Wednesday 25 February 2015

First Beauty Haul of 2015

Here are my latest makeup/beauty items purchases. Let me know if you'd like to see reviews on any of these! I'm extremely excited about the Clairsonic and will probably be doing a review anyway, but let me know what you would like to see!


Have a wonderful week everyone!

Sunday 22 February 2015

Pokemon Series : Vaporeon Inspired Makeup

Hey everyone! Here's another Pokemon inspired makeup look for you all! This one is Vaporeon, one of Eevee evolution! I decided I would make all of Eevee's evolution for you guys ♥




Which Evolution would you like to see next? Let me know in the comments!


Products used :

Base
  • UDPP
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in  Cottage Cheese

Eyeshadow & Brows
  • BH 120 Palette (1st Edition)
  • White Glitter
  • Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette
  • Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade in Blonde

Liner & Lashes
  • Ardell Lashes
  • L.A Colors Grafix Liquid Eyeliner in Navy
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher Mascara
  • NYX Slide on Pencil in Sunrise Blue
  • E.l.f. Liquid Liner in Black

Don't forget to follow me and like my Facebook page for more posts like this ♥

Wednesday 18 February 2015

What I ate on the Holland America Eurodam (7 days Caribbean Cruise)

As promised, here is the food post from my Caribbean cruise on the Eurodam! The food was incredibly good and I think I gained at least 5 pounds during the week :p Most of these are from the dining room and the Pinnacle Grill. I didn't take any pictures at the Lido, but the food was outstanding there as well! So if you're into food posts, or if you're curious about the food on the Eurodam, enjoy!

Scallops on the first night, amazing!

I can't remember what type of fish this was, but it was lovely!

Lobster bisque at the Pinnacle Grill

One of the bottle of wines from the Navigator's wine package

Crab cakes at the Pinnacle Grill, quite good, but not exactly my cup of tea

Salmon tartar at the Pinnacle Grill

Caesar salad in the main dining room

I believe this was codfish if I'm not mistaken. This one was average for me

Can't remember the name of this one, but as you can see it was a chocolate cake with berry compote, very yummy! 
Cheese and potato soup. I never had this before and I'm totally sold now!

Tuna steak. This was incredible, but the portion was really large in comparison to other main dishes. I couldn't finish it!

Some sort of hot lava cake. It was heavenly ♥



Afternoon tea treats! We only went once, but I wish we had gone more, it was very nice.

French onion soup, probably one of the best I've ever had!

Sorry for the blurry picture, the waiter moved the plate to remove the tail as I was taking the picture. It's the surf and turf from the main dining room. The filet mignon was very good, but you can tell the quality of the meat in the Pinnacle grill is higher (I had filet mignon there on the second night). The lobster tail was amazing.

Tiramisu. I kind of regretted my choice for this one. It felt like nothing but mascarpone and barely any doigts de dame and espresso. It tasted fine, but it wasn't really an authentic tiramisu in my book.

On the second formal night, around the world menus. This was brie with phyllo paste and cranberry compote. Very tasty!

Baba ganoush (not that great), stuffed vine leaves (really tasty), hummus, tomato, feta marinated in olive oil and olives. A great little appetizer, not too heavy, but full of flavor.

Codfish with risotto, wasn't my favorite, but not badly executed either. I guess I'm just not that big of fan of codfish in hindsight!

Apple cheesecake, omg! This was amazing. The apple pie coulis and crumbly crust were simply heavenly in combination with the soft fluffy cheesecake. I could eat this everyday!

Some kind of roast. It was very tender and juicy!

Crème brulée. While it was nice, it was cold. It would have been a lot nicer had it been warm!

That's most of the food I had in the dining room on my 7 days on the Eurodam. Hopefully this post was either helpful or enjoyable for you all! And if you're not a fan of the food posts, no worries, other types of posts will be coming up shortly!

Saturday 14 February 2015

Colorful Eyeliner Look for Valentine's Day

Hey everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Here's just a quick makeup inspiration that I feel would be great for those of you that are a little more bold with their makeup looks! It's still quite wearable in my opinion, but the colorful gradient liner is really fun and pretty.

Hope you all enjoyed and have a wonderful day everyone!



Wednesday 11 February 2015

Packing for a 7 Days Caribbean Cruise

 Hey everyone! Today I'm finally sharing what I packed for my 7 day Caribbean cruise. If you've been following the travel series I've been doing, you probably know that the cruise went to Grand Turk, Saint-Thomas, San Juan and Half Moon Cay.

