Saturday, September 14, 2013

Life Lately + Evening Routine

Hi again!

While I do love talking about fashion and beauty, I thought I would say a word or two about what's going on in my life at the moment before I move on to a little beauty bit. Not much, in reality, but I like knowing things about other bloggers lives, so I thought I'd do the same on this blog, too!
While I am currently still savoring the last days of (rainy) holidays in the Netherlands in my boyfriends' parents house, I am returning to Vienna to take up my studies (English and French Literature) again next week. Classes don't start til october, but this way I have a little time to look for a part-time job.
Partly, that makes me really excited (I get to see my bezzie Kym again who I haven't seen in 3 months!), but it also makes me sad as hell because it means that, for the time being, Brandon (the bf) and me return to our previous 'long distance' stage. That's only momentary though, as he is planning to move to Vienna for a few months at the end of november. That's all the major updates so far!

On a side note, in my introductory post I didn't mention that you can follow me on different social networking sites, so I thought I would include them here:

Tumblr:
Art, literature and personal blog: bianne-k.tumblr.com  
Fashion and wishlist blog: moodywoman.tumblr.com
Twitter:
@lastfl0wers
Instagram:
/lastfl0wers
Pinterest


On the body front, I'm still dieting (haha, when am I not?). I've had a few ups and downs during the summer (very hard to keep my weight steady when I was on holiday in Finland), but I'm back on track and have shed a few pounds again. I'm still hoping to lose 20 pounds before the end of the year, which should be doable, since I tend to be a lot more strict and consequent with my diet when I'm at uni and don't go out as much (damn you, booze!). As for my skin, that I've steadily been trying to improve lately, I think I've found a decent beauty routine that has really helped make it clearer and smoother. And since I promised, I'll include my evening skin-care / beauty routine essentials of the moment!



To start off, I brew myself a cup of tea, so that when I'm done with my evening routine I can cuddle up in bed and have a cuppa. My favorite for the evening is unsweetened green jasmine flower infused tea, which is really healthy, full of antioxidants that will keep your skin glowy and radiant. Mmmmh.
Then I wash my hands thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap to keep them safe and clean.
To take off my make-up, especially the heavier eye make-up, I use cleansing towels, like these by Simple. Once the thicker top layer of make-up is removed, I use an (organic or fairtrade) xl cotton pad and put a little bit of my Bioderma Eau Micellaire facial cleansing water (that my darling friend Emily brought me back from her recent trip to Paris) on it to get the last bits of make-up off and refresh my skin. Then I rinse my face with warm water, squeeze a little of the Garnier Pure Active Exfo-Brusher Wash onto my hands and rub it into my skin with a manual face complexion brush (I prefer to use that than the plastic bristle brush that you get with the wash). The circular motions of the brush help the product to penetrate my skin and deep cleanse, but it also helps my circulation and gives me a more radiant complexion. Rinse with cold water to close the pores. If I'm having a break-out, I will apply a thin layer of the Body Shop Tea Tree Face Mask to further cleanse my skin, or the Neutrogena On-The-Spot Acne Treatment, which I dab on the spot or problem zone carefully. Even though I have combination-oily skin, there's still areas of my skin that get quite dry, so I use the tiniest amount of the Olay Firming Night Cream and rub it into my skin carefully. Finally, once I'm tucked into bed after brushing my teeth, I dab a little Carmex Lip Treatment onto my lips and then massage some of the Body Shop Hand and Nail Almond Cream into my hands for really smooth skin.
That might seem like a lot of steps, but I like to be very thorough, and only use small amounts of all products so that my skin doesn't get irritated. This routine seems to work quite well for me, as I can tell my pores have diminished in size and I've had less break-outs.... I'm sure my routine will change over the next few months, with the arrival of winter, but for now it works brilliantly!

Any products that you have been loving these days? Any major life events? I would love to know a little more about our readers, so do comment below!

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