Personal Space – Page 30 – that lemon life

Coloring my hair with henna

Hola everyone.

Henna. You probably all know that paste we like to draw with on our hands to make them even more beautiful. But a few months ago I went into my local Lush store in Berlin and saw something really interesting. And I immediately got super curious.

Now you need to know that I usually never color my hair. I have extremely sensitive, thin and curly hair, so if I just do one little thing my hair doesn’t really like, it’s damaged. When I was younger I used to color strands of my hair – blonde, red, whatever. And then I just stopped damaging it until I completely colored it with a semi-permanent color two years ago. I tried a dark brown shade with some little red bits and I absolutely loved it.

I haven’t gone to the hairdresser since then and sooner or later I got really really bored of my hair. Just because I’ve literally looked the same for years now. I wanted a change, something to give my hair a little more excitement. And then I saw the block of henna hair dye in the store and got the immediate feeling of wanting to try this out.

Before that I’ve never had heard of henna hair dye and then looked it up to be sure what I was exactly looking at. And I now think henna is like the perfect way to color your hair without damaging it. It’s completely naturally and does the exact opposite to damage, it’s actually good for your hair. So after making sure the product was good, I had to choose the color I wanted. At the Lush store you can choose from four different colors:

Marron (chestnut)
Rouge (red)
Brun (brown)
Noir (black)

And of course I went for Marron, because I’ve always loved a little red touch to my hair and a delicate brown. But I’ll just let Lush tell you more:

“Deep sultry auburn – Made with all-natural ingredients, Marron is the perfect starter henna for those who want to go red, but aren’t quite brave enough to take the plunge just yet. Instead, Marron will ease you in gently with the perfect balance of daring red and a modest rich brown all while softening, conditioning and adding glorious shine. We blend fair trade cocoa butter with the finest Persian black and red hennas and ground coffee to darken the red of the henna and create a beautifully rich, traffic-stopping shade.”

Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? So, after reading what felt like thousand different reviews and watching endless amounts of try-out-videos on YouTube, I thought why the hell not and went for it.

It is now two days ago that I colored my hair – with a little big help from my mum. And I have to say, I’m completely in love. But before I get to that, here’s my little description of how to dye your hair with Lush henna hair dye – or let’s say just what I did really:

First I broke the whole block into it’s already prepared pieces and then took half of the small blocks – so three of the six available – and put them in a small bowl.
After preparing my bathroom and making sure there wouldn’t be any stains afterwards, I put the bowl with the henna inside in the sink I had first filled with hot water and added some hot water to the henna itself too. Mum had broken the three little blocks into even smaller pieces so it would melt easier. Because as soon as you add the water, the henna begins to melt.
Then you just have to add more and more water until the whole mixture looks good enough to go onto your head. We first tried it with a batter-like structure, but as soon as mum put it on my hair, the whole thing crumbled away. So my tipp is to add enough water until it feels like usual hair dye, it’s just easier to apply then. Oh and the hotter the mixture, the better will your hair look afterwards. That really makes the colors look vibrant.
When the mixture is finally ready, the funny part is just around the corner – the applying. I think mum got a teeny tiny bit nervous, but after getting the mixture right I think it went on pretty fast and we were finished after like 10 minutes. Before applying it I put some Lush Ultrabalm, the nice saleswoman equipped me with, on my forehead and ears, so the henna wouldn’t leave any stains. But you can use common vaseline too, it really helps.
After my hair was completely covered in the brown mixture, I put on tin foil to keep the head and the hair warm (the warmer, the better the outcome) and a towel afterwards. Some people in the reviews said that the mixture smells quite badly, but I guess if you don’t concentrate on it, it doesn’t really matter. It smells a little like green tea and mud, so yeah.
And then you play the waiting game. On the package of the henna it said to keep it on for two to three hours, but I stuck to four hours, as most of the reviews said that was the best amount of time.
And theeeeeen it was finally time to wash it all out and let my hair surprise me. Personally, I thought that washing it out was pretty easy. I mean it took quite some time, I think half an hour with shampoo and conditioner, but it didn’t hurt or anything. As soon as the pieces were out and I could see my hair under the water I knew that I loved it. And it just got better and better while drying it and now I’m sitting here, not getting enough of it.

