Really Easy Nail Art Design (no tools)

Good afternoon guys! I hope you're having a lovely day!

Today's post is going to be a little different, but I'm reaaaally excited about it! If you know me, you know my favourite beauty-related product is nail polish. I couldn't have too many shades! I don't have the patience to do nail art though, and I honestly quite like having only one colour on them, but accent nails are something I've done in the past and really like.

I found a tutorial on youtube that I'll link here and tried to follow the steps it suggested and guess what! I ended up with acceptable nail art I was really proud of! And remember... if I could do it, you can too!

As you see, the design is supposed to be a splash of paint. I used it as an accent nail, but you could do it on all your nails too, you could do more than one splash in each nail... it's entirely up to you! And the best thing is you don't need any tools, you only have to use a toothpick!

First of all, you put on a base coat (always use a base coat, don't be lazy!) and two layers of the nail varnish you decided to go for as the background. I used Basic Cosmetics' oxygen base and Maybelline's shade 342 Coral Craze from their Colorshow range, which you know are my favourite nail varnishes! You let it dry for quite a long time (I actually waited until the next day) and go for the design. Pick the colour/colours you want to use and drop a little on some plastic (you could put it on a youghurt lid, just something you don't mind losing). I used shades 130 Winter Baby and 335 Broadway Blues from the same range. Pick up a toothpick, dip it in the drop and apply it on your nail. Apart from the splash itself, paint some spots that would work as drops from the splash. Top coat (I used Basic Cosmetics') and let it dry! That's the worst part for me hahaha Before applying the top coat, wait a little, I was too impatient on my right hand and I carried a little of the blue varnish away with the top coat.

As you see, it's super easy! Given that we're still at almost 40ºC where I live I went for a summery look, but I love how this design could work throughout the year using different shades.

That's it! Let me know how it goes if you try it.

A big big hug,


Acqua

Day In The Life: My Holidays in Italy!

Hi guys! I know I owe you an apology... On the 19th, I was about to save all my pictures on my laptop, choose my favourites and share them with you here and... well, to sum up, I messed up and deleted them all. I haven't been able to recover them, and I had only saved pictures from the 13th, 14th and 15th. Imagine how desperate I got... I was obsessed with those pictures and they were gone in a second. I couldn't bring myself to write a blog post until now.

I posted a few on Instagram, so those were easily recovered and I can do a full post. Without any further ado, here's how my trip to Italy went down!


Day 1: 13th of August

We packed up the car and left my house at 2 AM as we always do, my dad drives and the rest of us sleep. We drove all night long and stopped at the last service station in France, from which we could see Monaco! We had breakfast and jumped at the car again, and drove non-stop until we got to our first stop: Pisa! Here's a selection of pictures I took there:

Pisa is such a great place to visit on your way to someplace else! Everything is concentrated and you can park, see it and leave in just a couple of hours. We had lunch there as well, and we visted the Cathedral and the Baptisterium (and took our pictures with the leaning tower, of course!)

Then, we kept on driving until we got to the Umbria region, where we were to stay on the follwig days. We got there at night, had dinner and organised everything for the following week.


Day 2: 14th of August

Tired of our trip, we woke up late, had breakfast and went to the commercial center right next to our village, which had a huge supermarket where we could buy everything we needed. Imagine my delight when we walked in and BOOM! LUSH store right there! Who would've thought I'd find one in such a small village? I was running out of LUSH products and didn't know when I'd go back to Barcelona to buy more, so it was heaven-sent. We went into the supermarket and second surprise:

Of course, I bought it and read it in a day. In the afternoon, we went to Santa Maria degli Angeli, a church situated in Assisi's feet. Inside, there is the Porziuncola, a small chapel where St Francis of Assisi used to go. They built a huge cathedral over it because why not hahaha

I couldn't take pictures of the inside, but it was stunning!

Then, we headed to Assisi, which was our main destination for the trip, to walk around a little bit and saw the top of the city. It was BEAUTIFUL. It still has an awesome medieval feel about it, with its streets and houses. I absolutely loved it.

St Francis Basilique from our car

San Rufino

Assisi at sunset

Then, we headed back to Santa Maria degli Angeli, where they burn the prayers that people leave over the whole year on that day (total coincidence, we didn't plan it!) It was beautiful!

