Gift guide – CHRISTMAS SHOPPING/PRESENT IDEAS FOR YOUR LOVED ONES

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Hi there,

Let’s talk about Christmas shopping today! I know it is still November but for me November is like the Thursday of the year – just the month that stays in between Halloween and Christmas. I see it like a passing bridge tbh and so, as soon as october 31st passes, my mind goes straight into festive mood!

Apart from all the nice things it brings, festive mood also comes with huge stress in regards to holiday shopping!!When it comes to Christmas shopping, I like to do mine in time in order to avoid the rush before the holiday season and make sure I get the best presents for my loved ones. However, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL! And getting the PERFECT Christmas gift is no easy task. I know that because I still struggle every year with gift ideas and for that reason, I want to help you with your Christmas shopping this year 🙂 So, if you can relate to this, then this blog post is for you. Down below, you can find gift recommendations that I found after extensive research :). The suggestions that you gave me on Instagram have also been taken into account.

Little background story :

I have to admit : I am a sucker for Christmas ! Ever since I was a kid, this was my favourite time of the year (even used to love it more than my birthday ). Maybe it was also because I have a huge family (and I am not only referring to my parents and sister, but to my grandparents, cousins, auntie&uncle and godchildren that my parents married). However, my point is : when we get together we are literally like all the families in all the Christmas Movies haha. To this day, I look forward to 25th of December the most – but I also love all the weeks that build up to Christmas where I get to go to Christmas Markets, enjoy the Christmas Lights in my city, go Christmas Shopping, listen to carols 24?/7, bake cookies, watch Christmas movies and get to decorate the house/tree for Christmas !! (every year I decorate at least 3 trees hahahhahaha)

Also both BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY are just around the corner!

SO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF THESE DAYS TO GET YOUR XMAS SHOPPING DONE

Having said so, let’s dive in then!

TIPS TO GET THE BEST PRESENTS :

1. be careful at what they mention they would want ( I pay attention throughout the entire year and take notes in my head)
2. make a list ! – even though it might sound ridiculous, it really helps !

GIFT IDEAS

1. MAKE-UP

In terms of make-up, I feel like the holiday season is the absolute best time to buy make-up as a gift because most brands have holiday deals with such cute packaging. If you don’t know what I mean, just walk into any Sephora (or make-up shop close to you) and you’ll see what I mean. ( I even get distracted by all the amazing xmas boxes with make-up products that I already even own haha).

Here are some Holiday Make-up Products that you could get your loved ones :

AN ADVENT CALENDAR FULL OF MAKE-UP GOODIES FROM MAC COSMETICS!

A FULL BOX FULL OF SOME OF THE BEST BENEFIT PRODUCTS? SIGN ME UP!

BEST GLOSS EVER FROM FENTY BEAUTY + A HIGHLIGHTER (I HAVE THEM BOTH AND LOVE THEM)

2. FRAGRANCE

First of, let’s start with fragrance recommendations – 3 for men/3 for women

For the girls, I will recommend my favourite perfumes of all times (all of which I own myself and personally love)

Black Opium (eau de parfum) from YSL

Marc Jacobs Daisy (eau so fresh)

Prada Candy (eau de parfum)

Dior Sauvage – a classic I would say for guys

Givenchy Gentleman Only – this is my absolute favourite one!

Acqua Di Gio from Giorgio Armani

3. HOME DECORATIONS/ SCENTED CANDLES

COLORLESS MIMOSA SCENTED CANDLE – 30 EUROS

FOR THE ARABIAN SMELL FANS, HERE IS THE CANDLE FOR YOU !

A 3 SET CANDLE FROM BOY SMELLS

CERAMIC VASE FROM H&M

CUSHION COVER WITH TASSELS FROM H&M

4. OTHERS (CUTE THINGS)

HOW CUTE IS THIS ? A MINI FRIDGE FOR SKINCARE ??? ASOS HAD ME AT THIS.

CUTE METAL WATER BOTTLE FROM ASOS

CHRISTMAS PJ’S FROM Victoria’s Secret

FLUFFY SLIPPERS FROM UGG

Ugly Christmas Sweaters from Amazon for women and men

This is such a good book that I personally recommend. The book untangles political, technological, social and existential questions, and highlights how they impact the everyday lives of humans worldwide. ( there are 2 previous books : Sapiens and Homo Deus). I would say that this would be a great xmas gift.

And so, these are my recommendations for your Christmas Shopping this year. I hope it helps you at least with some ideas for your loved ones and that it will make your shopping process easier in a way.

