New dress. Need Advice.

Since my boyfriend's family is having a birthday party tonight, I decided today would be a good day to wear my new dress (just like this one, by Single Dress). I love it, because it is so dressy and chic, and somehow reminds me of Victoria Beckham.

Dress: Single Dress - Shoes: Christian Louboutin Ron Ron 100

Yet, there is one small problem; as you can tell from the picture the belt is partly golden. My favorite purse is my Chanel 2.55, with silver details, which kind of means I won't be able to wear the two together. I can remove the belt itself, but then you can spot the little strings/loops that are meant to keep the belt in place -luckily the belt stays put even if I don't put it through the holes so I could just cut the strings off and wear the golden belt when I do feel like it, but I'm scared I will ruin the dress if I do. Anyone got any tips on how I should best remove/cut those little strings?

Missoni Fashion Film

In honor of my beloved thesis:
The whole Missoni family stars in their brand's latest film -Yes, founders Rosita and Ottavio Missoni included- which reminds me of French poetic realism and Bunuel's surrealism. It makes one look forward to fall. Nice wigs, too.


PS. I'm going to try and do my best and post more updates here. Maybe actually bringing my mac with me to our 'new home' instead of leaving it at 'my old place' might help. This weekend, I promise.

CD Sprint

Finally made it to the stores again. And this is the only thing I bought this sale-period. I've been wanting these shoes for six months now. I'm crazy for white sneakers, and the fact that these are all-leather is even better!

My sister got interviewed by girl-scene.nl. I love her interview and answers. Too bad some of the comments below are quite childish. Nonetheless, I don't care. My sister always looks amazing!

Givenchy Couture

If there is one haute couture-collection I look forward to every six months, it must be Givenchy's. I would love to see the dresses up close, since the details must be stunning! The dresses remind me of Schiaparelli's skeleton dress, Martin Margiela-jackets and Alexander McQueen's last collection. And even though I'm quite minimalistic when it comes to my outfits, I absolutely wouldn't mind having one of these amazing and elaborate pieces hanging in my closet...

Check my sister's blog for her post on Chanel's show.

Pictures: Courtesy of Givenchy

Scarlett Johansson for Mango

I apologize up front for the lack of posts that is ahead. I'm too busy working!
I still need to try and balance getting up early, working all day long, arriving at home later than usual with juggling my personal life and keeping myself up to date fashion world-wise.

So for now, just a quick post to tell you how cute these dresses by Mango look. I just hope that the quality of the textile and the materials will look and feel as luxurious in real life as they do on the picture.
Note to self: No use in buying LBD and other items you want to dress up and transform into a 'high end' look if the material feels and looks cheap!

Source: Design Scene.net

Miu Miu

I still want want want one of those purple dresses!






What a crazy weekend this was! I graduated magna cum laude -my thesis got rewarded with a 16/20-, enjoyed my surprise party afterwards -my mom got me an amazing Chanel-necklace-, and tomorrow I will start working... I'm very excited!

Make-up

As promised.

This is my daily make-up routine / everyday look:


Bobbi Brown Natural Finish Long Lasting Foundation SPF 15 (in 0 Porcelain)
I love this liquid foundation since it matches my skin tone exactly, it keeps my skin from being shining at the end of the day and it feels incredibly light, al though it's 30°C outside now -note: normally I don't wear foundation in the summer, but I need the extra SPF to protect my skin.
(See: earlier post about this product)

Clinique Airbrush Concealer (in Neutral Fair)
I combine my foundation with this amazing concealer. It really opens up my eye and illuminates it. I can really tell when I'm not wearing it, so adding some concealer to the inner/top corner of my eye is a must.

Clinique Almost Powder Makeup SPF 15 (in Fair)
To keep my skin from shining during the hottest part of the day, I always carry this mineral powder with me. It works great on my forehead, underneath my bangs. A great tip someone once told me: never put a powder underneath your eyes, since it will make the fine lines more visible and makes you look older.
Note: I used to use the Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder (in Invisible Matte) which is great too if you like a sheer and invisible foundation.

Every once and a while, I use a blusher. Favorites: Soft Pressed Powder Blusher (in Pink Blush) and Fresh Bloom Allover Color (in Peony). The one in the picture is Shimmering Stripes Powder Blusher (in Cabana Pink).

Clinique Cream Shaper For Eyes (in Black Diamond)
After I've created the perfect base, I add some eyeliner pencil on the base of my eyelids. I love the shimmer in this color and the fact that it's creamy, which is perfect in combination with my contacts.

