The long-awaited update

Hello!

Long time, no entries, uh?! Sorry about that. I tried to keep up with your blogs anyway, but I guess I never found time to post accurate reviews on mine.

These weeks have been crazy. Holidays included.

I don’t know if you follow my Instagram or Twitter, but I have moved to another place and, honestly, moving changes your life. Well, kind of. 😛 Luckily, we did not have to rush the process, but we did not have enough time to do it slowly and regularly either. At the moment, we are still living in a house with no bathroom and bedroom furniture. Hopefully, we will use our old bathroom, but we still need to actually measure everything to see if it fits. Concerning my new bedroom, I have boxes over boxes over boxes and just the two old beds (one for me and one for my sister) who are about 20 years old. I am planning on going furniture shopping in February, problems aside. I will surely post picture when everything’s done and pretty. 😉 Right now, despite the mess and the missing closet/drawers/storage I am liking this new place. Which, actually, is not entirely new. Well..it is, but..Gosh. It’s complicated to explain. Let’s say it our old house that got rebuilt. There it is. Though it’s not that simple! 😛

Oh, and I have no decent internet connection so this really tests me! -.-‘ However, we should come have our old phone contract restored in any day, now.

Moving aside, I have been writing my thesis and stopped working on the research during the holidays, just to take the last exam left in my study plan. Thankfully, it went great and now I can focus on my thesis only. My defence is scheduled for March 26th and, honestly, I can’t wait to finish everything with uni stuff!

Another reason why I have been MIA during the last month is due to countless PhD applications (Germany, US, Australia and UK) I had to send from the end of November on and related exams. I may be done with everything (I still need to figure out if I get a supervisor at the London Imperial College and therefore understand if I can apply or not) and I *only* (haha, so easy! #sarcasm) have to wait for the universities to reply and let me know if I got in or not. I am praying day and night to God Luck to help me get in any of the institutions I applied. I really want to get a PhD abroad and move from Italy as soon as possible.

I still don’t have any plan B if my dream cannot be achieved, and…I don’t want to think about it. I come from super stressful weeks of applications, exams, thesis and I don’t have enough space in my brain to decide what I’ll do next if nothing goes right. We’ll see, we’ll see.

Oh, and..I bought an HD video camera. Just to put it our there. We’ll see how it goes! 😉

That is my update! Hopefully, these following weeks I will be able to come back and review products!

I will talk to you soon, dearies!
Stay beautiful.

L

The 2013 recap: the best of the best!

Hello!

Before starting with my 2013 favorites, I have to wish you the brightest new year ever! I wish that all of your wishes come true and that you can find what you are looking for! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I wish you a super happy new year!!!

A big hug for all of you!!!

And here are the winners of my 2013!!!

—————-❤ Random Beauty Things ❤—————-

• Lush – Roots (hair treatment): the hair mask that changed my life. I’m never going to stop using, it’s perfection!!! (review here)
• Lush – Honey I Washed the Kids (soap): the smell is amazing, and it leaves my hands super soft. I also use it to wash my face, from time to time..shhh, don’t tell! 😛
• Lush – Porridge (soap/scrub): in Italian it’s called “Il Signore dei Granelli” and it stands for “The lord of the grains” and it’s an amazing body scrub, plus it smells amazing!
• Equilibra – Scrub corpo rimodellante (body scrub): it a mix of salt and oils and not only does it scrub my skin perfectly, but it hydrates it amazingly
• Kiko – Hydra + Body Cream: the best body moisturizer I have ever tried so far
• Lush – Eau Roma Water (toner): a super fresh toner to refresh or soothe my skin and, as everything by Lush, it’s completely natural which is always a plus
• Burt’s Bees – Radiance Eye Cream: it lasted me an entire year and it goes straight back on my wish list for 2014!
• Bioderma – Sensibio H2O Solution Micellaire (makeup remover): definitely the best makeup remover I have ever tried. It’s the highlight of this year! I’m almost out of my tiny bottle and I will surely repurchase it in 2014 (review here)
• Coconut oil: perfect to hydrate skin and to remove makeup