For me, the whole coloring process was extremely exciting. I mean, it was a huge mess indeed and I had to clean everything afterwards (there were no stains, so now worries), but as a newbie to coloring, I just loved everything about it.

There was one funny moment when I was sitting in front of my laptop, doing some work for uni while waiting for the time to be finally up, when I felt something roll down my forehead. I grabbed a handkerchief and put it on my forehead, just to find green stains on the tissue. And oh my god, I got so scared. I immediately googled henna and tin foil, but before anyone gets scared, the tin foil doesn’t do anything to your hair or the henna. The substance that went green was the indigo, so if some of you guys ever color your hair with henna and suddenly see something green, don’t worry. Your hair won’t go green (my fear in that moment), that’s just the indigo and completely normal.

So, how does my hair exactly look now? To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect. My hair is naturally a dark brown with a little golden touch. But I really missed the pep, something that tells me that my hair is alive. And now that I colored it, I got exactly that. Like it said in the description, my hair is now a beautiful shade of chestnut – bronze when it’s very light outside, in the sunshine, and dark brown with a nice red shine in artificial light. I know it sounds dumb to say that my hair changes shades according to the light, but it really does. I also read other people say that and I think that’s just amazing and so special (you can also see the differences on the pictures).

But besides the color, my hair also feels and looks so much better. My natural curls are extremely defined, they feel very soft and are shining all over. It’s just really healthy. And that’s why I’d recommend henna to anyone who wants to color their hair without risking anything. Even if the color of your hair doesn’t really change, it still brings some life back into your curls and waves. It really does. And I think I’ve already persuaded my mum to stick to henna from now on. Yes, it’s a little on the pricey side, but like me, I only had to use half of it, so at the end it comes to the same price as normal hair dye. With the huge bonus of not damaging any of your strands. So yey to henna hair dye.

I just did a little photoshoot with my new locks, so please enjoy the pictures down below. I’ve also included some pics of how my hair looked before. Oh and the pictures feature two other cool things – I’ve just bought some SuggLife merch, a wonderful khaki hoodie, which is extremely comfy, I think I’ll live in that one from now on, and my little pin I bought at Ed’s concert in Zürich, which I’ve since then worn every single day on every single outfit and I just love it, it makes every look special.

So yeah, there you go. That’s my story of how I colored my hair with henna hair dye for the first time and how I became a little redhead and fell completely in love with it. But have any of you ever tried henna? If you did, please don’t hesitate to tell me your story. Oh and please tell me what you think of my outcome, I’m very curious. And until then, I hope you enjoyed this post, and, as always, thanks for reading. x

Before:

After:

Zürich

Hola everyone.

As you know, I love photography. And as I just got to see Zürich last weekend, I just had to take my camera with me (of course) and take some pictures. And I also love sharing them with you, so I thought why not just do that today?

Oh and if you’re interested, I had an amaaaaazing birthday. Really. I went to a supercool restaurant with my parents and my grandma and then visited my cousin due to the fact that he and his family just got the cutest little puppy ever and I just wanted to spend my day with a puppy – because who doesn’t want that? And then the day ended with my mum and me snuggled up on the couch with a new tv series playing. Wonderful. But I have to say, being 21 doesn’t really feel different. I still feel young enough to swing myself around in shopping carts and roll down the aisles. So, here’s to feeling young.

Anyways, I’m doing really good at the moment – fantastic actually – and I just wanted to share some of my beautiful memories with you guys through my pictures. I hope you like them as much as I do. And please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. And as always, thanks for reading. x

Eds concert

Hola everyone.

I know you’ve been waiting for this. And honestly, I have too. But I’m literally speechless, I don’t even know where to begin. And if I really start, I think I’ll never stop talking about the most amazing weekend I had and the angel that is Edward Christopher Sheeran. But I guess I’ll just begin and see were this takes us. Let’s go.

So, first of all let’s talk a little bit about Zürich. The language – I love it. I don’t know why but somehow seriously every single thing sounds supercute in swiss, no joke. I bet even their arguments sound damn adorable. So, gruezi again to y’all.

