The Empties Reviewed | Recommendations and what not to buy

Hello and welcome to another Empties post, where you will get to know what I have used up and which products I loved and which not. I hope I can safe you from buying a worse product and that I can give you some inspiration with the top products of this post. Opinions are my own, so the flops (it's such a mean word) may be not your opinion and does work for you. That's okay because we all have different tastes and so let me know if you had a product I showed in this post and how you like it. Long introduction ended, so let's get started!

The products, that didn't work for me and weren't ah-mazing:

- Garnier Micellaire Water - Sorry for this one but this micellaire water hasn't really worked for me.
I know it's a really hyped dupe to the Bioderma one (which I liked a lot when I used it, but unfortunaltely tested on animals, which is a huge minus), but I had to use a lot of the product to getmy makeup of and it also left the skin quite tight and and dehydrated. So this was a bit of a flop plus Garnier tests on animals so I will definitely not buy it again.

- Essence Eyeliner Pen - so I am the kind of person who doesn't wear eyeliner in her daily life, a) because of laziness and b) because of a fluttered hand, which messes up everything. But nevertheless I wanted to give it a go and I have to say this eyeliner pen was really hard to handle and it's not dark enough so all you get is a greyish flick on your eye which looks really weird. Also the product isn't wet enough, so it does dry-out after a bit of time. Didn't work for me so the journey to find the prefect eyeliner continues.

- Yves Rocher Monoii Shower Gel - this was actually not as bad as I thought it was gonna be, but I expected a bit more from the cute packaging (packaging victim) so this was more like a really sweet and strong smelling 0815 shower gel and if I remember it right it wasn't also that cheap, so I will rather use some of my other favourite shower gels.

-  The Da Vinci Cleansing Soap - so this is supposed to clean your makeup brushes perfectly, which it actually did, but it wasn't that ah-mazing to rebuy it, because it's really expensive (about 6 or 7 Euro for such a small soap). The smell was okay, but you also get the fresh annd cleaned effect on your brushes if you buy a normal drugstore soap without any scent, so this has not to be repurchased.

The Tops and what to recommend:

+ Lush Snow Fairy - I don't have to say much about this product. If you like cotton candy and really sweet scents you have to get this one from Lush around Christmas. I suprisingly doesn't like cotton candy scents normally, but this one is just amazing and it also creates the biggest foam mountains you can ever imagine! I always rebuy it each year and have definitely to get the biggest bottle this year to get me through this year.

+ Our Moment Shower gel - so obviously it's a favourite because it's from One Direction, right? No just kidding, it's also a really nice floral scent which reminds me of the spring/ summer and I quite liked it a bit more than the proper parfum, don't ask me why because I don't really know either. Maybe I will include this on any wishlist to get it for Christmas or birthday, because it was quite nice and the scent stayed a bit longer than other scents from shower gels do (also a good stocking filler).

+ Laura Biagotti Shower Gel - got this from Franci a long (really long) time ago (maybe the first present she gave to me?) and haven't used it all the time and kinda forgot about it until I used it up recently and I have to say it was a different scent I would normally go for, but I quite liked the more strong and feminin scent, so this was a top product.

+ Swiss O'Par Deep Cleansing Shampoo - this is a really good shampoo, if you want a shampoo who gets all the used hair products (like gel and hairspray) out of your hair. It cleanses the hair prefectly and leaves the hair with a hint of scent (this one was a citrus scent) and let you have the 'I went to the hairdresser and I feel so glamorous' feeling which is great. A minus: I am not 100% sure if Swiss O'Par is cruelty free so I will not rebuy it, because I currently use some similar products which are a bit more amazing and are 100% cruelty-free (you will see these products in another Empties post somewhat next year I think). Also little information: My hair isn't tzhat complicated, so it doesn't need as much care, so I mostly use just a shampoo and blow-dry them and that's basically everything. Short said: The most shampoos work for me, so I am not so choosey when it comes to buying shampoos.

+ Clinique High Impact Mascara - My first high-end mascara, which I used when I was in eighth to nineth grade and loved it that much, I repurchased it a second time. Because I didn't realised that they were both over - used and basically empty (plus they also lasted a really long time) I will show you two of them in this empties. It's basically a flat brush and it gives you a little bit of length and the right potion of dark black. Perfectly for already long lashes which need a bit of comfort to make your eyes pop. Very natural and perfect for the daily life and school. Minus: Clinique tests on animals :( . So will be not repurchased.

