Baby it's cold outside. Coconut cookies and jazz music.

I take a big pleasure from days like this! It is just so wonderful outside when the temperature goes under -10 degrees, everything is covered by snow and I can literally feel my breath is freezing.

As the days are still quite short and during the weekend I have many things to do, it is hard to catch a little bit of sunlight. That is why my winter photos are taken in the night in black and white colors only.

I am wearing chunky colorful scarf, furry hat matching the fake fur on my warm coat and leather gloves in deep yellow. It is nice combination for really cold days and I feel very comfortable in it.

For me, winter is very inspiring season, since we can sit under the blanket, with a cup of hot tea and good book or laptop full of new ideas!

It is also nice to have some manual work to do in case not to get bored. During the wintertime I enjoy sewing (I am so bad at it, but still it is nice to improve our skills), drawing and baking.

I believe my favorite (very quick and easy) recipe is for coconut cookies. 

To make them we need:

* two egg's whites 

*one cup of sugar

*1/4 packet of butter

*200g of desiccated coconut

*few drops of vanilla flavor

Firstly, we have to create a foam from egg whites. When we have it done, we should leave it in a fridge and melt the butter into a small pot. After the butter is melted we should slowly add sugar and mix it until it's combined.

Then, we pour our coconut to the mixture and again, we gently mix it.

We should remember to leave our pot for a few minutes to cool it a little bit. After that time, egg foam is ready to add into the pot. I would say, it is the most important part as we have to stir it pretty well as there will be no loose parts of the mixture. 

Now we only have to put our cookies on a baking paper and pre-heat our oven (about 220 degrees).

Bake your cookies 10 to 15 minutes (it depends on how big they are). Don't eat them when they are hot since the might be a little bit too soft!

Mmm, delicious : )

During winter I also like to move into old times. Thanks to music and films it isn't very hard to do! Currently I listen to old jazz music recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Louis Armstrong. Also, the song which names I've putted in the title of that post is something I recommend everyone to listen to.

When it comes to films my favorite one from January is Anna Karenina from 1997. Sophie Marceau was stunning as Anna. Also costumes, music and the whole arrangement of that film was just perfect to me.

If you haven't watched that one or you've seen newer version with Keira Knightley, you should watch the one from 90s, believe me!

All photos were taken by Maatzey.

I think it will be end of that post. I hope that you liked photos and you will enjoy my recommendations. 

What do you like about winter? Do you find cold weather nice or rather not?

The Prom Night.

Last night the senior year in my school (including me) had a prom. Everything was so perfect! It took place in very nice and spacious building. The dinner was great, served by very smart stuff. We had a glass of champagne for each one of us, and we could use the smorgasbord all night.
Dancing was of course fun also, and with help of fantastic DJ it was even better. 
In assumption, it was terrific experience. 

And now, something about what I was wearing and how I looked like in general. When I had bought my dress I wasn't precisely thinking about the look I want to achieve. All I had know was that I want to keep my outfit very classy.

Then my mom offered to lend me her furry stole to keep me a little bit warmer. So I had more clear idea what I want to create. I matched a pair of short velvet gloves. Then I found a pearl necklace and bracelet. At the very end I've decided to go for a pair of seamed stockings to keep my outfit in a vintage style.
When I went to hairdresser with a photo of my outfit she suggested me hairstyle in the style of 20s. I really liked it so I had that one done. 
As for makeup I wanted to keep light. A little bit of neutral eye shadow and eye liner wing with plummy lipstick looked very nice.
I really enjoyed creating that look and I will never forget my Prom Night!
How do you like it?

All photos were taken by Maatzey.

The analysis of a brand – H&M. Part 1

H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) shops are easy to find everywhere. They are best known from low prices and good quality. Also, the brand has been working with many famous designers and celebrities, has participated in a lot of charity and ecologic projects.

The company has been created in Sweden, and first shop appeared on a high street of Västerås in 1947.

Today we can find H&M's clothes in 43 countries all over the world.

H&M world map.    300+ stores    200+ stores    100+ stores    50+ stores    20+ stores    10+ stores    1+ stores    Upcoming stores

Data taken from wikipedia.com

The clothes are produced in a variety of styles and sizes. The collection is usually separated to a few concepts such as L.O.O.G, H&M+, Divided or &Denim in purpose of customizing outfits to the wide range of customers.

