Blog: Loes in England

Like I said before, I will keep a blog about the preparations for my life in England. I made this blog yesterday and the link is: www.loesinengeland.blogspot.com

Now it is only in Dutch, because it is mainly there to update my family and close friends (who all speak Dutch). However, you are very welcome to read along! If you'd like me to also post on the blog in English (next to Dutch) then please let me know and I will include translations :)

By the way, I'm going to see Yellowcard on 3 December! I already wanted to go but when Kim asked me to come with her yesterday I finally decided I just have to go :)

xxx Loes

Review: Lush Vanilla Fountain

I bought Vanilla Fountain, a bath bomb from Lush, a while ago, but I only used it yesterday. My expectations were quite high, because Lush promises a 'comforting' bath and a lovely vanilla smell, partially due to the vanilla pod stuck into the bath bomb. To use a bath bomb, you fill your bath, and once it has filled you step into it with your bath bomb. When I put Vanilla Fountain into the bath it started fizzing, like a bath bomb is meant to. But I am wondering why Lush called it Vanilla Fountain because it looks nothing like a fountain. After a few minutes, all that was left of it was a yellow colour in my bath water and a vanilla fragrance. This fragrance stayed after I had the bath, but it did not last more than an hour or so. Also, after emptying the bath, some yellow residue was left on the sides of the tub, so make sure you clean your bath properly after using this bath bomb, or you might end up with a yellow instead of a white bath.

Personally, I only occasionaly buy bath bombs. I think they are a bit of a waste of money, because they are gone after a few minutes and often their smell does not last long either. To be honest, Vanilla Fountain has not made my high expectations come true. The smell was nice, but not amazing. The bath also did not do much for my skin, it was not much softer than it normally is. Therefore, I don't think I will buy this bath bomb again.

Vanilla Fountain costs 5,15 euros.

Advantages
- It smells good
- The vanilla pod inside makes it look attractive

Disadvantages
- Smell does not last very long

- It is quite expensive for one bath

- It does not do much for your skin

Buy it or not?

I would not buy this bath bomb again, but that is because I generally do not really like bath bombs. If you are a fan of bath bombs, you could always give this one a try, because you might like it more than I do.

Hello!

I told you at the end of the summer holidays that I would put up a post once a week, but I didn't do it. I'm sorry! I've been really busy (school, homework, university application) and also didn't have much inspiration for my blog. From now on I am going to try to push myself to post something interesting at least once a week, but you will need to help me! You can help me by telling me what type of posts you like to see, and by commenting on my posts. You can really motivate me :)

Like I said, I've been busy with my university application lately. I am applying to university in England (so excited!) and since I am applying to Oxford I had to send my application to my careers counsellor by the 30th of September and then she will put in my predicited grades and references and send it off to UCAS before the 16th of October. These are the universities and courses I am applying to:
University of Oxford - Spanish and Linguistics
King's College London - Hispanic Studies with English
Queen Mary, University of London - Hispanic Studies and Linguistics
Royal Holloway, University of London - Spanish with German
University of Reading - English Language and Literature (but I am considering to change this to English and Hispanic Studies, so that it fits in better with my personal statement)

Of course I will let you know once I get offers in from the universities! Also, I will probably start a blog (in Dutch, but if you want also in English) about my preparations for university and once I live there my life in England. Once I made this blog I will post the link here, so that people who are interested can read that blog.

So what posts would you like to see on my blog? Do you like posts about beauty, fashion, baking/cooking, photography or something totally different?

Review: KOH 134 Rainy Day!

Last week, I got KOH 134 Rainy Day! from my mother. I wanted a nice dark gray nailpolish that will fit with any outfit in autumn and winter, or even in summer and spring if you add a nice bright colour on one nail, like I did (the pink nailpolish is from Safari and I have no idea what it is called/what number it is, I won it in the give-away from Daily Noted. I think it's a really nice colour!). I'm very happy with the colour, but I am less impressed by the quality. The first small chips appeared on the third day that I was wearing it, and bigger chips appeared on the fourth day. I hadn't expected this from a rather expensive nailpolish like this one. This problem can perhaps be solved by using a better top coat, I just use one from the Hema (Dutch cheap shop). Also, there were a lot of little air bubbles on my nails when the nailpolish had dried. However, this is probably more due to my polishing skills than the quality of the nailpolish. Even though the quality is not as amazing as I had expected it to be, it is still a good polish and I am happy with it!