Day 3: 15th of August

MY BIRTHDAY WHOOP WHOOP! We jumped on the car and went North to get a taste of the Tuscany region. We visited Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena, and then went back to where we were staying.

Cathedral of Volterra

Streets of Volterra

Volterra

Siena

Cathedral of Siena

Streets of Siena

 

San Domenico, in Siena

Day 4: 16th of August

We went to Eremo degli Carceri, a beautiful walk through the mountains where Saint Francis used to retire. There was a small chapel and some small caves. In the afternoon, we met a friend of my mum's from the area and visited the rest of Assisi, including Santa Chiara and the Basilique of San Francesco.

San Francesco

Day 5: 17th of August

We jumped into the car again and went to visit Orvieto, a beautiful place which has an underground city, a lot of caves dug by humans since the VIIth Century b.c.! It was a very cool visit. Then we went to Todi, another city with a beautiful view over the countryside.

Details from the Cathedral of Orvieto

Day 6: 18th of August

Given that it was our last day in the Umbria region, we went to San Damiano and La Rocca, a fortress situated on top of Assisi which was ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. You could see the whole area from there, and there were still parts from the XIIIth Century standing. You could perfectly imagine people from the Medieval times walking around. These pictures are the ones I dread deleting the most... they were absolutely beautiful!

 Also, that's the day I went to LUSH to get my self-gift for my birthday! It was confusing because the names were different hahaha Here's what I bought:
- The Comforter bubble bath
- The Experimenter bath bomb
- Yoga Bomb bath bomb
- Lava Lamp bath bomb
- Herbalism face cleanser
- Outback Mate solid soap
- Sympathy For The Skin body cream (sample)


Days 7, 8, 9 and 10: 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd of August

We jumped on the car and went to another region, the Piamonte. We have some friends there whom we visit very often and always have a place for us to stay. They're the reason I learned Italian! It's a beautiful, beautiful area full of vineyards and fields and mountains. We finally took a rest as we had spent the last days going up and down and hadn't slowed down a moment. On the 22nd, we woke up, packed up and went back home.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Good luck to all those who are going back to school and I'll see you next week!

A big big hug,


Acqua

QOTW #14: On Birthdays and Loneliness

Hi there beautiful people! How are you today? As you know, I'm currently on holidays in Italy, so I haven't been able to use my computer until right now! I'm sorry if I owe you comments!

I was going to write a "Day in the life" post, I had my photos ready and everything, but... it turns out today is my birthday and it led me to a lot of thinking I thought I could share with you.

This quote is very important for society nowadays. As someone who works with children I can say they grow up too quickly. They don't stay as kids for long enough, they miss that opportunity. And speaking for myself, I always try to have something kid-like in my heart, like the excitement for things, the will to be active all the time and not lose a single minute... I always, always try to look at the world through the eyes of children, and it becomes a bigger, scarier and way more wonderful world.

This year, my birthday doesn't come at an exactly good moment for me. A few days ago there was a concert I went to with my friends, and I felt really, really lonely because they all seem to have someone better than me to go with. This has been happening for a while, and I always leave it for the next day and then it doesn't seem that important. But it hurts too much and happens too often for it not to be a concern. I can't conceal it any more.

I know I have moments when I'm better and moments when I'm worse, and I accept it. I know I've been way worse than I am right now. But I still have that voice in the back of my mind telling me I'm not enough. And God, it hurts. I know it's not true, I swear I do, but it's still there.

This is not a "poor me" post, don't take it like that. It's just some thoughts that came to my mind. I will be better and I know it. But some times, loneliness just takes over and some factors pile up and it only makes matters worse. It's okay for that to happen. And it's okay for us to feel bad. Suffering is human. And suffering means it matters, it means you're feeling, you're not numb.

What wouldn't be okay would be to give more power to that voice. We're human and we feel insecure about ourselves, so little voices are bound to come. Those voices aren't what matters. What matters is how you act upon them, if you allow them to control your life or you don't. That's what ultimately affects your life.

