NEW YEAR

 This is Helsinki as it was yesterday on December the 30th. My dear fellow bloggers, readers and the most dearest lurkers - I wish you a happy new year 2012 with lots of good blogging, comments and reading! Srečno novo leto! Hyvää ja onnellista uutta vuotta! <3

DIGITALLY UPGRADED

Monthly update, finally. It is November, well, the last day of it, but in November I have had my birthday. This year my birthday has been declared as a magical date when the couples all over the world have been getting married. Well, I only baked a real birthday cake and invited some friends with their lovely dog. The things with my MA Thesis have also been moving forward - and what is a better birthday gift for a future Master of Arts in Digital Culture than a digital device? ;)

Now I am a proud owner of an iPad. So far, I have really liked it. My new HP laptop has to go to repair, and now I finally have a second device I can use more or less like a computer; at least considering communication and the Internet. And of course I plan to download as many versions of Angry Birds as possible; the touch-screen experience is something totally different than using a mouse. This post as well has been written with the help of the virtual keyboard, at least partly. 

Additional update on Helsinki: we have no snow and today it was +7 degrees Celsius. Last year at this time, it was already a proper winter, but this year it is warm and rainy. In a way, I like it as the past years have been so very snowy and cold. Well, for Christmas and New Year it would be nice to get a bit of snow, but just a bit. Have a nice beginning of the last month of the year - Finland is so very Christmasy already, but well, Santa is supposed to be from here anyway. 

THE STORY OF A KLUUVI MAC

In Helsinki, a new shopping center Kluuvi has opened today; it is located conveniently in the center, on Aleksanderinkatu, just before Helsinki Cathedral. However, yesterday I noticed news in a local newspaper that in Kluuvi would open a new computer store, too. What is more, the particular store would offer a notable discount on a limited amount of Apple's MacBook Air laptops. A Mac has been on my wish list for a long time - and I don't know why I did not buy it when I actually had to buy a new laptop. Nevertheless, a Mac is still on my wish list, and I actually need a second computer. :P

Anyway, I was busy today in the morning and there was no way I would get to the opening of the store with the discount Mac, which would be at 10. I had to pass Kluuvi, though - and already 20 minutes before opening, there was quite a long line infront of the door. And the people there were interested in computers, I just felt that. Some three hours later, I was free and of course I went to do inquieries in Kluuvi. The guy in a shiny computer shop only smiled and said: "Yes, we surely had an offer, but all the computers have been sold in half an hour. People came here to wait at 7 in the morning." There were a couple of 100 of dicount MacBook Airs, and the price was still not that low. Half an hour. What the Hell. 

This is my first discount crazyness I feel slightly involved in, or let's say I am slightly shocked. I know these things have been going on around the world, like sleeping infront of shopping centers etc... but such a madness over a Mac? Only half an hour and over a 100 of computers gone? Did people go to buy them just because they were cheap, in their opinion? The models were neither new nor improved, but, well, they were Macs - whatever that signifies to each individual.

More and more I feel tired of all these discounts. Be there first before others, the early bird catches the worm and so on. It feels like a constant fight, where all other consumers are your enemies. Especially here in Finland I think this discount madness is even stronger. Either if it is 0,99 EUR for Lidl's soy milk or 800 EUR for a MacBook Air - everything under an offer is gone and taken as soon as possible. Well, the soy milk shortage happened to me when I did not even know it was under a daily offer, and I had to get it from another shop.

No, I would not stand infront of Kluuvi at 7 in the morning. Perhaps I would have gone there at 10, if I would have had time, but no more than that. I rather wait and buy my Mac at some point in all serenity and in an empty, cosy shop. Give me a brake, I don't feel like fighting no longer. I just want my soy milk. And a Mac.

MNY 465

I am working a lot to colnclude my studies and I feel quite exhausted... I hate deadlines, really, and I have never been good at them as I always need more time. I hate presure, too, it just makes me more tired. Blah, I feel a bit slow and useless... :(

However, this is not a beauty blog at all, yet I have to post this swatch. :D I have been searching for the photo of this particular nail polish and since I could not find it anywhere online - here is my own (not that perfect) swatch. The nail polish is MNY 465, a beautiful bronze. I am quite into bronze shades lately, and this one was a nice and cheap discovery at the MNY stand in the local Finnish store Sokos. 

