Mademoisielle

Summer longings

2013-05-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

Trying to ignore the horrible weather outside (perfect study weather though...) while my summer wishlist is getting bigger and bigger! Tropical prints, washed denim and everything white (see here) definitely are my favourites this season. Oh sun, where are you?

Clockwise: Topshop banana print top - River Island shorts - Geometric print bikini - New Balance sneakers - Topshop sweater - Nelly studded heels - Mango white trousers - Zara neon clutch - ZeroUV sunglasses

Cheating

2013-05-16T08:30:00.000+01:00

This is what I wore today - except that I only wore these shoes for the photos, haha. They are still a bit painful, but already much better than the first time I wore them, so there's still hope! I can't wear my sneakers every single day, you know. Sorry for the slightly boring outfit, but as you know I'm extremely busy with school work at the moment so not much time for blogging/shopping/spending hours deciding what to wear! Damn, I wish it was July already...

What I'm wearing: H&M jeans & wedges, Primark top & sunglasses, New Look jacket

All white

2013-05-07T20:50:00.000+01:00

Again a very quick outfit post - does an outfit that consists of only two pieces even counts as an outfit? Who cares, this is what I wore yesterday when the weather was really nice again. I've been loving the 'all white' trend lately, I even got a white bikini a few weeks ago! (Pale people are always told not to wear white. I don't care) I'm still looking for the perfect white boyfriend blazer though. And a pair of white palazzo pants since I saw Camille wearing them on her blog. Maybe this pair from & Other Stories. And I really want those Zara skorts. Hmmm

What I'm wearing: H&M dress & sunglasses, Asos sneakers

Masjoefel

2013-05-01T13:17:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Denia, the lady behind Masjoefel, who asked me if she could use some of my blog photos to display her handmade collars. Of course I agreed, and the result can be seen HERE. As a thank you, Denia sent me this lovely collar! Now, lately I haven't been into the cute 60s style anymore, but I'm sure some of you are so if you're interested, you can take a look at Masjoefel on etsy. I have to get back to my desk where tons of schoolwork is waiting for me, but I hope you have a lovely day!

The New Icons & Neon

2013-04-23T22:41:00.002+01:00

Not so much to say today: I'm drowning in school work (damn you deadlines! Also: I'm the biggest procrastinator EVER) so I won't have much time to blog for the next two months, but I'll try my best! I didn't really buy anything from the New Icons collection apart from this necklace (that my boyfriend at first mistook for a HANDBAG. I mean, how???) since I'm saving up my money (Aren't I always? Or at least, trying to...) I recently booked my second summer trip last week: a few days in Barcelona with my family! Yes, I'm visiting the homeland of Zara & Mango in the middle of summer sales. So prepare for some serious shopping damage...

What I'm wearing: H&M the New Icons necklace, Zara blazer, Primark shoes, Sac d'Anvers bag, H&M jeans, top & earrings

White wedges

2013-04-18T09:18:00.001+01:00

The weather has been great lately, so I've finally been able to wear my new wedges! I did the stupidest thing one can do with new shoes: wear them to go grocery shopping. Result: 3 blisters! I hope they loosen up a bit because I've already planned lots of outfits with these. Oh well, luckily I bought some flats from Zara yesterday to relieve the pain. And I'm eyeing these sandals (not too high, so perfect for on holiday!) but of course, my size is sold out everywere again. Maybe it's the universe telling me I should really stop buying shoes...

What I'm wearing: H&M wedges, Primark jeans & sunglasses, Zara tee, New Look jacket and Asos cap

The usual outtakes...

She Style Awards

2013-04-15T21:44:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I got some pretty exciting news: my blog had been nominated for the She Style Awards! I'm competing next to some pretty awesome blogger ladies so I don't know about my chances to win, but if you think I deserve to win the She Style Award, go ahead and vote for me HERE! I can win lots of awesome prizes, including shopping vouchers and I get to write articles on She.be! Pretty cool, if you ask me. So what are you waiting for? Go cast your vote HERE! You can win a Vente-Exclusive voucher of €100 if you vote so there's something in for you too ;)

PS: While you're at it, maybe you could nominate my blog for the Knack Weekend Blog Awards too? ;) I'll be forever grateful!

