Smets & Bobbi Brown

Finally, I managed to head over to Smets! It seemed like the entire blogosphere had been talking non-stop about the concept store and it felt as if I was the only one in Belgium that hadn't been there yet - and this while our office is only 5 minutes down the road.

Well, what can I say that hasn't been said before? The store is amazing: beautifully decorated, a great selection of brands, huge store ... bliss! If I ever would open my own store, this is how it would look like; a dream one-stop-shop!

And did I mention there is a Bobbi Brown corner too! I could help myself and walked out with the best concealer. I had already had a Bobbi-make up consultation before and this indispensable beauty item was on my wish list ever since. Dark circles no more!

Make sure to check the Bobbi Brown site for handy how-to videos!

my make-up the day of the Bobbi Brown workshop

perfection

Next on my wish list: more Long-Wear Gel Eyeliners. Even after the longest hot showers, the eye liner is still there, so faithfully. 

Don't take this personally ...

No offense, but I couldn't help but laughing when I passed the Abercrombie & Fitch-store in Brussels yesterday. This picture was taken around noon. At 10 AM, when I arrived at Chaussee de Waterloo*, the line was twice as long, running all in front of the BMW-garage.

Okay, I must admit, the brand has a very clever marketing strategy, especially if you can make people (read: 14-year olds with their mums) wait in line for an hour just to get some simple, everyday non-limited edition-H&M-meets-designer-brand style of clothes. But I think the clothes look terrible (aside from the fact that A&F is being printed on every single item) and are very, very, yes, very over-priced.

A friend of mine told me a few years ago that if I ever got the chance I should go check out the A&F-concept at he thought it was ridiculous. And so, one early morning**, when I was near their Fifth Ave.-store, I noticed that for once there wasn't a single soul waiting in line. I went inside, and I literally immediately walk out again. We were inside 3 min. tops! Most of the clothes (not my style) are inside the glass counters, the store was extremely dark and the music was so damn loud that I couldn't even stand the idea that I would actually take a walk around the store and even give this brand a fair chance. So, let it be said: A&F, thumbs up for your marketing team, but you'll never get me to enter your store again***! But don't let me stop you ...

NB: Why A&F doesn't work in Japan. #funny


*There goes the neighborhood
**NYC equals jetlags equals getting up way too early to go shopping
***Online shopping isn't an option either

Shopping Spree

Thursday I received some very nice feedback regarding my exam results. And thus, I decided to go and celebrate. Celebrating to me almost equals to shopping. And so we headed off to Belgium's greatest shopping city Antwerp on Friday, and as always, it was totally worth it.

First, I spotted this Alexander McQueen skull shirt for men. I could not believe they hadn't all sold out immediately when the news got out. Now, as I mentioned before, I do wear men shirts, when it comes to McQueen -in size XS that is. But then I realized that I already have quite a few signature pieces by the designer. My boyfriend on the other hand, always bought his low-key designs, and now was risking to be left without an original skull shirt. So I decided to get him one, as a present.

After a delicious hot chocolate at Verso Café, my sister bought a new bag. I'm still so jealous, I can not get over it. Afterwards, I spotted some 'bling', at the Pinko-store. No way that I'm going to wear the logo-shirt that comes with it, but when it comes to brooches, I just have to have them. And this white 'Saint-Tropez' special edition version came with 3 pieces.

Oh and my sister saw the most amazing Nicolas Kirkwood-shoes, the ones she blogged about in October. True masterpiece indeed, too bad it comes with a matching price tag (€ 1100).

Since my boyfriend promised me a long time ago, saturday we went shopping in Brussels. I didn't see anything cool, so 'all I got' were the Chanel ballet flats I longed for, for a while now. Black leather, with a black patent point, easy to mix with my all-black wardrobe. I'm happy. We finished up with a great dinner at Cook & Book and his band's gig at the Belgian seaside.