New Favourite: Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter

Category: Utvalgte moteblogger • Author: Airam • Comments: Comments Off

I’d heard so much praise about Lush’s Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter, and was desperate to acquire a box of my own. I went to their Norwegian online store (click here for the international site), but decided I wasn’t quite desperate enough to pay 99,- NOK in shipping for such a little thing. Fortunately darling Cindy lives in Oslo, and sent me a box a few weeks ago.

First of all: I have very dry hands. Dishwashing without gloves is impossible, and after a full day of doing laundry my hands feel like sand paper. I’ve always envied girls with pretty hands, and especially the ones with perfect cuticles (Laquerized is my ultimate cuticle role model).

– Warning! Starved cuticles below! —

In case you didn’t know, the cuticles are the transition from the nail to the skin of the fingers. As you can see, mine are rather dry and flaky – this is how they always look when I come out of the shower. Regular hand lotion simply doesn’t cut it, but the Lemony Flutter is fantastic!

This is after a very thin layer (the butter is rather sticky, and I had things to do), so the effect isn’t insanely impressive, but you can still see some major improvement. Normally I’ll put on a larger amount of the stuff before I go to bed, and I wake up to the happiest fingertips I’ve ever had.

As for the butter itself, it looks like this. *points to picture above* You can see I have only used product from the lid, not the actual box yet, as you need just a tiny bit on each finger. The smell is a bit strong, like lemon mixed with some sort of cleaning product. I think it’s perfectly tolerable, one of my friends joyfully shouted “IT SMELLS LIKE CANDY!” when I opened the lid, and some people simply cannot stand it. It’s still the best goo I’ve ever put on my cuticles, and they’re looking better each day.

Have any of you tried this stuff? Opinions?

Pretty New Things

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I’m in a city called Jessheim to watch my sister in a play (she’s got the lead, and she’s marvellous. Marvellous, I say!). Mum and I have been killing time with a little shopping, and today at Bianco I found the most magical shoes I’ve ever seen.

Can you believe the sheer perfection of these shoes? In daylight they’re a pale grey colour, and in lamplight they get this purple tinge. Add the sparkling diamonds and the shoes actually being comfortable, too, and you’ll surely understand why I’m so in love. The only thing better today was seeing my sister on stage (yes, Cookie, I’ll keep saying that until it’s imprinted in your head for the rest of your life).

I also found a lot of Essie polishes on sale – they’re normally 149,- NOK and these were only 50,-, huzzah! I’ve realized that although I’ve got lots of blues and greys, my nail collection is rather sad in the red-department. That’s why I got (from the nude one and towards the right): Angel Food (can you believe that name?), National Velvet, Hot Commodity, Jag-U-Are and a pretty little thing from Star Gazer, nr. 245. The colours actually don’t look like this, but my camera struggled in the lamplight and I was tired. Better pictures some other time!

The eyelashes are from the same place as the polishes (as shop called Visage), and the headband is from Gina Tricot. It reminded me so much of Alice in Wonderland that I had to have it, even though I’m a little over the whole headband thing. Ah, well, it was on sale

My sister is the best. Let’s leave it at that.

New Makeup! Huzzah!

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This is going to sound very vain – but it is so nice to feel beautiful again. I ran out of the samples I bought a while ago, and I’ve been without Tikei’s concealers since easter. Trust me when I say that it’ll never happen again (I don’t want to risk my well-being in that way).

I also bought some brushes, and I don’t regret it for a second. They’re softer than half-melted butter, really! I’m going to use this big one for the finishing veil.

I also got two concealer brushes, as I don’t want to mix the one I use to cover impurities with the one I use underneath my eyes. The brushes are a bit bigger than what I’m used to (1,5 centimeters wide), but they cover very well and are easier to handle than I’d expected.

The big kit I ordered included two eyeshadows, so I got a black one (because Cookie said every girl ought to have one and I had a small revelation when I realized how true it is) and this incredibly gorgeous green with golden shimmer. It makes my eyes look so brown you wouldn’t believe it.

