SMOONSTYLE

 

One of the great things about Sephora would be their Favorites line. You get amazing value for the money, and you get to try new brands that you would normally never gravitate to.

The Holographic Principle has been unleashed upon the world. Never before have we graced so many magazine covers! The reviews have been mind blowing and the fans seem to have welcomed it with open arms.

The second edition of EPIC METAL FEST, held in the Netherlands and Brazil, have been a huge success! Our CD presentation at 013 Tilburg was another milestone in our career because it embarked the release of THP. The emotions that I felt when we played the new songs live for the first time were incredible and scary at the same time.

Our 7th studio album, which was created by the band, our producer, and the fans (you motivate and inspire us), carries the heaviest EPICA songs that we have ever written. All of the guys in the band have been writing songs, and I love how diverse the album sounds due to the five composers that EPICA has.

Soon after we released our first single – “Universal Death Squad” – talented fans from all over the world started making beautiful covers. Here are two that I enjoyed immensely:

Let me know what you think about The Holographic Principle! Which is your favorite song? One of mine is definitely the title track.

Thanks to the fans from all over the world. As I said in the booklet:

Simone

Time to play with the famous Semi Sweet Chocolate palette from Too Faced!

Looking at swatches online, I decided to go for the semi sweet and not the original. The colors appealed more to my type and personal preferences. To be honest, Julia (Graf) also gave me that push to buy it. Besides that, I was curious to see if it really smells like chocolate.

The palette comes with 16 colors. Two of them have a bigger pan size, that is because they are supposed to be used to highlight the brow bone, as a base color or to blend out the edges.

While swatching the palette, I was a bit disappointed. The color pay off isn't that great as I expected it to be for the price it retails ($49). However, once applied on the eye lids they did a good job. They are super soft and blend greatly. The black eyeshadow has great pigment, which is a big plus for me. There aren't that many highly pigmented black eyeshadows on the market.

Packaging: Too Faced did do a great job with the palette packaging. It is a tin palette in the shape of a chocolate bar. For chocolate lovers like me a great eye catcher. It comes with a little guide with three eye looks to make things easy for you. They have been doing this since I have been buying their palettes many years ago. It is a great way to get you started.

Scent: It is strong and very sweet. It smells like the typical holiday chocolates that taste more of sugar than chocolate. It kind of reminds me of sweet cocoa powder that is used to make hot chocolate. Do any of you know Nesquik with the little bunny on it? 

My eye looks is an 'autumny' halo look. I used rum raisin, truffled and hot fudge in the crease and inner part of my eye socket. On the lid Bon Bon and Caramel.

The nude on my lips is Estee Lauder 'Insatiable Ivory'. I love this color, it is the perfect nude color, but the bullet keeps on breaking off.... It is just too soft and unstable. All three colors that I got have the same problem. Such a shame for an expensive lipstick. 

The dark lip in the Insta Video is Jeffree Star 'Dominatrix'. It looks like poop in the bottle, but comes of darker once applied on the lips ;)

Do any of you own any of the Chocolate Bar palettes from Too Faced?

Simone

Cleaning make up brushes is not my favorite thing to do. It is necessary to clean them regularly, for your and your clients hygiene. You can spot clean them with a spray or deep clean them with water and soap of your choice.

To make the job easier there are many different tools and gadgets on the market. I've watched some videos to come to the conclusion that the cleaning machines don't work that well and cost more of your time than washing them by hand. 

Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette caught my eye when I first saw it.

The color is a bright fuchsia pink. Not my favorite, but not important as long as it does the job. The palette is made out of silicon. There are three different dots and crosses to clean brushes at vary from large to small. 

I've tried to wash my brushes whilst holding it in my left hand. I found out that it is better to lie it down in the sink, because I need both of my hands to grab the brushes and put a fresh dollop of liquid soap in the palette after I've cleaned a really dirty brush. 

My final verdict: It makes cleaning the brushes more fun. You waste less water and soap. Depending on the amount of brushes that you clean, you can also let the brushes dry on the side of the palette.

Overall I found the price too high for what it does (€20). There are cheaper alternatives out there.

I must say that I am curious to try the Sigma cleaning glove. I can imagine that you can still use the hand that is wearing it unlike the cleansing palette. 

How do you wash your make up brushes? Let me know in the comments!

Simone

Our summer holiday this year was a 5 day trip to on of our favorite places in Germany, the Bodensee. The weather was really nice, so it is the perfect place to be for us. We don't need to book flights. Our little car needs some gas and off we go. When you are traveling with small children, flying can be a hassle. It was something that we wanted to avoid. Especially since we already fly so much. 

When you have your car with you, you are also very flexible and can make day trips. That is what we did.

We booked two different hotels. One at Überlingen and the other at the island Reichenau. We were lucky that they still had rooms available since we booked kind of last minute. 

The first hotel was a 'family' hotel, which meant that they had a play ground and also a small apple farm with a tractor. It was located in Überlingen about 15 minutes drive away from the water.

