China in Pictures (Shanghai-Traditional Wedding-Cat Café )

This post will be mostly picture heavy, I came back from china two weeks ago and not a day passes that I don't want to go back. It was an amazing experience AGAIN. Though I now that my positive association with china mostly comes from the fact that whenever I'm there I am basically on holiday and forgetting all my usual problems and duties and so on. I just enjoy life when I'm there! I actually went to the Simply Kpop Concert in Shanghai on the 23.3 but the pictures didn't turn out that great (damn you gdragon for moving too much lol).

one of my favorite dishes! sweet and sour fish

this is a great dessert in china, shaved ice is the translation

This inflatable gate was prepared by the whole town for the bride and groom

bride is being carried by her brother to the car, then it will take her to the city where she will live after the marriage and back to the village for ongoing celebration, complicated I know

everywhere in china are these work out parks, they are actually quite fun!

food in the small village is actually very good

more food!!

Yeah I ate balut, I won't debate the ethics, let's just say it was a traditional wedding and I was very polite haha

I loved this little café in Shanghai called Tap-Café, they make 3D kitties with milk fluff *.*

So pretty

Me and bf at oriental pearl

Our hotel room

Hot pot :D

Breathtaking

On the last day in Nanjing we went to a cat-café, 20 kitties that you can pet while drinking your coffee, children not allowed haha 

China (March)

So today was my first time modeling. How I came to do that? Well actually if you are a European girl, especially Russian, people often will come to you asking you either to model, take part in a tv show, (be someone's girlfriend or wife lol) or stuff like that. So during my half year stay back in 2012/2013 I was offered this opportunities multiple times. But I never got to do any of them because my boyfriends father forbid it (or let's say he didn't want me to attend and told me it was dangerous...).

So this time around I wasn't expecting anything in terms of being able to try out modeling. But my bfs uncle works at some fashion brand and when we went there I was casually asked if I'd like to try out modeling for their monthly fashion magazine, and because it had to do with family member I could actually do it.
So today I just met at a huge shopping store with the photographers and other people picking out clothes and organizing it, they immediately got me to the make up section and wanted to add a little bit make up although I was already wearing some haha (they wanted more....).

Finally a professional doing my make-up

So my make up was done by a (I might say) semi-professional, maybe she even does it professionally but she seemed more like a make-up-shopgirl to me. Anyways they only used Chanel, originally it should have been done at the shiseido section but I didn't care.

I actually quite liked it, the style was supposed to be "甜美“(sweet). Then they went to pick out my clothes, though I was a bit worried from the start because I actually have gained some weight... But they actually picked out great stuff that all fit me nicely.

This outfit was pretty unusual for me

But I loved the make-up in the end!

I found the style very unusual for me to wear, I never wear stuff that could actually be fashionable, my style is kind of old school. There were 3 different outfits with shoes. The second one was a long skirt with a blouse and sweater, the third a dress with a jacket. I will get the pictures once they are printed!

Apart from that I finally met up with friends that are still living and studying in Nanjing, it was nice seeing them after a whole year!

Me and Anna at Haidilao

/EDIT: Because this post was written (but somehow not postet) about three weeks ago I already have the final picture they used of me modeling. I have to say they altered a lot with he help of photoshop haha 

Back once more

So I haven’t posted in a whole year (well almost) and the reason for this is simple. I didn’t see the point in just another beauty blog and furthermore realized that blogging might not be my cup of tea. So I kept on posting things but only on my Instagram and mainly pictures. Also I didn’t really buy that much after financially practically crashing down from having lots of money and having almost nothing (+debt). I tell you this blog is like a reminder of my small shopping addiction and this is the reason why I won’t be deleting anything. I hope this can be a warning to other girls and boys and bloggers (a whole different gender haha). Keep your shopping to more necessary stuff and save up so you than have some money to spend on fun things but don’t go overboard with it.

Enough of my moral preaching here now though, the main reason I came back here is because it seems like I still have a decent amount of page views here daily and I will continue this blog in a different manner. Maybe more personally, maybe less make up and stuff, I don’t know yet.

The only thing I do know is, that I want to share my second experience in china! I have been to china from summer 2012 to February 2013, it was the most wonderful experience, half a year was to short. Back then I first came with my boyfriend to visit his family in Nanjing and experience china for a month until I started studying Chinese as a foreign exchange student at the Nanjing University 南京大学. After a fascinating month experiencing real Chinese family life and traveling to Lijiang (Yunnan), I had a great semester of Chinese classes, making new Chinese and international friends and  learning more about Chinese culture.

Now I am back for a month in Nanjing, and also a trip to Shanghai to attend the Simply Kpop concert! We landed here on Friday last week and it has been a great trip (although it feels more like coming home). The first weekend even my sister came to visit with here Chinese husband so I could show her my city (after her showing me her city Shenzhen last year). I will end this post with a couple of pictures, will post more about an upcoming modeling adventure and lots of Chinese food pictures.

Flight over China

Candid picture shot with bf's galaxy gear

Our dinner, Lufthansa serves good meals (Toblerone was a nice surprise)

Me wearing a tipical chinese sweater

Welcome-home dinner prepared by bf's parents

At 外婆家 (grandma's home), relatives took us out for dinner

Super favourite, a hot dog from "Lollidogs"

long time no see

Well yes, it’s been a little over a week and that’s a long time in the blogging world. I’ve been ill again and then had other time consuming events happening, so I hope I can blog a little bit more now and in the future! I’ll post some random pics from stuff I got first:

This is a cute bath gift set that I originally didn’t even buy for myself, but because I missed to give it in time to a person I just use it myself now haha (usually I wouldn’t do that but the person who should receive it is in china!). I has a lotion, shower and a cute sponge! The smell is a bit generic though…

Finally I have my second Aquolina perfume! It’s the Pink Sugar Sparks and smells almost exactly like Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf! I love it’s subtle café smell and that it smells a lot more mature than Pink Sugar. The body lotion I got in this set is awful though,very very bitter smell. Haven’t tried the shower gel but it seems to be less strong than the body lotion so it should work but I regret getting the whole set, the perfume would have been enough!

