Michelle in a Nutshell

Hi guys! Hope you're all having a wonderful week :)

I thought I'd make my first books post today. I really love books - the real books, the ones you can touch & feel, even smell. I'm one of those few people who in this day & age refuses to buy a Kindle or similar. I'm always pretty up to date with technology but I seriously refuse to read books on an e-reader because I just love the real thing.

Firstly, I wanted to share an old favorite. "Until We Meet Again: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Holocaust" by Michael Korenblit.

I have had this book forever - so long that I have no idea when I got it.  I've read it multiple times and each time it I get really deep into the story and enjoy each and every page.

Here is a small summary from Good Reads:

1942. A small town in Poland. Two Jewish families flee to hiding places, hoping to evade deportation by the Nazis. At the last moment, 17-year old Manya makes the heart wrenching decision to leave her family and join her sweetheart, Meyer, also 17, with his family. For three long years, Manya and Meyer endure the loss of their parents and siblings, separation from each other, and the horror of concentration camps, including Aushwitz-but are helped at key points by courageous Polish Catholics and are constantly sustained by their faith and their love for each other. Co-authored by the couple's son Michael, this absorbing and suspenseful narrative reads like a novel, yet tells a true story of love and horror, sacrifice and courage, with a conclusion that is truly miraculous.

I've always been drawn to these types of stories for several reasons. Love story - that's an obvious reason. Holocaust - I am Polish so I have that connection to the country and I'm quite interested in World War II. Biography - I really love reading people's stories and getting to know their experiences, thoughts and feelings.

I also really like the oldie photos in the middle of the book. This way you can match the real faces to the names in the book. All in all, I really recommend this book, so good! This actually reminds me to read this book again, I haven't for a while! ;)

I wanted to share two new books I've gotten lately. First off, I got the idea for this purchase from Amy Antoinette. It's a diary which is called "Q and A a Day: 5-Year Journal".

I've always wanted and have tried to keep a diary or journal, but I'm just too lazy for that. And honestly, I don't really know what I could write every day since my daily life really isn't too exciting. So, when I found this journal, I just loved the concept! As you can see in the photo above, each day is one page and has 5 empty paragraphs, one paragraph per year. There is one question per day which you can answer. In the end, you answer the same question once a year for 5 years.

For this photo, I opened the book to my birthday, May 13, and the question is "Who loves you today?". How appropriate is that?! I love it! :)

You can purchase this book on Amazon.

My other purchase is the book "Blog, Inc." by Joy D. Cho. I saw recommendations for this book on a few blogs which I read, so I thought I'd like to read it since I started my own blog recently. I bought it on Ex Libris and I can't wait to collect some new tips on blogging!

I really, really like the look and feel of this book. The size, the cover, the round corners and especially the text and graphics inside. I think I'll start reading tonight ;)

Thanks for stopping by the blog today and watch out for my GIVEAWAY post on Saturday!! :)

*Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Hi guys! I hope you had a good start to your week (and thank goodness Monday is over..) ;)

I really wanted to share an eye makeup look I did on Saturday. I have green/brown eyes and I bought some green eyeshadows a while ago since I thought they will make my eye color pop. I hadn't used them yet because I'm quite afraid of using colored eyeshadows on my eyes. I always use earth and neutral tones on my eyes so using colors is a big step. So, I tried out a look with green eyeshadow and a green eye pencil. I'm not too great at taking pictures of myself or of my makeup, so you'll have to bear with me until I get a bit better at it :)

This eye makeup look actually came out very natural, considering I used green tones. I really like it!

These are the products I used:

Here are the steps to create this eye makeup look:

After doing my face makeup and my eyebrows, I continue on to my eyes. With my ring finger, I apple a very thin layer of MAC Prep+Prime eye primer. This helps keep my eye shadow from disappearing throughout the day. Then, again with my ring finger, I add MAC paint pot in "Groundwork" to my lids. This is a bit darker than my skin tone and helps the ivory color stand out more. With my MAC 228 shader brush I apply Estée Lauder ShadowCreme in the shade 06 "Ivory Lace". I try not to pull it back and forth, I rather pat it on my lid with the brush. If I want to make that ivory color even shinier, I add the L'Oréal Color Infaillible shadow in the shade 002 "Hourglass Beige". This is a very nice, shimmery, pigmented beige/ivory shadow.