Conclusion
Advantages: Really nice colour that will fit with any outfit, the little case (don't have a picture of that, sorry) you get when you buy it (haha, I just think it's cute!)
Disadvantages: Chips after 3-4 days, dries quite slowly
Buy it or not? If you have the money for it, yes I think you should definitely buy it, because it is a polish that is great for autumn/winter and will fit with any outfit.

Nailpolishes from KOH cost about 14 euros and can be bought at the better perfume/make-up shops such as Mooi (where I bought it).

What do you think of KOH nailpolishes?

My new baby :)

Yesterday I went shopping in The Hague with my mom and brother, and I finally found a new bag! I have been searching for a good bag that won't fall apart after 2 months for ages, because my bag from Morocco isn't very good quality and it was bound to fall apart in a while. I really like the bags (and clothes) from Desigual, so I kept checking there to see if they had the perfect bag for me. And yesterday I found it. It is grey with colourful letters on the front. It has 3 compartments which makes it so much easier to keep all my stuff organised. In my old bag I always had to search for my purse, phone and ipod. Now I can find everything easily. The bag can be used as a handbag or you can hang it over your shoulder with the long strap (which you can't see on the pictures), and that is what I will do. Here are some pictures of my new baby:

 

Close-up. Yes that is a little damage you can see... I only saw it when I got home and I don't think it's worth it to go back to the shop for that, and my mom said it will get damaged eventually anways.

What do you think of Desigual?

Review: The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter

I really like The Body Shop, but most products are quite expensive, so when I got some money for my birthday I decided to try out one of their body butters. I bought this coconut body butter in March, but didn't use it much back then. A few weeks ago I decided to start using body butter more regularly, and therefore I can now share my experience of this body butter with you!

As we are used to from TBS, this coconut body butter comes in a simple but very nice pot. I especially like the picture of the coconut on it, and I think it makes the product look attractive. It took me long to choose the body butter I liked best, because all of them smell so good. Eventually I chose this one because of its soft, subtle smell of coconut. When you open the pot, you smell the coconut right away but when the butter is on your body you only smell of coconut very subtly, and that's just how I like it.

The main ingredients of this body butter are shea butter, cocoa butter and caprylic, which is derived from coconut oil. So, as with all TBS products, this body butter is full of natural ingredients that are a treat for your skin.

 The body butter has a creamy, buttery texture - just what it's meant to be like.

And this is what it looks like when you smear it out.

The body butter has a nice, creamy, buttery texture (see pictures above), actually just what you would expect from a body butter. You need to actually cream it in, but it 'dissappears' quite quickly. Just after applying it my skin feels a bit 'sticky'/fatty, but I think this is because the body butter needs time to be absorbed by the skin. Later in the day, my skin just feels soft! Also, the body butter leaves behind a subtle but wonderful smell of coconut!

I use this body butter for dry places, such as my knees and elbows, but sometimes I just cream it on my whole legs. If you want to cream in your whole body, it is better do it in the evening because the butter needs time to be absorbed by the skin so you don't want to pull tight clothes over it right away.

Conclusion

Advantages: makes your skin very soft, lovely smell, nice pot

Disadvantages: takes a while to be absorbed by your skin, it is quite expensive (especially for poor students like me)
Buy it or not? Buy it! I think this body butter is really worth its prize, and since the pot is quite big (200 ml) you can use it for quite a long time. Especially if you like coconuts, this will be a great body butter for you.

You can buy this Coconut Body Butter at The Body Shop shops or in their online shop. It costs € 15 for a pot containing 200 ml. 

What do you think of the body butters from The Body Shop?