I ordered a sample for the eye shadow Illusion. I’m waiting for a special occasion to try it out, as it’s very green. The shadows are very pigmented, so a sample can last for quite some time if you don’t use it every day, which is good. I also got two free samples, one for an eye shadow and one for a bronzer (which I don’t use as pale is the new tan for me, but I might give it a go just to see how I’ll look).

Have you tried Tikei’s makeup yet?

Outfit: Dotted Blouse and Stocking-Tights

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Dotted blouse: Bik Bok, lace top: H&M, shorts: Cubus, “stocking-tights” and bag: Lindex, boots: can’t remember.

Today I found these fantastic stocking-tights at Lindex, and I ended up buying several pairs. All right, I’ll admit it, I straight-out hunted them down after having discovered them through Ladybird’s Nest. You know me, anything that hints of burlesque makes my heart pound. They can look a little vulgar, though, so I’ll have to be careful with how I combine them – my very short denim shorts didn’t look so good, for instance. I still think they’re fabulous, and I can’t wait to try them out with pretty much everything I own. That’ll have to wait, though, as I’m in Harstad for Easter holidays.

Somehow I always end up spending too much money at Lindex in my home town. In addition to the tights I found a belt, a necklace and some pretty lingerie – all on sale, but I’ll still have to survive on oatmeal and carrots for the rest of the month if I keep this up.

The blouse is new, too. It’s from Bik Bok and was a really unexpected find, as they don’t normally do these kind of vintage-like things. The boots are old, though (as you can probably tell).

Thanks to Cookie for the photos – you’re such a weird little peach!

My First Konadicure

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Have you guys heard of Konad stamping nail art? I hadn’t, when my interest in nail polish started sometime last year, but as I looked at manicures on the web I realized that some of them couldn’t possibly have been freehanded (which means they were painted with a brush, by hand). I did some research and discovered Konad, an ingenious system that allows you to put incredibly complicated patterns and images on your nails rather easily. This video shows how it works:

Basically, you have some metal plates with engraved patterns. You use a special polish (it’s much thicker than normal polish) and paint over the image you want, then scrape away the excess polish. You press the “stamper” on to the image on the plate – this will transfer the image to the stamper itself – and then stamp it on to your nail.

I ordered three image plates, two special polishes (one white and one black), the stamper and the scraper from OC Nail Art right after Christmas, but haven’t gotten around to playing with it until now. I’m glad I did though – it looks so lovely! The big lace pattern is from plate m57, and the small lace pattern on the ring finger is from m39 (I also own m73). For now I just wanted to share my joy with you, but if you’d like it I can do a separate post on Konad tips and tricks. I’m not a Konadicure master (yet), but I’ve still discovered some things that make the procedure a lot easier.

And a happy PS for you Norwegian gals: I just discovered that Nelly.com sells Konad-things, so if you think it looks interesting you can get it at a pretty reasonable price without having to think about international shipping, taxes and long delivery times.

Have you ever had a Konadicure?

I finished knitting the scarf!

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Yes, Cookie, I finished a DIY. Well, sort of a DIY. I’ve knitted my second scarf, and the first one to turn out nicely. The best thing about it is that it’s so soft and warm. Perhaps I could knit a house of the same yarn? Oh, and I’ve coloured my hair. It’s almost black now (but golden in the sun), and I love the change.

I cannot do any fancy knitting at all, just the basic thing, but the lady at the yarn shop told me that if I used one rather thin (5mm) needle and one quite thick (12mm), it would create a sort of pattern all by itself. The lines that look thin and opaque come from the thin needle, and the wide and see-through lines were made by the thick needle. It turned out so nice I just might have to make another one.

This picture is closest to the real colour of the scarf, a gorgeous, dusty red-orangey shade.

PS: Thanks to Boyfriend for being the photographer. I paparazzied him while he wasn’t looking, moahaha.