WHEN IT RAINS

Here in Finland it's already autumn. Barnacle Geese migrate to the South, I hear them quite often flying (and chatting) over my building, and the leaves are getting more and more yellow. Rain, wind and 15 degrees Celsius. Proper autumn. Now, after four years living in Finland, I finally have a proper equipment for this weather. Hai ruber boots  are such a kult  (and retro) Finnish item as for example Marimekko, Moomins or Iittala. They come in many colors; however, I have chosen red. 

JACKASS, DUUDSONIT AND FINNISH CULTURE

 Duudsonit

This summer my friend has successfully infected me with her recent Jackass-fascination. She (and we) talked about Jackass so much that I had to check at least the movies out - and I liked the thing. Of course there is stupidity and nonsense in all these stunts the Jackass team does, yet there is also a lot of irony, wit and smart (toilet) humor. Shit is not just shit in Jackass, that is. And the guys are cute, all of them.

Finland, however, has a Finnish version of Jackass - Duudsonit or The Dudesons. These four guys are also cute, btw. After watching some Jackass I understand Duudsonit much better than before, and now I even enjoy the show. I have seen this part where The Dudesons go to the USA and try to learn how to survive in the wilderness. Two of the guys went to bathe in an icy water; actually, there was a hole in the ice made for them to bathe. Then I started to think... in a way, Finnish culture is slightly Jackass/Duudsonit, especially for a foreigner. Running from the sauna into the snow and jumping around in it totally naked, or even swimming (totally naked) in a hole in the ice... OK, these things are usually done right after sauna, so one feels very warm, and after swimming in a hole of ice there is a hot sauna waiting again... but still, on the other hand this seems like a kind of a stunt. Oh, and also enjoying ammonium chlorid based black candies or salmiakki feels a bit Jackass-like, not to mention drinking vodka with the same flavour and color. These candies are not even sweet... and vodka is even more interesting.

Well, probably every culture seems a bit Jackass-ish to a foreigner, but after finding out that there is a Finnish version of Jackass and then watching Duudsonit how they wash themselves in an icy water, I have had these brief thougts. I still love Finnish culture - and that's why I am teasing it. ;)

Jackass

BORROWED LIGHT

Yesterday, I have seen a dance performance Borrowed Light by Tero Saarinen Company in Finnish National Theatre. It was so amazing... beyond words amazing. More information here.

LUMENE HAUL

 First row, left to right: Vitamin C+ Day Cream SPF 15,  Cleansing Emulsion (for sensitive skin), Cleansing Foam (for normal skin) and those three green thingies at the end are Anti-Cellulite Serum, Body Scrub and Body Lotion from Birch and Honey collection.

Second row, left to right: Face Toner, Comforting Eye Cream, Total Comfort Mask, Sun and Care cream with SPF 30, Wild Rose and Lumene Natural Code lipstics and Mineral Makeup foundation 

Today it was a nice spring day here in Helsinki - yes, the snow had actually melted a month ago and trees are getting green. I decided to go on a short trip to Kauklahti, which is in Espoo and about 40 min train drive from the centre of Helsinki. The final destination of my trip was Lumene's factory shop.

Lumene is a Finnish beauty care manufacturer. Lately, they have improved the formulas of the products as they are trying to avoide, for example, parabens. A lot of their products are supposed to be  of at least 80% natural ingredients. Well, I do read the labels and the ingridients seem  to be good indeed. Lumene also does not test on animals. Finally, as Lumene is a Nordic brand, they clame to use actual Nordic ingreedients (smart marketing move for sure, but they actually use them). The products are not the cheapest around here at all, but with no DM and Müller chains present in Finland, I have decided to use Lumene. It is Finnish, it tends to be more and more natural - and it suits my skin.

