Today is New Year's Eve. Instead of making New Year's resolutions, I decided to think about all of the good things that happened to me not only this year, but also the last year and the years before that. 


That was, all in all, a pretty good year. Well, it was not spectacular in any way, but it was good. I like my life. I haven't won the lottery and I haven't traveled the world, but who cares? I have enough money and I travel enough as is now. I am surrounded by good friends and I thoroughly enjoy my life. My Mom visited me this year and she met my in-laws for the first time. She visited a lot of great places and she absolutely loves my family. It also turned out that I don't have cancer, which is great news since my doctor suspected that I might. 

 In the spirit of celebrating what's good in my life instead of what I want to change by making new resolutions, I would like to think about what my 30-year old self would have told my 17-year old self if they ever got a chance to meet. 

 Firstly, I would have told my scared, too mature for my age self to take a deep breath and relax. I would have told myself not to worry about the future that much, because it will all work out in the end. 

 I would also have told myself not to plan the future too much since I will laugh and laugh about my plans later on. 

 I would have mentioned that I should never listen to anybody who thinks that they know how I should live my life. I will have a very different life from many of my neighbors and childhood friends in the future and I won't regret choosing my own path. 

 I would have told myself never to let other people believe that they have the right to judge me based on their narrow-minded point of view.

 I would have told myself to work hard and study hard, because all of the skills and education that I have gotten paid off in the longer run. I will not regret long hours spent with my book nor countless language courses I took.

 I would have admitted that studying that hard was a good idea, but that I should have also spent more time with my dear friends, because there will be times that I will miss them. 

 I would also have told her that I should not be scared of getting older, because I love my life more and more with every passing year. 
2:35 PM | Category: | 0 comments

roll on perfume oil
I finally decided that it is high time to get this blog going ;) I was putting it off and trying to work on my Polish blog for a while, but this way I will never post anything here.

I wanted to show you my newest discovery - vegan roll on perfume oil. While browsing through Etsy, I found this store that offered 0.5 oz perfume oils, available in 20 different fragrances for 7.5$ - and shipping was completely free! :) I ordered perfume in Orange Blossom. The package was sent day after my order was placed (and I placed it on Sunday, so big plus on the timing). When I got the little envelope in my mailbox, everything was smelling of Orange Blossom - that was a very pleasurable experience. It turned out that the seller from SilverFirsFarm, the store that I purchased from, gave me a little soap sample in the envelope - of course the Orange Blossom one ;) She also wrote me a little note on the invoice, thanking me for buying from her. Great store, I can only recommend it!

And here is the perfume oil:

 I have to say that I was a little disappointed at first. I applied the oil to my wrists (it is advised to apply it to wrists or neck, the places where you can feel your pulse), but it did not work for me at all. The scent was gone after about half an hour. I decided not to give up and give it another try though ;) It turned out that the best place to apply is the inside of the elbow (I have no idea how you would call it in English :D, but this is the place where your elbow is on the other side of your arm :D) - and it worked really well! I mean, I may need to reapply it once during the day, but considering the size of the bottle - I can bring it everywhere with me.

Ingredients: jojoba and fragrance oil (now, that is what I would call a  natural product!)

The smell is nice and clear, not too strong and not too faint, which is a good change from a normal store bought perfume which make you easy to smell from miles away.
Even my husband likes it.

I didn't try the soap yet, so I can not say much about that, but I am definitely curious about that. I may give it a try today or tomorrow. The texture seems to be a little tacky, but I hope it will lather easily and will be nice to use.

I was so pleased with the customer service and free shipping (and the oil itself, of course), that I am definitely considering re-buying from them again :)
7:10 PM | Category: , , | 1 comments

Introduction
I was thinking whether I should start writing this blog in English for a long time. The biggest reason, I guess, is the fear of being not clear enough or not precise enough in my non-native language. I already have a blog in my native language and it is difficult enough to be as thorough and reliable as I wish to be. But - what the heck - English became "my" language in the course of time, it already happened. I live in US and I speak English on everyday basis. Moreover, I need to get online to even talk to somebody in my native language (crazy, huh?).

I must admit that, although this blog is going to be predominantly about beauty and cosmetics , I am NOT a real beauty junkie. When I read blogs written by other girls out there and see the huge hauls, collections, pictures of stacks of products, I am asking myself sometimes how on earth did I end up writing a beauty blog? But the answer is simpler that it seems - it all started when I decided to stop buying products that were tested on animals. I was looking for help and advice on beauty blogs and honestly did not find a lot of blogs that could help me. Sure, there are millions of blogs out there, thousands about beauty, but most of them are completely and totally not concerned with animal testing. I started writing reviews of cosmetics that are non tested on animals in Polish to 1) make people more aware of the problem 2) help girls that maybe would be interested in not supporting animal testing by recommending good quality cosmetics to them. I than realized that because I live in US, I also shop in US, which means - most of the products that I own are not always available there. Besides, many more people speak English than Polish, so it could theoretically help people from other countries, too. It just makes so much more sense to write blog also in English. .

In the meantime - please be patient with me. Although I do consider myself fluent in English, sometimes I lack precision or necessary vocabulary to describe very fine properties or qualities of certain products, but I hope to learn it on the go :)
9:04 PM | Category: | 0 comments