The Ultimate Travel Makeup Guide.

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Traveling with makeup hasn't been a huge concern of mine for years. Not because I don't wear a lot of makeup (duh) but mostly because I just didn't travel all that much. The occasional weekend trip to a friend's house excluded there were not that many occasions where I had to think about what makeup to pack. And let me tell you there is a huge difference between packing for a summer holiday that includes a flight or just staying at your best friends house for a night. To be honest,  I would probably not even pack any makeup for the last one.. so there is that. But especially this year I have been on loads of trips in and outside of Germany. So travel makeup has been something I had to look into.

If you actually have been on holidays that include flying you know how stressful the thought of your favorite (and most possible expensive) highlighter breaking can be. The space issue is also something to consider. You feel like you need to be prepared for a natural glowy and heatproof look for strolling through the city. But what if you decide to have a night out? What if you spontaneously get invited to a red carpet event? Some events might be more realistic than others but a girl likes to be prepared, right? So I have written down my top tips for packing your travel makeup bag. 

1. Cream is key. 

I never thought I would say that, but cream products are the way to go. I started using cream products on trips simply out of the fear of my powder products breaking in my luggage. I wasn't too sure if this would be a good idea, especially in a hot climate. I don't know why but I thought it would just melt off my face. Well, let me tell you.. I am so glad I discovered the world of the glorious cream products. It all started with the Charlotte Tilbury Contour and Highlight wands.. I packed these for my trip to Montenegro in April. I was just too scared to take my beloved Rodial powders and have them smashed. I loved the creamy formula from the second I first tried them. They blended like a dream, stayed on like nothing else and the best: they looked so much more natural than any powder ever has. So try to experiment with more creamy textures wherever you can. I would definitely recommend cream eyeshadows, blushes, contour products and of course highlighter. 

2. Go for minis. 

A very obvious but useful one are minis. I know that most makeup products don't come in a mini version but skincare very often does. I actually take around travel-sized Charlotte Tilbury skincare bits with me. It saves so much space and weight. YAY! You can also buy some small plastic container and fill them up with some of your foundation or shampoo. I love to do this especially with products that come in a glass bottle. Nobody got time for glass packaging when traveling. 

3. Choose wisely. 

Versatile products are your best friend when traveling. It's maybe not the best time to pack your blue eyeshadow palette that you meant to try out for ages. You probably won't use it at all, and if you do, it will be for one night only. So stick with neutrals, with things you know you will wear daily and not get bored of. A neutral eyeshadow palette can be a godsend. The lighter shades for the day and if you really want to dress up for the night just deepen the look with a darker shade. Another thing is to only take one thing of each category. I am someone who is obsessed with pinky nude lipsticks. I would guess I have around 30 of them. And I adore every single one. But does that mean I need all of them on my trip? Nope. So I try to take one matte and one glossy nude version. And just to be safe I take one red lipstick if I feel fancy (never happens though). 

x Lisa

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How Meditation & Yoga Improved My Life.

Okay.. it might be a bit of an exaggeration if I'd say meditation and yoga have changed my life. But it definitely improved it a lot. I have never talked about this on here and don't know if I will go into this in depth any time soon, but I have anxiety which leads to panic attacks quite a lot. It has improved over the years and real panic attacks have become rare for me, thankfully. But that doesn't mean that I am not constantly worrying and being tense about every single thing in my and other's peoples life. Of course, this is not healthy for me and also doesn't help the people around me. So I have been looking into a lot of different techniques to help me being calm and living in the present.

Meditating

In the beginning of the year I finally gave myself the challenge of meditating at least 5 minutes every single day. I have to admit I didn't follow through with it completely. There have been some days, especially on the weekends and on holiday, where I skipped it. But I am proud to say that I pulled through with it during the week. Even on days where I feel like I have too much to do and I am not in the right mindset, I will do at least 5 minutes. The longest I have meditated for was 20 minutes up until now. 

I know it looks and sounds easy. Just sit there and don't think about anything. But honestly it is so much harder and it is a real progress. In the beginning, you will feel like giving up a lot. You probably feel like a failure because your mind will wander all the time and suddenly you will find yourself thinking about tasks you have to do or the stupid thing you said yesterday. But this is part of the journey. Just think about your mind like a muscle. You have to train it. You won't be able to do 10 pull-ups the very first time you try it and you probably won't be able to have a blank mind for 10 minutes straight. I am definitely not there yet and I have worked on it the past 6 months. But don't be scared, there are different techniques to help you. Just look for it on youtube and you find loads. 

Here are a few I tried:

1. Count to ten with each breath and then count backward again.
2. Accept your mind wandering and if you become conscious of it just see your thoughts as a cloud which passes over your head and let it go (until the next cloud comes).
3. Concentrate on your physical emotions such as feeling the air filling your lungs when you breathe in. 

