Medeja's Life

Hi there! ☺

It's the most wonderful time of the year and another year of me buying and making gifts for my friends and family. 

In this post, I will share some last minute gift ideas you can use if you want to give your friends and family a small thoughtful gift this Christmas. Some of the thing I got as an early gift from my friends.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/christmas-tree.png

I tried to cover all sides. Some of them will be makeup, some will be fashion, books, food, home,... everything and anything my friends need or want for Christmas. 

The first thing that makes a really nice gift is a book. My friends and I all love to read. Well most of us. So if I buy them a book I can not get it wrong. My friend loves Harry Potter as much as I do, so my friend got her a Harry Potter book, with her Hogwarts house cover and she loved it!

My best friend got me a book by Zoe Sugg that I really wanted and I'm so excited to read it!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cc/2b/dc/cc2bdc96b7bc35a55d408b45a798f84a.jpg

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Another great thing you can get someone is a good candle. I give candles as a gift every year because I think everyone just loves a good scented candle to burn especially at the Christmas time. I received so many of them this year.
 I also bought my best friend an Air Wick automatic air freshener, which is a good alternative if you or the person you're giving the present to doesn't like candles or can't burn them in their house or apartment.

https://weheartit.com/entry/47427623

This year I asked my friends if there is something they really want or need so I could buy them something they actually need and will use. So one of my friends said she's short on her underwear so I got her some of those. I know that is hard to buy clothes for other people sometimes, especially because of the sizing and stuff, but I think if they need something just get them that even if it's as random as underwear, because then you know they'll get good use out of your gift. I told my friend that I really want a top from Marc Marquez x Pull and bear collaboration and she got me that!

https://www.marcmarquez93.com/en/tienda/t-shirt-never-too-fast/#product-carousel

If you are getting gifts for a makeup lover then you can not go wrong with a good eyeshadow palette. I got a chance to test one of the Catrice cosmetics ones that I have received last month from their Astrology collection. It includes twelve matte, shimmer and glitter shades, perfect for anyone who loves to play with eyeshadow. I have found that the glitters were not as ''buttery'', they were a bit chunky, but I suggest you try to wet your brush and they work amazingly like that.

https://catrice.eu/mt/limited-edition/astrology/detail/catrice-cosmetics/eye-palette-1.html

A good lipstick is never a miss. I got a Wet n wild lipstick, which was my first ever product by them and I love it. If you don't want to get them lipstick switch it up for a lip balm or a gloss, whatever they prefer.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/wet-n-wild-MegaLast-Lip-Color-Bare-It-All/24511695

Shower gels, perfumes, nail polishes, makeup brushes, ... just a few other things you could get people you love.

Another thing I think is really nice to give and receive is jewellery. I got some of my friends bracelets and earrings that I think they'll love.
And my best friend also got me a pair of really cute ones with a little white gem and a Christmas hat on top of it. They are adorable, perfect for Christmas Eve.

https://weheartit.com/entry/134677716

You could also get someone a gift card for their favourite store if you don't know what to get them.

And the last thing you can not go wrong with is chocolate or any other kinds of sweets.
Just pick whatever the person you're giving the gift to loves.
Trust me, everyone will be happy if they get something sweet that they love.

https://unifeed.club/view/ed24c6-tipos-de-chocolate-milka/

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!❤🎅🎄

Hi there! ☺

You might have noticed that my blog looks a bit different.

That is because I have decided to give it a little makeover. 

I wanted to change my name, layout, colour scheme, my logo, ...

I really wanted to have a fresh start in the new year. I know it's only December, but I was so excited and I wanted to share it with you before 2019.

The content won't change too much, it'll probably stay the same as before, but I will try to make every post better than the other. 

I hope you guys will like it as much as I do. I have a lot of new posts ready to come to you, especially this month.

 I will try to make as many exciting and holiday-themed post as I can since it is the most wonderful time of the year and my favourite month!

Thank you so much for reading my blog and showing me your support!

I can not wait for you guys to see everything I have planned for you!

November 2st, right after all the craziness of  Halloween calms down, it's time to start getting ready for Christmas. And the first thing to get me into the Christmas mood is baking.

I love cupcakes, so that's why I decided to make them and share them with you because they are honestly the best cupcakes ever.

My original inspiration behind them was a recipe from Tany Burr's book Love Tanya, but I've put my own twist on it.

For starters, I get out all of my ingredients that I'll need, weigh them out and preheat the oven on 180°C/360°F. The ingredients that you'll need for the cupcakes are:

* 180g of caster sugar 

* 160g of plain flour

* 60g of cocoa powder

* 50g of butter

* 2 teaspoons of baking powder 

* 1 egg

* 160ml of milk

* vanilla extract

* orange or lemon extract

* rum extract 

* some fudge candy

You will also need a cupcake tray and some paper cases. For the frosting you will need:

 * 250g of mascarpone

* 20g of sugar

* 70ml of milk

* sprinkles of your choice

* chocolate sauce

First, you want to separate your egg whites and egg yolk. Add some of the sugar to the egg whites and whip them so you get nice stiff peaks. In a different bowl mix together the egg yolk, cocoa powder dissolved in milk, room temperature butter and sugar. Once everything is combined you add plain flour and baking powder and at the end all of the extracts.

