Have You Met Jasmin?

Haaaaaaaaave you met Jasmin?

Jasmin blogs over at Ugh Mango, which is one of the best blog titles ever! She is 20 and based in Finland. Her blog started back in November last year. In her blog, you can find a mixture of fashion, beauty and lifestyle!

Here’s her words about her blog:

I am Jasmin, a twenty something girl who loves flowers, fruits and tea. My blog is a mix of things that fascinate me such as fashion, beauty and traveling. I hope you enjoy the ride!

I found Jasmin’s blog a while back, and it’s been fun getting to know her better through her blog! Her posts are so much fun to read, and her photos are always stunning. Whether it’s about lifestyle, fashion or beauty, I know I’ll enjoy it! They’re all gorgeous, and especially her OOTD posts seem so natural 😀

Here are some of my favourite posts of hers:

• 15 Questions That Will Make You Think

I love this post. Jasmin shares 15 interesting questions. They are designed to make you stop and think, and take in the world around you. I really recommend sitting down and answering them if you have time!

• Fresh Smoothie Bowls For Summer Days

To be honest, I didn’t know smoothie bowls was a thing, but I’m so into it. Jasmin shares recipes to make a Mango Pineapple, and a Strawberry Banana smoothie bowl. Look how amazing the photo

• OOTD: That Perfect Raincoat

I honestly want a yellow raincoat after reading this. This is my favourite OOTD Jasmin has ever done, and it’s just perfect! She pairs the bright jacket with black jeans and a white sweater, and the pictures are all beautiful. How do you manage to look so casual and not look confused?? ?

• Delicious & Healthy Banana Pancakes

Jasmin’s food posts are amazing! I love how she takes the photos! Also these tiny pancakes are delicious and put me in the mood for pancakes even though it’s night as I write this.

• What’s In My Bag?

I love posts like this. It’s always fun to see what people carry around in their bags. Like Jasmin says, “There is just something so interesting in normal everyday things such as vlogs, room tours and grocery store hauls.” Again, it’s beautifully shot.

• Stealing Style: Rachel Green from Friends

Jasmin shares and then recreates looks from the iconic Rachel Green from FRIENDS. She chooses three of Rachel’s looks and copies them so well! The overalls is my favourite look, maybe cause I’m a proud owner of one myself!

Be sure to check her out on Instagram as well!

Jasmin, your blog is incredible! You have so much skills when it comes to photography, and I love reading your posts! I am forever in awe of your OOTD skills! You are so sweet and supportive, and I look forward to see what you’ll blog about next!

So, have you guys checked out Jasmin yet?

Angela.

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September Favourites

Another month gone by, time for another favourites post!

Normally I share my favourite movies, music, books and games, but I feel like shaking things up this month. It doesn’t mean that I’ve watched zero new movies or read zero new books this month..no, not at all *cough*

Instead, here’s five favourite things from the month of September!

New House

Obviously, I’m so happy we’re finally in our new place and diving fully into making it truly ours.

Photos

I’ve been working harder this month when it comes to my blog photos (well some of them anyway). My post on Selfies Recreations was one of my favourite posts I’ve ever done. It also has given me my favourite profile photo ever. Which I took!! Also, last week, I started trying to do flat lays. I’m starting very minimal, trying to work out what looks nice. But I’m really proud of how they’re coming out. I really feel like this month, my photo skills have been improving. I’ve felt enough confidence in fact, that I’ve even gone and bought my first ever DSLR! But more on that later 😀

Vanity Dresser

I’ve dreamt about having a little space of my own to get ready and have all my makeup, skin and hair care products in one place. Instead of spread out around the bedroom and bathroom. Every morning, I spend 10-20 minutes here, and I’m so happy with my little spot. I’d like to decorate it more, but I’m still thinking over ideas.

Bath Bombs

 

 

You guys have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to try a bath bomb. Ever since I first heard about them like five years ago. I just never lived in a place in a bathtub! So when we got here, I bought two to try. Intergalactic (the glittery, space one), and Dragon’s Egg (the aromatic, relaxing one).  They both were so much fun, and I loved being in it. That being said, I’m sad to announce, that the plumbing under the bathtub wasn’t stellar, so we’ve made the decision to get rid of it soon, and replacing it with just a shower. But I’m glad I got to try a bath bomb at least once in my life.

BB-8 Cookie Jar

Do I need to elaborate on how amazing and useful he is? It’s the best thing we’ve bought for our house so far.

So there we go! Five of my favourite things from the past month. What’s one of your favourite from September?

