My Winter Skincare Routine

This is my collection of current beauty favorites. I have a really sensitive and dry skin that is prone to tightness, so I have to take extra good care of it, which can sometimes be a bit difficult since I am a bit lazy and I like to think of myself as a fairly low maintenance when it comes to beauty. The thing is that when I get lazy, my skin punishes me for it - it feels really tight and sometimes it can get a bit flaky:( The good side of having dry skin is that I very rarely break out and if I do, it's only once a month:)
So here are my current faves:

1. L'Angelica Eye Serum - I have already mentioned it in my post here. It's really good, it evens out fine lines around eyes and makes my skin feel extra smooth:) I have to say that I am very satisfied with this product.

2. and 3. I am actually switching back and forth between my Korres tinted lip balm and Bebe Young Care intensive care lip balm. The Korres balm smells divine and it gives that lovely dewy natural finish, but I have to reapply it more often since it's not that moisturizing, whereas the Bebe young care balm luckily has a richer formula and it's perfect for really chapped lips.
TIP: Apply the Bebe Young Care lip balm before bedtime, you will wake up with incredibly smooth lips:) 

4. My beauty secret: HONEY! Not only is honey a natural disinfectant, it protects and moisturizes your skin, so make a homemade honey mask once a week, it'll restore the natural skin balance. 

5. Gehwol Med Foot Cream. As you've probably guessed, it's German, and only available in your local pharmacy, like SANOLABOR. The first time I've used it, I vowed never to use another foot cream for the rest of my life.

6.SORAYA BioRepair 30+ Day Cream available here. This is my current favorite day cream.

It contains the micronised BLACK PEARL from the French Polynesia and it contains BLUE DAISY extracts which moisturize the skin and has an antioxidant effect. According to the their website, the product ''fights all skin ageing symptoms and effectively smooths irritations. It restores smoothness, elasticity and the bright appearance of the skin. Slows down skin ageing processes. Reduces discomfort and tightness of sensitive skin. Soothes irritations. It supports self renewal, strengthens the immunological system, restores the barrier function of the skin.''

I have been using this product for two weeks now and the cream smells divine, I just want to smell it all day long:) I'm a Soraya junkie, lol! The cream does make my skin feel smoother and it evens out fine lines, but I have to say that I did expect more from the product as far as moisturizing goes; the cream is not rich enough for my dry skin, I have to reapply during the day because otherwise my skin feels tight again. But I would definitely recommend this product and I would definitely repurchase it again.

7. Himalaya Herbals Face Peeling is a really wonderful product, the back says that you can use it every day, but I wouldn't recommend it; I personally use it once a week. It's recommended for all skin types, and it's free from Parabens, SLS/SLES, Phthalates and is 100% soap free which is really important if you have sensitive and dry skin. It contains apricot granules, aloe vera, neem, lemon and red lentil, all 100% natural and not tested on animals.

Love,

Teja xoxo

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Recycling, Recycling

When I moved from my parents, I was rummaging around my grandparents' old stuff to find anything that I could reuse. Luckily, I found lots of really useful and surprisingly beautiful things, like this gorgeous glass tray that's actually my grandmother's ex glass snack tray. Mind you, I washed it:)

The only problem with this glass tray is that it has a huge crack on the left side, so I've recycled it into my personalized perfume tray:

I could not be more pleased with the outcome, the glass tray looks super chic and stylish with all the perfumes displayed. I think I've made good use of an old cracked glass tray:) And by the way, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've also recycled the vintage L'Occitane rose cream jar (left). My mom wanted to throw it away and I said: ''NO!'' - and now I use it for my jewelry:)

While browsing among my grandparents' stuff, I also came across these two mini glass bowls, so I made good use of them:

Then, I found this old jam jar. I think it's probably from the 1970s, but it could be older. My grandma used it for her bits and bobs. I washed it and now I use it for my cosmetic pads. I think it looks super chic:) I am really pleased with it.

