Weekend Reads 11-05-2015

Viens, France

      Hi everyone, how did your week go? I have finally settled down after coming back from France. I really loved the Provence, it is amazingly beautiful, the food is great, and the tiny villages are just drop-dead gorgeous and calm. Everything is so pretty, the houses, the streets, the clothes and accessories... seriously, my eyes hurt when I got back to Germany.
    I'd like to give a shout-out to an amazing language learning podcast: if you want to learn some French or any other major language, I really recommend the Coffee Break podcasts. They are slow paced but really easy to follow, and have this building-block method which is really nice. And they are free! I went through some Coffee Break French podcasts before my trip, and I was amazed how well I got around with what I learned (plus, the French were super-nice to me, they really like it if you make the effort). Right now I'm going through Coffee Break Spanish, since I can understand a lot of Spanish passively and would like to learn to string together a sentence.

* Style: I love Kleiderkreisel, it's my favourite place to buy, swap and sell clothe. I recently discovered the US equivalent Vinted! France has Vinted.fr, Vinted.pl for Poland, Votocvohoz for the Czech Republic, and Manodrabuziai for Italy.

* Life: Life is all about all those Kronos moments.

* Photography: DIY vs store-bought light tents

* Cute: Comics every introvert will understand

* Swim: how to securely fasten bikini strings

* Beauty: Cara Delavigne's brows are available to try on (scroll to the bottom of the post).

* Book of the week: The Erotic Mind is a really great book about the psychology of sex. It examines the causes of the human desires and turn-ons, exploring the idea that humans use eroticism to heal emotional wounds and find a way to accept themselves. Powerful stuff.

Three Makeup Brushes For Heavy Handed Makeup Rookies

   Do you tend to apply too much foundation, or maybe you have a hard time making your blush look subtle? Do you love barely-there make-up? Here are three tools that you will find really helpful.

  These are definitely not must-haves and you will not find them in lists of basic tools. However they are really nice brushes to have, especially if you are just starting out and are having trouble with blending.

Kabuki from Lumiere minerals

Kabuki brush

   For foundation. It applies a light layer of foundation, without hard edges. It also does a great job at blending. Different Kabukis may have bristles that are looser or more compact.
Downsides: doesn't reach creases around the nose and the eyes, so I use some kind of concealer brush for that.

Fiber Optic Blush brush

Fiber Optic Brush

    For blush. Can also be used for bronzer, loose powder, even foundation. Also for highlighter or concealer / corrector (if the brush is small).
   This brush has very few long white bristles that pick up the blush and apply it, and between them are short black bristles that separate the white bristles. With this brush you could apply even fire-engine red blush on your cheeks and it will look subtle. I own this blush brush, as well as a small concealer / foundation brush. Note: not every black-and-white "skunk" brush is a fiber-optic brush!
Downsides: This brush won't work on very subtle colours or very lightly pigmented products.

  As you can see from the comparison above, the blush applied with a fiber optic brush is nicely blended and diffused.

E.L.F. fan brush

Fan Brush

    For blush, highlighter, bronzer.
     If you are looking for a very very light touch of the above products, you'll like a fan brush. It applies a really light dusting of powder products, the look is very diffused. Even if you use a regular blush brush to apply your blush or bronzer, a dusting with the fan brush on your forehead, chin and nose makes the look more natural (in real life a colour is never restricted to just one spot on your face). I don't own a fan brush at the moment, but it's one of the top things on my beauty shopping list.
Downsides: the fan shape means you can't apply the product to a very small spot.

  These are my three brushes that make applying subtle makeup really easy. What would you add to this list?

Is A Red Bra Really Invisible Under White Shirts?

   A while back I read this really crazy tip: that a red bra will not be visible when worn under white tops. I was extremely sceptical and was pretty surprised to see this statement repeated on many many places on the internet. So I decided to try it out. If this were true, I would finally have a reason to buy more red lingerie which I totally love!

   The test: the Weismann Roxana Balconette bra worn under a clingy top. The bra is lace and not smooth, so it is not the right thing to wear a clingy top, regardless of colours, but it would do for the test. The result: the bra was much less visible than expected, but not as invisible as a nude bra would be. I think that the red is closer to our skin tone than other colours like blue, green, purple, black or even white, so the actual red colour is not really apparent. However, it is still a bit of a contrast in terms of lightness/darkness (I mean that the actual red colour didn't show through, however it was clear that the bra was darker than my skin tone) A washed-out red would be invisible on my Caucasian skin (but I have yet to find a bra in that colour). However if you have a darker skin tone, you might find a red bra a great alternative to the hard to find browns.
  On that note, pink makes an excellent nude on paler skin tones!

