Hello my friends! Has winter come to where you live? Because here in Greece it's so sunny and warm it's hard to believe that Christmas is so close already! Anyway, regardless the weather, winter is here and the cold will follow, so I think it's the perfect time to talk about winter favorites in beauty.   
With Christmas coming fast I can't think of a better way to destress ourselves than taking good care of us, body and soul. Actually I've got some "treats" for you in my previous blogpost: "How I pamper myself". However, talking about winter specifically certain products are necessary to conquer the cold, dry atmosphere and make you and your skin feel a lot happier.
Personally I can't get through a breezy winter without a decent amount of my favorite winter products. I'm not talking about the full list of every single one product that I use on my hair, body and face in detail, just a short list of the absolute favorite winter products here. Simple as that! I'm talking about the products I can't live without this time of year which is called winter, the ones that put a smile on my face whenever I use them and make this "grey", frosty season a lot brighter and happier!
So, without second thought, these are my favorite winter products for many years now!

1. The skin on my body gets extremely dry and itchy when the first yellow leaf on a tree appears! That's the most annoying thing for me during cold weather.. So, a really good and effective moisturizing body lotion is an absolute must, if I don;t want "snow" falling in my house whenever I take my clothes out! However, I hate greasiness on my body and that makes my choices really difficult, but, you can't have it all and for me my skin health comes first. This year I discovered a body lotion from LA ROCHE-POSAY, which is suitable and therapeutic for very dry and itchy skin and it's so pure that it can be applied on babies as well. Forgive me Clinique for replacing your body lotion (Clinique is the one I use all year long), but this one really seems to work on my skin, so far. There is also a matching shower gel, that doesn't dry the skin, but leave it soft and hydrated, so that's my favorite body care set for winter!
2. My feet really suffer "squeezed" in the shoes all day (flip-flop period is my feet's favorite season), so whenever I have the time I offer them the gift of a nice home feet-spa: soak them into lukewarm water, exfoliate them and massage them using a rich cream which hydrates their skin as well as helping my feet blood circulation. The result? Feeling rested afterwards and having baby soft feet! THE BODY SHOP has the perfect products for feet care and I just love them
3. Although my skin is oily a good moisturizing lotion is always necessary, especially during winter time, when the dry air and the heating make every last water drop o! my skin being evaporated. And when it comes to moisturizing, CLINIQUE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT MOISTURIZING GEL is my all time favorite product! This gel always makes me so happy when I apply it on my face! Love!
4. I'm not the lipstick kind of girl. When it comes to lips a lipgloss is my choice. I find that lip glosses give a more natural,  fresh result and they're much easier to apply, so it's usually out of question. However, during winter I love a little more rich color on my lips and I find my solution on CLINIQUE CHUBBY LIP STICKS, These lip sticks combine lip liner, lip stick and rich full creamy result and they're just amazing!  They give a shiny-mat natural look, they're super moisturizing and they come in so many beautiful colors that they're an absolute must favorite product for winter!
5. A nice hand cream. My hands get really dry during winter, so a hand cream is necessary, too. I rarely use hand cream all the other seasons as I don't like the greasiness on my hands and I don't  need it anyway. In winter, however I really enjoy the softness and the velvety effect of a cream on my hands. If the smell is great as well that makes it another favorite winter product. I usually have a L'OCCITANE hand cream always handy!
6. A lip balm. Who likes chapped lips? No one I think! That's why a CHAP STICK "lives" in my handbag all year long, but usually I use it much more at winter time for obvious reasons. Although Chap Stick is my favorite lip balm as it heals and softens my lips instantly, I also use EOS lip balms from time to time, because … I love their packaging and the smell… no judge…
7. Can you think of a better way to beat winter blues than color? When everything is grey and misty around me I want to treat my vision and my soul with something colorful which reminds me that there is always the other side of things and that spring always comes after winter…An easy way to put some color in my life is by painting my nails with a beautiful color. As I don't paint my nails very often, I prefer small packagings of nail colors which may have the opportunity to get to an end, especially if they're my favorite ones. MAVALA is a brand with cute, adorable little bottles and an amazing, endless variety of nail colors. I have a not so small selection of them I have to admit and I absolutely adore them! So, yes MAVALA nail polishes are another winter favorite.
8. And last but not least winter favorite is something invisible! My perfume! I feel quite naked without it and I definitely miss something when I leave home without a spritz of my favorite smell. A perfume can lift my mood at once and all day through! Personally I love fresh and light perfumes, I find that they have a vivid influence in my mood. CHANCE by CHANEL is my second skin, all versions of it, especially "eau tendre" for winter.
And that is all! These are my favorite winter products. I hope you'll find them interesting and inspiring and why not? Try some of them yourself! I guarantee for each one!
Love you all,
​xoxo, Elena   

Hello my friends! I hope you are all o.k. It's Friday after all! The weather in my town is very "nasty" today. There is a very strong south wind, the sky has the "fifty shades of grey" and looks so amazingly light and heavy at the same time and the rain seems like will never stop….
But, somehow, I feel so great today, as if the sunniest day was sent here on earth! It's one of those wonderful days that you feel just happy with no particular reason. It probably has to do with general gratitude for life itself and the "oh so" desired inner calm that I possess today…. Or maybe it's the magical and therapeutical sound of the rain combined with the peace of the light grey atmosphere….. Oh, and I've heard that it snowed at the mountains! How cheerful and rejuvenating is that!
I captured some moments of my day to share with you via instagram and maybe give you some ideas on what to do on a rainy day like today:

• I wrote on my DIY "5 minute a day journal".
  