Once all of the ingredients are combined you put the mixture into pre-lined cupcake tray with paper cases, but you only fill them 1/3 of the way. You put a piece of fudge in the middle and then fill them up so you reach about 2/3 of the case. I definitely filled them way too much and they went over the cases, so I had to cut them down a bit, so make sure you don't fill them too much.



   

Once you finish filling them up, you put them into the oven and bake them for 20 minutes. Once they're done you take them out and let them cool down.

While the cupcakes are cooling down, you can prepare the topping. You mix the mascarpone, the sugar and milk together and put it into a piping bag.

Once the cupcakes are cold you can start decorating them. I piped the frosting on the top and then just added some of the chocolate sauce and I went for white and pink heart sprinkles and pink sugar.

They are so simple to make and they are so tasty. If you want you can totally take your own spin on it and they'll still taste amazing.  

Hi there! ☺

I know this post is a little bit late, but.....Today I wanna talk about two new products from Catrice Cosmetics.

I got a chance to test out the new Catrice Blur Powder and a Brow pro pen.



First thing I tested out was a powder. I was a bit scared when I first saw it in the pot because it is very yellow and since I am a very fair skinned girl I was afraid it is going to be too dark for me.
I first swatched it on my arm, just to see the texture and get a sense of what to expect with the colour.
Then I tried it on my face over a foundation and a concealer just to set my under eyes and around my mouth where I would normally bake with a loose powder.
It seemed very smooth since it is very nicely grained and that allows it to almost glide on your skin, and it nicely gets into any pores and just makes your skin look like it was airbrushed.


I loved the application and how it made my skin looked. It was a tiny bit too dark for me but I can just get away with it I think.
Then I went and done a flash-back test with it. I was hoping it wouldn't make me white as a ghost on the picture and it didn't. I was soo happy about it because it is a really good powder and it would be a shame if it would have a flash-back.
It honestly is an amazing loose powder and if you are on a budget and you want a really good drugstore setting powder you should definitely give it a go.

The powder is a part of a limited edition from Catrice cosmetics, so once it's sold out you will not be able to get your hand on it. In the same collection named Blurred lines are also three other products. First one is a makeup sponge, tinted face cream or moisturizer (Tinted blur) and Dr. Blur which is a smoothing face primer.


Another product that I have tested out is a brow product called Brow pro pen. Mine is in a shade C06 Auburn and it is a darker brown shade. Since my brow hair is almost black I go for a lighter colour brow product. So on one side, you have a twist up brow product which is in a kinda shaped in a thin line and on the other side is a brush that kinda looks like a mini Artis brush.
The pigmentation is very good. I was super impressed with it. The brush is super soft and I actually really like it. It makes my brows looking nice and distributes and removes extra product amazingly. The pen is really nice and soft, it is a bit more on the waxy side but it glides on like a dream and it's really easy to work with it.


It is a little hard to be super precise with the actual pen side of it. It is good for filling in your brows and if you like to make them look full. But if you like precision you might not like it, because it is a bit thicker pen, but for me, it's perfect since I usually go for natural but filled in brows an I brush them out quite a bit.

The brow pen is from Catrice's new collection Bam brow. In this collection is also a Brow boost serum. But both products are limited edition so make sure you get your hands on them because once they're gone, they're gone forever.

Hi there! ☺

In this post, I wanted to talk about my experience as an au pair. I got a lot of questions about it on my Instagram stories when I posted about it. 

First of all, for me, this was a very quick decision at the start of summer this year. I thought about it a few years ago, but never really got around to setting up a profile and actually doing it. For me, it all happened within two weeks. Keep in mind: You have to be prepared for anything and everything. 

I set up my profile on Au Pair World.  You just write a little about yourself, what do you like to do in your spare time, if you have any experiences with looking after or working with kids and why you want to be an au pair. It's also nice if you add some pictures of yourself so families know what you look like.

 Then you can contact the families through messages or wait for them to contact you.

I got contacted by my host family first and we started to get to know each other through texts first and then through video chat. I got quite a lot of messages from different families so I couldn't really keep up with responding to all of them. But I decided to stay with the first one that got in contact with me.

Everything seemed great when we were talking on the phone, so I didn't have any worries about it.

Like I said everything happened very quickly for me usually, people plan this month in advance, so I would recommend that you start planning this a few months before you would like to start.

Once you choose your host family and they choose you, you start planning all the other things that come with it. 

First, figure out if you need a working visa for the country that you are going to. You can get all the information about this on aupairworld.com. Then you need to get your plane ticket.

Sometimes the family will offer to pay for it or they give repay you all the expenses. In my case, I got none from my host family, which was okay, because I was hoping they might pay for my ticket when I decide to go home. Although I was planning on staying there longer than I did. 

