Rubber Ducky Frenzy 2

And the maddness continues :-)=

Rubber Ducky Frenzy

It all started as a joke. My best friend gave me a rubber duck for my 18th birthday (third row, middle duck with a red bow). But somehow other people picked up this habit of buying me rubber ducks for all occasions and I soon was flooded with them. Not that I mind, they are pretty cool and represent all the evil of this globalized world as my sociology teacher would probably tell (I just love ambivalency, don't you?). 

But since it is getting worse for my family and friends to get me one because they no longer remember which ones I own, I decided to document my collection. So here is the first part of the rubber duck series. The ducks are in no particular order - all thoughts of organizing them according to color etc. vanished with the time it took to take pictures and cut the pictures into squares. 

The Sin of Dracula

Long time ago, I got this bottle as a birthday present. I drank it, kept the bottle for future DIY candle holder, but that was it - I couldn't have known I was going to start a blog one day so I didn't take a picture of it and I certainly didn't make notes of its taste. 

Then, just a  little later, I was browsing the wine section in Kaufland supermarket when this caught my attention. I knew it wasn't a great wine but I was willing to buy it and drink it again to make a review for you. See, that's how much I like my non-existent readers :-)=

So, the price holds the psychological barrier - it's not 100 Crowns (5 Dollars) because that would be too much for some funky wine, it's just 99 Crowns - that one little Crown does it all ;-)=

Since it's a Romanian wine, I was afraid it would be too sweet and heavy as most wines from that area are. But this is not. It's quite light and the taste doesn't stay on the tongue for long. Perhaps they dilute it. Or the grapes are just that way. I have no idea. What stays on the tongue (and lips and teeth), however, are the purple stains. That happens and sucks, so maybe I will include a "wine-stained lips" make up tutorial in the future to handle the red wine parties more nonchalantly.

Now, I shall act clever and tell you some interesting things about the wine - ok, maybe not interesting but definitely helpful if you understand wine and want to know something about it (hooray for the wine labels at the back of the bottle) ;-)= 

- 12% vol. and the light taste will get you under the table in no time and you won't even see it coming

- Feteasca Neagra is the name of the grapes they used for it and this should ensure that the wine will be semi-dry

- the grapes grow in the Transylvanian Carpathians in Romania

- they recommend to drink it while eating cheese and meat (which wine doesn't say that?!)

As you can see, I couldn't be a professional wine taster because I know nothing about it. I divide wine by color and the fact whether it tasted good or not. This one is somewhere in the I DON'T KNOW category because it wasn't bad but it wasn't the best either. And I definitely know better wines in that money range. But as a nice gift for some vampire junkie, I'd say go for it ;-)=

50 Shades of Red ... part 1

I stumbled over a huge amount of red lipsticks when I was reorganizing my bedroom. Which was bad. Really bad. It made me realize I was a hoarder. I hadn't known it. Because when you take a look at my make up supplies, you can see I am quite normal - a couple of lipsticks of various colors, couple of eye shadow palettes (all containing a different range of colors), a couple of eyeliners - all in different colors as well - just all you need to make practically any kind of look with a minimum of stuff. And this sense of normalcy remains until you open the Pandora's Box which is nicely hidden under the table. Then you realize I'm nuts. I'm drawn to the red things and the worst part is I don't throw them away until I've used up the whole product so it keeps adding up (I've read about the expiracy date on these things and how we should throw them away after two years ... yeah yeah I own a lipstick which I bought at high school and still wear it which doesn't beat my granny's one which was used only on special occasions as long as I remember - and I've never seen my granny being poisoned by it).

But believing everything bad is good for something, I decided to do a mini series talking about the red lip products I have, doing swatches and maybe helping you with a good purchase.

Holy Grail of Lip Products

 First of all, I'd like to talk about how I'm conducting this experiment. Even though I always rely on Lipcote which makes any lipstick last whole day (including eating and drinking - I don't recommend kissing because it tastes weird), I decided to be little objective here and didn't use this top layer. I only used Lip Lock by Elf as a base (only a thin layer because thick layer has disturbingly flaky effect). I applied the lipstick in the morning, then did my job in which I speak a lot and then, finally, ate lunch. No lipstick actually survived lunch but some of them didn't disappear entirely. I'll tell you when describing those actual lipsticks.

It is very dry but can buy you some time. It is very good for lining your lips - at least you don't need various colors of lip pencils. All you need is this one and your lipstick is without those areas where it bleeds into the foundation.

50 Shades of Red aka My Desperate Hunt to Find THE PERFECT RED

The very first set of lipsticks I'm going to try is ELF lipsticks from their three lines (from the cheapest to the most expensive ones).

By the way, every time I see the following paper with my kisses all over it, I recall the evening I was making it. I was sitting in my room, watching Empire Strikes Back and putting the lipsticks on a piece of paper. My mom walked into my room, saw Chewbacca and made a grimace (she never understood why I would choose The Star Wars over Love Actually). Then she saw me kissing the paper and silently walked away, never asking what was going on. Hey, your daughter isn't a complete freak! She is doing beauty science ;-D

 

More swatches:

At first, I'd like to talk about packaging, because that's my never-ending problem with Elf. It just frickin' breaks. The writing on the silver lipsticks disappeared (not really, I had it on my palm). The most expensive lipstick (Rich Red) has broken and falls out so that it is difficult to apply it (I was so happy to get this skinny one because you don't need a brush to apply it with). And all three Mineral Lipsticks came covered in some weird white flakes I dare not to try to identify.

Ok, since I'm comparing a lot of them, I will take it line by line, because all in one line have similar qualities. 

