Check Crop Blouse

Instead of the weekly 'Friday Fancies' post, there's a new outfit awaiting you today. As you might have noticed, I spent a couple of days in Carinthia and have been very busy plus there weren't enough entertaining or lovely products to fill this week's edition. So, here's my rather simple approach to style a crop blouse instead, when temperatures below 15°C degrees only allow to dream of summertime, tanned skin and flat tummies. As if.. Haha. 

I love black and white styles almost as much as the combination of short and long/loose fit clothing items. The boyfriend blazer seemed to go well with the crop blouse and helped alter the summer piece to a spring-like ensemble. What do you think of the outfit? How do you usually wear crops?

Love, Julie.

Blouse: Primark, Blazer: H&M, Jeans: Pimkie, Boots: MaxShoes,

Sunnies, Jewelry: Forever21

Friday Fancies

The aesthetic appeal of this week(end)'s 'Friday Fancies' are really giving a lot of pleasure and are balm to my wounded soul ;) Like how can you not fall for these colours? I love a good combination of pastel pink and gold. Also, these items have really entertained me good throughout the past week. I hope you don't mind me write 'Friday Fancies' on a Saturday. I'm currently in Carinthia and dealing with a terrible lack of time due to family meetings and stuff. Have a great weekend! xo

I currently rediscovered my love for Sudoku. What started as an opportunity to kill time, yet don't rest my brain too much, quickly turned out to be a little addictive. I've spent numerous evenings on the couch doing Sudoku while watching TV. Perfectly calming! What I also did meanwhile was having a GÜ London dessert. (Or maybe two.) We tested 'Chocolate Vanilla Cheesecake' and 'Banoffee' - both yummy! I still might probably choose the second one, if I had to decide between these two. The delicate gold jewelry was a Bershka buy and had me swooning over it again and again. A real bargain (10€ for all together!) and worth every cent. And finally, my Valentine's roses. They're beyond beautiful and I hope they'll look equally nice once they're dried.

Love, Julie.

Aztec Cardigan

Happy Monday, y'all! To kick the week off with a new style, I put on my favourite cardigan and shot the outfit I've been wanting to show you since x-mas. Finally, it's warm enough outside to wear that ensemble without another jacket or coat. Yay. I have a feeling that this circumstance might be over soon, though, since I'm headed to my Carinthian hometown later that week and they seem to still have crazy amounts of snow over there.. Anyway, I love the aztec print of the knit jacket and how well the colour goes with one of the many blonde shades on my head. Haha. 

Have a great week! 

Love, Julie.

Cardigan: New Yorker, Jeggings, T-Shirt, Shoes: H&M, Bag: Michael Kors, 

Necklace: Forever21, Bracelet: Present

Friday Fancies

On this week's fancy Friday, we do have a reason to celebrate: Love. Today is Valentine's Day and since I've just witnessed pure cruelty and a whole lot of (physical) harm in a relationship in my neighborhood, plus for a celeb separation I just wasn't prepared to deal with (Is it slightly weird to feel heartbroken for people you don't even know personally?), I'm more than certain about cherishing the person you're closest to. With that in mind, here's to a lovely Valentine's Day and a great weekend!

My weekly mood board consists of some items I really liked the last couple days, and some love for others. Currently on my nails: Jessica's hot coral shade called "Sun kissed beauty". A super lovely spring-like colour that lasts rather long and brightens up my greyish outfits. While at the local bio supermarket, I was beyond pleased to develop my nails matching the Cupper rosehip and hibiscus tea I was about to buy (most beautiful packaging, inside an out, just saying). It's the little things, you know... The lovey-dovey skull and the kitschy ribbon are indicators for today's festivities and proof of my romantic side. It was a part of my Ikea haul and I immediately thought like this was trash at it's finest. Last but most certainly not least, I wanna introduce you to a very good cause: the Caritas voucher pictured above! I can hardly go past charity of any kind and this one caught my eye at the cash counter of the supermarket I always use to get my groceries (Billa). For a 5€ donation you ensure that a baby in a third world country is given proper food. And honestly, what's this amount of money for anyone of us? A bottle of wine? The latest issue of InStyle or Vogue? Chocolate? I would love love love to inspire you to at least once spend your five euros on a good cause rather than any of these listed luxury items. Or maybe just get both - anyways, the feeling to help is rewarding enough, believe me!

Love, Julie.

Sunday Afternoon Baking: {Chocolate Muffins}

A typical situation that I find myself in too often: Sunday, 16:00, craving sweets or some homemade baked goods. A glance into the fridge and kitchen cupboards doesn't help much - there are simply too many ingredients missing to bake something from a cookbook. Going to a shop? And get dressed? Nah..

So, the easiest solution is to browse the web for improvised recipes that help satisfy the urgent sweet tooth. I have found one that came closest to what I had on hand and altered it a little. Let me tell ya, these chocolate muffins tasted delicious! Fluffy, moist and oh so chocolaty! Here's the super easy recipe for you, enjoy!

P.S. The winners of the Kusmi Tea giveaway are Raphi, Carina, Nadine, Birgit and Alex. You have already been contacted and I need all your addresses asap! Congratulations! 

Ingredients:

2 eggs
100g sugar
about 8 tblsp. shredded hazelnuts
80ml oil
100ml milk
7 tblsp. flour
2 tblsp. (pure) cocoa powder
chocolate or nutella (amount depends on how sweet you like it)
-> I used about 200g for the sponge and another 300g as topping

1.) Preheat oven at 180°C and prepare baking tray.
2.) Beat eggs and sugar + vanilla sugar until creamy, then add all dry ingredients as well as milk and oil. Stir well.
3.) Melt the chocolate and add it to the mixture.
4.) Fill the dough in the muffin trays and bake for about 20 min.
5.) For an extra strong chocolate flavour melt more chocolate and completely cover the muffins.
Bon appetit!

Similar recipe here.

Friday Fancies

I can't quite believe that another week - and the first month of 2014 - is already over. Welcome to February (better late than never, huh?) and welcome to the weekend, which automatically means it's time for my Friday Fancies! This week's edition is spicy.. Get all the details below! What have your favourites been throughout the week?

Somehow, almost all products that comforted me throughout the last few days had super lovely and intense fragrances or flavours. Being my favourite beauty product since Christmas, it was only fair to add the Body Shop 'Vanilla Bliss' shower gel to this list. Because I love the creamy vanilla scent, I also bought the home fragrance oil because I can't get enough of the delicious smell. Similar and yet so different is the next product of this week's mood board: the macadamia and vanilla Vandini body lotion. It's actually my girlfriend's and I love how it smells whenever she uses it. I would highly recommend it to anybody who fancies creamy, rich and yummy body lotions. My only Zara buy in weeks - despite the cheap sale! - has been the eau de toilette pictured above. It only cost about nine euros, smells heavenly and is perfect to carry in your bag for random day-to-day occasions. My final spicy favourite has been cinnamon. Pure fair trade cinnamon. I am currently doing a nasty detox cleanse (only for a very limited time, don't worry - I'm definitely not becoming one of these insta-crazy clean eating advocates!) and while I am literally dying of the lack of sugar and carbohydrates, berries covered in cinnamon are helping me through these hard times. I might be the worst chocolate addict around, though.. 

Love, Julie.

Valentine's Giveaway: Kusmi Tea

Whether you like it or not, next Friday is Valentine's Day. I know that most Austrians complain about that very day to be an American invention which doesn't have anything in common with the local traditions and is said to only have one aim, namely make people gift shopping. My attitude towards that 'special' day is much more romantic than that. I am highly attached to the idea of having one explicit day a year where love is celebrated all over the world. It is such a great opportunity to show your significant other how much they mean to you. And yes, sure, one could do so everyday, all year long and does not need a certain date. But honestly - are you really practicing what you preach? I do not write daily love letters on post its and am sure that most of you aren't either. So why not escaping the every so often ugly day-to-day routine where we all tend to be too busy, too proud or too scared to show a little bit of love, and turning this year's Valentine's Day into a possibility to be grateful for each other and celebrate that very circumstance?

I do wanna show y'all, my perfect readers, some love, too. As a tiny little 'thank you'-present I'm giving away 5 (!) boxes of Kusmi Tea's 'Sweet Love', worth about 16€ each; so this time, five people will be randomly chosen as winners and will receive a beautiful and delicious box of tea, sponsored by Kusmi Tea.

..."Subtle and spicy blend that combines black tea, liquorice root, guarana seed, pink peppercorn, and various spices. Sweet Love is an invitation to reawaken your senses."...

For a chance to win you need to be or become a follower of Stereotypically Me on GFC or Facebook and leave a comment with your name and e-mail address below this post. The winners will be contacted by me and have to agree with sharing their address with Kusmi Tea for the prizes will be shipped by the company. The giveaway is closing on Sunday the 9th, 24:00. Best of luck!

Love, Julie.

A huge THANK YOU to the lovely Kusmi team for the cooperation.

Winter Pastels {Stripes and the perfect 'Tiffany'-Turquoise}

Whereas December and most of January have been ridiculously mild and sunny, winter has now officially arrived in Austria. And while my relatives in Carinthia have to cope with immense masses of snow, Vienna is windy as can be. Nonetheless, I felt like differing from the average winter look aka black coats, black beanies, black gloves and chose brighter colours instead. Here's how my spring inspired look turned out! Mint and pale pink are among my favourite colours on the pastel palette and the 'Tiffany'-like turquoise hat has been a spontaneous sale buy from a traditional Viennese shop, which I had to have and felt like pairing with these candy colours of the stripey shirt. That H&M coat has been my gf's bargain and I love how much it reminds me of Britain!

Love, Julie.

Shirt, Jeans: Zara, Jacket, Ring: H&M, Boots: MaxShoes, 

Hat: Johann Strauß