Happy Sunday everyone! I can't believe there's only 1,5 days of 2018 left... This year has literally flown by, and with all the Christmas festivities I totally did not realise how quick the New Year would come around. Anyway, since it's the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to reflect back on all my outfits of 2018 again, as I always tend to do this when the new year comes around. It's always fun to look back on all the outfits you wear throughout the year, and I also tend to get some new inspiration from the outfits I have worn throughout the year. 

WHAT I'M GRATEFUL FOR IN 2018

Happy Friday. It's been a little while since I last posted, mainly due to all the Christmas festivities. I have been so out of it. This week has just felt like one big and long weekend and where I got to spend so much time for my family. I personally had the best Christmas and loved spending time with my whole family. That got me super inspired to write this post. I usually just write down the things I am grateful for in my bullet journal, as they really make me appreciate and love the small little things in life. And even though I try to share my gratitude all year long, I thought it woud be extra fun to reflect on what I have been grateful for in 2018.

SUITING UP FOR CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! This post is so long overdue, I initially had planned on sharing this post last week. Sadly enough I managed to catch a little bit of a December cold, which meant I spent most of the last couple of days just relaxing and sleeping. Anyway, it's finally Christmas now! I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by. I am super excited for all the Christmas festivities.

But before I get into a proper Christmas state of mind I thought it would be fun to share my Christmas Eve outfit with you all. If you really know me, then you know that I am more of a smart trousers kind of gal. This year I have been umm-ing and aw-ing all December on what I want to wear this Christmas. In the end I just decided to go for suits... Mainly because I already have lots of suit-esque elements in my wardrobe.

My first outfit therefore is super simple. I decided to pair a smart trousers from ASOS with my H&M blazer and just style it with a simple but colourful tee from H&M. This outfit is such a me outfit for Christmas, as I usually don't really like to go for super sparkly things. I still regret leaving my Christmas outfit shopping until last week, as I would have loved to get myself one of those beautiful silky slip skirts that everyone on Instagram is frolicking around in. They are just so bloody lovely aren't they?

COSYING UP FOR SOME CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

It feels like a little while since I last sat down to write a blog post. In reality it’s only been a couple of days, but this past week has felt like the longest week of my life. As you may or may not know I finally handed in my final assessment of the semester on Monday. After spending most of my weekend typing away because I once again started too late, I just needed to have a little break from my laptop screen. That’s why I spent most of my afternoon reading a book and watching a couple of Christmas films.

WINTER WEEKEND COMFORT OUTFIT

The weekends are always my favourite time of the week. I love strolling around town during the weekend. However, if there’s one thing, it’s that I need to be comfortable if I know I am going to be in town all Saturday or Sunday. So what my friends and I love to do, is we like to go out for brunch first and then just walk around the area for a bit. If there’s not a lot of things to do around that area of town, then we usually just go into the city centre to stroll and look at the shops for the rest of the day.

Now if there’s one thing I have learnt from brunching in the weekend, is that’s you need to be comfortable. I tend to always overdo brunch a bit and love eating bread. Both overeating and my love for bread are not that good of a combo for my tummy, as I always tend to feel a bit bloated after brunch. That’s why it’s so essential for me to be super comfortable during the weekend so I can easily stroll around town without having a pair of skinny jeans cutting into my tummy. As much as I love comfort during the week, I am also a major comfort outfit seeker during the weekend and this is one of my go-to winter weekend comfort looks.

CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPPING

We’re halfway into December and my parents and I just yesterday managed to get our tree up and decorated. It’s so bad… At first I wanted to get a tree in the very beginning of December. Then life got in the way and I had lots of deadlines to hand in. We then were planning on going to buy our tree during the weekend, but the whole city turned out to be at the garden centre to buy their Christmas trees, so we decided to just get one on Monday instead. Turns out we bought such a big tree that didn’t fit into our car, which meant we had to get it delivered home. And it only arrived Wednesday morning, so all of yesterday afternoon was spent decorating the tree. It may have taken a bit, but it’s finally up and it’s always such an achievement to see it in the middle of the living room while it slowly turns dark.

MY END OF YEAR GOALS

November and December are really busy months for me. I am in the middle of finishing things up for university and I have so many big deadlines. That’s why in these last three weeks of the year I wanted to set myself some goals. Somewhere in the beginning of this month I started noticing that I was not really feeling so great. I was starting to live from deadline to deadline and was not really appreciating everything happening around me. That’s why this weekend I decided to set myself a couple of goals I want to achieve this month to live more in the moment and to enjoy a few smaller things.