Busy

picture from weheartit.com

One more week, and then school starts again. Today I already went to school, to talk about my Extended Essay with my supervisor. I'm such a nerd right? As you all know, school means homework, and homework means little time to do fun things. This year I will be in the last year of IB, meaning I have exams in May. So, it'll be a busy year with lots of homework and studying to do. This means that I, unfortunately, won't be able to blog as much as I did these holidays. But I will try to post something at least once a week! And if I have more time, I will of course post more often.

I hope that you, my dear followers, can accept that I won't have as much time to blog when school starts again and that you'll keep reading my blog and posting comments. And I promise that you can look forward to that one post a week, because I will try to make it a good, interesting post every week! And remember: followers and comments always motivate me to go on! :)

Loes

Follow your dreams

If you want to follow your dreams, there will always be people that will try to hold you back. However, I think it is important to follow your dreams because if you don't, you will regret it later. Even if your initial dream does not come true, you will probably find something along the way with which you are equally happy. Following your biggest dreams involves taking chances, because without taking chances you will never get there. You might come past obstacles along the way, but these obstacles will make you stronger and you will learn from them.

Certain dreams seem like they can't come true, and don't make sense to follow. If you dream of flying for instance, you might think it makes no sense to chase this dream. But I think you can make this dream come true, at least partially. If you'd love to fly like a bird sometime, why not try a parachute jump? Following your biggest dreams will enrich your life, give you experiences that you will never forget. Therefore, I believe it is always good to follow your dreams. Don't dream your life away, but live your dream!

I often follow my dreams and I am currently on my way to make some of my biggest dreams come true. The first one is studying in England. All I need to do is apply to the universities, then they need to accept me and I can go and study in England! Hopefully I'll be in England in a bit more than a year. Besides this, I also want to go on holidays without my parents for the first time next year. Maybe not such a big dream as studying in England, but still something I dream about. I want to enjoy the summer after my exams as much as I can, and hopefully I'll be going on my first ever Interrail trip! Of course you'll hear more from me as these two dreams become more and more realistic.

As long as you believe in yourself, you can make your biggest dreams come true! :)

What are your biggest dreams?

Outfit

This is my first outfit post ever... what do you think, should I post outfits more often or not?

I was wearing this yesterday, just a nice relaxed outfit :)

White top with dark blue stripes - Monki
Dark blue skinny jeans - edc by Esprit

Black All Stars - Converse

Robot necklace (used to be a keychain, but I wanted it as a necklace) - Six

Dark blue nailpolish - Hema

Change

As you can see, I've changed the layout of my blog a bit. It's just a normal blogger layout, because I have absolutely no idea how to make those really fancy, amazing, professional layouts that some people have. Do you like it in this way, or do you think something different would be better? If you think something different would be better, please tell me what I could change :)

Also I'd like to ask you what type of posts you like to see on From Behind Her Computer. Is there any type of post I write that you really enjoy and would like to see more often or something you think I should really dedicate a post to? Please tell me, because you can help me improve my blog! :)

And I would really appreciate it if you could tell other people about my blog, because I have so little followers. Of course I am happy with the people that are already following me, but I think it's kind of sad that I'm blogging for about 8 people xD Do you have any tips to get more followers?

xxx

Owl inspiration

Owls are becoming more and more popular in fashion. Everywhere we look we see items with owls, ranging from jewellery to sweaters. I am starting to like items with owls more and more and so I decided to make a post with Owl inspiration. I found all pictures on weheartit.com.

What do you think of fashion items with owls? Do you own anything with an owl on it?

Some new things

Yesterday I went to Amsterdam with Kim. First we went to the Sunday Market at the Westergasterrein, where designers sell their products, such as cards, jewellery and childrens clothes. There are also stalls with good food. The Sunday Market takes place every first Sunday of the month. After that we went to the Kalverstraat area to shop there. I didn't buy many things, but I still want to show you the things I bought! :)

White top with dark blue stripes, it's a bit wide but not really oversized.
Monki, € 10

 Grey sweater with owl

Monki, € 35

Cards with animals from Tamarulla design & more, aren't they cute? 