I have many great pictures I can't wait to share with you, and... a LUSH haul coming soon! I went to the mall next to where I'm staying and I swear I screamed when I saw the shop. I rarely have the opportunity to go when I'm home! I've decided my present to myself will be a bag of LUSH goodies ^^ And what better present could there be? (Apart from a pile of books which may or may not have been ordered on Amazon!) Any new products you've tried lately and loved?

Have a great week!

A big big hug,


Acqua

What I'm Bringing On Holidays!

Good morning everybody! This time tomorrow I'll probably be in Italy already, and that's soooo exciting! We're jumping on the car tonight to travel to the Umbria region in the North of Italy (and hopefully we'll visit as much Tuscany as we can too!) We're staying near Assisi and we'll stay there for over a week (I'll have wifi though, so I plan on writing posts anyway, expect loads of pictures!)

I've never done a post like this one, so I thought I could try it out! I'm going to show you all the beauty-hygiene products I'm taking with me for my trip. There are a lot, so let's go!

BAG NUMBER 1: Hygiene / bathroom products

(From left to right - I forgot the hair brush and hairbands and everything!)

-GingiLacer toothpaste: the best thing I've found for my gum problems! (I always bleed when brushing my teeth)
-Extra Soft Toothbrush: same reason, stronger ones don't help!
-Bonté Purifying Attack: you apply it on any spot you might have and it dries out overnight.
-LUSH Tea Tree Water Tonic: I had this in a favourites post and I absolutely love it! You just spray it and you're ready to go.
-Evolu Protective Day Cream SPF15: I won Rosie's giveaway and this was one of the prizes! I received it a couple of days ago and I'm already obsessed with it. I'm so sad this is only in New Zealand! And New Zealand is... well, literally on the other side of the world. The antipodes of where I live ^^'
-Bonté Professional Satin Liss Hair Mask: Bonté's hair masks are some of my favourite products in the world. I haven't used conditioner any more since I found them! Right now I'm loving the Satin Liss one, but the Keratin&Argan one and the Repair&Protect one are great as well.
-Pantene Repair and Protect Shampoo: I'm a big fan of Pantene's shampoos and I'm always switching from this one to the AquaLight one.
-Bonté Romantic Orchid Body Cream: You apply it after a shower and it leaves your skin feeling really smooth.
-Avène Cleansing Gel: my Herbalism cleanser sample has run out. NIGHTMARES! Instead I'm using this one, which to be honest, is very good as well. It's soap-free and directed to oily skin.
-Lactovit Shower Gel (not on the picture): I forgot, okay, over it.
-Bonté Sun Spray SPF20: I don't need a high SPF because my skin doesn't burn easily, and I always use transparent sprays because my skin is too greasy for the creams. I'm not bringing Aftersun so let's hope this one works!
-Bonté Spring Water Body Mist: refreshing, smells great, affordable, LOVE IT.
-Bonté Fresh Watermelon Hand Cream: it has argan oil and it's the perfect size to carry around. I always have one in my bag!


BAG NUMBER 2 (makeup)

I'm not bringing a lot of makeup as I don't think I'm going to wear it too much. You know I'm an Essence girl, so I'm mainly bringing my favourite Essence products!