Lumene's factory shop offers their regular products whit more or less regular shop prices. There are also some products with "mistakes" on their packages, which are slightly cheaper than the same products in "proper" packages. Anyway, the content is the same, and that is what matters. I also had some 25% discount to use - and so I got this big haul... of course much bigger than I had planned at first.

Actually, I do need most of the products. :D I ran out of them and I would need to buy them anyway -  so why not to buy a bit cheaper? Well, the Birch and Honey series was not on my list; I decided to try it. Of course I spent quite a lot at once and now I feel a bit bad; I guess it was my biggest beauty products purchase so far. However, with the 25% off and other cheaper products, I hope I did actually save some money, especially as I won't need to buy cosmetics for quite some time now.

Lipstick close-up left to right: Wild Rose Natural "Mauve Nude" and Natural Code "Juicy Plum"

SUMMER TIME

In Finland also sundials are set to summer time. 

P.S.: The picture has been published in today's Helsingin Sanomat. 

ANGRY BIRDS

Some three weeks ago my old laptop decided it had been enough and just stopped working. It all started with strange green stripes all over the screen; however, soon after those stripes had appeared, the computer shut down completely. The screen got half white and half black, and even when the thing was connected to another monitor, nothing happened. Serious shit. As my old laptop was one of those no-name brands, perhaps more common in Slovenia but for sure unknown in Finland, the guys at some repair shop were not eager to deal with it. And of course the repair would have cost almost as much as a new laptop... 

There was only one option left - now I have a new laptop. :P After this experience  I also strongly recommend a spare hard disc; the transfer to a new device was far less stressful due to all the documents and even bookmarks stored separately from the old laptop. However, the new laptop came with a new operating system, and thus I was able to fulfill my dream that has started at the beginning of the year - and I did not even need to purchase Android-friendly device. I have downloaded the very famous computer game - Angry Birds.

The thing with Angry Birds is, that the game was developed in Finland. I have already read a couple of articles in Helsingin Sanomat, where the Finns were proud of this success; and yes, they should be. The game is so very simple - and even so very stupid - and that makes it so very funny and so very good. Crazy angry-looking birds killing green pigs, now come on, what a  fantastic nonsense. :D Not to mention the great soundtrack and especially the sound birds and pigs produce all the time. Oh, and there are some more funny and perhaps intercultural details... In the ninth part of the second episode pigs sit on a tank - and the tank has a small Swedish flag on the top. I assume this is a reference to the eternal teasing between the Finns and the Swedes...

The experience of playing the game on a PC is a bit different than when playing it on a cellphone;  the touch screen option surely adds some more interaction. However, a laptop at least has a larger screen, and thus it brings its own benefits. The other thing is that I cannot play the game on the train or when waiting somewhere...well, one perhaps cannot have everything at once and  nevertheless I might need a new cellphone at some point. ;) Anyway, I am not a freak considering computer games, and of course I need my laptop for other and much more serious tasks - but for occasional fun I surely confess that I am a  huge fan of Angry Birds.  

JANUARY AND GIVEAWAYS

 January always feels long and a bit dull for me and that also means I don't have much to say. Almost all Christmas/New Year decoration has gone from the city, sales are almost finished, the day is getting slightly longer and we still have snow. 

That's basically it. However, I haven't even wish a very happy and most wonderful new year 2011 to all all my readers and fellow bloggers, so please, here is a late greeting. ;) For the New Year's Eve, I was in Helsinki with some friends that came all the way from Slovenia; we went to a (metal, of course) gig in Nosturi and had fun all the week they were here. On the picture you can also see my New Year's Eve mani, which was China Glaze Ruby Pumps - really great shade and polish, just perfect for such jolly celebrations.