I hope you found this post helpful:)

Love,

Teja xoxox

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TUTORIAL:How to Remove Candle Wax from a Glass Jar

This DIY project is so easy, you will be whistling a Demi Lovato tune while doing it:)

You'll need:
1 large glass bowl
2l of boiling hot water
some liquid soap
a sponge

I got this super nice smelling scented candle for Christmas from a friend and I loved the design! I burnt the candle til the end and then, I was left with this:

So, the candle jar was in a pretty bad shape, but I still thought the design was cute, so I googled ''How to remove candle wax'' and I watched a DIY video on Youtube. I was actually surprised at how easy it was! For some reason, I thought it was going to be messier:) So, I thought it would be nice to share this tutorial with you guys:)

So, here it goes: Put the glass jar into a glass bowl and pour boiling hot water into the glass bowl, and wait for 20-30 minutes until the old wax and the old glue from the stickers is dissolved.

See how the wax is slowly coming off and there is nothing left but the silver cored wick that has been glued on the bottom of the glass? The heat dissolves the glue on the bottom as well:)

Now take a sponge and some soap and scrub, scrub, scrub til you have a nice clean jar:)

Special tip: Fill the half of the jar with rice (I used red rice in the photo because I find white rice boring) - and stick your makeup brushes into it. That way, they will stand on their own and they'll come more handy when you need them:)

I hope you found this post useful, feel free to comment on it;)

Love,

Teja xoxox

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Soul Fishing's Top 5

1. My current No.1 would have to be this gorgeous ceramic mug. I love how the pattern is not perfect. It's as if it was hand drawn. I love running my fingertips over the design, feeling the gorgeous pattern. It fits beautifully into the palm of my hand as its bottom is slightly rounded (no pun intended:)- perfect for movie nights; I can sit in my bean bag, tuck myself with a blanket and have some tea:)

  2. No mug would be perfect without tea. I have to admit that I haven't tried this one yet, mainly because I fell in love with the vintage design of the package and I don't want to open it yet:) Let's hope it tastes as good as it looks:))

3. This is m absolute current favorite as far as necklaces go. It's by Maison Scotch and the pendant is in shape of a harmonica. It even makes a sound if you blow air into it. True, it is able to produce only one tone, but I still think that the design is absolutely brilliant and I love the face the people make when I blow into my little harmonica pendant and sound actually comes out:)

4. My CLINIQUE red nail polish in No.7 Red red red. It's really high quality, doesn't chip and it stays on forever. It's a little bit pricey for a nail polish but still a good investment.

5. This photo is pretty self-explanatory:) I got it as a present from a friend:)

Love,

Tejaxoxo

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True Love

An Essay by Soul Fishing

We live in times where phrases such as ''true love'' provoke a cynical reaction rather than anything else. Couples are getting a divorce at the first sign of trouble, saying later they just couldn't make it work. The singles are staying single because being single is everything they know, or in the words of my friend, let's call her Mary: ''Teja, I am afraid that if I meet a guy, I am going to lose my freedom.'' And I, the hopeless romantic, say: ''It's more likely that you're going to, um... upgrade it.'' ''No,'' she says: ''I am seriously afraid that everything I had built will just fall to pieces and I will totally have to rearrange my life to make room for my boyfriend.''

The sad thing is that Mary is not alone in this fear. Another friend of mine, let's call him Dick, when asked whether he has a girlfriend said: ''No, and I don't want one.''  ''Okay,'' I say: ''What was the longest relationship you were in?'' ''I've never been in a relationship,'' he simply says. He’s 32 years old, has an apartment, a steady job, he's good looking, he's straight and... there’s no way in hell, he’d want a girlfriend. Dick cannot be bothered with relationships. And neither can Mary. So much about true love in 21st century.

Then I think of the couple in this picture. Can you see the woman on the far left and the man behind her, his hand on her arm. It looks old, doesn't it? That's probably because it is. The photo was taken in 1946 in probably the least romantic place in the world – in the Soviet Russia. It was after the WWII, when everybody was pretty much starving, and there was no time for over-analyzing relationships because one was pretty much busy just surviving.