Besides that I think Zürich itself is a really nice city, at least the old center of it with different coloured houses and small paths and streets, which all seem like a little labyrinth. The only thing I didn’t really like was the actual things the city had to offer. I mean, it’s supercute, but for example when it comes to going shopping I’d have to completely stick to online, as there are none of my favorites shop there – no Forever 21, no Pull and Bear, no Bershka, no Monki, no Weekday. I think you get what I mean. And speaking of money, if I lived there I would be completely broke in less than a year. I’ve been to a lot of cities in my life but never to such an expensive one, I was shocked. 8 euros for a smoothie? Holy moly. But I really liked it overall. Besides of the first day the weather was wonderful and I just really enjoyed visiting a city I’ve never been to before. It makes everything really exciting.

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And now on to the most important thing – Eds concert of course. And I again, I have no idea where to start. Actually I went to the concert alone. When my mum and I tried to get tickets when the sale started, we seriously just got one single ticket unfortunately – the one for me. That meant I’d be going there alone and I also flew to Zürich alone. It was my first holiday alone – Berlin doesn’t really count as holiday, or? And of course I was a little bit nervous, but I think it was still really amazing. And of course, the concert was as lovely as expected. I had like the most amazing seats, right next to the stage, like ten meters away from Ed. And I was going crazy, no joke. God, was I excited. After three years full of missing him I would finally get to hear and see Ed live again. Heaven, right?

I got to the venue at 6, somehow the concerts in Switzerland are like super early. And then the two support acts played – Ryan McMullan and Anne-Marie. And I have to say they were both really good. Ryan was like Ed, playing guitar and singing. And Anne-Marie is like the perfect example for English pop dance music right now, you may know her from her song “Rockabye” with Clean Bandit. So not really my type of music but you could see that she really enjoyed playing and that made me smile.

And then it was time to wait for Ed, which was over pretty quickly. And then he finally got on stage and I completely, utterly freaked out. I was, like, so shocked. I mean, there he was, Ed freaking Sheeran, only like 10 meters away from me. For real. It felt like I was dreaming. He started right away with Castle On The Hill, the perfect song to get everyone hyped up. Then he continued with songs like A-Team, Don’t and so on. For me, the whole concert was like one and a half hour of crying with some pauses in-between. Especially when he played Dive, Happier and then Supermarket Flowers on top. I could feel my heart break. Seriously. But it was a good heart break, because I was happy. And still am.

To my luck he also played How Would You Feel, which I already fixed as the song I’ll have my first dance to at my wedding. And yes, I do know that this sounds completely crazy. Maybe because there’s not the littlest sight of the guy I’ll actually marry then. But hey, the music is important too, right? And anyways, it was really nice to hear it live, saying nice as a total understatement.

And he also played I’m a mess, THANK GOD. I prayed for this one as it is my most favorite song from Ed. I’ve never heard a song with so much power in it. Its strength helped me through a lot and also through quite some tough mornings before exams. And I just really really really love it. And I felt so complete when I could sing it with Ed, together.

Another total highlight was You need me, I don’t need you, one of the last songs. I think it was like 7 minutes long or even more. And I just love hearing Ed rap, there’s seriously nothing that guy can’t do. His whole concert left me out of words, completely baffled. His talent is something I’ve never seen before, so amazing. And this song really shows that. His power, strength and pure talent. And his love for music. And that makes me love him even more.

If you want to know the complete setlist, here you go:

Castle On The Hill
Eraser
Don’t with a mashup of New Man
A-Team
Dive
Happier
Bloodstream
Galway Girl
Supermarket Flowers
Thinking Out Loud
Sing
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
How Would You Feel
Shape Of You
Perfect
Nancy Mulligan
I’m A Mess
What Do I Know

What Do I Know was actually the last song he played, after telling us the supercute reason why. He said that when he wrote the song he knew that he wanted the last line to be the last thing the audience sang. He wanted us to sing it until we get home and the morning after and for the rest of our lives. So the concert ended with us all singing the line “Love could change the world in a moment” until Ed went off stage and afterwards too. And I really loved that, it made it all even more special.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much at a concert. I know I say that a lot, but this time it’s really true. I even cried while walking back from the concert and then lying in bed a few hours later. The whole concert made me so emotional and showed me how lucky I am to be able to do what I do. I mean, I flew to Zürich to see Ed. That’s completely crazy. And believe me, I don’t take anything for granted. Not Ed, not my life and not one little aspect of it.

