Spring fashion haul: Graphic prints

Another spring trend I went crazy for, were the graphic prints. You can't imagine how many pairs of graphic pants I tried on, but sadly they look like pyjama bottoms on me. Recently, my mom showed me a pair of pants she got from H&M. I liked it a lot and weeks later, when we were at H&M together, she pushed me to try on the same pair of pants. Admittedly, I tried it on, convinced that I would look like a clown. I was in utter surprise when I saw this pair of pants and fell in love. And I'm not ashamed to say that I indeed have some clothes the same as my mother! It's nothing to be ashamed of!

I love the cute, but yet modern print of this pair. Because of the cool marine blue color, the white dots don't remind people of an easter egg, which was a fear of mine. I usually fold over the end and wear my blue pumps underneath, which makes me look sophisticated but comfy. Love it. The picture doesn't do it justice.

The next item I purchased back in november, desperately wanting something that was chic and to add something to my closet with a graphic print. It's from Primark and the sides are leather strips, which I adore. It has a nice peplum bottom, which is beautiful for my fuller figure.

An other H&M-item I succumbed to, was this H&M jacket. The print has dark blue, marine blue, white and red in it. It's not meant to wear it closed, it's just supposed to BE, you know. That's what I love about it. The sidepieces in the front of the jacket have a special design and flows on my body-shape like a Valentino-dress. Need I say more.

Last but not least, I got this top from the Conscious collection from H&M. I actually wanted the dress version, but sadly, it didn't suit my body at all (Let's just say my behind looked huge). This top suited me much better and had me falling in love with the beautiful print that makes me feel like I am on an exotic holiday.

These three pieces are probably the three clothing items that I have been most obsessed with these last months!

Spring fashion haul: pastels!

Hey everyone!

Technically it's already spring, but here in Belgium, it's actually snowing. Yeah, you read it correctly. IT'S SNOWING! No wait, it's more like a blizzard... Now don't get me wrong, I love snow, but only when it's being accompanied by christmas songs, a warm fireplace and lots of turkey. But after New Year's Eve, snow is a forbidden form of precipitation in my book.

To try to forget about the snow, I did what every woman does when she feels down. I shopped. I shopped a lot. Spring seemed to be shouting at me and waiting around every corner to jump in front of me and scream "Hey you, buy me, you'll look great!" and I gave in like a purring kitty that just got a furry toy.

The first kind of fashion item that made me go berserk, were pastel colored items. Last year, I was convinced that this trend wouldn't suit me. But this year, I fell in love with the sweet colors that reminded me of macaroons, flowers and taking naps in meadows.

It started out with pants. I know, so innocent. I needed lots of pants, since I had thrown away all my bad pairs and was left with just one very nice pair of Levi's. One pair of pants? That's not livable! I entered the dressing room with a whole stack of pants, thinking I would be incredibly lucky to even find one pair that fitted me. As it turned out, almost every pair fitted me. I bought two pairs of jeggings, two pairs of normal jeans and then the pastel colored pants caught my eye. And I was in love. I bought three pairs, one in a coral-pink color, a sky-blue color and a mint green color. Take a look at these beautiful babies!

All three pairs are from Yessica (C&A). On the way to the cash register I fell in love with this light coral-pink scarf and in my happy buzz I just grabbed it and hopped to the queueing line without thinking about it. Afterwards, I purchased this mint green baggy top at H&M and I got this striped coral-pink knitted sweater at Primark a few months ago.

And last but not least there's this amazing clutch I got at Primark for just three pounds! I think every girl would agree with me that three pounds for this clutch is a STEAL!

What do you think? Are pastel colors the it-trend for this spring and summer? What trend do you prefer?

xoxo
Anine

Current makeup routine

Hey everyone!

Recently I've been really changing up my makeup routine since I wanted a lighter look, instead of my usual full coverage face makeup. I went back to my Garnier BB cream that I hadn't used for ages and kind of rediscovered it. It stays on my face for so long!

