I've been hauling again

It's a bit funny and maybe I should also feel a bit embarassed to show you my huge haul right after having published my post where I rave about minimalism and admit that I'm hooked on minimalism. But I am not embarassed at all. Life is as it is and you gotta make exceptions! ;-)

So, this week was an exception of my general path towards minimalism and sacrifice. (I'm just kidding ;-) - of course this is no sacrifice.) Here are my hauls of the first December days:

1. As I was running out of hair dye I purchased hair dye by Khadi and a thermometer for mixing and applying it properly. The other things were just presents by the online shop I ordered with. (Thank you very much and huge compliments: the order arrived within 2 days.)
2. I also had to try a batiste dry shampoo that everyone is raving about and while ordering two of them I also ended up buying another blush by NYX with Douglas (but hey, I just decluttered 5 of them and this colour is really great ;-)). Besides I also purchased an eyebrow liner by NYX and a newly released Lavera shower gel. 
3. In my favourite DM I stumbled upon the newly released Alverde Perfect Basics Limited edition and had to purchase an eyeliner brush, a really impressive matte bronzer and a highlighter as well as 2 mascaras (black and dark blue), 2 amazing lip sticks and an eyeliner. 
4. As I am constantly raving about the Sephora angled IT brush for eyeliners, I had to order a second one and - of course as I don't order that often with Sephora - I had to buy a couple of additional things. Amongst others I bought 2 other great brushes by Sephora and a couple of other really great Sephora products like a set of 3 bags, a micellar water and cotton pads. The other items were samples that I didn't order.
5. In my favourite local book store, I bought a couple of Yankee candle samplers and a chai tea powder which I adore. This yields the best chai ever. 
6. Also, as here in Germany the new MAC 15 palettes have been released - finally, everyone else seems to have them already -, I had to order one. And of course I also ordered 2 eye shadow refills: Copperplate and Charcoal Brown. Love them. And I also love the new 15-Palettes by MAC. They look sophisticated and beautiful. I'll dedicate a post to them soon. 

Love my new items. The remaining days of December will be ruled by minimalism and sacrifice. I swear. ;-)

Taking notes with Dixi

In my quest to become more organized I am experimenting with different kinds of organization tools. An example of such kind of an organization tool is a notebook. Plain and old style and non digital. I keep notes digitally, too, but for quick and dirty note taking, I prefer a classic notebook based on paper. In this post I want to show you my most elegant tool for taking notes. It might not be the most practical one but there is no doubt that it is a very useful and very elegant one.

Have a look at my Dixi refillable notebook in black leather by the swedish company Ordning & Reda. I love it and currently, I use it all the time. This is how it looks:

Beauty Favourites November

In November, I had a lot of beauty favourites. My face care consisted of only great products. And after having used up all those unloved Bodyshop body butters, I started to treat myself with a great body butter by Soap & Glory and there were also a lot of other great products I enjoyed using in November. Have a look for yourself: 

Below, I briefly discuss the products shown above.

Beauty Empties November

It is time for an empties post again. Again, I successfully used up a lot of stuff. Altogether, 46 beauty items left me in November. And believe it or not: I was able to use up 860 ml of body butter and body lotion last month. Hence, I got rid of all my Bodyshop items (I kept the boxes of the body butters that are gone now, however, in order to use them as fancy storage boxes for other items - see them here being cleaned and here waiting to be filled). Finally my body lotion stash shrinks - at last! :-)

With decluttering, November might have been one of my best months ever. I was able to declutter 17 make up items, a couple of them were even quite expensive but I just don't like them or don't use them (and why should I keep them then even if I like them?) or they've gone bad, unfortunately, because they are really old. So, no guilt due to the waste, just gladness that these items are gone and my drawers are getting emptier and emptier! I'm nearly swimming in space and my stash continuously keeps to shrink and I enjoy the remaining products so much more! :-)

Here is a picture of all the beauty items that left me in November: 

A short summary and my thoughts about the emptied/decluttered products:

Scented Candle Obsession

It started to get really cold outside. In this season, what can be nicer and more relaxing that to sit besides a candle? While I haven't tried any scented candles at all in the last years, this autumn I discovered scented candles and became a bit obsessed with them. This is how my desk currently looks like:

On the picture, you can see my current favourite candle Feu de Bois by Diptyque. I adore this candle and the scent it has. I stumbled upon it on Meg's blog and had to buy it myself then too. I don't like how it smells when it does not burn, but when it burns, the scent is just wonderful. It smells like a fireplace. The scent is wonderful and very soothing and relaxing. Love it.

The other candle shown in the picture is Real Luxury by NEOM. This is nice but not as overwhelmingly great as Feu de Bois. Both are travel sized because I am still experimenting. However, I might purchase a big one soon as well. But I am not sure whether the big ones are not too bulky.

I love to burn my candles while meditating, while journaling, while reading, while writing my theses, etc. I could burn them all the time. ;-)