Outfit post: Koninginnedag (Queen's Day)

Today it's Queen's Day in the Netherlands, an official holiday to honor the Queen's birthday. Since orange is the national color (stemming from the royal family's surname 'Van Oranje'), many people dress up in things orange. To give you an impression:

                                                                                   Source: http://www.respons.nl

                                                                                            Source: www.ad.nl 
I'm not a fan of the royalties or anything, but I like to take part in the tradition. Just a little bit. :) Therefore I am going to wear the only orange thing I own (I don't like the color at all!), which is this shirt with orange buttons I recently thrifted:

New bag!

I recently bought a new bag with a huge discount. It's from Kipling, a Belgian brand. These bags are known to be extremely durable, which I definately expierenced during my six years in high school. I had the same bag through all those years and it still wasn't damaged when I graduated! For years I hated Kipling bags because they reminded me of school, haha. But when I came across this wonderful, roomy, black bag with a silk-like yet sturdy fabric, I gave in....I'm giving Kipling a second chance. :)

Isn't it pretty? There's plenty of space inside and the silky looking fabric is much more beautiful in reality than in the picture. You can wear it across your shoulder, but there are also shorter straps for hand carrying it. The model of the bag is called 'New Pamela', if anyone is interested in purchasing it.
I found this really nice Gothic Lolita-like picture from an Asian website:

Spring time

Finally the view from my window is getting a lot more interesting, with Spring colors dominating the (public) backyard. Since I'm spending a lot of time at home, it means a great deal to me! Having no garden of my own is something I really miss and this compensates for it somewhat.

The trees on the other side of the appartment aren't quite as green yet:

Book review: The Passage by Justin Cronin

About a year ago I was in a bookstore in Amsterdam and noticed this book was on discount. From the front illustration I expected a drama story (apparently I have the UK edition; the US version looks completely different), but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a vampire novel!

Since I am a big Anne Rice fan, I tend to be a little sceptical about other modern vampire stories, especially now that teen novels such as Twilight have become so popular. I like vampires to be dark, tragic and dangerous. No sparkling please! Of course I do understand the attraction of such popular fiction and those books certainly have their merit, but I simply prefer more in-depth, well written stories.

A quote by Stephen King on the backside of the book convinced me to buy it though. As a child, I was really fond of Stephen King’s horror stories and I used to bring a huge pile of them when going abroad for the holidays. So if this book was anything like it, I was surely going to enjoy it.

And boy, how I did!!! It’s by far the best book that I’ve read in a year or longer. The story sucked me in completely and I felt a lot of sympathy for the main characters. In the beginning, the story was a bit slow. But once it got exciting, it never stopped. The post-apocalyptic world that Cronin describes is frightening, frustrating and tragic, but amazingly fascinating. There’s always something terrible happening and the enemy is constantly near, ready to destroy what's left. The story truly scared me, in the same way Stephen King's novels always did. I was afraid to read on, but at the same time couldn't seem to put the book down. And the vampires….such terrible creatures!

What I loved about Cronin’s writing is that he doesn’t focus too much on the technical aspects of this future world, nor on the apocalyptic events that preceded it. Instead he describes a social group living in harsh conditions and the way in which its members manage to survive through bonds of friendship and love.

If you are looking for a really exciting and dark story to read, The Passage should be high on your list! It is very well written and the story will stay with you for a long time. Cronin will release the second part of his trilogy ('The Twelve') in October 2012, so there is even more to look forward to! I know I will for sure. 

My rating: 9.0

Movie Review: The Cabin in the Woods

Last week I went to see The Cabin in the Woods, a movie directed by Drew Goddard. He wrote the screenplay with Josh Whedon, who is known for tv series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and for the upcoming The Avengers movie. I have to confess the trailer didn’t appeal to me that much, but after my boyfriend told me about Josh Whedon, I gave in. And I wasn’t disappointed! What I expected was a basic horror movie with a plot-twist that was already somewhat revealed in the trailer. This turned out to be true to some degree, but there is much more behind that plot twist than one would expect. This makes the story a lot more interesting and perhaps more a fantasy movie than purely horror. (I won’t reveal too much here, for you have to see it for yourself!)