Considering nail polish in general, there are some very nice giveaways I would like to participate at; two to be more precise. First, Parokeets are celebrating their second birthday and thus the girls have prepared a wonderful giveaway, full of desirable nail polish and other stuff. Happy birthday! Parokeets giveaway includes some famous brands from the nail polish world, and most of  the polishes presented are either very expensive here in Finland, or I don't know how to get them. The giveaway ends on January the 31st at midnight so there is still time to enter. Very nice gift indeed. :P

Last but not least is my friend Ulmiel's giveaway. She has started her nail polish blog Did someone say nail polish? quite recently; however, Ulmiel already has 200 and more followers, and her giveaway is celebrating 100 followers. The giveaway again includes brands that I cannot get here in Finland as well as tempting glitter and holographic polishes. The giveaway ends on February the 10th at midnight. It would be so great to win these 16 polishes... :P

These colorful gifts surely promise colorful beginning of the year. You can find the photos with links to both giveaways on the side bar of Cinnamon Book.

CHRISTMAS CHATTERBOX

Christmas madness has come to Finland. Streets of Helsinki are quite crowded - not to mention shopping centers, especially during weekends. Buying, giving and getting gifts for Christmas seems to be more than important here in Finland. However, I am only sending some cards with Season's Greetings. I won't travel to Slovenia during Christmas/New Year's either, it's just too expensive, too long as I should change planes - and I also have to work. Thus, I will spend this particular family-all-together kind of holiday more or less alone, and that...  well, that slightly sucks, I guess.

Considering lonesome Christmas Eves, I have recently seen Swedish movie adaptation  Män som hatar kvinnor of Stieg Larsson's novel from his Millennium Trilogy. However, in the movie there was a short scene when the character Lisbeth Salander catches a glance through the window. For a moment  she observes the joyful  family next door during Christmas dinner while Lisbeth herself sits alone at home. She gives an impression that she does not care at all, but then again she hesitates and considered the situation a bit. I slightly know how that feels... 

On the other hand, I don't like all this Christmas commercial pressure, kind of forced images of happy family celebrating together. Reality is sometimes quite different than these ideal images offered in the media. Here in Finland the expectation of Christmas is important; I have already mention the gifts. Then, good food and all that. Already on Christmas Eve, the 24th of December, all the offices are closed and public transport completely stops around two o'clock in the afternoon, if not earlier. Everybody is supposed to be at home or somewhere, celebrating. Or whatever. 

I have never put a lot of stress on such holidays. Also, I think that such a general image of overall happiness and constantly highlighted necessity for, in this case Christmas, celebration can bring some bad mood to those that do not have any option to celebrate. Well, at the end it's all about money and commercialism; the necessity of celebration most probably would not be mentioned so many times in the media if it would not bring the benefit of shopping for Christmas gifts/food/you-name-it. But who knows, perhaps even lonesome Christmases would become trend and fashion one day... 

To conclude this chatter-boxing, there surely is something I like about all this Christmas-celebration-thing: lights! Many lights and candles. It is so dark during Finnish winter that I have decorated my apartment already at the beginning of December - and also the city is very nice, especially in all this snow. Thus, we can enjoy at least some shiny, decorated and so Christmas-like traditional winter wonderland. Happy and lovely holidays I wish! :) 

KAAMOS

Today I have read the news in Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that kaamos has started in Lapland. I really like this Finnish word for the polar night. It feels so calm, dark and deep as I imagine the real polar night would be... We don't have kaamos in this part of Finland and no matter how beautiful the word itself feels, I guess it would be hard to endure the time when the sun neither rises nor sets. We only have short days, winter darkness, and living with it does not always feel comfortable.   

These days were very cold as well, not only in Lapland. In Helsinki it was around -14, and the cold will continue for some time. According to the news it is very unusual that such a cold strikes at the end of November already.  This is North, but I know that North can be mild and tender even during winter. So I don't know was it the winter darkness or this unusual cold... I just had a hell of a week. Even now during weekend I still feel the burdens of the past days, like stones. Sometimes it's just too much of everything.

Luckily, I visit the gym regularly, and exercise helps. Otherwise I don't know how would it be. Bleh.

WINTER AND SOME MORE PRESENTS

 The present and the snow, natural light

Helsinki has got the first portion of snow - and it looks like there will be more of it. The weather is also quite cold, much colder than it usually is in late November in this part of Finland. Today it was -3 degrees Celsius, and the forecast is promising even more cold yet to come...

