Hello my sweeties! How are you all doing today? How was your weekend? Last Thursday was my birthday, so I had a few celebrations with friends, the boyfriend and family last weekend! Friday, I went to Decathlon, which is a HUGE sports/camping/fitness store. Seriously, you name it, they have it. I went down there because I wanted some stuff to have home work-outs. 

Hema Happiness Planner: Review and Example

Hema had brought out a 'Happiness Diary' a little while ago and it is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. It's important to look at your day and find positive moments in it. Even though your day sucked, you can always find a moment or two that made you happy. This diary helps with that.

Tragus Piercing: Experience, Pain, Healing,...

Hello, my lovely readers! I was searching for a topic on today's blogpost and suddenly, I realized... I haven't updated you about my piercing. I talked about it shortly on my life update and decided to fill you guys in. I did a complete post on my Forward helix at the end of 2015, talking about the experience, the pain, the healing proces,... So I decided to talk about my Tragus piercing as well.

The piercing shop
With my last piercing, I went to a place called 'Body Design' in Ghent. It is known as one of the better tattoo/piercing places and I was very happy about my last visit. So there was no doubt in my mind: I needed to go back. I did not get the same woman to place the piercing, but she was VERY good. When people talk about Body Design, you always hear her name in conversations. She's one of the best.

The piercing
I choose a Tragus piercing in my right ear (I have the forward helix in my left one). I wanted this one for months but my lazy ass never took the time to actually go to the shop and do it. She gave me a few options and explained the up- and downside of the piercing. For example, it's better to choose a ring than a stone when the piercing is placed, because it helps it heal better. I followed her advice and chose a half-open ring. I quite liked the look of it and it would be handy to take care of the piercing itself.

The placement + pain
The placing of the piercing, was a bit painful - I'm not gonna lie. But it was okay, it did not hurt that much as the forward helix in my opinion. It feels a bit like a bee sting in your ear but after the needle is out of your ear, the biggest pain is over. It did bleed quite a lot and kept bleeding for a few days during cleaning it. 

The healing proces
Overall, the healing proces went really well. It kept hurting a bit for a few weeks, but it did not get infected at all. This is something I'm very happy about. Maybe the ring piercing helped with the healing proces, like the woman said. It's also a convenient place to clean. After a month or so, I did not experience any pain anymore. I did have a painful experience at the hair dressers when she forgot about it and accidentally hit me in the ear with her hair brush. So people, ALWAYS tell them that you have a healing piercing, haha.

I hope you guys liked this quick post about the piercing. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

xx,
Astrid

What I Got For My Birthday 2016

Cake, confetti, laughter and presents. Wednesday 23rd of March was my 23rd birthday and the past week, I got presents from friends and family. I still have to meet up with some friend, but I already wanted to share what I got this week. I don't write this blogpost to brag or show off, I just want to share the happiness! 

In this post, the presents from my parents, boyfriend, brothers, godchild, friends from Ghent and Sanja from Sparkle With Laughter will be included. That last one was such a nice surprise, I hadn't expected it at all! 

Challenge: 40 Days Without Meat #Dagenzondervlees

My favorite dish is spaghetti Carbonara. I love steak with pepper sauce. Domino's pizza with chicken, tomatoes and pepperoni is one of my greatest loves and Sushi. Just Sushi. The word says enough. So this might come as a shock to some people: I'm not eating meat for 40 days. 

Why am I doing this?
Too be honest, I have no idea. I went to the supermarket monday and I saw some delicious veggie burgers and I saw hummus and I bought A LOT of fruit. I really wanted to buy healthy stuff. When I came home, I noticed I hadn't gotten any meat. Pure coincidence, I admit. So I thought: Okay, I'll do a veggie week. Last night, I was watching TV and I saw that today, February 10, an organization in Belgium called 'Dagen Zonder Vlees' (Days Without Meat) started their annual meat-less 40 days. And was just like: Why not?
I want to eat more healthy and experiment more with veggies. I usually make paprika's or courgettes when I'm at my studio in Ghent. Delicious, yes, but it's time to explore more. I love vegetables and eat every single one of them, I just want to be more creative in my dishes.  

The days without meat challenge started today and will end March 26. Will I succeed?

Forward Helix Piercing: My Experience

Hello, sweet readers. Time for something completely different here on 'Truth About Cosmetics'. 3 weeks ago, I got my first piercing. Nothing too special or daring, I choose a forward helix piercing. I thought it would be interesting to tell about my experience with this piercing and how I take care of it.

