Berry brush.

Fantastic Four.

Sorbet Seams.

DYL | Go nuts with your hair.

Photos and editing by Maya

Hair tutorial for an elegant updo.

Giveaway the New Year!

Christmas gifts | The Body Shop

Let's get ecological

Ekyog 'Dorine' pullover・Oelwein confettis tray・People Tree cluster ring・Ambre Botanicals body butter・Komodo 'Cath' skirt・O My Bag 'Dirty Harry' bag・Woo 'Laroo' beer bottle candle・Armed Angels squirrel shirt

Ecological. Natural. Sustainable. Biological.

Insert Jim Carrey with a hairbrush: and that's the way - uhu uhu - I like it - uhu uhu - !

My visit to the Marnix & Ally showroom last week sparked a wish list. They represent a couple of eco-friendly brands which I can only applaud.

One Year Anniversary

First of all: Muchas gracias for reading our blog! We had a magnificent first year and we're so glad you keep coming back to read about our antics. 

COIF/LIFE

I'm catching up! This event took place only - ahum - three weeks ago. Being the daughter of a hairdresser, I immediately mailed for an invitation when I heard about the event via Media Mania. I always loved walking around hair expos with my mum and colleagues when I was little. So much crazy hairstyles and new hypes I discovered there. Take for example spray tan, more than 10 years ago you could already test it out on hair/beauty expos. I'm pretty sure that my fascination for eccentric hair colours and styles stems from all of these wonderful expos and shows. 

Denim dip-dye.

The Big You IV

This was already the second time we were invited for The Big You and now at least one of us was in the country, we be jet-setting all the time. So while Sabrina was living it up in Venice, I was finally enjoying everything that UPR had to offer. I'm sure you can expect some belle immagini coming your way in the near future. 

The event. We were welcomed in the beautiful loft were it all started for UPR back in 2001. I definitely wouldn't mind placing my desk down there. It was very nice to finally meet the faces behind the weekly press releases ☺.

Rock the boat.

Somehow the outfit made me think about a girls-only school and uniforms. This can sound weird but I always wanted to go to a school where uniforms were required. It seemed so chic.. Now I can't imagine wearing the same thing everyday, that would be just so damn dull.

I've been challenging myself in terms of colors such as the white blouse and the silver shoes I bought recently. Another item was this red COS jumper, it caught my eye immediately. Maybe because of its unquestionable brightness, to be fairly honest normally most red items seem old and unattractive if you ask me. This one has without a doubt a magical glint. It's finely ribbed and has a relaxed fit so you can wear it with a skinny jeans or a dress/skirt. I opted for the latter. The denim dress has been hanging in my closet for such a long time because of its exaggerated cleavage that made me extremely uncomfortable. This jumper gives me the opportunity to wear it again. Happy girl here. 

Last but not least, I bought a new nail polish to add to the collection: Rock the Boat by Essie. The name is really awesome. It's light blue with a subtle shimmer which is a good addition to the denim. 

Tonight I'm off to France again, a little de-stress time but I'll be back on Monday. I'll be making pictures over there, yeaah.

Au revoir!
Sabrina, x.

Why do I like Rituals?!

Yesterday was the launch of Rituals' biggest Flagship store in the heart of Antwerp. Having no breaks at all - read: not coming out of the house except for finals - I thought what the hell Sabrina, just HAVE ONE. I'm that kind of girl that feels bad and full of guilt when I'm doing something fun during a period where discipline for studying is the greatest of all. 

Anywhooo! I don't talk a lot about beauty on the blog, maybe some more? What do you think? 99 % of the time I always stick to my favorite brands and hardly try a new one. Traditional? Maybe. But I do have a range of different brands I use so having 135435461 kind of products that give more or less the same result but just has another name isn't really my cup of tea. 

Rituals is one of those pampering brands I absolutely adore. Just only by entering the shop it's like I'm in beauty heaven. It gives a zen-feeling when walking around and it smells SO. GOOD. This Flagshipstore doesn't offer a whole new range of products which they already offered online but it is just much much bigger than the usual Rituals shop. I LIKE. Because most of the time, if there are a lot of people in the shop, I almost feel like a sardine in a box :-). 

But but why do I like Rituals?! 

• I'm no coffee-lover AT ALL but when it comes to tea, ahhhhhh. Hammam-Mint and Jasmin Delight are my cup of tea.  

• Last but not least, this one is an absolute recommendation! The Qi - Stress Relief Serum. Last year during second semester it was SO HOT that walking from my exam to the train station, the only thing that came to mind was 'I want to jump in a pool, I want to jump in a pool,...' . When passing the Rituals shop I just had to enter because the temperature inside was bearable. The shopassistent immediately said to me 'Oh, gosh you look stressed and tired'. I thought, okay it's that obvious I look horrible.. She gave me a little of the serum and rubbed it on my wrists and behind my ears and a little bit on my forehead. IT WAS AMAZING. Because of the mint-flavor it completely brings you zen and I didn't feel that hot anymore. It was true magic for me!

Everyone knows what Rituals is of course but in my opinion it was worth mentioning it ;-).

