Holiday Essentials

Since Christmas is just around the corner and winter has arrived quite a while ago I decided to share my holiday/winter essentials.

Okay, let's start with Fashion

Winter is probably my favourite season for cloths as you can wear layers and pair everything up with cozy sweaters. Then there are the Christmas themed items! I'm a very big fan of those and so the pieces I'm about to share with you will feature Christmassy prints.

The first item is a woolen jacket. I love it because it's very soft and warm. This is the perfect piece for a cozy day inside when you don't feel like doing anything.

Then I also like a pair of leggings with a similar print. I've had them for quite some time and I still wear them as soon as we get to December and sometimes already in November.

Of course I can't go without my Christmas and winter themed socks. They are just super cute and boost ones holiday spirit. 

Nail Polish

If you know me you probably already guessed that this category will be in an essentials post, because I rarely go without anything on my nails. For the winter I like darker colors and my favourites are purples or deep burgundy reds. Around Christmas I throw in some gold glitter for an extra festive feeling. 

The polishes I'll wear for the holidays are p2 Can't Get Enough, Flormar in the shade 021 and Essence Make It Golden. I also use the Art Deco Gold Glitter with an ultra thin brush to create more delicate designs.

Lip Products

I generally really like red lipstick but during the festive season they are a MUST! My favourite ones are the Manhattan Perfect Creamy And Care in the shade 45N and Rimmel Kate Moss in the shade 107. The first one is a very creamy, shimmery red and the second one is a mat, deep burgundy red. 

The third product is a lip lacquer from Rimmels Apocalips collection. The shade is Big Bang and it’s a bright red which you can wear with everything. 

45N, Big Bang, 107

Music

Another essential are Christmas radio stations. I'll usually start listening to this kind of music around the middle of November because it puts me in a festive mood. Also I like bringing back my favourite holiday themed songs on my phone.

Songs

Last Christmas - Wham 

Driving Home For Christmas - Chris Rea

White Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald

Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms

Radios

North Pole Radio

Rautemusik Christmas Channel (They have the cutest app ever!  ->)

Movies

There are two films I usually watch around the 25th of December tough I don’t necessarily watch them every year. One is the German version of Cinderella (German title: Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenputtel). The cool thing is that it’s not a cartoon. Also instead of a fairy Cinderella has three magic hazelnuts which grant her a wish each when thrown over the shoulder. The other movie is The Holiday. Basically I like it because it’s a romantic comedy and this is my favourite film genre. Then the soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer and he’s just a genius.

Okay that’s it. I hope you liked reading this and have a great Holiday :) 

The Maze Runner - Book Review

German Cover (I read this one)

Original (English) Cover

Woot! My first book review is finally here. I’m going to give you some base information first and then follow up with the actual review.

Alright let’s jump straight in then… The title of the novel is the Maze Runner and it was written by James Dashner. It is the first in a YA dystopian series and it tells us the story of Thomas and his friends. In 2014 it will be out on the big screen with Dylan O’Brien playing the lead role.

If you haven’t read it yet, here is a brief SYNOPSIS: Thomas wakes up in an elevator remembering nothing but his name. When he gets out of it he arrives in a strange place called the Glade which is surrounded by gigantic walls. He tries to find out where exactly he is but the boys (Gladers) living in the Glade won’t answer him properly. Despite that he then finds out that they are in the middle of a giant maze filled with deathly creatures and that their purpose is to solve it and escape. The Gladers have been trying to escape for about two years and soon after Thomas arrival things go crazy and their time starts to run out.

Ok, now that we have the basics let’s start reviewing. I’ll split this part up in several categories. It is spoiler free and you should be okay reading it even if you haven’t read the book yet.

First I’d like to talk about the STORY. I think that the basic idea and the world setting are great and exciting. I also enjoyed that James Dashner let us discover what was going on at the same time as Thomas did. That way new events weren’t always predictable and it was interesting to start a story knowing absolutely nothing about the society or the world outside the maze. I sometimes felt though that the planning of the story wasn’t executed properly. I got that feeling because there were contradicting actions happening within one page and generally some development didn’t take place very steadily but just happened from one second to the other.

My next topic is the Characters. To me all the boys seemed two have almost the same personality. All of them were somewhat unfriendly and harsh. Also their ability to have a conversation without mildly offending their counterpart seemed to have been lost in the maze. The only ones that I kind of grew to like were Chuck and Minho. They are also the ones who were a bit more lively and likeable.

The third point I’d like to discuss is the Writing Style. For me it was kind of hard to get used to because the style was somehow distant and unfriendly despite the fact that we see everything from Thomas POV. Due to that I couldn’t totally connect to the characters and the story and it really bothered me because I didn’t genuinely cared about the people in the book and I like to do that. Then Mr. Dashner also invented some kind of slang for the Gladers which was really annoying because it wasn’t used consistently and seemed very unnecessary. That brings me to what bothered me the most about the writing style of the book. The author wrote so repetitive which is the most UNNERVING thing in a novel EVER!!! At the beginning Thomas just went on and on and on about how sick he felt, then he was constantly complaining about how frustrated he was when no one gave him answers and it just never really stoped with the repetitions. Generally I felt like James Dashner or the person who translated the book did not have the biggest vocabulary.  