Overall the concert and the whole weekend was a time that I’ll never forget. It brought so much happiness and love into my life. I loved seeing Ed on stage, smiling all the time, telling us how much he missed us, the stage and playing his songs. And god, did I miss him too. I’m so happy to have him back.

So guys, there you go. That was my weekend in Zürich and Ed’s concert. I loved every single second of it and I hope you all loved reading about it. Please don’t hesitate to comment something, maybe some of you got the chance to see him live or visit Zürich too and I’d be thrilled to hear about it. And until then, I hope you’re all doing well and I wish you all an amazing weekend. Actually my 21st birthday is on Sunday, so yey, happy birthday to me. Oh and, as always, thanks for reading. x

Happy Women’s Day

Hola everyone.

First of all I want to say sorry for not posting anything on Monday. Actually I had a really important exam – I think it worked out just great – and basically spent all of my free time studying for it. So yeah, sorry again. But today I want to talk to you about something very important. I know I’m usually not the type for getting political, but as there are a lot of things happening now, changing for the worse, in my opinion, and I kind of just have to get it all off my mind and get some positivity out there.

But before I start – happy international women’s day for all of my fellow queens out there. You are all amazing and I hope you’re all doing well and feeling happy and enjoying life to its fullest. I think, days like this give us all the perfect opportunity to reflect on all the women out there who inspire us, give us strength. And for me it’s a reason to say thank you to all of these incredible women.

My mum

As you can probably imagine and also share with me, my mum is literally the most important woman and also person in my life. She doesn’t only give me strength, but also shows me day by day how I can be stronger, strong enough to believe in myself, my dreams and hopes and chase them. For her, nothing is impossible. And because of her, I also believe in that. Apart from that she knows what she wants and fights for that and she always stands to her opinions and what she believes in. I always tell her that when I grow up I want to be like her, be the mum she is to me, because in my opinion, she did everything right. And by that, she became my best friend. We go to concerts and festivals together, to the cinema, fly away on a girls trip every year. She’s just my favorite person and an amazing woman.

My grandma

As my mum is already such an amazing woman, it’s obvious that my grandma is one too. I look up to her all the time, because she always says what she’s thinking, she’s not afraid to be honest and tell her honest opinion. And at her age she’s still working every week, although she doesn’t have to do that, but she’s so vital that she can do that. And also she just wants to do it. That’s one of the things that always impress me – she still goes to work, stays up till late at night, cares for all of us and manages to always have a smile on her face. And that’s what I love about her. Also, she’s a goddess when it comes to cooking.

My friends

Who and where would I be without my friends? I don’t even know to be honest. I don’t know what I’d do without them in my life. All of them are such special persons to me and bring so much happiness to my life. But most importantly they are always there for me and, as silly as it sounds, they endure me, which is at some moments really hard I’m sure. With all of their different personalities, dreams, actions and thoughts, they are all awesome women in their own special way. And that’s why I love them and could never live without them.

All of the women out there, all of them

Honestly, I think every woman out there depends on all of the thousands of women out there who share her opinions, keep her back in their own way, in ways most of us will never know about. We all make each other so strong, keep us afloat, happy and fight for each other. That’s why I think days like the international women’s day are so important. They remind us all that we’re not alone. Noone of us would be where she is today without all of the strong women that came before us. All of the women’s rights would never be here without them. But that doesn’t mean that we can just stop fighting on. We are all so strong and if we unite, we can do things that seemed impossible. But together, nothing is impossible. And most importantly, never let an old man tell you what to do and what you can do and can’t do. You are a queen. Live it.

So guys, as you can see I had some things to say. I hope you are all doing alright, maybe sharing my ideas and thoughts. I hope I could encourage you to reflect on all of the amazing women in your life and maybe to thank them. I want to thank them, all of them. And as always I hope you enjoyed this post and please don’t hesitate to comment something. And until then, thanks for reading. x

Divide

Hola everyone.