While I have a bit of experience packing for backpacking and for week trips in the city, I have never been on a cruise and didn't know what to expect at first. I usually try my best to pack as light as possible, which I quickly understood can be a challenge when cruising. As per my usual, I did loads of research before the trip to know what I should pack, what mistakes to avoid, what to expect, etc. I really like the cruisecritic site for that. It has helped tremendously.

Now if you're not familiar with cruises, you should know that some cruise lines have a dress code at dinner and hold formal nights in the dinning room. Therefore, the planning and packing is a little different. Basically, in my case with Holland America, there were 2 formal nights, a smart casual dress code at dinner and we did 4 tropical port stops. We did 2 beach days, 1 sightseeing /walking day and 1 snorkeling day. So for me, I needed active wear, beachwear, formal wear, smart casual clothes, etc. Also the ships are quite cool because of the air-conditioning, which means I had to plan a few cardigans as well so that I wouldn't be cold. With all this being said I found myself in need to pack a bunch of stuff in a relatively small suitcase (medium size).  To make sure I had everything, I also tweaked my usual packing list to include my cruising necessities. Here's what I packed :


Here is my full cruise packing list. I suggest clicking on the image to enlarge it and see the full version. 



Notes :

- The thermal cups were intended to be filled at the buffet with water or coffee so that I could bring them with me around the ship. That didn't end up happening, but I'll explain that soon.
- We always bring a dry bag whenever we go snorkeling or to the beach. The proximity of water to our electronics stresses me out (especially on boats) so it's always nice to have them secure in the bag.
- The extra towel I brought was for my hair. I always put my hair up in a towel after I shower and I need two towels for that. In most hotels (and on cruise ships) they only provide you with 1 towel per person. I didn't want to be inconsiderate and make another person's towel cold and wet with my hair so I brought an extra one. This one is on the thinner side meaning that it doesn't take that much space. Also I prefer a thinner towel for that purpose anyway.
- The over the door shoe organizer was to store small items in the bathroom. I've seen this tip on multiple websites and it's been a life saver. There isn't all that much counter space in the tiny bathroom of the cabin. Therefore, with two grown women in one cabin, it could easily have become a disaster zone. The over the door shoe organizer kept everything neat and easy to reach. I would recommend this tip to everyone!
- I made a cruise folder containing our travel information, cruise boarding passes, a packing list, deck maps, etc. I also brought a dry erase marker for the checklist.


I think I did pretty good on this. Considering everything I packed, I didn't overpack a whole lot. I guess planning does pay off in the end! I had planned most dinner outfits in advance, something I never do, but it was well worth it for the cruise.

- I didn't use the thermal cups because they reeked of plastic. I should have tested them out beforehand. I totally would've used them otherwise.
- I didn't wear 1 bikini top, 2 t-shirts, 2 tank tops, 1 pair of jean shorts and a fabric bra. I knew going in that there were probably too many of those in my suitcase to begin with. I decided to go a little over since I didn't know how hot it would be, how often I would get wet, etc. Also I wanted a little more options. Thankfully all these items pack quite small meaning it wasn't a huge waste of space.
- I didn't need my rain jacket, yay! We got lucky and had only about 5 minutes of rain in Grand Turk and that was it for the whole week!
- I didn't use my travel pillow because it was a 4 hour direct flight. I wouldn't bring it next time unless it was a long haul flight.
- I didn't use my crocs and my fancier flip-flops. I found that my other four pairs of shoes were more than enough.
- I didn't use the small camera, I ended up using my phone instead when I didn't want to bring my big camera.
- I brought way too much sunscreen, but looking on the bright side, I didn't burn which means better safe than sorry! That's also why I didn't use my after-sun lotion.
- I didn't wear three pieces of jewelry. I just never found a moment to wear those particular pieces.




So as you can see, I always come prepared when it comes to medication. I guess you could expect nothing else from a pharmacy student :p I also brought some prescription anti-histamine, but since it has all my info on it I left it out of the picture. Also, I have Zantac in the Tylenol bottle, not Tylenol. I couldn't find a small travel container of Zantac so I just put it in there.



Since cruises are quite a bit more formal than the type of travel I usually do, I brought a lot more makeup than I normally would. I found that both small palettes worked really well for my needs. In hindsight, I could've brought only one blush, and a few less makeup brushes and I would've been just fine. Oh well, live and learn!

Toiletries



Last but not least, toiletries! I brought a Sonia Kashuk bag to put my toiletries in right before I left. It was half off (score!) so I decided to give it a try. I haven't had this style of bag in the past, but I have found that I really enjoy how many pockets they have. It's really easy to find everything and the smaller pockets hold small items very nicely. This way, they aren't swimming around with the larger items. Note :  I also brought a nail clipper, but it's back in the bathroom already.