I use number 1 on days where it is very hard for me to focus. But trust me, even when you try to concentrate on the numbers your mind will still wander after some time. And again, that is totally normal. I personally feel like number 3 works the best for me.

I can honestly say that it hugely affected my anxiety. I feel so much calmer and I am more capable of calming myself down and staying present in stressful times. So give it a go. 

Yoga

The second thing I implemented in my daily routine is yoga. I started feeling like I wanted to do something more physical which I can connect to my little meditation routine. So I just started doing yoga routines before my meditation. I looked up a few videos, mainly from Yoga With Adriene on youtube and honestly just gave it a go. There were a lot of things I couldn't do or I felt just weren't right for me. Now I sometimes try new routines and sometimes I just 'freestyle' it. I basically evaluate what I feel like doing and repeat some moves I learned in the videos. I also have to say that I am probably not doing yoga 'properly'. I mainly use it as kind of stretching routine. I feel like my muscles are constantly tight from going to the gym and sitting on my desk a lot. So I am always looking for new yoga stretching moves which I also mix in with 'normal' stretching routines. Honestly just listen to your body and you will know what feels right and what you currently need. 

The fun thing with yoga is how quickly you see progress. You feel so much more flexible and suddenly you can do moves that were impossible for you before. That's so rewarding and motivating. 

I really hope this post was a bit helpful and maybe inspired you to look into meditation and yoga/stretching. I honestly can't recommend it enough.. even if you only have 5 minutes to spare each day. 

x Lisa

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Currently Craving | Linen.

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It's summer, and summer calls for linen. This is probably no surprise for most of you but to be completely honest.. I never ever was interested in anything linen. To me, it was something for old people. A boring fabric that is high maintenance. And yes, to be fair, it is a bit high maintenance. I definitely have to get out my steamer more often than I did before my linen love affair, but it is so worth it! 

It all started in April. I was on a city break in Salzburg with my boyfriends family and it was HOT. Of course, I was not prepared as I was expecting a nice mild spring weather. So I wasn't very pleased with my packing choices. Obviously, I have to pop into Zara whenever I am near one, this is how I stumbled across this gorgeous white linen dress. It is a bit too short for me to wear on its own but it works perfectly fine with tights. I wasn't sure about it but I really loved the look of it. Needless to say, I got loads of compliments the next day when I wore it and the best part.. it felt so amazing. If you haven't tried linen clothes on a hot summer day you are seriously missing out. I haven't come across a more cooling and comfortable fabric. 

So this is how my love for linen started. I since added a few midi and maxi linen dresses to my collection to wear them in summer without tights. Here are a few of my current faves and cravings I might need to get soon. 

low/medium priced

medium/high priced

Do you love linen as much as I do? Or are you still skeptical?

x Lisa
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All About That Summer Glow.

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What comes to your mind when you hear the words 'summer' and 'makeup'? For me it's all about a light base, glowy and dewy highlights and of course a hint of pink on the lips. So today I will show you my top picks to create exactly that look. 

The Base 

Speaking of a light summer base, I have been using these two foundations religiously over the past couple of weeks. The YSL 'Touche Eclat All-In-One Glow' foundation (quite the mouthful) has been my go-to on most days, especially when my skin is pretty clear and I can live with a light coverage. With this being said, you can definetly build it up to a more medium coverage. But on those days where I wanted to look a bit more polished, I chose the Estee Lauder 'Doube Wear Nude' foundation. It has a bit more coverage than the YSL one but not as much as the original Double Wear formula. At the same time, it is so much more comfortable and lighter than their original. I love! FYI: My shades are BR20 for YSL and 1N2ECRU for Estee Lauder.

The Glow

The most fun part for me about doing any kind of makeup look is the highlight. The Lancome 'Custom Highlight Drops' are a real multitasker. You can mix them in with your foundation for some extra dewiness or you can wear it on top of your base for a glowy highlight. It does look a bit intimidating in the bottle but once you blend it, it looks very natural. So if you like that super intense highlight this might be too natural for you. It's exactly how I like it though. I got it in the shade 'rose glow'. 

The Lips

I always love a nude pink, but when it comes to summer I love to go a bit more 'pink pink'. The Bourjois Rouge Velvet Lipstick in 02 is the creamiest (semi-) matte lipstick you will find. I choose this one when I want a very opaque and darker pink. I have raved about the YSLRouge Tatouage Couture liquid lipsticks for ages and their shade 11 has found their way into my collection recently.. I don't want to miss it anymore. It's gorgeous! By the way, if you fancy some great Black Friday Make-up deals you should definitely click on the link. 

x Lisa

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How To Get Into A Fitness Routine & Stay Motivated.

