p2 Color Victim Nail Polish 'Night Out'

I bought this nail polish when I went home to Germany in November but today is the first time I'm actually wearing it - I have no idea why it's taken me so long to try this polish as it's such a lovely shade and so easy to wear! The colour is quite hard to describe as it can change from muted purple to dark navy, depending on the light. Anyway, the formula and application of this polish is brilliant (just like most other p2 nail polishes): it's opaque in two thin coats, dries incredibly quick, stays chip-free for a few days and it's super shiny, even without a layer of topcoat. 'Night Out' is part of p2's Color Victim range which retails at 1.55€ (around £1.30) in Germany and Austria. xx

Crystal Castle on Formspring!

Hello lovelies, you can now ask me questions via Formspring! I thought it might be a good idea to set up a page for my blog as some of you might find it easier to ask a short question there rather than writing me an email. You can visit my Formspring by clicking the little icon on the right hand side or why not ask your questions directly via the widget on the bottom of my sidebar? I'll try my best to answer all your questions as soon as possible!

Recipe: Oreo Cream Cheese Brownies

If you're a fan of chocolate, cheesecake and oreos then you will definitely LOVE these! I've not been baking and cooking as much as I wanted to lately, but today I finally had time to get back into the kitchen and bake these incredibly delicious Oreo Cream Cheese Brownies! To be fair, mine look more like a chocolate cake rather than 'real' brownies as I don't own a square baking tin but obviously it doesn't affect the taste at all. I came across this recipe earlier on today when I was reading 'New Kitch On The Blog', a fantastic German food blog full of mouthwatering recipes, and I simply couldn't resist... Luckily, I had all the ingredients at hand aswell - it was fate!
And here's the recipe translated into English for all my non-German speaking readers..

• 115g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 250g cream cheese
• 80g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 120g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1/2tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 150g chopped oreo biscuits

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Start by melting the butter and sugar in a saucepan and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Place the cream cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar in a bowl and mix until well combined, then put it in the fridge to cool - this will make it easier to spread later on. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt and cocoa powder. And finally, in yet another mixing bowl, whizz the eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy before slowly pouring in the butter-sugar-mix and the flour-cocoa-mix. Make sure everything is well combined before adding the chopped oreo biscuits. Pour one half of the brownie mix into your greased baking tin, spread the cream cheese mix on top and cover it with the other half of the brownie mix - and it's ready to bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. It's best to let the brownies cool down and chill in the fridge for a while before eating them.. Enjoy! :)

Foundations For Pale Girls!

Hi girls! First of all, I'm really sorry it's been so quiet here over the past few days.. I've been working a lot more than usual and getting home at 9pm after a long and tiring day doesn't help either! Luckily I'm off for a couple of days now so I'll have lots of time to prepare posts, take photos and just look after my blog a bit more! :) 

For now, I've got some foundations to show you - these have been my four favourites for quite some while now and I know that there's a lot of very pale girls out there who are struggling to find a foundation light enough to match their skin tone. I have finally found a few which are light enough for me and also have a brilliant formula. Unfortunately I'm not blessed with very clear skin which is why I want my foundation to have medium to full coverage, preferably a matte or semi-matte finish, good staying power and the more affordable the better!

 

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream #21 Light Beige (50ml for £10, ebay)

Medium to full coverage, very creamy, adapts to my skin tone perfectly, pleasant scent, stays put all day, dewy finish (powder is vital for me!) and a little goes a long way! This has been my favourite ever foundation for almost a year now.

Astor Mattitude 001 Ivory (30ml for £5)

Light to medium coverage, matte finish (no powder necessary for me), easy application, feels lovely on skin and great staying power.

Bourjois Healthy Mix 51 Light Vanilla (30ml for £10)

Medium coverage, lovely floral scent, semi-matte finish, good staying power, quite runny, easy application. Just a little too yellow for me.

L'Oréal Infallible 15 Porcelain (30ml for £13)

Medium coverage, very light (maybe even a tiny bit too light for me), semi-matt finish, lovely scent, easy to apply, stays put all day, feels very light on skin and gives my skin a flawless look. Definitely my favourite alongside Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream!

