SMOONSTYLE

'Citrus bergamot blended with fresh apples and green accords of violet leaf and freesia. A perfectly balanced combination of dry woods of vetiver and cedar with amber, completes this graceful harmony. Source from Rituals

Lately I have been having a lot of fun decorating the house. Keeping it as tidy as possible with a four-year-old that wants to create total chaos 24/7, can be somewhat of a struggle at times.

We've finally gotten our new couch and it changed the whole energy in the house! Pictures coming soon. Whereas in the past I would like to work behind my desk, I now sit in the living room. Who would have thought that a couch can do so much? We all love it!

My newest addition to our home are the 'Tangerine Tea' fragrance sticks from one of my favourite brands; Rituals. This divine scent, the elegant bottle, the white and the gold combined. I love it! It is incredibly stylish. The scent is very fresh and has a certain unisex feel to it. It smells of bergamot oil with the freshness of citrus, it is just like my cup of tea. 😉

Greedy me put both of the wooden sticks sets in at once. You are supposed to exchange the set after 2,5 months. I went in all the way! Don't regret it. The house smells great. If it becomes too overpowering, I will move them to the bathroom/toilet. I can imagine that it can become a bit too much when you are having dinner and all you smell are the fragrance sticks.

Now here's a little anecdote for you. When we were dining out once, Vincent came running back to our table. I thought he was going to feed me something so I opened my mouth, only to find out that he had grabbed the sticks out of a fragrance bottle... Dinner didn't taste that good anymore afterwards.

I don't recommend it to anyone. It is worse than accidentally spraying perfume in your mouth. This stuff is highly concentrated... Maybe this was karma for me. I once pranked Oli by feeding him chocolate easter eggs with the foil still on them to see if he 'blindly' trusts me. He still does btw. 😉

Scenty Simons signing off. 💋

€42,50 | 450 ml

21.4.18 No comments

Last Saturday was such a wonderful day! We celebrated out 1000th show in the 013 where we had our very first concert!! On the 15th of December 2002, we were offered to be the opening act for Anathema. Back then we never ever expected our first show to be in such a large audience.

Back on that special day, I also had another concert! I was also singing in a choir and we had our first concert on the same day. It was quite the double debut show day for me. My nerves were out of control as you probably can imagine.

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish my show with the choir because I had to leave to make it on time for our soundcheck in 013 and had to leave in the break of the concert.

My parents also didn't know that I was playing in a metal band. They knew about the choir and when the 013 show was booked, I had to confess to my parents that I had another show on that day.

Flash forward to the 14th of April 2018.

Selling out the 013 will always be a special feeling, because that is where it all started for Epica. I had no clue about how big Epica would become and all the beautiful places we would get to visit, to then return to a sold out 013 to celebrate our 1000th show!

We decided to do a long set list, bring pyro effects, Universal Love Squad, and my beautiful friend Cristina to to the stage.

For this special show I bought a new dress. A special occasion calls for a special dress. Bad luck for me that the post took a little longer do deliver the dress. It arrived while I was already touring in the UK...

I thought of different ways how to get my hands on the dress in time for the big show. We would go straight to the 013 after our show in London. No time for me to quickly pick it up at home.

My first attempt was to contact Asos, but they said that they couldn't change the address to the address of my parents. I asked my neighbour if she could ship the dress to my parents via express shipping and she did! My mother came to the show and gave me the dress.

The dress fit perfectly! I was not sure if it was the right size. Some of the rhinestones fell off and needed to be sown back on. Big thanks to Simon, Sharon, and Tim for the help with the needle and thread.

My make up was spontaneously inspired by the bronze orange rhinestones. Normally I don't like to experiment on days like this. For shoots I often plan my looks, but for this show I thought that a bronzy lid with a dark red lip would be a good option. I loved how it turned out. If you guys want to know which products I used to achieve the look, let me know in the comments and I will give you a list or maybe I even do a small tutorial if I find the time.