I also want to say that, the lockdown imposed by the current pandemic pushed billions of people worldwide to come up with new hobbies and ways of spending their free time. Because of this, a lot of people have discovered new passions. (so maybe you can take this into consideration for your Christmas shopping too).

According to the ZeroPark Blog, here is a list with the top lockdown hobbies (and thus GIFT IDEAS)

✔︎ Baking

✔︎  Gardening

✔︎  DIY or home improvement

✔︎  At home/outdoor sport or fitness equipment

✔︎  Board games or jigsaw puzzles

✔︎  Crafts

✔︎  Video games

✔︎  Drawing or painting

✔︎  Photography

✔︎  Hair and beauty

✔︎  Musical instrument

✔︎  Self-development courses online

✔︎  Film/ books/ music subscriptions 

Good luck with your Christmas shopping,

Kisses,

Anna

Tips for having the best halloween at home

Hello Hello and welcome back !

Halloween is just around the corner and even though I am not the biggest fan (because Halloween is not a thing at all in Romania ), I thought I wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to share some ideas/tips for the perfect celebration at home!

For all the Halloween lovers , I know that this year will be completely different and most probably you will not be able to go to Halloween parties (and rock your outfits) or go trick o treating. Even though that is very sad, we live in very uncertain times and we need to be positive ! I trully believe that we have to try and still celebrate our traditions and holidays even though it is not like we used to do it before the pandemic. So, if you are a Halloween lover don’t let this day pass without doing something fun !

Pumpkin Carving

I have to admit – this is the only activity that we would do for Halloween every year when I was growing up. Every year, my dad would buy the biggest pumpkin he could find at the market and then come home and let me and my sister carve it (with some help from our mom). I remember that we used to have soo much fun and ended up with the craziest designs for our pumpkins.

For that reason, yesterday night me and my boyfriend did the same thing ! It gets messy I admit and if you are not up for the clean-up process that follows maybe yous should skip this, but it’s so much fun ! We played halloween songs and had the most amazing time carving our little pumpkin ! ( If you want to see the process you can watch my IGTV )

LIST OF MY FAVOURITE SCARY MOVIES

Pic from Seventeen Magazine

1. Get Out (2017)
2. Us (2019)
3. Trick r’ Treat (2009)
4. Paranormal Activity (2007) – To this day I still cannot sleep alone after watching this !
5. The Addams Family (1998)
6. The House at the end of the Street (2012) – plot twist at the end
7. The roommate (2011)
8. Carrie (2013)
9. Fractured (2019) – this movies kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! I even wrote an uni paper on it because it is such a mindfuck !
10. Truth or Dare (2018)

DIY decorations/costumes

Improvisation is key when it comes to DIY things. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money you can just improvise with what you already have laying around the house. In terms of decorations, you can literally used toilet paper as a mummy inspired decoration (it’s that easy haha). What I loved to do when I was younger was to make bats out of toilet paper tubes (that I would paint black and add wings too). When it comes to costumes , I only started getting dressed for Halloween since I moved to Amsterdam (because I have a friend that throws Halloween parties every year and she would make us dress up ) but because I never wanted to spend a lot of money on costumes, I improvised. Last year I was a pirate and the coolest thing is that I only paid 5 euros (for the sword/hook and eye patch) because I owned everything else to create a pirate costume. You just need to let your imagination guide you and enjoy the process !

My pirate costume for Halloween 2019 !

Halloween inspired cookies

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pics from Delish

Ok so I was looking on google for inspiration to make my own Halloween treats when I stumbled across these amazing recipes from Delish. THEY LOOK BOMB! I just couldn’t help myself and I had to share them with you too. The Dracula cookies are ingenious (can you even imagine something yummier than a sandwich of chocolate chip cookies with a layer of marshmallows in between ? Because I can’t ! I will 100 % make this dessert for Halloween !

My suggestion ? On Oct 31st put on a costume, bake some cookies (and decorate them for Halloween ) and have a scary movie night with your closest friends ! ( by closely following the local guidelines in terms of how many people you can have over in regards to the coronavirus pandemic)

Have a spooky Halloween and let me know in the comments if you have extra movie suggestions for me 🙂 !

Kisses,

Anna

September Favorites !

Hi there !

This is my first time ever writing a blog post like this but I have seen it at other bloggers and I thought this would be such a cool idea tbh. Sooo, the whole point of this blog post will be to share all my favourite things/products/places (you get the idea) from September. And so here it goes !!! ARE YOU EXCITED? I for sure, am haha.