NOTD: Peach and Pink Tips

Hello girls! I hope you are all having a lovely, relaxing Sunday. I had a long lie and very yummy porridge for breakfast - I'm still in my pyjamas! I need to start getting ready now though as me and Kev are going for some delicious Italian food at Zizzi's soon, I can't wait! I thought I'd quickly show you my nails before I head out: I gave my nail art pen from Essence another shot but unfortunately my skills haven't improved yet haha!
I used 'Miss Stone Heart' by H&M as my base colour and painted on triangles on the tips of my nails with 'Peach Melba' and 'Flamingo Pink' by Barry M. Using a black nail art pen (and a very unsteady hand) I outlined the tip design and finished it off with a layer of top coat to avoid smudging. Do you like it?

MAC Cremesheen Lipstick 'Crosswires'

Hello lovelies! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day yesterday! As I was working late yesterday, me and Kev celebrated Valentine's on Monday instead: we had really yummy dinner and cocktails at TGI Friday's and did a little bit of shopping where he let me choose some goodies at the MAC counter.. Definitely not a very exciting part of the day for him haha! One of the things I chose is a Cremesheen lipstick in the shade 'Crosswires' which is described as a 'clean pinky orange' but to me it definitely looks more coral/red which leans towards orange ever so slightly. Cremesheen lipsticks are pigmented, long-lasting, yet moisturising and shiny - a winning combination for me! I really do love the shade, it's bright and fun but still subtle enough to wear at work.
All in all, Crosswires looks and applies beautifully, makes my lips feel hydrated and stays put for around three hours. It has already become one of my favourite lippies and I will definitely get my hands on some more MAC lipsticks as soon as I can! What are your favourite shades, and which ones can you recommend for pigmented lips? xx

Rose Quartz EOTD

Good morning lovelies! I'm heading out in a few minutes so I'll just quickly show you my eye make up before I go. I bought an eyeshadow from 17 called 'Rose Quartz' quite a while ago and totally forgot about it - today is the first time I used it. It's a subtle, shimmery grey/pink, nicely pigmented and very silky - really easy to work with and brilliant for when you're short on time as it looks lovely on its own. I really enjoy using 17's eyeshadows and I can totally recommend them because of the decent quality and they're also great value for money.
Anyway, here are the products I used:

Eyeshadows: 17 'Rose Quartz' (all over lid), Sleek Bad Girl Palette 'Underground' (crease), Artdeco '27' (highlight)
Eyeliner: Mac Fluidline 'Blacktrack'
Mascara: Maybelline The Falsies

Beauty Lust List #2

1. Mac Mineralize Skin Finish 'Blonde' 2. Mac Pro Longwear Concealer 3. Topshop Nail Polish 'Ice Crush' 4. Topshop Nail Polish 'Green Room' 5. Too Faced Leopard Bronzer 'Peach' 6. Too Faced Shadow Insurance 7. Sleel Pout Polish 'Powder Pink' 8. Mac Painpot 'Rubenesque' 9. Topshop Lipstick 'Brigthon Rock' 10. Moroccan Oil 11. Benefit They're Real Mascara 12. Dior Diorskin Forever Foundation

Pink Leopard Nails

 Hi girls! Some of you might know that I absolutely love using my Konad stamping plates, especially the leopard pattern! After a bit of practice, stamping is quick and easy and perfect for those with an unsteady hand (like me). However, I thought it was about time to try my new Essence Nail Art Pen and create a leopard print mani without the help of my stamping plate! I painted my nails with Barry M's Pink Flamingo polish and used a dotting tool and Konad's Special Polish in White to add some random dots. Using the black nail art pen I lined the dots and drew on some c-shapes, then sealed it with topcoat to avoid any smudging. I think it didn't turn out too bad for my first attempt - but it does look a lot neater and nicer from a bit further away rather than close up haha!

