Summer is just around the corner, and the new nail trends are sooo cute!
Before you start experimenting, here are a few tips:

- Short, oval / square-rounded nails are trendy at the moment. Long, pointy nails are completely outdated!
- Always use a base- and topcoat. It makes the nailpolish last longer!
- Use quality nailpolishes to prevent your nail colours from chipping!

My top three nail polishes:

1) Essie - (soo many colours, and véry long lasting! Buy them here:) http://www.beautybay.com/cosmetics/essie/
2) Rimmel - (especially the ‘Pro’-range, it lasts for more than 7 days!) http://rimmel.rimmellondon.com/products/nails
3) Maybelline Forever Strong - (last for +5 days!)  http://www.maybelline.co.uk/products/117/nail-color/forever-strong-pro

And now, here are my favourite summer nail-ideas!

Ombre nails:

Glitter nails:

Funky nail designs:

Matte nails:

Colourful french manicure:

Caviar nails:

Polka dots:

Newspaper nails:

I’ve tried some of these trends…

Here is my version of the newspaper nails!

How to? Paint your nails in a light colour. Then take a piece of newspaper, soak it in alcohol (70%) and press it on your nails for 15 seconds. Tadaa! Finish off with a top coat.

I’ve also tried the polkadots. It’s a bit hard to stop when doing this, so I went a bit over the top.

How to? Paint your nails in any colour, then apply dots in another colour with a toothpick. Et voila! You can also add a glittery top coat.

What’s your favourite?

x Katleen

Aaaah it’s almost there… Spring!! In Dutch it means ‘jump’, exactly what I feel like doing when I think about spring…
New season, new trends, so here are my favorite trends for the summer!

Metallics:

To keep it classy, combine the metallic piece with a casual look!

Sporty:

Sportswear (in particular: sporty coats) are very hot this summer. Combine it with a high heel to make it more feminine!

Etnics:

Still a lot of etnic influences on the catwalk this season! Especially the Navajo-trend is still going strong.

Pastel green:

Mint green, pistachio, light turquoise… it has many names, but one thing is for sure: it is everywhere this spring / summer!

Retro:

Retro is making a comeback! Or.. wait a minute… it was never gone!
Vintage fabrics and shapes are still very trendy! I love it…

So, where to find these new trends?
Here are some ideas:

New Yorker - Nike

Modcloth.com -Vila

Modcloth.com - Mango

Sacha - River Island

What’s your favourite? I love the combination of the metallics with the pastel green…

Hello blogreaders! I hope you had a nice and merry Christmas!

We’ve had a few lovely Christmas dinners with our family (and with a lot of food - I cooked for 16 people-) and now we’re preparing for New Year’s Eve! We’re going to celebrate it with a group of friends, and everybody brings food, so I’ll be less in the kitchen and more partying this time!

And as promised, here are some inspirational party-make-up looks for New Year’s Eve! These are the holiday pictures from the big designer-make-up brands, by the way.

Chanel:

To create this look, use a matte foundation and apply a black eyepencil on the top eyelid and blend it out to get a subtle smokey effect. On the lower eyelid, use a golden eyeliner (or use a wet angled brush with golden eyeshadow). Then finish the look with black mascara and a shiny raspberry lipstick and nail polish.

Dior:

First line your eyes with a black eyepencil (top lid, bottom lid and waterline) and then blend it to get the smokey effect. After that, take a brown-bronze eyeshadow, and with a blending brush smooth the edges of the eyeliner, and create a soft transition from the black to the colour of your skin. A golden highlighter was used to highlight the browbones and cheekbones.  Black mascara and warm red lipstick and nail polish finish the look.

Giorgio Armani:

For this look, apply a iridescent silver eyeshadow on your upper eyelid. Then use a black gel-eyeliner, only on the top lid. It is important to use a very longlasting eyeliner! (I found one: read all about it in my party-proof make-up article)
If you are planning on using false eyelashes, this thick eyeliner is a perfect combination. When the lashes have a dark ‘background’, they don’t draw too much attention, and that way they seem more natural. In this picture, they also applied a nice dark ruby-red lipstick and an almost black nail polish.

Lancôme:

Kate Winslet is wearing a bright red lipstick with a soft dark-grey eyepencil on the top and bottom eyelids (and again: blend it to create a softer look). I guess you already know my secret for kiss-proof red lips: use a lipstain underneath your red lipstick!

Yves Saint Laurent

This make-up is ideal for a night of heavy partying. If it smudges, it becomes even more beautiful! So you first use a black eyepencil all over the moving part of your upper eyelid, and also under the eyes and in the waterline. Then you fixate it by sweeping over a dark grey eyeshadow. For a very dramatic look: blend the eyeshadow all the way to your eyebrows. When you wear a dramatic smokey eyemake-up, it is always nice to combine it with a neutral lipgloss, instead of a heavy lipstick. Oh, and notice the beautiful matte black nail polish! Instead of buying matte nail polishes, it’s a lot cheaper to just buy a matte topcoat! You can find the fantastic matte Essie topcoat here, on my favourite online beautyshop: beautybay.com!!

