What my lips will be wearing all summer

I recently saw some swatches of the L'Oréal Color Riche l'Extraordinaire lipgloss (if you can call it that) online. As I loved some of the vibrant colours for summer, I went on a hunt for them. The first one I found was in 410 fuschia drama.

It looked great! The perfect combo of lipgloss and highly pigmented, flashy colour. I was so excited to try it that I immediately put it on when I got in the car.

I was very disappointed at first (read on, it gets better!). It seemed the colour wouldn't stick to my lips, as I moved it around it just accumulated on the edges of my lips. A bit frustrated (because I did love the colour I had chosen) I drove home, but I kept playing with it with my lips 'cause it tasted like peaches(!) and felt really good. When I looked in the mirror at home I was surprised to see it had spread out beautifully on my lips, with a very classy gloss. 

After that first time I actually never had problems when putting it on anymore. Don't know what went wrong then, but I really love it now. The colour (fuschia drama) is gorgeous. I've been complimented on it a dozen of times. I've worn it nearly every day since I've had it. I even selected my outfits so I could wear the gloss. Because I missed some of my other looks I bought Molto Mauve (500) too. It's a lot more neutral and I didn't like it at first, because I thought it was too close to my own lip colour, but this one grew on me too. It does have a beautiful colour that subtly compliments my own lip colour. I've been wearing this one like crazy too. Can't wait to get more colours! (Which is a pain in Europe, because the stores only carry, like, six...)

These glosses have a peachy scent and taste, I really like it and I can't stand a lot of scents and tastes, so I think they will be fine for most people. As long as you don't drink too much or eat anything they last quite long. When they fade, they have a nice, even fade, so they just get less intense and glossy, but it's not like you'll end up with a line around the edges of your lips. To me, its lasting power is absolutely fine.

This is the first type of lip gloss/lip colour hybrid I've tried and I like it a lot more than a classical lipstick or lip gloss. I barely wore anything else for two weeks when I got it, so I decided it might be interesting to invest in a high end one. A few weeks later, Doir entered my house for the first time. I'll be posting something on the Addict Fluid Stick very soon!

Lots of light,

Sloppy D. 

If l'Occitane was a charity, I'd be a wonderful person

It started like all bad shopping habits start. With a sample. One tiny tube of awesome smelling hand cream made me go into a store I would've never visited before. In my head I had labeled it "overpriced" and therefore "snobby". Once inside, there was no going back. 

I'm not going to talk to you about the hand cream, although it smells like God's flower garden (nope, I have no idea where that came from). Instead  I'll share with you some thoughts about the l'Occitane product line I swear should come with a warning sign, because it's  so addictive it makes you panic twice a day when the thought "but what if they discontinue this?" comes to mind. Agony, I say!

Anyway, I'm talking about the Angelica line. I started using it because I'd been having a lot of trouble with rashes on my face. Breakouts were another common phenomenon to my combo-skin. I figured that was normal, and frankly, I didn't give a damn about how unhealthy my skin was. It's only after I started taking care of it that I realized many of the blemishes on my face could be avoided. That's all thanks to my discovery of the Angelica face care products. If they hadn't been so darn addictive, I would've never used them long enough the see the difference. So allow me to advertise them a little!

I discovered the "crème radieuse" through a sample (figures). When I got it I uninterestedly gave it to my mom, but one day a rash on my face got so bad even I was desperate enough to put something on it. The sample was the only thing at hand, so I rubbed it on without thinking about it too much.  After a few hours, I noticed my face felt weird. It wasn't oily. It even felt soft, fresh and very hydrated. Quite impressing I could still feel that after a few hours, n'est-ce pas?

So, yet another l'Occitane product won me over. About two days later I was at the shop, buying a €33 jar of face cream. Me, a person who had spent a total of about €5 on face care over the previous 22 years of her life. The shop keeper was really nice. We spent a long time going over several products to determine which one would be best for me. After half an hour of debating we ended up deciding my first choice was going to be the best one ('cause that's how us girls roll, ain't it?).

For about six weeks now I've been keeping up with my new skincare routine. First, I wash my face with the Angelica cleansing gel (they have great salespeople at l'Occitane), then I apply the Crème Radieuse and that's that. I do this every morning and every evening. For the first four weeks I thought the only difference it made was that my skin was a little less rashy and definitely less oily, but over the past week I have really noticed a big difference. My face has become a lot less oily in general and feels super soft.

Where I used to get a big pimple about every two days, often even several on a small spot, nowadays I barely get any. I think I've had about three over the past three weeks and those were just tiny, negligible ones. That's a huge difference. I've also noticed a significant decrease in blackheads on my forehead, nose and chin. The rashes have stopped nearly completely. I honestly never thought my face could look like this. Of course, I still have wide pores and it doesn't look perfect, but it's such a big improvement. I'm over the moon!

