Fashion Limbo loves

Currently listening to You’ve Got A Friend In Me by the Brand New Heavies.

Just a quick post to share some inspiring objects, coveted beauties or whatever I’m currently loving.

Still loving leopard print accessories – I just cannot get enough although I’m more focused on small hints of it than an entire outfit or a dress. Saw these H&M; wedges and decided to make them mine. Very comfortable  (hardly any left in stores now) and I simply adore how this girl wears them in Lookbook.nu

I love Benefit’s Posietint – great for lighting up lips and cheeks with a gorgeous shade. My sister and mother have it, but it is completely out of my current budget at €32 or £28. I have however tested it for you, my lovelies, and it does give a very natural yet colourful pink shade, being quite worth the expense as it lasts almost all day. Sadly, for me such purchase is not possible at the time. Must find cheaper alternatives…

Love flashy men’s shoes – the ones below are by one of my favourite Dutch brands, Sacha, so gorgeous I wish they were mine. One of my strangest traits, but yes, I do fall for men’s shoes.

I am also loving this amazingly grahic Karen Millen dress.

And I love my new fringe – In a rather questionable attempt to keep expenditures at a low,  I had been “upkeeping” my own bangs. Feeling over- confident, I decided to try a side-fringe. An absolute fail. Not pretty…AT ALL.  Luckily I managed to book an appointment with my favourite stylist Alfredo Atalaya, in Cordoba (Spain).  He brought my mane back to life and now my fringe looks great, similar to this picture below, from last Spring (Belgium).

Coat: Mango

Jeans: 7 For All Mankind

Shoes: Sparkly red Converse All Stars

Bag: Mango

Spring is officially here, I cannot wait to start dressing the part.

What are you loving?
Finished this post listening to You’re My Star by the brilliant Stereophonics.

Pictures: Fashion Limbo, Benefit, Karen Millen, H&M;

Oh how fashion forgets

Currently listening to Confide in Me (Master Mix) by Kylie Minogue

I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while, but being super busy I find myself only doing it now. Bear with me and let’s see what it all ends up being.

I started reflecting about ethics and principles in fashion. More specifically, I reflected on the notion of forgiveness and on the possibility of becoming dead to the fashion world after being at the top. The Galliano scandal sparked my chain of thoughts.

There was so much written about it, news headlines, special reports etc. Paris Fashion Week was more about the Galliano story than anything else. Expectations were at an all mighty high, Dior went ahead with the collection, fired Galliano and now rumours fly as to who will replace him. Galliano’s collection received a low-key presentation as the scheduled show was cancelled. The designer has now virtually disappeared and according to reports he is in rehab somewhere in The States.

Amist all this scandal a question was raised: will the disgraced designer ever make it back to the top of the fashion world, where he once comfortably sat? Many say he will, that all the anti-semitic remarks will be soon forgotten.

I reflect about how other fashion icons had their reputations burnt to pieces: Naomi Campbell was repeatedly sued by several assistants that had been physically abused by the model. Kate Moss got dubbed “Cocaine Kate” and lost several high profile jobs. However, both Naomi and Kate are as present and successful as ever in the fashion world.

We read about the scandals, watch the comprehensive TV and online reports, we debate about it, brand executives reshuffle their teams, newspapers sell millions of copies and celebrities release statements of disgust… but in the end, does it really matter? Is there a lesson to be learnt from fashion’s ability to crucify, forget and ultimately resurrect?

What do you think? Will Galliano also make a successfull comeback?

Finished this post listening to When Doves Cry by Prince.

Pictures: Fashion Limbo

Stress and Life – Eating habits

 Oh, I could so eat the entire bakery right now

To continue with my online diary on stress management, this post is about eating habits. How stress affects my stomach.

It makes me want to eat my dog – ok, that’s a tad exaggerated, but anxiety does make me hungry and always for the wrong stuff: chocolate, cake, cheese, pizza, you name it. What I do with food -as the more I deny myself the pleasure, the least satisfied I will be with anything- is compromise.

• If I see I may overdo it with chocolate, I go for the pure good stuff. Nothing below %70 cocoa. It’s not only healthier and good for your heart and blood, it will fill you up faster, and will cut the craving sooner too, so you don’t end up swallowing an entire bar.

• I also drink lots of tea (fruit tea) every time I feel like snacking between meals. 

• Sometimes I go for a cup of coffee, although caffeine isn’t the best ally when your nerves are at a mighty high, but the smell and warmth of it slows me down and fills my belly, so decaff is definitively the way to go. Hot chocolate also helps.