For my crease, I use a Sigma double sided brush (E30 is a smaller, pointed brush and E25 is a larger blending brush). Since I experimented with green for the first time, I took the E30 brush and applied the L'Oréal Color Infaillible shadow in shade 009 "Permanent Kaki" to my crease. I then blended it into my crease using the E25 blending brush. I added more of the "Permanent Kaki" shade a few times since I wanted the green to be more pigmented. I continued to blend it until I was happy with the pigmentation and at the same time formed a v-shape from the corner of my eye outwards into my crease. This adds some shape and of course depth to my eyes. To make the green pop a bit more, I added the shadow "Humid" from MAC. I applied this with the E30 brush, into my crease, making a v-shape. I didn't blend this out, because it added more depth into the middle of my crease. Last step for my eye shadow: I took a regular shader brush and applied the shade "Elope" from the Sigma "Bare" palette under my eyebrows. This works as a highlighter and it blends my crease color to make it look softer.

I created a winged eyeliner using my Smashbox Limitless Liquid Liner in dark brown and applied MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in "Stubborn Brown" to my lower lash line. I don't pull the eye liner on the bottom lash line too far into my inner corner as to keep my eyes from looking smaller. I then also added some green to my lower lash line: I applied the MAC Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in "Undercurrent" directly on top of the brown liner. This adds some color without making it to in-your-face.

I finish off my eye look with one coat of Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum and two or three coats of Diorshow black mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

Et voilà!

I hope you guys enjoyed my first official makeup look on my blog! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to comment down below :)

Have a great day or night and stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY post this week!

Hi everyone :)

It's quite late here but I really wanted to put up a post today so I thought I'd show you my nails of the day. Unfortunately, the lighting isn't great in these photos since I didn't have any daylight left when I shot them. Hope you can forgive me!

This nail polish by Essie is in the shade Midnight Cami. It's a "shimmering deep twilight blue" and perfect for these cold and dark months. I really love that it's a dark nail polish, but not black, and has some shimmer to it when light shines on your nails. I apply two coats of this after applying one coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.

As you may already know from a previous post, I've been loving the OPI I Juggle...Men on top of different nail polishes. I apply one coat of this shimmery polish and top it all off with one coat of Essie Good to Go top coat. It dried super fast today so I was able to get to my dinner plans on time ;)

I have one bonus item for you guys which I use every time I do my nails.

This is the Essence Nail Polish Corrector Pencil. It really helps to clean up the mess on your cuticles/skin when you get nail polish around your nail. It's made of jojoba oil, has a cherry scent and it's acetone free. It really does smell nice! This product is really good to clean off nail polish on your skin and much more exact than using a q-tip with nail polish remover. And it's very cheap!

Have a wonderful day/night you guys and talk to you soon!

Hi guys!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday and TGIF!! Am I right, am I right??

A few weeks ago I was at my local Marionnaud (which is a Swiss perfume / high-end cosmetics store) and I saw a display with a few new Estée Lauder products. This item looked gorgeous on the stand and screamed BUY ME! (my wallet was resisting but it unfortunately never wins that battle...)

It's the Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée Blush from the Pure Color Pretty Naughty Collection by Tom Pecheux for Estée Lauder. The name gives off a personality disorder feeling - am I a powder? am I a gel? am I a highlighter? am I a regular blush? BUT that's probably what makes this product so beautiful! It's a high polish blush and a powder/gel/liquid in one. I think that's what makes the texture so SILKY and soft. It's so nice to apply and quite easy.

This blush leaves a "high sheen" highlight so you have to be careful with the amount of product you apply. If you slap on too much, it can look very, VERY shiny and shimmery. So I experimented with it and found that for me, having oily skin, the "less is more" concept makes sense. And I apply it only to the tops of my cheekbones to highlight.

It's definitely worth going to your Estée Lauder cosmetic counter and trying this product out. It may surprise you! And I think it's quite unique and gives your skin a beautiful glow.