FIVE FAVOURITES OF NOVEMBER

Only just now I have had the time to sit down and talk you through all of my favourite things of November. November has been such a busy month that has literally gone by in a blur. I feel like I have been on autopilot this past month, with how busy I was. I can barely remember any of the things that have happened in that month. That’s probably the reason why it took me a little longer to write down a list of all the things I have loved in November.

GETTING INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

I am only two blog posts into December and I already feel like I am on a roll with all the festive content. I am slowly but surely starting to feel super festive and it’s all got to do with a couple of fun things I did this weekend. In the run up to Christmas I always like to do a couple of fun and festive activities to get in the Christmas spirit. This basically is a post dedicated to all the fun things I like to do in December to get myself super excited for the holidays.

PLANNING CHRISTMAS ON A UNI BUDGET

Happy December guys! Omg, I can’t believe one of my favourite months of the year is already here. This year is literally flying by in the blink of an eye. My first couple of days of December were quite stressful, just like most of November was to me. However, I handed in a big assignment now and am ready to get into the proper festive mood. I started my Chritmas prep quite early this year, as I knew I would be busy during December, and since everyone is posting Christmas gift guides right now, I thought it would be fun to write a blog post that is a bit different instead. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share a couple of tips to plan your Christmas while on a uni budget.

WHAT I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS DECEMBER

Ahh it’s December tomorrow! Isn’t it crazy how fast this year has gone by? I remember celebrating Christmas last year like it was just yesterday. December probably is one of my favourite months of the year as there are so many lovely things to look forward to. I thought it would be fun to share a few of the things I look forward to this December before I go to town on the Christmassy content.

REASONS TO CUT YOUR HAIR IN DECEMBER

Haircuts are always such a sensitive topic in my opinion. Some girls absolutely love their longer hair, but I personally have been a fan of the shorter hairstyles for quite some time now. I got my hair cut off again last week and it has been like a breath of fresh air. It was just what I needed after such a stressful last couple of weeks! Some girls consider hair their lives and I guess you could say that I am pretty attached to my hair too. That’s why whenever I get a haircut, I only go to the hairdresser I have been going to for as long as I remember. And even at the hairdressers I only trust about two hairdressers to really cut my hair to my liking. But if you are in doubt of getting your hair cut before Christmas again, then definitely keep on reading.

FALLING ASLEEP QUICKER WHEN STRESSED OR ANXIOUS

November and December always are those months that we are all feeling super busy and maybe even a little bit stressed with everything we have to get done by the end of the year. I don’t know if you guys have this too, but as soon as I have a lot of work to get done, my brain seems to go into overdrive. It doesn’t really matter at what time of day it is; my brain just won’t stop overthinking and overanalysing everything. So every November and December I struggle with quite bad insomnia and usually don’t fall asleep before two in the morning, which is just horrible!

This is how I have gone through the beginning of November. Somewhere halfway through exhaustion just hit me and I needed to get my normal hours of sleep. So I have decided to adjust my evening sleeping routine a bit. It’s been adjusted to prevent insomnia from happening as much as possible, and I thought it would be fun to share with you too!

COSY AUTUMN NIGHT IN

My oh my, it has been quite the month so far. I feel like this always happens at the end of the year. We all get super busy before the holidays and have lots of deadlines and stuff to finish. That’s why I am currently really looking forward to having some much-needed down time spent indoors. The colder days make me look forward to spending time inside with cosy loungewear, a hot chocolate and a warm blanket. Whether I am spending an evening in with a friend or just on my own, this sounds like an ideal way to spend it.

MENTAL HEALTH TIPS FOR THE DARKER MONTHS

Autumn and winter are known as the darker seasons of the year. It’s usually dark out when you wake up and if you have a job or are at uni or school, you usually also get home from work, uni or school when it starts to get dark out. I don’t know about you, but this time of year can really affect my mood and especially my state of mind. Because these darker months can be quite difficult to get through mental wise, I thought I would share some of my tips on how I tend to get myself through these, hoping I might be able to help some of you get through this too.

GO-TO AUTUMN WALK OUTFIT

My favourite autumn days are those days with a clear blue sky, with that beautiful autumn sun, where it’s between 5 to 10 degrees Celsius and those beautiful yellow, orange and brown leaves feel extra crunchy to through. Those sort of autumn days are my favourite kind of days this season to go for walks. Its days like this that make me feel refreshed and like a new person. We have been super lucky this autumn and have had quite a few of these beautiful autumn days so far. I thought it would be fun to share my go-to outfit that I usually wear when I go for a long walk through the woods or a park to get a breath of fresh air.