• I discover new and complicated recipes. I make something fancy or out of the ordinary, anything that will take me quite a while to prepare. The smells and tasting the food as I cook means I won’t overfill my plate. Want to see what really helped me stay focused this week? This delicious quiche. I served with with plenty of salad, so the portion was small for my huge appetite, but it filled me up.

 Pancetta, mushrooms, tuna, spring onions, pecorino and whatever I had left over in the fridge!

 Eating habits and stress become very intertwined in exam periods, travelling and moving, job hunting and other hectic times. Tell me, how do you cope?

Picture: Fashion Limbo

Brighton Mon Amour

Brighton has to be one of my favourite places in the world. If anyone told me I “had” to live there, I would gladly do so, even with it’s sideways rain, it’s bitter wind and the painful pebbly beach – shoes or no shoes, no clue how one must walk on that!

During my last visit to the UK at the start of February my cousin Kate had the brilliant idea of doing a road trip from London to London By The Sea. Want to see some pictures?

Isn’t this the coolest shop sign ever?

Kate spotted a girl with a Beyond Retro bag, and we promptly stopped her to ask for directions. This proved to be a slight useless idea, as she was not from Brighton and her directions simply added to “go that way *waving ahead* and then look for a street in the middle of nowhere…oh, and there were sharks on the walls” (???) all I can say is thank God for iPhone map applications… I kept looking out for the sharks but I’m still wondering about that detail.

Somehow we decided not to go for this woolly waistcoat

Groovy visual merchandising at Beyond Retro Brighton

It was during this visit to Beyond Retro that I bagged my coolest vintage find to date. After shopping we headed for the traditional fish and chips by the beach side. It was c-c-c-cold and windy but we still loved it.

 The pier is that strange mixture of romantic meets flashing lights meets fish & chips

 Hello Kitty “claw” machine

Random street art by Cassette Lord

Soon I will be heading to the South of Spain and Brighton will be quite far away 😦

What are your favourite towns? I need holiday inspiration my lovelies.

Pictures: Fashion Limbo

Stress and Life – Skin chaos

I’m not going through my best moment. I’m dealing with lots of different matters and stress is starting to be a problem. Stress and anxiety affect everyone differently. It can cause loss of appetite and/or makes us slightly irritated. Some people even become emotional spenders and buy things they can’t afford. Others even start walking in their sleep.

As I’m coping with a move abroad, a change of lifestyle and some tough decisions, I decided I would write about how my body and mind are reacting and what I’m actively doing to help the situation. Today I’m going to ramble on a bit about my skin.

A trip to New York was the perfect holiday – it gave me almost perfect skin

Cardigan: River Island
T-shirt Karen Millen
Bear pendant New Look

Stress gives me bad skin – right now my face is a disaster. I had clear skin for almost a year, but at present I look less fabulous and more like a lizard. Celebrities with adult acne? Keira Knightley and Katy Perry, and they seem to live with it quite well… they also have professional make-up artists at their beck and call. To calm my skin I’m trying out a combination of:

• Hormonal help, such as Yasminelle – This can help if your levels of anxiety trigger hormonal misbehaviour. It has worked for me in the past, although I stopped as I’m not an enthusiastic of pills or anything chemical. I’ve started taking the pills again to see if it calms my skin trouble. I’m on my second box and outbreaks are still occurring. Effectiveness 4/10

• I drink lots of fluids – water in all sorts of mediums, as tea, as mineral water, as tap water. I find it quite hard to drink water during the colder months, but I try to make a habit of ordering a big bottle if I’m out for lunch/dinner. Effectiveness 6/10

• I don’t touch my skin with my bare fingers – this is a tricky one as I’m one true fidgety creature. Bacteria only contributes to polluting our pores and provoking outbreaks. I perform a good face wash twice a day and keep my skin clear of heavy make up help. If my skin is in too bad condition to wear no foundation, I ensure to take it off as soon as I’m home, so as not to clog pores excessively.  Effectiveness 8/10

• On a side note, more skin related than stress related, I’m trying a new face product: No7 Pore Refining Serum from Boots. I decided to give a try after reading about how big pores can contribute to bad skin. Who knew? I obviously didn’t. Apparently while size cannot be altered, you can fight to keep them de-clogged, healthy and somehow this serum should help. So, my pores are big and misbehaved. I’ll let you know how that works for me, but for the moment pores seem to be getting less clogged, which is a slight improvement. I’ve been using this product for 2 and half weeks, once a day. Effectiveness 6/10

Obviously, if stress is the cause for my skin problems, then the easiest solution would be to cease being stressed. Somehow that seems a tad difficult at the moment.


What are your tips for fabulous skin? Does your skin also react to stress?

Picture: Boots, Fashion Limbo