The Helvetica Necklace

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Isn’t it simply divine? I found it in Plastique’s Etsy Shop, and now I never want to take it off. It’s made of a hard, transparent plastic and is just the right size:

Big enough to show clearly from a slight distance, but not so big it’ll be a hassle to wear. The chain is just the right length, too (I’ll show you sometime in an outfit post). It is very fragile, though – I managed to break mine in the middle of the “v” while pressing it to my body (I was stupid and thought I’d see if I could make it say “helvetica” on my skin – I blame a temporary moment of insanity). Boyfriend managed to glue it together perfectly, though, to my great relief, and now I have a (slightly embarrassing) story to go with it. The break was definitely my fault, though, and not because of bad construction. It’s just a fragile little thing, that’s all, and I’ll take proper care of it from now on.

I suppose it should be called a statement necklace, defining the wearer as a font nerd for those in the know – and confusing the people who don’t know that helvetica is simply an iconic font. The confusions here are endless, especially when considering that the Norwegian word for hell is helvete. Oh, well, I’ll brave their ignorance any day for such a beauty. At least my wonderful readers will know the true meaning behind it.

I Won Essie Nail Polishes!

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Things

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From the paper for the No Siesta, Fiesta!-festival. Translation of the circled part: The costumes of a samba parade are especially important, naturally. This year they’ve had help to dress the participants of the parade. – We’ve been fortunate enough to have Maria Hansen Troøyen (me!) to help us with this. She’s very good with clothes and fashion, and has an eye for the original, so I think this will be really good, says L-Jay.

Harstad Is Frozen

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I’m at my mother’s for the week, spending time with the little sisters and watching three movies a day. I wanted to do an outfit post for you, but it was simply too cold, so you get pictures of some things I like instead.

Green, Green, Green

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New things, from left: Leaf-belt from H&M, chain necklace from BikBok, “Bella’s Choice” nail polish from H&M, “Mint Apple Candy” nail polish from Essie (bought here), and a pale green sweater from H&M. This is definitely my green phase.

Present!

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On Tuesday we had a little girls’ night in, making mini-pizzas and having a lovely time. Ann-Iren surprised me with this little gift from where she works – she’s such a darling!

Inside were these gorgeous lace gloves I’ve been looking at every time I’ve been to the shop. They’re actually long enough to reach the elbow, but I think they look the best when pushed down towards the wrist a bit.

I really like the way the nail polish (it’s “Bella’s Choice” from H&M, by the way) is visible through the gloves. It kind of reminds me of wearing semi-sheer clothing where you can get a glimpse of lacy lingerie beneath – I blame the burlesque girl in me for weird thoughts like that.

♥ Thank you so much, Ann-Iren ♥

The Mint Green Tulle Petticoat

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It’s here, it’s here! In my eBay-post a few days ago I mentioned I’d ordered a petticoat, and here it is, in all its mint green tulle-ness. Fantastic, isn’t it? I’m so glad I decided to buy it – if I’d found a skirt like this on H&M for 270,- NOK I wouldn’t have hesitated for a minute, and this is even better as nobody I know has got one like it.

The bottom is deliciously full, and you should see how it moves (you know I have a weakness for clothes that move beautifully). The colour is gorgeous, too. I decided to get this mint green because it would be a bit more special than a plain old white or black, and I’m very happy with it.

As it is meant to go underneath a normal skirt or dress, the top part is rather transparent (this is just beneath the waistband). Because of this I’ll have to wear some sort of slip underneath it if I don’t want to put another skirt on top – I have a secret plan to ask Cindy help me figure out something clever when I see her next week. The only negative about the skirt itself was this big tag that had been sewn to the inside of the skirt, as it was clearly visible (which wouldn’t be a problem if I was going to use it as intended, but I quite like this underwear-as-outerwear-thing that’s going on now). I had to tear a short part of the seam to remove the tag, but it doesn’t show unless you know where to look.