Angela.

If We Were Having Coffee #5

Another month gone, another round of catch-ups is upon us!

My choice for this catch-up is an iced chocolate!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you guys how happy I am that it stays light out till past 7pm now! It’s so exciting, I’m not coming home from work to darkness any more. It has made me feel more awake and in the mood to do more in the evening.

If we were having coffee, I’d talk about how we’re settling into our new house well. We’re loving being able to do what we want and decorate it from scratch. However, there is a lot of work needing to be done in the bathroom, which will cost a fair bit. But it’s the only issue, everything else has been perfect!

If we were having coffee, I’d talk about how excited I am for the rest of the year. There’s so much coming up! Jo’s wedding, Rory’s birthday, my birthday and Christmas!! This will be the first Christmas we spend in our own home! I want to get a tree, cause we’ve never had one. It seemed too much in our previous tiny flat! So much to celebrate, and lots of warm weather coming up.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you how you’ve been. Anything you want to share?

Angela.

General Makeup Routine

Hey friends! Last week, Natalie shared a post with us about her everyday 15 minute makeup routine. I totally recommend you guys checking it out, it’s such a cute, fun post! But it inspired me to share my usual makeup routine.

It also made me try my first ever flatlay, and I think it came out alright.

My one takes me around 10-20 minutes. There’s a few steps I will miss if I’m running low on time, or if it’s just a regular work day. On the weekend, I like to try do myself a little more. But there’s not too much difference between my general weekday/weekend makeup routine. So I’ll share everything. I also took way too many pictures, maybe I should make this a video sometime. That might be fun.

I normally start with primer. Right now I’m using Rimmel. I rub it all over my face, except my eyes. To be honest, I have no idea if that’s how I’m supposed to use primer.

Next step is foundation. My current one is Garnier BB cream. I don’t use a powder foundation at the moment. I use my brush and put it all over my face again.

Then I use concealer. I like to paint lines along my forehead, along my nose, under my eyes, cheeks, and chin. It just looks funny. Then I use my blending sponge to smooth it all out.

Next is powder. I again use my brush and pat it all over where I placed my foundation and concealer.

If I have time, I will sometimes add a little bit of bronzer. I’m a newbie when it comes to this, so I have even less idea what to do with this. I use a little along my cheekbones, temples, chin and the sides of my nose. Then I blend it out again. Am I contouring or bronzing? Both?? I have no clue. Either way, if I have time I will mess around with this a little.

Next, is eyeshadow. I use the palette, and normally just do two or three colours (again depending on time). I use a light or neutral base colour to put all over my eye. Then I choose one just for my lid. Usually it’s a shimmery brown. Then I use one for the corner and crease of my eye, if I feel like it.

I sometimes like to do my eyebrows. It’s one of the makeup parts I know nothing about it. I just have a Maybelline Brow Pencil. So I just do some colouring in.

Eyeliner up next! I just love playing with eyeliner. I can never get it right though. But I do my best! I don’t do any fancy winged liners, cause it would take too much time and I would mess it up. So I just go from around the middle of my eye to the end, and do the teeniest flick. To make my eyes stand out a little more.

Mascara. Again, this depends on time. I wear glasses most days, so I have to use an eyelash curler. Sometimes I can’t be bothered. If I do have time, then I will curl my lashes and put on a few layers of mascara.

Lipstick. I normally go for nude colours. I like the two shades I have.

Spray. I finish everything by spraying my face to set it all. I like to wave my fan around to help speed up the spray setting in. It’s just fun.

That’s it! In general I’m not fond of wearing too much makeup. This is perfect for me at the moment. It’s more than I used to wear, and I’m still learning (I still don’t know what highlighting is…I barely get contouring and bronzing, they seem the same to me), but I like how it looks. It’s not quite a ‘no-makeup’ look, but it does feel quite light and natural to me which is good.

What’s your general makeup routine like? How much time do you like to spend on it?

Angela.

Let’s Bake! (Pancakes Edition)

**Hey guys! I’m reposting this in celebration of National Pancake Day, which is probably not celebrated in New Zealand, but it sounds amazing and I’m gonna go have some pancakes now!**

I have a habit of baking pancakes every Sunday now though. So I thought I’d share my recipe I use with you! It’s written in my notebook, and I don’t remember where it originally came from. It’s foolproof though!

Let’s make sure you have all the ingredients!

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp oil

Optional

• 1 banana (or whatever you want to add to the pancakes)

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Make a well in the centre.