Which look are you going to wear for New Year’s Eve? I think I’ll go for the golden eyeliner!
Happy New Year everyone, and see you in 2012!!

We haven’t seen much sun this summer, and to make things worse, fall is around the corner already…
But fashion-wise, I am in fact looking forward to it! Look at these beautiful warm colours:
a lot of nudes, ochre, oxblood, warm purple, and many other booze-colours (cognac, champagne, winered, …)! Mix these colours with some 70’s vibes and 50’s glamour, and I’m in love…
These are some images of the Fall-winter-collection of River Island… What do you think?

In today’s issue of the newspaper ‘Metro’, I was asked to give my opinion about hats, on the occasion of Kate & Will’s marriage next week.
Here you can read all about it:

mvlmp-0-20110421-10

Well… whatdoyouthink? 

In the article I talk about about how it’s such a pity so few people wear hats…
So let’s put my words into action!

Looking for a new bikini or swimsuit to spend these fantastic sunny days on the beach? Here are my favourites:

The winner in the category ‘most flattering swimsuit’… it brings out your assets and hides your tummy!

Golden swimsuit - €163 - Gottex

Flattering for round hips:

Pink polkadot bikini - Roxy
Multi colour shorts - Roxy
Black & white swimsuit - Livia

Just cute, and perfect for smaller boobs:

Green vichy square bikini - Tommy Hilfiger
Swimsuit with flower pattern - River Island
White bikini with rhinestones - River Island

In addition to the previous post: some ideas and examples of the latest make-up trends, as seen on the runway! Of course, they are completely compatible to the main fashion trends.

I tried to find realistic examples, which are easy to wear in daily life.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a M.A.C-masterclass, here in Antwerp. A few of the 2011 make-up trends were discussed, explained and demonstrated on some very lovely models.
Most of my examples here, are from the M.A.C. Cosmetics archives (from the spring-summer 2011 runway shows).

1. Glossy, shiny, healthy, nude skin.
For this look, the skincare is really important. You can mix a little drop of M.A.C. strobe cream in your daily moisturizer to make your skin look radiant and glowing. Then, comb your eyebrows and apply a little bit of cream blush in a natural colour on the apples of your cheeks. After that, you only use concealer or a bit of foundation on the little spots or dark undereye circles. This is an ideal make-up for a day on the beach! Remember: no mascara is needed (or maybe a very tiny bit of brown waterproof mascara) to finish the look!

2. Electric colour accents.
Just choose a colour and a part of your face, and paint it. Bright yellow eyelids, oranje lips or fuchsia cheeks, … go for it! The colours must be véry intense and saturated, and preferably completely matte. How to do that? Just buy an opaque, matte lipstick, or use a colourful lippencil and colour your lips. Or use an eyepencil in a particular colour, and fixate it by patting on a matte eyeshadow on top of it in the same colour.

3. Pretty pastels.
These fairy-tale-pastels (soft lavender, icy blue or transparant pistachio,…) create a beautiful, romantic and feminine look, but be careful not to use them in an old-fashioned way! In stead of the traditional eyelid-colour, use them all over and around the eyes, or use them only in the eyecorners.

4. Brown & bronze eyes
Shimmery brown eyeliners, glossy copper eyelids,… Brown is the new black! Keep the lips very natural.
This trend is perfect for blue-eyed girls with a tan this summer!

The make up in this blog article:
M.A.C. strobe cream
M.A.C. eye shadow ‘Chrome Yellow’
M.A.C. lipstick ‘Russian Red’ from the Wonderwoman Collection
M.A.C. pigment ‘Violet’
M.A.C. eye kohl ‘Teddy’

http://www.maccosmetics.be/

Here an overview of the fashion trends for this spring - summer!
I give you some runway-examples of each trend, and then a similar item you can find in the stores now!

Monochromatic colour blocking & combining bright neon colours:

Orange pants, Zara (€ 39,95)

White romantic summerdresses & lace details:

White lace skirt, River Island (€ 60,50)

Seventies YSL-flow & calf-length skirts

Calf-length skirt, Zara (€ 49,95)

Prints, prints, prints.

Top with watercolour print, Mexx (€ 29,95)

Masculin pants & high waists:

Pants, Mango (€ 39,90)

Bright sunny yellows!

Yellow satin dress, WE (€39,95)

Which one’s your favourite trend?

Can’t wait for the summer to be here! The beautiful summer collections are winking at me in the shops, but today it has been snowing here in Antwerp, so I guess we’ll still be wearing our wintercoats for some time.

Anyways, the hair-trends for this year look very promising, so I decided to experiment with some spring & summery hairdo’s on last week’s photoshoot. I’ll post these pictures here soon…

For now, an overview of some beautiful hair-trends for 2011:

Cute buns, retro hairstyles, messy out-of-bed-hair, white bleached hair, red and ginger hair colours, hair rolls, straight bangs, textured hair, twisted hair, and braids are also still in the picture.

Oh, and I looove buns, bangs & retro hair styles… so I’m one happy camper!