New In February ~ A Haul post

Hello my darlings. I'm back. I haven't written anything in the past two weeks of being home, because I did not feel like it. Coming back home hit me pretty hard. I was warned that this will happen after my Erasmus exchange ends, but you do not really realise how hard it hits you until you experience it on your own skin. The first week was pretty hard and I still have bad mornings and evenings (during the day I occupy myself with million things), but seeing all my friends really helps, I am tons thankful for them. Plus me and my BF started looking for a flat (baby steps, slow, wonky baby steps, but nevertheless, we are doing it), which, even if we are only discussing our options at this point, gives me an idea that being on our own isn't THAT far away. Oh yes, and of course I need to finish my studies. Small thing. ;) All in all I am not in a bad place. But I miss Bratislava like hell, every thing about it. My flat, my awesome flatmate, my room, walking in the old town ... just about everything.

Enough with the yammering, yes? I will show you the goodies I received in the past month, also to show you what is to come on the blog in March.

Group photo!

Review stuff from OMG and Born Pretty Store, nail polish, skin care, hair care (going nuts about my hair care!) ... I tried to put the purple scarf to break the whiteness under the products, and failed.

This being a nail polish blog in its essence, let's begin with nail stuff. Two nail stripes from OMG, I am looking forward to trying them, and a bunch of goodies from Born Pretty Store that I am super excited to try!! Especially the foil, I have never tried that technique, so I am curious. 

I bought one nail polish from new Catrice line, mainly because of the name: Berry Potter & Plumbledore. COME ON, HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Plus the colour is amazing as well, epic win! I am wearing it right now and love it, I need to show it to ya ASAP.

 

Lately I am going nuts about hair products. My hair is getting pretty long and is at this point pretty damaged, so I need to visit a hairdresser pronto. L'Oreal Leave-In Spray I got from my flatmate and it is amazing stuff. Smells like heaven and it really works wonders on the hair, they look so much nicer, fall really nicely, they don't tangle ... perfect stuff. I do not think we can get it in Europe, which is a pity (let me know if we can, please!)

Subrina's Hair Code I also got as a gift, it is a two-faze shine serum. I used it once, but it looks promising, it did not grease up my hair. 

Got2b anti-frizz lotion again I got from my flatmate (she cut her hair completely short, so she does not need the products anymore), and it is pretty neat stuff, you just need to be careful not to overload it as it does get your hair greasy fast. Smells like grapefruit, sometimes i like it, sometimes I don't. 

Estee Lauder travel set for very dry skin, alas it does not suit me (my skin is combination to greasy, so it is a no-go), but my mother will love it. 

Essence eyeshadow brush from the new LE. I actually bought another one after testing this one, I love it so much. I regret not buying the smaller one too, but it went superfast. I bought this one off completely full stand in the afternoon, came back next day around noon and it was basically empty. Girls work fast!

A set of Aldo Vandini Olive & Granatapfel with a gorgeous bag. A good friend of mine surprised me with this, and it smells amazing, I already tried all of them. The set contains body peeling, body milk, hand creme and travel sized shower gels. Love them! And the bag is perfect for my purse!

And an additional photo of a present my girls brought me in Bratislava. I framed it the other day for my room here in Ljubljana, and remembered I haven't even shown it on the blog. It is perfect for moi. :)

Coffee and Lord of the Rings? Yes please!


What did you get for yourself lately? Oh, and of course, if you wish to see a detailed review of anything in the haul posts, all you need to do is ask in the comments. :)

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Bratislava: Chapter 6 ~ Štúr, Uisce Beatha and 1st Slovak Pub

Hello everyone! So this is my last chapter about Bratislava, written in Bratislava. It feels weird. I haven't written anything in past two months simply because there was so much going on, friends visiting, having road trips around Slovakia, having exams (yeah, that too :P) ... I feel I am staring at the last weekend of my Erasmus exchange after being here for a ... month, maybe. It went by so so fast, and I know it is a cliche to say that, but that's just how I feel. My BF is coming today, we'll be here until Sunday, and then I'm back home in Ljubljana. I won't even go into how I feel about leaving, to put it shortly, I do not want to leave.

Today I went to Štúr, possibly for the last time (although I just might go on my own again tomorrow - my BF dislikes going out for coffee, you know, "why go out for a 2€ cup when you can cook coffee at home for couple of cents per cup" mentality), and remembered I really wanted to write about my favourite places for eating, drinking and, well, just be, with a book or some nice company. :) So if you're ever in Blava and want to go to a nice place, here are some ideas. 