Now some more studying, 5 more days to go!
Sabrina, x.

An evening with Ici Paris XL

My mumsie!

Picking out nail polish

Just roll some cotton on the sharp ends of the sticks and you have perfect touch-up tools

I'll spare you the silly pictures with plastic hair net

Every now and then my local Ici Paris XL store organizes special evenings. A while ago I attended a Dior workshop with my darling mum (thank you for sponsoring!) and I wouldn't be a blogger if I hadn't taken pictures to shower you with.

 

Every good evening starts (and proceeds) with some bubbles of course. After a warm welcome we were guided to our first table: nail time! We could choose from a wide range of Dior nail polishes and in the meanwhile also listen to professional tips & tricks. These ladies know what they are talking about! Moving on to the next table with facial care: different products & textures to test. Every pretty house needs a solid foundation people! Thoroughly cleansed skin can better withstand all the make-up madness. At the last table things got serious: make-up. Here it was very important to listen attentively to the instructions if you didn't want to end up as Two-Face. One half done by the professionals and next it was your turn. Starting with a proper foundation, a highlighter around the eye area, some fixating powder, moving on to eyeliner and eyeshadow, and finishing with some appealing lipgloss. Et voila, allurement all around.

With success and my mouth full of scrumptious sandwiches, this enlightening evening came to an end. On top of that we could go home with a goodie basket and prolong the pampering some more. I also bought a dior topcoat nail polish, fast drying nails? Yes please! You can visit the Ici Paris XL Mechelen facebook page or general Ici Paris XL page for more information and regular updates on special offers & discounts.

Conclusion: bring on the beauty workshops! 

Cheers

Naomi, x.

Leaving the house and what goes along with me.

You're probably not that interested in the contents of my shoulder bag? For those who are: et voila :-). Due to the lack of time I had during the weekend I couldn't muze on inspirational things nor did I have the time to take proper pictures, saaaaaawwy for that! But this is the result. 

This is my Mango shoulder bag I got for my birthday. My previous one was actually the same but in dark burgundy. It was so worn out or in la mama vocabulary: throw that old thing away, please. I'm very happy with it, especially the size is perfect. Not so big actually but you can stock it endlessly. My last one came so in handy for festivals: umbrella or poncho, even a sweater and then of course the usual things like a wallet, mobile phone and deodorant.

Ok, back to the what's in my bag. I don't carry the same things all the time, it depends on my mood or the place I'm going to. The things you see above are my essentials, what others maybe call 'junk'. Anywhoo.. Let me guide you in Sabrina's bag:    

• Mango wallet. I'm not a matchy matchy person when it comes to           handbags and wallets but this one was pretty and I bought it afterwards.
• Blackberry 8520. No iPhone for me, it's just too expensive for what my wallet can handle at the moment. 
• Garnier Mineral deodorant. 
• Topshop Lipstick. It's very dark/bright pink and goes by the name of it's all about me. 
• Pen. That's a real essential. Stupid but true in my opinion. 
• Keys. Ok, I'm going to confess: I lose my house key a LOT except for my dorm/car keys. I don't like to hang them on 1 key chain because losing them all would be a major crisis. Seriously, can't capture the logic of it but house keys are just not my dearest friends. My parents keep several spare ones and go loco when I'm only saying ehm daaaad... You know those 10 stamps and the 11th is free? Yep, guilty. 
• Mentos chewing gum.
• Korres Japanese Rose lotion. It's amazing I tell ya! It smells very fresh and a little tiny bit sweet at the same time.
  
• Zalando sunnies (c/o Oona). 
• Eau so Fresh by Marc Jacobs. Can't live without it, so yes it has to go everywhere I go.
• Xmini-speaker (c/o Belmodo). The beats that come out of that little thing AMAZING.  

That was it for now! Bubyeeees! 

Sabrina, x.

When Fashion meets Dance

I tried to take some outfit pictures yesterday but they were horrible. There are just some of those days your camera doesn't agree with you, hopefully later this week my next attempt will be a better one. 

One of my greatest passions is without a doubt dancing. I got motivated to do lots of different styles and most of my free time I've spent in dancing schools, that's about 15 years ballet, 12 years hiphop and jazz-ballet and 3 years modern ballet. I even tried out tapdancing for about 2 years but that just wasn't my thing. From the time I started with uni I couldn't combine everyting anymore and going back and forth was really exhausting after a while, a bummer though... 

As I was looking on the internet and in magazines this past week, I've noticed that fashion uses some subtle inspiration from ballet. A mixture where fashion meets dance is in my opinion amazing. It's so elegant and classic at the same time and that gave me some inspiration for upcoming summer, can't wait to try it out :-). Here are some pretty things to gaze on!

Even different kind of buns make me think of a lovely ballet. What I remember of my buns was less fun: they had to be tight as hell and lots of hairspray. Kind of a trauma if you ask me. The braided buns and loose ones below are just OH SO PRETTY!

Last Fall Valentino also did a collab with the New York City Ballet and created some awesome costumes. In my opinion: the bigger and colorful the costumes, the better! It was somewhat fairytale-like, romantic and dramatic at the same time and still classic enough for a recital. 

