Used Products:

• Base Coat: “Grow Stronger” by Essie.
• Green polish: “Mint Candy Apple (No. 99)” by Essie (1 coat – can you believe it?!).
• Black polish (for the branches): “Back To Black (No. 320)” by Catrice.
• Dark pink polish (the first dot for the blossom): “Wrapped Around My Finger (No. 190)” by Catrice.
• Light pink polish (the second dot for the blossom): “Status Symbol (No. 26)” by Essie.
• Top Coat: “Good to Go” by Essie.
• Nail Art Brush by Kiko (Brush Nails 401). (a tooth pick does the job though, too!)
• a dotting tool. (*)
• a piece of paper towel.
• nail polish remover and pads

As always, choose those products that you have which are similar to the ones I used.

(*) Since I did not own a dotting tool (and did not have the time to buy one) I simply took a pencil with an eraser at one end and pushed in a straight pin with a rounded end. It worked beautifully and therefore I will not be buying any dotting tool soon. Creative solution – and I saved money (more money to spend on nail polishes!).

Let’s get started:

1. Paint your nails with a base coat and a mint green as usual. Be sure the polish is dry before you resume.
2. Pour some black polish onto a piece of paper towel and dip your nail art brush in it. Paint a thin line, starting from the tip of the nail towards the cuticle. Then paint small lines on each side of this main line, as you wish. Don’t worry if  it does not look straight – branches aren’t straight in nature either!
3. Pour a little of your darker pink polish onto a piece of paper towel and dip the dotting tool into it. Make some dots along the branches. Do as many as you like! Wait a little for this color to dry.
4. Now take the lighter pink polish, again pour a bit onto a paper towel and dip the dotting tool into it. Now make slightly smaller dots on top of the dark pink dots you made in step 4.
5. Go back to your black polish and dip the nail art brush into it. Make small black lines on one side of each blossom (around three per blossom).
6. Finish off with a top coat as usual.

Note: be sure to clean your nail art brush and dotting tool before dipping it into a different color. That way, colors will not mix and you have clean-cut colors.

Now you have a super cute cherry blossom nail art design for spring and summer! I did this design on my thumb and ring finger – having it on every finger was too much for me. But do as you like! It definitely is something different! Every single person who saw my nails was very impressed and recognized the adaption.

Used Products:

• Base Coat: “Grow Stronger” by Essie.
• Red Polish: “Red Carpet (No. 310)” by Rimmel London (2 coats).
• White Polish Design: “Snow Motion!” (No. 470) by Catrice.
• Top Coat: “Pro Shine Glitter” by Manhattan.
• Nail Art Brush by Kiko (Brush Nails 401).
• a piece of paper towel

Of course you can use similar products that you have in your nail polish collection! But do be sure to chose a classic red!

Let’s get started: 

1. Paint your nails with a base coat and red polish as usual. Be sure that the red polish is completely dry before you proceed to the next step.
2. Pour a small amount of white polish on a piece of paper towel and dip a nail art brush into it.
3. Paint a straight, slightly angled line on the nail. Then do the same just mirror-inverted, with the ends touching each other. Due to the round tip of the nail art brush, it will automatically look like a heart. I chose to do this on my thumb and ring finger, but you can do as many as you like!
4. Finish off with a glitter top coat to add a nice effect and let the design dry.

Congratulations, you have an easy but yet beautiful nail design for the day of love (or any other day when you feel like you want to share some love!).

So I had to figure out how to get use of the other brands more. The solution: nail art. On YouTube I have come across many wonderful designs, which I would love to try out. A week ago I did my very first nail art on the fly. Since it was snowing here in Germany, I wanted to sport my nails accordingly. I had seen many pretty snowflake designs, but ended up doing my own. For the background I chose a deep blue, to resemble the cold air. This nail art is really simple – if I was able to do it you can, too!

Used Products: 

• Base Coat: “Grow Stronger” by Essie.
• Blue Polish: No. 265 by Kiko (2 Coats).
• White Polish Design: “Snow Motion!” (No. 470) by Catrice.
• Top Coat: “Good to Go” by Essie.
• Nail Art Brush by Kiko (Brush Nails 401).
• a piece of paper towel.

Of course you can use your own products that are similar to these!

Let’s get started:

1. Paint nails with your base coat and blue polish as usual. Important: really let the polish dry thoroughly, so the polish will not get messed up when applying the design!
2. Pour a small amount of white polish on a piece of paper towel and fill the tip of the nail art brush with white polish.
3. Paint a “X” on a nail of your choice with the nail art brush. I chose to do so on my thumb and ring finger. Feel free to do it on as many nails as you like!
4. Dip the nail art brush into the white polish again. At all ends of the ‘X’ paint “v”s. If you want to have a more detailed snowflake, do the same in the middle of the lines.
5. Polish with a top coat as usual – but again, be sure that the white polish is completely dry.

And your done! A very subtle, pretty yet simple nail design which can be worn for the cold winter months.

(via)

“It’s a small world and Frankfurt is a village”, many people here say. When a street fair or some other bigger event takes place in Frankfurt, then I can be sure to meet someone, who I know. Although I really do not know hundreds of people. It does not only happen to me. At a comedian’s performance in the full Frankfurt stadium, only two rows in front of us, my friend discovered one of his buddies who he had not seen in months. On the way home, a friend met an old classmate, who had gotten married in the meantime. A few days ago, as I was on the way to a brunch with friends, I experienced a very special form of this coincidental reunion.

