SMOONSTYLE

Photo by Daniela Glunz

On Friday the 13th of September, Vincent had his first day at school. In Germany they celebrate the first day at school big time. My first day at school in the Netherlands was not that big a deal. I actually don't remember much at all.

There was only one problem, and that was that I already had confirmed my shows with Ayreon, before knowing that Vincent would go to school the next year. We were still debating to let him stay at the Kindergarten one more year. We had this option, because his birthday is on the 2nd of October. Children born until the end of September have to go, and those who are born later, can chose.
Soon we found out that the Kindergarten was not challenging enough for him so we decided that he would go to school the next year.

When I found out that the first day of school would be when I would be in the Netherlands with Ayreon and Oli in the US with Kamelot, I panicked. This was a day where I had to be home, no matter what. Since the Netherlands is closer, it was more realistic for me to go home, even though it was still quite a big distance.

On the 12th of September, I had rehearsals with Ayreon until 22.00.  On the 13th the school ceremony would start at 9.00. There were no flights in that time, so my only option was to drive with someone from Tilburg to Stuttgart and then the next day back to Tilburg. I even contemplated on getting a little tourbus. It was important for me to sleep on both drives up and down.

In the end I found someone who was willing to help me out. We left on the 12th at 22.30, I was in bed at 4.00, woke up at 7.00, attended the ceremony at 9.00 and was back on the road at 12.30 and arrived at the 013, one hour before the show.
During both rides, I didn't get any sleep. I was exhausted, but so happy that I was there for Vincent's big day, even though it was just for a couple of hours. I made sure that I made a lot of videos and photos of his special day.

In Germany the kids get this huge bag filled with small gifts, it is called a 'Schultüte', that was also something that I as a Dutchie was not familiar with. A friend of mine helped me out putting that bag together with the help of a glue gun and some alcohol haha. I didn't want to buy one, but make one of my own. I cursed myself for that, but luckily I have great friends who help me out :)

The Ayreon show on the 13th went well and I slept like a baby that night.

A special thanks to Paul for helping me out! I am so grateful that things worked out in the end.


The things we do for our kids, right?

Who doesn't love donuts? For me the best donuts I've ever had were from Voodoo Donuts. Just the plain one with powdered sugar. It is pure heaven!

Vincent is a big donut fan. For his 6th birthday I made mini donuts with a donut maker. They were the treats he took with him to his classroom to hand out to his classmates. He was already telling the kids the day before his birthday that he was going to bring donuts.

I decorated them with some white chocolate and a couple of sprinkles. These donuts are not fried, but baked. They taste more like like sponge cake, then donuts. The kids loved them anyway and they are a little less unhealthy ;)

The recipe that I used is the one that is in the manual from the donut maker. I am sure that there are better recipes out there. I will definitely experiment more. Next recipe I will try will be with yeast. I saw that Laura in the Kitchen has some recipes. The ingredients should be a little different because these donuts are baked and not fried.

Here is a link to the one that I got from KIK:  Donut Maker

They were a total hit with 6- year- olds and my parents loved them too ;) I like that they were bite size.

Today exactly 9 years ago, I posted my first blog post on SMOONSTYLE. It was a bit scary to click  the 'publish' button and go online. It was just a simple post about the clouds and an introduction to the blog. Can you believe that my blog is already 9-years-old? Time flies!

9 years later I can tell you that I still enjoy exactly the same things and have the same 'hobbies'.
Photography is no longer just a hobby, it has turned into a real job and I am happy to say that I have created my own photography studio, specialized in portrait photography.
You might have seen some of my work online. Feel free to have a look at www.simonesimons.com The blogposts have become more professional and the photos as well. The quantity of posts has been less, but the quality has improved. I think that blog really benefits from me knowing which buttons and dials do what on my camera ;)

Thank you all so very much for your kind words and support! It is a great community of metalhead that share my love for beauty and photography!

I still intend to keep my blog up and running, but we all know that Instagram is the place to be and that is another social media platform where I have been dedicating a lot of my time to as well. I have been enjoying making videos for IGTV as well and the response is amazing!

Whenever I put a lot of effort in creating a long blogpost with many photos, it ends up being on Instagram within minutes, so sometime I wonder: Why should I bother?
Still my blog is where it all started and where I will still return to, even though I am more active on Instagram.

Do you guys still like to visit blogs or are you more into Instagram as well? Well, enough ranting from this blogging grandma ;)

I have a really special giveaway for you! Susie from www.my-beauty-light.de was kind enough to send my three Beauty Lights for a give away. I have been loving the beauty light for a long time and have recommended it to so many friends and colleagues.  It was actually my friend Florentine that recommended it to me in the first place, so I am still thankful for her showing it to me.