Just to let you know, from now on, the 3rd of March is official Ed Sheeran Day for me. And I guess you all probably know why and what I’m talking about. Of course, his new album Divide.

What a masterpiece, am I right? I guess the most of you have already had a listen of the album as everyone is talking about it today. The hashtag #Divide was trending for hours on twitter. The album went to number 1 in more than 90 countries within the first few hours of being out there in the world. And to be honest, nothing of it surprises me. Because he deserves it. Ed deserves all of his fame, all the love he gets for his music and for the person he is. And he deserves so much more.

But now let’s get to the album. I think on the one side it shows the Ed we all know and love. Stripped back songs, only him and his guitar. But on the other side it also features songs like Galway Girl or Barcelona which to me show a completely new side of Ed. And honestly, as sadly as it sounds, I’m not quite sure if I like that side as much as the other one. Probably because I fell in love with Ed because of Multiply and his songs on there. And because of his show when I saw him live. That’s why I’m used to his slow songs without anything else than his voice and guitar sounds. But I guess I’ll get used to this side too and I’m pretty sure I’m going to love it within a few days, for sure.

Apart from that I think Ed knows exactly how to speak to his audience. The first song of the album, Eraser, feels like sitting on the couch with him and listening to him being honest about his life and the music industry and how he got where he is now and whether he’s happy or not. It’s that rap kind of song we all know from songs like You Need Me, I Don’t Need You or Take It Back. And I think we can all agree that he just totally nails it. But as he’s saying himself, he’s not a rapper, he’s a singer with a flow.

Then the second song follows and I can tell you, I completely lost it at this part. So I seriously could stay strong for one song, after that the tears just kept coming. Even more because of the later songs, but we’ll get there. I think the mix of the different genres is what makes this album so special and unique, especially when thinking that this is Eds new album, they guy we usually just know to be playing with a guitar and his loop pedal.

Due to my love for his slow songs, it probably won’t surprise you that my favorite songs from Divide are slow ones too. Although I’ve just listened to the whole album once – I just couldn’t stand having a heartbreak for a second time on one day – I think I can already say which songs I love the most:

Castle On The Hill – I loved this one from the first note on and probably will never get enough of it; also, did you listen to his voice, oh my god, the raspy parts
Dive – I think this is like the perfect song, I just love it, also because of the message, I think many of us can relate to it once in a while
Happier – this is the song when I really lost it, I could seriously feel my heart break in to million pieces; also, Ryan Tedder wrote it with Ed so it’s no surprise for me that this song leaves me crying on the floor
How Would You Feel – this will be playing at my wedding. And yes, I should probably focus more on finding the groom first before focusing on the music, but you know… music is important too. And this song (especially in the live version) is just so angelic and pure perfection, I’ve just fallen in love with it completely.
Supermarket Flowers – and that is the song when I knew that it was over for me, I completely cried my heart out, and all the pieces of my heart that I had collected between this song and Happier broke apart again and I haven’t really been able to put them together since then; also, I can’t even describe how sad it makes me to know that Ed lost his grandmother, I hope she’s happy wherever she is now
Save Myself – this is actually the last song on the deluxe version of the album and it finishes with the sentence “And before I can love someone else, I’ve got to love myself” and to be honest, I think that is like the most perfect ending of his album, pure perfection

So, yeah, this are pretty much my favorites of the album. I know, they are all sad. And yes, I cried through all of them, of course I did. But I think this album isn’t so special just because it’s Eds new album. It also means that he is finally back. Ready to take on the world and bless us with his angelic voice and music.

For me, the album makes me even more excited for his concert in two weeks. Thinking that I’ll finally see him again, after so many years. Hearing his voice live, singing his lyrics together with so many people who all share the same love for Ed and his music. I really just can’t wait.

If any of you have already listened to the album and want to chat, please don’t hesitate to comment something. And if you haven’t, stop everything you’re doing right now, go and open Youtube and check out his new songs. You won’t regret it, I swear. And until then I hope you all enjoyed this post and of course Eds new album. And as always, thanks for reading. x

Ps: I just finished season one of Westworld yesterday and oh my god, my mind is literally blown. I don’t think I’ll be able to wait a whole year for the next season. So so so good. Oh my god.