M*A*C Fluidline (in Blacktrack)
I finish off with adding some eyeliner on my top eyelid. I'm crazy for this long wearing creamy product. It stays put a long time, much longer than a liquid eyeliner, in my opinion. I use the 208 Angled Brow Brush to apply it: easy as one, two, three... If I feel a bit more daring, I apply Clinique's Brush-On Cream Liner, in one of last year's top colors, purple.

Clinique High Impact Mascara
Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara
A great mascara to add volume is the High Impact Mascara. But when I don't have my eyelash curler with me, I use the High Impact Curling Mascara, one of my personal favorites! If you're a fan of small brushes, I would recommend the Lash Power Mascara Long Wearing Formula. Next up, I would like to try Clinique's new High Lengths Mascara.

Clinique High Impact Lip Colour SPF 15 (in Red-y to Wear)
I love the classic 50's red lips. But ever since I learned that your bottom lip is extra sensitive for the harmful rays of the sun, I always make sure to check if the lipstick features a protective SPF. That's way I love the High Impact Lip Colour, especially in Red-y to Wear. But I remember trying on every color of the line during my time at Clinique, and they have some great colors (e.g. Cider Berry)! My sister for example is a huge fan of the In a Nutshell-color. My mom and aunt both use the plum and nude-tones.
I also love and use: Colour Surge Bare Brillance in Tropical Punch.
Want: Long Last Lipstick in Red Hot. Different Lipstick in Angel Red.

Occasionally I use a lip gloss, for instance during cold and harsh winter days. So I've got another Clinique Favorite: Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine (in Playfull Plump). When I don't feel like a shiny gloss, I protect my lips with Superbalm Lip Treatment.

When it comes to nail polish, I don't use Clinique since they don't manufacture it (nail polish is not suitable for some people: allergies!). And I also use a lot of different colors in my eye shadow. My favorite brands are Clinique for the daytime looks, and they're also ophthalmologist tested for contact lenses. If I want a more bold look for a late night party, I opt for M*A*C's Eye Shadow in Black Tied or Swimming and Shadestick in Sharkskin.

By the way, if you're a big fan of beauty blogs make sure to check the Peaches Tells You-blog. I love Katerina's tutorials!

Clinique Skin Care

The current weather conditions keep reminding me of how important and essential a good skin treatment is. And so, I finally got the chance to write a post about my daily routine, which -as I mentioned before- consists of using exclusively Clinique-products. Ever since I did my first internship at the brand's headquarters, my skin never looked better.

Although I am Italian, I have a very pale and sensitive skin type, so it's crucial that I use products fit my basic skin needs: sun protection and allergy tested. 

So this is how I start and end my day with; 

3 Step Skin Care

First I make sure to clean my skin properly. One of my favorite products is the Facial Soap-bar, since it makes my skin feel refreshed. At home I use the bar, yet since I travel so much back and forth to my dorm at university -I always leave the big bottles at home, and just refill the 'sample sized ones-, I always make sure to pack the liquid version. Next I exfoliate with the Clarifying Lotion. Even though I'm a skin type 2, when it comes to the exfoliator I use number 1 since it is more gentle for sensitive skins. Lastly, I moisturize with the Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, which suits its name perfectly. 

Once a week I scrub my skin with the 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula, because it's really important to remove dead skin regularly. Sometimes I add to that a mask. 

Pore Minimizer Refining Lotion

Before I started my internship, I always believed that it was impossible for a cream to reduce pores. Yet, I decided to give the Pore Minimizer a try and this serum-like lotion really makes a world of difference! Plus it makes my skin feel incredibly soft. 

Superdefense SPF 25 Age Defense Moisturizer

During my first internship at Clinique, I wrote a press release about the updated Superdefense-moisturizer. I really love its creamy texture and lightness, and I always take my jar with me in my carry-on luggage whenever I'm traveling, since it keeps my fairly dry skin hydrated at all times. More importantly, it helps your skin face everyday stress and pollution, which may cause your skin to age faster. But for me, the best feature of this products is that it protects my pale skin from the harmful rays of the sun (very very important for every skin type by the way)! I try to replace this product in the evening with Super Rescue Antioxidant Night Moisturizer, but I usually end up using the Superdefense again. 

All About Eyes

Again, before I started my internship I didn't use an eye cream on a regular basis. But when Clinique's Education Manager pointed out that it is crucial to start reducing fine lines underneath your eyes before the actual damage is done -'yes, even when you're only 22 years old' she said-, I've been applying a layer of this pinkish gel every single day. Plus, it's a must during exhausting exams. As you can tell from the picture, I need to head over the store the get me a new large jar, asap. 

Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief

I wish I could bathe in this gel! Moisture Surge actually feels as it is featured in its ad campaign; like a splash of water across your face, when you apply it. 