Afternoon in Ghent

2013-04-10T21:48:00.002+01:00

On Saturday my boyfriend and I had planned to spend the day with Hanna and her boyfriend Ali in their favourite city Hasselt. Unfortunately Hanna got sick so we couldn't meet up :( So instead my boyfriend and I decided to go to Ghent. We didn't really do much except for eating cake, drinking coffee and a quick visit to Zara. Thanks to Hanne we discovered this great coffee place called Café Labath: delicious lattes & cakes in a retro-inspired interior, what's not to like? It's also a nice place to just sit and watch people, cause we all know Ghent is THE hipster capital of Belgium.

You know those fancy streetstyle photos from Jak and Jil etc? I was kind of trying to recreate those, haha.

What I'm wearing: (very old) H&M jeans, Primark top, Zara blazer, Asos sneakers, Sac d'Anvers bag, H&M rings

PS: This is what we made for dinner :

Stuffed peppers with chicken, mango, avocado and goat's cheese crumble, recipe from my lovely sister in law! Check it out on her awesome food blog HERE.

Last of the season?

2013-04-07T16:48:00.000+01:00

I love this fur coat, but I really hope it's the last time I've had to wear it this year. Like anyone else, I'm so bored with my winter wardrobe, and I'm so longing for some sun! Not much to say today, I'm spending my days behind my computer writing my bachelorpaper and cursing myself for not starting writing it earlier. Procrastination is my middle name.

What I'm wearing: H&M leggings, Primark top & sunglasses, handmade coat, Asos sneakers

I totally stole this outfit from Annebeth btw :D
Hope you had a great weekend! I spent my afternoon at Ghent yesterday with my boyfriend: a little bit of shopping and a lot of cake. Perfect!

PS: These are the weird looking but delicious tasting muffins I made yesterday (recipe from Blogilates):

London report: Notting Hill & Harrods

2013-04-03T20:24:00.001+01:00

What better way to end our trip to London with the beautiful Notthing Hill area? We went on Friday so we didn't see the typical Saturday morning antique market, but my travel guide told me it wasn't really worth it: Portobello Road gets supercrowded on Saturdays, and I wasn't going to buy antiques anyway! And let's face it: the real attraction of Portobello Road is the Hummingbird Bakery and its amazing cupcakes. Of course I had to try the red velvet cupcake (cliché but so good!), my boyfriend went for chocolate with cheesecake filling. Mmmmm! So worth it.

Jamie Oliver's store: drooling!

After a walk through Kensington Gardens, we passed by the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall.

Being silly...

We also visited the Victoria and Albert museum (didn't take many photos here) and of course, Harrods:

And that's it for my London trip! Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I'm definitely going back - although probably not this summer: if you follow me on instagram, you might have seen my boyfriend and I booked a small trip to Rome in July! I want to book another holiday too but I'm still indecisive. Maybe backpacking with some friends in North Morocco (lovely villages and amazing beaches)? Any other suggestions are welcome!

The Impossible Blogosphere

2013-03-30T14:45:00.002Z

A few days ago I had the pleasure to attend the Impossible Blogosphere event hosted by Smets in Brussels. After a long bus ride, my partner in crime Yasmine and I arrived at the fancy Smets store, where we could discover the S/S2013 collections while enjoying champagne and appetizers. As if seeing all those amazing designer pieces wasn't enough, we could try all of them on (!) and create an entire outfit, in which we got photographed to join the 'best outfit' competition. It took me about two hours to decide what to wear: so many gorgeous pieces! ~~Most of it~~ Everything was wayyyyy out of my budget, so it was a unique experience to be wearing this outfit.

I was wearing 3.1 Philip Lim jacket & Current Elliott jeans

My friend and vlogger Yasmine in her outfit:

Some photos of the store and the collection:

The Fashionistic Lover looking fine!

Sigh...

I didn't take photos of what I was wearing except for this mirror photo - and my designer outfit looked so much better anyway! I was wearing H&M pants & clutch, vintage jacket and Topshop heels. And I have no idea why I look like I have to pee.

