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I am considering renaming these posts into just Life Update, as there is – again – not much skincare to show here. There is some makeup, again from r.e.m. beauty, but I didn’t buy any new skincare products. For good reason, my drawers are overflowing and I have a backlog of things that need a proper review that is longer than my arm. Still, giving the nature of this blog it seems odd to talk about books and cowboy boots instead.

 

 

Yes, cowboy boots – I bought them in Canada on our trip. Where I did also buy some scented candles (not that I needed any more of these) and a body lotion. As the lotion was pretty standard and empty, I didn’t bother bringing it home with me, hence no picture and mention of it here.

 

 

 

New in from r.e.m. beauty

I haven’t even had time to properly test the makeup I was sent from r.e.m. beauty last month – I didn’t bring much makeup on our camping trip anyway, and the one I did were staples that I knew would work – but I was still delighted when I arrived to a new package upon my return. It is their fall selection, featuring the Starlet Lustrous Liquid Eyeshadow in Siren (7 ml for 17,49 €, full review coming soon), the Essential Drip Glossy Balm in Hocus Cocoa (4,7 ml for 16,62 €, full review coming soon) and two thing I didn’t have beforehand, their Sweetener foundation in the shade Fair 9NG (30 ml for 30,27 €, full review coming soon) and their Eclipse Blush and Lip Stick in the shade Front Row Center (7,5 g for 19,02 €, full review coming soon).

Front Row Center is described as soft teracotta nude and really blends in beautifully for subtle color that works great with my complexion. The only thing I need to test a little longer is the longevity. Any cream blush disappears on me quite quickly, I need to figure out if this one is different.

The foundation is supposed to be hydrating, longwearing, lightweight and with a medium, but buildable coverage, just how I like mine to be for work. The shade range is quite extensive, catering to warm, cool and neutral undertones, so I hope I picked the right one. According to the website it is fair to light with neutral golden undertones – we will see.

I admit I struggle a little with their liquid eyeshadow. In the clips I see on the internet, they are just applied in one swipe for an even, opaque layer. My first attempts looked kind of patchy, but with a little experimentation I seem to be getting there. This one is described as a warm, duochrome pink. Not something I would pick for myself, but I love how it looks in the bottle.

The lipgloss on the other hand is pretty straightforward, no strong color payoff, average staying power, but something I enjoy wearing a lot. And the shade Hocus Cocoa is a great pick for fall.

 

 

New in from L’Oréal

I showed you the L’Oréal Elvital Glycolic Gloss back in May, two months after I had my hair done and the glossing I usually get was beginning to fade. Now I can’t really give you an update yet, that one is one on my long-as.my-arm list of products that need proper reviewing, but when my conditioner ran out, I decided to get the L’Oréal Glycolic Gloss Conditioner (150 ml for 6,95 €, full review coming soon) next.

I am not very picky with my conditioner, I just like it to contain enough silicones to make my processed hair soft and brushable (is this even a word?), but if it will on top of that enhance shine, I surely won’t complain. As I have just used it once so far, I will not comment on it now, but use it a few more times before I can give you my verdict.

 

 

New in fashion

And now: the cowboy boots. No, this wasn’t an impulse purchase and no, it isn’t expression of a premenopausal urge to reinvent myself and overhaul my wardrobe. I have actually owned fake cowboy boots before, back in the days before I had children and when I had just met my husband. They were something I picked up on a whim quite cheap, figuring I wouldn’t wear them that often anyway, so the poor quality wouldn’t matter.

You know the saying: If you buy cheap, you buy twice. I ended up loving them and wore them to death over the course of a few months. They were beyond repair, so I have been meaning to buy a new pair for 14 years now. But a good one this time, one that would last.

These are from the Boulet Rodeo collection, handmade in Canada and I love every detail about them: the color, the imprinting, the heel, the fit – everything.

Does a middle aged German mother of two have any business wearing cowboy boots? Absolutely not. But you can bet I will anyway.

