Summer Essentials

Tomorrow I leave for Greece for the summer. I'm going to stay until August, so I have to take a lot of stuff with me. I thought I talk a little bit about my top 5 essentials that I'll take with me this summer.

The first one is about skin care. I have very sensitive skin especially around my eyes, so a lot of make-up wipes cause me an allergic reaction. I found one though, not too long ago, that I use even daily and that hasn't irritated my skin until now. I'm talking about the Korres cleansing & make-up removing wipes. Korres is a Greek brand that uses natural ingredients. You can get their products online, but I think in Europe you can also find them in drugstores. These make-up wipes helped me a lot! I used to get puffy eyes all the time and I am pretty sure that the reason was the make-up wipes I used and not the eyeshadow.

The wipes are with Milk Proteins, Jojoba, Macadamia and Corn oil. They have no mineral oil and no silicone and they're dermatologically & ophthalmologically tested. I just wanted to put that in there for everyone who is interested!

For people with many skin allergies (like me) these wipes are a great solution.

Korres is a bit pricey, but personally if I see good results, I'm willing to spend my money on it.

A nice new nail polish with a summery colour is next on the list! I bought the Essie in the shade “Lapiz of Luxury“. It is a nice pastel blue colour which I never had before! I actually just painted my nails with it and now I'm typing with pastel blue nails :P

I really love Essie nail polishes. With 2 coats you are good to go for 3 days. The colour of this particular shade came out beautifully on my nails and I'm really happy that I bought it for the summer. I'm the kind of girl who always paints her nails black no matter what season. I just think it goes with everything!!

My friends always told me to paint them something different once in a while and as a result I painted them dark blue or dark green hahahaha

For them it was no difference of course! The last year I'm testing out different colours and I'm actually liking it. I even painted them red and I was amazed how good it looked!! So from now on I have to widen my collection :) Not another reason to buy beauty stuff pfff ;)

When I'm at the beach I like to read and of course listen to music, but at least one book is an essential for me! I also will be flying alone this time so a book keeps me from getting bored on a plane. I read “The fault in our stars“ by John Green not too long ago and I loved it. Not only the story but also the way it is written. So I thought I try another one of his books. I went into my local bookstore and saw that he actually has a few...I couldn't decide of course, but finally went with the “Looking for Alaska“. I read through the blurb and maybe the first 2 pages and this one was the one that stood out to me. I don't know why....or maybe I do know...I'm always reading through some pages when I'm about to buy a new book and if it sounds intriguing or I get the feeling that I want to read more or even if something from the little excerpt that I read, stands out, I will buy it. That's the little test I always make. I've learned to not judge the cover or even the blurb, because the author doesn't write it himself. That way I have more books in my shelves that I read till the end and not just the first 20 pages! :) Sooo “Looking for Alaska“ it'll be for this summer!

Talking about beaches...I hate it when my hair is everywhere when I'm trying to tan. In Greece it's so hot in the summer and when you're tanning you're also sweating and your hair gets stuck on your neck or your back ughh I have a lot of hair!!

Anyways I found this cute little headband at Primark the other day and thought it would be perfect for the beach. I love how the red is so dark that it goes perfectly with my dark brown hair!!

And last but not least a pair of these super comfy sweat-shorts (I don't know how else to call them)! I'm going to wear them when I'm running. I'm going to travel in them tomorrow. I'm going to put them on on a relaxing home-day. So many ways to use them....makes them automatically essential. I am a very comfy person. I never wear jeans or pants at home! I have more sweatpants than normal pants...I don't know what's wrong with me hahahaha but I can't!! Soo these are....let's just say I'm going nowhere without them XD

These were my top 5 essentials for this summer! I probably should have put on the list a bikini and sunscreen, but these are two things I still have to look for! :)

M

DIY Quotes Jar

Don't you hate those days when you wake up and you feel like doing nothing. Most of the time you need somebody to motivate you, to get you out of your bed, so you can do something productive and creative. Well sometimes there is no one to do that job so that's when you need a jar full of motivational quotes! That's what I thought! How cool is that...every time you feel down just pick one roll out of the jar and it definitely will make you smile and you'll have a better start into the day!

My best friend had her B-Day the other day and I tend to do 2-part gifts! The first part consists of something that I bought...in this case the new Jamie Oliver Cookbook, because she loves him! And the second part is always something I make myself. I love love love self-made presents! I think they are so thoughtful and sweet!!

This year I made her a jar filled with uplifting and funny quotes! I saw a picture somewhere with something similar and thought it would be a great present for someone you truly care for. So I thought I'd share the idea!
It is very simple! All you need is:

A jar
Colored paper
Tiny elastic bands
A nice colorful band of your choice
A tag sticker

Just type all of your favorite quotes and sayings or whatever you want to put in there on your laptop and print them with a lovely handwriting font on your colored paper. Cut them out into stripes, roll them and bind them with your elastic bands. Toss all of them into the jar, close it and decorate it with a nice bow. Finally write on your sticker the theme of your quotes and stick it on the jar. And you're ready! 

Easy peasy gift for a best friend especially for her birthday. I hope you liked my idea. Feel free to leave comments. And remember to keep smiling, because that's why I made my best friend this jar in the first place. A single smile can change everything! :)

M

Smoothie Time

Soooo.....I made a smoothie :P
Hahaha I don't know they are very popular right now!! Have you seen how many instagram accounts have been created only for smoothies?? But I love them...

They give you pretty good ideas ;)
As I started to put smoothies in my daily eating schedule (sounds so fancy) I started looking through some of those instagram accounts and other "smoothie blogs" and saw THE Green Smoothie!! Ahhhhhhhhh (angel voice) 
They promised me: Healthy and delicious! Soooooo I tried it and it was amazing! I didn't believe at first that something so tasty could have like spinach or lettuce in it :P
But never judge a book by it's cover right? Hahaha I had to put that in there!!
So this is my recipe that consists maybe out of 2 blogs and 4 insta accounts and my own little twist :P
Enjoy

What you need:

1 Banana
2 Peaches
2 handfuls of spinach
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1 tbsp Linseeds (Flaxseed)
Water (or milk)

How to make it: 
 
Put the spinach with some water in the blender first because it needs more blending than the other ingredients. Blend it until smooth and than add all the other ingredients. If you want your smoothie to be nice and cold because it's SUMMER...put in some ice cubes or freeze your fruits! 

And voilà!! 

That's it and basically you can leave the seeds out if you don't have any. They just make it more nutritious and long lasting so you don't get hungry that fast again.
Also instead of water you can use milk or coconut water, but if you use water it's also vegan and lower on calorie.
As you can see, there are some things that you can change here and there....Just don't use sugar or honey as the sweet part of your smoothie, because that makes the whole effect of "I'm drinking a nutritious, healthy and low calorie drink" go away! Duh..
Always use sweet ripe fruits, because fructose is also sugar and therefore sweet ;)

Since I'm making them almost every day now, I'll probably be posting more ideas for recipes in the future! Until then feel free to leave comments and suggestions! Maybe you have a cool recipe to share :)

M