The first one I have is Matte Lip Color from the Studio Line and when it comes to price it's insanely expensive. It contains only 1,8 g of the product which is 2 g less than the others, and even though the pigmentation is awesome, the cheapest shade Fearless (which is very similar, just a little lighter), wins. It stays on for a quite long time (some color survived greasy food and drinks). It isn't drying nor moisturizing so that's a nice compromise.

The next line is Essentials and as I've already mentioned, Fearless is very similar to Rich Red but has the glossiest finish of them all. These lipsticks smell funny and are very dry. The pigmentation isn't the best (you can see how very little winded up on the paper - that's WITHOUT blotting them first) but they stay on for a fairly good amount of time. I think they are good for experimenting if you don't want to spend too much on it. You may be surprised why I included Voodoo in here as a red one since it looks brown but somehow when I apply it on my lips it looks as a red with a hint of brown (and isn't nearly as brown as Royal Red). Posh looks also very berry-ish but again, it's a red with a hint of berry when applied on the lips. These lipsticks survived food as well.

The last trio is the Minerals. Apart from arriving in a weird condition which made me disinfect them, they are the buttery ones - they moisturize your lips. They go on smoothly and don't last nearly as much as the ones above them. Royal red is almost brown, Barely Bitten is the one if you don't want loud colors (hint of pink in it) and Cheerful Cherry is also on the brown side. They have golden shimmer to them which makes them quite warm. These never survive my snack.

To sum this somehow up, I don't like the color payoff of the Essentials, however, since they are dry, they tend to stay on for a long time. The Minerals are warm smooth colors which don't last. And the Studio lipstick is a pretty matte which lasts but isn't worth the money.

Stay tuned for the next episode of this series ;-)=

I know why the caged duck sings ;-)=

This is just a really quick fix - I thought my most awesome rubber duck deserved to be on special display, separated from the mundane ones. So when I saw this cheap cage in the store I couldn't resist the temptation. Since the pattern down on the cage was too high I put a plastic something (it used to store my pins) underneath the duck so that the count Duckula would be seen in his full glory. And voilá! Nice decoration was born ;-)=

What exotic lands smell and feel like

I am not one of those people who wait till December to buy all the presents. I am the one who laughs at the others in December because I am never found in shops with all those stressed-out people. I even avoid online shopping because December is busy and not all my orders arrive in time. Yes, maybe shopping from September to November isn’t ideal for you but I only see the perks.

What I, however, cannot help but buy in December is a bag of goodies from Tahiti. There is only one online shop selling it in the Czech Republic (thank some deity for Frenchmen appearing in the Czech lands and bringing stuff from their former colonies with them so that even we can experience foreign paradises in this way). You can check it out at: www.tahiti-tiare.cz

It’s not cheap, let’s face it. BUT there is always a special discount around Christmas and that’s exactly what I wait for the whole year. This year I went for a body scrub, a fragrance, a shampoo, a soap and, of course, THE OIL. They are all scented with gardenia (I was once told I like “old ladies’ smells” so it may not be for everybody). My mom, upon smelling it, said it reminded her of something her mother used to have so maybe that wasn’t that far from the truth. I don’t care. I love it and that’s all that matters.

So what are those things and why are they special?

I think there is only one must-have in here and that’s the original monoï (coconut oil scented with tiaré flowers). Honestly, who are you if you don’t know how to use oils on your body? They moisturize it, make it look smooth and pretty. You can use it as a hair mask, you can use it to treat you split ends... there are numerous ways all resulting in better condition of your skin and hair because it protects you from evil weather as well. It has all the benefits of oils plus it smells divine. Totally a must-have.

Next thing is the shampoo. I must say it works as any other shampoo (I have relatively problem-free hair so I can’t really judge most of the shampoos because they all have similar effect on my hair). But again, it smells of tiaré and makes my hair shiny and weightless. So it’s a good addition to the oil (at least all my body smells the same).

The soap is another wonder which moisturizes the skin and leaves it nicely scented.

Next one is the peeling. This one doesn’t smell of tiaré as strongly as the others and I had a small problem with the packaging (a little bit of it escaped–even though it was carefully wrapped–and made it all sticky and hard to open). Even though it’s supposed to be basically sandpaper for your skin (and it, indeed, includes sand) it makes your skin soft and undamaged.

And the last, but not least, is the fragrance. Even though it only is EDT, it lasted two days before I stopped smelling it on my T-shirt. And if you use all the products above and the fragrance, you will be just one big walking tiaré :-)

What is your guilty pleasure you can’t resist?   

Alexandra Ivy: Darkness Unleashed

I was sucked into a dangerous yet sensual world of creatures that go bump in night. This series concentrates on vampires so far (this is book nr. 5) even though they may find their true mates in other creatures (those other creatures should ensure variety and interesting plots for the future because it always helps when you can use characters with abilities that are uncommon).

I must admit that even though I have read similar series I don’t oppose to this one that much. As long as it keeps me entertained I like it. There is one specific character – Levet the vertically challenged gargoyle – that always brightens up the mood when the book becomes too meh... I just love the creature and am willing to forget the too schematic flaws the series tends to have. 

What I also appreciate is character development – you meet a person in one book and think him or her a total asshole or villain, yet in the next book you learn the motives that escalated into such behavior and suddenly there is just another broken or actually lovely character who you can sympathize with.

 

GENRE: paranormal romance with a funny gargoyle in it

FANGS OUT: can be funny, that always get an extra point from me
FANGS RETRACTING: there are many like it out there
TOTAL SCORE: