Instalife #26

Hi girls! Since I've been back from Madrid I have been enjoying being cosy at home and getting some needed rest. Going on a city trip is everything BUT relaxing, trust me! You just walk around all day long, sightseeing and shopping. It was so much fun but I'm seriously exhausted from that trip. 

I also have been on a bit of a shopping spree obsession lately, I'm refreshing my whole wardrobe, getting some good basics like a black blazer, white t-shirts and jeans but also I'm getting a lot of work outfit attire. Zara and Asos have been my must go online store, I can't wait to show you what I got in the next outfits of the day! 

Here's a little one with my new Zara ripped pair of jeans. These a super comfy and super skinny just how I like them. I also got this new linen t-shirt from Zara but I didn't realize it was so wrinkly until I saw the pic! These are such must haves for every seasons, they're my favorites and I got the grey, black and white one! You can find them here but hurry up they go sold out super fast!

Have a lovely monday!

XO,MARILOU

Travel essentials

When going on a short trip, I'm always trying not to bring too much make-up with me. I do carry quite a lot compared to others probably but there are a few products that I'll ALWAYS carry on my travel make-up like mascara and a least a BB cream - Garnier or Bourjois are my favorite -, a good cream blusher - recently I have been obsessed with my Mac Ladyblush one - an highlighter - here the NYX Liquid Illuminator that I mix with my BB cream or foundation - one nude and one 'bright' lipsticks minimum - that sounds so little but I keep some space so I can buy more lipsticks when on the city I'm visiting!

I forgot to add the mascara on this picture but I'll bring my Une Volume By Night - aka the best mascara out there, ever. I also always take a lip balm with me because I tend to get super dry lips when going on airplanes from some weird reasons.

An other non glamorous yet essential product I always take with me is the La Roche Posay Lipikar Podologic cream for my feet. You know when you're on a city trip you'll be walking and walking all day, all night so it can damaged your feet pretty much and there is nothing I hate more than ugly, damaged looking feet - yuck. This cream is heaven sent, it does such a good job a repairing your feet so quickly and leaving them super smooth.

The last travel must have is a good pair of sunglasses. When I say good I mean 'looking good' not 'expensive'. You can find some great stylush sunglasses for really affordable prices. I do have a pair of Ray Ban but I like to buy a lot of sunnies so I'm not splurging on Chanel's one...yet.  These one are from Six and I love the zebra print on it, it looks so wild!

XO,MARILOU

Sunday's playlist

Lana Del Rey - West Coast (here)

Sam Smith - Stay with me (here)

Sia - Chandelier (here)

John Mayer - XO (here)

XO,MARILOU

From Madrid with love

Hi lovelies! I'm baaaaack. Oh..my god! I had such an amazing time in Madrid, I can't even begin to tell you why. No just kidding of course I am. The food was just beyond. Being half spanish I know what good spanish food looks and tastes like so I really had to avoid any touristic places selling 'google looking paellas' and find the good old tapas bars and little restaurants. Me and the boyf basically spent 6 days walking - eating and shopping!  This city has such an amazing vibe, everybody is outside all the time drinking cervezas, enjoying life and speaking loudly. I love it! Little did we know, we went the week of the biggest celebration in Madrid called San Isidro. It was so cool, there was many festivites to celebrate all week long, like the most amazing flamenco concert I have ever seen in my life in Plaza Mayor at night. I got chills from the music!

I have discovered many neighborhoods - well pretty much every one in the centrum - and I have to say that my favourite by far was La Chueca. It's the best place to enjoy delicious tapas - my favourite place was the Conache, food was to die for - and live the Madrid life at its fullest. There are basically no tourist and many students, vintage shops and tapas bars of course! It's not far away from the touristic area and far much better! I already miss eating patatas bravas with a glass of tinto de verano con limon, chipirones y calamares, pimientos del padron y jamon ibérico on toast! I also did some shopping damages at Zara, It would have been rude not to with their lower prices, right? My feet are so sore from all the walking but it was so worth it!

XO,MARILOU

Wish list ⎥ Put your party hat on!

Hi girls! I have a little party outfit wish list for you today. Summer is just around the corner and so are summer parties! I know that in the UK girls go clubbing in those summer outfits all year round but personally I just can't go out in the freezing winter with a tiny dress. That's why I love summer, you can look good without the shaking legs from freezing! I'm pretty much hibernating all winter long from clubbing and partying then as soon as the weather gets better I'm all over buying dresses to party!

 There's nothing like a good night out with your girlfriends, although I used to be a big party club girl I have now settled a little bit but I still love going out and dress up. I just love how over the top you can dress, bring on the lashes the heels and the sexy dress! For a perfect night out I would wear this gorgeous co-ord from H&M. How edgy is that trend by the way? I just love it, it's super sophisticated. I love the length of the skirt it balances well with the crop top tummy showing! With that co-ord ensemble I would wear some super edgy shoes like those Asos transparent heels. As a clutch, I would dare the blinged one from Zara although it could be a little too matchy-matchy for daytime, for night time it's just so cool in my opinion! 