The movie is nerve-racking and full of odes to famous movies from the genre. Fans of horror will probably be delighted to recognize these classics! At the same time, the movie avoids too many clichés by adding a second side of the story.

Although I loved the movie and would certainly recommend it to people with similar interests, it is also left me a little confused. Not because of the story itself, which is clear enough, but because I still don’t really know how to feel about it. Did the movie’s ending leave me shocked, disappointed, relieved, scared? The movie has been playing in my head ever since. Perhaps then, that feeling of confusion is the very strength of the story.  


My rating: 8.0

Baking frenzy!

One of my favourite past times is cooking and baking. Especially the latter calls for creativity. I regularly make crazy elaborate cupcakes, but I also like to bake a traditional undecorated cake or cookies. A couple of days ago my friend Joyce gave me a baking mix that she wasn't going to use herself. It contained whole bitterkoekjes (traditional Dutch cookies), big chunks of chocolate and amaretto! Highly addictive.

Do you guys like baking? Do you ever make food with a dark theme (and not just for Halloween)? I'd love to see some examples!

I used a rose shaped baking tin and mini turban cake forms:

Last year for my birthday, I made victorian themed cupcakes and owl shaped cake pops:

And in 2010 I made these Halloween cupcakes:

Shoplog

Last week I went to the Kruidvat (a discount drugstore) because all make-up was 'buy one, get one free'! I didn't really need anything, but I couldn't resist buying nail-polish. These green colours are from Catrice. I have no doubt the dark green polish will please me, but the lighter green/grey is an experiment. A review will follow later!

Then I bought two pairs of silver coloured hair slides, with roses on them (30% discount with my customer card). I think they're going to look great in updos. 

I also got a free shampoo worth more than 5 euros, which I saved for with customer points. The brand is Syoss and this product does not contain any parabens, silicons or paraffines. Just what I'm looking for! 

Discount shopping with deals such as these is so much fun!

Sugarpill loose eyeshadows

A while back, I bought three loose eyeshadow pots from Sugarpill: the colours Asylum (warm orange/red), Junebug (dark green) and Hysteric (purple). As you can see in the swatches, the pigmentation of these eyeshadows is amazing! The colours are very vivid and strong. My favourite is Asylum, since it doesn't look like anything else I have and I love warm red colors.
My only point of concern are the ingredients. Often powder eyeshadows are mineral based and more natural than pressed eyeshadows, but in this case I can find no information about the topic at all. I don't know enough about chemical ingredients to just inform myself by the reading the list on the package, but I suspect Sugarpill is not a very natural band. For this reason I would not wear their make-up on a daily basis, but I still think the bright colours are amazing for a special occasion!

Left to right: Asylum, Junebug, Hysteric

Outfit post: cinema

On Friday the 13th I went to Amsterdam to see the The Cabin in the Woods with my friend Joyce (Beauty&Metal). I wanted to wear something comfortable that was also appropriate for an evening out. Also, I was eager to wear one of the items that I recently found at the thrift event. This is what I came up with:

 

  T-shirt: new shirt recently bought at threadless.com

    Skirt: gift from my boyfriend's mom (from thrift event)