• MAC – Face&Body foundation in White: my life savior – I’m too pale to find a good match for high-end or drugstore foundations, and a white base to mix with darker foundations works like a charm for me (review here)
• Real Techniques – Expert Face Brush: it’s the only brush I find myself going back to whenever I want to apply liquid foundations – it’s the best
• e.l.f. – Eyelash and brow wand: a spoolie I got recently and that I use almost daily
• Kiko – Precision Lip Pencil (#306): a red lip pencil I use constantly (even more than red lipstick) when I want to dare with red (see it here)
• Sephora – Eyeshadow (#10 Californian Blonde): the perfect champagne color for when I am lazy to put something more elaborate on my eyes – it works great as a cheek highlighter as well
• MUA – Undress me too palette: it should be the dupe for Naked 2 and it’s definitely my most used palette of this year!
• Rimmel Kate Moss – Lipstick (#10): my go-to red lipstick (before getting the MAC Ruby Woo – review here) (review here)
• Kiko – Stick Bloom blush (#02): a super easy to apply blush that I used during Spring and Autumn/Winter almost daily
• Kiko Glow Touch – Lips&Cheeks (#01 Bitter Margarita): a bright strawberry cream blush I used all summer long (review here)
• Benefit – High Beam (highlighter): I got at the beginning of the year and loved to death every single day – it’s the perfect pink highlighter for my skin tone. Now I own only a little sample, but I am going to finish it up soon, and..definitely will purchase the full size!
• Essie – Laquered up (nail polish): the red that stole my heart – I’ve worn it countless days!!! (review here)
• Essie – Mint Candy Apple (nail polish): I got this polish later than any other girl on the web, but fallen in love with it immediately (review here)
• China Glaze – Purr-fect Plum (nail polish): the best plum ever, perfect for the Autumn and Winter (review here)

• Nina Ricci – Nina (perfume): I only got a sample, but I am in love. Actually planning to buy the full size!!!
• Issey Miyake – Florale (perfume): I don’t know how could I live without this perfume. I think that if I had to pick just one scent for life, I would go with this one!

—————-❤ Random Things&People ❤—————-

• Honey: I used to hate honey, back when I was a kid, now..it’s my favorite thing in the world. Plus, it works amazingly in milkshakes and on cookies! 😛
• Twinings – Blackcurrant tea: the best flavour of tea ever – I just can’t get enough of it (Instagram love)
• Outside walking/running: I started in April and stopped in October – I can’t wait to have time to start again! It helped me to get in shape and to listen for the countless albums I had to check out! 😛
• Zoella (youtuber): she’s the cutest girl ever – I’m a little obsessed..:P
• Essiebutton (youtuber): okay, I am literally obsessed with her – I love her videos too much! (my blog post about her here)
• Danisnotonfire (youtuber): honestly, he is my spirit animal

—————-❤ Random TV shows, Movies, Books and Music ❤—————-

• Once Upon a Time (TV show): loved the third season so far and my lovely ship Captain Swan is amaaaaazing!!! (join me in the madness!)
• Teen Wolf (TV show): what can I say..it started as a joke and it has become an obsession
• Gilmore Girls (TV show): I started rewatching the entire show and I have fallen in love with it all over again
• Bunheads (TV show): one of the cutest and brilliant TV shows I’ve watched – definitely check it out if you love Gilmore Girls
• Nashville (TV show): the best mix of drama and music
• The Hobbit (movie): loved the movies, like..reaaaally loved the movies. And I’m head over heels with the entire LOTR fandom all over again! (I though I recovered, but no..after 10 years, bang! Peter Jackson puts a spell on me again! :P)
• 10 things I hate about you (movie): watch it, just..do it
• The dark knight rises (movie): looooved it – so sad it’s the end of the trilogy
• The Heat (movie): I did not remember how it felt to cry of laughter – Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are amazing together
• The Band Perry (music): I love country, I love powerful female voices and deep lyrics – this band is flawless
• Ariana Grande (music): I don’t know if she gets the credit she deserves, but she’s amazing. I can almost say she’s better than the Queen Mariah Carey, for being that young. Pure, pure talent!
• Clare Bowen & Sam Palladio songs from Nashville (music): I love Scarlett & Gunnar in Nashville (they are my favorite couple on the show) and their voices are the perfect match!
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (book): full of inspiration and down to earth characters – one of the best books I’ve ever read
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (book): a wonderful yet peculiar love story, brilliantly written too

—————-❤ Random quotes ❤—————-

• “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.” (The Happiness Project)
• “The trick is to not see the bars, but rather what lies beyond them.” (Cyrus from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland)
• “There comes a time when you have to see what life looks like from the dance floor” (The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky)

—————-❤ Random honorable mentions ❤—————-

• Starting my Master’s Thesis
• Winning 3 giveaways (#2, #3)
• TOEFL, GRE, GRE Physics exams
• Applying for countless PhD in the US, Germany and Australia (that’s the reason why I did not post very often in Nov.-Dec. I promise I will do a blog post about it when everything has ended!)

& that is all, girls! If you are more curious, you can check out my 2013 Scrapbook here!

ps. I got tagged by Miss. Jolien Nathalie for this post! I did not manage to include the answers to all her questions, though! Check her cute video as soon as you can!!!

Talk to you soon!

Stay beautiful.

L