TRAVEL | Lisbon, Portugal

- Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Belém  -

I love this place. Not only for it's historical meaning but also for how cool and detailed this monument is.

Boi-ing

I've been loving this little pink pot. It's my little helper on rough mornings. Specially because since I've completely dropped my morning routine and now the only thing I do is to lightly cover my dark circles and put on mascara and lipstick.

This is Benefit's Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer on shade No 2, and it's amazing. It is super creamy, super easy to apply and super easy to blend with your fingers. This shade is actually pretty perfect for my skin, specially for my eyes --  It covers all the darkness and redness and it looks fairly natural. I love using it on my eyelids and on my dark-circles. I don't wear foundation on a daily basis because I don't have many blemishes or scares, and I often just opt to apply bit of concealer to cover some occasional red-ish spots.

EAT | Jamie's Italian, Lisbon

If I asked you to name a famous chef, I bet the first name comes to your mind is Jamie Oliver. He is the most famous chef from my generation. If you are a bit younger, you may not remember all his cooking shows, or 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' -- a TV series where Jamie traveled around US and showed the world how trashy the food at schools is and how he tried to change that. 

Because of his success, Jamie launched a few restaurants. One of them being Jamie's Italian that, eventually has been franchised all over Europe. And of course, when I hear that one opened in Lisbon, I had to try it.

We went on a week night, like we always try to do when going to these trendy restaurants. It was easy to book a table with on a really short notice, and we were hoping we'd have a nice calm dinner experience. But that wasn't the case. The restaurant was packed full, noisy and super busy. 

But even so, we didn't have to wait. As soon as we arrived the maitre d showed us to our table, we sat, we looked around and we knew we were going to have a good experience.

We looked to the menu, where everything sounded delicious. We asked for a nice bottle of red wine and as a starter, we shared an Hot-Smoked Salmon Bruschetta with ricotta cheese, fennel and lemon. It was to die for. The creaminess of the ricotta, that zing of the lemon and the warmness of the salmon go really nice together. Really flavorful and really simple. Simple enough to recreate at home!

As for the main dishes, I opted for the Scallop and Prawn Risotto and my friend asked for the Lamb Chop Scottadito.

My risotto was lovely -- The rice was perfectly cooked, really creamy and rich. It had a few prawns and a few scallops. But it wasn't perfect. My scallops needed a few more seconds on each side, because they were lacking a bit of browning.

The lamp chops were super tasty, juicy and tender. They were, though, a bit overcooked. The center wasn't completely pink as it should. My friend said that I'm a food snob and that both of our dishes were perfect, and that I was being too picky. But excuse me if I was expecting perfection! We were paying good money for our food and don't take me wrong -- the food was extremely tasty -- but I was expecting more attention to this type of details.

And then it came the best part of the meal. I'm going to be honest with you -- one of the main reasons I wanted to go so badly was because I wanted to try Jamie's famous Epic Chocolate Brownie. And it is so good. It tastes like chocolate heaven! It comes with a scoop of salted caramel ice  ice-cream and a few lovely crunchy caramelized popcorn curdles, and I don't know how Jamie came up with this combination but it works in so many levels! It feels like a desert a kid would make -- you know, by mixing all the candy -- but it works! The different textures and the different temperatures turn this dessert into a melange of sensations in your mouth. My guy asked for the Amalfi Lemon Meringue Cheesecake that was also mind-blowing. It's like a cheesecake and a lemon meringue pie had a baby and the best of them combined into this amazing dessert.  The lemon curd was tangy and creamy, and it had a mountain of meringue perfectly cooked covered with an extremely rich blackcurrant compote. We asked for two deserts because we thought that maybe one desert wasn't enough to share... oh but they are! Both of our deserts were huge.

The restaurant was really noise the whole time we were there. And even tho it has a very romantic atmosphere, the noise really kills the mood. We were having troubles in understanding what we were saying across the table. But we really enjoyed the experience. The food was great, the wine was awesome, and the deserts made it worth it. And yes, I plan to go back and try all the other dishes on the menu.

