In need of a change

I've been lacking inspiration about what to write on this blog lately. Even though there are tons of «100 blogposts ideas » out there on the internet, these preconceived ideas do not feel like me. I realised that whilst telling my mum « Oh crap, I have to blog today! Please give me an idea, anything would suit me! ». The problems are n°1:No, I do not HAVE to blog, I do it as a hobby and because I enjoy it, and n°2 : No, « anything » won't suit! I want my blog to be a place where I can talk about things that genuinely interests me, from products that I really want to share my thoughts about, to sweet places in my countryside, including revues of films/books that might interest you, well photographied original makeup looks, travel experiences (if I ever do travel), people that I find inspiring...

 I don't want to write just to be consistent and keep a schedule. Because what is the point of consisency if you continuously post crap?

 I want to be passionate and satified with the posts I wrap up, I want my pictures to look good, my texts to be nicely written, and most importantly, I want people to enjoy reading every single one of my articles, whether it's because they find them interesting, helpful, or simply pretty. 

So expect to see fewer posts in the future, but I promise I'l do my best to have them as polished and interesting as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and please excuse the typos and grammatical mistakes that might not have caught my tired and useless 11:PM eyes.

See you next time,

Maddy

Picnic with the fairies

Spring must be in the middle of some kind of existential crisis at the moment. He's only in his early days but already likes to believe he's summer. And I'm not here to complain ! The 30 dregrees and bright blue sky allowed me to wear the light dresses and shorts I've filled my wardrobe up with. And what better place to embrace the beautiful weather (and to show the world my dress) than a lake coming right out out a fairytail ? My family and I went for a lovely picnic and badmington game in Busserolles (ho, you don't know the place ? What a looser ! I'm joking, obviously), the lighting and scenery were so nice I couldn't resist taking a few shots. Sorry, my outfit is far from exeptionnal, I'm just wearing an H&M dress from last year (although they have a similar one out every year), an extremely flowy kimono from Sheinside and a pair of white Pimkie ballerinas (when I'm actually wearing shoes...what?!).

I kept my makeup light and basic, exept for the bright blue liner on my bottom lash line (If Lily Pepples can do it, why couldn't I ?). I had on my good old Dreampure BB cream by Maybelline, topped up with powder and concealer, Sleek's blush inrose gold, Kiko'seyeshadow stick in n° 38, and Tanya Burr's lipgloss in Picnic in the park (Pinic in the lake ? No ? Ok.).

I hope you enjoyed this post and its pictures, please tell me in which way you've taken advantage of the sun (or of the rain if you're unlucky).

See you next time,

Maddy

Minimalist face

We all have those days where we have nothing planned other than staying at home and studying/working. On most of these days, I go makeup free, to let my skin breathe (is that a myth?) as well as to avoid the hassle that is taking my makeup off at night. But some days, when I don't feel like getting out of my PJ's, I just need something to get my head out of my arse, and in front of my computer. I've found that getting dressed and putting on a little bit of makeup helps a lot with productivity (she says whilst watching « Girls », all day), and who knows, mabye I'll actually see someone at some point in the day ? (mmmmm no way). But anyways, here's the look I've been going for latey when I needed to feel like I looked decent but couldn't be bothered.

I started by applying my « Maybelline dream pure BB» BB cream, which is the only BB/CC/DD cream/tinted moisturizer (wow, marketing, you're going too far!) I use, and it does the job. It's very light weight (as you would expect from a BB cream), slightly moisturizing, but not shiny. It also says it has anti-blemish properties (not sure about that, but it doesn't break me out). The dowsides to this product are 1 : that you really have to work it into your skin, or it can look streaky and 2 : that it only comes in three shades (hey for 11,50€, it couldn't be perfect). I followed up with a tiny bit of Rimmel's « Wake me up » concealer under my eyes, on my veiny eyelids and on any blemishes that might have popped up on that day, to avoid looking like a zombie. And (I know I shouldn't start sentence with « and » but hey, grammar!) I topped it all off with a light dusting of my trusty (and budget friendly ) Rimmel « Stay Matte » translucent powder on my T-zone.

Since looking like a ghost wasn't my goal, I added a touch of Maybelline's « Dream Soft » blush in peach on my cheeks to give them a healthy peachy glow. If you have been traumatized by the evil « Dream matte mousse »  foundation (I will NOT link it!), know that the cream blushers from the same line are actually quite nice to use and apply smoothly.