Pour in the milk.

Throw in the egg.

Pour in the oil.

Mix it all together until it’s all smooth.

Now you can add the extra optional stuff. So for this one, let’s mash a banana.

Throw it in with the rest.

Let’s mix it all up again.

Now the batter is ready, time to set up the pan. Make sure to add some oil so it doesn’t get sticky.

I use around 1/2 cup of batter for each pancake.

Now it’s pretty self explanatory. Pour it onto the pan. I like to move the pan around so the pancake gets bigger.

The general rule of thumb of when to flip is it to look and see if there’s lots of bubbles. That’s what I do anyway.

Now flip it over nicely. Or try to anyway.

But hey if your rip it, just shove it back together and keep cooking it.

Now keep cooking the rest.

I forgot to take photos of the rest. But this recipe normally makes around six pancakes.

Now add whatever toppings you want. We only have syrup, so I added lots.

That’s all for this Let’s Bake! Be sure to check out the other ones for more food pictures 😛

Angela.

 

Celebrate All The Milestones!

Hey! So, I mentioned a while back that I wanted to do another celebratory post about follower milestones. Back in July was my last one, where we had the biggest Blog Party the world has ever seen. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that insane, but it was pretty crazy! 429 comments!! My notification feed was non-stop and it was hard for me to keep up. It was amazing.

Since then, I went self hosted, and my engagement rate slowed down a tad. As someone who was starting to celebrate reaching milestones quite often, this dampened my enthusiasm a little. The numbers have still been steadily rising though. When I reached 1100, I thought, “I should do a celebratory post!”, but I didn’t. Then I reached 1200, 1300, and most recently 1400. As I write this, my count stands at 1451. So over the weekend, I was determined to do something fun to celebrate and show my gratitude for all you lovely people who read my ramblings!

I was going to do a House Tour, but it’s still pretty messy. But after reading some posts, I got inspired by doing this “50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked Tag“. I decided since it was a huge number, I would break it up by answering all over the house. In video form!! So you get a sneek peek at our place, and hopefully learn more about me.

Here it is!

I had the most fun I have ever had filming a video! It was also super planned out, I wrote out all the questions, and decided which room or spot to film it in. The whole process was confusing and hilarious, and Rory kept finding me everywhere, tripod in one hand, notebook in the other, and phone in mouth cause I was out of hands.

In fact, out of all the bonus footage, I decided to make a little bloopers video out of it, which makes me laugh at least!

As fun as all this was, I really just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supports, reads, likes, comments and follows me on my blog! I still consider myself a newbie, I’m still learning as I go, but this whole blogging business has been so incredible! I have never felt more connected with like minded people all over the world, have friends in so many timezones, and spend so much time writing, filming, taking photos, and having so many new experiences!

Thanks for being a part of my blogging journey, lovely people!

Angela.

A Lazy Sunday OOTD

Hey! I had a lot of fun doing my last OOTD (the laidback edition), that I’m doing another one! I’m turning into a series, cause I’m having fun wandering around my backyard with a tripod. Why not ask someone to take the photo for me? Well, I’m picky, and I don’t want to ask someone to take hundreds of photos for me, and still not be happy. So, this is better for everyone 😀

For this one, I’m wearing my favourite (and only) black overalls. As we get into warmer seasons, I’m keen to try find a blue pair, but shorts instead of pants. Back to the outfit, it was a grey Sunday morning, but not too cold. So I paired them with my red stripes t-shirt (it’s my favourite shirt at the moment), and just some sneakers. My hair was pulled into a bun-esque thing as it was windy. As I say in the title, I was in a lazy sunday kind of mood, so I couldn’t be bothered to put in contacts.

I don’t know about you guys, but I just really like stripes with overalls. That or chunky jumpers if the weather is a bit colder. It’s also nice not having to think about matching the top with the bottom half of your body. Jumpsuits, dresses, rompers, and now overalls. So handy. On an unrelated note, after sitting on the grass, these overalls may need a wash..

Here come the pictures!

That’s it for this post really. I’m just really having fun doing these little outfit posts, and isn’t that what blogging is all about? Just having fun with it all 🙂 I feel like poses are slowly starting to feel more natural to me. My facial expressions on the other hand? I have no idea, I still look squinty and confused. I’m hoping time and experience will help me with that! ?

What outfits have you guys been wearing lately? Do you have a pair of overalls? What do you like to wear with it?

Angela.

Our Proposal Story

Well, hey! Today marks the six month anniversary for our wedding!