 Pictures from Pinterest and Vogue.com

I sure do like it and you??

Love, 

Sabrina, x.

C'est Beau la Bourjoisie

Source: Glamloving

Lucky me was selected to test the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation. I took my time to test it thoroughly, so I could give you ladies my honest opinion.

Colour: I picked 'vanilla' but as you can see on the photos, it's a bit too dark for my winter porcelain skin. I don't like it when foundations make my face look browner, the colour of my neck always gives it away. I do think this colour will suit my sun-kissed skin in the summer very well. I recommend to try out every foundation on your face (your chin for example) before you buy it. I know the most convenient way is to test it on your hand, but you're not going to use it on your hand, are you now? ;-) I already noticed that a colour that blends nicely with the colour of my hand, can still be a tad too dark for my face. 

Application: The liquid foundation is very easy to apply. I sometimes switch between a foundation brush and my fingers, but both ways work properly. The liquid doesn't set immediately so you can keep on dividing it evenly onto your skin until you're completely satisfied. The pump system comes in handy to perfectly dose the amount of foundation you want to use. As you can see, I keep it to a minimum. I don't like to walk around with a mask all day.

Coverage: I have a lot of blemishes on my face, especially red & dry spots on my cheeks. On the other hand I also have a very greasy forehead and nose. It's the worst combination! I need a foundation that prevents my forehead and nose from getting greasy and doesn't make my dry spots worse at the same time. I must say that I wasn't too sure that a 'cheap' brand could make this happen. But when I put on the foundation, everything looks very good, you almost can't see that I have red & dry spots anymore. Everything feels very soft but not greasy. The real test, of course, is only after a couple of hours! Amazingly everything still feels the same and my feared greasy forhead is nowhere to be felt. 

Final verdict: I would definitely buy it again! Budget-friendly, easy application, and a satisfactory coverage. Don't expect miracles though, I still have to take care of my blemishes with other products. But I'm very pleased that the foundation doesn't make things worse!

I hope this information was useful, tips for future reviews are more than welcome.

Cheers!
Naomi, x.

Instagram Feed #4

Little ball of fur

Everybody knows that I'm a cat person and Nougat is without doubt my number one favourite! Just look at this grey fluffball, even dog-lovers (including Sabrina) melt when he works his magic on them. Evidently I asked for my earmuffs back today, what's up with that?!  
The cute lion cub on the top left is Antwerp's pride: Nestor! Get it? Pride is also used to describe a social group of lions. I'm so witty with words (a little self-complimenting never hurt anyone). Nestor is a little rascal, more pictures here.

Mug shots

From self-complimenting to selfshots, I'm certainly staying on topic. As you can see on the pictures, my mum bought a new curling iron. If only I had a personal assistant that would do my hair every morning #firstworldgirlthoughts. It baffles me every time how much volume you can create with simple curls. Volume is greatly needed when you have a disappointing amount of hair on your head..

My appearance in the Flair a couple of years ago, perfect #tbt material. So sweet that my grandmother kept the magazine for all these years.

Busy Bee

I'm an original member of the 'Les Boudains' quiz team and I'm proud of it! We've been quizzing for a couple of years now, but since 'Quiz me quick' (a Belgian tv show) the boys have taken it to the next level. With success I may add! 

Last week my mum and I attended a ladies night at Ici Paris XL in Mechelen. Label of the night was Dior; they have some really good products. I also took pictures with a proper camera, so maybe I'll whip up a post next week. 

My trip to Amsterdam with the Rihanna bus, read all about it here.

Behind the scenes of the Bird project. Curious? Be very curious! Creative mind behind this project is the lovely Sabine Peeters. Want to see her at work? From this week on, you can watch the new tv show Shoot! on VIJF, every Wednesday at 22h10.

New, newer, newest 

Everything new in my life. Joico recently renewed its products and added, among others, a dry shampoo. Finally I can start testing, my hair gets greasy way too fast I tell you! My interest was already sparked by Annebeth from the Styling Dutchman, she swears by this stuff ;-). If you ever plan on using a new hairproduct brand, one name: Joico! I've been using these products since I was a baby, they never let me down once. 

Since I was bored with my hair, I also got a new haircut. Nothing too radical, otherwise I would freak out my boyfriend I'm afraid :D.

I also bought some hand embellishments, you can never have too many nailpolishes or rings. 

Garment features

I like my fair share of prints, mostly nature related. You either are a biologist or you are not! My leopard sweater is featured here, and my flower shirt here. 

Me: Spring, why are you so cold?

'Spring': So that you can stay inside and snuggle eachother.

Me: But Spring, why do you bring snowflakes?

'Spring': So that you have a nice sight when you look out of the window.

Me: But why were you so warm and gentle last week?

Winter: BECAUSE I WANTED TO TORTURE YOU AND LET YOU THINK I WAS SPRING!! DIE NATURE DIE!!

It wasn't spring...

These sneaker flatforms with black scales still are my current favourite pair of shoes. Want some examples of how to style them - which isn't that hard by the way - have a look here, here and here. 

For (almost) daily updates: @aardbeienroomijs!

Cheers

Naomi, x.