Marino (thank you!) styled my hair so that I could relax a bit before the show. I mostly do my hair myself, except for big shows. Curling my mane takes some time and also energy which I wanted to save for the show.

To be honest with you, I was a bit tensed. We had a bad night in the tour bus the night before. Border check at 3.30, many early alarms going off a couple hours later, kept me from getting enough sleep. Some coffee, and then also some wine later, and I was relaxed. I was ready to kick ass with the boys!!!

Thanks to all the amazing bands and sweet fans that shared this milestone with us. I know that many of you travelled from a far to see us play. It was absolutely heartwarming! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! 💋

The lovely photos were taken by Tim Tronckoe.

17.4.18 No comments

16.3.18 No comments

Exactly one year ago I was lucky to be invited by L'Oréal to attend the Berlinale Film Festival. I got to wear a gorgeous dress and attend a movie premiere with one of my favourite actors (Final Portrait).

Read: Berlinale 2017

This time I kind of knew what to expect, but that didn't mean I would feel less awkward to be on the red carpet with a sea of cameras pointed at me.

On the 16th of February, early in the morning, I met up with Nadine (Shoppinators) at the airport in Stuttgart. The flight to Berlin passed by fast because we were catching up and before we knew it, we arrived.

We stayed at the Titanic Hotel at the Gendarmenmarkt. I was so flashed by the beauty of the hotel, that I forgot to take pictures. Luckily Google can help us out.

We enjoyed a late breakfast with friends and colleagues. After some catching up, it was time for me to visit Roy at Shan Rahimkhan to get my hair cut and styled for the Red Carpet. The salon has to be one of the most beautiful I have ever been to. They also have a restaurant attached to it in case you get hungry, they got you covered.

In the meantime, the other girls were getting their hair and makeup done in the hotel by a professional team of hair and makeup artists. Time for me to get dressed and get a little make up touch up before going to our next destination; the L'Oréal Pop-Up Store.

I was running out of time and had to do everything in a hurry. My hotel bed looked like a hot mess. The dress code was Casual Chic. I had to shop my closet, which was not a bad thing at all. Luckily, I double checked my email before closing my suitcase, otherwise I would have been overdressed to say the least. My Red Carpet outfit was a little black lace dress that I got at a thrift shop in Portland. My blazer jacket was from Zara and my shoes from Top Shop.

The L'Oréal Pop-Up Store would only be open during the duration of the Berlinale. We were told that there would be a surprise for us and that was a lovely acoustic show from Lena herself. I've never seen her perform live. This was an intimate setting and it was perfect!

It was a surreal moment for me to see myself at the L'Oréal Pop-Up Store in Berlin! There I was next to Heike Makatsch, Lena Meyer-Landrut, Stefanie Giesinger, and Iris Berben, who are also brand ambassadors. I had to honour to meet Iris once and talk to her. Such a gorgeous woman.

From the Pop-Up Store we left to the Red Carpet. We walked on the Red Carpet, grabbed some snacks, and saw the movie, Damsel where Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska were playing the leading roles. Some women were overly excited to see Robert. I was excited to see Mia because she worked with some of my movie director heroes like Tim Burton and GDT.

After the movie ended (which was around 22.00), we headed to the French-Israeli restaurant, Mani. Our tastebuds were happily catered and, even though I was exhausted from a long and eventful day, I stayed until dessert arrived. It was worth the wait, I can tell you that! If you are in Berlin, go check it out! Really delicious!

The next morning we had a quick breakfast and were on our way to the Pop-Up Store again for a Press Conference and the official opening of the Pop-Up Store.

I had such a great time during the Berlinale. It was lovely to see old and new friends and explore all the fun new products that L'Oréal has in store. Thank you for having me!

If you'd like to see some video impressions from my visit to the Berlinale, you're all welcome to visit my Instagram @SMOONSTYLE (coming soon).

Philipp von Rohr made a video for the new girl band 'Die Deutsche Flagge' (Nadine, Johanna and me). Thank you Philipp! 💋