-All About Bronze Eyeshadow Palette: shiny, gold, everything I might need on holidays!
-Multi Use Eyeshadow Brush: it has an angled brush, a crease brush and a sponge, so it's really useful if you don't want to carry everything around!
-All Eyes On Me Waterproof Mascara: my favourite mascara: it just adds a little volume and blackness so it still looks natural, it lasts all day long... I love it!
-LongLasting Eye Pencil in the shade 01 Black Fever: my go-to black eye pencil.
-Kajal Pencil in the shade 21 Feel The Eclipse: it has a really pretty blue undertone that I love. It doesn't stay defined, but the slight blurriness gives you a softer, pretty look anyway!
-Bonté Cleansing Milk: it's very moisturising and takes away my makeup very easily.
-Primark Beauty Sponge: not the best beauty sponge in the world but hey, it cost me 1€ and it does its job!
-Coverstick Concealer in the shade 04 True Nude: now that I'm more tanned it doesn't match as well as it used to, but it works great to conceal any imperfections and undereye bags.
-All About Matt! Oil Control Paper: this. Is. Great! When your skin is feeling too oily or sweaty, you just pat it on your face and it takes away all the excess oil! This way your makeup doesn't fade away as you rub the oil.
-XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss (Velvet Matt) in the shade 06 Soft Nude: it looked better when I had less of a tan, but it still looks lovely and surprise! I've found out it works magically to put under your lipliner if you want to use it to fill your lips. I was really shocked hahaha It makes it feel smoother and more moisturising!
-Longlasting Lipstick in the shade 06 Barely There!: this has quickly become my favourite lipstick. It's a stunning dark nude and it's perfect for every occasion.
-Lipliner in the shade 07 Cute Pink: I own 3 Essence lipliners and I can truly say I think they are Essence's best products. I think they cost €1.29 which should be illegal, and I absolutely love them. This shade is my favourite, but I own 15 Honey Berry and 12 Wish Me A Rose and they're great as well!
-XXXL Nude Lipgloss: I've said this is my favourite lipgloss before and I stand by it. Moisturising, looks cute, feels good, lasts a fair amount of time... love it!
-Liquid Lipstick in the shade 06 Make A Statement: I love it, it looks good on me but I still haven't had the courage to wear it outside my house! I tend to go for nude shades and it's quite scary to be honest, but maybe it's time!
-Rimmel London Keep Calm And Kiss Lip Balm: it's very moisturising and it has a really pretty pink undertone. I wear it all the time!

Wow, that was quite a long post! I hope you're not too bored by now and you've found new products you might want to try out. Have you tried any of the ones I mentioned? Let me know!

I'll keep on packing everything! Have a great week, I sure will ^^

A big big hug,


Acqua

"Special" People

Hi there guys! How are you? I'm really sorry I've been missing for a while! I was on a Summer Camp working with kids and of course, I couldn't write a post or comment on your blogs. I will start catching up on what you've done these days soon, but there's a big festivity coming in my village and there's just a lot of stuff! My apologies if I can't be as active as I'd want to.

Before starting to talk about the topic I have for this post, I want to share a shocking experience I've had today. I started giving lessons during the Summer when I was 15, and two of the first English students I ever had were two sisters, aged 10 and 7. I taught them English and occasionally French for three Summers, and then the lessons stopped. I haven't seen them since.

Today, I found out the oldest one died from cancer less than a year ago. It has been one of the biggest shocks I've had in my life. She was a year older than my sister. I can remember them playing while I gave lessons to the younger one. I remember she hated English. I remember she asked to do French instead because she liked it better. I remember she was a little spoiled, a little mean. And I remember how she wrote me a letter for Christmas to wish me happy holidays and thank me for my lessons.

I have a heaviness over me I can't let go of. I hadn't seen her for a couple of years, but still... I know this happens every day and people lose people who are closer to them than she was to me, but it's all so unfair. I remember how cheerful the younger sister was. I wonder if she'll ever be that cheerful again.

I just needed to let it off of my chest. Sorry if I'm rambling, but I don't even know how I feel.

Anyhow, let's move to the topic! I've been working with kids for the whole July and the first week of August and there has been something that has bothered me more than anything else (and believe me, lots of unheard things have happened.) In one of my jobs I worked with a kid who had Asperger Syndrome. So far, so good. He is a lovely kid and is a sweetie to work with even if he has his moments.

What bothered me is that I heard more than one of my coworkers call him "special" more than once. Seriously... what the hell???? What he has has a name, it's called Asperger Syndrome. And it's just a problem he deals with every day. But in the end, he's just a kid who wants to have fun and play like all the others. "Oh, he is special" (or talking about his brother) "This kid has a brother who is special."

I MEAN. I think we should be grown enough and call things by their name. To me, every single kid has things that make them special. That's something that I use as a ground to build my work on. And saying that kid is "special" only stigmatises the problem even more. We're adults and we have a job to do, so let's start calling things by their name and then do something to make the situation better. Calling that kid "special" only worsens the situation.

Our society needs to evolve and take the blindfold off. Every kid has different needs, and putting kids with Down Syndrome or Asperger Syndrome or Autism on the "special" box doesn't help anybody. We need to know what we're dealing with to act on it. And we need to be able to talk about it like grown-ups instead of disguising it.

At least, that's how I see it. Let me know what you think!

Also, did you watch any of the youtubers I recommended? Did you enjoy them?

A big big hug,


Acqua