The Fab Shoes: Sneakerwedges and GIVEAWAY

skirt: Pimkie - sweater: vintage - jacket: Zara - fur collar: H&M - sneakerwedges: c/o The Fab Shoes

See them shoes on my feet right thurr? Those are my first pair of SNEAKERWEDGES! Thanks to The Fab Shoes, finally I own my very own pair! I am not lagging behind the trend anymore, my blogger friends won't point and laugh when I walk by in my sad, normal, wedgeless sneakers... I'm kidding, obvi. I just really like these shoes and how fun and young yet sophisticated they are. I stumbled across them while checking out the The Fab Shoes webstore to check out their collection and BAM, love at first sight it was. They are infinitely more lovely in real life than on the website btw (and if it would have been the other way around, I totally would have said so), so I'm guessing this counts for most of their collection.

I don't know if you've heard about this new webshop before, but  The Fab Shoes is basically the European equivalent of US' Shoemint, but a lot less pushy and lower commitment: when you register, you take a quiz to find out which shoes fit your style best. This means you'll get personalized style advice and won't have to prowl the entire site yourself (unless like me you loooove to dwindle your hours away while looking at ALL the pretty shoes). 

When you register, you also receive a 30% discount on your first purchase. Every month The Fab Shoes will send you an email with a personalized selection of shoes that should fit your style. And when you finally get that click with a certain pair of shoes that was picked out especially for you (like I did with these Holly wedges), you will be able to get them delivered - and if necessary: exchanged - for free! Now THAT's service. Just hop on over to your local Kiala point and have your order number at hand. That's it!

So! Because one is the loneliest number, I am not hosting ONE but TWO giveaways for you guys, the bestest readers in the whoooooole world! Sadly, this following giveaway is just for my Belgian readers. But feel free to try your luck in my glove giveaway! 

SO to get to the point: I'm giving away a 50€ The Fab Shoes giftcard to one lucky reader! Again: a great gift for yourself, or a great gift to give to someone else for the upcoming holidays. Because getting gifts is fun, but giving them is at least as fun, right? Don't look at me like that, I actually meant it! To enter, all you have to do is:

Leave a comment below with a means for me to contact you, and tell me what your favorite The Fab Shoes pair is! They really have something nice for any type of style. Here are some of my faves:

Andddd that's it! You can follow me on fb, twitter or bloglovin as well but I'm not forcing you to, I'm way too nice for that. You can check out The Fab Shoes on facebook as well to stay on top of things. The giveaway will run until the 10th of december. GOOD LUCK!  

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

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All Black and a Twisty Ponytail

top: Ebay - leggings, earrings, lacey bra: H&M - boots: Texto - necklace: Diamanti Per Tutti

So, what do you do on a lazy Sunday when you just want to relax (and not wash your hair even though it's getting kinda gross)? Leggings, oversized sweater, ankle boots and a pony tail! It's totally been the solution for down days ever since, like, the eighties or something, and it still works at least as well today. But when you are taking outfit pictures (and have an image to uphold - ha!) you want to jazz things up a bit, right? SO. I decided to try something new with my hair. 

Instead of putting it up in a regular ponytail, I twisted sections of my hair into a soft sort of semi cornrow look before getting a band in there to tie it up. I absolutely love how this evokes girlbands of the late 90s - early 2000s like B*witched. Or, you know, J.Lo. Girlpower! So sassy. Especially with the hoop earrings and cat eye make up: I feel totally ready to go clubbing or wear really, really low rise denim.

Another plus of this hairdo is that it DOESN'T make my hair look all flat and my head ridiculously tiny. I'm really bad at messy buns and messy ponytails because I never seem to succeed at getting the right kind of volume on top of my head, but this totally worked out within two tries! I only had to re-do it because my twists weren't tight enough. 

TWO tips if you want to try this yourself: 

• Make sure you have one twist on the very top of your head rather than two on either side of your centre parting, because the last option looks really weird. Try it if you don't believe me.

• Pin your (as tight as possible) twists into place with bobby pins until you have twisted all of your hair, and then gather all of it to tie into a pony tail. I just twisted the hair up to my ears (not on the lower side of my head) because I was too lazy to go all the way around, and I don't think it was necessary anyway.

As for the twists themselves: they are pretty self explanatory. Just twist a strand and grab more hair as you go along to the back of your head while still twisting.

JUST KEEP TWISTING

SO. Do you like it or should this hair have been left back in the past along with Britney's pink-bikinibottoms-over-pants?

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Giveaway: Etre Touchy Wool Gloves

sweater, boots: Forever21 - pants: Zara - scarf: c/o Jackpot - gloves: c/o Etre

I set myself a tiny challenge by grabbing these pink trousers and committing to putting together an autumnal outfit. I mean, pink trousers don't really scream "fall/winter" to me. I styled them with other soft hued items because I didn't want to end up with that look where you just pair something you don't know how to style with dark colours. That always looks so boring to me. MORE IS MORE when it comes to color, while dark colors look best with other dark shades. ANYHOO that was my bit of style advice for the day!

SO. The holidays are coming up, and I have AT LEAST two giveaways lined up for my lovely readers. Whether you keep your prize or enter the giveaway to win the perfect gift for a loved one: it will be worth your while. 