During the week, I usually do my makeup at seven am. I get home at about five or six pm, but I usually still go out and don't have the time to redo my makeup. That means that my makeup has to stay on for at least thirteen hours, which isn't an easy task with my oily T-zone. The Garnier BB cream does the job even better than my usual Revlon colorstay foundation for combination/oily skin. I only look a tiny bit shiny when I get home, with the Garnier BB cream. With the Revlon colorstay... well I looks pretty messy at the end of the day, even when I touch up during the day (which is not necessary with the Garnier BB cream).

That was pretty much the biggest change in my makeup routine. I started using a bit more eyeshadow again as well. I stopped using too much eyeshadow since christmas, since my eyelids have been dry, irritated and acting weird. Also, my eyes get extremely watery and pretty much erase all of my eye makeup - which I hate so much since I'm obsessed with eyeshadow. The irritation has gotten better, the wateriness of my eyes hasn't. I'm too stubborn to completely forget about eyeshadow!

Without further ado, here are the makeup products I have been using this month!

I forgot to put my eyeliners in the picture -.-

Garnier BB cream Miracle skin perfector for combination/oily skin -- in light

Estée Lauder Double wear Stay-in-place flawless wear concealer -- in 02 light medium

Rimmel Stay matte powder -- in 005 Silky beige

Rimmel Natural bronzer -- in 022 Sun bronze

ELF Blush -- in Candid Coral

Urban Decay Original Primer Potion 

MAC quad with eyeshadows -- in Vanilla, Woodwinked and Swiss Chocolate (the colour Orange I don't use in my daily makeup routine)

MAC eye kohl -- in Blooz

Maybelline Master precise liquid eyeliner -- in Black/Noir

Maybelline The falsies mascara

Benefit They're real! mascara

Bourjois Sourcil précision eyebrow pencil -- in 04 blond foncé

Sleek Pout polish -- in Perfect plum

Hope you enjoyed reading about my current makeup routine!
xoxo

Conceal away babe!

Concealers are the big secret of every beauty addict. With just a swipe of the product, your face becomes brighter. Concealing your dark under-eye circles hides the previous long night you had, whether you were working or partying. Concealing your blemishes hides the fact that you’ve been eating way too much chocolate. And applying concealer on the high points of your face can wake your face up as if you just had a very natural looking facelift. It helps the face in amazing ways. I discovered the power of concealer a few months ago, when I purchased the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting concealer.

I knew from all the Youtube channels and blogs I followed, that this was supposed to be a dupe for the Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Touche Eclat. This cult item has been cherished in the beauty world for many years, but also very misunderstood. The not so addicted beauty users are not aware of the fact that the YSL Touche Eclat isn’t a concealer; it’s a highlighting pen. This product is not used to hide blemishes, but the colour the high points of your face in a lighter shade with the famous Kim Kardashian-effect as result.



I’ve been dreaming about owning the YSL Touche Eclat for years and when I heard that the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting concealer was supposed to be a dupe, I HAD to try it. The effect is amazing. I don’t think I’ll ever end up buying the real thing, because the Maybelline version has changed my make-up routing in amazing ways. I’ve run out of it about a week ago, and never imagined I would miss it that much. I said to myself “I’m not gonna go and buy another one, I have way too much concealers to use up!” I couldn’t justify repurchasing it, but can’t wait until I can! Now I try using other concealers in the same way, but the result is not nearly as flawless as the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch. I LOVE THIS THING!

Other concealers I have been trying out are the Benefit Erase Paste and The Collection (2000) Lasting Perfection. But more about that later. The Estée Lauder Double Wear has been my basic every-day concealer for years. I once tried it as a teenager when I found it in my mom’s make-up bag. Ever since I’ve been using it. It gives amazing coverage over dark circles and I believe it is highly underestimated in the blogging community. I love it, but it’s not cheap enough to repurchase. I would repurchase the Maybelline Dream Lumi touch, but that isn’t supposed to cover your dark circles or bad blemishes.