However, I have to show another birthday present - or six of them, to be precise. My friends from Slovenia were so nice that they have sent me a package full of nail polish. And not just some nail polish - I was told these bottles would be special. So they are, in many ways. The colors, the brands - and last but not least, they have been sent to me all the way from Slovenia with a nice birthday card  from and by my friends. :) Oh, and that red cloth also came with the polish. A lot of colors to brighten up this winter darkness for sure. ;)

The present and the snow, flash

From left to right, back row: SpaRitual Drop Dead Gorgeous, Regal and Solitude

From left to right, front row: Zoya Harlow, Nubar Midnight Glory and Nfu Oh 131 

PRESENTS FOR KANELI

Last week I had my birthday, and as I usually write a post about the occasion - well, here is Kaneli's birthday post of 2010. This was my third birthday that I celebrated in Finland, and regardless the important change of the front number (from 2 to 3, huh), I celebrated more or less alone. I have my friends and family either in Slovenia or in Jyväskylä, so the real party is yet about to come.

However, it was a nice coincidence that one of my favorite bands, Katatonia from Sweden, played their gig in Helsinki exactly on my birthday. Even better as I really wanted to see Katatonia live for ages, but for some reason I never had that chance. Now I have seen the band and I must say they are very good live as well.

I also have to show two presents I got for myself - a new corset and Kalevala Koru silver necklace. I was happy to get this new corset as I hadn't bought anything so alternative for ages, and I really like the necklace as I have always been a huge Kalevala Koru fan.  

And last but not least:  I have been tagged by Ulmiel a while ago to answer some questions, and now I finally have time to write my thoughts. 

1. Innie or Outie?

Introvert for sure. It takes time for me to open and show my feelings.

2. Unlimited wealth? Or Unlimited health?

Unlimited health. I guess I don't need to explain.

3. What is your favorite book?

Quite many of them, actually... perhaps, I can mention some writers like for example Sofi Oksanen, Haruki Murakami, J.R.R. Tolkien etc.

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

In Finland because I speak Finnish. :P The second option could be Iceland; anyway, I like North.

5. What is your security blanket?

I don't have any. Stupid question, anyway.

6. What is your mode of transportation?

Public transport - a local train, tram, metro or bus. Sometimes also a ship and a plane. 

7. What is your signature scent?

Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue, for years.

8. If you were at Hogwarts, what house would you belong to?

Ravenclaw for sure. I'm smart, but not too heroic. 

9. If you could be any Disney princess who would you be and why?

Bad Fairy. ;)

10. What is one of your bad habits?
I am too slow/lazy/unmotivated considering the work for my MA thesis.

FASHIONED IN FINLAND GIVEAWAY

As you can see on the side-bar of Cinnamon Book, Parokeets are giving away some nice metallic and magnetic nail polishes. However, also Nea  from Finland has something nice to offer - just click here and enter the giveaway on Nea's great blog Fashioned in Finland. The prize includes Shu Uemura eyelash curlers, Sleek Storm palette, Sleek Good Girl palette and TKB mini samples. The products look very tempting... :P The giveaway ends on 3rd of December 2010 so there is some time to enter.

However and by the way, I feel so very sleepy today that I cannot produce a better or longer post than this... Finnish winter is getting stronger, especially considering its dark powers; there is no snow yet, just darkness is longer and longer... I eat D-vitamin and fish oil, but those things do not always help as I would like. Well, soon Christmas time will come anyway, and there will be lots of other light... and candles and sweets.

EDIT: The Parokeets giveaway ended on the 8th of November, I did not get anything - not surprised at all as I basically never win anything in raffles. :D

SKYR IS IN FINLAND!

I was actually thinking to write some other post today, but then I went to one of the local stores to buy some fruit. When I passed the fridge with milk products, something caught my eye. I stared. I could not believe. What I had stared at was so very familiar to me, yet it belonged to my images and memories from some other Nordic country. There, on the top shelf, there was a pile of pots with the very real and the very Icelandic SKYR!!! Woow!!!