First up, a cute little practical gadget for those tech-savy hipsters out there: a pair of high quality, 100% Touchy wool gloves by Etre. Etre is a London based, award winning design agency, so it should not come as a surprise that their items have the sort of look I associate with my most tasteful friends. The sort of people who are so in-tune with trends that they live above and beyond the hype. They go for quality, design and purity of aesthetic that surpasses trend, you know? 

 illustrated with my boyfriend's smartphone since I actually don't even own one :(

These gloves are simple and practical, with their clean design that allows the wearer to use their cellphones and tablets without having to remove their gloves: GENIUS. I want to text AND have toasty fingers, you know? Btw these come in all sizes: kids (small), most women (medium) and most men (large) and in different colors. 

If you win, you can also choose to pick a wool pair of the Etre Five Point gloves that allow you to use your touch screens even though your fingers are covered: it's up to you. Either way, a pair of expensive wool gloves are JUST the type of thing that's more fun to get as a gift rather than buying them yourself.

If you want to win a pair of ETRE wool gloves or would like to gift them to a friend, enter by commenting below or sending me an email, and that's it! Be sure to leave me a means to contact you!

The giveaway will run until the 6th of december: see it as my Sinterklaas gift to one lucky winner. Good luck!

This giveaway is closed! Thanks for participating and CONGRATS to Nathalie, our winner!

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Amsterdam

coat: Pull&Bear - sweater: Ebay - leggings: H&M - sneakers: Nike - watch: c/o Swatch

Windmills, tiny living spaces, housing on the very edge of the canal and a grey, chilly, rainy evening: it doesn't get any more Dutch than that. It might just be me, but I think one has to move abroad to develop a true love for their home country. The sort of feeling that makes you say that you hail from the most beautiful country in the world and actually mean it, even if you know there is no objective standard to make your claim true. It's ridiculous, I know. But it feels so true.

Outfit: comfortable for a long drive up to Holland and a day of chilling with my nephew, colorful in order not to feel like a giant old drab-fest. Basically the easiest outfit in the book and therefore one of my favorites these days. Leggings + a loose top = the outfit equivalent of apple pie. IT'S ALWAYS GOOD. 

Speaking of apple pie, I have some in my kitchen. I think it's time for dessert. Let me end with a question: do you have "special feelings" for your home country?

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Converse Nights: Skip&Die

I think that the total number of individuals who don't like Converse might amount to 7 people in the entire world, if my tally is correct. I am not one of them. Apart from them being the brand behind one of the most iconic shoes since 1917, they've also managed to keep their finger on the pulse of youth culture and hipness for almost 100 years. Evidence in case: their Converse Nights. This particular event was conceived to promote new, underground music in the Benelux and to bring people together to enjoy the subcultures that go along with the music. 

Next Thursday, Converse is bringing us their Converse Nights: Mixtape 5 party at Trix in Antwerp featuring Skip&Die, Aks and Kroons. Now, I can't vouch for the quality of all performers, but as far as I know Skip&Die is pretty fracking awesome. I mean, just check out Cata.Pirata, their lead woman.

You PROBABLY already know I like my (female) performers as bad ass as they come. Azealia Banks, Lady Gaga, Yolandi Visser, M.I.A., Grimes, Brooke Candy: big mouths, fuck-you-attitudes, crazy get ups and a mind of their own. That's the type of singer I fall hard for. And Cata Pirata seems to fit among those women perfectly. Skip&Die sounds somewhere between M.I.A. and Gogol Bordello and yes, I am liking it. Check it out.

That hair! Those outfits! That attitude! Yes please. Fits right in with my current fixation with 90s fashion, grunge and riotgrrl style. So, inspired as I was by Ms. Cata, I had to emulate that look for myself. Key items for a 90s bad ass: chunky boots, high waisted anything, big hair, crop tops, dark lipstick, a sporty vibe and oversized outerwear. Optional: beanies, acid wash anything, friendship bracelets, peace signs/crucifixes and mirrored sunglasses.

jacket: La Petite Marmoset - earrings, boots: H&M - top: Forever21 - jeans: thrifted - necklace: Diamanti Per Tutti

I could totally run with this crew, right?

What do you think? You into the 90s as much as I am? Are you going to see Skip&Die at the Trix Converse Night this Thursday? If you do, you'll get a goodie bag, yeay! For more info, check the fb page.

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Sneakers and Creepers and Boots, Oh My!

So, I was in Antwerp today, and I tried on some shoes (first two pairs at Urban Outfitters, last pair at Eram). I seriously would love ALL of them to enter my shoe collection, but sadly their price made that a bit ridiculous. The boots were 300€, the creepers were 110€ and the sneakerwedges were 76€. OK that last price isn't too bad, but I wasn't sure if I loved them enough to justify the price so I decided against buying them.

The boots however... Totally worth the 300. However, I'm not exactly in the position to drop 300€ on a pair of boots even IF they are delicious and even IF I have a job. I'm crossing my fingers for them to stay around until the sales because I can totally see them being a pair I'll wear until they basically fall off my feet.

And the creepers! I have been going on and on about platforms and creepers for about a year now, but I always thought that REAL creepers would just look like crappers on me. I tried them on for shiz and giggles and then I was like OMG WHY HAVE THESE BEEN MISSING FROM MY LOVE FOR SO LONG?I can't explain it, they just work. I even felt alternatively sexy wearing them.

Evidence:

I look like I'm some super cool artistic type from New York, RIGHT? And here is me in the boots:

I have tried on a fair share of boots in my life, but none of them fit as well as these. They remind me of the Terminator and that is NEVER a bad thing.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Have a nice weekend!

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