New Read & trial

A couple of weeks ago I received an email about reading a book and perhaps host a giveaway. Normally, I am not about promotion at all. I'm no biggy on the beauty-blogosphere so the offers aren't that much. But most importantly because I like my writing and reviews to be honest and getting products for free often makes you feel guilty to totally write off something if it wouldn't be that good.

This book sounded too tempting to pass: a book about a "Bootcamp for beautiful skin"? Bring on the "workouts".

It works on the premises of 'beauty from the inside': that means food & health. Also, the importance of various peels to get the skin sorted out for a new[er] start:

I have tried this company in the past and they had a wonderful peel called Lactic 50% Peel which I liked: it is one of their milder peels. So perhaps it's not too much promotative that I agreed upon reading the book.

The only thing that I am not too sure about is that the letter refers to me "agreeing into promoting". I didn't say that in the email: I said I would read the book and consider the giveaway if I think it would benefit my readers. However, I'm not too worried as most letters are pre-written by bulk and I can still try/read for myself before I will give my readers a chance to try as well.

Anyway, I will read the book soon and keep you updated. I'll try to be on the honest site, ofcourse ;-).

candy tripping

Hi all,

Sorry about this absence in the summer.

I have been tripping a bit too much...

city tripping, that is...

When most people like city trips for the sake of looking at art and culture, I often get a bit carried away by all of food that is around.

Ohhh, cupcakes and other cookies...

This is in front of a tempting shop window in Barcelona. I felt like a kid in front of a sweet's store.

(oh, I was, only as an adult!)

More cookies, caramels and other lovely sweets I found at La Cure Gourmande, also in Barcelona.

They also are in other countries, and seem to have an online shop (here).

Honestly, the shop people of La Cure were not too helpful to me, so I only bought 3 cookies or so. I was planning to buy a lot as presents.

Worst was, they offered free samples of cookies to all of the other customers and ignored me. Blah, I hate when that happens and I have no idea why they do that. And normally I will take my plans of buying a lot to another store, but I had to try one cookie at least.

Ha, and now I found out they have online shopping, so the shop in Barcelona can stick it to itself....

Sooo, do you have any idea what these people are waiting for, or looking so curiously at?

(open space)

(more open space)

(last open space)

Ok, they were looking at this...

Ha ha, I told you about Tripping in my title!

Come on, it is candy, folks...(still, my favourite choice for getting a sweet high)

The 'pils' are quite innocent, only for the ADD people and other people who get a bit hyper after sugar they might have an effect....

Inside of that 'Happy Pills' shop

And, if you think I am obsessed by anything about sweet candy-like food, then you are wrong.

(Silence, pouts at the idea you could actually think that)

I am obsessed about other food as well!

In that same Barcelona I went to Poble Sec in this street...

and had a predictable, but healthy salad.

I am not the salad fan that most girls and women are. I do not like diets and the excuse that salads are healthy is not always true. I mean, when they only have green salad leaves and not that many healthy vegetables it is only a bit of empty filling for the stomach. And those dressings can be even worse to the people who do like to keep an eye on their weigth.

But this is quite a balanced salad with healthy tuna (sooo fantastic, so much better than the Dutch canned version), Carrots for that bit of vitamine A, Tomatoes for the Lycopene and vitamine C, Red pepper for the Vitamine C, and olives and olive oil for the Omega oils and other skin-beautifying and internal beneficial properties.

And the corn must have a good function as well (tell me in the comments, and no, not that Chinese dude or girl who is spamming the comment box)
Haaa, I am not all healthy in Barcelona and keeping it to a salad...These croquettes were too good not too pass...

Uhum, fried food...but they were delicious and I had to compare then to our Dutch delicacy (or weird food habit) of the Dutch croquettes. These were filled with a potato mash...nice.

I saved the best for last....these were so tongue-tickling good that I was in culinary heaven when I took a bite...

These squids were flavoured in a mixture of garlic and other beautiful spices....