My boyfriend regularly asks me where I find the patience to apply seven different skin care products, every single day and night. But actually it only takes up a few minutes. And even if it took me a full half hour to apply all these creams, gels and lotions I would still be doing this, since your skin is an important part of your immune system and I also would like to age beautiful ... I therefor use make-up products that are equally protective and good for my skin. And so: next up - My Clinique Beauty Routine... 

Part of my daily Clinique-routine - Click to enlarge

Tiffany & Co.

I'm loving this warm weather. The temperature is just right, perfect conditions to wear all of my favorite dresses that were too hot for me to wear in humid NYC.

Too bad it still is too warm outside to be wearing a tight pair of jeans, which means I won't be wearing my new favorite Topshop-pair I showed to you earlier. One NYC-souvernir I've been wearing all the time since I got back is my new Tiffany & Co.-charm. I bought it so I could update my Return to Tiffany & Co.-heart bracelet. I got the piece 4 years ago but I hadn't worn it for a while, because I thought it was too 'sweet'. So I got this large and quite heavy Return to Tiffany-charm to give it a extra bit of cool. I love the Return To-line, not because it has the company's name on it, but simply because it has my name on it. When the sales assistant at the shop saw my name on my credit card, we were joking that I will never have to engrave any of my Tiffany-jewelry. My only concern is that in time, the bracelet will ruin and scratch my watch heavily, but I hate wearing jewelry on my other wrist. Maybe I'll just hang the charm on my Tiffany Key-necklace.

This weekend I'm heading to Lille in France, and on the way over we're stopping in Brussels so I will definitely visit the Tiffany & Co.-shop again this Saturday. If I didn't think the charm itself is too plain, maybe I would get the Class of '10-charm, since I will be graduating from university next weekend. I'm looking forward to that, big time!

New York City - Part Four

After spending 4 out of 6 days shopping, my boyfriend and I decided that it was time to do something else, non-shopping related. And every time I find out that there's a zoo nearby where supercute panda's live, I absolutely need to visit it. Although the Central Park Zoo isn't the home of the large panda, I was excited to see the red panda, one of my favorite animals, along with the snow leopard.

The sea lions was the first to catch our attention, since the animals were playing so pleasantly in the basin. But the little panda really stole my heart. I love that little fox-like face. You could definitely tell that it was too hot outside for him since he was breathing heavily and couldn't find a cool place for him to sleep, so I also kinda felt sorry for the poor creature. Same thing goes for the snow leopard.

After our lovely afternoon at the zoo, we decided to try and find the Alice in Wonderland statue, since I've never been there during my NYC-trips. The statue was three times as big as I imagined it. Oh and if you want to make up with your boyfriend for nagging to him for days about shopping and fashion items you want and need, just take him to the pond across Alice and let him play with the motorized sailboats for a while!

New York City - Part Three

One of my favorite streets in NYC is West 14th Street.

The Apple store there is a lot more pleasant to shop, because it's not as busy as the one on 5th Ave. The Alexander McQueen store is definitely a must whenever my boyfriend and I are in town, and eventhough I don't exercise, I always visit the McQueen/Puma-shop next door wishing I did. The Jeffrey-store is always amazing, and it's where I spotted the Chanel Temporary Tattoo's I got for my sister and where I saw the Chanel-necklace I'm planning to get later this month. Across the street there's DVF and just a few minutes away you can find Bleecker Street (think: Marc Jacobs!). What's not to like?

This year my boyfriend and I took a shopping break in High Line Park, an old elevated railway track transformed into a little and quiet oasis. It looked amazing, and you can tell that hours and hours are put into keeping the 'park' as nice as possible. The view from up-there is great too. Too bad that the weather wasn't that great that day.

Afterwards we headed to Bleecker Street to hit the Marc Jacobs-stores on our way to Red Bamboo, another nice vegetarian restaurant with the most amazing soy chicken salad. But while we were getting over there, we noticed that -contrary to last year- there wasn't a two hour-line at Magnolia Bakery. There was actually nobody inside the shop. I'm not one to try out stuff just because it's been on tv or something but I blame that sweet smell of freshly baked cakes for luring us into the shop. Although both the chocolate vanilla and the vanilla cupcake was very good, I was too sugary for my taste. But if you happen to walk by, and there's no ridiculous waiting line outside, go right in and get the vanilla one..

W. 14 th. Street

I bet the view from the Standard Hotel (behind me) is amazing

Wearing a tank top version of the Rue Blanche-shirt I got last winter, my new favorite jeans from Topshop (the Ultimate Skinny Jamie), my all white Converse and my white Balenciaga bag

Magnolia Bakery

New York City - Part Two

On tuesday I read on my sister's Facebook that there was an amazing designer outlet nearby NYC and since it was too hot outside to go to the Central Park Zoo -all animals would be too lazy to even move- we decided to give it a shot and check it out.