1. L’interdit by Givenchy

A fragrance based on a white flower imbued with black notes – perfect for this time of the year !!

I got this perfume from my family for my birthday and I love it! It makes me feel like a powerful boss babe who can achieve everything she sets her mind to! (which is a great mindset to have)

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2. Studio Fix Powder from MAC

In terms of the studio fix powder from MAC, I have been literally wanting to buy this product from the beginning of the year but for some reason I just never actually did. (student budget and all that). I have read so many good reviews about it and so I decided it was time to get it.I just got it over a week ago and I love it – it also has some foundation incorporated so perfect for the days when you don’t feel like putting a lot of make up on.

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3. The Social Dilemma

A DOCUDRAMA THAT NEEDS TO BE WATCHED! This documentary tells the story behind all the big tech companies and how us, users are being exploited for financial gain through both data capturing and surveillance capitalism. Moreover, it explains how the design of nowadays social media platforms is created in such a way to create addiction and ‘pull in’ the user deeper and deeper. What is really interesting is that throughout the film, very important people that helped design and create nowadays social media platform step up and talk about the negative aspects of the social media rise and usage. The documentary tackles very important topics such as : the important role that social media plays in the spread of fake news, the huge impact it has on the mental health of it users (especially teens). Persoanlly, I believe that is it very important for everyone to watch this and understand that social media is not ‘harmless’ and that everything , every single action we take online is being stored somewhere. I feel very lucky to have learned all of these during the courses I have had so far during my bachelor and that is why I really thing that this documentary raises awareness on a very important topic.

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4.Teenage Bounty Hunters

Such a good series I discovered by pure chance. It was exactly what I was in the mood for – funny, teenage based, drama with the perfect mix of action too. It feels the story of two teenager twin girls from Georgia who go to a very religious private school and happen to get mixed up in the bounty hunting business. I loved watching it but was sad about the fact that there is only one season with 10 episodes :(.

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5. The Hague/Scheveningen Strand

It is weird that I have been living in The Netherlands for almost 3 years and I had never managed to go to The Hague until 2 weeks ago – even though I have always wanted to !. I was very lucky too because there were literally 30 degrees Celsius when I went (in mid-september in The Netherlands – that does not happen !!). It was my bestie’s birthday and so we went to celebrate at the beach. It was such a good day – I even went into the water a couple of times that’s how hot it was. We tanned, drank some cocktails, listened to good music and ended the day walking on the boardwalk (that gave me Santa Monica vibes).

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6.Valkenburg,Limburg

Valkenburg is an extremely cute town just 7 km away from Maastricht! My boyfriend’s parents came to visit and they rented a car which allowed us to explore places we would not normally go to. And that’s how we got to Valkenburg. We had some delicious specialty coffee at a very cute cafe/bike store called Coffee before Cycling and then we visited the only fortress in The Netherlands – the ruins of the Valkenburg castle. It was such a cool experience to wander around the castle and imagine how people must have lived there hundred of years ago. And then we had an amazing dinner at this Mexican restaurant that had amazing decor and live parrots and iguanas.

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7. One.two.free! foaming cleanser

This product is revolutionary – girls I am telling you – IF YOU ARE A SKINCARE FREEK (like me), You will absolutely love this cleanser. I just discovered this brand when I bought the cleanser – it just launched at the beginning of 2020. Their skincare products contain fermented beauty ingredients which will give your skin the perfect glow! After I used the foaming cleanser, I was shocked as to how smooth my face felt. Would definetely recommend it and categorise it as a MUST-HAVE.

These are my September favourites guys. I quite enjoyed writing this blog post so I am thinking of writing similar ones in the next months. Let me know what were your September favourites in the comments below !

Xx,

Anna

Lifestyle : 7 Things to do in quarantine

#7tips #thingstodoinquarantine #selfisolation #stayhome #indooractivities #ideas

Hi guys!

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for what time is what life is made up of” – Bruce Lee

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has completely changed the world by placing the entire planet under lockdown. I am sure none of us could have ever imagined that we would be experiencing something like this in our lifetimes but unfortunately, we are. This virus has affected our lives so much as we all had to cancel plans, trips and just get used to living our lives in isolation. It truly is another way of a ‘war’ that has brought so many changes and influenced our lives to an extent that I, for one, never thought possible.