I am not really sure if the person that sat next to me in the airplane that next morning would have been too delighted with my choice of the squid...but it was too good to pass up...

So, if you read this and like to answer I would like to know if you experiment with food while travelling, are obsessed with trying on a certain type of food or if you take it the safe way and go to the McDonalds or other food franchises?

Or, perhaps a bit like me, you do both...(it just depends on where you are and if you are willing to sit through a wonderful but lenghty meal on the one hand, or just hop in that Mc Donalds for something you know when you are more in a hurry)?

Do you like any food at all? (most of the bloggers do, as they aaaalways tempt me with pictures of the fantastic things they ate...)

Or, are you more of a liquid person and go for the local beverages or other or other alcohol-type of drinks, for example...go for the wines in France/Italy and the Sangria in Spain (of fill in, I am not an alcoholic-afficionado so I have not that much of a clue)?

Foody time with Hello Kitty

Last week I went on some brick-and-mortar shopping. Most of my shopping is online, these days, but I like to go on a occasional non-virtual shopping tour every now and then.

The Netherlands do not have real Chinatowns as other countries do, unfortunately. However, there is a bit of Chinatown in Amsterdam and in The Hague, which has some nifty shops over there with lovely spices, food and Asian cutesy stuff.

Last week I was in The Hague and saw this cute bag from Hello Kitty. My inner child said that she wanted the bag. The foodlover in me wanted it as well:

So adorable: 'Smiling faces make me happy'

This small bag had some food inside....vanilla biscuits:


Yummy pink marshmellow:

And some biscuits:

It instantly made me cheerful!!!

So hurray for finding cute things when shopping!

MMMacarones...

My sister-in-law is going to celebrate her birthday this saturday. What a good excuse to buy something online for the happy birthday gal!

I went for a very expensive perfume, La Prairi Silver Rain, because she ADORES that perfume. Anndd, I thought I would buy another decadent pressie as well...To keep it French, sophisticated and a bit decadent I went to order some delicous macarones....ahhh...


That is the box with a large quantity of these babies. I was not too measly to buy a small package of Macarones myself...he he, someone should test them, shouldn't I?

The brown one taste very chocolaty, but it is made from real Belgian chocolate (I also ordered it in from Belgium) and soooo tasteful. The pink one is so fresh and creamy...with a raspberry mouse.

Ha ha, I hope I didn't make you hungry ;D

the non-etsy (Artfire.com) order

Sunday sunday, it is the beginning of the summer for plenty of countries on the Northen Hemisphere. Brasil, Australia and South Africa, for instance, are planning their winter now.

Anyway, have a splendid new season of joy and happiness!!!

I have been a bit under the weather lately. Lacklustre and tired, or just blah...So that explains my lack of reviews on this blog. I did not want to leave my readers alone, so I organised the Midsummer giveaway...I hope you appreciate the contest. (ends tomorrow at 1 pm GMT +1, so scribble down your fave summer memory and win a couple of fab goodies for free).

Etsy.com has been receiving lots of love lately, but there are other fab craft-n-buy communities as well. I have been buying and receiving my first Artfire.com order: my lacklustre mind needed some new teas that would (hopefully) magically inspire my mind and body, or just confort me...I had read some raves about Liberteas on the Chocolate Rose tea on the teareviewblog, and I could not imagine anything more soothing than the idea of sipping warm chocolate-flavoured drink, without the dreadful calories. After all, a period of feeling under-the-weather should not result in extra pounds on the hips, I believe.

Back to Liberteas: I have ordered the sample set of three teas, that is the infamous Chocolate Romance Tea, the Momoko Melon tea and the La Vert Pear. I received a sample in Earl Grey Cream.

I love the packaging of the mini tins. Those will be really handy for stashing up makeup when I finish the teas. Gorgeous, glossy black tins.