However, they did not pay for any of my expenses, which I am not very pleased about and it would be very nice to at least pay for some of them. A lot of families would pay for some of your travel expenses, but it is totally up to them, keep that in mind. 

So when I got off the plane I was picked up by my host ''dad'', which was very nice of him, because my plane was delayed and I landed at midnight. When we got to the house the kids were asleep and he just showed me to my room so I could get some sleep.

The next day I got to meet the kids when they got back from their last day of school since I did arrive at the end of June. They seemed very nice at first, not just the kids but the whole family, which was very nice and I thought this would be great. 

I started working two days after I got there. Parents gave me some instructions on what the kids like to play with and other essential stuff like when to give them a bath and get them to bed, they also told me about parks and where I can take kids out to get some fresh air. I was looking after them three to four days a week, depending on parents work schedule.

At first, everything was great and the kids were fine, but after a few weeks they started to act up, they were not like their father described them to me character-wise. I understand that they are kids and their moods change a lot, but I was told that they are very easy to work with and they always listen and make no trouble. At first, it was like that, but, that started to change after a while. I don't wanna go to details of it, but they were very much spoilt.

When they did not get what they wanted they had massive tantrums. So that definitely threw me off quite a bit. 

So my advice to you is that you ask your host families a lot of questions about them, especially the kids and their lifestyle before you go and live with them. I asked a lot of questions but not enough.

 If I would do this again, I would make myself a list of questions or things that I want to know about and then make a pros and cons list. I think it would help a lot. Also, talk to as many families as possible and then you can compare them to each other and see which one would be the best fit for you. 

Next thing I want to talk about, is the fact that I lived in a very messy and dirty house. I would not mind if there were just toys everywhere like the parents said they were, but the entire house was a mess. Not just the toys, there were clothes everywhere from all family members, shoes, papers, dishes, food, .... everything was everywhere. I don't even wanna talk about the kitchen. I am one of those people who like to have at least semi-clean place, it doesn't have to be perfectly clean, but the things I have seen and circumstances I lived in were just too much.

So like I said be ready for everything because you can never know what waits for you.  

Don't get me wrong, not every host family is like that. You can get a really nice family that you will love to live with and work for. I met other au pairs here and they told me stories how they had very nice families, so not every family is like the one that I lived with. I am not saying that they were mean to me or anything like that. they were very nice, but there were a lot of things that bothered me and I could not live with. 

So I decided to leave them after three months. There were other things that I had to do back home like go to college, which was obviously my priority. 

It was a unique experience. I would do it again but in a different country, maybe with only one child (I had 2 this time around, two boys aged 5 and 7) and I would definitely ask a lot more questions and get to know them more before I'd go to live with them. 

Not every single thing was bad. I met a lot of new people, met new friends, I lived in a foreign country, got to see and explore new places which were also very cool and now I love the city that I worked in. It was an experience I will never forget, but unfortunately, it won't be the best one. 

Thank you for reading!

Hi there! ☺

I know some of you have already gone back to school and some of you will start a new school year soon. I am going back to school in October and with that, I just wanted to share some of my go-to products that I use pretty much on a daily basis when it comes to school makeup.

I know some schools have ''rules'' about makeup and you might not be allowed to wear much of it or even any at all, but I will try to include some tips on how to use makeup that still looks very natural and almost like you are not wearing any. 

I used to wear makeup every single day to school or even just going out to the shops. But throughout the year I realized, that all that makeup made my skin break out like crazy and it made me feel bad about myself and I caked on even more makeup.

I didn't really know how to take care of my skin, I ate really bad food, didn't drink enough water and I didn't have a cleaning routine. 

Once I figured out that healthy food, drinking water and good quality facial cleaning products help, I started searching for my perfect skin routine.

After my skin cleared up, I started wearing less makeup on an everyday basis.

Don't get me wrong, I still love wearing makeup and I always will, but I wear more makeup only when I am going out or to an event or just when I feel like I need a little more coverage. 

But I know everyone's different, so if you like wearing full-on glam for school you do you and don't let anyone let anyone stop you (except school rules).

So like I said I don't wear much makeup to school, sometimes all I wear is a bit of lip balm and that's it.

But when I do decide to wear makeup here are some of my go-to products:

I will start with the foundation. I wear it to school only when I have a very bad skin day and I need more coverage or if there is anything important happening in school or if I'm going out after school to hang out with friends. So here are a few different ones that I would usually go to.

The next thing is a concealer. Most of the time I will only use just concealer on my face, just so I can cover any spots and my under eye bags from lack of sleep. 

I like to keep my foundation and concealer in place and I also like my face as matte as I can so I will always use powder even if I'm only wearing a concealer.

So these are my go-to products for when I'm going to school. Like I said earlier, don't feel like you need to wear makeup to school, but if you want to and if you're allowed then just do you. I hope that if you try any of these products you'll like them as much as I do and they'll make your morning makeup routine easier and more fun.