This I will Have..

Bobbi Brown 'Red' lipstick. Heavenly shade, absolutely so.



The blusher and bronzer- duo from E.L.F. because I love mimimalistic packaging, and with this I can pretend to be a lot more chich that I really am.



The organiser from E.L.F. Purely because I saw it on a 'what's in my purse'_vidoe, and throught it'd be handy for when I eventually find that dream handbag of mine where everything can be carried around forever and more (or until I get bored and get another handbag. Even though the plan is not to carry on constantly doing that - see previous post)

Minimalist Revamp

I was today perusing the blog of a finnish cosmetics blogger/ sales person extraordinaire, Virve, and the entry of her new apartment and the massive cull in the items she owns.

This, for me, resonates quite a lot at the moment. I am planning on moving to a new city next summer, in search of a new career as a graduate, as well as new adventures (all things going well!). Because of that, I have to seriosly look into the amount of things I own, use up my excess cosmetics, edit, edit, edit.

But also, I have half of my student fees to be paid off in January, which adds to the intrigue in its own way. Because of the fees, I have to save money, only using what I have to. No buying more clothes, no makeup as I have plenty (one day I will actually blog of my cosmetics shame), no handbags.. just the necessary food, no frivolities.

I have also recently ate lots of crap food, and feel it in my physical appearance. Clothes don't fit, I feel sluggish and tired, my skin's lacklustre. I definitely am in need of a health kick, that is a definite.
It all links together, but how, may you ask. Simple.

Need to save + need to minimize and sort out wardrobe + need for a health kink = Operation Run-Up. A run-up to Christmas, a run up to 2011, a run-up to the move..

Where as people put on weight leading to the end of the year thanks to the holiday excesses, I intend to lose it. Whereas people lose money because of the same festivities, I intend to save it. My theme for the end of the year will be about loss - loss of weight, loss of an impractical wardrobe, loss of excess spending, loss of all the cosmetics I have in the house.
I will blog about it, I will ponder it, I will be honest about it.. it'll be a pain in the ass, but hopefully, it will be somewhat useful, both for me, but also for someone who reads the entries.

The issues I will tackle are:

* my wardrobe: my current wardrobe is quite disjointed, and doesn't really reflect who I am. I am a minimalis at heart, like materials like leather and felt, dark colours like black, grey and purple, inky blue and dark blue-green. Strong colours, strong lines, character.
I will actually, when I am clearing out my stuff, go through all my old magazines and create myself a general mood board, and maybe identify some new trends in the things I like. Fingers crossed, anyway, maybe I will have some sort of a 'lightbulb moment'!

* my health: I have put on weight recently, thanks to the wonders of hormones and eating loads of food which is less than healthy. I have already imposed a ban on candy, chololate and crisps - in the name of enjoyment I will allow myself the occasional pastry as life is too short to eat food what tastes like cardboard.
I also need to crack on with my gym routine, but also re-start my exercise classes again. Hopefully I will take up something that is more holistic, as at the moment I feel about as flexible as an iron bar, sadly.

* my finances: saving up and paying uni fees, tackling existing debts, it's all about re-evaluating my relationship with money and consumption.

* my future: I have been doing a lot of thinking recently, having tackled allsorts of issues at work recently. Evaluated what I want out of life, and believe you me, working 80+ hours a week and doing shifts.. really not a nice thing at my ripe age (of 31, if you need to know)

So there, such will life be. Looking at my dining room table, it doesn't look any clearer. But the crisp/candy/cholocate ban has worked since sunday. Just don't mention the handbag I ordered tonight ;-)..small steps.



Ooh, metal. My future new bag from Next, my staple for everything these days :-).

Personal Challenges, Part 1: Eyes

Everyone has things about them they like.


Me, I like my eye colour. It is quite nice, even if hard to describe. I don't like my eyes, though, they're small and a pain in the ass to make up nicely. Hence why I rarely try, I just let them be. And it's a shame, as I am sure I could really make something nice of them.. well, of the colour, anyway.

So that is my personal challenge. To learn to make something out of my eyes. Still, the problem is defining the exact colour of the damned things. I could highlight the brown, which is a nice enough colour. I could emphasise the gray-ish edge of my eyes, or the green in them.

I could play around with the eye liners I have but do not use. Slap on mascara. paint on eye shadow, play around with primer potions.

Where to start, people, where to start... and most of all, how to keep up the habit once I find something that works?

13082010 - Friday the 13th

Truth be told, today hasn't been that bad of a day. Yes, I overslept, missed my bus and was late for work. But I also had a good day at work, got free cake and had a marvellous dinner, as well as came home to no bills. Bonus.

I was pondering about different things to blog about. I cannot do the usual 'what I wore today' stuff because not only do I wear a uniform pretty much every day due to work, on days off I tend to thrown on a black shirt, jeans and trainers. My 'outfit' is all about the bags, scarves and coats.
It's kind of hard to do a 'style blog' about an utfit when your outfit is all-black and quite simple - and always looking the same! still, style isn't always about the clothes, it's about the other stuff, too.

What I was pondering was writing about the stuff I carry with me, a kind of written version of 'what's in my purse'- videos. Which I love, by the way, in my voyeuristic way.
So that is definitely oncoming. As are blogs about my other obsession, make-up. Love the stuff, even though the question is why someone who doesn't wear makeup to work loves it so much. Lip cosmetics, I have always loved. But truth be told, I don't tend to use them that much either. A slick of lipbalm to stop chapping, and job's a good 'un.

Ideas, ideas.. all there, all good, all having to wait until later, or atleast until I have had my coffee.

Promises And Plans

The weird thing about autumn, and on holidays, is that new plans seem to arise. Having been brought up in Finland, the autum marked the end of the summer and the start of something new. With four very distinct seasons, the autumn was a start of something new indeed.
The time to stop lazing around and to start new adventures and things. Schools and Universities kick off, summer holidays and all the excesses that are involved with it are over.

I distinctly have that feeling at the moment. In the end of September, Uni starts again, and for me, it will really be crunch time as I need to bring up my grades just that bit so I can start studying more. The more I think about it, and consider it, the more it is an issue for me, as I have a very distinct feeling of wanting things to change. I like work, but it's not a career. I like where I live, but it's not really a home for me.

The one thing I really have starte to realize now is that life is there to be lived the way you want to. I very much have an idea about the life I want to have, how I want to look, what I want to do. And that very much is the plan I intend to activate.
Small stuff is involved, style-wise - sort out hair, get a definitive 'look' for the make-up, get rid of stuff that isn't black from my wardrobe (as I am very much a 'black' person, someone dark and somewhat gothic). I need to get back into heels again. I need to sort out my accessories to suit my mood.
In the other aspects of life, I need to try to sort out the issues around the finances and health. Train more. Sort out payments of things I owe. Study hard. Blog more. Try to decide what life really has out there, all the things it has to offer.

Roll on, autumn, I am ready for you!