As for the teas...taste is a personal thing, but I love their Chocolate Romance tea. It has been the most authentic, chocolate-flavoured tea I have tasted so far. The Melon tea is wonderful for summer, so that is one for a larger size as well. The Pear tea is nice, as you do not taste the, sometimes herbally, taste of the green tea leaves.

The seller was wonderful. She made a special listing for me and my shipping options. We have mailed various times to get the communication and the order right. Kudo's for her.

I will probably return to liberteas and artfire.com for my next order. However, I have quite some teas to finish right now...sooo...sipping away this sunday!

another week in hauls

Hello again, another week has gone by. How has your week been? I had a fabulous start! My last grade of a course I took in the last term came back, and I was really delighted with the outcome. I considered my essay to be moderately good, and my dear teach ever gave me a more positive grade than I expected...WOOT!


My weekly mail-hauls were pretty good as well. I already posted about most of them, and I want to show you the rest.


A couple of weeks ago I had ordered some tea from a British teashop that was raved on one of the local forums. They can be great enablers as well. Teapigs.co.uk (what's in a name? glowchaser changed her name in Old cow; I have Moo cards and I drink from teapigs: I think I will name myself happyHorseHickups?) sell they tea in sample sets as well, which come in a tin that contains 3 teabags. It was a wonderful opportunity to try six of their flavours.



My picks were based on my lack of energy and the need for indulgence. The teapigs site has a small 'mood-o-matic teafinder' on the bottom left of the homepage, which makes choosing easy (and with a good dose of British humor). I kind of was tempted to click on all moods, especially 'old and wrinkly' or 'generally rubbish' (which was my mood a couple of weeks ago).







I ended up with:

Chocolate Flake tea;

Super Fruit;

Yerba Mate;

Tung Ting Oolong Tea;

Mao Feng Green Tea;

Lemongrass Tea

My absolute fave is the Lemongrass tea: it is extremely refreshing and taste like real lemongrass...yummmm


The tins are stackable. The labels are too cute: I love the tuk tuk on the Lemongrass, and the surfer on the Tung Ting tea

Non mail-retail therapy:

I had to go to the capital this week for a important lecture of a writer I really admire. Before that, I visited the Mac counter and picked up the Tinted Lip Conditioner SPF 15 in Gentle Coral.

As if I do not have enough lipbalms, -glosses, and sticks....



I love the corally orange colour, and the typical vanilla scent from Mac is always a favourite of mine. (picture is made in shadow, so the colour is probably not really representative)



I went to the poshest shopping street, and only bought a Chanel lipstick.


But it is from their summer 2009 collection! I loved a variety of their latest Aqualumiere colours, and ended up with the flattering Ishia. I love their Sun Protection, which was another motive for picking it up ;D

Chanel should update the Aqualumiere lipstick in the same form as the gorgeous Rouge Allure form. That is the one with the Click tube...I still like this design, but it is a bit Blah... (it is still Chanellll, dahling)

This picture came out darker again. The colour looks like a MLBB (my lips but better) colour, or the colour after I have been drinking wonderful Cava in Barcelona (ahhh, can I dream?)

I adore the multiglitter in the lipstick, which came out all right in this close up: I see blue, copper, gold...

I have already blogged about my Paul & Joe haul. (ici et ici)


The Kawaii-ness of the Yumeko/Bittenbefore brushroll!!! (here)

And the wonders of the Japanese Magazine world (here)

tadaaah....Those were my hauls....

Hello Kitty Eggs; House of Worship birdies and Adam-haul

After a day of contemplation and some rest I think it is time to post something positive. So I said to myself: "stop the sulking and get back to business". Thank you to all the sweet bloggers who gave me a soft pat on the back....♥ ♥ ♥ ♥♥ ...

I saw a couple of children's chocolate eggs in the Hello Kitty form: They are so cute and they contain small Hello Kitty Dolls inside: I have four of the tiny Hello Kitty dolls now...

He he, how childish of me. The chocolate is really good of those eggs...