Again, I'm pretty happy to see that I used most of what I had packed! Let's review what I didn't use :
- Blotting sheets : my skin simply wasn't that oily this week. I guess I couldn't have known that in advance.
- Nail file : I didn't need it this week. Always good to have one in case though.
- Bubble bath : I was planning on taking a bath during the week since we had one in the cabin. It didn't end up happening since I didn't find the bathroom all that inviting.
- Cuticle butter and nail polishes : I decided to only paint my toe nails during the cruise. I felt like I didn't want to spend time messing around with polish on my fingers and stuff. I only changed it once so I only used 1 nail polish.
- Makeup remover : I never did anything extreme enough with my eyes that the Bioderma couldn't take care of.
- Lipikar and Cicaplast : My skin was not itchy this week and I didn't get hurt so these weren't necessary.
- Face scrub : I'm lazy what can I say!
- Hair clip : One was enough.

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That's it! That's all I brought with me on my cruise! I hope this detailed post has helped any of you who might be cruising soon! If you have any tips for my next cruise I'd love it if you could leave them in the comments! Let me know if you'd like to see more posts like this one in the future.

Sunday 8 February 2015

Disney Series : Tinkerbell Inspired Makeup

Products used :

Base
  • UDPP
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk

Eyeshadow & Brows
  • BH 120 Palette (1st Edition)
  • Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette
  • Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pommade in Blonde

Liner & Lashes
  • Ardell 120 Demi Lashes
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher Mascara
  • Elf Liquid Liner in Black
  • Rimmel Scandaleyes Khol in Nude
  • Anabelle Glitterama Glitter Liner in Turquoise

Wednesday 4 February 2015

My Beach Bag Essentials

Like some of you might know by now, I went on a Caribbean cruise recently. There were 4 stops, two of which we spent on the beach relaxing and getting a little bit of sun. I'm not a beach bunny by any means, which means to enjoy myself at the beach I need to be prepared. That's why I like to make sure that I have all my beach essentials on hand. Today I thought I would share what I bring with me when I go to the beach!

Beach Bag Essentials

Beach Bag Essentials by luhivy featuring plush beach towels

1) Ardène Black Rope Beach Bag : Neutral so it goes with everything! Also I love the nautical feel it has because of the rope straps. 

2) Laroche Posay Anthelios SPF : My skin is really pale and sensitive. Also I'm quite concerned about premature aging and skin cancer for over exposure to the sun. Therefore I always go for a high quality sunscreen (especially on my face). My go-to is the Anthelios from Larose Posay.

3) Sunglasses : A must, especially if you are going to be reading on the beach.

4) Hair ties, detangling spray and a travel hair brush : because beach hair can be a little crazy, especially when your hair is as long as mine.

5) A beach hat : Mine is black, collapsible (ultra practical when you're packing!) and lightweight. It's great to keep my face and ears from getting tomato red in the sun.

6) Avène Thermal water spray : to cool off when the tropical weather gets a little too much.

7) Lipbalm with SPF : very important unless you like the look of burned lips!

8) Camera : to capture all the fun in the sun! (that sounded corny, sorry about that)

9) Music and books : I like to bring my phone and earbuds and my Kindle. The Kindle is great because it's super portable and lightweight. It doesn't light up which means you can read in the sun with no problems.

10) A beach cover-up, a beach towel and a sarong : in case it gets a little chilly, to lye on or if I wanna protect my skin from the sun a little.

That's all I like to bring to the beach with me! What are your beach essentials? Do you have any recommendations for useful items that could help me out? Let me know in the comments. I hope you all enjoyed this quick post, have a nice week everyone.

Sunday 1 February 2015

Disney Villains Series : Ursula Inspired Makeup

Hey all! It's been quite a long time since the last time I posted a makeup look. I hope to stir things back up again I thought I would be nice to start with an old series of mine, the Disney series! To be more precise, this one is the Disney Villains series. I've had Ursula on my to-do list forever now, but the last time I tried doing it, it was a disaster. This time it turned out much better although my colors are quite as precise as I had hoped. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this! :)




Products used :

Base
  • UDPP
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
  • NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean

Eyeshadow & Brows
  • BH 120 Palette (1st Edition)
  • NYX Loose Pearl Eye Shadow in Lilac and White Pearl
  • Stila In the Lights Palette

Liner & Lashes
  • Kiss 05 Lashes
  • Cover Girl Clump Crusher Mascara
  • Milani Liquif'eye Eyeliner Pencil - Black
  • E.l.f. Liquid Liner in Black
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That's it for this look! How you all enjoyed! Let me know what looks you would like to see in the future in the comments!

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