 

 

New in from Bath and Body Works

I have a drawer filled with scented candles with scents for every season, and basically none of them is more than halfway burned. Usually just getting them out and opening the lid is enough to scent my office, I don’t like rooms to smell strongly and also want to be respectful of my husbands preferences, who doesn’t like scented anything in his living space, so keeping them to my office enough. Long story short: No, I didn’t need scented candles either, but when I walked past Bath & Body Works they had a Disney Villain special going on with this gorgeous, over the top Maleficient candle that I just had to have. And as there was some kind of special going on, which apparently always is, I also picked up Vampire Blood to get out on Halloween and as last one Black Cherry Merlot. I don’t remember exactly how much each one was, but ended up paying 46 € for all three together.

Black Cherry Merlot is the only one I picked for the scent. The other ones smell nice too, but if it hadn’t been for the looks I probably wouldn’t have bothered. That one though is just the right amount of dark and sweet to get me into fall mood.

 

 

Books I have read and movies I watched

I have read a lot during our holiday, both because I had the time and because I picked easy reads, all broadly from the fantasy genre. Not that I need to defend my reading choices, but I do get overwhelmed pretty easily when I am in a new country. I have chronic migraines, I don’t know if I have mentioned that before on here, and when I am exposed to a lot of newness in the things I experience throughout the day, I am mentally too exhausted to read something complex and prefer a light and easy read to unwind. All of them were picked based on the fact that they were available online to download from my local library so I didn’t have to carry real books. I prefer reading paper based, but not when I have to carry the books around with me.

The first one I picked, Fire and Feather by Kathy Macmillan, was actually not very good at letting me unwind. The female lead was once again driving me mad in her incompetence and brooding that was explainable at the start of the book due to her history and young age, but showed absolutely no development throughout the story. How she survived and how the male character, not very likeable either in my opinion, ended up falling in love with her remains a mistery I can’t solve. I am very happy it was not the start of a series as I don’t like leaving things unfinished, but reading more about those two would probably have left me quite irritable.

The next one, The Stolen Heir from Holly Black, was a very welcome change from that. Picturing the cruel side of the fae and telling a story where the main purpose of the female lead doesn’t seem to be to stumble helplessly through life until her one true love shows up, it was rather unexpected, but a read I can recommend. My only complaint, and that one is solely on myself, is that it is the first novel in a trilogy, but that this trilogy is actually the second trilogy set in this world. The storis are separate, follwing a different set of characters, but I still would have preferred to read the first trilogy first.

Then I read A tempest of tea by Hafsah Faizal, moving on from the fae to vampires and a more steampunk setting. I had difficulties warming up with the story for the first half of the book, it felt nice to read, but seemed to drag a little, but then suddenly picked up pace and kept me up late because I wanted to finish it. It is the first of two books and I am looking forward to reading the next one, which was just published on September 23rd.

And the last one was The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake, which apparently was first self-published, then gained TikTok hype and was republished again. This one is set in modern times, but in a world where magic exists and deals with the question how far you’d go and what you would sacrifice to gain access to a secret society with unlimited knowledge. Or at least that is what I think it will be about, it is the first in a series and what I really enjoyed here is that the characters are multifaceted, none of them are stereotypically good or bad, all of them have sides that I dislike and others I completely get. That makes them feel human and keeps the story interesting.

Four books in three weeks.

For series I watched I have two – one on the flight to Canada and one on the flight back. Both are instalments of the Netflix Docuseries „African Queens“, produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.

The first one focused on Queen Njinga, someone I had admittedly never heard of before, and a time in the history of the African continent that we had only lightly touched on in school. Not an easy watch, but very inspiring.

The second instalment told Cleopatras story. Now she is someone I had obviously heard of, if I remember correctly I even did a report on her in school, but once again I learned a lot that was absolutely new to me. If you are interested in history and especially female history, I highly recommend both.

And as this post is already long enough as it is, I will not touch on our trip to Canada – other than that it was an absolutely amazing experience, but will see if I have enough footage to upload a vlog someday. After I have settled into the reality of being back to work.

 

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