DIY: Harry Potter Birthday Party

Last week was my birthday, and as I am a big Harry Potter fan, I decided to do a family dinner around this theme. The dinner itself was all home made by my mother: it was mostly armenian and libanese food!

Table:

Up here are the table pics, and below I'm showing you some Harry Potter scenes that inspired the table decoration:

• I put plastic gold cups to keep with the Hogwarts eating hall style;
• Some Jelly Beans and some other candys on jars because of the famous "Every Flavour Beans";
• To mark the places of each person I made some Hogwarts letters with each name on it;
• In the table center I did this "Weasley's flying car" scene, inspired on Pinterest, I did it with na IKEA candle holder;
• And finally the salt shaker and the pepper shaker are like the flying origami bird that Umbridge burned.

Food:

These is some of the food, so as you can see it's mostly armenian and libanese food, and the only Harry Potter related things are:

• The cone-shaped plastic bags that I found in those stores that sell a little bit of everything;
• And the coconut Quidditch balls, so I just cut transparent paper as wings and put them into the coconut balls.

Decoration:

So these is the decoration I did, I didn't want it to be too much because I turned 21 so I still wanted it to be like a simple dinner and not a costume party so I just added some details that remind Harry Potter like:

• The potions that I just put a drop of painting into these little bottles with water;
• The deers are actually a Christmas decoration but it reminds me of Harry Potter (I'll just put some pics from the movies below);
• I put some old keys attached to a string, and taped some paper wings so it looks like a scene from the movie;
• And I put these kind of huge fairy lights above the table so it looks like th floating candles from the Hogwarts eating hall.

Finally, but certainly not least, my birthday cake home made by my mom and a photoboothe home made by me:

The cake is a chocolate cake but you can do any type of cake, relatively to Harry Potter what matters is the outsider of it, so it's just whipped cream with food coloring and a green frosting tube to design the letters on it. The photoboothe is a big white cardboard and I did like stencil letters on it and cut a square in the middle, so the guests look like Sirius Black below:

So this was my 21st birthday party, hope you enjoyed as much as I enjoyed it, and I hope it will give some inspiration if you are a Harry Potter fan too! A huge thank you to my mom who cooked for two days, and if you have any questions don't hesitate on the comments section, xoxo!

HAUL: Expocosmética 2017

The Expocosmética is a yearly cosmetic, aesthetics, nails and hair market, the biggest one of the Iberian Peninsula. This year I was thrilled to be invited from the 22th to the 24th april. And this article is an haul of I bought there.

• First I stopped at the Flormar sales stand and bought some Clean Care Makeup Wet Wipes, a little bit rough but it removes perfectly the makeup so it's always useful! A Loose Powder in the shade 03 Medium Sand Transparant which I already tried on a very warm day and it kept my makeup intact. A Puffy Blush in the shade 02 Hippie Fest that came broken but it's still usable, not very pigmented but since the colour is so deep I think it's a good thing, so it gives a little bit of colour and shimmer to the cheeks. And two Waterproof Lipliners in the shades 201 that is a really pretty nude that goes very well with the Velvet Teddy from MAC and 203 which is a lightly metallic dark pink.

• After that, I bought this keratin mask, without salt, moisturizing repair, for damaged hair, volume reducer, high concentration, 1kg of product for just over 5€. It's from the  brand Real Natura which is a portuguese brand that is inspired on what nature gives us for the product's formulas.

• Then, I stopped at Peggy Sage's sales stand and bought these cool square cotton pads, that is really cool because it doesn't undo itself once the product's on it, and it's big enough so you can use only one or two to remove the makeup off your face.

• Finally, I got my hands on the Real Techniques brushes. A little bit late on these maybe, but better late than never. I bought the "Starter Set" eye brushes, the "Core Collection" face brushes, and the "Miracle Complexion Sponge". So the "Starter Set" contains: a "deluxe crease brush" perfect to contour the eyes; a "base shadow brush" that i love to blend the crease with to erase the harsh lines; an "accent brush" great for the colour touch in the center of the lid; a "fine liner brush" for eyeliner I suppose, but I think it's a little bit too thick for that, I like to use it for smoking the shadow next to the lower lashes; and a "brow brush" simply for brows. The "Core Collection" has: a "contour brush" that I actually don't like to contour the forehead (maybe my forehead is the problema, don't think so though) because it's a little bit small and too precise, so it's perfect for under the cheek bones and the jaw line; a "pointed foundation brush" that I also think it's too small for foundation, I'd rather use it for under eye concealer; a "detailer brush" which is tiny, so I use it for colour correcting for example, to hide some small imperfections and stuff; and a "buffing brush" that I like to wipe the excess of powder after baking or to blend harsh contouring. Both these sets come in a really cool case that protects the brushes when it's closed and it can keep the brushes stood up so it's easier for you to reach it. And finally the "Miracle Complexion Sponge" that I only used to bake until now and it's really awesome, so the rounded face of it can blend the larger face areas; the tip is great to reach the eye's inner corner or the nose's sides; and my favourite thing about it, the flat part, perfect for baking under the eyes, on the jaw, the forehead and the chin.

That's it for this article, I really enjoyed being at this event, I wanted to thank Expocosmética for inviting me, and I hope you liked getting to know what goodies I bought there. Stay tuned until the next article, xoxo!

REVIEW: Lip Monthly - August

This week was a great one because I'm starting my senior year in college, started my first job, got my first car, and got my first Lip Monthly bag and that's exactly what I'm going to tell you about on this article:

This is the August bag and it came with 4 products. I was incredibly surprised because I love all of the products that came in it.