Makeup wise, I would definitely get my voluminous false lashes on - my favourite ones are the Katy Perry for Eylure in Oh Honey!  - and also a little bit of glow is super important to look good in the pictures the morning after hence the Topshop glow stick. As a lipstick, I would go crazy bright with those topshop lip cream & cream bullet. Nothing screams more party time than bright pink lips in my opinion. It's sexy and feminine, definitely up my alley!

I can wait for summer to arrive to get my party hat on!

XO,MARILOU

Spring nail polishes

Essie Romper Room / Essie Splash of Grenadine / Bourjois Peace & Mauve / Kiko / Essie Peach Daïquiri 

All I seem to like on my nails is pink at the moment - with the exception of that gorgeous Essie coral shade - it just looks super chic, fresh and girly! The time has gone when I used to be a green/blue/yellow nail polish lover. I have actually got rid of all the 'teen' colours I used to wear and kept a good 30 shades from neutrals, to coral, some neons, a lot of pinks and of course some dark colors. The thing I love about pink nail polish is that they're soooo many differents shades of it out there   - baby pink, lila pink, hot pink, coral pink, purple pink - so it never feels boring!

XO,MARILOU

Demak'up Facelooks ⎥ Babydoll

Lace collar dress (here)

Hi girlies! I recently got a huge box filled with Demak'up products. I'm not gonna lie I was super happy because as much as I like to wear makeup, my second favourite part of the day is going home and taking my makeup off! There's nothing more liberating than removing your make-up and get your skin ready for the next morning make-up. It's quite hard to find good makeup remover pads, I have tried a few that have make my eyes super teary and red, others that weren't 'harsch' enough and would let mascara on. So far I have been SO impressed with those Demak'up products. My favourite have been the Demak'up Douceur Coton pads Sensitive/Waterproof. They're just greasy enough to remove everything off your face and you really just need one pad for half your face. It's super handy too to take away with you for a city trip (Hello Madrid, I'm looking at you). The sensitive ones are great if you have sensitive eyes like mine yet you can see all the mascara and eyeliner I was wearing went off so easily! Sensitive, yes but effective also! 

Demak'up have also asked me and other belgian bloggers to create a look for their Facelooks campaign. Makeup is not only useful but it should be playful too. I like going a bit over the top with my eyeliners from time to time, or where as crazy bright pink lip. That's what make-up is all about. Having fun, feeling confident and trying new things! The look I have created for you is a Babydoll look inspired by Brigitte Bardot - yes, it has to do with the fact that I'm a freshly new blonde - it's very 70's and feminine. I'm no makeup artist but I did my best to create this look, I hope you like it! 

Demak'up will be posting all of our looks on their belgian Facebook page (here) and you can vote to decide which one will be published on Flair magazine! It's such a fun contest, I can't wait to see what my other fellow belgian beauty bloggers have created. 

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Hello les filles! J'ai récemment reçu une énorme boite remplie de goodies Demak'up! Je vous avoue je suis ravie de pouvoir tester toutes ces petites merveilles car autant j'aime me maquiller, autant j'a-dore me démaquiller en rentrant. Rien de tel, c'est un vrai moment de délivrance, de chouchoutage. C'est l'étape indispensable avant de pouvoir hydrater sa peau afin de repartir de plus belle le lendemain matin.  C'est assez dur de trouver de bon coton démaquillant - qui ne se détachent pas en pleine utilisation ou qui pluchent - ou de coton imbibés de démaquillant. Soit ils sont trop agressifs et font pleurer les yeux, soit ils sont peu efficaces et laissent du mascara. Les cotons imbibés Demak'up Sensitive sont géniaux, non seulement ils enlèvent tout le mascara sans laisser de résidus mais ils sont très doux pour les yeux également. Un vrai combo gagnant!  J'aime beaucoup le fait que ce soit super pratique à emporter pour un city trip par exemple. Les lingettes démaquillantes sont tout aussi géniales, en quelques passages tout le maquillage s'efface et laisse la peau non-tiraillante et prête pour la partie soins.

Demak'up lance également sa campagne Facelooks et fait participer quelques blogueuses beauté belges. Pour moi, le maquillage est synonyme de confiance en soi mais également de fun, de créativité. J'adore ce moment le matin ou je dois choisir quoi porter, quel look adopter aujourd'hui. Un eyeliner ultra glossy et bien épais? Un  lipstick rose ultra flash? Un smokey bronze? Des joues roses babydoll? C'est ça que je préfère vraiment dans le maquillage. Le fait de pouvoir se 'transformer' en quelques minutes le matin. Le choix du look étant totalement libre, je suis 'partie'  - à la Top Chef haha -  sur un look Babydoll très 70's avec pour inspiration Brigitte Bardot. Le fait que je sois maintenant blonde à fortement influencé mon choix, qu'on se le dise! J'espère que ce look vous plaît, j'ai fait de mon mieux bien que je ne sois qu'une amatrice et non une 'makeup artist'!

Demak'up postera tous nos looks sur la page Facebook belge (ici) et vous pourrez décider en votant quel look gagnera une publication dans le magazine Flair. Chouette non? J'ai hâte de voir les looks des autres blogueuses belges! 