Have a great Friday ya'll, I'm enjoying a quiet Friday night in cuddling with the puppy :) Till next time!

I'm back! As promised :)

So, I want to share my latest fave with you. I've been using this mascara duo for at least a month or two now and I'm really loving it.

 It's the Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum and the original Diorshow mascara in black. I usually wear drugstore mascaras (Cover Girl Lash Blast is my favorite) but I thought I'd try out a high-end mascara and decided on this duo.

Firstly, I apply one coat of the lash plumping serum to my top and bottom lashes. I have very thin, light lashes so this serum helps build some volume. It instantly primes, plumps, and lengthens lashes with an ultra-light and quick-drying formula. The first "active serum" mascara primer also contains a unique cell-conditioning complex made up of hydrolyzed soy proteins that promote long-term lash growth, strength, and vitality. 

This serum definitely helps build volume and plumps the lashes, but I'm not sure about it helping with lash growth. I haven't really noticed any difference and I've been using it for two months at least. But, I'm really happy about it making my lashes appear thicker after coating it with black mascara, so it's a thumbs up from me!

When the serum has dried, which is almost instantly, I apply two coats of the Diorshow mascara in black. This XXL brush helps create maximum volume and the formula is creamy and buildable, which I like since I tend to sometimes touch up my mascara during the day.

This mascara is even award-winning and has been a backstage cult-favorite for 10 years. This year it was also seen used backstage at New York Fashion Week!

So, that's all for today! I'm exhausted and going straight to sleep now. Happy Valentine's Day again, hope you're all with your loved ones!

Hi everyone!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all of you :)

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day here in Switzerland. It's barely noticeable and I bet if you asked a random Swiss guy, he wouldn't know that today's Valentine's Day.

Nevertheless, I still want to wish all of you a great day & evening! Whether it's a regular day spent at work or an evening celebrating with your special loved one, I hope you can all enjoy it and feel the love (haha, so cheesy, I know..).

So, since my readers so far are quite an international bunch, tell me this: Do you celebrate Valentine's Day in your country?

Have a good one & keep your eyes peeled for a new post later today *cough* DIOR *cough* ;)

Hi everyone! It's the weekend - woo woo!

It's a beautiful, sunny, winter Sunday today and before I go enjoy the sunshine, I thought I'd write a post since I didn't write one yesterday :(

Here is the second part of my recent Etsy order. If you haven't read the first part, click here :)

The first item in this post is this bracelet I ordered for my boyfriend. I wanted to give him a personalized bracelet but didn't like the idea of a silver plated "ID" bracelet since everyone who sees it on your wrist can read the text. I was browsing on Etsy and found this awesome men's bracelet.

This is the "Custom Men's Leather Bracelet - Quote Jewelry - Spiral Bracelet" from the shop Poppy Drops. The description of this bracelet on the shop's site is worded perfectly: This unique personalised leather bracelet not only looks great but lets you keep your message a little more discreet! That's exactly why I ordered it. It's made of heavy gauge aluminium hand-formed spiral and double length of 5mm black, mid brown or dark brown flat genuine leather with a stainless steel magnetic clasp (the one I ordered is with dark brown leather). You can choose from a few different fonts. I chose "Typewriter" and was able to use a message with up to 67 characters. Definitely check out this shop - especially if you're looking for a unique Valentine's Day gift! ;)

Bracelet: $40 AUD

The next item I purchased I actually have been wanting for a long while. I was browsing Etsy with the intention of finding a necklace like this and I found it! (No surprise, since you can find everything on Etsy.)

I found this necklace on the shop Nurjeweldesign. It's the "Monogram necklace - 925 Sterling Silver Monogram Necklace". The charm is 1.5" and it's 100% handmade. I chose to monogram my initials - MJK - and I'm very happy with it. I absolutely love the font as well, very feminine and makes the initials look a bit more mysterious and not so obvious. Check out the shop if you're interested in a monogrammed piece of jewelry.

Necklace: $41.99

Since most short dainty necklaces are a bit too short for me, I like to add an "extension". Last year, when I was visiting family in Poland, I received a necklace from Swarovski and there was a silver extension included, which I love to use for any of my necklaces that are too short. This is a great, cheap idea to make the length of any necklace flexible.