+Maybelline Fit Me Concealer - A very, very hyped product and a huge love in my makeup collection. Not much to say about it: Doesn't look cakey, perfect to portion and does stay in place all- day. Unluckily not from a cruelty-free brand, so I need to find a dupe for this. Really dissapointing, because it's that good.

So these were my current Empties, I hope you liked it. You may noticed that the most products are unluckily not cruelty-free and that I won't rebuy them because of that fact. I focused mainly on the product itself, so some products were tops, even if they aren't cruelty-free. I'm just using up these products to replace them with maybe even better animal friendly products. If you are a new reader of The Bow, than you can check out my Cruelty Free Products haul, to get some inspiration, linked down below.
http://thebowkarina.blogspot.de/2015/07/trying-out-naturalcruelty-free-cosmetics.html

Have a nice day and see you soon,
Karina <3

Travel around the world in one day | Impressions of the StreetfoodFestival'15

Hi,Hello and Bonjour! Today I will take you on a trip around the world. Well not exactly but I will give you an insight at the different eating cultures of many different countries. Well more precise: Me and some of my friends "travelled" (if you can say that but it felt like a vacation because we had to catch so many trains) a bit of a way to another city and went to the official Streetfood Festival, which shows you the different eating cultures from America to the Orient.

First stop: A stand called "Orient Soul",which sold dishes like couscous salad, fresh made hummus and another taboulé salad with fresh baked flatbread, which I shared with my best friend Jana. It was absolutely delicious and I also guess it's easy to make that side dish at home. 

Next stop: "Antiochia", which was lebanese food and really, really delicious (I just have bought the ingredients to recreate it at home because it's that easy). We all decided to get the vegetarian version, so our falafel wrap was with some feta cheese,carrots,a yoghurt sauce,onions and tomatoes. The wrap was nicely rolled up in a "newspaper" with a little food crossword puzzle on it. 

After a while of digestion (we had to pause a minute, because we were so full and we wanted to try out as many dishes as we could) we decided to get something sweet as a dessert.
So we went all American and got some "Munchkins" which are basically deep-fried balls with some sort of chocolate in it. We decide on the Oreo ones and shared a bag of four. These were absolutely amazing but two of them were enough, because they are so sweet and make you filled up (even the catering promised the calories are "deep-fried" away :D ). 

After that me and Jana had to say goodbye our other two friends and continued the food-journey with getting a cold lemonade with elderflower (even though it's literally winter where I live, the weather of that day was pretty good and luckily more of a weather from a late summer) after that we also had to go home so we got a Berry Cheesecake Pudding (basically crumbled cookie,a berry cream and some natural cream layered in one bowl) which was low-carbed and absolutely delicious (the hundredth time I used the word delicious in this post) prepared with that dessert we made our way back to the train station, missed our train and ended up in Starbucks drinking a Very Berry and a Mango-Papaya drink (don't know the name of it). End of story.

No just kidding. So we ended up in Starbucks which was obvious and after that took the train to our hometown.
This day was basically one of the best memories in this year. We had a very relaxed and good time, ate really (really) good and got to know so many new dishes. The Festival was also at a relaxed venue, directly at the river and the weather was incredible. Such a nice atmosphere and absolutely recommendable for any food-lover. I hope you liked this little insight and look forward to hear your feedback!

Question of the day: 

Have you been to a Streetfood Festival yourself?

See you soon with a new post and if you have holidays: Happy Holidays!

Karina <3

Back to School Supplies + Organisation Tips and Tricks

Hello and welcome to a fresh new post! The time has come: summer is ending and with that our beloved holidays, so it's time to get organised (and mentally prepared) for the new school year. But also a new school year means new chances and new experiences.For helping you to start the school year with the motivation you need, I will write down my best useful and essential tips and tricks, whilst showing you how I got organised for the new school year with buying new stationery supplies.
First of all let's start with the few things I got for the new schoolyear. At this point I think less is more so I only got two big, flexible folders: one for the main courses and one for the minor courses. In the folder for the main courses I will just file some work sheets and in the other one I will file some headwords. To note everything I got another spiral-bound notebook. The best with that is that you have basically one half of lined paper and the other half with graph paper, so you don't have to bring two notebooks. Pencil Case Content wise I just got two pencils, two ballpoints and some new markers, because I had so many pencils from last year aswell. Because I always tend to bring too many pencils with me and loose the overview, I told Franci (my best friend, and currently in London) to get me one of the gorgeous Jack Wills pencil cases, because this one is a bit smaller than my one (so excited to get it when she comes back). Because you know that the teacher often doesn't perforate the exercise sheets it's always good to bring a little (pink) perforator for that case. Also I absolutely adore my new organising "The Palgrave Student Planner", which is perfect to write down everything you need to learn and do at home. Very compact and offers a lot of space and exra material. I can absolutely recommend that one.