 They met at a military dance. Yes, the Russian military organized dances. The woman, who, to be honest, wasn't a head-turner, caught the man's attention. He greeted the woman: ''Hello, comrade.'' She replied: ''Hello, tavarish. Would you like to dance?'' The man panicked because he didn't know how to dance: ''Em... no, thank you.'' The woman wasn't easily swayed: ''C'mon, tavarish! Just one dance!'' ''No, thank you, tavarishitsa.'' And he abruptly left with quick steps, too embarrassed by his lack of knowledge of dancing to continue the conversation. The woman watched the man go, quite disappointed.

A few months later she received a letter from him, asking her, in a very careful manner, to marry him. She said yes.

She had to wait one whole year before she heard from him again.

When I asked the man, fifty years later, why didn't he reply to her letter of acceptance to his marriage proposal, he simply said: ''I didn't have any money to financially support  a family I'd make with her. So I waited until I'd get a job.'' ''You could have said something to her, grandpa! You could have written a letter to grandma, saying you were looking for a job and politely asked her to wait.'' I said. ''Well, Teja, I had a plan. First, I'd get a job, then, I'd marry her. Then, we'd have children.''  ''That’s a good plan, grandpa,'' I agreed.

A year later, he wrote her another letter, asking her to marry him again. And for some reason, she said yes. Again. And then, they finally got married.

Their wedding day was probably the least romantic wedding day in the history of mankind. They both had to wear military uniforms as they were still in the service. And quite frankly, after the war, everybody was so hungry and desperate that one could only dream of a white wedding in a church.

The reality was that it was a civil ceremony as they lived in the times of communism and Grandpa didn't have any money for a nice military uniform, so he had to borrow some nicer pieces from his friends.

''Comrade, take my nice shoes. We're the same size!'' one friend said enthusiastically.

''Comrade, take the bottom part of my uniform, I have a spare one,'' another friend kindly offered him.

After the civil ceremony they had a simple meal containing of potatoes, cabbage and meat; there was no wedding cake, just some pieces of pastry and coffee, and then everybody went home.

My grandparents ended up being married for more than fifty years, not knowing how to live without each other. They were best friends, life companions and soul mates. They hardly argued and if they did, all the arguments were always won by my grandma.

When asked how the hell did he know that the woman he’d met at the dance was his soul mate, my Grandpa replied: ‘’I just knew. The moment I saw her, I just knew.’’

That has to be true love, right?

Love,

Teja xoxox

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The Valentine's Giveaway Winner iiiis...

Number 4! Congratulations, Anja M!!!

Thank you so much you guys for such an amazing response, you truly made my day! 

Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for your comments! I love reading them, and it feels great that I have your support:))

Have a Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Love,

Teja xoxo

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How to make Bad Sushi

This is one of those few recipes that went terribly wrong for me. 

And if not anything, it has taught me a valuable lesson.

And I still have no idea what that lesson is. I just ended up with bad sushi.

I realized that there are not enough really bad sushi recipes, so I've decided to write mine based on my personal experience when I was making sushi with a friend this Friday. So this is a how-to tutorial in reverse.

Ingredients

5 sheets nori
2 cups sushi rice, could be more because you can't remember how much there are supposed to be
2 ounces (or not) of smoked salmon (the generic kind you get in Hofer) cut into strips
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

Your friend forgets to bring everything else.

1. Make sure that you're making your sushi on a Friday night when you're really tired from the entire work week. Have a glass of white wine before you start. There. That should make you even more tired and sleepy.

2.      2. Your friend comes to visit and forgets to bring the bamboo rolling mat, the wasabi, the chopsticks and the rice vinegar. So basically everything that makes sushi, well... sushi.

3.      Have another glass of white wine with your friend.

4.      Accidentally break the glass of wine.

5.      Your friend says that you're going to use ordinary vinegar instead of rice vinegar. You agree that that's a good idea.

6.      Place a nori sheet lengthwise on the non-existent bamboo rolling mat, shiny-side down. So basically place the nori sheet on the friggin' kitchen counter.

7.      Take a handful of sushi rice. Place the rice in the center of the nori and use your fingers to spread the rice evenly over the nori.