 Cardigan: H&M

   Shoes: Dr.Martens

    Stockings: V&D

      Necklace: Claire's

Scarf: H&M winter discount

Jacket: Large Popmerchandizing

Studded leather bag: V&D

Natural hair products

I recently placed an order of various hair products and make-up at Yves Rocher. Both my mother and grandmother used to be big fans of this brand in the past, so it always feels a bit outdated and granny-ish to me. But when I heard that they have a line of products without parabens, my interest grew. When I also had the opportunity to buy a discount coupon, saving me a lot of money, I decided to go for it. My first impression is a very positive one! Although the packaging of the products is a bit cheap and sometimes even difficult to open, I have no complaints about what's inside.
For my hair, I bought the following items:
- Pureté Clean shampoo (for oily hair)
- Démêlage detangling styling water
- Nutrition hair mask oat (for dry hair)
- Nutrition repairing balm for dry ends
- Éclat radiance raspberry vinegar
So far, I've tried the shampoo, the detangling water and the balm for dry ends. My hair feels really soft and clean and the detangling water made it easy to comb. It left no greasy layer, which is really good news for my type of hair. The balm for dry ends also makes a considerable difference, since the ends now look shiny and healthy. If they are really better protected will become clear in time, I guess. The products do not seem to contain SLS either. As an effect, the shampoo doesn't foam as much as regular shampoos do, but this simply takes some getting used to.
I'm really curious to try the raspberry vinegar. I've never tried anything like it before! The stuff smells great and I wonder if it works well to get rid of build-up left by various hair products over time. A review will follow!

Outfit post: Easter 2012

This is what I wore for Easter: one of my flower dresses! It felt like the right thing to wear for spring, even though it was awfully cold outside. I intended to make the whole outfit a bit darker, but I needed to leave in a hurry when travelling to my family's home and didn't have time to bring much along.

Dress: King Louie
Cardigan: H&M
Necklace with lace-look: Claire's
Boots: Dr.Marten's

Outfit post: military & lace

The combination of a military style jacket and a lace tunic may sound strange, but I think this outfit worked out pretty well. It felt good, anyway. I've never worn the tunic before since it's see-through and I've had trouble making it look nice with  a black shirt underneath. Somehow it looked a bit too messy to me. This time however I decided to try a skin-colored shirt underneath and I think it is a big improvement! I'm also glad that I can finally wear this wonderful tunic.

Tunic: SPS (Superstar)

Military style jacket: H&M

Pants: H&M

Boots: Van Haren

Bracelet: Noosa Amsterdam

Old photoshoot

I like to regularly model for gothic and fantasy themed (amateur) photoshoots. Usually in Victorian style and in a  very atmospheric place. I love the dark romantic image that is created in the photographs and of course it's simply a lot of fun to do! Lately I haven't had much going on except for the shoot at the beach (see this post), but I have plenty of material to show from past photoshoots. Maybe I should make this a monthly theme-post on my blog!

These photographs are from 2010 and were shot at an old estate close to where I live:

Photograph: Inge Fienieg 

 Photograph: Inge Fienieg

                                                                                              Photograph: Inge Fienieg

 Photograph: Henk van Rijssen

  Photograph: Henk van Rijssen

Photograph: Henk van Rijssen

As you may have spotted, there were two different photographers that day! 

Object of desire

I am in love with this skirt from Large Popmerchandising (apologies for the blurry pictures!):

Front:

Back:

I wonder if I can make something like this myself. It looks quite complicated though....

Vive Maria summer collection

One of my favourite clothing brands is definately the German 'Vive Maria'. It's not very affordable for my budget , but the clothing is of superb quality. I have skirts and tops that are more than five years old and they still don't look worn! I also love the dark romantic aspect of many items of clothing from this brand. This is my pick of favourites from the 2012 summer collection:

Noosa bracelets

Last november I got a fabulous present from a good friend: a Noosa bracelet. It's a single or double leather bracelet onto which you can attach different 'chunks'. The chunks all have a specific symbolic meaning and are made of natural materials such as bone, pumpkin and stone. They are inspired by different areas in the world. Another attractive aspect about the chunks is that they come in different colors and therefore you can make the bracelet seem different every day and adapt the colors to the clothes you're wearing. One chunk costs between 7 and 19 euros, depending on the kind of material it's made of. The bracelets are 20 - 30 euros and also come in different colors. Besides bracelets, Noosa sells belts, sandals and scarfs, also meant to be decorated with chunks.
I particularly like the South American themed chunks, but this is a personal thing (I studied archaeology and specialized in this region). I also really like the European ones, for obvious reasons. The black and silver chunks are great for complementing a gothic outfit. You can adapt these bracelets to any style you like really.

My bracelet:

 My other chunks:

Noosa belt:

Noosa scarf:

Different bracelets:

Double bracelet:

Noosa sandals: