Tomorrow, I wil participate in something called a zombie "pub crawl" where tons of people dressed up as zombies will walk around Copenhagen getting drunk. Sounds awesome, right? Yeah, but now there's pressure to find the PERFECT zombie costume/makeup...

You don't just want to look like a zombie--- you have to have a theme! My friends already have theirs figured out, so I was trying to think of something cool...

like Wednesday Addams as a zombie!

OR a bad-ass Japanese schoolgirl as a zombie!

Well, we shall see what happens tomorrow...

There will be a lot of fake blood, wigs and BEER going on--- that much, I know! :)

My sister in law was visiting me today and told me about this cool German model called Bonnie Strange. I checked out her blog and totally fell in love. She's super funny and cute and has a great (and creative) sense of style!

Check it out here: http://www.strangeambition.com/

I have never been an exercise person. NEVER. I always thought it was boring! That is, until I started doing yoga. Yoga is pretty new to Denmark and a lot of people don't know what it's about or are afraid to try it.

The fact is that there are SO many different kinds of yoga and yoga teachers that you really have to do a few classes to see which kind of yoga and which teaching method is best for you.

I have to say that since I really began doing yoga on a regular basis, I have lost weight, tightened up the muscles in my arms, legs, stomach and back AND improved my flexibility overall. It's a full body workout-- and although you may laugh the first time you do some of the positions, they produce results!

I am just going to quickly go over what seems to be the most popular forms of yoga here in Copenhagen. (You can find a bunch of yoga classes at fitness centers and if you're just starting out, it might be a good way to see if you really like doing it before you spend the money on a good yoga studio membership.)

1. Hatha Yoga

Good for a beginner. Goes over basic yoga positions and is usually slower and more relaxing than other yoga classes.

Fitness World's website (www.fitnessworld.dk) describes it as:

"Hatha Yoga giver dig ro i sindet og velvære i kroppen. Der fokuseres på smidighed, styrke og kropsbevidsthed. De klassiske yogastillinger gennemgås i et roligt tempo. Der kan dog også være nogle mere dynamiske øvelser og sekvenser i løbet af timen. Den dynamiske del varmer kroppen op og stimulerer kredsløbet. Kropsvarmen bruges til at gå dybere ind i de forskellige stræk og yogastillinger."

 

2. Flow Yoga

Good for those who know a little bit about yoga positions and are ready to put them together in faster sequences that gets your heart pumping! (My personal favorite.)

Also from Fitness World's website:

"Dette er en dynamisk yogaform, hvor yogastillingerne kædes sammen, som perler på en snor. Vi glider fra yogastilling til yogastilling med meget få pauser i løbet af timen. Åndedrættet er centralt i Flow Yoga, da man bruger et kraftfuldt "ujjayi-åndedræt" til at skabe energi og varme i kroppen. I Flow Yoga synkroniseres det kraftfulde åndedræt med bevægelserne."

 

3. Bikram Yoga

This yoga is a specific sequence of 26 positions done in 40 degrees heat! It will make you SWEAT but the advantage is that when your muscles are heated, they become much more flexible. This yoga is for people who like to push themselves. The first time I did it, I nearly fainted cause I didn't drink enough water-- so read about "the first time" on http://bikramcph.dk before you go!

Bikram Yoga Cph has this to say about it:

"Bikram Yoga passer til alle, uanset alder og fysisk formående. Vi udfører 26 forskellige stillinger og hver øvelse forbereder kroppen til den næste. Denne specifikke rækkefølge af yoga øvelser (asanas) sammen med varmen, optimerer kroppens syresammensætning, udrensning og velbefindende. Når vi træner Bikram Yoga regelmæssigt, øver vi vores sind og styrker vores helbred både fysisk og psykisk. Formålet med denne opbyggende, styrkende, vitaliserende, præventive og terapeutiske yoga er at forbygge, lindre og helbrede sygdom/skader, samtidigt med, at vi begrænser effekten af stress, slid og alderdom."

Got a package last week with some fun stuff from BeautyBizz! It included a really cool mascara where the brush slides out, a heated eyelash curler and mineral foundation that comes with a kabuki brush!

You can get all 3 of these great products in one package (for a discount!!!) with Monday the 14th's TrendDeal. So sign up if you're not already a Trendsales member and get the deal emailed to you next Monday!

(Check out BeautyBizz's products on Trendsales HERE!)

1. Belvada Mascara

What makes Belvada's mascara so interesting is that it's a "one-handed" application brush, which means you can just slide out the brush and apply it with just one hand! It also has a nice fluffy brush that totally separates the lashes (no clumps!) and the formula is paraben free.