AUTUMN WINTER WARDROBE ESSENTIALS

It’s that time of season(?) again, I was actually going to say it’s that time of year again but I’m not sure if that’s right, since I write these posts twice a year. But anyway, it’s that time of year again where I feel like I have managed to find all the essentials in my life to get through two seasons. This post always takes a lot of time as it comes with thinking about what kind of items you want to wear and like during a season, as well as buying the clothes. Now I am going to be brutally honest, this post usually takes me a while to post because I can’t afford to buy all of these clothes all at once.

I am super excited to share my A/W 2018/2019 wardrobe essentials with you though. I feel like I have really curated my wardrobe and added some interesting items to really spice up my wardrobe.

AUTUMN BEAUTY FAVOURITES

Every season always comes with it’s own perks. The older I get, the more I start to appreciate every season for it’s own reasons. Autumn also definitely has it its perks. I love autumn walks, crisp air and just spending time outside. But because it gets colder during this time of year, I also start using different beauty products. One example I can give you is of my makeup. During the summer I barely use any makeup and love not having any kind of foundation or tinted moisturizer on my face. During autumn I love to experiment a bit more with makeup. It’s usually this time of year where I start to get my love for makeup back. Because I have such a big love relationship with beauty products in autumn, I thought it would be super fun to write a post about my current favourite autumn beauty products.

HOW I MOTIVATE MYSELF FOR UNI

If there’s one thing I struggle with, it’s to sometimes motivate myself to get to work for uni. As much as I love my education and going to university, I sometimes find it hard to get myself back to uni work. I think we all struggle with finding your motivation again, which sucks. I can never really pin down why I feel less motivated and I think it’s normal to feel this way. As you might know, I am in the middle of my final year at university, so over the years I have learnt a lot about finding that motivation to get back to work. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share a few tips with you.

MY FIVE FAVOURITE TRAINERS

If you know me or if you have been following my blog for a couple of years then you would definitely know that I am a trainers kinda gal. I am never really one to wear heels or heeled boots and I only recently started wearing my low ankle boots again. However, I would still always prefer to wear a pair of trainers instead. Being comfortable is one of the most important things in life, especially as I am a uni student and spend most of my day either in class or at the library. Comfort is everything in my life, but I also like to think that it’s super normal to wear trainers, as most Dutch people tend to be wearing trainers. All of my girl friends I hang out with can usually be found wearing trainers. So it has become pretty normal for me to just wear trainers every day. In today’s post I thought it would be super fun to share a few of my favourite trainers.

MY NOVEMBER SPENDING BAN

As much as I love minimalism and minimalist style, I love buying new clothes and looking online for hours and hours to scroll through websites looking at the latest trends. I already have a closet full of tops and blouses and another one filled with jackets and jumpers, yet I still always seem to think I have nothing to wear. In September I already had a massive clear out of my wardrobe, promising myself I would not buy that many clothes I would not end up wearing again anymore. I wanted to become less impulsive and really think about how I spend my money.

Last Monday I went into Primark after a long and stressful day at university. Before going there I was hoping to get myself a really cosy jumper or maybe a pair of cute trousers. While I was walking through Primark I had a big change of heart. While I was walking through Primark I did not want to spend any more money on a jumper or anything like that. It was kind of my intervention and I decided that as of November, I would stop buying clothes for a month. My main reason being that I definitely did not need any more clothes. My other reason being that I had set myself a few saving goals too. So until the end of November I am not allowed to spend any more money on clothes.

FIVE FAVOURITES OF OCTOBER

October has been such a hectic month. It has definitely been a month where I have had to struggle quite a bit with anxiety. Anxiety usually comes with me doubting myself even more than normal and also feeling a little bit more insecure than I normally would. I guess that’s something we can all relate with. Throughout the month of October I really noticed that I needed to find comfort and confidence in hanging out with friends, family, but mostly in products that brought me comfort and confidence. These five products have really helped me through this month and as these have helped me I really wanted to share them in this month’s five favourites post.

AUTUMN CYSTIC ACNE SKINCARE ROUTINE

It’s autumn, the clocks went back an hour last weekend and today is the last day October, so you could definitely say that we’re slowly getting towards the end of the year. With the season changing, I noticed a massive difference in my skin. My skin started feeling a lot tighter in the beginning of September and I started breaking out again due to uni stress. So in September I started to change up my skincare routine a little bit until I found a routine that would work for my skin, which I think I may have found now.

I like to think that I am very open about my skincare history and I tell a lot of people about my acne in real life and love writing about it on my blog. And cystic acne can truly be the most painful thing to have growing on your face. Cystic acne basically means that your pores get blocked; this causes little infections and inflammations to appear on your skin. I am still quite lucky, as I don’t have cystic acne as bad as some other people do. Nonetheless it still makes me feel insecure seeing an inflamed pimple growing on my face and sometimes it can really hurt and leave behind scars.

