Midsummer Night’s Dream 2015: Four For Family

Following up 2014 the cold summer, 2015 the midsummer weekend in Finland is consecutively chilly, grey and rainy. It doesn’t stop us heading back to Central Lake Area, though the swimming suits is completely out.

Summer time means to me the good food, the relaxation and always the stunning pictures. For the light travelling, I abort packing my Fuji X10 camera, but challenge myself only with iPhone 5S for the whole holidays. My Finnish family loves to decorate the dining table with various tablecloth, I adore this very Eastern European floral pattern to live up the melancholic sky.  

Sitting at the lakeside, doing nothing, only meditating is also one of my favourite projects for the Juhannus holidays. Accompanied with thousands uninviting mosquitoes this year, I spot that with the change of the ray of light, the lake and the clouds are echoing an orchestra: they could be both surging and tranquilizing at the short period of time, swiftly changing between a silver mirror, cotton candy pile to an emotional sea.    

Tracing back to the good old days on literature researching, I never ever appreciate Henry Thoreau’s Walden (1854). It’s too trivial and simply plain; I used to jump over chapter by chapter to know what is his conclusion of Life in the Woods. Nevertheless, I love the quote from Chapter 6, Visitors, that “I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for company.” Mr. Thoreau, at summer cottage, how about add one more chair and celebrate it as “four for family”? 

Rakastan Juhannusta!

Special Thanks: Perhe Heikkinen

Photography: Mindy Yuan iPhone 5C 

Beauty Boom! When YSL Rouge Dada #6 meets CHANEL Sweet Lilac #615

Shining sunny days are out there, let’s make the two most luxury nail colours teaming up! My first purchase of Yves Saint Laurent La Laque Couture due to the closing sales at Stockmann Beauty at the end of May, I apply the remaining colours on nails and decide to give this ‘Vernis à Ongles’ a shot.

Naming Rouge Dada, but more like Burgundy wine reddish, a new-generation nail lacquer from YSL is presented in a sleek, elongated 10 ml glass bottle imprinted with black font ‘6/ Rouge Dada/ Yves Saint Laurent. At the bottom of the bottle is a round-shape sticker, indicating the trade logo and no doubt, ‘Made in France’. The outer golden coloured plated cap is carved with the timeless poppy red YSL monogram, while the inner brush cap is also enchased in logo black. This custom-made nail colour brush allows easy and fast application, and evenly on nails without streaking. I find Chanel Le Vernis brush is rather thin but accessible to reach to the slanting part of the toe nails, while YSL La Laque Couture brush is rather thicker, for covering merely 2-3 processes on toe nails the best. YSL the nail lacquer perfectly adheres to the brush that pulls the drop instead of pushing for flawless and intense results.

The long-wear formula of YSL la laque couture with rose oil strengthens, moisturizes and protects nails from chipping and cracking. Since I am not fond of complicated fingernail art, I mix and match YSL Rouge Dada #6 and Chanel Sweet Lilac #615 for the summer fun. From trimming, polishing and colouring toenails take me only 60 minutes, lasts over 3 weeks, but less than 30 EUR!

YSL