source: http://www.asb.sk/architektura/interier/kaviarenska-terapia-sturom

Štúr is a cafe, essentially, with a vast offer of food, from soup of the day to delicious cakes. They have their own blend of coffee that is amazing and they also offer tea and smoothies and lemonade and ... well, just about everything really. There are located on three places, all in Staré Mesto or just about there, one on Štúrova (really close to Evrovea, University and Tesco, and maybe five minutes walk from Slovak national theatre), one on Panská (heart of Old Town, if you go from cathedral to Main Square, you pass it) and Obchodná (big shopping street of Bratislava, really close to 1st Slovak Pub too). My favourite is actually on Panská. The atmosphere in there is perfect, waiters are really nice, they also speak English really well. The prices are very decent, you always get a great product for it. Cappuccino is 2€ and in 5 months of being their regular customer I haven't gotten a bad cup of coffee. Plus the food is just yummy, sandwiches, salads, quiche, CAKES (cake is the language of love!!). I really recommend it. 

source: http://www.slovakpub.sk/fotogaleria

If you want to try some good, traditional Slovak food, 1st Slovak pub (1. slovenska krčma) is the place to go. Located on Obchodná, you can reach them in 10 minutes of walk from Michalska brana. They have 8 different rooms, each dedicated to some part of Slovak (or Slovan) history, from room of Slovak poets with poems written on the wall, to hall of Pribina's knights, with the knights' table. It is a little bit like a maze, but a cozy one. In room of Janošik you actually have a smal furnace and the smell of the fire can really make your lunch or dinner even better. :) The food is superb and comparing to other "tourist" traditional food restaurants really cheap (comparing to another restaurant near Hviezdoslavovo namestie: soup in Slovak pub is usually under 2 eur, in that restuarant around 5 or 6). You can get a really nice waiter or a bad one, in average I had 80% good experience with them, either speaking Slovak or English, so all in all is good. Read their entire menu as well, it is fun! They explain what brynza cheese is and have a special menu for poor student, or student, trying to impress his girlfriend. :) They also have an offer of half the portion for 70% of the price, which, trust me, can be a very good idea, because Slovak food is rather heavy and their portions enormous. If you are up for traditional Slovak food, I recommend the Slovak table for 2 persons, but bear in mind, 3 to 4 people can get full off that. Oh, the pub is separated to smoker and non-smoker rooms, the ones that look best are of course smoker rooms, which I do not like, but what can you do. The coffee, however, is not good, at least not for my taste, go up Obchodna to Štúr for an excellent one!

The menu in Uisce Beatha :)

Uisce Beatha is a small Irish pub in the heart of old city centre that I absolutely adore. It is hidden in a little street called Na Vršku and you will need to walk through a few small alleys before you get there (but it is rather close to Michalska brana, so it is near tourist spots). In this era of GPS I doubt you will have any trouble finding it even if it is your first time in Blava. You will not regret it. It is cozy, people working there are extremely nice and friendly. Obviously they speak good English, they have good and cheap beer (although they do not have many brands to offer, the ones they have are good!) and vast choice of whiskey. Oh, and their Irish coffee is actual Irish coffee, you can taste real whiskey in there, extra points! It is the pub I visit by far most often and I love it there. Sure am going to miss it. 

There is plenty of other places I like. Čierny pes is like a minute of walk away from Uisce Beatha and is a lovely place as well (they serve Bernard beer!), if you have a chance you need to visit Randal club, especially if there is a good rock/metal concert going on there, the bar is beyond awesome, great beer, great pizza (served any time of the night!). A lovely pub in city centre is also U Kozla, and another right under the castle called Zamocky pivovar (Castle brewery). Oh, another place I am forgetting is the La Putika cafe, that is amazing. There is three or four of them in Bratislava, I visited two, and they are great, I do recommend them as well. 

Naturally there is many more places to see and visit, but these are on my favourites list and I visit them most often. I am one of those people, you know, that find a place they love and they just stick to it. So I did not really visit every single cafe and pub in Blava, but those that I have and I like, are really amazing. 

Next time I will get back to you from Ljubljana, until then, have a lovely weekend!

Orly Secret Society mani with lace accent

Hey everybody! How are you doing? I am enjoying a beautiful sunny day here in Bratislava and I decided to post a quick post of a mani I did a couple of days ago. I am really loving these water decals and am putting them on every colour that seems appropriate. 

For this I combined two Orly shades, one is Risque Encounter from Secret Society mini set, the other is called Conduit. Conduit is more known on nail polish blogsphere under SpaRitual brand, but as they are sister companies, appearantly Orly put the shade in their mini line. Either way, it is a stunner. 

Risque Encounter is a bright red crelly that perhaps seems a bit too orange on my pictures, due to the jellyness of it. I think the shade is more accurate on my little finger, with the water decal over it. It is a lovely colour, a classy bright red, it applies great. Conduit is a bit sheer, but builds up nicely and IMHO would be worth six coats (needs three on my short nails though), because it is absolutely perfect, golden bronze sparkle. I put my matte TC on the accent finger and, quite honestly, regreted a bit that I didn't do a full mani with this combo. Coming soon!

It is a mani many girls would wear for Christmas or NY's, even I felt it is a bit too festive for end of January, and I never give a damn about these things. Still, I love wearing it. 

Have a lovely week!

Thank you for reading and commenting!