Santa Monica - BW Series

I finally had the opportunity to visit my host family from Huntington Beach again!
One day we visited Santa Monica - you all know the famous end of the route 66 and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company from the movie Forrest Gump.
The Santa Monica Pier is definitely the loudest place in LA. Everywhere musicians, artists, self-exposers and Donald Trump (Mhh okay, he could also belong to the third group). Most of them are pretty good (congrats to the nice saxophone man who was making everybody dance). And a special thanks to this cute baby seal - you were the true star of this day!

If you ask me if a trip to Santa Monica is worth it I would propably say no. The Pier is very small - 20 Minutes and you've seen all. The roller coasters are expensive and really boring (better visit Six Flags or Knotts Bery Farm - I love it). The offers in the little shops are ok - just things you don't need. What I liked the most was the Ferris wheel because you are over the sea and have a beautiful view over Santa Monica and Muscle Beach.

A Visit to North Cyprus

Travel to North Cyprus isn't easy. First you have to fly to Turkey and then on to Ercan Airport because it isn't an accepted republic except from Turkey. It belongs to Cyprus but in 1974 Turkish armed forces occupied a part of the Island.

North Cyprus has a very wild and unspoiled nature. On the one side you can see the impressive Beşparmak. On the other side there's the coast with the Mediterranean Sea. Our tourist guide described the island as "a beautiful extraordinary place get stucked in the 80s". There is no train infrastructure, no waste system. Lots of pretty places were very dirty unfortunately and I saw many street animals. It reminded me a lot of Egypt.

North Cyprus has very friendly people and an excellent food culture ( very very sweet!).
What I liked the most is that the people accept everyone. Most of the inhabitants are Sunnis but in every place there is a mosque and a church. The female inhabitants don't wear headscarves and long clothes. They kiss in public and woman are treated equal. In political issues North and South Cyprus are separated but in their hearts they belong together. The local people don't want a divide...like in Germany history. I saw greek restaurants next to Turkish coffee shops and the owners played cards together.

It is definitely a place to experience with its good and bad sides. If you want to discover culture except of beaches then it's definitely worth it.

A place we visited was Salamis, once the biggest and richest city of Cyprus. Today just a part is apparent - statures of emperors, thermal baths, an ancient theatre and a lot of columns.

Off into space!

Maybe I belong among the stars

Here are some very artsy pictures we did with a projector. We got the idea from bryant on Instagram. I am very happy about the result, it was a lot of work. My favorite picture is the game over one, I look very strong and confident what I don't really am.

Shooting

"True friends are never apart - maybe in distance but never in heart"

This is my best friend. I know her for a very long time - for 13 years. She was my neighbor, my comforter, my soulmate. We share a passion - photography ( and make up). We always take thousands of pictures, most of them end up in the trash. But it's always a lot of fun with her.

Thank you! I love you ♥

Black and White

When I recently wrote my blog post about March I never thought that it would be so extremely frosty and cold again. In Leipzig we've got -10 degrees! I like winter but enough is enough. I want to wear my spring clothes!! :(

Here are two pictures of my boyfriend. I know his head is cut off but he can't keep still, he hates photos! But he can't refuse any request of me, hehe.

Hello March!

Cold February is gone... and the colder March has already started.
I like this month. The first half is very frosty, sometimes there is snow. But the sun even shows up.
I like winter so it is not a problem for me.
The other half is the most beautiful one. First plants grow, it goes warmer and warmer, the day becomes longer.

Despite of the deep temperatures I took my camera and my boyfriend and we went to our beautiful park in Leipzig named "Palmengarten". We've waited for the blue hour to get a nice sky.
The lake is our "Elster".

selfie time 2

I love headbands! 

I am so glad that the trend has come to Germany.

On Amazon I found 10 pieces for 13€.
Here you can find them.
They fit perfectly and look so cute! My favorite is the one I wear on the photographs.
 I hope summer will come soon so that I can wear them everytime!

(The eye look is created with the ABH Modern Renaissance, shades: Red Ochre, Love Letter, Cyprus Umber, Vermeer)

Traveldiary: Day 1: Jamaica

Last year in summer months a long-awaited dream came true: a cruise through the Caribbean! 

- two weeks, seven stops.

Our first destination was Ochos Rios, a little city in Jamaica.
Ochos Rios is spanish for "eight rivers".

From the ship I was impressed how green Jamaica looks.
After arriving we visited the Dunn's River Falls and did a rafting tour with a very friendly local man.
We just had to sit on the wooden boat and relax.
On our tour we saw turtles, Little Blue Herons and people swinging on lianas.
It was a very calm tour with very beautiful nature. I would like to have swim in the water falls but there wasn't enough time for it unfortunately.
Our next stop was a little market with handmade stuff from the locals. A lot of Bob Marley stuff and beach accessory.
Suddenly it started to rain which is not very atypical because it was hurricane saison. So we went back to our ship soon.

I hope I can visit this great place again for a longer period - besides the beautiful nature we experience the people were the most friendly, craziest and relaxed people I've ever met. Our tour guide was the best of all stops she sang all the time and told us a lot of anectodes about the life in Jamaica.
One day wasn't definitely enough!

First impression: Dr.Hauschka Rose Day Cream

Hello guys,

Lately I've got really big skin problems.
Altough I creamed my face every day twice my T-Zone gets drier and drier.
The products I used were the NIVEA soft and the normal NIVEA creme.
I never thought about the products were the problem...

(from now on I draw up my posts in English improving my language skills, sorry if there are any mistakes☻)

So I researched a little bit on the Internet and I came across some very interesting facts:
Most of skin products contain glycerin. What's this in general?
Glycerol is a simple trivalent alcohol which is often used as a food additive and in pharmacy industry. Examples are cough syrup, suppositories and in most of our sweets because glycerin has a a sweet taste. It is also processed in cigarettes. Glycerol is often gained from palm oil or coconut oil (plant-based production) or from mineral oil (synthetic production).
The substance is able to bind water that is why it is used to keep things moist - like our skin.
So, glycerol is a good idea, isn't it?
Glycerol takes the humidity from the air and bind the water to make our skin soft.
But there is one problem: in winter months our air humidity is low. That means the substance can't work correctly and isn't able to take the water from the air. Instead of that glycerin picks the missing humidity out of our connective tissue and deeper skin layer - our skin losts important water from the inside. Our skin gets drier. To avoid that glycerol shouldn't be contained more than 10% (in creams) So if you read on your skin product glycerol is one of the top ingredient (like in my NIVEA creams) - than maybe this is your problem.
(read more here (German page))

And now I come up to the very subject: After my research I was now looking for a face cream without any glycerin - not as easy as I thought. At home I can't find anything and I was a bit shocked because in most creams glycerin was one of the first three ingredients. In a forum I read about the German brand Dr.Hauschka - a business which only uses natural ingredients. Their every-day cream "Rose Day Cream" with no glycerin. I get it from pharmacy. It is not the cheapest product - 30 ml for 20,50 €. In the morning after washing my face I put the cream on and make up. I saw a very big difference my T-Zone doesn't peel off that much like the days before. The product smells very like rose - not that cheap-extreme-fake-smell like in drugstores, I really like it. I don't really need much product just a little bit on my finger. It feels very smooth and hydrating on my skin. My redness next to my nose, my biggest problem, disappears clearly.

I think the before and after effect will be intensified using the product regularly. 

I will check and let you know about it in a few weeks☻

See you!