- The first item that I got out of the bag was the HIKARI Dual Color Stick. The name is a little bit confusing because it's not like it has two colours in it, it's a one colour product but, in fact, you can apply it in your lips but also highlight your cheekbones with it. The colour that came in my bag was the Tawny which is a bronze with shimmer and I love it. I actually use it more as an highlighter than as a lipstick because it gives an incredible glow, it blends really well and it is super creamy. But as a lipstick it's also bomb for a metallic lip for a night out or something. 

- The second product that I got was the VEGAN BERRY TINT - Lips & Cheeks Liquid Blush from SERAPHINE Botanicals, I really liked discovering this brand because it's a natural and vegetable-derived production brand, it's not tested on animals, the box was printed with soy ink (but I tought, wouldn't it be more ecological to simply not using a box for the products? Anyway, the packaging is super cute and nature related) and apparently the brand's bonus is that the products are vegan, gmo-free and gluten-free. The shade that came in my bag was the Cherry Cream which is a rich red, but this should be applied by tapping a little bit of product on the lips for a natural looking reddish colour, or also tapping on the cheeks for a natural rosie cheeks look. So basically, it's a super natural product on everyway!

- The third lip products that I got is maybe one of my favourites (they're all my favs after all but you know...) is the MANNA KADAR Priming Lip Wand in the shade Tarte which is a punchy peach, almost like coral. It's a really beautiful colour, you can dab a little bit on the lips to give a natural look or just go bold (it's not like it would be bold because it's a quite light colour but you know what I mean) and on the website it says to apply it as a lip pencil for a defined look. So it's long-lasting, it has a primer in it which makes it perfect for a on-the-go lippie, it's very smooth to apply almost like a lip balm, and the plus of this products is that it is "paraben-free, cruelty-free and allergy tested", following the website information. And what I stupidly like the most about this is that it has "wand" on its name so it reminds me of Harry Potter!

- The last but not least product of the August bag is the Ultimate Lipliner from LORD&BERRY, I really loved this product and it's the one I used the most since I got the bag, and it's in my favourite shade which is Romantic Rose which is a beautiful lightly dark pink. Its application is really smooth, creamy and easy. So this lipliner has some unique qualities which are: it has macademia oil and waterlily extracts on its formula, it is waterproof (which I confirm because I drank all day with it on and it stood on, but I don't think it's the only lipliner that is waterproof) and it's highly blendable (and that I can't tell you because I didn't try to do that,  I honeslty don't see what's the point of blending a lip pencil because it's ment to define). 

Finally, I saw on Instagram that the August bag was like white with some flowers on it, and I received a different one (gold with little birds) and maybe it's because it was my first bag, I don't know, but I love it, I think it's super cute and I'm really really happy with my first Lip Monthly and I got it 50% off with the code "50OFF" and they ship worldwide so tell me in the comments if you have it and if you like this kind of articles, and mostly if you want me to do an article about it every month (sooner than this one because I know it's the August bag and we are already mid September)! Don't forget to subscribe if you don't want to loose my coming articles and share it if you liked it, xoxo!

REVIEW: The Balm Voyage Vol. 2

After a little break, what better than a summer holiday themed article here? I decided to share with you the solution I found to my main struggle when I travel: fitting all the makeup I want/need in my luggage.

The Balm Voyage Vol.2 is my solution. So this palette is not just one of those that has plenty of things in it but the colours are too crazy to wear and the quality inexistant. I'm a neutral colour person and I'm telling you, ALL the colours are not only wearable but gorgeous on this palette.

There's 9 eyeshadows, 1 highlighter, 1 bronzer, 2 powder blushes and 2 creamy blushes/lip products.

All of the powder products are very buttery which is my favourite formula, and what I like about this eyeshadow range of colours is that there's a light beige to put all over the lid ("Welcome"), transition colours for the crease ("Bienvenue" & "Tervetuloa"), a little bit of pop of colour ("Benvenuto" & "Welkom"), the most beautiful colours for the lid ("Bienvenido" & "Willkommen") and amazing colours for a smokey look ("Valkommen" & "Failte").

The highlighter ("Kuwakaribisha") is very light and gentle, it's not the incredible glow that makes you put sunglasses on, it only adds a very soft shimmer to the look which I personally love for a natural day look.

The bronzer ("Croeso") is OMG, I freaking love this bronzer, it is hands down my favourite bronzer. The colour is just perfect for me (I'm the lightest ever) and it looks so natural, but I actually think that what I like the most about it is the texture, it's so buttery, it blends so well, nothing bad to say about it unless it's getting to pan to quickly!

The blushes are not my favourites, I mean these are not colours that I would personally purchase, but again, they add a soft colour to the face, not archly pigmented, one is on a pinky/peachy tone ("Huan Ying") and the other one is more shimmery and darker, a little bit like on a violet tone ("Dobrodosli").

The creamy products were a great experience for me because I had never tried it before, so I was pleasantly surprised. I was very skeptical about putting the same product that you put on the lip, on actual skin like the cheeks. But I fell a little bit in love applying the orangy tone ("Vitajte") on the cheeks, and the reddish tone ("Bem-Vindo") on the lips.

A smart point on this palette is that the creamy products oppening is not the same than the powder products oppening,which is really cool so you don't get messy with the cream products while using the powder ones.

And a little bonus on this palette is that inside you have a little "guide" to give you some ideas of what look to do and what combinations to do.

Finally the packaging that doesn't really need to be spoken about since The Balm is just freaking amazing on every packaging they have. Putting the boat steering wheel around the mirror is genius and the palm trees are super summery. The outside of the palette mentioning some countries is just bomb.

So I hope it helped you if you are just as complicated as me while you're packing, knowing it's the end of the summer, this palette can be used on winter holidays as well. If you have it, if you want to have it, if you want to share your opinion on it, don't hesitate on commenting what you think. Thank you so much for reading and now on I'll be posting much more regularly so don't forget to subscribe and share, xoxo!