The Tanya Burr Nail Polishes

For me, personally, YouTube has nearly completely replaced TV for quite a long time now. However, I like to think that it’s a rather recent phenomenon that some YouTubers’ popularities seem to have absolutely gone through the roof. Nowadays, especially some specific British YouTubers appear like real filmstars when you hear how whole crowds go crazy once they have spotted one of them somewhere (seriously though, the screaming can be quite mental).

It’s also kind of become a habit for Internet stars to bring out their own merch like books, clothing, posters or similar stuff. I certainly don’t mind that at all, but most of these things just don’t really manage to catch my interest … maybe with only one exception to the rule: cosmetics!

What intrigues me most about beauty products brought out by YouTubers is how good the actual quality of these items is. Hitherto, my assumption has been that most of the budget would be spent on cute packaging as well as clever marketing and less on decent ingredients, nice formulas et cetera. Nonetheless, I was definitely willing to adjust my opinion, in case a product that I’ve tested out myself could actually persuade me!

It’s usually quite hard to get hold of most of these beauty items here in Germany, but when I spotted something from the Tanya Burr cosmetics range in TK Maxx I just had to get it – especially because it’s a set of nail polish that I’m talking about (not that I actually own nearly every colour of the rainbow, anyway).

There were different sets to chose from, each with three out of the ten polishes in total that Tanya has brought out by now. I actually managed to find one that includes all three of my favourite colours from her range! I don’t know exactly how much they originally are in the UK, but I paid about 10€ for the set which seemed like quite a good deal to me.

The shades I got are called Penguin Chick, Peaches & Cream and Little Duck.

But now, let’s see how they actually look on the nails!

1. Penguin Chick

I find this a really nice take on a grey nail polish. The slightly brown undertones in it add kind of a warm effect to the whole shade. It is a rather subtle hue which makes it the perfect colour to wear every day!

Haribo Dragibus

To defend my title as an absolute sugar lover, I want to present another goodie to you, today.

Most of you probably know the brand Haribo which are quite famous for their gummy candy all over the world. Although it is actually a German confectionery company, that doesn’t mean that we can also get hold of all the different products that are out there.

One of these seemingly exclusive varieties are the Haribo Dragibus. They are supposed to be quite popular in France and also pretty much only available in this country, as far as I know.

There are three different Dragibus varieties: Dragibus Bi Cool, Dragibus Soft and the original Dragibus. I got a 120g pack of the original ones in one of my latest (rather extensive) online orders of foreign sweets.

Yankee Candle Summer Haul

Over the years my mum has been increasingly complaining about how hard it has become to find something to give me for my birthday which I actually haven’t picked out myself beforehand. Something I told her that she can never really go too wrong with are scented candles, especially Yankee Candles. So, when I finally turned 20 (which just sounds so much better than 19) I got a bunch of Yankee Candle samplers, amongst some other very lovely bits and bobs. This time, she had a really good hand (or rather nose) with picking out some fairly nice fragrances. Except for one or two, I actually liked all of the candles that I got! Now, here are the individual votive candles, each with the description taken from the Yankee Candle website as well as my opinion and rating on them.

Frankincense

"This precious resin has long been sought for its delicate sweetness, peppery spiciness and balsamic wood undertones."

To get it out of the way, I’m going to start with the only scent I absolutely didn’t like. Normally, I’d even burn candles that don’t really make me release torrents of enthusiasm but with this one I just couldn’t get myself to burn the whole thing as it literally made me feel sick. When the candle isn’t burning, it actually has quite a nice and subtle orange scent but as soon as you start burning it, the incense simply gets way too overpowering. ‘Balsamic wood undertones’ is definitely a slight understatement, if you ask me.

► 1/5 ◄

Red Raspberry

"Tangy sweet and full of nature’s goodness … there is nothing quite as delicious as ripe, rosy red raspberries."

After that odour nuisance, let’s get to something much more pleasantly smelling. With this candle, you get the fruity and deliciously sweet scent of freshly picked raspberries which isn’t too sickly at the same time. This kind of makes me want to go to the nearest raspberry plantation and pick baskets full of these tasty red fruits (… and pay for them afterwards, of course).

► 4/5 ◄

Teekanne 'Sweeteas'

As a lover of both tea and sweet treats, a combination of the two basically just had to appeal to me. Naturally, I got all excited when I saw new tea creations online which are supposed to emulate the taste of the world's most loved pastries. This excitement was followed by big disappointment when my local supermarket didn't stock them and finally ended with even bigger excitement when I finally found them in a big department store in a city near me.

The new tea range I’m talking about is by the brand Teekanne and was appropriately named 'Sweeteas'.

So far, there are 3 different flavours: Caramel Apple Pie, Lemon Cake and Blueberry Muffin all of which are flavoured fruit infusions.

First of all, I have to say that the smell of all three of these is just heavenly when you pour the boiling water on them. If you closed your eyes, you could literally imagine to be standing in your local bakery! Also, they are all naturally quite sweet due to the stevia leaves contained.
But now, let's get to each individual blend!

Blueberry Muffin:

This blend combines the slight tartness of blueberries with the tenderly sweet note of a muffin - I am very pleased!

Ingredients: apples, hibiscus, rose hip, stevia leaves, muffin aroma, blueberry aroma.