Here are the giveaway rules:

- Leave a comment in this post what you like the most about my blog and what you would like to see more of in the future.
- If you are under 18, you need to have a written approval from your parents that you are allowed to enter the giveaway.
- The giveaway is worldwide


The three lucky winner will be announced on Monday the 9th of September


GOOD LUCK!

xo

Simone

 

Our second session at a Photo Booth. New day, new photos.

What do you do when your friend from New York tells you she is in Berlin? Well, you book a flight, a hotel room and pack your bag as fast as you can. Having some time off from touring enables me to spend more time with family and friends and I am enjoying it full force!

Raiza and I met each other through an Instagram post. She helped me many times through Youtube when I was struggling in the kitchen trying to make chocolate eclairs. We had dinner in New York I believe three years ago and kept in touch ever since.

I've been to Berlin many times, but this time around I have seen a lot more of the city.
It was super hot, but we made sure to make many ice cream and beer stops to keep us going. We did a little bit of shopping, but mainly had good talks and laughs. I have filled up my battery with great memories and it was great to take this spontaneous trip to spend time together. It was only 1,5 days, but we made sure to enjoy every second of it.

Berlin has so many faces and it is a huge city. I am glad to say that I will go back soon and Raiza and I will spend more time together in the near future (not in Berlin).

If you haven't seen it yet you can have a look at our first attempt at taking 4 photos: Photo Booth with Raiza We did a second one and Raiza has the photos, because you know I can't be trusted haha. My bloody handbag was too small and I didn't want to bend the pictures.... Well, now someone else might have them, or we ended up in the gutter hahah!

Another sad note is that my Fuji camera had focus problems. I send it to the repair centre. Fingers crossed it will be repaired asap. It feels so weird to send your camera to the doctor. Maybe other photographers can relate how it feels. Maybe I am just being too melodramatic, but when you go on a trip you really want to take some good quality photos and then your camera dies it simply sucks.

In the end the best camera is the one you have in your hands, which was Raiza phone and mine. Berlin is full of analog photo booths. Throw in a couple of euros and have some fun!

This guy had no idea. He is the star of the photo :)

Which one do you prefer mine of hers?

We were still blissfuly happy, until I discovered that I had lost our photos...

Still oblivious about the lost photos

Urban Spree is a great biergarten. It was a little bit tricky to find the entrance, though.

a hidden treasure

Mint chocolate chip, my fav!

Chen Che is the place to eat delicious food and have authentic Chinese Tea. Yummy! www.chenche-berlin.de

Who doesn't love macarons if you can enjoy them without the calories? L'Oréal has a new limited edition collection of their Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks. 6 Delicious colours that last all day.
I wore Framboise Frenzy all day and it survived a couple of meals, one of them that was quite greasy. They are supposed to last 16 hours, and I took it off before I reached the 16 hours, because it was time for me to go to bed ;) All colors have a sweet macaron scent. It is not too overpowering.

If you are curious how the other colors look like, you are more than welcome to pay a little visit to Karin's awesome beauty blog: www.innenaussen.com

Do you fancy a little give-away? Leave a comment down below what your favourite macaron flavour is and I will send a couple of these colors your way.

xo Simone

First of all thank you so much for all the positive feedback to my little Instagram Tutorial, or more like mini-tutorial. It is hard to try to fit everything in 60 seconds :) The look itself took a little longer.

 Finally I can finish this post that I have been working on in between many other projects. Another new Natasha Denona palette. This is one is for all make up lovers and in particular for the neutral lovers. A staple for everyone to have in your small or large make up collection.

The formula of these eyeshadows are to die for. My favorite are the creme to powder. I love the feel of them and they blend like a dream. All shades are super pigmented, but some swatch different from how they look in the pan.

On Instagram Stories I've showed you a day time look. This look is definitely a bit more edgy, more of night time look or in my case a great stage make up. Pair it with a nude lip and you are good to go. You can go extra bold and add a dark lip. Your face is your canvas and you can do as you please ;)

For this look I used three shades of the Biba palette: Spot, Coco and Seed. It is a classic black cat eye that I smoked out with the brown shades. It gives it a bit more warmth and depth. On the outer corners of my eyes I've added some false lashes to add to the drama and make me feel extra feline.

The make up brushes that I used to create his look are basically only two, an angled brush and a pencil brush. It is a simple look that can be created with little tools and shades. Of course you can use any colors to recreate this particular look.

The Biba Palette has a nice range of neutrals that can use alone or to compliment any other eyeshadow palette. The black is the most pigmented that I have seen on the market. A good black is so important for any look if you ask me.

For me this is a must have palette for everyone that loves make up. The quality is top notch and the price is absolutely justified.

Let me know in the comments if you enjoy the Insta Stories tutorials and I will create more using this palette, because there are so many different eyeshadow looks that you can create with the Biba palette.

Thank you Natasha for sending me this gem. I will treasure it!

You can get your palette here: All Neutral Biba Palette $129.00 *

* PR Sample

It is out of stock at the moment (hoping it will be in stock soon again)