This extension may be a bit too thick for certain necklaces, but I'm sure you can buy a variety of different sizes of extension at your local silver/jewelry shop.

Hope you enjoyed my recent Etsy purchases and definitely check out the shops mentioned if any of these items sparked any interest. I'm very satisfied with all the purchases and their quality.

Have you discovered any awesome shops on Etsy lately?! Let me know & comment below! Or, tweet me @mischka13 with the hashtag #etsyshop. I love finding new shops and discovering unique items.

Until next time :) Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Friday everyone!

Who else is so happy this week is over?! I'm sure most of you screamed out "ME!" ;)

Well, today I'm going to post about some awesome cream shadows. I know they're not new anymore and I've had these for a while myself, but just haven't come around to blogging about them. So here they are: the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24HR Cream Gel Shadows! (I think the name could be a little longer, no?)

These are the 5 shades which I own. I originally read about the "Bad to the Bronze" shade on some blogs and went out to buy it and ended up picking up a few additional shades in the following days.

This is the first shadow in the line-up photo above. It's the shade 05 "Eternal Gold". It may be the same shade as "Bold Gold" in the USA - I've noticed that all the names are different for Europe. I don't know what sense that makes, but ya know, let's leave that alone. I initially thought this shade may be too yellow-toned, but it has a really nice gold shimmer on the eyelids. I wouldn't wear this shade alone, I like mixing it with some bronze or brown powder eyeshadows.

The shade 65 "Pink Gold" is a really pretty, pink shimmery shadow. I find it has more pink in it than gold. I unfortunately can't find an equivalent on the American Maybelline website. Like "Eternal Gold", I like blending this shade with other eye shadows. I find it's too light for my skin tone. But the great thing is, these cream shadows blend wonderfully. Easy application and are blendable - what else do you need?

This is honestly the only shade I haven't worn yet. It's the shade 40 "Permanent Taupe". I think the American equivalent is "Tough as Taupe". It's a great matte, taupe/grey shade. I really like it - I just need to find a good powder eye shadow shade to match.

And now, on to my absolute favorite! Shade 35 "On and on Bronze" - goooorgeous! I believe the equivalent is "Bad to the Bronze". It's a beautiful bronzy shade and is totally wearable on its own, with a darker powder shadow in the crease or blended all together with a second shade. It's just perfect for everyday or you can easily spice it up for a night out. I love it and it works so nicely with my skin tone. Definitely worth trying out if you'd like a natural cream shadow.

The fifth shade I own is 55 "Immortal Charcoal". I believe you could compare it to "Audacious Asphalt". This is a great shade to use in a makeup look for a night out. You can build a great smokey eye look using this a your base.

All in all:

These shadows are long-lasting, have intense color and DON'T CREASE! Amazing products and they're safe for sensitive eyes and contact wearers.

I'd love to try out some eye looks with these shades. Would you guys like to see them?? Leave a comment below :)

Hey ya'll :)

I thought I'd start a series called "Mini Mani Update" since I'm a nail polish lover and change my manicure more often than is healthy. So while I'm at it, I could show you guys what I'm rockin on my nails!

Today I've got two coats of "Quarter of a Cent Cherry" and two coats of "I Juggle...Men". I used the OPI Natural Nail base coat and the Essie "Good to Go" top coat.

(Photo courtesy of BeautyBay.com)

OPI "Quarter of a Cent Cherry" is a rich cherry red which is a bit darker in person than on this photo. But it's a beautiful color, a classic and very wearable on a day to day basis.

(Photo courtesy of BeautyBay.com)

I added two coats of OPI "I Juggle...Men" - because I'm basically obsessed with this shimmer polish at the moment. I add it to basically every color. It's an iridescent shimmer topcoat and is part of the Femme de Cirque Collection for 2011. In the photo it looks like an off-white shade, but on top of color polishes it has a clear base and many colorful tiny sparkles. It really livens up any nail polish shade.

(Photo courtesy of BeautyBay.com)

I quite like using this base coat. It prevents staining the nails, which is always a plus, and promotes long lasting wear.