Beauty wise I packed a few things together in a emergency kit, beacuse you know the drill with looking really exhausted and groase in the later lessons at the afternoon. In the next picture I will show you what's inside this little lifesaver:

P.S.: The products I used in this little collage (made with Polyvore) are just examples, which are similar to what I have in my little makeup bag.

Evelyn and Crabtree The Gardeners Hand Cream | this smells so good like rosmary, herbs and very        natural (without animal testing obvs)

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder | whenever your face gets shiney and you need to look fresher just powder a bit of it onto your face (I tend to bring this powder with a little makeup sponge so I don't need any pencils)

Burts Bees Lip Balm | For dry lips in the colder months and to moisturise your lips

Pink Headphones from Happy Plugs | I absolutely love these plugs! You can buy them in many different and fancy colours and the quality is really good for its price of 20 euros I think.

Tissues and makeup wipes | I don't have to say something about that, just that they are handy and essential in so many different situations

Soap and Glory Hand Maid Hand Santisizer | Really good to bring with you when you use public transportations

Deodorant | Because you don't want to be sweaty and you want to smell good (also not has to be miss in your kit)

Hair ties and Tangle Teezer | For the perfect hairstyle all day long!

To keep everything together I have a perfect sized clear Clinique bag which doesn't take too much place.

Chewing Gum | Not in my makeup bag but very necessary when you want to smell good after a big lunch (and you will have so many lunch times because trust me you will basically live in the school because of lessons in the afternoon)

  

 Other 

essentials to complete the list above:

Phone

Tangle Teezer

CD Deodorant

Extra Chewing Gum

Purse with month ticket for the train and student ID card

Key

Headphones

Burts Bees Lip Balm

Hand Santisizer

Some cereal bars (healthy and filling)

Last but not least I will share some of my most useful tips and tricks with you, beacause they're making my daily school life a bit easier:

Eat healthy and do sports | Always great for a healthy and balance life style. I just think you don't even need too much time to prepare a little meal (just a big Cesar Salad with bread or rice with a variation of vegetables). If you want a whole student recipes post let me know it :).  Also try to make time for some sports wether it's a little home workout or a visit to the gym, with the right breath technique that can also be really relaxing and trust me you will feel great after a good run or a zumba class, just because you did some sports.

Learn as early as you can | I always tend to do my homeworks and learning too late and alwys regretting it afterwards (less sleep, no motivation, exhaustion). If you are like me just keep your resoltion and try to learn as early as you can and you can benefit from it, because you have more time and relaxation.

Pack your things the evening before | Something I always do because it saves so much time in the morning. Just pack your things at the evening before school and at the morning you are good to go! (Also who has time for anything timetaking in the morning?) 

Create a playlist for the tired early mornings | Personally I found the app Spotify really helpful when you are such a music lover like me (I was so so obsessed with listening to the big variety of music this month). Because I am not an early bird I just created a playlist called "School Mornings" with all my motivating and favourite songs to get me awake in the morning and to start the day right.

 

  

Take breaks and calm yourself down | To a good learning method there must also conclude the relaxation. Take breaks, do what you like, meet friends and live your life besides the learning. Don't forget to take your me-time to calm down after a long and exhausting school day.

Sleep early to be fresh in the morning | Go to bed a bit earlier  as usual (like 21.30 to 22.00 p.m.) and you will be more awake in the morning and more motivated for school. Also a big match to the learning, because our body and our mind needs its hours to renew the energy for a new day. To stay up late you also have the weekend (living for the weekends!)

Don't take things too serious | We are all humans and we all fail sometimes and that's not a shame. If something doesn't work out like you have imagined it, don't be sad, keep your head up and stay strong. Work for your dreams and it will all be worh it.

Some last tips: I got a really helpful book, I randomly found on Amazon named Bestnote, which is really well written and gives you some tricks to divide your learning time from your relaxing time. This book also helps you to find the best suiting learn method for you, so it's definitely a book I would recommend if you want to know more about different ways to learn.

One last thing: BE YOURSELF! You are perfect the way you are and the others will appreciate that. Meeting new people always means a lot of nervosity but if you are open for new contacts you will find your way to convince them from your great personality. If they are mean to you don't be sad, they don't deserve you and you will find better friends than them. Smile and make new friends and be the best version of yourself. 

I hope you all have a great new school year and we'll see each other soon with a fresh new post,

Karina <3