Spring Blossom

When I’m sitting at my desk procrastinating and doing my best at putting off work for as long as possible (as per usual), I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful view of our garden through my window. Especially in spring when everything’s blooming and colourful outside, this can be a serious distraction when you actually want to get some work done for once.

By chance, one of my favourite plants, which is the magnolia, actually stands right in front of my window. As its blooming period is usually very short,  I always make sure to take a picture before all of the petals have fallen down.

Somehow, this beautiful sight made me want to have some kind of floral design on my nails as well which is why I created this simple, bright and spring-appropriate nail art!

The Chocolate Factory

As nearly everything’s normally shut down on Sundays, me and my family occasionally like to visit a little seaside resort nearby called Eckernförde on those days. The shops there are allowed to be opened because of a special regulation for such resorts here in Germany.

The city certainly doesn't offer a ton of different stores, but I really enjoy browsing around the little shops without the intention of necessarily buying anything.

Anyway, there is a very special place in Eckernförde that is definitely worth stopping by - especially for everyone that has a sweet tooth like I do! The place I’m talking about is in fact a candy factory (in German 'Bonbonkocherei') where you can see how the candies are made and also purchase a ton of different sweets. Although I should warn you: Especially on Sundays it’s really busy in there!

However, this place also includes a separate chocolate factory in an outbuilding  which I stepped into as it was much less crowded. And let’s be honest: I prefer chocolate over wine gum and hard candies anyway.

For me, it’s always interesting to see which types of chocolate they have to offer when I go in there, as those tend to  vary throughout the different seasons. For instance, you can get ‘apple-cinnamon’ in winter and something like ‘strawberry’ or ‘orange’ in spring and summer.

All of the different chocolates just look so nice and appetizing next to each other! ^_^

Spring Has Sprung!

As you can tell from the title of this post, even in the apparently always cold and rainy Germany spring seems to have finally sprung!

Although I love wearing pastel shades in outfits as well as on my nails basically all year round, I especially tend to combine many different pastels at once when it comes to springtime. Because of that (and maybe my weakness of decision-making) I used six different nail polishes to create this bright and colourful nail design! 

Top 10 favourite Yogi Teas

As I'm slowly revealing all of my more or less secret passions, I'll let you in on another peculiarity of mine: not only am I obsessed with sweets and nail polish but I'm also a huge lover of tea.

I have already tried quite a lot of different tea brands from all over the world and if I were to pick a favourite one out of them all, it would have to be Yogi Tea.

Let's first talk about the amazing idea of putting a yoga pose on the side of every tea box. In my mind, there couldn't be any better recipe to help you relax and destress than the combination of a warming tea and yoga!

After getting the actual tea bag out of its envelope, you also get to read a lovely little philosophical quote/ piece of advice.
["Happiness is taking things as they are."// "To a friend you can lend the whole content of your heart." // "Empty yourself and let the universe fill you."]

Anyway, enough about the packaging and onto the actual tea itself.

Yogi Tea make a variety of different spice and herbal teas which are all based on authentic Ayurvedic recipes. By now, they have already brought out over 40 different kinds of tea! Out of all these blends I'd like to recommend my personal top 10 to you.

[Side note: Yogi Tea also does green and black teas but due to my hypersensitivity to caffeine -I literally will not get a wink of sleep if I have some-, I’ve only included caffeine-free teas]

10. Women’s Tea

I have to say that I was kind of sceptical towards the concept of a tea that is specifically meant to be for women. According to Yogi Tea it’s supposed to 'support the feminine side of creativity and inner balance'. Although I'm not quite sure whether it really does that for me, what I can say is that it's pleasantly light, comforting and just delicious tasting.

Prevailing flavours: ginger, cinnamon, orange, fennel, chamomile.

9. Classic

You can never go wrong with a simple, classic and yet still somewhat exciting Chai tea. Just add a little bit of sweetness and milk to it and you've got your perfect, homemade Chai Tea Latte!

Prevailing flavours: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper.

The Versatile Blogger Award

I've recently been nominated by the lovely Jo from Say Cheesy Cake to do the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m very grateful for her nomination as she’s one of the first bloggers I've started to follow and she always puts so much love and effort into her posts!

I think this is quite an enjoyable tag as you’re supposed to tell the reader 7 facts about yourself which is great for getting to know everyone a little more personally.

So, without further or do - here are the 7 facts about myself:

I. My absolute favourite movie series is (and will certainly always be) Harry Potter. Normally, I’d rarely watch any film more than twice but I've seen all of these so many times that I know practically every single scene by heart now.

Glico Pocky Milk & Strawberry Flavour

There are honestly so many reasons why I’m urgently wanting to go to Japan one day:

1. I have been loving to read manga, watch anime and play Japanese video games since I was a little girl and there are so many good memories attached to these things (like my brother and I having intense Pokémon sessions together).
2. The country's stunningly beautiful landscape and architecture is so fascinating to me.
3. Their exceptional fashion sense as well as the entire lifestyle in general just excite me.
4. They've got so darn many flavours of Pocky! (with this being the most important aspect, of course)

Although Pocky is also sold under the brand name “Mikado” in Germany, there are by far not as many flavours available as there are in Japan.

Just look at the amazing variety (even without including the huge amount of seasonal editions that come out every year)!