Ok, so now we have my Overall Opinion. Despite the fact that I had issues with the writing style and the character development I really enjoyed the story and finding out more about the world Thomas lives in. That is also what encouraged me to finish the book and kept me excited. I rated the book a 2.5 out of 5 stars. At the moment I’m not sure if I’m going to continue the series or not. If I do I might pick up one of the sequels in English, so I can see if that solves the issues with the writing style.

I would recommend you to read this book if you like a different tone in the story telling and don’t really care about the writing style. Also if you’re into Dystopian series totally give this one a go it might not be the Hunger Games or Divergent but it is still pretty interesting. And otherwise you can still go and watch the movie next year :P

Sunset Cruise

I wanted to do this post for a while but I just kept pushing it back (yep we have a procrastinator right here) but now here it is: My first "proper" post on my photography.

As the title suggests this will be about a sunset cruise and the pictures I took on that day. First I'm going to give you a little bit of information about the location and things and then I'll show you some of the pictures.

The cruise took place on Lake Thun which is basically the "portal" to the Alps. I love going there, because it's such a lovely and peaceful place and obviously the view is amazing. Also the little city has a nice atmosphere with its old buildings and the history behind them.

The tour lasted for almost three hours and the sun started setting about half way through. It was breathtaking to see all the colors in the sky and as reflections on the water.Then it got dark and the castles (there are like three of them right by the water) were all light up. Sadly I couldn't get a proper picture of one of them because I had no tripod and the boat was moving too fast but there are plenty of other photographs I can show you now. :)

It was a lot darker than what it looks like in the picture -> ISO 400 so I could keep the shutter speed low

Here I kept the shutter speed high to brighten up the colors in the sky and darken the strips of land

October Favourites

Clothes

My favorite clothing item of the month would definitely be my pair of galaxy/space print leggings. I started looking for a pair of those like a year ago but I could never find them in the stores and I didn’t feel like ordering a pair online. But now I finally found one in H&M and I’ve worn them almost for the whole month. They are super comfy and a nice way to add color to an outfit.

Book

This year I decided to do a reading challenge which makes me read a lot. Now I’m able to pick a favorite among the books I’ve read this month. And the lucky choice is… *drum roll* MATCHED by Ally Condie.

I picked it up when I went to the book store about two weeks ago. I actually didn’t really want to start a new series and was looking for Insurgent by Veronica Roth. But then I saw Matched and the little description thingy in the back plus the beautiful cover instantly drew me in.

The story tells us about a girl (Cassia) who lives in a dystopian society called The Society (surprise!). These people control everything! From what to eat, to whom you’ll marry, to when you die. Then Cassia gets matched to her future partner but when she looks at his picture at home another face flashes on the screen and things go crazy.

I especially enjoyed the writing of this book it was simple yet very poetical which suited perfectly. Then there is also a beautiful love story, a lot of tension and interesting characters.

I’ll probably do a full review/book discussion of the series later on.

Song

The most listened to song in October is Wings by Birdy. I heard it on the radio at some point during this month and fell in love. Seriously this girl has an amazing voice and I love the slight melancholic touch her songs have.

You don’t know the song yet? 
Here’s a link: Birdy - Wings

Lip Products

I have two favorite lip products for this month. One is the Maybelline Baby Lips in the shade Cherry Me and the other is a Rimmel Lasting Finish called Cutting Edge (shade #120). To start with, both products have a lovely smell :)

I got the Baby Lips because I heard tons of good things about it (probably every beauty guru ever has mentioned this lip balm at least once) and I like trying out new lip products. I was very lucky to still get my hands on one since the colored ones were sold out almost immediately. Cherry Me was the only shade I really wanted to get because I knew the color would look great. That is also what made that product a favorite because it tends to dry my lips out instead of moisturizing them like it should. So as a flattering lip stain it is awesome but for chapped lips I would definitely NOT recommend it.

I got the Rimmel lipstick a while back in a sales action. I was actually looking for a different shade but I liked the color of this one and decided to buy it. I didn’t really use it until this month and now I love it. The purplish fuchsia shade is perfect for fall and if you like wearing bold lips.

Nail Polish

There are two products again. The first one is a bright lilac from the L’Oreal Color Riche collection. It is in the shade #828 Flashing Lilac. I got it this summer and then forgot about it until now. I like it because it has a slightly mat finish and the color payoff after two coats is very great. Also it adds a nice pop of color to whatever you are wearing.

The second polish is from p2 and it’s in the shade #691 Can’t Get Enough. The color is a deep purplish/burgundy red which makes it perfect for fall. I like how it creates a classier look for my nails.