I thought it looked pretty natural on and made my lashes look almost doll-like! Another plus is that you don't have to use eye makeup remover to get it off. Just wash your face normally with lukewarm water and soap and you don't get any black greasy stuff underneath your eyes. Yay!

Here are pictures of my normal lashes and my Belvada mascara-ed lashes!

2. Babe Lash heated eyelash curler

Babe Lash is a heated eyelash curler which is great for people who are intimidated by a regular eyelash curler or can't seem to use one correctly no matter how much they practice! This heated curler is super simple to use. Just pop in the battery (it's included), turn on the switch and wait for 15 seconds. (A tiny light will show you that it's turned on.)

You can see in the close-up picture that there is a tiny metal spring inside, which just heats up enough to curl your lashes. All you do is hold the head of the curler up to your eyelashes, push them back and hold for about 5 seconds.

They also recommend that you use the curler AFTER applying your mascara. (Be extra careful if you are a contact lens wearer.)

Here are my normal lashes and my lashes after using mascara and Babe Lash's heated curler.

3. Mineral Dust Foundation with Kabuki Brush

I recently got a very weird suntan (or burn) that made parts of my neck not match the color of my face. This is really fun when you wear makeup-- how on earth do you match?! Luckily the mineral dust foundation I got from BeautyBizz solved that problem! It was a shade darker than the mineral foundation I usually use, so it was perfect to even out my skin tone without it looking strange.

I love using powdered mineral foundation because it's a lot more flexible than other foundations. Since it is a loose powder, it is easier to apply and blend than regular liquid foundation. You just dip the kabuki brush into the powder, shake off the excess and apply it to your face (and neck if you want) using circular motions to cover your skin evenly.

I think it looks more natural and covers just as well as most liquid foundation. It also feels lighter on the skin. I thought this one gave me a nice bronzed look because it was darker than my natural color. (My friends actually just thought it was because I got a great tan!)

Here I am just wearing mascara with NO foundation on.

 

Here I am with the mineral foundation on (all 3 pics below). You can see it covered up all the freckles on my nose and also gave me a nice glowy look compared to what my skin normally looks like.

I've been testing out some more products for review (will probably post a blog about it tomorrow) and while I was doing that, I have been taking some pictures with Instagram of my daily life.

I am obsessed with Instagram at the moment and treat it like a mini version of FB (but pictures only)! So fun.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their long weekend!

Hope all of you in DK are enjoying your day off today (even though the sun has now gone again!)...

I realized 4 weeks have gone by since I started using M2 Beauté's Eyelash Activating Serum I received from SpaShop! (Some of you might remember my review from this older post.)

(Check out SpaShop's Trendsales shop HERE.)

Anyway, I took a picture of my lashes BEFORE I started using the serum. (The lighting wasn't the best, so the quality is not so great, but you can see them and how long they were at any rate.)

Then here are my lashes 4 weeks AFTER using the serum. (They say that you can really see visible results in 6-8 weeks, but you continue using it from 12-16 weeks.) I can already see the difference, though! I can see that they are definitely longer. Hopefully they will get thicker as well after a few more weeks!

I underestimated the Danish sun and though I should have known better, I did NOT wear sunscreen yesterday. I regret my decision.

I do not regret drinking cheap Lambrusco and eating crackers and cheese with a couple friends in Kongens Have, though!

Nor do I regret then picking up my son and eating some fruit with him at the park near our flat, during the remaining part of the sunny day...

 

This is the aftermath--- Remember to wear sunscreen even if you don't feel like the sun is that hot! Windy days can sometimes be tricky, cause you don't feel like you're getting a sunburn!

Put on sunscreen 15-30 min. before going outside and sitting in the sun and reapply if you're sitting there for more than an hour or two!

Then, you can prevent this:

 

 

But if you forget and you get a nasty sunburn, you can get some relief by applying 100% aloe vera gel to the burn frequently throughout the day. Nice and cool...

You might remember THIS POST and THIS POST about matte nail polish topcoats! I finally got the time today to do a little tutorial on how to have a little fun with it!

You just need a basecoat, regular nailpolish (darker and brighter colors work better), clear tape and of course a matte topcoat.

I did it outside in the park cause the weather was AMAZING!!!

Step 1.

Paint one coat of base on clean, dry nails. Let dry.

Step 2.

Paint 2 coats of your regular nail polish. Remember to let your nails dry completely in between coats.

(Note about this polish: I always buy OPI or Essie or other name brand polishes, but this time, I decided to try a "cheap" one, just to check out the difference. Well, it's good in a pinch, but you can really tell the quality difference. The polish went on unevenly and took forever to dry--- so you do get what you pay for FYI.)

Here's how the nail polish looks after 2 coats. The color is awesome!

