SMOONSTYLE

While I was enjoying the sun on my balcony, accompanied by some magazines and a Radler, I came across a new perfume add that had a little sample on it. My curiosity is always very strong, even though I have found my perfect perfume long ago.

Perfume can be like a time machine. A warm blanket that takes you back and makes you relive memories or make people that you hold dear feel close.

The new perfume from Hugo Boss 'ALIVE' made me go back in time as soon as I smelled it. Even though it is a new scent, it triggered a lot of memories that I have created with the lovely people that I got to know through all the amazing events that I attended with L'Oréal.

On Perfume Master you can check out the notes that are inside 'ALIVE' . Vincent loves it too. Every time I would open the magazine, he would ask me to let him smell the perfume.

We all know that this year is looking rather gloomy when it comes to concerts and events in general.
I treasure all the incredible memories and the people that are enclosed in those memories. They will keep me going during this challenging times.

We all live in a fast-paced world and now we have all been forced to slow down. Time to reflect and be thankful for what we have and have achieved in life so far. Take pleasure in the little things. Try to take it one day at a time and most of all be thankful to be alive. Better times will come. We just need to be patient.

What are the things you value most at this moment? I am curious, let me know in the comments!

If you are a fan of pasta and garlic, you are going to love this!
This summer pasta is super easy to make. This is a fool proof recipe, I promise!
It is a mixture between a caprese salad and bruschetta, but then with pasta.

What you need is your favourite pasta. I like to take tagliatelle for this, but you can use any pasta you like. Depending on the amount of mouths you have to feed (mine are three), you can up the ingredients.






When you are ready to have dinner, cook your choice of pasta.
Once the pasta is finished, rinse well and add to the sauce. At this point I add the mini mozzarella balls. They become nice and soft. A little warning, you might smell very strongly of garlic. You have to make sure the whole family eats it haha! Vincent doesn't like uncooked tomatoes nor mozzerella balls. He just eats the pasta and then I add some tomato sauce to it.

Banana Bread for us is not a quarantine food, but something we enjoy all year around. It is the perfect way to use those over ripe bananas that are not looking to tasty anymore. You can also use them in a smoothie or chop them up and freeze them. Great to make nice cream as well. Today they are going to be used for Banana Bread. Yummy!

The first banana bread recipe that I posted on my blog is over 6 years ago. I have tried different versions of this classic and I must say that I found the perfect recipe that I altered a bit to my liking and also to what I have in my pantry. These days you have to freestyle a bit, because flour is hard to come by.
If you can't find whole wheat flour, you can also process oats in a blender. Works well and is super healthy and delicious.

The recipe that I used is from Cookie and Kate. I just love eating banana bread for breakfast. To completely honest to you, it is actually like a breakfast starter or a first breakfast. We are a family of Hobbits and love to have a second breakfast.

The only things that I changed were the amount of honey (Vincent and I don't like honey) and I added a quarter cup of yoghurt. Things that I have been enjoying lately is filming baking videos on Instagram.
I grabbed my tripod and camera and filmed this recipe for you:

Bananananana Bread


What is your favourite Banana Bread recipe?

All good things come in threes. If they are three minis it is even better and cuter! I am a sucker for miniature make up. I often end up not using them because I just want to look at them. I know, it is silly!

These cuties were my birthday present that I got for myself. Before our show in New York, I paid a quick visit to the local Sephora. I had my eyes on the Pat McGrath Matte Trance lipsticks for a while and wanted to see them in real life before purchasing them. I swatched all the lipsticks and eyeshadows that caught my eye and decided to get the mini trio, because I found it was the best bang for my buck so to speak. The chances that I empty a red lipsticks are close to zero, so I best get miniatures. One lipstick  costs around €41,00. This set was around $30 if I remember it correctly.

Three gorgeous red shades that instantly brighten my face and make Oliver run away really fast. He is not a fan of red lipstick, but I am. That is why I will continue to wear it haha.

Super comfortable on the lips, great pigmentation, long lasting and scent free. I prefer my lipsticks to be scent free, because I am very sensitive to smell.

Which color is your favourite? Do you own any Pat McGrath make up products?


Aren't these the prettiest lipsticks ever?

Always good to check the ingredients.