Small Talk Sunday: My Internship + I Cut My Hair!

Hey everybody, how are you all doing? I just wanted to sit down and talk to you a bit, so this will be a chitchat post. So what's new? I just finished my internship at a resting home a little more than a week ago and I decided to cut my hair last monday. Those are the two topics of this chatter post. 

Where Have I Been? + Giveaway Winner!

FINALLY. Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I know I have been away for a while and I have a very simple explanation for that: my laptop is being repaired. My screen cracked and it needed to be replaced. I didn't have a back-up laptop, so I couldn't do anything. You guys should try living without a computer for a while, it's very boring. But you have time for lots of other things! :P Now, as it turns out, reparing a computer is not that easy... The wrong screen has been sent twice already. I can now work on a friend's laptop until mine is fully repaired but I don't know how long that will take. But hey, I can blog again! I made a list of everything I want to blog about and the list is getting longer and longer! Be prepared :D

NOW, first and very important post: The winner of my giveaway! I want to thank you all for entering, I'm really excited about it. I typed all the names of the girls who entered on a website that randomly choose a person for me. 

And the winner is... *drum ruffle*... Katja from Confessions Of A Makeup Shopaholic! 
Check you g-mail because I sent you an e-mail! 

I'm so glad to be back and I can't wait to blog full-time again!
I'll see you guys very soon ;)

xx, 
Astrid

What I Got for Christmas 2014

Hello everybody, welcome to what will probably be the last blogpost of 2014! I had a lot of Christmas event with family and friends the last couple of days, which why this post is little bit late, but I still wanted to share with you guys what I got for Christmas this year.

ChitChat: The Autumn Tag 2014

Put away those bikinis and take out your umbrellas! Autumn, with its rain, has arrived! October is one of my favorite months in the year, because you can really see nature and the weather changing. The leaves are falling and the colors are changing. Haaa, it makes me feel really happy. I was tagged by one of my favorite bloggers of all time, Sanja, to do this tag. Let's get on to the questions!

1. Ok we're talking coffee's - what's your favourite seasonal drink from Starbucks/Costa/Cafe Nero etc?

I like the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, but I haven't been going a lot there! This summer, I've gotten really into Cappucinos and that what I make at home with out Dolce Gusto Coffee machine. I'm also a lot into Nesquik chocolate milk again, with my breakfast in Ghent. Njumm!

ChitChat: Small Life Update

Hi, my dear readers! I know I've been away for awhile but I'm back! Ready to blog more regularly, I've been missing this so much!

I have been 'away' from Blogger for about two weeks because I had an intership at the end of september/beginning of October. I was an intern at a retirement home, as an occupational therapist and I LOVED it. But with having to wake up at 6pm each day and having to make a lot of  assignments for school, I couldn't blog a lot. But now I'm at school again and I can blog more often. Yay, good to be back!
Sneak peak of what you can expect in the next weeks: USA Haul part 3, NOTD's, Review, Empties, Deauty Box October and much more!

Also, I found out I'm going to be an aunt again in February... and April! My two sisters in law are expecting a baby, yay!

Talk to you guys soon, enjoy your week! :D
xx,
Astrid

Chitchat: My Trip to the United States (Long & Picture Heavy)

It feels so good to sit at my computer and blog again! Hello ladies, I'm back! Those of you who follow me on Instagram know that I went to Washington DC and New York in the beginning of September. I haven't been on a real vacation (longer than three days) since March last year so I was very happy and excited! 

After a long plane ride, my parents and I arrived in Washington DC at about 3pm where took a shared taxi van to our hotel in Georgetown. We were staying in the heart of Georgetown, in a hotel near M Street. This street is a shopaholic's dream. Beautiful stores EVERYWHERE. 

 The white stone is the exact center of the capitol

I found myself a handsome boyfriend at the capitol, I think he looks a bit like Bruce Willis.

Sunday Chitchat: The Dreams Tag

Hello, lovely sweethearts! Long time, no writing! I'm so glad to be back home after being at the sea side for a month. I wanted to do a tag today and I recently saw a new tag on youtube: The Dream Tag. I love dreaming and I (day)dream quite a lot so I thought it would be the perfect tag for me to do.