If anybody else fell in love right now, I suggest you head over to this shop on eBay to have a look at what they’ve got. The one I bought can be found here, and I just now realized that it doesn’t look exactly like the one in the product picture, which is a bit strange. I still recommend this seller, though, as they replied to my questions about the shipping cost the same day, and the shipping was very fast (nine days). You might want to contact them if you’re very particular about which petticoat you’ll get – I have to confess anything mint green and poofy would make me satisfied

Good Things

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When you’ve spent almost the entire day in bed, wishing you could unscrew your head and thus no longer feel sick, it is necessary with some good things to end the day: two Elles (the Collections edition for spring/summer 2010, and the British March edition with a fantastic-looking Liv Tyler on the cover), new lipstick in the mail (more on that when I get presentable for photos) and a trip to the cinema to watch Nine with two of the best girls in the world. Thank you for a lovely evening, kittens!

ghd IV: Everything you need, period.

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If you read my previous post you’ll remember that I was a bit disappointed about the UK plug for my new ghd IV. Some of you left me lots of helpful tips in the comments, including one from Helene telling me I should be able to simply swap the UK plug for a European one.

I woke up today with the plan of doing just so, but before heading out I decided to take a closer look at the plug again, just to work out what kind I’d have to buy. That’s when I realized that the part where the plug is attached to the cable looked an awful lot like the ordinary European ones. “Maybe this won’t be so difficult,” I thought, “if the plugs are that similar I should definitely be able to change the thing myself.” (Can anyone see where this is heading, perhaps?)

I unscrewed the plug, too, wanting to do this properly so I would be perfectly certain I knew what kind of plug to buy. The pessimist in me must be incredibly stubborn, because it still insisted that I’d have to go through the whole operation of changing the plug myself. Then I opened the UK plug, and -

Yeah. That’s right – what you’re looking at is a perfectly ordinary European plug, oh-so-cleverly put into a UK version. This discovery lead to a strange combination of feelings: “Airam, you must be the most stupid girl in the country” and “clever ghd-people, I KNEW you weren’t stupid!“. To top it off, when I shared my joy with my sister Cookie on MSN, she said, somewhat unimpressed, “didn’t a girl tell you that in a comment yesterday?”. I checked, and brilliant Cindy from Hanginaround had actually suggested I check if the UK plug was simply a box that could be removed to reveal an ordinary European one. Clever girl. To sum it up, here’s what I’ve learnt since yesterday:

1. If a quality product seems impractical or stupid to you, it’s quite possible it’s you being impractical or stupid.

2. Always read comments twice (so you won’t miss anything if you’re having a stupid day).

And would you like to know the best part? The ghd IV is bloody marvellous. But more on that in a later post, for now let me just say:

ghd-people, the socks are off.

ghd IV: Everything you need, except an adapter

Category: Utvalgte moteblogger • Author: Airam • Comments: Comments Off

Yesterday I got a note in the mail telling me I had a mystery package that couldn’t fit in my mailbox and had to be picked up at the post office. My thoughts immediately went to the ghd IV straightener I ordered from Lookfantastic (on January the 22nd, if you’d like to know) – and I was right! I got home, opened the black, fancy box and touched what must be the Rolls-Royce of straighteners.

It looks expensive (and, well, it was). The outside is smooth without being slippery, and the golden plates seem glossy enough not to damage my hair at all. Now, I naturally wanted to try it straight away (pardon the pun), but then I looked at the plug. A British plug? But I believe the website said it had a universal plug, which would make travelling easier. This is definitely a UK plug, though. I enter Feelunique to see if I’d misunderstood something, or if they’d simply sent me the wrong item.

“Now with universal voltage for optimum performance wherever you travel.”

It takes a few seconds before my brain realizes that even though it says voltage, it doesn’t say anything about the actual plug.

Fortunately I’ve got an old adapter at Boyfriend’s from last time we went to London, and I don’t tend to drag my straighteners around with me anyway, but must confess I feel slightly hoodwinked still. The product description definitely gives the impression that the straightener will work in any country without the hassle of external adapters, when it actually won’t work anywhere but in the UK without one. I suppose if you buy it in Norway it will have an European plug, but then you’ll have to pay almost twice as much.