I haven’t stopped talking about and sharing parts of our wedding since starting this blog really. It dawned on me though, that I haven’t really talked about the proposal. I think I’ve talked about it a little, but not recently, and not to the extent I have with our wedding. I was trying to  write it down, and then I realized that it was easier for me to just say it.

So I’ve filmed a little storytime vlog where I tell you about how the proposal went down. By the way, it took me like 5 tries to get this right, cause my camera does this thing sometimes where after 2 minutes, it goes super blurry and you can’t see anything. Course I don’t notice, cause it doesn’t have one of those flippy things so you can see yourself on screen. I may look into getting a nice, decent camera. My phone is good, but for videos and things were I use my tripod, I need a camera.

Anyway, here’s the story of our proposal. Sorry about my silly camera which kept putting me out of focus.

Angela.

Weekend Review #20

Saturday

A fairly busy day to start off the weekend. I got up early as I had lots of blog related things I wanted to do. Lots of photos and things to write. I also wanted to try film some vlog related things, as I’m still doing my two video a month thing cause it’s fun!

My morning was lost to taking photos, writing posts and filming. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the upcoming posts and projects I got going on for this week.

Eventually, a break was called for so we could go do laundry and get ready to go out.

We also had to stop by Bunnings (a hardware store), because we need a lawnmower, as well as to eye up new showers, vanity counters, sinks and toilets, cause it’s looking like our bathroom will need some major work on it. So yay. We left Bunnings with our new little lawnmower, and a vague idea of budgets.

We then stopped by Kmart, cause I wanted to buy little fake plants for the place. I’ve already said I’m not into gardening, so looking after real houseplants seems like too much work. Except for my cactii, I still love them and am doing my best to take care of them, but they’re pretty much fine on their own. So I got some of that.

Finally, we got groceries. Last week, I bought the Chai coffee instant packets. I tried them for the first time this morning, and remembered that I hate chai with every fibre of my being. The smell and the taste had me making faces, so I gave up after a few sips. After complaining to Rory, he tried some, then just drank the whole thing in the end. So at least it’s not going to waste 😀

In the afternoon, I met up with Mum at Rebound. My favourite thrift store which I keep going to. We talked and looked at stuff. Mum found a few dresses, one she plans to wear to Jo’s wedding next month. I found a plain black sweater which I was happy with, cause I need to start collecting more solid colour tops and less patterns!

While I was doing this, Rory was doing things in the garden. He was making the little paved areas more definite, so we could walk around our yard better.

After that, Rory and I decided to go out for dinner to Mediterranean Warehouse. A favourite haunt of mine. We got Isle of Capri pizza, then each got a little sweet treat. I had tiramisu, he had a lemon slice. It was all good food, and we left with happy tummies.

Then it was back to more blog work till bed time.

Sunday

Today was confusing. It’s the beginning of daylight savings for us, which means that the clocks go forward an hour. So we woke up at 7, but it was actually 8, you know? Anyway, in celebration of the official beginning of spring we had waffles for breakfast!

Then I was off again doing blog related things. This time, I was trying to do flat lays. Those are tricky damn it. I also wanted to do another OOTD post, cause they’re so much fun.

Eventually it was lunch time. I managed to do some budgeting related things, and a little journal writing. Then it was back to editing videos, writing and editing posts. This weekend was just filled with blogging activities, and it’s so much fun.

We also started watching the fourth season of Bojack Horseman. We went out for a bit as we wanted burgers for dinner, but we wanted to make them at home. So we had a quick errand trip out.

Finally, I wanted to do a bit more. So I spent an hour on music things. By that I meant, I spent half an hour on my keyboard learning some songs, and half an hour on my ukulele. It may not sound like much, but I’m hoping to nail down this 30 minutes everyday thing with both instruments. Get my music skills back up to par.

Eventually it was dinner time, and we had burgers.

Finally, we hung out for a bit, then I set up a bath to play with my last bath bomb. The Dragon Egg!

I think I like this one best! It smelt so good, and while it didn’t look as spectacular as Intergalactic, it was so relaxing. All the lavender and citrus fragrances made me very relaxed and sleepy. It’s the best thing to do before bed. Makes me feel ready to get to the start of another work week.

To-Do List

• Go to Bunnings
• Go to Kmart
• Meet up with Mum at Rebound
• Take photos for blog
• Film videos for blog
• Read articles for work and PD – woops..i’ll get around to it
• Do some reading – Sadly no
• Practise some ukulele and piano

How was your weekend?

Angela.