  While researching on the net, I found this example; note how the red bra kinda looks subtler than the white bra. Also note that the mannequin is rather dark-skinned.


   Personally, I will continue to wear beige bras under my white stuff (unless I will want to make a statement and wear a black or colourful bra. Hasn't happened yet, but never say never.) However, I have realised that my red bras are more versatile than I though and will wear them more often under other stuff.

   Do you like red lingerie? Have you ever tried wearing it under white clothes? Do you know that in Poland red lingerie is supposed to bring luck, so girls often wear it for exams?

Which Cosmetics To Buy In France? A List Of Affordable And Mostly Natural Products.

  I love shopping for cosmetics in other countries! Before my trip to France, I researched a lot and made a list of great, mostly natural and affordable cosmetics that everyone seemed to recommend. On the spot I found a couple more interesting products. Here is a list of stuff to look for on your trip to France, or ask a friend or family member to bring you:

Hydrolates: 

You can find many interesting ones in France, for affordable prices. From example the Camomile Hydrolate from Sica Biotope (Biocoop). A guy in a Provençal market sold very interesting self-made hydrolates, unfortunately only in 1 litre bottles so I didn't buy any.

Clays:

Agrile is the leading brand for clays. You can buy pure clays, clay masques, and all kind of other products with clays in them. Even natural clay kitty litter.

Soaps:

Aleppo soaps are great for cleansing the face. If you have oily skin with impurities, go for ones with 34-45% laurel oil, for other types of skin try ones with less. Soaps with white Argile clays are great for thorough but gentle cleansing. Savon Noir (black soap) from Morocco is also very interesting (cheers Johanna). Then you can get the traditional Savon De Marseille soaps in just about any scent you can imagine (and a couple you never imagined).

Drugstore products:

Effaclar K (with BHA) from La Roche-Posay.

Bioderma Sensibio Micellar cleanser.

Homeoplasmine (homeopathic skin ointment) of Goop fame. (cheap)

Avene Thermal Spring Water mist (a tad pricey, there is also a cheaper thermal water available at Monoprix, I can't remember the name).

Other brands and products:

Couleur Caramel (makeup).

Florame (especially the stick foundation and the under-eye concealer.

Une Beaute (especially the Sunscreen, cream blushes and Green Pride Mascara).

Cattier, especially their micellar solution (organic yet more affordable than any other micellar cleanser I know) and their clay scrubs.
Melvita is a nice organic brand, a tad pricier than Cattier.

Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat milk (I found it at Monoprix, and it even comes in tiny travel size).

Hair gel biopha nature (cheap).

Brushes from Real Techniques.

Les Fleurs de Bach gommage.

Bust-firming creams -- the French really like those.

Sephora: Baguette de 3 pinceaux yeux brush -- practical brush for travelling.

Pschitt Magique cleanser with enzymes, a tad pricey (Sephora)

Kessa exfoliating glove -- in Moroccan or Algerian stores. Soft but really thorough exfoliation.

Oudh, the perfume of the middle east.

Where to buy: 

Organic stores carry many of the natural brands I mentioned above and more, along with good organic brands from Germany like Dr. Hauschka, Weleda, Logona or Lavera.

Stores with products from the Provence carry soaps and everything lavender. Moroccan / Algerian stores have interesting African products, including Kessa gloves, affordable Argan oil, Aleppo and black soaps and Oudh.

Marches (open-air markets) in villages in Provence carry soaps, and sometimes interesting herbs, cosmetics and hydrolates.

In Paris, check out Mademoiselle Bio, Naturalia, Biocoop.

   If in Marseilles, be sure to check out the Herboristerie Du Pere Blaize at the 4 and 6 Rue Meolan (near the old port). You can also check out their site, they ship worldwide. My host had some amazing oil mixes from them, like the bust-firming oil above (ingredients: carrot oil, rosemary, geranium, ylang-ylang, daisy oil, apricot seed oil). Unfortunately I didn't get the time to check the store out.
     The Cattier micellar solution and the clay scrub I bought in Germany but included here since they are actually French products. I will be reviewing in detail a couple of other things I bought.

   Let me know which French products you use, or which ones you'd love to try out!