I received glowchaser's gorgeous creation today! It arrived in a sweet tin and in the cutest foil, that was decorated with strawberry stickers. She has added a professional touch by printing a thank you letter, with jewellery care tips, on writing paper that is decorated in the layout of her webpage worship@thehouseofblues .

I already posted her picture of the birdies, but here is my version....soooo pretty and delicate!

Her latest designs are flying out of the shop (my birds did, LOL), so be fast with ordering if you are interested!

From Adambeauty I bought a second one of the Kose Happy Bathday hand emulsion. I finally finished my first version I bought in Autumn 2008, and I needed a new one.

I also ordered a Shiseido Integrate Accent eyes palette in the green version: GR760. (Oh come on, how could I just order the hand serum alone)

I haven't swatched them yet, but I love the mix of brown and green colours...very earthy and beautiful:

The instructions on the back are included, as often with Japanese eyeshadows....

That were the wonderful items that flew (sorry for the bird-pun) in my mailbox today. I love all the items I received as they are original and wonderful. I will post swatches of the Integrate palette in the near future, but I am not sure when yet.

Let me wish everybody who reads my blog a wonderful Eastern Weekend in advance! I hope your weekend will be filled with bliss and positivity! ♥Birkster♥

How has your Valentine been so far?

Hello my sweet and dearest Readers,

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, but life has been quite hectic this week. I have been running around from lecture to lecture, being completely buried in books and assignment. And, as the icing of the cake...I had to spend lovely Valentine day today doing my TOEFL test, which was a excruciating 4 hours of writing, answering and speaking....le sight...

Speaking about icings, I want to show you some pictures of my little pink cupcakes I made this week. Very princessy, aren't they cute?

Consider them to be your virtual valentine cupcakes from me!

Most of you are not here to look at delicious food, but I wanted to share them anyway. I always get tempted by the food pictures from my favourite bloggers, so I wanted to do the favour back-at-ya...MUAHAHA

I am planning to do a couple of reviews tomorrow or the next week. You can expect to see a review and pictures of

• The Lipstick Queen Oxymoron gloss in Minor Crisis, which I received from my precious glowchaser...
• The Visee Blackish Forming Eyes in B-1...a palette with scrumptious colours
• Skinfood Milk Mania Cleanser
• and perhaps I will show you some pages of my new Alice planner...

Tough cookie: Dutch Limited Edition @ Lush

The holiday season is about to start very soon. That means a lot of shopping for your family and friends, stressing out about the perfect gift, and....delicious candy and cookies.


In the Netherlands we have a kind of pre-Christmas event that takes place on 5 December: Sinterklaas. The run-down to that date is paired with The Saint and his white horse visiting malls and other places, handing out candy a children. Small childern place their shoe in front of the fireplace (or central heating) at night, in order to find a small gift inside their shoe in the morning.

Chocolate letters, small cookies and sweet candy that comes together with Sinterklaas

One of the most common cookies that is served around this period are the 'taai taai's, which means something like 'Tough Tough'. The cookie is quite leathery and you really have to bite hard to get a bite. When you do, you will taste a combination of honey, anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and other warming spices....mmmm...
Their shapes resemble the Christmas cookies that are made in the US (UK as well?). But they are more resilient to teeth (LOL) and have a different blend of spices.

The fun thing is, that Lush has jumped to the occasion to make a limited edition of a shower gel that is specifically targetted to the Dutch and Belgium market



The scent is really lovely: not exactly like the Taai Taai cookie, but still a warm and conforting scent for the winter season. It contains orange oil, cinnamon and smells like gingercookies...yumm...

I love Lush shower gels. The only downsite is, even though they claim to be such a natural store, they still contain Sodium Laureth Sulfates. Anyhow, as long as I do not use it on my scalp (my scalp doesn't like the SLS's) I will be fine....

(available at lush.nl - the site is in Dutch, but they do ship internationally)