Many thanks to Smets for the lovely evening, Sabrina (AfterDRK) for hosting the event (she's so lovely), and Yasmine (check out her vlogs, way too funny), Anouk, Dana, Nathalie and Thomas for the great company!

PS: After such a glamorous night, we wanted to unwind a bit and went for cheeseburgers and fries (so classy). After that, we took the wrong bus, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere. We then had to wait another hour for the last bus home, so we decided to go for a drink in the local dodgy-looking pub, where we ended up having a great time with the locals. Such fun! :D I was reallyglad to finally see my bed that night...

Finally mine

2013-03-26T16:01:00.001Z

H&M Trend wedges

After a lot of searching, crying (almost...), tweeting, messaging and thanks to two fine ladies (Kira & Loubna, I owe you!) these shoes are finally mine. I know they are not the most sexy shoes in the world, but after seeing Lucy and Danielle wearing them, I was sold. And they match with everything. YES.
Also, I'm definitely on a no-buy now.

Sneakers pt. 2

2013-03-22T17:46:00.001Z

So yeah, I got myself another pair of wedge sneakers! My other pair is actually completely worn out (the heel got all loose) and Asos was having a sale on again, so I added these white sneakers to my collection. They're so comfy! The pants are new too, from the H&M mid season sale. I love that they look a bit like track pants but not too sporty if you know what I mean. I actually was a bit cold walking around in bare ankles but shhht - I was so tired of my winter wardrobe! Wishing you a happy weekend, my homemade biryani leftovers are waiting for me (YUM) together with way too much school work (BOO). See ya!

What I'm wearing: H&M pants, Zara top, New Look leather jacket, Asos cap and sneakers

Voile beanie

2013-03-17T21:59:00.000Z

Just a quick outfit post today: I'm drowning in school work at the moment so I'm sorry if I'm not updating as much as I normally do! I wore this outfit last week when we received some of that (hopefully for the last time this season!) snow again. People told me I was nuts for going out in the snow with heels, but I think heels give better grip in the snow than flat shoes! I don't have any flat shoes except for AllStars, so that's not really an option. Anyway, I better get back to my paper I have to finish by tomorrow (procrastination much?), hope you had a lovely weekend! I had to play a concert on Saturday (not as fancy as the last one, but we got to wear our gala outfit again!), and I wore the shortest dress in history. Go me!

What I'm wearing: Primark trench, vintage skirt, ClothingLove sweater, DIY beanie, Asos boots

Cambridge

2013-03-14T21:30:00.001Z

After a few days in busy London, we jumped on the bus to visit the wonderful Cambridge. I don't know about you, but I really got a Harry Potter-vibe here! The amazing buildings, perfect courtyards, small passages, big clocks,... We had a great time being showed around the city by my boyfriend's friends who study at Cambridge and were so kind to leave their shitload of school work (seriously, essays every week?! You won't hear me complaining about my occasional translation assignments anymore) and take us around places tourists aren't allowed to visit, such as Trinity College, Saint John's College and their dorms (which are way cooler than those in Leuven btw). My boyfriend and I both got really motivated to get studying after visiting Cambridge (well, at least for a week :D), and who knows, maybe one day I'll be there too, ~~flying my broomstick~~ studying my ass off? Yeah, not gonna happen. But we can dream, right?

My boyfriend told me to dress (in his words) 'aproppriate' - aka no ripped jeans, slouchy coats or caps - so this is my most boring outfit of the trip :D (wearing H&M jeans & beanie, Zara sweater, vintage jacket & Topshop boots)

Best vegetarian burger I've ever had (black bean & jalapeño) YUM

Dagen Zonder Vlees - Days Without Meat

2013-03-08T11:19:00.000Z

Zucchini, pepper, onion & goat's cheese quiche

Dagen Zonder Vlees (or Days Without Meat in English) has been going on for four weeks now, and of course I am participating: I've told you before that I try to not eat meat very often because of the consequences for the environment and health, and because I don't miss eating meat anyway. I have to admit I was quite pleased that the recent horsemeat scandal drew some attention to the meat industry and how little we know about what's in our food (and especially meat) - I think loads of people would be reluctant or even disgusted to eat meat that often if they knew how it's produced or what is added... But that's another story.