- What are you currently day dreaming about?
I'm a bit of a dreamer, sometimes I even day dream too much. Currently, I'm day dreaming about going to New York. I'm going there on vacation in September and I can't wait to go! And ofcourse - this might be a bit of a cliché- I'm currently day dreaming a lot about a guy. But I think that subject of my day dreams will only remain a dream. 

100 Happy Days Challenge - Week 1&2

Hello lovely ladies! How are you doing? Today, I'll be showing you guys some of my favorite moments of the first 14 days of the '100 Happy Days Challenge'. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check the blogpost where I explain everything here. You can also follow me on Instagram (Astriddc93) to follow my daily adventures.

Photo's 1&2: Dinner with class mates - May 19: My classmates and I often get together to eat. We usually take away spaghetti sauce from the infamous 'Kastart', a restaurant where they have the best spaghetti in Ghent. We just cook the pasta ourself and heat up the sauce and we're good to go! These evenings are always very cosy and we talk and laugh a lot. Last time we also went to a parc in Ghent to play Jungle Speed.

Coming up: 100 Happy Days challenge

Hi sweeties! I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago and he said he was going to start the '100 Happy Days' challenge soon. He then suggested that I should do it as well! And I said yes! And I wanted to share the journey with you guys!

Time for Spring: Spring has Sprung Tag!

Hey everyone! I was watching some Youtube videos this morning and I suddenly saw the 'Spring has sprung tag'. I had never seen this before but I like these kind of seasonal tags so I decided to do it! Let's get on to the questions, shall we? 

What are some spring trends you're looking forward to the most?
I haven't really kept up with the trends this year, but I always love floral prints and pastel colors so those are the trends I look out for each year. Time to put away the boots and thick sweaters, bring out the dresses and ballet flats!
  
Whats your favourite spring clothing piece?
I have two! I bought two dresses at my favorite shop, Naf Naf. The first one is a turquoise dress with a floral and bird print. I saw this in the shop and I had to try it on immediately. It looks amazing on. The other one is a jeans dress with little white hearts on it. I love how these look, they scream spring to me. I love it!

Personal: Starting A Diary

Hey everyone! I'm here today with a short blogpost about something new I'm trying out, starting from today. I went to Hema last week and I found a very cute notebook. The words on the front of it made me buy it immediately and I'm very excited to do this!

'Make a note a day, every day. Write down an idea, a quote. Something to remember. And soon this will be your favorite book'

I want to remember more fun things of my life and that's why I decided to start writing some things down. I'll try to do this every day, to make it like a diary, but there might be days that I down write in it. I'll see how it goes.

Ofcourse, because a diary is very personal, I won't show you the things I write in here. But I will show you my first page. I decorated it a bit with some Washi tape (also from Hema) and I wrote down my name and favorite quote.

'Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day'
I really believe in this quote. There IS something good in every day, even if it is something very small like a compliment from someone or a hello from a stranger. Sometimes we forget about these little things and that's why I want to start writing in here. To remember good things. If I ever feel down in the future, I can read in here and maybe it will make me feel better again :)

Do you own a diary?
xx,
Astrid

A Day In Antwerp: Ballet & Shopping!

Hello, ladies! I know I haven't written a blogpost in quite a while, but school had been really busy lately and I still had a severe lack of inspiration. I think that happens from time to time with everybody, right? But I have a ton of new things to show you guys, starting today! Yesterday, I went to Antwerp to see a show by the Royal Ballet Company of Flanders. They performed 'Romeo and Juliet', which is one of my favorite love stories ever!

My mom and me took a train to Antwerp, where we walked around a bit on the Meir, which is the long and beautiful shopping street of Antwerp. We went to Planet Parfum, where the O.P.I. Gwen Stefani collection had finally arrived. I got 'Push and Shove', the mirror-like polish and 'Over and Over A-Gwen', the cream red color. Reviews on these colors will be on this blog as soon as possible!

The show began at 2 p.m., so we looked around for something to eat. At the front of the theatre, they was a market where my mom and me got some chicken soup at a soup truck. We also got a filled maroccan pancake with cheese, olives and vegetables like peppers, artichokes and other things. It was fast, inexpensive and delicious! It was cool to see a market like this with so much variety of food and places to sit.

At the show, we weren't aloud to take any pictures or audio recordings. But it was so beautiful! The story reminded me a lot of the movie with Leonardo Dicaprio. It was the first ballet show I ever saw and I was very moved by the dances and the story. It's my favorite story by shakespeare so I was very happy to have seen it.