And then there's that smell... I'm véry picky when it comes to smells and this one is so natural I can honestly say it's my favourite smell in the world right now. It doesn't really smell like a perfume, more like flowers, but not sweet and rosey and still not sharp either. You know what? I'm bad at describing smells. But I can tell you that every time it's on my face I rub some extra underneath my nose and make this face every few seconds:

convincing enough for ya?

The Angelica face cream retails at €33 a jar (50ml) in Europe. For summer they've added a new edition, that's more of a gel and seems great for sweaty days. Can't wait to try that one out. The Angelica Cleansing Gel is €17 for 200ml. The pump on it is great because you always get just the right amount of product and it lasts you ages. 

Just a week ago I've added another Angelica product to my daily face care routine and I've been loving that one too. Stay tuned for a review!

Lots of light,

Sloppy D.

Sloppy what?

Diva! Because there's no reason why I can't be both at the same time.

Just a few weeks ago I would define myself as sloppy. Although it's okay to be and look messy from time to time, it's not okay to neglect yourself, which was exactly what I did.

I've never been one to spend a lot of time in the bathroom before leaving the house. In fact, I barely even looked in the mirror. Not only because I didn't like how I looked, but, and this is worse, because I simply didn't care. Make-up, fashion and pretty things were for pretty girls, no need to waist them on me.

Recently I realized I was wrong and I had every right to take care of myself, because who else would?

So here I am, a twenty-something, overweight girl, taking her first steps in the world of pretty things. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I do and remember, there's no reason you can't be sloppy and a diva, just make sure you appreciate the beautiful mess you make.

Lots of light,

Sloppy D.

Wake up delight

The first thing I indulged myself with when I got my very first pay, was something I've been wanting for quite some time. I've always loved the idea of a wake-up light. I was very skeptical about their ability to actually wake people, but when I stumbled upon one in a time that I could actually afford to take the risk, I decided to give it a go.

(No time to read the full text? Skip to the conclusion at the bottom instead!)

I bought the cheapest one that was still from a well known brand, which meant I still had to cough up €80. The cheaper ones just look awful and I doubt they are powerful enough to wake you. I could be wrong though, haven't tried them yet.

I love the simplicity of my Philips one. It doesn't have a lot of functions, it's really nice to handle and I actually use every function I paid for. That's quite refreshing for technology nowadays (or do you actually use the stock features on your iPhone? Yeah, me neither...). In a few simple steps it was set up and good to go. I was glad to discover there's still a possibility to play sound along with the light, just to be sure it would definitely wake me. 

The first day I used it, I was surprised to see the light actually woke me up before the sound did. The light starts going on about half an hour before alarm time and gradually increases, like a sunrise. It's actually a really warm, natural light. It's so nice I even use it to fall asleep (there's also a sleep function where the light gradually decreases). I let it start at the lowest light setting, and then it goes out in about 20 minutes. It's so soft I easily fall asleep with it lid. I love it when I'm very tired but I still have to do things like put on cream or something. After I've finished, I don't even have to turn off the light anymore. (what? That can be very annoying when you're sleepy!)

Anyway, so the light wakes me up sometime before the "alarm" goes off. That means I wake up in a very natural way, not with a shock like when I used to have "Raise Your Glass" by Pink as an alarm and she started screaming "right, right, turn off the lights!" at me in the morning. I usually doze off for a few more minutes after the light wakes me up. When I hear blackbirds singing a few minutes later, I know it's actually time to wake up. The sound's so natural I caught my mom looking out my window one morning, wondering since when we had so many blackbirds in town. 

Overall it's made a huge difference for me. It doesn't really feel like I have to wake up. It just feels like my body decides to wake up by itself. You know how it can spoil a song forever when you've used it as an alarm? Well, I have absolutely no problem when I hear blackbirds singing. They make me think of my bed in a good way. 

the most expensive model with docking station

The Philips wake-up light I have costs about €80. There are two more expensive models as far as I know. The first retails at €110. The only difference is that it has 5 wake-up sounds and several colours. Don't know if I would use those, though. The yellow sun-like light is pretty! The most expensive model is about €130. It comes with a docking station for you iPhone or iPod and an app so you can operate the light with them. It also has 8 wake-up sounds. I like the idea of it, but I'm sticking to my "cheap" one, since I try not to take my phone upstairs at night and I certainly don't like leaving it right next to my head as I sleep (it stresses me out).

Conclusion: I knew I would like the warm light of this thing, I just thought it wouldn't wake me up. It does and in a great way. This is definitely not an alarm clock, because I've never woken up alarmed anymore since I've had it. I highly recommend this for all you stressed out people who hate the thought of waking up for another working day.  Great investment!

Lots of light,

Sloppy D.