The old and new packaging of the Estee Lauder Double Wear

I decided I had to try another drugstore concealer to replace my high-end Estée Lauder Double Wear for under-eye purposes. I had heard a lot of good things about the Maybelline FIT ME concealer, and so I have purchased that to give it a try.

As another cheap alternative for under-eye treatment, I tried the Collection (2000) Lasting Perfection. I liked it and stocked up on it when I was studying in the UK and since it’s not available in Belgium. It does the job, which is amazing if you take a look at the price tag. You pay about five/six pounds for it in the UK. The only thing I don’t like about it, is the smell. It’s not a very pleasant smell, but I can look (or smell) past that if it works properly.

The last concealer I will be talking about is the Benefit Erase Paste. I haven’t been trying it out to the maximum but it seems to be okay. The consistency is totally different to the previous concealers I talked about. This concealer is creamier and it’s orange-coloured to counteract the blue- and purpleness of the under-eye area. It’s pretty hard to find a decent powder to set it though, since it’s that thick and creamy. That means it can crease pretty bad during the day, so watch out for that!

I hope this concealer post was helpful to you!

Claudia Schiffer refused offer Hermès

It's no longer a secret that former supermodel Claudia Schiffer was offered a Hermès bag named after her. Schiffers' bag could've become as immensely wanted as the Kelly bag (from Grace Kelly) or the Birkin bag (from Jane Birkin).

 

The Kelly bag from Hermès

 

The Birkin bag from Hermès

To the magazine Elle Collections the German model admitted that she regretted listening to her agent when he told her to refuse the legendary offer. She was 25 at the time.

We sure as hell wouldn't refuse that kind of offer!

Winter favorites: skincare

Baby, it's cold outside! Western Europe is covered underneath a blanket of snow, so what better time to choose some winter favorites?

My skin has never been so dry as now. This might come as a surprise, since my skin has always been very oily. Because of my stay in the UK, my eye skin even got so dry, that it got itchy and it was impossible for me to wear any eyeshadow (what a nightmare!). I returned to Belgium last week and my skin luckily has already recovered a bit from its dryness. Because of this weird skin issues I tried some new skincare products and ended up liking them very much:

The Vichy Normaderm Line: 

Vichy Normaderm Scrubgel

Vichy Micellaire Purifying Lotion 

Vichy Normaderm Night

These three products work so good for me! The scrub is perfect for my skin, not too drying, but rough enough for my oily T-zone. I use it every other day. I use the toner every morning and night and it feels so fresh and calming for my skin and it takes of any make-up that is still left on my skin. Then there's the night cream, which is the biggest surprise to me. Over the last six years I've tried night cream over and over again, and no night cream was good for me. They usually were too oily and I woke up with skin so oily that I reflected the sun like a mirror! The Vichy night cream dries in about two minutes after application and becomes very matte-feeling and soft. I certainly have seen an improvement on my skin. I have less blemishes and they also heal quicker. I'm a big fan of this skincare line!

Winter favorites: Nail polish

Let's get on with it!

I've been wearing more nailpolish than normally, and buying more as well. It protects my nails better, keeps them from tearing and just is a great accessory!

Essie Lady Like

This nail polish can be worn all year round and it's just so pretty and subtle.

Essie Fiji

I was eager to try this out, since the online beauty community keeps raving about this colour! It was more white and less pink than I expected, but very nice for a beach look! Also a very summery colour.

Essie We're in it together

I bought this colour because it supported breast cancer, but also because it's like no colour I've ever seen, let alone stand owned. It has tiny shiny particles in it which look amazing! I wanted to try something completely different and so picked it up. I wear it when I feel extremely girly.

Essie Scarlett O'Hara

This colour is so perfect for christmas. It's a nice dark red with a lot of shine and tiny sparkles that can complete a nice festive look.

 

L'Oréal

I can't find the name of this colour, but it's a bright coral-like orange. Even though it's too summery for the white winter that's going on right now, it's so nice and reminding of spring. It makes me happy just looking at it!