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the nail art pen from Essence though. It has a fine, pointy tip which is great for neat lines and it is highly pigmented but application is a bit tricky. There's either way too much polish flooding out of it which leaves you with big blobs of colour on your nails, or only a tiny bit of polish comes out which means you have to go over the same line again and again during which you kinda 'scratch off' the colour though. Can you recommend any nail art pens to me? xx

17 Glow Shimmer Brick: Pink Bronze

Hi dolls! Yet another product from 17 I've got to show you - this time it's the new Shimmer Brick in 'Pink Bronze'. I've been looking for a powder highlighter for a while now and I quite liked the look of this, so it went into my shopping basket without giving it a lot of thought. I was a bit worried that it would be too dark for me, as most bronzers make me look either dirty or orange, but I was wrong - it's pretty much only shimmer without a lot of 'colour' to it. As you can see on the swatch below, the only brick with some colour pay-off is the darkest one at the bottom. This might be a reason for some of you not to buy or like this product, but I am actually really happy with it as I was only looking for a nice highlighting powder. The shimmer is very fine and subtle - which is important as you don't want to look like a human discoball right? I simply swirl my brush across all four bricks and apply it lightly onto my cheekbones (on top of my blush) which adds definition to my face and lets my cheekbones stand out a bit more. All in all, I'm really happy with 17's Shimmer Brick and it has already become a staple in my make up routine. Thumbs up! :) xx

Individual bricks swatched, from top to bottom 

 

Sunday Summary + Instagram Shots

1. First attempt at freehand leopard nails.. I think I might just stick to my Kondad plate! 2. Hello new iPod! It's really cute isn't it? 3. I've been drinking even more tea than usual this week to keep me warm.. I can't believe how cold it suddenly got again! Hurry up summer! 4. I just cannot resist a Dominos, it's too good to miss out on their Tuesday deal hah! 5. This was a manicure I really enjoyed wearing - I showed you a little tutorial here. 6. I finally managed to get myself a new diary for 2012! I ordered a beautiful week-to-week one from Paperblanks. 7. Chilling! 8. I've gone through so many bags of these in the last week.. probably one of my favourite sweets ever mmmhh! 9. Delicious chocolate cake with ice cream from Pizza Express - tasted even better than it looks!


I've had a rather boring week - I've just been working lots which is why I opted for a quiet weekend, long lies, drinking lots of tea, watching films, munching too many sweets.. I'm trying to spend as much time inside as I can anyway, I really can't stand these subzero temperatures :( What have you lovelies been doing this week? Safe to say I'm incredibly jealous of everybody who had the chance to go to IMATS this weekend! Anyway, here's my weekly summary...

Watched: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Descendants, Million Pound Drop
Read: Glamour and the Metro on the bus in the mornings
Listened: Rihanna's new album and Ministry Of Sound 'Running Trax' in the gym
Did: worked out at the gym a lot, dinner with my boyfriend's family, big weekly food shopping..
Ate: pizza at Pizza Express and Dominos, lots of Mini-Eggs and Malteser Bunnies, pasta bake with garlic bread, chicken tikka massala at my favourite Indian restaurant, Ben&Jerry's
Drank: lots and lots of tea, water, Bailey's, Innocent smoothies
Delighted: booked flights to go home to Germany for two weeks in March, internet&phone finally got fixed
Annoyed: weekend went way too quick, the weather, loud neighbours, spending my wages on rent, council tax and bills
Wished: for some sun and warmer temperatures!
Bought: lipsticks and shimmer bricks from 17, Sleek contour kit, Aussie shampoo, birthday presents, plane tickets, Paperblanks diary, groceries..
Clicked: beauty blogs, ebay, easyjet, twitter, wikipedia

17 Lasting Fix Lipstick: Autumn Berries

Good morning everybody! Today I am showing you one of my new favourite lipsticks which I already mentioned in my January Favourites post a few days ago. 'Autumn Berries' is part of 17's Lasting Fix Lipstick range which retails at Boots for £4.29. I own another shade from the same range ('Showbiz') and believe me, these lipsticks are simply amazing!
Autumn Berries is a beautiful and very wearable red which will flatter a lot of different skin tones. I am really rubbish at describing shades so I'll just let the pictures do the talking! Anyway, Autumn Berries has a semi-matte finish with great staying power - drinking and eating are not a problem for this little gem, and I only need to touch it up after around four hours. I really like wearing my Lasting Fix lipsticks at work as I don't have to worry about fading and constant touching up (hello, sheer lipsticks!). However, the problem with longlasting lipsticks is that they are often a little drying on the lips but a slick of lipbalm before application keeps my lips feeling hydrated and smooth. Anyway, I've really enjoyed using this lipstick the last few weeks as it's such a beautiful colour (I've had a few compliments on it at work) and great value for money! Do you own any lipsticks from this range? xx

PS: 17 currently have a 3 for 2 offer on all of their products, so if you're interested, head down to Boots soon!