We went to the Affenberg Salem, swam in the Bodensee many times, enjoyed a very adventurous ride on an old tractor at the Lockmuehle in Eigeltingen. 

The second hotel we had was at the island Reichenau. A lot of of our vegetables and fruit come from there. We took the train to Konstanz to then take the boat to Meersburg. 

We met a charming old lady at the water that was offering silhouette portraits. Oliver insisted of having our portraits taken. Vincent watched me getting my portrait taken first. After I was done (took only 60 seconds!), he sat down and knew exactly what to do. 

The lady was very fond of him. 

We visited the beach, dipped our feet in the water. Almost slipped a couple of times hehe!

At the beach in Reichenau there was an italian restaurant that we wanted to try out. Their pizza was delicious.

At the end of our stay we went to visit the museum of Reichenau. To quench our thirst, we went to a tea house called Zen. We kind of regretted that we didn't go there earlier, because they had just the right food for us. The tea house was connected to a shop. We had an amazing ice tea and orange ginger ice cream. Next time, we know where to go to when we are at Reichenau!

Have any of you been at the Bodensee? 

www.zenhome.de

Lochmühle

Simone

Sometimes I just get in to this obsessive baking mode. I just need to bake. That sweet tooth in me will never die. Vincent is going to enter kindergarten after the summer holidays and I had to bake him something special. The first batch of muffins were a fail due to the wrong baking powder, which made them taste nasty. Sometimes when you try new recipes, they fail. You don't want to come close to me when that happens ;)

On the search for a recipe for the Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop, I found a great recipe by Cook with April. She used a buttermilk pound cake as the base for the cake pops. 

All credits go to her, because this pound cake is life! I've baked it a second time, just to enjoy it on it's own and I've received a lot of compliments.

Here is the video to make the pound cake: Buttermilk Pound Cake

I decorated the cake pops with what I had on hand. The ones you see on the picture here are the left overs. The treats for day care left without me taking a picture of them. They looked cute and colorful and the kids loved them too!

Do any of you love cake pops? The Starbucks Birthday Cake Pops are the best. Too bad you can only get them in the US. 

Next time, I know how to make them.

Simone

In the South of France, bloggers and vloggers where invited by Dessange to experience the luxury hair treatment along with some sight seeing in Cannes, delicious food and great company. 

Founded in 1954, Dessange now has over 400 salons in 40 different countries. Germany will also be added to that list in September this year. 

With five luxury lines that are targeted at the different hair types , Dessange wants to offer luxury hair products for you to use at home. 

I am all for luxury hair treatments at home.

My hair is especially dry with an oily scalp. It is not easy to find a great match. On top of that, the water in my town has a high level of calcification which is the main reason why my hair is dry.

I was very curious to try out Dessange.

The journey started at the Dessange Summer House. We were welcomed by the team with open arms. 

Lunch was provided by Björn Freitag, and may I say that it was divine! He provided our breakfast and dinners during our stay. I discovered some new flavor combinations and felt a bit like the rat in Ratatouille. 

Soon after that we went to a hair salon from Dessange to get our hair treatment according to our hair type. Shampoos bubbling, hairspray in the room, blazing curling irons and blowdryers where working at full speed. About 17 girls needed to be styled in a short period of time. 

We all woke up really early that day, so we went back to our hotel to freshen up for the BBQ that was also provided by Björn. Back to the Dessange Summer House to exchange beauty tips and camera specs, all whilst we enjoyed a perfect barbecue during a lovely summer evening. 

The next day we had a Yoga class with Bettina Hartmann. Such a lovely lady that exudes expertise and passion for her work. I was pleasantly surprised by yoga. The next day I felt some some soar muscles, which made me realize that I should do more yoga in order to train more muscle groups and also for the relaxation.

A delicious breakfast, with the best Bircher Muesli, soon followed after our Yoga sessions. I asked Bettina for some tips to help with my tensed shoulders. She was kind enough to show those to me. 

Now we had time to freshen up and enjoy Cannes. Some of us went shopping, some wanted to chill at the sea side and others took pictures/shot videos for their blogs and youtube channels.

I forgot to take pictures and mainly wanted to visit the restroom and get some aspirin for my headache. Of course a little visit to two Sephoras had to be. If you are out with fellow beauty admirers, you are bound to find another new lipstick or blush.

That night we had our 'White Night Party' where all of us where dressed in white. Such a pretty sight that was! I loved all the dresses, but the dress that got me drooling was from Chrissie from the Edelfabrik. Absolutely stunning.

It was a lovely time in the South of France where I met new people and also bonded with some familiar faces. All unique and beautiful.

Thanks Dessange for inviting me! I had the best time!

Some links from the beauties that were there:

Bettina Hartmann

Hearttobreathe

die edelfabrik

der-blasse-schimmer

beautymango

Beautype

Fulya Daydesignn

Madamekeke

DM Drogerie is searching 500 people to test Dessange Hair Luxury:

https://www.dm.de

 Simone