Lipstick and Study Notes

Hello Everybody!

Remember earlier today when I said I was going to stay inside all day? Well, that was a lie, because if there's one thing I love more than lounging on the couch in my sweats eating ice cream and watching 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', it's nail polish. Essie nail polish, to be specific. And there just so happens to be a store a few blocks away from my house that sells said nail polish, so you understand I couldn't not go. I like to treat myself to one of their beautiful polishes every once in a while, when I need something to cheer me up, when I feel like I deserve a reward for my hard work or when I haven't gotten one in a while and I start getting Essie-withdrawal-symptoms.

So into the rain I went, walked five meters and returned, went back into the house, waited for the storm to calm and walked back out. Round two was a lot more successful and I actually made it to the store this time. When it comes to Essie, I usually buy the first color that catches my eye, because I know I'll never be able to choose once I start browsing. Essie isn't exactly your cheapest nail polish brand so it's not like I can buy every color I want- and Lord knows I want them all- but it's pretty hard to go wrong. Every color I've bought so far still makes my heart beat a little faster as soon as I put it on. The color I went for this time is 'Lilacism', a beautiful pastel lilac -as the name suggest- color that I've been wanting for ages, and since it's supposed to be spring, I thought it would be the perfect buy. While I was in the shop I saw the L'Oreal mascara's were fifty percent (!) off so I simply had to get one of those, and I also bought a new eyeliner brush, eyeshadow primer and some brush cleaner. Oh dear, I think I may have a problem.

Here's Lilacism- so gorgeous!

I absolutely love this look!

Here are the other things I just had to buy

Something I really love about painting your nails (besides the fact that it makes you look and feel ten times better) is the endless possibilities- Am I keeping my nails long, or shall I go for short? Round or square? Lots of patterns or simple and plane? Glossy or matte? I usually get my inspiration from social media networks such as instagram and Tumblr and love to share my own ideas with the world. Here are a few of my favorite nail designs I've done myself:

Aztec prints are definitely my new obsession, especially when combined with this cute purple with a matte topcoat!

I adore this half plane/half glitter look

This has got to be my all time favorite nail design. I bought the gems from Claires and simply glued them on with a pair of tweezers!

Simple yet sophisticated

This simple matte pink look is made with Essie's 'Cascade Cool' and a drugstore matte topcoat

What do you guys think? What are your favvy nail looks? Would you like to see some tutorial type posts? Let me know!


Hugs and Kisses!

Hello Everybody!

Gooooood morning. I am currently on my couch in my PJ's, with messy hair and sleepy eyes. Now I wouldn't exactly call that the example of a beauty-blogger. The reason for this pre-breakfast update is that I was so excited to write another post I just simply couldn't stay in my bed any longer, so I jumped up and sprinted to my laptop as soon as I opened my eyes. Now that I'm comfortable and semi-awake, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a massive Thank you! (do you see what I did there?)

Making this blog, I never even thought people would actually be interested in what I have to say. Now, only a day later, I have received more than 200 (!) page views, gotten comments from some lovely bloggers and have had many good responses from friends and family. I know this is only day two and I still have a long way to go, but seeing everyone being so positive is really motivational and makes me enthused to provide you all with quality blog-posts in the near future.

My biggest fan, however, is my very own father, who has been crazy enough to buy me my own domain name (oh hello www.lipstickandstudynotes.com) and even an e-mail address (come say hello! rowan@lipstickandstudynotes.com).

Most of you lovely people probably have school right now, but luckily for me, I have the day off. After months of tests, deadlines and study-weekends a single day off can feel like finding water in the Sahara- refreshing,  delightful and possibly lifesaving. Being the ever exciting socialite I am, I have decided to spend my free Friday in my pajama's, on my couch, watching movies and writing blogposts- yay!

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, due to two reasons: 1. I was way to excited about my new blog (it hasn't even been up for twenty-four hours and I'm already losing sleep) and 2. I was too scared to close my eyes. You see, earlier that day I thought it would be a good idea to watch the trailer -just the trailer, not even a whole film- of a horror movie. In my defense, the movie was based on what was supposed to be a true story, which makes it a thousand times scarier, and it brought back some horrible memories of the time I went to see 'The Woman in Black' (shudder). I love watching horror movies with friends because I am a big fan of 'scary stories', but there is nothing I hate more than being scared. When I was younger, I refused to play hide and seek with some of my friends because I knew they would try to scare me as soon as I found them- and they always succeeded.

So thanks to a lack of sleep, yucky weather and just general laziness I will be writing quite a few posts today. Sit back, relax and enjoy, 'cause you are in for a treat!


Hugs and Kisses!

p.s. If you want to see if it's really that creepy or if I'm just a massive scaredy cat, here's what I read prior to watching the trailer and the trailer itself. Let me know what  you think in the comments below!

Hello Everybody!

My name is Rowan and I am very, very, very excited to meet you. As much as I would like to drown you in cuddles for checking out my blog, I'm afraid I can't. What I can do, however, is introduce myself.

Hello. As you can read in my description, I am a seventeen year old girl living in a big city called Amsterdam in a little country called The Netherlands. I am just about finishing up my last year of high school -all I have left are my final exams in May- which you can imagine is absolutely terrifying. I am fifty percent Dutch, fifty percent American and one-hundred percent ready to get out of this place.

It's not that I don't like it here, it's a lovely city really, I've just never really felt like I belonged. That is why I've decided to move to the United States of America (!) to go to University. Aaah the excitement! However, I have been rejected from my two top-choice Universities (sob) and waitlisted at my third choice, which means I only have two more chances to get accepted. Yikes. Combining this with the current stress of my exams coming soon and the pressure of 'growing up' and figuring out 'what on earth I want to do with my life', you'll probably understand that I am at the verge of a nervous breakdown. And that is not how I want to spent my last few months as a teenager.

This, my dear friends, is exactly the reason I have created this blog. As an outlet, a distraction and simply as something that will keep me happy and -most importantly- sane. But don't you worry, this isn't going to be a blog full of 'oh deary me, my life is oh so hard!'- on the contrary! This is going to be a blog filled with things that make me happy, and hopefully will make you happy too.

My main inspiration for this blog is Louise of Sprinkle of Glitter which is why something you will be seeing a lot of is beauty. I have always been a girly girly kind of girl, and this means I have quite the fascination -which is a nicer word for obsession- with all things beautimous: hair, nails, makeup and fashion. I will be posting some of my own creations as well as pretty pictures I've seen online and maybe even some product reviews.

I will also be posting some lifestyle-type things -for instance: how to survive your final exams- and I'll probably end up rambling about things that really excite me when I have something to be really excited about (like those darn British Youtubers, sigh).

I'm at the point in my life right now where I'm really trying to figure out what it is I'm good at and what it is I'd like to do later on. This leads to little projects like this making me extra excited- especially when they involve my three favorite things: beauty, writing and being a dramatic teenager. This blog is kind of like my new baby and I am thrilled to start creating posts but also a little scared. As a seventeen year old your main concern is if people like you and like the things you do, and I get quite easily affected by criticism. However, I will try my very best to make fun, entertaining and helpful blog-posts which I hope everyone will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing!


Thank you and I hope to speak to you soon!

Hugs and Kisses,


Rowan.