Water for Elephants is a New York Times bestseller, and is the story about an old man's recollections of his youth working with a traveling circus. It seemed like a very different type of story than what I would normally read, so I decided to go for it. Apparently it's also been made into a movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon and will be released this spring I believe - something I wasn't aware of when I bought it.
City of Thieves is a story based in Russia during the battle of Leningrad and a young man's experiences during that time. I stumbled upon this randomly just browsing on Amazon so I have no idea if it will be good or not, but it had very positive feedback and I wanted to read something set in Russia for some reason.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the one I've already started (and nearly finished actually after one night of reading) and is the story about the unlikely friendship of two young girls from very different social classes during the 1800s in China, when foot binding was commonly practiced to ensure a good marriage. The story is about the status and everyday realities of women during this period, and also about the friendship between the two girls throughout their turbulent lives. It's a very fast and easy read, but very engrossing, if disturbing at times. I literally cringed at the description of the foot binding! Hard to imagine that this was regularly practiced by women back then.
I expect I'll be doing a LitChat review on my second channel when I'm done with these. Are you reading anything engrossing lately?
Then today I also picked up two new mascaras to try out. I'm a bit of a drugstore mascara fiend, so I thought I'd try something new. I might do a Drugstore Mascara Review 2.0 so please let me know any mascaras that have newly been released and hyped and which ones you want to see a review of, and I'll try to include them - as long as the brand and mascara is available here and I haven't reviewed them in my earlier video.
For now I just picked up the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes and the Essence Multi action. Can you believe that the L'Oreal one costs over $25 USD here in drugstores? Yay Switzerland prices! :(
35 Comments:
at: 10:31 pm said...
$25 for L'Oreal?! How much is the Essence one, for reference?
at: 10:33 pm said...
I threw the receipt away but it's about $5 or so.
at: 10:34 pm said...
I am reading "extremely loud and incredibly close" by jonathan safran foer. it is a wonderful book with riddles and confusing parts in between. for example one page is written without any space between the words, so it's really funny and a little bit like the "Adrian Mole" books! :)
And yes I live in Germany, so the Mascara is quite expensive here, too :(
Lots of Love,
Yvonne
at: 10:34 pm said...
I have both of them, I recently bought the L'oreal one, which is not cheap here either, and I am quite unhappy with its results. I don't know if it is still very liquid but my lashes are not specially voluminous nor enlarged :( The Essence one, on the other hand, is completely worth its price in my opinion, it is my everyday mascara and with some applications the results are quite good. I will surely buy this one again!!
at: 10:35 pm said...
please could you read in spanish? you have a many fans in south america .... sorry i speak little english... kisses!!! i love you
at: 10:37 pm said...
I think it's really awesome you talk and write about your books!
Could you perhaps vlog/blog about the war books (non-fiction) you have already read? I'm interested!
at: 10:38 pm said...
In Croatia, it cost approximately $18..
at: 10:38 pm said...
Oh what i forgot to add, i mean you won't probably use it, but i've been using the ideal finish makeup by nivea because it covers extremely good and i now found out that the drugstore where i usually buy it (dm) is going to be removed from the assortment! :( I hope that nivea will continue offering makeup! :)
at: 10:43 pm said...
Der Mascara von L'Oreal ist SOO prima! Der macht riesige Wimpern & Schwung & alles.
at: 10:54 pm said...
I tried the L'Oreal mascara and only used it twice. It stinks! Literally! It smells bad and I only wore it a second time because I didn't realize why I was smelling the bad smell all day the first time!
at: 11:29 pm said...
snowflower and the secret fan was amazing! and water for elephants was yummy good. i can't wait for the movie!
at: 12:14 am said...
Yay for European prices! My friend is crazy about the L'oreal. Haven't tried it myself, but my favourite mascara is MaxFactors False Lash Effect. I would really recommend it. Any MaxFactor mascaras are good, well the lash extension effect was a fail though...
at: 1:15 am said...
The l'oreal one costs about 16.50 euro here in ireland, a bit of a rip off honestly. i saw that there's a new 4D l'oreal mascara that promises the world once again but i can't seem to find it though.
Regarding mascaras, i need soooo much advice on it i think i have tried every single one from l'oreal, maybelline, rimmel, a couple of max factor, bad gal, clinique and so on and so forth.... still none's a keeper.
i feel like none of them really holds the curl, hate spoon-type of brushes and my lashes are very "droopy", pointing straight ahead or down, never ever upwards! anyway so what do you think? any advice is highly apreciated
ps: i haven"t tried any waterproof mascara, do you think it will make any difference?
thank you
at: 1:39 am said...
i read water for elephants last year .. it was a little slow in the beginning but overall it was a good read ... i love the cover on yours .... mine was different, it has a man entering a circus ... with yours you can do a make up look inspired by the girl on the cover!
at: 1:58 am said...