The brand of H&M is provided with many different types of clothes. You can be sure that when you are looking for some occasional dress, casual slippers or vintage style accessories you will find that in H&M.

That shop has the literally the biggest multiplicity of products. If someone would choose to dress up only in one place, including pajamas, shoes and underwear, that could be H&M.

When it comes to prices there is also a large diversity. There is possibility to choose cheaper options or if we can avoid that, some more expensive ones. The quality of materials is not always connected with a price. We are not obligated to buy only the pieces that are more pricey to be satisfied with a purchase.

In addition to that, it is also worth saying, that the company offers their customers sales up to 70% (which is not very usual thing in Poland) and some special occasions when we can buy for example 3 pieces in price of two.

As for problems of changing some clothes to other size, returning them to shop or dealing with manufacturing defects I've never experienced any problems. The company is obligated to accept the return or exchange in 28 days after showing the receipt.

There was one situation, when I wanted to buy a shirt but they had only one piece in my size and it had a stain on a collar.

The lady from stuff gave me some sign on a receipt. She told me that I have to wash that shirt and if the stain will remain I can return it without any problems.

I was very positively shocked since it is common in clothing shops to create some problems against the customer.

So, I said quite a lot terrific things about brand. Now I want to go to the tinier part of that analyse.

Does H&M have any weak sides? Of course it has.

When it comes to quality I am not always very satisfied. Surely, I have some pieces which materials are perfect quality. Buy sadly, it happens that I buy a pair of leggings and I end up with a big whole on my knee after two or three workouts.

It also occur, clothes are fading too quickly.

As I said before, the quality of stuff is not connected with the price. That the think, that sometimes confuse me. I can never be sure, if the think that I am currently buying will last for year or a month.

Second disadvantage I can spot every time I try something on is the variety of actual sizes under the name of one.

Sometimes I can fit in 36(8). It happened that I bought trousers in size 42 (16) and they were also perfectly fine.

Medium can be like large and large can be like extra small. You always have to check, if the size is accurate to the actual size of your body. For me, it is annoying and I don't like it. 

Photo is taken from google.com

(That was the first part of my analysis. In the following one I will write about shop itself. How does it look like, is it comfortable to shop in that, how about changing rooms and stuff. I also want to post some pictures of clothes from H&M )

About art, drawing and creating.

I like to draw without any rules. Of course it is important to improve skills, but sometimes I just feel I want to draw and I do it. I don't care if it is good or bad as I am aware there are many way more skilled people around me. I am satisfied when myself and people close to me enjoy looking at what I created. That is the only think I need to keep drawing!

From time to time I plan very carefully the final effect I want to obtain. That situation occurred when I was drawing the eye above the text. I just wanted nice picture with straight eye liner line. But I couldn't make the perfect "wing" at the very end. I wanted to quit because the draft was blank and boring. So I left my sketch book and opened YouTube.

There I came across that fantastic and very creative animated short film.

And I just added the figure of a women on a eyelid. Then a tree and a full moon. Simple as that. I am aware it is not a masterpiece, but I really like it :)

What is more about that film, I find it really touching and beautiful. I strongly recommend all of you to watch it since is extremely innovative and unique. I am positive you will like it!

When it comes to the second draft don't ask me what it is because I have completely NO idea.

I was just very very bored while sitting at home and being ill again. And I did that. It is very abstract, so I enjoy that.

All drafts were drawn by me. To first and the second one I've used HB pencil and to two others black chalk in wood I believe.

The third and fourth draft were created while listening to new Zaz album. I find french music in that style very light and nice to listen when I am just relaxed and positive. It always make me smile, even though I can remember how badly I felt when I had to learn some new french words and grammatical structures for my french classes.

When I am in good mood I can draw everything what comes to my mind. So it can be a little bit melancholic also. I am talking about the first one inspired by books about Narnia (I really like the technique used in those books and since I was little I really like looking at the picture of the castle).

I can say that drawing is for everybody. When you practice you find your own style. It doesn't need to be perfect and professional.  Nobody will judge you because you drew something like a 8 year old kid. As far as you enjoy showing yourself your emotions, feelings and conceptions on a white paper I believe it is perfect hobby!

Kisses,

I.

I do not own these videos, there were found on YouTube. All rights are reserved to the authors.