'Pizza' provencal: aubergine, bell pepper, olives, oregano & mozzarella

The question I get most when I tell people I try to eat vegetarian most of the time is "But what do you eat then???" No, we don't just substitute meat by veggie burgers. When you decide to adapt a partial vegetarian lifestyle, you have to adjust your eating habits. The good old potato-veggies-meat combo just doesn't cut it anymore. But then I get the question "Isn't that a lot of work???" No, not really. Think about a simple pasta with a vegetable sauce: cut up some vegetables, add loads of spices, cook pasta, DONE! You reallyget more creative with your cooking when you step off the regular potato-veggies-meat combination. So, I wanted to share some of the recipes I've tried out lately - Unfortunately I dont take pictures of everything I eat (otherwise this post would be way too long) but I added some other recipes I want to try out soon! I really hope this inspires you to try out some vegetarian cooking yourself too!

1. Vegetable 'tajine': Couscous with aubergine, carrots, tomato, lentils (you can use any vegetable you want really) and Moroccan spices.

2. Butternut squash, spinach and caramelized onion lasagna, topped off with ricotta and pine nuts (recipe from HERE)

3. Pad Thai: Actually I'm cheating here because I made this one with scampi. But I've made it with baked tofu a few times too and it tastes equally good! Recipe HERE.

4. Vegetarian spaghetti bolognese: just substitute the minced meat for quorn meat: you don't even taste the difference!

5. A vegetarian dish that my sister and her bf prepared a few weeks ago: grilled aubergine, zucchini, tomato & ricotta gratin.

6. Leftover mushroom, zucchini, paprika and feta frittata.

7. Risotto primavera: I stole this recipe from Annebeth! Check it out HERE.

8. Recipe from my mum: chicory, carrots, apple, bell pepper, walnuts, feta and curry sauce.

9. Ahh, Indian food! The best thing about curry is that you can just add any vegetables you have left in your freezer! Here I used tomato, pupkin, chickpea, pepper and onion. Add some curry paste (I swear by Patak's), coconut milk and fresh coriander and you're done!

10. Another risotto: Spinach, wild mushroom, onion, chickpea and parmesan. Recipe HERE.

11. Spring is around the corner, which means it's time for salads again! This one is just simple: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, grilled mushrooms , apple, roasted pine nuts, balsamico, goat's cheese (I think) and ciabatta.

12. What I made for Valentine's dinner: Roasted butternut squash with tomato, zucchini, red pepper, thyme, feta and parmesan, with oven baked potato wedges! Recipe HERE.

13. A typical 'leftovers dinner': cabbage, bell pepper, spring onion, baked tofu, Thai curry paste and rice noodles.

14. This is what I call the holy trinity: Tomato, mozzarella and basil. Add some toasted bread with pesto and you have the most delicious (and healthy!) lunch ever.

15. Lunch at Greenway (amazing vegetarian restaurant in Leuven or Ghent): Veggie enchiladas! Delicious.
Btw if you make a profile on the Dagen Zonder Vlees website, you can make a screen shot and have a free meal at Greenway! Their food is really good, I could eat there every day if I had the money.

And then some recipes I've tried but don't have pictures from:

10-minute couscous salad,
Aubergine rolls with spinach & ricotta,
Moroccan chickpea soup,
Wholeweat pasta with broccoli and almonds,
Shakshuka (or menemen or huevos rancheros, it all comes down to practically the same amazing dish),
or just go to BBC Good Food (my ultimate resource for recipes) and select vegetarian in the sidebar.

and if you're interested: Hanna has an interesting post about Days Without Meat HERE, Annebeth has some delicious looking recipes (not all vegetarian but still good) on her blog HERE and Charlotte always has the best food pics on instagram HERE (she's a pescatarian, which means she doesn't eat meat but she does eat fish!)

And what better way to finish your meal with a healthy dessert:

YUM.