The shuttle bus would pick us up at our hotel at 11AM so we still had some time to hang out at Bryant Park, one of my favorite locations in the city and just 2 blocks away from our hotel. The yoga classes at the park seemed like fun.

After a stop at a look-out over the Hudson river and Harlem and a one hour-drive, we arrived at the outlet. I must admit that the outlet in my hometown tops the American one qua look and feel. This one didn't even have trees or green areas. The brands at the Woodbury Outlet are very cool though: Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, YSL... My boyfriend did some amazing deals, I on the other hand found nothing that I liked. Again, not much in my size. And I wasn't just going to buy anything just because it's 75% off. But it was nice to see another side of NY/New Jersey, since I never visited a traditional US town before.

That evening my boyfriend and I picked up some (healthy!) food at the local deli and dined in Bryan Park again. There were even more people in the park than there were in the morning, yet the atmosphere there was even pleasant. We spent our entire evening there that day and it really is my favorite moment of our whole trip, just the two of us hidden in the megacity.

PS: There is something wrong with the battery of my Macbook Pro so I'm taking it to the shop to get it fix. So I probably won't be able to put up any new pictures or posts for a couple of days.

I love my boyfriend's Alexander McQueen shirt

At Woodbury 

New York City - Part One

First day, first pictures.


NYC at this time of year was so much fun. The weather was great, comfortably warm -yet a bit humid from time to time. By the way, can someone explain me why all stores on the island put their AC on 0°C? Like last year, I ended up with a cold thanks to those glacial temperatures inside.

Sales had started, which was great. Up to -60% off, even at some of the most expensive luxury fashion brands. But off course that also meant that there was no size 38 in shoes left in whole Manhattan. The Proenza Schouler-dress I wanted was on sale too ($ 1 520 > $ 900), but once again no sizes left that fitted me -although 6 is usually my size when it comes to PS... Nor could I find the DVF-dress or the Rodarte-shirt I was looking for. And basic items at most european fashion houses were about 30% more expensive in NYC than in Brussels, so I'm planning to buy them here in Belgium.

So I did a lot of shopping, but didn't end up buying a lot, certainly not as much as I did last year. Even though I was a bit disappointed shopping-wise, I had a great time with my boyfriend. I still can't believe how he manages to be in a good mood even though he was as jet-lagged as me (think: waking up at 3AM).

More pictures and a video will follow...

57th and 5th Ave. // Tiffany & Co. store behind me

Soy & Sake is the best vegetarian restaurant ever

Puerto Rico-day in our street

Gossip Girl Palace

Bryant Park minus the fashion week

YSL NYC

I tried to post this message while I was in NYC but I couldn't find the upload-picture-button for Blogger.com on my boyfriend's iPhone.
But since I haven't blogged in a long time, I'll post this as a start, to kick off my NYC-series...
First up, 120 mails to check, 300 blogposts to read on Bloglovin and going through hundreds of pictures.



--- posted on the 12th of June 2010 --- 

Teaser: my sister's gift.

My jetlag is even worse than last year. I woke up at 3am today. Heading to soho now. Blogging from an iPhone is hard.

Off to New York City

I'm studying for my film history exam, which is tomorrow afternoon and is my last exam ever.
Therefor I've been supernervous for the last couple of days. The professor is also the promotor of my thesis so off course, I want to make a good impression.

At the same time, I'm also very anxious for tomorrow to come since -as I mentioned before- my boyfriend and I are leaving for New York City on saturday morning. I still have a million things to do and I haven't even packed my bag yet. Every time I go to my aunt's to borrow her super-sized luggage, she says: "Honey, you don't need to carry along so many things, you just need your passport and your credit card!" But last year, during our previous NYC-trip I learned the hard way, how much damage a VISA can do.

I'm still wondering if I should bring my little Chanel-bag. At least so I won't be tired dragging my bag around after a whole day of walking. My boyfriend on the other hand, prefers the Balenciaga cause that way he can drop al his stuff in my bag and don't have to worry about his wallet getting stolen...

Anywho,
I'm back to my studying. And I'll say goodbye with images from my new favorite "store/blog": The Bergdorf/Goodman-blog! I'll be back next weekend with some NYC-pictures...



The Sex and the City 2-windows at Bergdorf!

(source: Bergdorf Goodman Blog - Pictures: Julia Chesky)

Btw. what will Chanel come up with next? Chanel cotton pads for 20$, crazy!

(source: Bergdorf Goodman)