(Photo courtesy of BeautyBay.com)

And of course, I topped it all off with my beloved Essie "Good to Go" top coat. It really is the fastest drying top coat I've ever used!

Check out a "video" of my nails on Vine! Download the app and follow me, mischka13 :)

Hi guys!

This is quite a spontaneous post since I didn't have it planned, but my boyfriend and I watched such a great movie last night that I just had to share! It's called Starbuck.

It's a 2011 (French-)Canadian comedy film directed by Ken Scott and starring Patrick Huard. We watched it dubbed in German since it was playing on our Swiss cable TV.

It's about a guy, David Wozniak, who works for his father in a butcher shop. He's quite lost in life, doesn't take his responsibilities seriously and has a lot of debt. He was a sperm donor for about 2 years in the 80's (I believe) and he now finds out he fathered 533 children! This all comes to light because 142 of his sons & daughters are trying to force the fertility clinic to reveal the true identity of their father, David, who used the pseudonym "Starbuck" when donating. So he starts randomly meeting his children without letting them know who he is, because he's curious to know who they are but doesn't want to reveal that he's "Starbuck" since he'd lose the trial. In addition to all of this, his girlfriend finds out she's pregnant and he needs to prove to her that he'd make a good father.

This film was so funny and so heartwarming. I'd definitely recommend it to everyone!

Have a good Monday, guys! Next post coming later tonight :)

Hi guys!

It's Sunday morning, I'm sitting in the living room, freezing my butt off and watching snowflakes fall outside. I have such a love/hate relationship with winter! ;)

Anyways, I have made a few purchases from Etsy lately and I want to share two shops with you! If you don't already know what Etsy is, check out my post January's Five Faves.

The first shop I want to share with you is HotMixCold. They sell "handmade jewelry with love" and ship worldwide (which is a must for me since I'm in Switzerland). Definitely check them out, they have beautiful items. And the bonus: They customize/personalize jewellery! Here are the items I purchased from the shop:

These are the only "gold" pieces I purchased. They are the "Sideways Anchor Necklace" (gold fill, monogram charm) and the "Gold Initial Leaf Bracelet" (gold fill, red garnet stone). I don't really wear gold all too often and my collection of gold pieces isn't too big but I love these two additions. They are beautifully made and unique since you can monogram them.

Bracelet: $35 / Necklace: $36

This beautiful necklace is the "Heart Initial Birthstone Necklace" (sterling silver). I didn't choose my actual birthstone, which is Emerald, because I'm not a big fan of the color green in my jewelry. So I opted for the turquoise version since I love this color in the Spring and Summer. Again, this is a super unique piece since you can monogram the little heart charm, which is precious.
Necklace: $33

These are my favorite purchases from this shop. You see, when I went on Etsy, I originally set out looking for an infinity necklace (and ended up buying 4 more things from the shop, of course...). When I saw the option of personalizing an infinity necklace or bracelet, I thought I just had to get that as well. So, here you see the "Infinity Sterling Silver Necklace" and the "Infinity Two Initials Bracelet". I've worn both of these already and I absolutely love them!! They look really nice and are good quality.

Necklace: $24 / Bracelet: $31

HotMixCold on Etsy - definitely worth checking out this shop!

I bought one more item from a different shop on Etsy: Litte Green Room. The shop sells "mod artisan jewelry" but is closed right now since the owner is on vacation. It will be re-opened Monday, February 4th.

This is the jewelry item I bought from LittleGreenRoom: the "Custom Initial Stack Rings", which are also sterling silver. As you can see, I went a little crazy in the personalized jewelry department. And with these rings, I went all lovey-dovey as well. But I love them! You can wear them stacked or individually and I bought them in a larger size so they fit on my middle and index fingers.

So, if you're looking for some nice jewelry and especially want some unique, personalized jewelry, definitely check out these two shops on Etsy! You won't regret it (although your wallet probably will...). And since Valentine's Day is coming up, these could make perfect gifts for your special someone, a friend or family member, or even for yourself!

Do you know of any great jewelry shops on Etsy? Please share in the comments section down below!

Thanks for stopping by the blog :) Until next time!