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"