Please share me your vegetarian recipes, or tell me what you think about mine!

London report: British Museum & Camden

2013-03-03T14:21:00.000Z

On our 4th day in London we decided to visit the British Museum. It's impossible to see the entire museum in one day, so we decided to focus on the Egyptian (mummies!)and Middle Eastern collection.

I couldn't NOT include these!

We had lunch at Hummus Bros and went for a falafel, hummus, tzatziki and tomato wrap with fresh lemon & ginger lemonade, yum!

After lunch we decided to go to Camden, but go through Regent's Park first. I had looked on the map and said "It's not that far!" but I was clearly mistaken: Regent's Park is HUGE, and it was one of the coldest and rainiest days of our trip! To make it even worse, we got some hail too! My umbrella didn't survive the day, but I was so glad when we finally arrived at Camden.

The food stalls all looked incredibly delicious, but it was raining so we couldn't eat outside :( I bought a 'I love London' mug (of course) and my iPhone case you've probably seen on instagram! All in all a lovely day, but I was glad to be back in our apartment, my feet were killing me!
The day after we took the bus to Cambridge, so stay tuned for my next post!

Jack Daniels

2013-02-26T21:48:00.002Z

~~Stealing~~ borrowing our (boy)friends clothes: we've all done it, wether it's a pair of jeans when you've managed to spill on your last clean one or an oversized tee from your boyfriend when you're feeling lonely at night (or forgot to bring a pyjama...) A few months ago when I stayed over at my boyfriend's, I found myself with nothing to wear but the dress from our night out (on which I spilled a variety of drinks... Clumsy, me?) and a pair of jeans, so I pulled out this Jack Daniels T-shirt from my boyfriend's closet, and he never got it back - I wear it all the time so it surprised me it never made it on the blog before! It looks great with jeans, skirts or just underwear (well yes, what better way to 'reward' him for taking his clothes? ;)) I wore it with my new favourite jacket I found at the final Zara sales for only 19,99 - the original price was cut off, but I guess it must have been 70 euros or something, so a pretty good buy in my opinion! Prepare for a picture overload...

Being my charming self again...

What I'm wearing: H&M glitter jeans, Jack Daniels T-shirt, Zara jacket, Topshop boots, Forever21 necklace

London report: Oxford Street, Soho & Westminster

2013-02-20T22:32:00.000Z

Of course I couldn't spend a week in London without going shopping! So on Monday we took the tube and jumped off at Tottenham Court Road, right in front of the new and HUGE Primark, where I would spend the next two hours of our day :D

I should add that one bag is from my boyfriend! :D

After dropping by Topshop (great clothes but a little expensive), we went for lunch at Marks&Spencer, aka food heaven:

Falafel & hummus salad, nomnomnom. They should really bring back Marks&Sparks in Belgium :(

After lunch, we decided to leave Oxford Street behind us and visit the Photographer's Gallery (didn't take pictures there) and explore Soho. This is one of the nicest neighboorhoods of London to walk in in my opinion: interesting shops and lovely atmosphere.

The Algerian Coffee Store - amazing coffee and chocolate!

At around 5PM we met up with some of my boyfriend's old friends who he hadn't seen in a few years - it was really nice catching up! One of his friends works in London and he took us to a restaurant where, in his opinion, they served "the best burgers in London". And because he works in the neighbourhood, he can eat there with a 50% discount! We weren't disappointed: this was indeed the best burger I've ever had in my life.

Shopping haul of the day!

After said delicious burger we went to a little pub, hidden in the basement of a house. I must admit, it's kinda cool to walk around London with a Londoner - you really get to see places you would never see as a tourist. Lovely evening <3 font="">

The next day we had actually planned to go to Canterbury, but we slept a bit too long and decided to just stay in London and do the typical tourist stuff: Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster & Buckingham Palace:

Don't be fooled by the blue sky, it was really freezing! Result: I looked like the red noised reindeer all day. Yay.