I kept the eye look extremely basic, by just doing a cat-flick using my all time favorite and nearly dried out «Super Liner Perfect Slim » by L'Oréal, before adding a couple coats of the brands « Miss Manga » mascara, which is nice, but far behind my « They're Real ». I highlited my inner-corner and brow bone using a sparkly white shadow (mine is from « The Balm's Nude Tude » but any should work).

Speaking of eyebrows, I used my Soap and Glory « Archery brow pencil » to frame my face in two minutes. This stuff is the bomb ! It's super quick and easy to use, has the right amout of pigmentation, is from the drugstore... anything you might want, basically !

Since my lips were suffering from the changing season, I added a touch of my Nivea « Raspberry Rosé » lip balm, as a final touch. It smells divine and moisturizes without being uncomfortable or sticky.

That's it! I Hope you enjoyed this minimalistic makeup look and please tell me, which products do you reach for when you're not feeling makeup creative or you are just staying at home ?

See you soon,

Maddy

Did you know ? Marilyn and Audrey

I'm pretty sure everybody has something interesting about them... wether it's small anecdotes  or "simply" an extraordinary life. Turns out the following fashion icons have both. There's more about them than just the fame and glamourous lifestyle. Here are a few unimportantly interesting facts about a couple ladies, who's names are always the first to pop into my head when I hear the words « fashion Icons ». Can you guess who they are?

Audrey Hepburn

-She was born in Belgium, but has an english nationality because of her farther.
-During the 1930s, her parents were members of the British Union of Fascists.

-She trained to be a ballerina and used to perform to raise money for the Dutch Resistance.

-After the liberation of the Netherlands, she was so malnourished that she fell ill after eating some sugar and a can of condensed milk – she was unused to rich food. 

-She had to abandon her professionnal ballerina career because of her malnutrition, and because, at 5ft7, she was too tall.

-She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF.

-Audrey's feet were a size 10.

-She promised herself to never exeed 103 pounds, exept during her pregnancies, and she succeeded.

-Hepburn could speek English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Italian.

-Truman Capote, « Breakfast at Tiffany's » writer qualified Audrey Hepburn as being « grossly miscast » as Holly Golightly, Marilyn Monroe being his first choice.


Speaking of Marilyn...

Marilyn Monroe

-Norma Jeane nearly chose the screen name of Jean Adair but changed it to Marilyn Monroe in March 1956.

-She had 11 sets of foster parents, and lived in an orphenage, her mom being held in a mental institution.

-She had two plastic surgeries : a rinoplasty and a chin implant.

-She used to use five types of lipstick and gloss: darker reds were used on the outer corners, lighter shades in the middle and a highlighted cupid's bow and bottom lip, to create her fleshy pout.

-Marilyn was burried in a green pucci nylon jersey dress.

-Monroe was an acute stutterer and in the early part of her acting career received elocution lessons to correct it.

-The blonde had an IQ of 168.

-And owned over 400 books.

-When she was with Arthur Miller, she suffered an ectopic prengnancy and a miscarriage.

-Monroe made Joe DiMaggio promise to leave flowers on her grave every week if she died before him. He kept his promise and had half-dozen red roses were delivered three times a week to her crypt for 20 years.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, I'll come back with more installments of this series featuring other inspiring ladies.

See you soon,

Maddy

Asian Foodspiration

As you might have seen in my « To do... » post, I am firmly decided to get out of my « foodfort zone » and try new recipes. There had been a time in my life when I would make many « recipe » boards on pinterest, spend all day looking at yummy food that I could mash up and cook something new almost daily. Now, I just seem to stick to the same rice/tofu/veggies staple, and am feeling the urge to wake my taste buds up with some novelty. To do so, I went digging back into my old recipe gathering and came up with five delicious looking Asian-style dishes that I'm going to have a shot at. Asiatic flavors, (chili, ginger, soy sauce...) are by far my favorites, take me to a sushi place and you'll win my heart. Bear in mind I'm a « pescatarian », so no meat-based meals will be found in this list.

Spicy sriracha ramen noodles by « Baker By Nature »

Being a big fan of spicy stuff and noodles, I couldn't not want to try this amazing looking bowl of ramen. The good thing about this bowl too, is that it doesn't contain « typically asian » ingredients which are impossible to find in my local/countryside/horrible supermarket.

Dim-Sum shrimp dumpling by « China Sichuan Food »

This dish definitely requires a bit more shopping and preparation than the first one. But I figured homemade dumplings could only be better than takeway ones. Annnd I love takeway ones.