Revenge of the 90's

Tomorrow I'm going to another Revenge Of The 90's.

Revenge of the 90's it's a party all about the 90's, with 90's music, 90's personalities and 90's trinkets. It's the 4th time I'm going to one of these party and it's always super fun.

It used to be a very underground thing. You had to be in Facebook group, and you could only get tickets by talking to PR. Now, it's a full on event, you can by tickets online and at the nearest Fnac -- this time the ticket is actually an NFC bracelet, that you can even charge with money and use to pay for drinks inside! Super high tech!

But it's still super fun go -- at least the last one was! I had a blast! And I also get to dress up like one of the Spice Girls and not get judged!

Have you ever been to one of these parties? Are you going to this one? Do you think these are cool or lame?

My blog turned three this year and I thought it was time to make a few changes around here. I'm a different person that I was three years ago, I've changed, and I think my blog deserved to grow too. I wasn't trying to make any drastic changes, because honestly I still liked what I had before. But I asked Sofia from Pirilampos Em Marte to make me something simple, that I could relate to. She made me a new header and a new avatar. And I think it came out great. Specially because I just asked her to make anything really -- I gave her almost zero instruction or guidelines --   and she just amazed me. I honestly had no idea what I wanted but I think she nail it. I love how cute I look!

What do you think?

REVIEW | LIERAC Body-Slim Minceur Globale

In case you haven't noticed, I've been dragging my lazy ass to the gym whenever I can.

I've wrote about this before. I don't think I'm fat, I just want to be healthier. I spend all day sitting down and I feel like that takes a tole on my body... 

I'm drinking more water, trying to eat better, and exercising of course. And even tho I'm seeing results -- I can see that my abs are more defined I still felt like some extra help is welcome. 

As you know, I've started to take Cellulase Pears, and in addition to that I started using a sculpting cream.

I asked around which one I should get, and of course my favorite pharmacist -- Mr. O Pinguim Sem Asas -- recommended me this one - LIERAC's Body-Slim Minceur Globale

I've been told that this is a starting out product -- which means that it is the ideal product if you want to start battling cellulite and you want to actually see some results.

I've been using it for a while now -- my tube is actually almost over --  and yes, I can definitely tell a difference! 

It's texture is really nice -- it's a very lightweight pink lotion. Really easy to apply. It feels very silky, not too tick or creamy. It dries down really fast -- and it doesn't leave any stickiness or wet feeling. 

And the smell -- I love the smell! It has a slightly medicinal smell, not too intense, with a hint of raspberry. And after you apply it to your body it almost changes to a very light fresh fruity scent. I like it!

But to make the most out of this product, you have to be careful on how you apply it and what you do with it. You can't just lightly rub it in and hope for the best, because that won't work. To really make it work, you'll have to:

- Apply the product at the end of the day, after the shower --  I usually do it after the gym.

- Exfoliate your skin at least once a week to help improve the penetration of the product

- Massaging the product in to insure good penetration, stimulation of circulation and to help release the fat cells. Oh, and when I say massage, I mean self-inflicted torture with my knuckles on my tights. And yes, I've been told that this is supposed to hurt. This type of product can't just be smeared on you skin! You have to work it in.

- Drink a lot of water to help with the draining

- Exercise. As much as possible.

Honestly, I am always a bit skeptical about this sort of products and I can't really say if it is this product, the Cellulase Pearls, the exercise or just the combination of it all. But yes, I'm seeing good results! I have less dimples on my butt and that curve that goes from the begging of the leg to the butt is much smoother and defined. But yes, less cellulite that's for sure.


Shop here:

LUSH | Favorites

I know I'm always raving about Lush products. I like that they are natural, I like the concept of the brand, I love that they are package free. But you know, there are a lot of products from Lush that I don't really care for. There are a few Lush products that are a staple in my bathroom, but there were a lot of them that I've tried and hated.