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I always admired those girls who live to workout. Those kinds of girls who seem like it's second nature to them to get up early to get that 10K in before work and then hit the gym after. Well, that's not me. For me finding the motivation to workout is pretty hard. I may be lucky because I am quite good at being disciplined, but that doesn't mean that I actually enjoy an hour of sweating in the gym when I all I want to do is binging Netflix (I currently love Dynasty.. have you watched it?). So I have to be prepared in order for me to secure that those Netflix nights don't take over my life and I actually get my but moving... occasionally. 

Schedule 

If you are looking for only one thing to take away from this post, let it be this. Schedule your workout in as if it's an appointment. Do not wait for a timeslot to suddenly appear. This won't happen. Even if you have all the time in the world you will always find something 'more important' to do than working out. So I suggest you sit down on a Sunday and schedule your workouts for the week ahead. 

Treat yourself

I don't know if this is only a thing that women do, but I heard this a lot from others and it certainly helps me. Treat yourself! Treat yourself to some new workout clothes, some new trainers or some new earphones. I am always so much more motivated when I invested money in my new gym kit. It's too pretty and fun to just lay around. I recently got some new earphones from Sudio. These are completely wireless.. yes, no wire at all. The battery lasts up to 3,5 hours, which lasts me at least two workout sessions. The case itself has another 4 full charges ready for you. Honestly, I never experienced so much freedom when working out. Nobody got time for normal earphones anymore. My boyfriend always acts like he doesn't care about new workout goodies and they don't affect his motivation. But I can confirm that even he wanted to go out for runs way more often since getting his pair of Sudio NIVÅ. If you fancy treating yourself as well, you can use the discount code "LISAAUTUMN" for 15% off.

Do it for the health

I can't lie... of course, I want my body to change and that's definitely a part of why I am working out. But if you set your physical appearance as your number one priority I can almost promise you that your motivation will go out of the window pretty quickly. Firstly, physical results really take some time to show. So when you won't have that Kim KW body after a month you will be very tempted to give up. Try to shift your focus to your health. Do you want to be strong and healthy even when you get older? Then you simply have to move your body and take care of your diet. Once you put your health first, physical changes will come automatically. So please do yourself a favor and do not.. I repeat do not.. solely track your weight. Of course, tracking your weight is somewhat helpful, especially when you have a substantial amount of fat to lose. But don't weigh yourself more often than every week or better every other week. Your daily weight gain or loss has nothing to do with fat gain or loss, most of the time it's just water. Especially when you've gained 2 pounds over night.. trust me that just can't be fat. Even more important than weighing yourself is your body composition. So maybe invest in a good body composition scale and also take measurements of your body. That's where you will see the real progress. 

Forget about that 'all or nothing' mentality

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes people do over and over again. The 'all or nothing' mentality with workouts and diets will make you give up sooner or later. We all have been there. You remember that time where you have been eating so healthy for weeks and worked out regularly, and then you had that one day where you ate your body weight in junk food and sugar. Well, this is not the end of the world. It's all about how you go from there? Do NOT beat yourself up and think to yourself that everything is over now and the effort you made over the last few weeks are pointless. One day does not define your journey. It's just one single day out of 7 days of the week, 30 of the month and 365 of the year. Just pick up your healthy lifestyle the next day and this one day 'off'  didn't change a thing. 

Find something that works for you

Going running or to the gym are probably the first things that people think about when it comes to workouts. Even though this might be the right thing to do for some people, it is not for everyone. I started out with Pilates workouts at home. But I quickly realized that I need to actually go out to workout and home workouts don't do it for me. I then started running and absolutely loved it. I went from a couch potato to someone who could run a 5K without completely dying. But it just got boring to me after some time. The beginning was exciting and a huge challenge. After I became better and it got easier I just lacked the motivation. More than a year ago I started going to the gym with my boyfriend. I did a mix of cardio and weights, probably what most people do. And again, I absolutely loved it. But looking back at it now, I probably loved the first six months. I loved getting stronger and feeling more independent in my day-to-day life, like carrying all the groceries at once and not asking my boyfriend for help. But I felt like it got too monotone. This is when my boyfriend asked if I'd want to join Crossfit with him. At first, it was a huge joke to me. I thought I am far away from being fit enough to do anything that 'crazy'. But everybody has to start somewhere, right? So I tried it once, really believing that it won't be for me. Surprisingly I loved every second. Yes, it was intimidating and it was so much harder than anything else I have ever done and it still is most of the times I go. But the feeling after the workout is incredible.. you feel like you can conquer the world. To be honest, there are still so many things I can't do, but there is always a modified way for me to do a certain exercise. Don't be scared. 

x Lisa 

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