Having spent one month inside my house, I had time to do a lot of thinking and realized how many times I said no to plans just because I wanted to stay in, or how many times I left parties, nights out early just because I wanted to sleep more. It is only now that I realize all these little things that I AM SURE I will never do again when the quarantine is over. Having the freedom to do anything you want and leave the house whenever you feel like feels so surreal right now -almost like a science fiction movie. Isn’t it crazy how quickly we can adapt to anything?

However, I am sure that pretty soon, countries will start relaxing the measures and life will slowly go back to normal. The question is : Will life as we knew it ever be the same ? What will ‘normal’ be after this?

On a much happier note,I know that staying inside 24/7 for so many days in a row definitely is challenging but we have to adapt and make the most of this period. This is why I’ve come up with a list of TO DO THINGS during these difficult times. I have to admit that in the first 2 weeks of quarantine I would be sooo bored and I always felt that days were going by soo slowly. I knew I had to maintain a positive mindset (otherwise I would have lost my mind) and started to think about things to do to make this quarantine more entertaining and meaningful. It was really important for me not to waste time during these months of quarantine because my goal was to get out of it having learned new skills.

BORED IN QUARANTINE ? HERE IS MY LIST OF TO DO THINGS THAT WILL DEFINITELY MAKE IT FUN!

1. COOK

To be honest, before this quarantine I would not always cook, but when I did do I would always stick to my basic recipes. I was never eager to try out new recipes because I didn’t want to risk wasting ingredients and time on a recipe that I might not like. That changed during this quarantine. Having so much free time gave me the opportunity to try out new recipes and experiment. There were days when I had literally no idea what I was making but I would start cooking either way and just go with the flow. So, use this time to try out new recipes, get creative ! – invent your own recipe, mix together ingredients you would never think work together (you might be surprised ) and just see how it turns out 🙂

2. Have an indoor spa day

Who doesn’t love spa days? An improvised spa in your own living room/bedroom may be the perfect thing to boost your mood these days. This can be done alone ( self-love type of day) or with other people such as friends, boyfriend/girlfriend or family members – it’s a really fun kind of activity. All you need is a chill playlist, some face masks (cucumbers for the eyes haha) and voila! If you don’t have any face masks at home, you can even do one yourself. You’d be amazed by how easy it actually is and how little time it requires.

3. Puzzle away!

I have to start by saying that I haven’t done a puzzle since I was around 10-11 yrs old. However, I was so bored at the beginning of this quarantine that I couldn’t help myself and placed an order.The funny thing is I was confident enough to order two not one – I was super suuure that I would finish one in max 2 days. I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong I was :))) . Doing puzzles is definitely a challenge but I have to say TIME FLIES when you do it. I swear! You are so focused there that you don’t even realize how quickly time passes, so if you are lucking for an activity that will help your quarantine days pass faster, this is it!

4. Learn a new skill

We have all this free time so why not make the most of it and use it wisely ? I mean think about it ….. when will we ever have this much free time ever again? Just do something that you have always wanted to but never had the time for. In my case, I have been taking an online course in something that I am interested in and think it would be extremely helpful in my future career. Also, I did a bit of gardening as well (don’t know how good I was though).But you can do anything you set your mind up to – from learning a new language to gardening or learning something about the latest trends in specific industries. Just try to make the most of these free days! You will feel great if you do:)

5. Play boardgames

This is a classic for every family gathering, party or a fun family night. So , why not do it in the quarantine as well? Just pick your favorite board games and play them with whomever you are quarantined with (I’m sure anybody would be up for it ). If you want to take it up a notch then download Houseparty (or any other app like it) and challenge your friends to some fun childhood games.

6. Have a movie marathon!

I can’t be the only one who’s always had a list of movies I’ve always wanted to watch but never actually got to. There is no better time than during the quarantine . Just pick a night and start a movie marathon – buy loads of snacks or order some junk food and allow yourself to completely lose track of time and only go to sleep when the sun rises ! (or not even). Another suggestion for a super fun experience is to download Netflix party and binge watch movies simultaneously with your friends.

7. Have a picnic

Picnics are fun, right? I am sure most of the people love doing this especially on a nice sunny day somewhere in a park or a beach. However, the current circumstances don’t allow us to enjoy a picnic outside with friends/family. But, here is an idea – why don’t you do it inside? If you have a terrace or garden, that’s perfect -just plan a picnic and enjoy some fresh air while spending quality time with your loved ones. If you don’t have any outdoor space, just do it in the middle of the living room – snacks, cards and a bottle of wine. For a more authentic experience, you can even play some ‘nature sounds’ as backround music.