Book Club Update

Hola everyone.

Sorry for posting so late, but I think this will make all the lovely bookworms of you really happy. As you probably all know, I myself am a big bookworm. Actually I started being one just a few years ago, two or three I think. And now, those three months I got to spend in Berlin, just made me even a bigger one.

I think you know that I had this beautiful huge bookshop about ten minutes away from my apartment. It was always open until midnight (yes, seriously), so whenever I had a bad day or just didn’t know what to do, I went to stroll through the bookshelves, looking for the newest story for me to be obsessed with. That also meant that I needed a small suitcase just for all the books I had bought. And read, of course. And because I’ve had my nose in books for the past months and due to that read some really amazing fiction, I thought why not present them to you and update my book club. Enjoy.

Girl Online – Going Solo by Zoe Sugg

I guess you all know that I’m completely in love with this story about shy, but extremely talented and cute Penny and her on and off boyfriend, who’s also the biggest rockstar ever, Noah. Oh and let’s not forget her best friend Elliot, who’s literally the special sparkle of every single page.

I fell in love with the series when I read the first book three years ago and since then I’ve had my timer set for the release of the next page turner. So I can really just recommend this series to you, it’s breathtakingly amazing.

Super Awkward by Beth Garrod

This is the kind of book that you read and know exactly how the character feels. You just GET THEM. Actually, the story is about Bella Fisher, who herself calls her an absolute disaster when it comes to living her life. She’s awkward, a geek and somehow always does the wrong thing at the wrong time. And then she meets the hottie Zac, who isn’t just pure perfectness but also likes Bellas awkwardness. But how can she keep him while spinning a net of lies?

Honestly, this book was super amazing. I loved every single page and there wasn’t only one moment I felt so bad for Bella and just wanted to disappear with her together. It’s a must, seriously.

If I was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

This is a book that perfectly fits into the currently popular topics of our society. It’s about a girl called Amanda who moves into a new town and is now the girl at school. But nobody knows that Amanda was once called Andrew, something Amanda wants to leave behind. But then she meets Grant and slowly falls in love with him. Telling him her secret would ruin everything but how can she go on without being honest?

Actually, this was one of those books I had saved on my book list. And I wasn’t disappointed, not for one single moment. If any of you want to read a book about such a relevant topic, I highly recommend you reading this. It’s beautiful.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

I guess there aren’t many teenagers or bookworms out there who haven’t heard about or read this book. I bought this one when I was in Brighton last year and read it right afterwards. I think I finished it right when I got to Berlin. The book is about a girl called Maddy, who somehow is allergic to the world. Since her birth she never had the chance to get outside of her house, feel gras underneath her feet, touch some trees or breath in the salty air at the beach. Going outside would risk her life, but then Olly comes up, the new boy next door. And as soon as they lay eyes on each other, they can’t stop their attraction. Maddy learns that she wants to live her life, with Olly, outside. But can she take the risk?

Like this short description, the whole book is awesome. It’s heartbreaking and full of love, sad and happy at the same time. if you’re a fan of such story, you should really give this one a go.

How To Find Love In A Bookshop by Veronica Henry

As the title says, this book is about books. And the people who read them. And about Emilia, who just returned to her small English hometown to rescue the family business – a cute little bookshop called Nightingale Books. And while trying to keep herself and the shop over water, she as well as the readers learn the stories of her customers who all have their own tales to tell.

So, this book isn’t just about one person, it features some many more stories which just give this book the special extra, the one thing that draws you to this book. Apart from it’s super cute story and the shared love for books. So, for all bookworms out there, you need to read this. Seriously.

So yeah, there you go. Some new names for the book club. Maybe some of you already know some titles, maybe you don’t. But whether you do or not, if any of you just got interested into one of the page turners, I really recommend all of them to you.

And actually I already have some new books waiting for me to read them:

The Circle by Dave Eggers
The Memory Book by Lara Avery
Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt
Pushing Perfect by Michelle Falkoff
and many more

So yeah, there you go. I really really hope enjoyed this post and like my idea of this book club. Oh and please feel free to talk to me or join this “club”. Everyone likes to talk about books, so go on. And until then, as always, thanks for reading. x