TRAVELLING ALONE WITH ANXIETY

If you follow me on Instagram and have watched my Instagram stories over the last few weeks, then you might have noticed that I was in Sweden last week for the interviews for my dissertation for university. This was my first time flying alone as well as spending a lot of time on my own in a different country. I am quite the anxious person already just by being at home or even when I travel with someone. Since I didn’t know that many people in the two places I went to in Sweden I was on my own quite a lot, which was such a mental challenge for me. Throughout the week I slowly started to notice how I could control my anxiety and thoughts a bit better and what helped me feel less anxious.

MY FAVOURITE PLACES TO SHOP FOR AUTUMN

Autumn has got to be one of my favourite seasons to shop for. I love buying new beautiful knits, scarves and other cosy stuff like that. While I am getting my autumn wardrobe for this year ready, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favourite places to shop at. These are just the shops I like to go to whenever I actually go into town and shop for stuff. If I can’t find the stuff I want to buy online, then I am usually off to browse these websites before actually going into town for a little so-called ‘shopping trip’.

HOW I FEEL LESS ANXIOUS

Happy Monday lovelies! I wanted to write a little post about tips on how I try to feel less anxious. Like I wrote in one of my latest posts, I had felt quite a lot of anxiety during the month of September. Sometimes your mind just tricks you and you start to feel anxious about all sorts of things, even though you are fully aware that there is no reason to be feeling that way. It’s just not something you can stop.

Anxiety and anxiety attacks have been part of my life ever since high school and whenever I go through these phases of feeling anxious there are always a few things I tend to do that help me feel less anxious. I thought I would share some of these things I do, as they might be helpful for those of you who suffer from anxiety, but also to those who do not, as you might be able to help someone in your life who does suffer from anxiety.

MY FAVOURITE AUTUMN WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

Weekends are my absolute favourite. Saturday and Sunday are the days I usually look forward to most, like most of us, because it usually means I can focus on anything else but uni work. Every weekend is different too, but I thought it would be fun to share what my favourite autumn weekend activities are, just so I can get myself even more pumped for fun autumn activities.

FIVE FAVOURITES OF SEPTEMBER

It feels weird to write a post about all the things I have loved during September. We’re only half way through October, but September and beginning university at the beginning of September already feels like an absolute lifetime ago. I don’t what it is about this year but it really is just flying by within the blink of an eye, isn’t it? I always feel like the first few months of the year tend to go a bit slower and then after summer the months just fly by. Before we know it it’s Christmas again! But before I get to excited about all things Christmas, I am going to blog about five things I have loved using/wearing during the month of September.

MY A/W SHOPPING TIPS

With it being October now, it is also time to slowly start building a autumn/winter wardrobe and like most people, I love going shopping for these A/W 2018-2019 wardrobe staples. Over the years that I have created the ‘wardrobe essentials’ posts on my blog, I have come to quite a few realisations as to how you get the most out of your AW wardrobe essentials. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share the process I usually go through whenever I go start to go shopping for the new season and my upcoming AW wardrobe essentials post.

LIFE UPDATE

First of all I would like to wish you all a happy October! How fast is this year going by? It's just insane, isn't it? I writing down all of my New Year's resolutions for a blog post like it was yesterday! I am super excited about autumn though. It definitely has to be one of my favourite seasons because of the pretty golden, crispy leaves, the hot chocolates and the scarves we're able to wear again.

Anyway, today I wanted to dedicate a little post as to why I have been a bit absent on my blog lately. So in today's post I just wanted to talk you through a few of my life updates, how I have been feeling and what has been on my mind.

BUILDING A TIMELESS AUTUMN WARDROBE

When it comes to creating a timeless autumn wardrobe I feel like I am pretty much sorted. To me it’s so important to have these staples in wardrobe for every season. Autumn happens to be my favourite seasons of the year when it comes to fashion. I always have the best time creating outfits for this season. Some days however, I never really know what to wear, even during this season. That’s why I thought it would be fun to dedicate a post to how you can build a timeless autumn wardrobe with some key pieces. This way you can always go back to those basics and are able to look good even when you don’t really know what to wear.

WHAT I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS AUTUMN

Autumn probably is one of my all time favourite seasons. There is just so many great things about autumn. The weather, the orange and brown leaves, the fashion! Especially the fashion. As much as I love summer and just getting away for the summer for a while, I'm also always so excited for this season to come around. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share what I love and look forward to most this season.