leaves you speechless, no matter if you think that's fine or bad - I think this is what a book is supposed to do.
Definitely give it a go and read through it because there's no sense in putting it away after a few pages; it gets better!

***

Okay, this was my review for J.K. Rowlings first adult novel "The Casual Vacancy" - I hope you liked it and are more / less determined to get and read it now. 

If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to leave a comment or write me a private message! 

I would love to know what you think about it if you have already read it, so please write a comment if you did so! :)

See you next time,
Hermione


Follow me on Twitter: @HermioneG7

Sunday 21 October 2012

Tips for school (A-levels): #9 Read the Lectures!

Hello again Muggles,

today I would like to present my 9th tip for school to you. :)


#9: Read your lectures!

-> In my school time we actually really started reading lectures in A-level. I think before that time we just read one tiny book in English and two in German, which is pretty sad...
BUT starting A-levels it feels like you have to read one a month, which is a difference... and I really enjoyed it! :)
The thing is that I'm generally interested in literature and I have fun reading and talking about diefferent stories - and I think I was one of the few people, who really read every lecture we got (even if it was italian and I just learned it for 1 year o.o).
In my opinion it is the easiest way to get good marks. Especially if you're writing a test or an exam about lectures. There just won't be anything suprising because the lecture has a limited storyline and you can just prepare yourself perfectly for something like writing a character-analysis, which is what we had to do quite often. You just know what to expect when it comes to tests / exams about lectures and additionally you have another important topic like analysing stylistic devices, interepretating a certain aspect of the story and so on in class, so (as I said before) you know how the test / exam will look like and there won't be any bad suprises.
You can also do great additional tasks like writing an essay about the lecture, which helps you to improve your marks and it shows the teacher that you're interested which is always good and helpful. :)
Okay, to come back to the topic: I think it's very important to really read the lectures / books your given because it's the easiest way for a good mark. :)

***

I hope you found that helpful.
Next week there will be the final tip for school by me, so look out for that.
I hope you have a lovely sunday (it actually is quite warm for autumn over here in Germany, which I personally like :)) and I would love you to check out my older posts - I have ordered my first beauty box and also got some things I put in a collective haul. :)

See you next time,
Hermione    


Follow me on Twitter: @HermioneG7   

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Collective HAUL

Hello Muggles,

as my university time began and I got some more money to spend then before I took a little too much advantage of it and got myself some tiny treats. 


The first things I got are from a German drugstore called "Rossmann" and it actually was my first time buying something there because there is no store in my hometown. Last week I had the pleasure of waiting for more than 2 hours for my next uni-course, so I went shopping... bad, bad thing if you knew that there are going to be 2 hours of waiting every week for me. :'D

I got some Cleansing Wipes by lilibe, which is Rossmann's own-label. There's not much to say about these ones. Mine are almost gone, so I had to get a new packet anyway.
Next there is a hair treatment from GLISS KUR and on the packaging it promises to make your brittle hair silky. I used it twice already and there's still a lot of product in it. I have to mention the scent because it's amaaaazing - it smells delicious
I love Cherry Coke but I usually only drink one bottle per year because I'm more of a water and juice drinker and I don't want to support Coca Cola in general BUT I had to get the Cherry Coke Lip Smacker. I already feel kind of bad about it but it's so yummy. :D It really smells and tastes like Cherry Coke and it makes your lips slightly more read, which I like. :)
Last but not least beauty-wise is a nail polish by Catrice in the colour C02 Holly Rose Wood. If you knew me, you would call me crazy for buying a nail polish when I actually NEVER do my nails... and I can only agree with you. xD I applied it one time though...



The colour is BEAUTIFUL, I think. It's a mixture of red and pink, which is absolutely my favourite colour and this is why I will use this nail polish anyways... not on my nails though. :'D I already painted the little zipper-things on my bag-pack with it and it looks lovely. :D


Here goes the H&M section. :) I got some bargains.
First, there are those ultra cool skeleton gloves. I already got one pair about 6 years ago and I loved them so much; when I went shopping with my boyfriend I saw them at the counter and did the puppy eye look, which I usually never do, and so my boyfriend got them for me. :)
Rather boring is another pair of black skinny jeans - it's just a wardrobe must-have for me and they were only 9,95 €.
Last but not least there is a floral skater dress. Just THE autumn clothe essential... NOT! xD I had to buy it because I think it's very pretty and it was only 4,95 €, so who would have said no? :')


The last thing I got are these winter-boots, which are my first boots ever to be honest. When winter slowly came closer I just always went for Skate-High-Vans in the past but this time I wanted boots and I found this pair on ebay. I was going to order some UGG-Boots but the original ones are faaaar too expensive for me and when looking for a cheaper pair I stumbled about the ones I bought in the end. As you can see they have this typical winter pattern (, which I consider as very pretty :)) and bobbles. Because of the super soft and thick lining they are very warm and perfect for the colder days that I would like to cross out of the calendar. ;)
What else is there to say? Oh yeah, they have a heel! It's exactly 2 cm and too much for me. xD No, just kidding - it is strange because I feel like I'm huuuge, even though I'm just 2 cm's taller.^^ 
I already used them, so they look to that effect. I actually don't know how and why people always make their shoes look brand-new but mine always look pretty worn after the first day. xD


By the way: During photo-sessions in my floor little Baylie-Baby wanted to say "Hello Muggles" as well. :) This is actually the first picture EVER I took of her looking into the camera. She usually avoids this. :D


Okay, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it.

Leave a comment if you have anything to say. :D

...Oh, and do you know that I have a Twitter-Account? No? Than click HERE and make me happy by following! :)

Lots of love and see you next time,
Hermione