• I had my morning coffee at bed, reading a little, and….
  
• Dreaming of my next journey….
  
• I warmed up my body and my soul with the most flavorous tea!
  
• I made a mushroom and pepper omelette for breakfast and strength.
  
• I scheduled to organize my closet one day in the near future, just to feel more neat and confident.
  
• I walked on my new treadmill, since that was easier than hitting the road, and felt so wonderful! Back in action again, after a long, long period of hibernation…
  
• I enjoyed a comfort dinner with my love, and last but not least….
  
• I got tons of inspiration by Abraham Linkoln's saying from my "Just for today be happy" book.
  

I hope you enjoyed my "instaday" post and I wish you all a fabulous weekend!
Love you,
xoxo, Elena

It's that time again! Yes, Christmas is coming, no matter how negative we may be about this whole excessive burst of sparkling red, green and white holiday festivities, no matter who Scrooge is struggling to survive inside anyone's mind… Yes, it's coming against all hurdles, against any resistance, because that's the exact meaning of Christmas: to warm up even the coldest hearts on the planet. 
I haven't decorate the house yet, because I was sick with a bad cold for almost two weeks, so I couldn't clean the house first and then decorate it, but it's not too late. After all, we used to trim the tree just a few days before Christmas when I was a kid, even on Christmas eve, so it's definitely not late at all actually! Last Sunday was the first day I started to feel healthy and strong again and I didn't lose the chance to ask from my dear man to bring down the tree from the loft. 
I made the most wonderful thick hot chocolates for us served with frothed milk and mini marshmallows to inaugurate our new shiny red Christmas mugs I bought from Starbucks a few time ago. I loved these mugs at first sight!! They look like huge shiny red  balls for the Christmas tree… Classy and fabulous!!!...

I lit our advent candle as well as all the lights in the living room… to celebrate the coming of Christmas and let joy come in our home. How much we really need it! The candle is melting nice and slowly bringing us one more day closer to the 25th of December… and reminding us to rejoice a little bit every single day until the Big Day, because pleasure hides in the path we follow to reach our destination and not the destination itself.
With our hearts warmed and sweetened (and our mouths as well….), we uncovered our tree from his paper box and let it breathe again! "The Muppets" movie was playing on tv, the perfect timing for a little extra cheer and festivity, and Thanasis, my man, patiently and carefully setup the tree in our living room.
Green and proud our tree is graciously siting beside the sofa now, in front of the window waiting for me to trim it….
Be patient tree, be patient…
I hope you are all starting to get into the Christmas mood, more or less, your way…
Love you all,
xoxo, Elena 

Hello! I hope you had a beautiful weekend and now you're ready to face the new week with strength and joy. It was a quite weekend for me, I relaxed and shared nice, family moments with my man, cleaned the house a little and redecorated the Christmas tree (I told you, I keep it one more week, every year).  Monday may brings us down every now and then, but try to be positive and find inpiration from whatever works best for you. The following board can really lift your spirits! Pin it somewhere you look at every morning and start your day with a smile on your face!  

And, of course, there is nothing more uplifting than a beautiful outfit. Dress good, feel good! So simple!
Here are some very cute and very cozy sets from marvelous lady Kelly Ann found as Archimedes 16 on Polyvore. I always take her advice on urgent emergencies, she's an instant inpiration for me, I hope for you, too!

It's been almost a week since my last post and Christmas is coming fast and I'm running a lot lately because I have so many things to do! Craziness around here!
I spend lots of time with my new blog "eleganti" which is most a personal agenda of wellbeing and inspiration, things I personally need so much! I need a place as a refuge from everyday life so I keep eleganti simple,  austere and above all... elegant. I'd be so glad if you'd visit it and thrilled if you'd  find it helpful, too.
There are also other jobs processing inside and outside the house and I'm  really stressful these days...Anyway it's Friday today and I'll try to cheer up a little.

I wish you all have a beautiful weekend! Calm down, find some time for yourself, take a cup of something hot and enjoy these winter dream pictures. After all winter is here for good! Love you all, xo, xo Elena

Welcome winter! I don't believe December is here! We don't even use the quilt in bed yet! The weather is so, so wonderful! And I'm so happy because Christmas is almost here, too! I hope you're all nice and healthy (I had a cold last week, thank God I'm ok now) and starting to prepare for Christmas. Enjoy one of my favorites winter song and don't forget to visit my new inspirational blog "eleganti". I wish you all the most wonderful winter!