With me, an older woman, around 70 years old, stepped into the almost empty bus. I sat down in one of those spots in a four-seated area, where another older woman sat across from me. After the first older lady had bought her ticket, she sat herself next to the second older woman. The first older woman placed her bag on her lap, in order to put her ticket into her wallet. After a short glance over to the left of her towards the other older woman, she saw that both had the exact same bag made out of material with horses embroided on it. “A lovely bag you have there”, she said chuckled to the other.

A conversation developed naturally: where they bought the bag, where their way was heading, where they lived in Frankfurt. Only three stops further on, they discovered their joint past: they went to the same school. And if that was not enough of coincidence – they even had math class together. More than 50 years later they were not sitting in the same class room, but in the same bus. With a loud, heartfelt laughter about this coincidence, both of the ladies got off the next stop and walked to the next bakery to grab some coffee together.

I went on for two more stops, until I left the bus. With a smile and thoughts about what the two ladies would be talking about now. Several jobs, passed romances, developed families and almost forgotton memories. It’s a small world…full of wonderful encounters.

Exactly one month ago, I surprised my knight on his birthday with a day trip to Stuttgart. Since there is no better present than spending time together and discovering new places, right?

We left Frankfurt very early, so that we first had breakfast at this wonderful café directly at the market place. The sun was shining at 10 am already, which promised that it was going to be a beautiful day. We had coffee and a breakfast special for two people, which was simply amazing. Croissants, rolls, meats and cheeses, melon and yogurt with fresh fruit. Especially yummy were the homemade jams: peach and strawberry. Only because of them, the café is worth a visit. But Stuttgart has more to offer than extraordinary breakfast.

With our tummies stuffed, we began a small sightseeing tour. From the marketplace we walked to Koenigsstrasse, the shopping street of Stuttgart. This street, with all the stores we know from Frankfurt, directed us to an old, pretty castle. What rather impressed us though was the garden, which belonged to the castle. It was big and we spent over an hour at the water in the sun. After enjoying the weather and surroudings, we went on the search for some coffee and drove to the actual destination of the birthday present: the Mercedes Benz Museum.

(Photo left: Side view on castle ©CBMP; Photo right: Old Mercedes Car ca. 1960 © CBMP)

It was my second, my knight’s first, visit to the museum. Eight floors full of vehicles, motors, facts and historical happenings all around the business with the star. At first, one takes the elevator all the way to the top, where one looks at the first motors built for Mercedes and then walks down in a snail form where each floor displays a specific time range. The last floor shows the newest model and formula one cars. On the ground floor, one can actually sit inside a formula one car, which Mika Hakkinnen once sat in – pretty cool! For an admission of 4€ (Student rate) it is really worth a visit!

On the way back to the car, we literally bumped into a soccer game from the second team of VfB Stuttgart playing against SG Sonnenhof Grossanspach. We watched it for a good 20 minutes and it was actually good. But I was pressing to head back towards Frankfurt, since I had planned a small surprise party for my knight with our closest friends, with which the day ended.

A day trip to Stuttgart is definitely worth it. Spending more time in Stuttgart I cannot see doing without going to a musical of some sort. I think, you have seen Stuttgart in a day. My highlights: the garden at the castle and the Mercedes Benz Museum. All in all, Stuttgart is a nice city, if you wish to relax and like to walk through a city.

Lively Main river.

Just don’t move too much: Tree upside down.

Spring Fever?!

Street corner with a garden.

Old and New in Frankfurt.

(all photos shot and copyrighted by me!)

This year I went against my traditions – I did not stay up late and rather laid in bed sleeping while the Academy Award ceremony took place. From what I have heard afterwards, it was a good decision, since the Oscars seemed to have been not surprising and some what even boring. But the good news was that I was fit enough the next night to go out with my university girls to the movies. As exemplary English majors we chose “The King’s Speech” in English, since we all figured it would win at least one Oscar. And how we were right: “Best Picture”, “Best Performance of an Actor in a Leading Role”, “Best Director” and “Best Original Screenplay”. Now it was time for us to see, if we thought the same way about the movie and if the Oscars were legitimate.

Cinestar.de describes the movie as followed:

After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond.

General: It was the first time that I went into an English movie at its new premises. The Frankfurt movie theatre, which showed all movies in its original language closed last year and the big movie theatre here in Frankfurt then started showing them. Unfortunately, “The King’s Speech” hat subtitles in German as well, which drove me crazy the first half hour of the movie. Not only because of being distracted by wording on the bottom of the screen, but also by the really bad translation into German. Other than that, the directing and shots of the movie are extraordinary in several parts.

Cast: I have only seen Geoffrey Rush in mainstream movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean”. After seeing him in “The King’s Speech”, I definitely need to watch more movies with him. Him in the role of a speech therapist was very convincing and he gave the character a certain edge, which I liked very much. His gestures and facial expressions, as well as his emotions, were amazing. Too bad that he did not win the Oscar for “Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role”! But even better, and therefore well deserved owner of the Oscar, was Colin Firth. I cannot imagine, how difficult it must be to stutter. In no scene throughout the whole movie did I question his acting or found him not convincing. Everything seemed so real and simply great. Hats off for Colin!

Upshot: Granted, it is a Historic Film, but the focus is very much set on the characters themselves, so that even a non-history-fan can enjoy the movie. The acting achievements in this movie are simply extraordinary and therefore the characters came across very real and authentic. Together with an amazing script, “The King’s Speech” is a must-see movie, even if one only watches it, to pay tribute to a great cast!

10/10