Hi everyone! Since tomorrow is Valentine’s day, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite palettes for the occasion. We are staying in, ordering a pizza from our favorite place (Karijola in Zagreb) as it is became of our tradition to go there on Valentine’s day. Anyway, I have a prefect excuse to dress up and put on some make up for a night in. So, I have a couple of palettes on my mind. Please note that these picks are based on what comes to my mind when I think of a look for that day. I think of something soft and romantic, with pink and purple hue, some sparkle and there you go. It just screams femininity. 🙂 First let’s talk about super easy and an obvious choice, Modern Renaissance from Anastasia Beverly Hills. It is such a classic for many people. It suits so many events…

How is it February already?!? Feels like we have just celebrated New Years. People always say January is the longest, most depressing month, but for me it just flew by. I guess time really flies when you are having fun. It was a fun month, but especially fun playing with makeup. Today I wanted to highlight some of my favorite products that I have used in the month of January. I have two foundation type of products that I have been using this month. One was Covergirl Fresh Skin Milk. I wear it in the shade fair light 530. This is such a great, light wear product. Sits very nicely on my skin and it just gives enough coverage to even out everything. It has a dewy finish which I love as it always looks so effortless and healthy. The shade is a quite good match for me, even though…

I think 2020 has been the year that I have really discovered my love for blushes (especially the creamy type of blushes). Today I wanted to shine some light on drugstore/affordable blushes that work great, in my opinion. I get excited about a lot of different makeup, but there is something special about the blushes. You might say that blushes tend to look the same on the skin after a while. Like, if you have five different shades, you kind of have them all. Hm, somewhat true, but what about the formulas, finishes, hues that mesh so divinely with your skin undertone and make your cheeks pop? Blush, to me, is one of those magical products that just makes you look fresh and alive. A little bit of concealer, mascara, lip gloss and blush and you are ready to….well, stay home and stay safe! (at least for now). However, I…

Oh boy, this is going to be a long one 🙂   Starting the New Year, we tend to set some goals and resolutions for ourselves for the upcoming months. It feels only natural while starting a new cycle, as we feel inspired to make New Year better than the previous one and make ourselves bloom in every imaginable way. In case some of you might be thinking of transitioning to cruelty free products, I wanted to share my advice and things I have learned along the way figuring out what are the cruelty free products, and what I feel comfortable using. First of all, please do not confuse cruelty free status with vegan status. Cruelty free means that the product has not been tested on animals in the process of its production. Vegan product means that the product doesn’t contain animal products like dairy, carmine, bees wax etc. This…

I have been playing with my makeup today (groundbreaking news, I know) and I have looked at my makeup inventory.  My shopping habits have not been the healthiest in the previous year (blame it on the pandemic if you will), so I have accumulated a number of items, which made my makeup collection a bit bigger than previous years. Ok, a lot bigger. I was actually quite happy with my existing makeup collection in 2019 and made most of my project panning goals set for 2020 (I will write more about my 2020 project pan some time in February). I was doing really well resisting the new products or old classics that I haven’t tried before – like essence satin touch blushes. Sometimes during the year, I was starting to feel like: “oh, it is just makeup, it is meant to be played with, it makes me happy, I would…

Today I wanted to tackle a topic of how I got into makeup and how I went cruelty free with my makeup collection. Generally, I have always been drawn to makeup and what make up can do for your facial features. I am pretty sure that my mom bought me my first mascara and an eyeliner one summer (back in the 90s), when I was about to start either 7th or 8th grade of elementary school (middle school in US terms). I am almost positive that the brand was Deborah (Italian brand that still exists to this day, if I am not mistaking) which was available in Croatia where I live. In fact, I remember the little store at the seaside town where we went to get it and being so excited about it. As a blonde kid, my eyelashes were very light, especially in the summer, so just wearing…

My name is Iva and welcome to my blog world. Ok, who starts a blog in 2021?! Isn’t that so 2005? Oh, well, I am a late bloomer and frankly you tube is too big of a pill for me to swallow right now. #iamachicken #maybesomeday #personalgrowthontheway Year 2020 has been a mixture of weird and challenging times, (oh, what an understatement!), so I wanted to make a place where I can write about the things that make me happy. We all just want to be in the moment, not worrying about the outside world, pandemic, earthquakes or anything that makes life scary. I envision this blog to be a place for me to share my love for cruelty free makeup, cruelty free skincare, project pans and my soap making hobby. Also, don’t be surprised by an occasional food recipe that I love to make and maybe a travel guide…