Because of all this I haven’t gotten to try it yet, but I intend to do so later after having fetched the adapter from Boyfriend’s. And ghd-people, I’m telling you:

this straightener better blow my socks off.

UPDATE: Click HERE to read how it all worked out in the end!

Bags, bags, bags!

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I bought bags today. Yes, plural, bags. But they’re very different; this first one is for everyday use, and fits everything I need (except for my MacBook, but I don’t drag it that much around anyway). It’s from Lindex, by the way, and was on sale for 89,- NOK. Maja called it “the perfect old lady bag”, and I have to agree. It reminds me of my grandmother Synnøve: small, dark and sturdy enough to handle pretty much anything.

The second one and I have a whole history going on. I’ve lusted for it ever since they got it in the shop, and today I found it thrown into a big discount bin! It was 79,- NOK, and that’s not bad for the perfect evening bag, non? The chains are perfection, and I like the square shape. Soft, fuzzy bags with lots of bows and zippers and dangling stuff are not for me. Give me square, leather and chains and I’ll be happy as a kitten.

By the way: lately I’ve seen a lot of items I adore being on sale at 70%, and there is usually more than one left. Is it simply me who’s got bad taste, or is it people in Tromsø in general that cannot spot something lovely?

Hair! Biosilk, ghd and Youtube.

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My new best friend, Biosilk’s Silk Therapy, photographed on my new skirt from H&M (it cost 30,- on sale!)

Ever since a period in 9th grade when I started styling my hair Lion-style (think short and MESSY), my hair has usually been in a permanent bed head state. Nothing easier than to squish some gel into it, rub it with a dry towel, and voilà, instant I-couldn’t-care-less-hair. But lately I’ve leaned more and more towards a softer, more elegant look, especially after discovering Vintage Koi’s channel on Youtube.

The question then becomes: how do I get soft, shiny curls without too much of a hassle? I’m terribly impatient when it comes to grooming, you see, so velcro rollers or even a curling iron are pretty much out of the question unless it’s a special occasion and I’ve got lots of free time before the event. But this Christmas I discovered how, and it’s so easy I have to laugh.

Biosilk Silk Therapy + a quality straightener = ♥ hair

I shower, apply a tiny amount of Silk Therapy to the lengths of towel-dry hair, then let it dry naturally (or blow dry it if I’m in a hurry). Then I make ribbon curls with the straightener (thank you, Cookie, for teaching me how to do it!) without any other products as I don’t like the stiff, flat curls they get in the video. I only curl the hair from about eye level and to the ends, so the roots are left au naturel. And that’s about it, really! A light mist of hairspray is a good idea if I need the hair to last for a long day.

I just bought that ghd straightener I told you about, I can’t wait for it to get here! I’ll let you know what I think about it as soon as I’ve put it through the test. As for now, I’m rather curious

- what’s your favourite way of styling your hair?

Posted in Beauty, Hair, How-to-Guides, Look what I've got...

Necklace Love

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Necklaces from Bunnylogic

I just now realized that I haven’t told you what Boyfriend got me for Christmas! Shame on you, Airam. I got a gift card for fonts (I adore nerdy gifts) and a very sexy pair of tights (black seamed fishnets, if you want to know). And yesterday a mysterious green package arrived in Boyfriend’s mailbox. He proudly announced that it was for me, a late Christmas present, and handed me a little pink box, with the warning “it’s not a ring”. I laughed.

Inside was a tiny silver camera pendant, about as big as the nail on my thumb, attached to a silver chain of the perfect length. And suddenly there was a second box, this one containing the very same microphone necklace I wished for, this one in a brass gold finish. This is the very first time Boyfriend has bought me jewellery, and he did a marvellous job, don’t you think?

Posted in fashion, Look what I've got...

The Presents

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Posted in Beauty, fashion, Lists, Look what I've got..., Makeup, My Life, Skincare