Stylish Blogger Award

Thank you to the lovely aelie from the autumn castle for nominating me for the Stylish Blogger Award!  I haven't been blogging for long, but I'm having heaps of fun so it's great to know that other people enjoy reading this blog too!

Firstly, I have to share seven random facts about myself:

1. I have a twin sister.  We are really close and share a lot of the same friends, but we do fight sometimes like all siblings do.  We were too well-behaved at school to ever play pranks on people or anything like that, but after 21 years of being called the wrong name, I will respond to almost anything!  I also have an older brother and two even older half brothers.  When I tell people I have two half brothers, probably around 50% of people will say "So, you mean one whole brother?"  Hilarious....not!

2. My surname is Dutch although my dad's heritage is actually (mostly) German.  He comes from the state North Rhein Westphalia which shares a border with Holland and many people in this state speak a dialect called "low German" or Platt, which is actually more similar to Dutch than it is German.  From the house my dad grew up in, you can see the spire of a church which is in Holland.  Sometimes I get sick of explaining to people that I'm not Dutch, I'm actually German and just say "yes" if people ask if I'm Dutch.  Although, my dad's mother was Dutch and there is Dutch background on his dad's side as well, so technically I am (partially) Dutch!  I enjoy eating various Dutch foods such as Stroopwafel, Spekulaas and Poffertjes.

3. I'm left handed.  My sister is right handed so we are a mirror-image!

4. I hate anything to do with business or economics or shares etc.  So boring!!  (No offence to people working/studying in these fields, but I just have no interest in these kinds of things).

5. I used to play piano and viola in highschool, but I haven't played properly in about three years.  Every now and then I have a go at the piano, but I don't "practice" anymore.  I would like to take them up again though as I think it would be a shame to just give them up altogether.  I have always been really jealous of people who have a natural talent for music and singing!

6. My greatest fear is probably of being attacked by a shark and dying in the water.  I'm not a huge fan of swimming full stop (unless its in a small backyard pool), but swimming in open water really freaks me out.  I remember in year 12, my family went to Hamilton Island for a holiday and we went on a snorkelling boat cruise.  We had to swim around 20-30 metres through open water (around 100m deep, I think) to get from the boat to the reef and I was terrified.  I don't think I've ever swum so fast in my life! I'm also scared of the usual things e.g. spiders, snakes, murderers etc. but thankfully I don't frequently encounter these things (expect for maybe spiders in Summer).

7. I'd like at some stage of my life to work in medical humanitarian aid with an organisation like MSF.  I am studying to become a health care professional (not a doctor though) at uni so hopefully I will one day be able to fulfill this ambition.

And the fifteen blogs I nominate for this award are (in no particular order):
Random Life of a Random Girl
Yours truly, 2095
rambling-e
The Blonde Leopard
Tune into Radio Carly
Sea of Ghosts
the autumn castle
Teacup Grunge
All Cats are Gray at Night
A Fatal Attraction to Cuteness
J'adore L'amour
Pepper and Baxter
Sleepless in Stilettos
Cotton Socks
Faux Fuchsia

Thanks for reading!

Tag Questionnaire

For my first real post (still procrastinating), I thought I'd give this tag questionnaire a go.  Seems to be floating around the "blogosphere" (hate that word, lol!) of late.

Face
01. Cleanser: Whatever is on special at the supermarket haha! I don't stick to a particular one.
02. Toner/lotion: A Garnier one at the moment.
03. Cream/moisturizer: Trilogy Rosehip Vital moisture cream or something like that.
04. Facial mask: None
05. Exfoliator: Tend to try different ones, a 10.0.6 one at the moment.
06. Make-up remover: I'm lazy so I use Nivea cleansing facial wipes.

Body
07. Shower gels/soaps: Dove soap or similar non-soap bar
08. Body lotions/creams: Nothing really.  Summer is coming so I might start using a gradual tanning one again soon.
09. Anticellulite/firming treatment: None
10. Body exfoliator: None, just use one of those glove things.
11. Hand cream: The Body Shop Brazil Nut Body Butter
12. Lip balm or lip treatment: Currently trying to use up Nivea Light Kiss (would not recommend at all!!!  It seems to separate or do something else weird and goes all grainy and gross after about a week.  Remelting it in the microwave fixes it, but I don't really like having to do this every week or so).  My HG lip balm is Nivea Hydrocare.
13. Perfume: Currently trying to finish up a few almost empties: Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger, Romance by Ralph Lauren and Princess by Vera Wang.  I really like Princess and have a back up of it.
Hair
14. Shampoo/conditioner: Herbal Essences Drama Clean Shampoo and Conditioner
15. Mask or other treatments: Herbal Essences Long-term Relationship mask

Make-up
16. Foundation: Mixture of NYX Liquid Makeup and Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, both in the lightest shades.  The NYX one is too light and a little bit pink and the Bourjois one is too dark and yellow so I mix them together to get a good match.  I'm trying to spend less on makeup so I'm trying to be more creative about using up products which don't really work for me.
17. Powder: Covergirl pressed powder (the only "drugstore" brand that makes anything light enough for me).
18. Blush: Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Mauve - trying to use this up and it's taking FOREVER!!!!  I like that this blush is a mauve-y shade (as opposed to pink) as I have very pink toned skin anyway and some pink blushes can make me look a bit clown-ish.
19. Mascara: Coverbirl Lashblast Length in Black Brown or Bourjois one in black (can't remember the name but it's a lengthening one)
20. Lipstick/lipgloss: Varies
21. Eyeshadow: Varies, but I have been very CBF with eyeshadow as of late.
22. Eyeliner: I often don't bother with eyeliner, especially if I'm wearing brown mascara and going for a more natural look, but I do like the Revlon Luxurious Kohl liners.  I'm also trying to teach myself to use liquid liner.  I have a Maybelline felt tip one (the texta type ones) and a Prestige one (also a felt tip, but one that dips into a pot/bottle/whatever of the liquid liner).  I am so uncoordinated at applying it.  I'm pretty sure I've watched more than a dozen Youtube tutorials and I still suck at it.  *sad face*

And because this quiz missed out on a few products that I use on a regular basis...
Concealer: Maybelline stick concealer
Colour corrector: Red Earth four colour pallette
Face primer: Covergirl Olay primer
Eye primer: Art Deco eyeshadow base
Makeup brushes: I use Eco Tools brushes for my face and for eye makeup I have a few of the Manicare Artiste brushes as well as a Stila brush.
Under eye cream: just finished a Natio Ageless one which I really liked and have moved onto a L'Oreal Revitalift one.
Pore strips: Biore Pore strips.  I would like to try the homemade ones on Michelle Phan's Youtube, but I'm a vegetarian so I'm not really keen on slathering gelatin all over my face.  Maybe during my holidays I might try this with agar instead of gelatin to see if it has similar results.