XO,MARILOU

Purple shampoo & blonde hair routine

New hair colour means one thing :  new hair routine! With my new blonde locks I have been on the hunt for the perfect products to maintain the colour and keep away the brassiness that you can get with blonde highlights. When I first got my hair blonde, thanks to my ginger backgrounds, I had some pretty red undertones which I really disliked so after reading 100 reviews online, I went for a puprle shampoo to get rid of those undertones and bleach my hair to a more beach blonde shade. 

I have been told about purple shampoo by the hairdresser that did my hair and I'm amazed with the results so far. Can you believe this is only after 3 shampoos? My hair look so different already! It's so impressive. To use purple shampoo you must be aware that it will get your hair two or three tones lighter! It doesn't tint your hair purple, it just just takes away the brassiness. The purple shampoo I have been using is the L'Oréal Expert Shine Blonde. It is pretty drying so you need to alternate with an other moisturizing shampoo - I have been using the amazing Organix Argain Oil of Morocco so far. 

Obviously after getting your hair dyed, you MUST kick in with the hair mask to make up it doesn't get too damaged. So far my hair have been surviving pretty good, I do use a mask every day. My favourites have been the Dove Nutri Solutions as it's super weightless while deep conditioning my hair and also the Myriam K Anti-âge mask - the best deep conditioning bubble gum scented mask out there! 

To complete the moisturizing process, I spray my hair in the morning and before going to bed with the Dove Nutritive Solutions Nourishing oil care. It is the most weightless hair oil I have EVER used. I don't get that greasy feeling at all and my hair feel super soft and moisturized. The scent is also to die for! 

Have you ever tried purple shampoo before?

Let me your recommendations down below for blonde hair if you have any!

XO,MARILOU

Wishlist ⎥ Casual timeless & edgy

Casual : Zara XL shirt (here) - Zara oversized denim jacket (here) 
Timeless : Zara Palazzo pants  - Zara pointed heels (here)
 Edgy : Topshop baby blue skater skirt (here) - Persunmall yellow skater dress (here)

Hi girls! I have a little wish list for you today. I'm trying not to splurge before going to Madrid as I know it's the perfect place to shop - Zara, Topshop, Kiko, Primark, you name it they have it! -so to compensate my lack of shopping spree I scroll down my favourite fashion online store and window shop. Here's my hopeless shopping addict wishlist then!

For a more casual look I have my eyes on this oversized denim jacket from Zara which is absolutely perfect. I recently got rid of the old one I had because it was on the thight side and I much prefer this oversized look, it looks much more casual! I also adore this white oversized Zara shirt, you can wear it casually or dress it up and wear it with a nice pair of jeans and heels! 

For a timeless look, I'm on the hunt for these black palazzo pants by Zara. I saw them on Barbara from The Persian Babe and I'm obsessed. They look so effortless and elegant. Also from Zara, those pointed chunky heels. I love the chunky heels, it looks really cool!

And finally for a more edgy look, I've had my eyes on that Topshop baby blue skater skirt for so long now, I can't wait to be in Madrid next week to hopefully get my hands on it! And last but not least, this gorgeous Persunmall yellow skater dress. It's definitely out of my comfort zone in the colour department but I find this dress stunning and probably something Lauren Conrad would have wear in her 'The Hills' years haha.

XO,MARILOU

Skin care routine ♥

My skin care hasn't changed THAT much over the years, I do always come back to my Embryolisse which is a staple in my routine but I like to tszuj things up a bit and try new products. I still have a dry, very thin and sensitive skin that need lots of moisture yet good exfoliator to get rid of black heads and dead skin. To try reducing the size of my pores I have been using my Clarisonic Aria (here) as a cleansing tool. It works wonder! My skin has noticeably improved in terms of pores sizing and scars. After the cleansing, I'm currently using the La Roche Posay Effaclar Astrigeant Lotion, it tingles a little bit due to the alcohol in it but I really feel it helps reducing the size of my pores. Then I use my Bioderma Pore Refiner (here). It's a corrective care for enlarged pore - me! - that is supposed to tighten the pores while refining the skin textures. I'm having seen some extraordinary results with this, but my skin definitely looks better so it helps. The fact that I'm using those three products combined  - Clarisonic Aria + LRP Effaclar Astringeant Lotion + Bioderma Pore Refiner - on a daily basis is a major reason why my pores have reduced in size.

On the mask department, I have been obsessed with the Charcoal & Black Sugar by Freeman Feel Beautiful. It's such a great mask/exfoliator. The smell is divine, it's super affordable and it makes my skin super smooth while helping getting rid of my black pores! Such a great product that I highly recommand. Moisture wise,  I'm more than happy with my Embryolisse crème concentré - a must have if you have dry skin - and I have been really loving the La Roche-Posay Nutritic Intense Nutri-Reconstituing Cream too. It's much more on the in-depth moisturizing side and really helps your make-up last longer as well which is always a great bonus! The Avène Soothing moisturizing mask, is my best friend at the moment too. Once a week, I apply it before going to bed and after a thorough face wash and I wake up the next morning with a flawless skin, super moisturized and super smooth! Definitely a savior after a night out or a stressed week!

XO,MARILOU