St James Park

We didn't go al the way to Buckingham Palace to see the change of the guards (too cliché!), but we went on to Piccadilly Street to visit Fortnum and Mason (amazing interior and delicious tea) and Piccadilly Circus. We had lunch in Chinatown - all you can eat Chinese buffet for only £5. My boyfriend and I were talking about how we should write a travel guide called 'the lean traveller': we always manage to go on holiday in a very cheap way! If you don't include shopping sprees of course :D

Warming up at Costa Coffee near Covent Garden! I love how there's a Costa of Caffè Nero on every street corner - good coffee for a reasonable price (I'm really not a fan of Starbucks' overpriced and mediocre tasting coffee!) anywhere in London.

Walking by the Thames in the evening, so pretty <3 br="">

Hopefully you made it to the end! See you in a few days for my next London report!

Boy London

2013-02-17T16:29:00.002Z

From the city of my dreams straight to my hometown in the middle of nowhere! I already showed you where I live in this post, so today I give you part two: The view from my house! Believe it or not: when my parents first came to visit this house, they fell in love with THE VIEW. I wonder if they're referring to the tractors passing by every two minutes leaving a trail of mud and manure or the cows who stare at you when you're passing by on your bike (because no, there's no public transport here). Such fun.

Anyway, I'm expressing my love for London with this sweater I bought just before I left on holiday: Sadly my bank account didn't allow me to buy the real version, so when I saw this one on chictopia somewhere, I jumped and ordered it straight from China, haha! Judge all you want, but I only paid about 15euros (shipping included) and you can't even see the difference imo.

What I'm wearing: Zara leggings, Boy London sweater (from here), thrifted blazer, Daisystreet shoes

Notice the big sign in the background? I now officially live in a town. I still prefer calling it a farmer's hole, considering it includes only about five muddy streets, a primary school and a small church. And one crazy person walking around in heels, attracting strange looks from cyclists. Ahem.
What's your opinion on living on the countryside? Charming and quiet or horrible and isolated? I know in which group I belong...
Hope you had a nice weekend! x

London report: Brick Lane and South Bank

2013-02-12T16:54:00.004Z

(Brick Lane)

Ahhh, London... I have to say I've lost my heart to this wonderful city. Yes, London and I are very much in love. I adore the atmosphere, the people, the food, the shopping, the always so friendly 'mind the gap' announcements, the diversity, the supermarkets that are open till midnight every day (hear that, Belgium??),... The fact that my boyfriend was giddy as a kid to be back in his favourite country AND his delicious British accent all added up to the awesomeness of our trip!

Enough rambling, on with the pictures! When we arrived on Saturday in the late afternoon, we decided to just have a relaxing evening, aka drinks in the pub followed by dinner in an excellent Indian restaurant (we're both curry lovers). Our little apartment was situated in East London, so on Sunday we decided to go to Brick Lane and Spitalfield Markets:

Sunday breakfast!

Taj Store: Apparently all the curry restaurant chefs buy their ingredients here. Of course I had to buy some spices and curry ingredients too!

Lunch at Sunday UpMarket: I had a Turkish gözleme pancake filled with spicy meat, spinach and feta <3>

Old Spitalfields Market

I had a really hard time restraining myself from buying everything!
While walking through Brick Lane, a guy came to us asking if he could take our picture for a photography project called '100 strangers', for which he had to take a picture of 100 random people. Of course we agreed, and this is the result:

Thanks Chris for featured in this project, and reading all the comments on my photo really made me blush!
After lunch we walked all the way to the Tower Bridge:

Especially for Annebeth because I know how much she loves this epic building :D We could actually see the Gherkin from our street, pretty cool!

As if we hadn't done enough walking, we continued on the South Bank to Borough Market (sadly enough it was closed), Shakespeare's Globe and Tate Modern, which I would have enjoyed much more if it wasn't so crowded. We were definitely not the only people who went on a city trip to London that weekend!

The Shard

Millenium Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral

After a much needed coffee at Caffè Nero we headed home to make dinner: spaghetti bolognaise... with British sausages!

YUM.
Hope you enjoyed my first London post - there's loads more to come! x

Time for some DIY

2013-02-09T10:00:00.000Z

Now that my exams are over (actually the new semester is starting in a few days but shhhhht) I've been doing some DIY-ing again! I already gave you a sneak peek a few days ago at my current project: transforming an ugly and way too long leather skirt (you might remember it from this post) into something like this:

I already shortened it to the perfect lenght, now I have to change the shape from A-line to
bodycon. I think I'll have to pay my grandma (aka my sewing and DIY teacher) another visit...
Some other projects that are on my DIY to do-list:

This would be really cool with an Arabic newspaper! (Photo from Hallie Daily)

Hanna from Fashion and Politics made this awesome Celine t-shirt, I really want one too! (Photo from Fashion and Politics)

Photo from Fashion Freaks

Really want to make this clutch out of a keffiyeh scarf! (Photo from a Pair and a Spare)

Actually I made this Jil Sander inspired beanie today! This is how mine turned out (please don't mind my no make-up face):

And the best part: the Jil Sander one costs about 300 euros, while mine cost in total about 8 euros. Score! I followed this tutorial btw.
Any DIY's you want to try? Or other great DIY blogs you like?

The beauty files

2013-02-06T18:00:00.000Z

Well, since about every blogger already did a post on her beauty and make-up routine, here's mine! My daily routine consists of basic products that don't take too much work or time to use - I'd rather stay in bed for ten more minutes than standing in my bathroom applying a shitload of make-up! Anyway, these are some of my favourite products:

HAIR

I normally use Body Shop shampoo (and sometimes the Rituals shampoo pictured here) and conditioner from their Rainforest Volume line - I love the fact that it doesn't contain any parabens, silicons or sulphates, and it just smells really good! After washing my hair (lately I've been washing it the wrong way round: first conditioner and then shampoo, a tip I read somewhere and I find it makes my hair smoother!), I sometimes use a serum (from Hema) or some of my mums Schwarzkopf Osis+ 4-Play to give my hair some texture - or at least, I try to. And once or twice a year, I use henna to brighten my hair colour.

CLEANING & MOISTURIZING

I use Yves Rocher cleansing water when I'm at home, or Hema 2-phase eye make-up remover lotion and Garnier cleansing milk when I'm at my student room - forgot to take it home this week so it's not on the photo - to clean my face and remove my make-up. I find the Hema 2-phase lotion really good for removing waterproof mascara, no need to rub your eyes for ten minutes (which sometimes is the case with cheap make-up removers), perfect for lazy people like me.
In the morning I use a day cream from the Body Shop, I picked this one up a few days ago but I've used it every day since then - I'll probably get the full size version when I run out of this one!
This hand cream from the Body Shop is one of my favourites too: it sinks in really quickly (I hate having sticky hands), smells delicious and is really affordable (2,5 euros in the sales).

THE BASE

After applying my day cream, I use some under eye concealer to cover up dark circles (especially during exams...) and concealer to hide spots and redness. Sometimes I use some mousse foundation too, but usually I skip that and just apply some mineral powder (all from Hema - I swear they don't sponsor me! They just are one of the few brand that sells concealer, foundation etc. in a lighter shade that suits me).
I'm really lucky with my skin so I don't really need foundation, except for those long days (hello, exams) when my skin colour could use a boost.

After that, I use Maybelline the Colossal Volum' Express waterproof mascara (after curling my eyelashes of course). I NEVER leave the house without some mascara - without it I look like a sick person with no eyelashes. Seriously, fellow redheads or blondes will know what I'm talking about.
The tweezers don't need much explanation, do they? I usually shape my eyebrows a bit with my Catrice eye brow pencil (one of the fewer brands who sell lighter colours).

Most of the time this is my standard make-up look! When I have more time in the morning or just feel like doing something special, I choose to acentuate either the eyes or the lips.

EYES

In the eye department I often go for two looks: 1) apply some smudges kohl pencil (Catrice or Hema) in the outer corner of my eyelid if I want a more grungy vibe, or 2) use eyeliner (Essence pen or a no-brand liquid eyeliner, ~~stolen~~ borrowed from my mum), mostly cat eye. I really suck at applying eyeliner though, so this is more something for a dinner or night out when I have two hours to prepare instead of the 20 minutes during the week before class!