Obsessed!, Elson, Full Panic

From top to bottom: Obsessed!, Elson, Full Panic

The world of make up has no rules. You can create whatever look you want to wear. I love make up for many reasons. The first is to enhance your natural features and to make you feel and look like the best version of yourself.
Secondly it is a creative outlet for me. It always has been. I love to play with make up, it has been a part of my job ever since I became a singer. I enjoy the process of applying make up, to be in my own world right before a show starts. You could say it is some sort of ritual for me.

During our quarantine I decided to declutter all the things that I own. No more excuses. In between tours I just threw my make up in my drawers and things just kept piling up. There was no organisation what so ever. To start my decluttering project with my make up collection was quite the challenge, but it felt great once I was (almost) done. I still need to put the dots on the i's so to speak ;)

As I was decluttering, I found some real gems that I wanted to create looks with. I also found dried up liquid lipsticks, that went straight to the bin haha! Like a true Marie Kondo, I gathered all my empty boxes and started to use them to store my make up in a more organised way. In the past I would have just thrown those boxes away, or use them as packaging for whenever I needed to send out a package.

Have you guys started decluttering yet? Do you also find it soothing?









*Pr Sample

Happy International Women's Day! On this day we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world.

Wonder Women are everywhere. I have been very lucky to have encountered and also worked with a lot of incredible women in my career.

My intention is to empower and encourage other women to believe in themselves and to not be afraid to work in a 'Men's World'. One of the most asked questions that I get in interviews is: 'What is it like to be the only woman in the band?'. I do get tired of that question after answering it for over 17 years.

I count myself fortunate to be in a work environment that respects women. The guys I work with are very respectful towards me.
There have been awkward situations but those were mainly with male fans that did not respect my privacy and touched my hair and tried to kiss me without my consent. There is a misconception about artists in general. If you buy their art, you are entitled to touch them to your liking, as if we are public possession. Which we are most definitely not. We have to keep in mind that there are also cultural differences. Some countries are way more touchy than others. This has lead to great misunderstandings about me. #Donttouchmyhair is still a thing after many years.

There is a rise of women in the metal scene and I am grateful for it. I salute all women around the world kicking ass as mothers, artists, politicians, doctors, teachers, scientists and all the other professions.


You all rock!

xo Simone


Photo by Lori Linstruth

How I actually walk around town, but twenty bags. Looking like a proper tourist.

We had the loveliest time in beautiful Baden Baden. A little more than over an hour drive away from our home. Perfect for a family vacation weekend. We like it short and sweet, just like the overdose of chocolate content that is coming your way.

The hotel we stayed in was the Leonardo Royal, located only a couple hundred meters away from the city centre.
Check in time was 15.00, but since our room wasn't ready, we were given free drinks at the bar. Not bad!

We decided to stay in the hotel and explore the pool and sauna area. Of course, Vincent was more in the water than Oliver and me combined. He must have been a fish in his former life. No chance of getting him to come out of the water....

The restaurant at the hotel was fully booked for the night, but we were told that we could also order food at the bar. Perfect! Nice and quiet, except for the soccer game on the TV.

Off to bed to enjoy the whining of a dog not far from us. His owners left him alone in the room... We met the dog the next morning. He was twice Vincent's size. He looked like a samojede, but I am not 100% certain.
After a nice breakfast and a photoshoot in our room, we checked out of the hotel. Time to explore Baden Baden on a sunny Sunday.
We were incredibly lucky with the weather. It felt like spring! We walked through the Lichtentaler Allee. There were so many tourists that wanted to take photos of the flowers growing in the grass. From our point of view it looked a bit as if they were taking a number 2.... A funny sight to see.

Oliver spotted the beautiful café 'König'. We both agreed to pay a visit at the end of our day to enjoy some tasty cakes and more. Then we bumped into a Lindt Boutique, where we were stuck for quite a while. Oliver had his eye on the brownie (which was a bit dry), and I wanted to take photos of the magic chocolate ball. I ended up buying a couple chocolate 'balls'/Kugeln. My favourite Lindt chocolate is the 99% and the Dark Chocolate with Chili.

You can ever eat enough chocolate, right? That is what we thought and went straight to the patisserie 'König' to end our high calorie weekend in Baden Baden in style.

Have you ever been to Baden Baden? I can totally recommend it!

I could stare at this chocolate ball for all eternity.

All shops closed. Better for my wallet ;)

Time to go home again.

Goodbye Baden Baden, until next time!

The lipstick on this photo is mine. I didn't want to open a new one for the photo because of hygienic reasons ;)