And than there’s a recent make-up pic where I finally tried the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Sweetheart (I did have wear-pics before but this is a lot closer to it’s actual look than before and also it is my first time wearing it "out" haha):

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick

Haven’t posted in some days, but that’s because I’ve been sick and had university and related stuff to take care of. I’m still sick though…cough sirup is not helping at all… Anyways, I got the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick from Stadtparfümerie Pieper to try out, which I was very happy about. Now because it’s a german store I will make this entry in german for once. The translation I give is in no way identical to the stuff I write in german, I am way to lazy to translate it directly haha

Ich habe den Bobbie Brown Shimmer Brick von der Stadtparfümerie Pieper zum testen zugeschickt bekommen, hab mich darüber sehr gefreut, weil sonst finde ich den Shimmer Brick mit seinen ca. 50 € etwas teuer. Ich habe die Farbe “Rose” bekommen, was meiner Meinung nach perfekt ist, ich mag nun mal lieber rosa-stichige Blushes an mir! Natürlich ist am Shimmer Brick ja auch das tolle, dass man ihn als Lidschatten verwenden kann, aber ich konzentriere mich auf seinen Einsatz als Blush.Ich habe mich außerdem sehr über die süße Verpackung gefreut.

As I said I got the Shimmer Brick to try out and was very happy about that because usually it would be a bit too expensive “just” to try out for about 50 €. I even got the shade “rose” which I like most when it comes to blush and highlighter! The Shimmer Brick can also be used as an eyeshadow but I only review it as a blush. The packaging from the store with the message was also very cute.

Ich war überrascht wie groß der Shimmer Brick ist, er wirkt auf mich eher wie ein Puder in der Verpackung! Aber auf jeden Fall alles sehr hochwertig, mit extra Spiegel noch. Sehr einfach zu schließen und zu öffnen ohne sich die Nägel abzubrechen (eine Seltenheit für mich).

I was surprised by the size of the Shimmer Brick, it almost looks like a powder. Everything is high quality, even with an extra mirror. It is easy to open and close without breaking any nails.

Ich glaube auf diesem Foto kommen die Farben des Shimmer Bricks am besten raus: von einer weiß über latte-artige töne hin zu einem kühlen und einem stärkeren rosa. Alle Farben sind durchsetzt mit Schimmer-Partikeln. Die einzelnen Farben kann man auch genau so ungemischt als Lidschatten verwenden.

The colors are best represented in this picture: beginning with a white, then some latte-like shades and in the end two pink-rose shades. All of the colors have shimmery particles in them. ach color can be used as eyeshadow.

Der Gesamt-Swatch zeigt, dass die Farbabgabe nicht sehr stark ist, ich finde ihn so aber umso besser. Ich habe entweder Blushes die zu stark sind oder ungleichmäßig in der Abgabe sind, der Shimmer Brick lässt sich Stück für Stück schichten und kann dadurch noch intensiviert werden. Als Gesamtfarbe scheint er aber schon etwas in die Latte-Richtung zu gehen!

The swatch shows a slightly weak color, but I like it this way because as opposed to other blushes that are either too intense or very patchy and irregular the Shimmer Brick is very build-able. The color seems to go a lot into the latte direction, with a slight pinkish shade.

Ich mag den Schimmer den mir der Shimmer Brick gibt (klingt doppelt gemoppelt), und auch die etwas bräunliche Farbe. Ich mag, dass er sowohl ein Blush ist, als auch Highlighter eigenschaften hat! Ich bin wirklich sehr zufrieden mit dem Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, finde den Preis aber doch etwas hoch. Andererseits ist er vielseitig einsetzbar und es ist recht viel von ihm da (10 Gramm, hört sich wenig an…). Bin trotzdem froh, dass ich ihn mal probieren durfte! Danke noch mal an Pieper!

I like the shimmer it gives me and the slightly brownish color, too. It’s great that the Shimmer Brick is a blush with highlighting effects. I am very satisfied but I still think that the price is a bit much, though you get a lot of product out of it and it is also possible to use it as an eyeshadow. I am very happy I got to try this out! Thanks to Pieper for this!

MaxFactor 2000 Calorie Mascara

I bought the MaxFactor 2000 Calorie Mascara in a bundle together with the waterproof version, which was for free if you buy the regular one, so it cost me only 8 €!

I wanted to try this out for some time so I was happy to have two for the price of one! The brush is pretty standard, good old fashioned, not one of those brushes with hard plastic fibres you get nowadays. I applied one coat of mascara with the regular 2000 calories and thought it look ok, some volume, some length, but what I really liked was when I layered it with a second coat from the waterproof version! Here’s the result:

It’s pretty impressive I think, the 200 calorie mascara also works good with my lower lashes! Not perfect but pretty good. The lashes actually look more neat than on this picture, the mascara is good at separating the lashes! Ok here’s another close-up of one eye:

I am very happy with the result, but because there are so many mascara at the moment, I don’t know whether I’ll keep buying this one or maybe try out another new one. Nevertheless I like this mascara!