Tuna Carpaccio-Japanese style by « Jamie Oliver »

When tuna (aka, my favorite fish) season comes, this recipe will be the first to be attempted by my clumsy self. Come on, tell me this sashimi style tartar doesn't look delicious !

Japanese Cabbage salad by « Table for two...or more »

To be honest...the cabbage salad is one of my favorite parts of a japanese meal. Nearly as good as sushi. If this recipe works out, unlimited cabbage salad would be a thing...heaven.

Vegan Baozi by « China Sichuan Food »

If you haven't tried Baozis, go and make yourself some right now, they are amazing ! These tofu-stuffed ones seemed like a perfect upgrade to an allready delicious recipe. Can't wait to try them !

Have a yummy day,

Maddy

5 Shows i've finished/ am up to date with

The one thing you'll learn about me by scrolling through my blog is that I'm a looser. I drop out of things, am late to every single trend (just downloaded instagram and snapchat: maddymoon), hate what everybody seems to loves for no apparent reason... And of course that goes for TV shows too. I've only finished very few series, just because I tend to get bored with them. I hate Pretty Little Liars - running in circles- , can't stand The Walking Dead -too caricatural for me-, didn't enjoy Breaking Bag -boooring-, and lost track on the very shallow Gossip Girl. But here's a quintet of TV series that grabbed my attention, to the point where I watched every existing episode (what commitment). I'm not saying they're all good. Just very,very entertaining. Some of them are even popular (see,see, I'm NORMAL).

1 Malcolm in the Middle :

This show is my childhood. I've watched every single episode. 3 times. The little genious and his surrounding never failed to make my family and I laugh. Don't overlook this series because it's « a kid's show », I honestly think everybody could enjoy it. If you're feeling down and in need of an old school giggle, Malcolm In The Middle is the way to go.

2 The mentalist :

I can't believe this show's over. Even though it got out of breath and the ending was crappy, I know I'll miss chasing criminals whith the slightly psycopathic, extremely good looking Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker, 'love Simon Baker) and his superiors. The cast from « the mentalist » is really good, the first few season are really the best but once you start watching, you just can't leave  the characters. If you're looking for a better- to my opinion- alternative to Dexter, you should give « The mentalist » a try.

3 American Horror Story :

This one combines good looking characters and entertaining stories. It's not brilliant, and far from being as scary as everybody describes it, but it's light and relatively fun to watch. I only finished AHS because every season has a different story, and -let's be honest- because I wanted to see who was going to be embodied by Evan Peters. To my opinion, the 2nd season is the best, and the 4th one a bit "meh". I'm still planning on watching the 5t^h season though, I heard it has Lady Gaga in it...we'll see how that goes.

4-Kyle XY :

You have no idea how painful it is for me to talk about this abruptly dicontinued show (not overly dramatic here Maddy...). The series got me sucked into it, I had a huuuuge crush on Matt Dallas, the storyline was perfect, I had watched all of the bonus stuff... And it got stopped. It was left hanging on the edge of a cliff. What?! I still highly recomment it though, if you want to have a brilliant time before being left sobbing from disappointment on your bed.

5 Games Of Thrones :

12^th of april. The date is written on every notebook I own. The lauch day of GOT season 5. I cannot express how excited I am for it to come out, I already know that waiting between each episode, anxious to know if my favorite characters are going to make it, will be an absolute torture, but I'm up for it. I really didn't like he first season, but I pushed through it because it was « So Popular » and I'm glad I did. Games of Thrones is far from what I'm used to watching, Dragons, sex scenes, Middle Ages, aren't my thing. At all.So don't be reticent to the idea of spending hours glued to your TV in front of this gem, because it's « So Not You ». You'll regret it.

There you go. These are the five shows I've been loyal too. I hope you've enjoyed this post, don't forget to tell me which are your favorite series', whether you have watched any of those mentioned above and share your thoughts .

Have a lovely day,

Maddy

Spring shortening

Yep... it happened. I said I would chop the mane off in my « Chopping it off » post, and -to my suprise- I really did. I asked for a very slighltly layered, Lily Collins style lob. The hairdresser took in consideration the frizziness of my hair and left it a bit longer than it was on the pictures, giving it space to bounce up when it dries. I am absolutely chuffed with the way it looks now, it feels a lot lighter, structured and healthier, what more could I ask for ?

What do you think about the lob ? Have you already made the cut ?

Have a lovely day,

Maddy