I'm weird with smells. And we all know that not all Lush products smell amazing.  But there are a few that smell like heaven and that I absolutely love.

In terms of smell of a bath product -- I like products with a fresh smell, that smell like clean, so I always go for the things that smell like lavender, lemon, or cotton. And my favorite Lush products are products that make me feel relaxed and clean, and that don't have a weird smell.

And no, this does not include bath-bombs or bubble bars. Even tho I've tried a few, I din't really enjoyed them that much. I believe that it kinda of goes against the brand's concept regarding ecological and sustainability issues. Why would you fill up a bath tube with water just to make it cute...? It's a waste of water and honestly think it goes against the whole eco-friendly thing.

-- NEW Shampoo Bar --

I've tried different shampoo bars over the years, but the  NEW Shampoo Bar has always been my favorite.It smells like cinnamon and clove and it is suppose to help with hair-fall and breakage. It comes with no packaging and it used to have an actual stick of cinnamon embedded on one of the sides, but it doesn't anymore. Now it comes with a cute and important message.

It's pretty simple to use -- I just use it like if I was using a regular bar of soap, but on my hair. It ladders up pretty easily and it makes a really cute pink foam that makes your hair smell amazing. And I've also noticed that with this shampoo my hair absolves less water -- I don't know why, or how, I just know that I feel like at the end of the shower my hair is not as wet as it is when I use other types of shampoo.

-- Serendipity Soap --

Serendipity Soap it's my favorite soap bar from Lush. Honestly, I think I hate the smell of most of them. But this  one smells like heaven.

It's a soap --  a regular soap bar --  that smells like lavender. Showering with this soap is really relaxing, and the whole bathroom gets filled with this comforting lavender smell. It does something that I like -- makes me feel completely clean, like all the oils and dirt were completely removed from my skin.

-- Enzymion Face Moisturizer --

Usually I'm not the biggest fan of moisturizers. I like very light  products, that get absorbed really quickly. And the Enzymion Face Moisturizer is exactly like that. It has a very fresh smell, and it is very very fluid. It has a completely mat finish and it's not oily or sticky. 

It's an expensive product but a little but goes a long way -- because it is so fluid, just a small amount it's more than enough for your face.

-- Mint Julips Lip Scrub --

I'm a bit crazy with exfoliation. I like to scrub all the dead skin of my body. Including off my lips. When I had braces, my lips were always dry and disgusting, so I began exfoliating them. The Mint Julips Lip Scrub was my best friend. It's a sugar scrub that you can actually eat -- it's just sugar and oils. All Lush's lip scrubs are sugar based and they just change the flavor. My favorite is this one -- that smells like mint and it leaves a nice tingling feeling on my lips.

-- Sandstone Soap --

And still on scrubbing products -- I absolutely love this Sandstone Soap. It's my latest obsession... It's the scrubbiest soap that Lush makes. It is made of sand. Like beach sand. After using this, your bathtub will look like a beach... It's rough, but it really scrubs you off. 

It is an awesome product BUT it's expensive and you can find cheaper ones on the market that do the same thing, but once in a while I like splurge on this one.


Have you tried any of this products? What's YOUR favorite Lush product? Let me know all in the comments!

More on Lush:

| Saving money on Lush | Rose Jam Bubbleroon Bubble-Bar | NEW Shampoo Bar |

GIVEAWAY | Who want's to win a temporary bad decision?

If you're like me and you always wanted a tattoo but you're no good with commitment, you should head over to my Instagram and try to win this cool temporary tattoo that I'm giving away.
The design I'm giving away is the one on the picture.

The rules are really simple:
✅Follow me @thenotsogirlygirl8
✅Like this picture -- it's the first one you see here!
✅Tag two friends in the comments. You can comment as many times as you want as long as you always tag different friends.
👑If the winner also follows my blog he/she will get an extra surprise!
🌎 Open worldwide
📆 Winner will be announced on October 5th!

Good luck!

Read more about INBOX here.