This surely is the news of the day as I am so very happy that Finland has started to import skyr from Iceland. Now what is skyr and how have I fallen in love with it? According to Wikipedia, skyr is an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yoghurt. Technically it is a very soft cheese. It is very popular in Icelandic cuisine. It seems to have originated in Norway and been brought to Iceland by the Vikings. Skyr has a slightly sour dairy flavor, with a hint of residual sweetness. Commercial Icelandic manufacturers of skyr have added flavors such as vanilla, berries, etc. common to yogurt to the final product, to increase its appeal.  

Skyr is exactly what I was longing to taste even before my first trip to Iceland in 2003; you must know that I have always been a big fan of Iceland, anyway. During my first trip I ate really a lot of skyir; I guess I don't need to repeat how much I liked it. This summer I went to Icleand again - and the first thing I did when I came to Keflavik airport was that I had bought a skyr in the shop on the airport and ate it  outside while waiting for the bus to Reykjavik. Strawbery skyr. Then, I dragged my two friends all over the city to the biggest shopping center in Reykjavik, Kringlan, just because I had read that somewhere near that shopping center should be an ice-cream shop, which sells skyr ice-cream. I took a map and walked and finally found ÍSland, the place with great home-made skyr ice-cream. And of course the last thing I ate in the morning before leaving Iceland in August 2010 was again a big pot of skyr. 

I have missed skyr. Until now. I really like such cottage cheese/yogurt-like products; however, skyr is, at least for me, something special. It should be also very healthy, low on calories and with lots of proteins.  My favorite flavors are vanilla and strawberry, but I also like others. However, it seems that the economic crisis has affected Iceland also in the way that they have started to export skyr to Nordic countries - first, I think, it was to Norway in 2009. Well, I just hope Finland will like skyr, and that the product will remain here in our shops. For the benefit of the Icelandic exporters - and just because skyr rules. 

RUSKA

I was away from Finland for 9 days - on holiday in Slovenia. While I was away, all the birches in front of my building had turned golden yellow. The birches, so typical Finnish trees, grow in the park here, and my balcony looks directly to the park; thus, I have a nice autumn view, especially if the day is sunny. Just too bad that the trees will soon be black and bare, all the leaves on the ground. However - Finnish ruska, the time of colored trees, is really beautiful. 

Otherwise I have brought some autumn flu from Slovenia with me, which is totally annoying. Not to mention that I am on sick leave right after I have returned from holiday... now how clumsy is that... 

A LUSH LJUBLJANA

Whenever I am visiting Slovenia, I have to, of course, do some shopping. Usually, I pick up the shops/stuff I cannot get in Finland; however, in case of Lush I realized  I also have to buy their products in Ljubljana - or in Tallinn. I was actually quite surprised when I had find out that cosmetics of Lush is actually cheaper in Ljubljana (and in Tallinn) than in Helsinki. Whereas the prices in Ljubljana and Tallinn were the same, the difference between Helsinki is much cheaper - from 2€ for soaps up to 7€ for Dream Cream and even 10€ in case of some more expensive creams (which I don't buy, I have just noticed the difference).

The thing is that Lush is a big worldwide chain, and according to my experience with other big chains I would expect similar prices everywhere; at least H&M does not do any difference, and prices are the same either in Ljubljana or in Helsinki. The Body Shop is similar everywhere in Europe as well; also in Tallinn. The Lush example is interesting; however, I did not shop in any other Lush store to do a more exact comparison, just in Helsinki, Ljubljana and Tallinn.

Anyway, I have bought a few of my favorite products and spent quite a lot at once - well, I hope I have also managed to save some money as I have chosen a cheaper Lush-franchise. ;)

P.S.: For all of you that come to this page while searching for any info about Lush store in Ljubljana- you can find the shop in the old town, right next to the famous Robba fountain, the address is Ciril-Metodov trg 21. However, more info is here.

NOTD - Nails Of The Day

Just because I have become a nail polish fan and because I read more and more nail polish as well as make up related blogs. :D Not a perfect swatch at all, but one has to learn, right? Oh, btw - the black line on the edge of the fourth finger was removed later.

Depend 019, IsaDora Graffiti Black Tag and Essie Good to Go on the top