I read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as well. So good and also so sad. Good choice!
at: 2:15 am said...
If you like City of Thieves you should read The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. It's kind of a story within a story and is also about Leningrad, but also about so much more within the main family. I really enjoyed it!
at: 2:39 am said...
the other day i bought two essence mascaras, because i think 15€ for a loreal one is TOO MUCH, but the essence mascara its not really good... it leaves lots of little black dots under my eyes, and when I touch my lashes its feels weird....I bought lashmania and maximun definition, but i only tried lashmania.... Someone with the same problem? Maybe my mascara wasnt ok?
Thanks :D
at: 3:07 am said...
Dang! Makeup prices are so much higher in Europe (which I experience every summer when visiting)
L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes sells for $10.99 in Canada at London Drugs...
$25 dollars is what I'd expect to pay for a Lancome Mascara (give or take)...
Do you get back to Canada very often? (for shopping hauls at least??!)
at: 3:16 am said...
I love Water for Elephants and Snowflower and the Secret Fan. Those are two of my favorite books!!! I love seeing the different covers compared to the US versions!
at: 3:47 am said...
I haven't tried the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes yet. I just looked on Makeupalley and there are not a lot of positive reviews on it. I also have a hard time finding a mascara that I like. I've found a few by Estee Lauder and Lancome. I recently bought L'Oreal's Double Extend Beauty Tubes mascara and I have to say I'm really liking it! Has anyone else tried this? What did you think? I also just received my first bottle of Nars Sheer Glow makeup. I had to run and take my makeup off and put it on. I really love the way it looks on and how it makes my skin feel! I'm so glad I purchased it. Thanks Julia!
at: 4:36 am said...
Could u try the maybeline one by one?
at: 4:36 am said...
Water For Elephants was AMAZING! I couldn't put it down! I hope you enjoy it!
at: 4:52 am said...
Wow $25 for a drug store mascara is insane! I won't pay that much for any mascara as I find the cheap ones work just as well as expensive brands.
at: 5:22 am said...
Read snow flower and the secret fan a couple of months ago. It was very interesting reading about a different culture set in the past. Good read.
at: 6:44 am said...
I'm a high school English teacher and while I love the novels I teach, I find I choose personal books as much for the cover art as I do the first-glance content. My Water for Elephants is a different publication and a different cover, and I enjoyed it immensely!!! An amazing treat!
Have watched your videos and travel vlogs for a couple of years and still look forward to new ones. I also enjoyed your still-shot pictures from a while back and miss those "albums". You had a few images, in particular, of old barns and abandoned warehouses: stunning!! I hope you are still with that great talent!
Cheers from Seattle!
at: 9:51 am said...
Here in Slovenia L'oreal macaras are also quite expensive... 12-15 eur :S Too much:\ That's why I'm buying essence ones:P
at: 10:46 am said...
Hi Julia, this is the first time i comment on a post of yours but I followed you for a long time before!
I just wanted to say I have the Essence mascara and I payed it about 2,99€ (in Italy) and I must say that even though it's really cheap, I found it is better than Maybelline "The Colossal" which I used to use before. It mainly doesn't leave all that lumps on my lashes as Maybelline's one did. And I think it's even more black. I'm not very hard to please with mascara, though. But I think it has a good quality for its price.
See you! Bye bye! :)
Monica
at: 10:56 am said...
Essence Multi Action is the best and cheapest Mascara ever, it costs about € 2,45 here in Germany ( round about $4 ) !
at: 12:39 pm said...
I've got "Water for elephants" and it looks very attractive to me. I think I will give it a chance this year... I hope to read your review. Kisses.
at: 3:30 pm said...
hey julia...wanted to know if you have tried XXL Lashes (the extension lashes) and their mascaras?...they seem cheap...dont know
at: 8:02 pm said...
If you want a great story set in Russia, I recommend "The Bronze Horseman" by Paullina Simons. Yes it's long and may look intimidating but it's so engaging, you'll finish it fast! Passion/romance, drama, war, it's all there :)
Oh but i was wondering about the nail color you are wearing? I'm such a mint/for audrey-type of colors-obsessed that i wanted to ask... many thanks!!
at: 9:39 pm said...
If you liked that "snow flower and the secret fan" you might like "Red Lotus" by Pai Kit Fai,
Lotus feet sound so incredibly painful!
I stumbled across this book while browsing the public library. Yes i am one to judge a book by its cover, and this one i just couldn't look away from.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6749148-red-lotus
Though you may have had enough of Chinese traditions...
at: 6:58 pm said...
essence multi action rules! ♥♥♥ Hat echt ein unschlagbares Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis.
Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland,
Judith.
at: 6:53 am said...
Since you seem to love books with a historical backdrop, might I suggest a book called "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace" by Le Ly Hayslip -- I absolutely loved it!
at: 9:57 pm said...
I had that Essence Multi action mascara, it's really good and really inexpensive
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