I bought these at the Sunday Market, for € 1 each.

Did you ever go to the Sunday Market in Amsterdam? 

Hamburg!

Yesterday I got back from a few days in Hamburg, the city in which I spent 7 years of my youth. I had a great time there with my parents and brother. We visited Miniatur Wunderland (a really big modeltrain museum), the Hamburger Dom (a really big funfair) and did a lot of shopping. I didn't buy any normal clothes, but I did find a nice cocktail gala dress! I also met up with Floriana, a friend from Hamburg (who lives in England now) and my brother and me went bowling with her. Here are some pictures I took in Hamburg. 

All pictures are taken by me, please do not copy or use them without my permission.

View over the Elbe and the Elbphilharmonie (the building that is being built in the background) from Landungsbrücken. 

Landungsbrücken, loads of (touristic) harbour boattrips leave from here. 

View on the (ruins of the) St. Nikolai Church from the Speicherstadt. 

View on the St. Michaelis Church from the Speicherstadt.  

Part of the USA in Miniatur Wunderland. I love how everything is so detailed.

To make it more realistic, there is even a day and night cycle and it slowly gets dark and light. This is Las Vegas at nighttime.


 








I thought this was such a cute winter scene!

Someone fell while trying to clean the snow off the roof...

 Isn't this a little bit dangerous...?

People relaxing by the Alster lake in the middle of the city. The weather was amazing!

The Alster again, with the fountain in the background.

A view on the harbour, taken from close by the Fischmarkt.








Have you ever been to Hamburg? What is your favourite spot in the city?

Review: Essence Cracking Nailpolish

A while ago I bought cracking nailpolish from the cheap make-up brand Essence, and I tried it out last week. I used Essence 02 Sparkling Silver cracking base colour and Essence 01 crack me! black cracking top coat. This silver base colour can be replaced by any other colour nailpolish, but I decided to go with this one for the first time. The black cracking topcoat can also be replaced by a different colour cracking topcoat. Essence also sells a white one, and I bought that as well but I don't really like the colour of that one.

 

Essence 02 Sparkling Silver and Essence 01 Crack me! black on my nails.

It is really easy to create the crackling effect with these two nailpolishes. Start off by applying a coat of the base colour. I had to apply 2-3 coats to make it nice and opaque. Let this dry (on the bottle of the base colour it says that you have to let it dry for 4 minutes, but basically you should just wait till it has fully dried) and then take the cracking top coat. Applying the top coat goes really fast because you only need to apply one coat per nail. I found out that applying a thin coat gives a lot of small/thin cracks (see right two nails on picture), and applying a thick coat gives fewer but bigger cracks (see left two nails on picture). So depending on what you like, apply a thin or a thicker coat. It is important that you apply this coat in one go, because the nailpolish starts cracking within a few seconds. When everything is dry, apply a transparant top coat (I used one from Hema). I applied the nailpolish on Thursday evening, and the first chips appeared on Saturday, but that's probably because I went climbing that day. I have now been wearing the nailpolish for about 4 days and it has chipped on some nails, but it's not really ugly yet. 

Essence 02 Sparkling Silver
Advantages: nice colour, not too glittery
Disadvantages: 2-3 coats need to be applied before it is really opaque
Buy it or not? yes, for the cheap price (I don't remember the exact price, but I think it was about 1,50 euros) it is very good! But if you have more money it is probably better to invest in a better silver colour.

Essence 01 Crack me! Black
Advantages: only one coat needed, very opaque colour, cracks very nicely, does not chip fast
Disadvantages: none
Buy it or not? yes, definitely buy it! For the cheap price (about 1,50 euros) this is an amazing crack nailpolish. I am very happy with it.

Where to buy these products:
In The Netherlands Essence is sold at most Kruidvat shops, and these nailpolishes cost about 1,50 euros (I don't remember the exact price) each. I don't know about other shops or countries.

What do you think of cracking nailpolish?