After the show, we met up with my dad, who also came to Antwerp. We looked around for a place to eat and decided to go to Ellis Burger. This is a very hyped up restaurant where they serve home-made burgers. It's always very busy but we were lucky because a table had just opened up! I couldn't decide which burger to choose so I got the 'Trio of mini burgers'. This way, I had the classic beef burger, the chicken burger and the lamb with guacamole burger. It was so delicious that I completely forgot to take a picture :(
As a dessert, I got the warm chocolate cake.

I hope you liked this 'day in the life' type blogpost. I want to do more of these in the future. I'll also post an Outfit of the Day, about what I wore yesterday! :)

How was your weekend? What did you do?
xx,
Astrid

My Life In 20 Questions Tag

 Hey girls! I'm sorry for not uploading a blogpost the last week. I had a busy week and a serious lack of inspiration! Luckily, I found another very fun tag to do today! I know I've doing tags a lot, but I really like doing them. I promise the next couple of blogpost won't be any tags!

1. What is your favorite color? Red

2.  What is your favorite number? 7

3. What is your dream career? I study occupational therapy and I'd love to work in a revalidation center. I'd also love to work with people who have a sensorial handicap. But in a complete other direction, I'd love to do something with fashion or beauty in the future.

4. Where do you see yourself living when you're on your own? Now, I live in a studio in Ghent, but I go home in the weekends. I'd like to live in a city when I'm done with my studies. But when I want to start a family, a nice house in a calm neighbourhoud seems like a great place as well.

5. Where is your favorite place to travel? I like traveling trough europe. I really love Italy and Spain! Any place sunny and warm will make me happy.

6. What do you do in your free time? Blogging, hanging out with friends, watching series. I'd like to start doing more sport in my free time.

7. Favorite clothing stores? NafNaf, H&M, Vero Moda and New Look are my favorite places to shop.

8. Dream car? Volkswagen Beetle: such a cute car!

9. What TV shows can't you live without? Sex And The City, Grey's Anatomy, New girl, How I Met Your Mother,...

10. 3 things you need in your life are... The three F's: Family, friends and fun!

11. I can't sleep without...? A pillow!

12. If you were given 1 million dollars all for yourself what would you do with it? I'd help my family if they need something, buy a house, go on a big shopping spree and save the rest for later.

13. I have a celebrity crush on...? Jamie Dornan, Pharrell Williams, Alex Pettyfer, Liam Payne (from One Direction), Ryan Gosling, Orlando Bloom,... I could go on for hours!

14. What is your favorite treat to eat? Anything with chocolate! I also really like chips, when I want something non-sweet!

15. My favorite wild animal is...a giraffe! Just look at them! They are goofy, beautiful and so cute!

16. What is your favorite season? Spring/summer

17. My favorite childhood show was... Degrassi, the next generation. In Belgium, we had a few kid shows like Samson&Gert (the adventures of a man and his cute dog), Spring ('Jump', which was about a group of friend that went to the same dancing school) and W817 ('Wait a minute', which was about a group of student living in the same house). I really liked those 4 shows as a kid! I still watch W817 when it's on tv now :p

18. Why did you start blogging? I love reading blogs and I love makeup. I wanted to try blogging for a while so I decided to try it out. And I loved it immediately!

19. What do you hold close to your heart? Memories with my family and friends.

20. What is one music artist that you are in love with? Right now, I've been loving the song 'Drunk in love' by Beyoncé. I've always loved her music. I love Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse and Emeli Sandé a lot as well.

I tag everyone who reads this and wants to do this tag! Let me know if you're going to do it :D

xx, 
Astrid

TMI (Too Much Information) Tag: 50 questions!

Hello sweeties! I was watching a few youtube videos earlier today and I saw Essiebutton and Beautycrush do the 'TMI' tag together. TMI stands for Too Much Information and in this tag, you have to answer 50 pretty random questions. By now, you all know that I LOVE doing tags so I decided to do this one as well! :)
Let's get on to the questions!

1. What are you wearing? I'm wearing a black pants from Vero Moda and a red basic t-shirt from H&M.
2. Ever been in love? Yes!
3. Ever had a terrible breakup? Not really.
4. How tall are you? 1m77
5. How much do you weigh? Let's not go there :p