While I was waiting for my nails to dry, I just took off my boots...

... and read a book.

Step 3.

After your nails are COMPLETELY DRY--- (I was a little impatient and it didn't work out as well as I had hoped), take some tape and choose what kind of line you want to make with it on your nail. I chose a diagonal line across the length of my nail.

Make sure you make the piece of tape less sticky by putting it on your skin and taking it off about 10 times. (The less sticky, the better, so it won't leave any residue on your polish.)

Press it on your nail gently, so you get a nice line. Also remember to use a new piece of tape each time, for each nail.

Step 4.

Carefully paint the matte top coat on the exposed part of the nail. Let dry for one minute and gently peel the tape off. Let the polish dry completely.

Again, I was a bit impatient so the lines weren't as clean as they should have been. Still a cool look though! :)

As some of you may remember from one of my older blog posts, I started collagen treatments at Charlotte Bonnén in Charlottenlund some weeks ago.

Basically, you get into one of these machines (like a tanning bed, but without the UV rays) and lay there for 15 min. It's fast, painless, easy and you only have to do it twice a week in the beginning!

I have done 13 treatments as of now, but I started noticing results after about 8-10 treatments.

I wanted to wait until I had visible results from the collagen treatments, so I could show you, not only tell you about them. (My skin started getting softer and smoother a few weeks after I started the treatments but you can't show that in a picture, you know?!)

Anyway, these pictures below-- I wanted to show you side by side, so you can see the difference-- are of my upper back. My most HATED body part!

I have always had bad skin there. I thought it would get better after a while and I have tried everything to get the skin to clear up. After all these years, it's mostly scars and brown spots.

The first picture is before the treatments and the second one on the right is after the treatments. (There is absolutely no photoshopping going on in these pictures, just some color adjustment so the skin color in the pics match better.)

You can really see the difference much better in person, but you can see in the photos that a lot of the small dots and brown spots have really faded. The skin itself has gotten really smooth as well! Barely any bumps at all!

Plus, my husband (without me asking anything) said my back looked the best he's ever seen it! Now that's saying something, cause he usually doesn't notice stuff like that! :)

I will be doing more of the treatments in the hope that my back will continue on this path of improvement! Years and years of embarrassment concerning being in anything backless (swimsuit, etc.) will hopefully be over soon!

To be continued...

Every time I go to Berlin, I always buy a few beauty products, cause let's face it--- it's much cheaper than buying them here in Cph!

Some were cheaper than others, but sometimes, you have to splurge! :)

Lavera repair balm:

This balm goes on smooth and pretty thick and stays on for a long time. I think I like the texture, cause a lot of natural balms are light and a bit too greasy, but sometimes it does get a little waxy if you apply too much. I'm on the fence about this one...don't know if I would buy it again.

Lavera "Faces" cleansing gel:

I love the feel and smell of this face wash. It cleanses gently, but you still get that fresh and clean feeling afterwards. You only need to use the tiniest bit, so it lasts for a while. It also has all natural ingredients, including calendula.
The price is also great if you can't afford the more expensive natural skin care lines. I bought it at a Bio Market by my friend's place for just under 7 euros.

Butter Matte Finish Top Coat:

Was walking around a mall early one morning, trying to kill some time, when all of a sudden, this nail polish display caught my eye. "Butter" is a polish brand from the UK and the best part is that they are Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP and Paraben free!

So I decided to paint one nail to try out a color and then I saw that they had a matte top coat, like the Essie one I posted about earlier. This one from Butter was a bit expensive (23€) but I had to have it! I haven't gotten the chance to do a full manicure with it, but when I do, I will definitely show you guys.

Armani foundation "Designer Lift":

I have heard for years about Armani having the most amazing foundation, so when we were shopping around KaDeWe and I saw their makeup counter, I had to give it a try.

They just came out with a new formula that was all about lifting the skin, so I decided to get that one at 49€, instead of the regular one, which was 47€. I tried it out first on the back of my hand to get a feel for the texture and then on my face for coverage and color matching. I realized it felt much lighter on my face than some of the MAC foundations I have used in the past, but with the same coverage. (I like medium coverage usually because it covers some skin issues, but doesn't make you look like a freaky plastic doll.)

I also noticed that it was extremely difficult to wipe off my hand without makeup remover, which is great. One bad thing about wearing regular foundation is when you hug someone taller than you and your makeup rubs off on their shirt! Embarrassing! So I am now eager to test it on a night out to see how it measures up. (An extra bonus is that the nice girl at the counter gave me a tester size of the regular formula to try out. Yay! Gotta love testers!)

You can find some of the "Luminous Silk" Armani foundation in the Trendsales Bazar HERE!