LIPS

No doubt my favourite part! I LOVE lipstick - the ones you see here are only a small part of my collection (I left most of them at my student room, stupid me) but these are my favourites at the moment: Catrice Ultimate Colour in Ginger & Fred, the first sort of nude lipstic that doesn't look like those white lip balms you wear when skiing. Next is Rimmel Colour Show Off in Red Fever, one of my first red lipsticks and still one of my favourites. My absolute favourite has to be MAC in Russian Red, although I don't wear it that much because it was quite expensive (yes, I said it. 17 euros for a lipstick is expensive for me!) and it's a very bright, true red.
The four lipsticks at the bottom are from Hema again (seriously, this is getting embarrassing...), all of them from the Longer Lasting line, and boy do the last! When I apply them in the morning, I still have to rub them off in the evening. They are very dry though, so I sometimes use a more shiny lipstick on top.

And that's about it! As you can see, I mostly go for budget products (like most students, I guess), but I always try to keep an eye on the ingredients, especially with skin care: you don't want to apply loads of bad chemicals on your face every day!
Any new products I should try?

PS: I forgot to photograph my perfume: I use Diesel Loverdose (and before that one Armani Idole) for everyday, Thierry Mugler Alien for special occasions and sometimes le Premier Parfum de Lolita Lempicka (a sample I got at the perfume store).

El Sublieme Photoshoot Preview

2013-02-03T17:00:00.000Z

Hi lovelies! Those of you who follow me on twitter or instagram, know that I did a photoshoot for a dear friend of mine who designed her own collection of Moroccan dresses together with her aunt. I was very honoured when she asked me to be the photographer of the collection! We spent an entire day at her house: hair and make-up had to be done and about fifteen dresses had to be modelled, adjusted and photographed! I'm quite pleased with the result (and I hope she is too!) so I wanted to share a little preview of the shoot with you. The dresses will be available for rent on El Sublieme's facebook profile and website (still under construction).

After the shoot, my friend insisted on me trying on one of the dresses too! I had a hard time trying to decide which one I'd wear, but I choose this black & white design (monochrome is SO bang on trend, people):

Although these dresses aren't something I would normally wear (they're actually for wedding parties and special occasions), I felt like a Moroccan movie star or something while wearing this dress! If I'm ever invited to a Moroccan wedding I'll definitely wear one of these.
Did you enjoy the preview? I know it's something different from what I normally share here (although it's definitely one of my most glamorous outfit posts :D), so tell me what you think!

I'm going to London and I'll be wearing...

2013-01-31T21:51:00.001Z

H&M lace dress , €23 / Long sleeve tee, €7,95 / Boyfriend jacket, €63 / Fur coat, €200 / Tripp skinny fit jeans, €91 / Topshop black boots, €66 / ALDO wedge sneaker, €59 / ASOS high heel boots, €29 / Asos Straw Cap With Pom, €5,85 / H&M Autumn 2012 Collection

I'm sorry for the absence this week, I've been enjoying life a bit too much! Anyway, I'm leaving for London on Saturday, so I wanted to share what I'm taking with me in my suitcase. Because that's what bloggers do, apparently. Alas, s I'm writing this, I realise I forgot some of the stuff I wanted to wear at my student room in Leuven. Oh well, I'm already planning on ~~some~~ loads of shopping over there, so of course I made a little collage for that too:

Topshop cotton shirt, €27 / Karl Donoghue shearling coat, €720 / H&M leopard trousers , €12 / River Island ripped skinny jeans, €41 / Isabel Marant hidden wedge sneaker, €475 / Karen Millen black pumps, €145 / River Island high heel, €58

In short: Black & white, fur and sneakers. I've fallen in love with the Isabel Marant Bekket sneakers, but as I can't afford the real deal, I'm hoping to find a pair of cheaper lookalikes. I'm also secretly hoping there will still be some sales going on!
Any stores I should definitely check out when I'm there?

PS: I'm preparing some scheduled posts for when I'm away, so I'm not entirely leaving you! ;)