Friday's 5 Minute FOTD

Im sure I'm not the only one who prefers a few more minutes in bed before getting up for work, so sometimes a little bit of smokey grey eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara is all I have time for in the morning. Simple and quick! I added some lipstick (17 Lasting Fix in Autumn Berries) later on.

Face: L'Oreal Infallible Foundation 'Porcelain', Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer '02 Natural', Rimmel Stay Matte Powder 'Transparent', MUA Blusher 'Shade 1'

Eyes: Sleek i-divine Bad Girl eyeshadow palette, Artdeco Eyeshadow #27, Essence Duo Eyeshadow 'Newcomer', elf Cream Eyeliner 'Black', Maxfactor False Lash Effect Fusion Mascara

Lips: The Body Shop Grapefuit Lipbutter

My Favourite Things In January

I can't believe it's February already - crazy how quickly time passes! To be honest, January hasn't been a very exciting month for me, I've just been working a lot and that's it really... However, I did buy quite a lot of new make up over the last few weeks and discovered a few amazing products! And here are my January favourites...

L'Oreal Infallible Foundation 'Porcelain': This is my newest foundation and I have used it almost every day since I bought it at the beginning of the month. I love how light it feels on my skin, it covers blemishes or redness really well and makes my skin look flawless! Love this!

Sleek Bad Girl Eyeshadow Palette: I absolutely adore my Bad Girl palette - every single one of these eyeshadow is highly pigmented, easy to blend and stays put all day (even without a primer). I love wearing dark smokey eyes which means I use this palette almost every day. 

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara: This is a bit of a weird one.. The Falsies used to be my favourite ages ago but I now really dislike the way it makes my lashes look. I have randomly layered it over some other mascaras and boom! It works wonders as a "topcoat" which is why it has to be included in my January favourites!

MeMeMe Seventh Heaven Base: I received this in December's Glossybox but I have only started using it two weeks ago and I am really impressed. First of all, it smells heavenly! It sinks into my skin really quick, tightens my pores and it definitely makes my foundation last longer. Thumbs up!

MUA Blusher 'Shade 1': This is definitely the blush I have reached for the most in the last few weeks. It's the most beautiful pink shade with some gorgeous shimmer, great pigmentation and staying power - and such a steal at £1! 

ELF Cream Eyeliner 'Black': I'm starting to run low on my MAC Fluidline gel eyeliner so I purchased a black cream eyeliner for els's studio range and I've been really enjoying it. It feels a little drier/harder than my MAC gel eyeliner but the staying power is definitely a lot better and application seems a little bit easier too. 

Artdeco Eyeshadow '27': My favourite ever eyeshadow for highlighting the inner corner of my eyes and under my eyebrows. It's a very light, shimmery champagne shade and it's simply amazing - I use it every single day. 

17 Lasting Fix Lipstick 'Autumn Berries': I actually only bought this about a week ago but I have worn it every single day since then, so I think it deserves a place in my January favourites! Autumn Berries is a very wearable red - bright enough to catch some attention without being over the top. The staying power is brilliant too, it lasts for hours and still looks perfect after eating or drinking. A full review is coming very soon!

L'Oreal Infallible Foundation Porcelain / ELF Cream Eyeliner Black / Artdeco Eyeshadow 27 / 17 Lasting Fix Lipstick Autumn Berries / MUA Blush 1

Crackled Sunrise

H&M Mini Nail Polish Summer Sunrise / 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish Pink Grapefuit / Eyeko Coral Polish / p2 Crackling Topcoat Black Explosion