8.      Place the salmon strips and some avocado along the center of the rice.

9.      Totally overfill the nori as you have no idea what the hell you're doing.

10.  Begin rolling the nori away from you, while applying pressure to the fillings to keep the roll firm. That's the theory. The reality is that the your sushi roll looks like a mutant sea cucumber.

11.  Slice the mutant sea cucumber in six pieces that fall apart spectacularly. You realize that the slices are friggin' oval.

12.  Eat the six pieces using your fingers as there are no chopsticks. And all the forks are dirty and in the dishwasher.

13.  Realize that the sushi tastes as bad as it looks.

14.  Have another glass of wine.

15.  Decide that next time, by God, you are ordering pizza.

Love.

Teja xoxo

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The Special Valentine's DayGiveaway (CLOSED)

Hello, darlings,

remember my previous post? Ema, Kaja and I have decided to host a super special Valentine's Day Giveaway!

I mean, seriously, how could you possibly say no to this cutie of a present on Valentine's Day?

But what's in it? 

Want to find out?

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below this post and writing your email address, so we'll know who to contact in case you win;)

Then, very importantly:

LIKE Ema's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EBredesign
LIKE Kaja's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/petitedeco1
and LIKE my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SoulFishingBlog

And that's all you need to do. Just three clicks on the Like Button and you're in the game of winning this cutiepie of a present.

The Giveaway only applies to people living in Slovenia!!!

The giveaway ends on February 14, 2014 at 14:00.

How will Soul Fishing choose a winner?
By using a random number tool www.random.org

I have never entered a giveaway before. How do I do that? 
You can read my article here.

Happy liking! :)

Love,

Teja xoxo

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The Best Valentine's Day Gift Ever

Hello, lovelies, Valentine's Day is fast approaching and as such, we need the perfect present for our honey, don't we? Okay, now I ask you this: What kinds of presents are the best kind of presents?

You're probably wondering: ''Well, you tell me, Teja, you're the one that has 'The Best Valentine's Day Gift Ever' post title, I'm just a lost cause, looking for the perfect last minute Valentine's Day present.''

Well, you're in luck my friend, and here's my answer to the not-so-rhetoric question above: the best presents are the kinds when you and your honey are... doing something. Together. Something that only you two intimately share, something that only deepens your love and respect for another.

You say: ''Something intimate... ummm... we both get a super secret tattoo on a super secret place on out body?''
Me: ''Not really.''
You: ''Oh, my God, we get One Direction concert tickets and then we sweat together in the crowd?''
Me: ''No!!!''
You: ''We get a framed underwater selfie of the two of us scuba diving in the Maldives?''
Me: ''Nope.''
You:'' What?? Tell me, Teja!''
Me: ''You both get a gift set and then you both create bow ties from old pieces of fabric according to the instructions provided.''
You: ''Bow ties?! Are you serious? Like recycling?''
Me: ''Actually, the technical term here is upcycling.''
You: ''Hmmm...Intimate upcycling of bow ties for just the two of us. I like it!!!''
Me: ''I knew you would.''

These special, über-cool gift sets are the brain child of none other than Ema Bavcon from EB Redesign, yup the one I had a blogger meeting with, (check out my old post here) and another fashion blogger Kaja from deklica.si, the woman behind the Petite Deco Label

What do we get, when two fabulously creative people such as Ema and Kaja team up?
We get this:

Winter Wonderland

The weather has been crazy over here lately. First, there's been really warm (so warm in fact that I had to start wearing my fall jacket) and then it got really really cold. Then it rained. And now it has snowed... but mostly, what was falling from the sky was something between ice and water and it came with certain repercussions.

When I was waiting for the bus, this really big branch broke off with a loud snap behind me, crashing on an electric wire and then it landed on the ground with a thud, just a few steps away from me.

The firefighter and ambulance sirens have been wailing the entire day today, because that tree branch apparently wasn't the only branch that had given out under the weight of heavy ice.

Despite everything however, I managed to make a few beautiful photos with my phone:

I also instagrammed  the following photos:)

Love,

Teja xoxo

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