A Day in Poetry VII

Maybe I should have listened better.

I don't really recall you being very clear though.

I don't really recall you threatening me to go.

Or maybe you did. 

Maybe I was hearing but not listening.

I don't really recall. 

Maybe I should have stay further. 

I now realize that you didn't really looked for my presence. 

I know realize all of my demands were stopped by a soft 'no'.

Maybe I should have interpreted better. 

Maybe your 'no' was not that soft.

Maybe your 'no' was the first step you took away from me.

Maybe I should have talked clearer.

I don't know if you weren't listening.

Or if I wasn't choosing the right words for you to understand.

I don't know if you wanted to listen actually. 

Now I think you were faking.

Maybe I should have just stayed quiet. 

Still some weeks after you left, I still found pieces of you. 

Your hair in the shower.

A dirty sock of yours in the closet.

A coffee stain you made on the kitchen table.

Your favorite tea in the drawer, with no one to drink it now.

Maybe I should have remembered how you liked your coffee.

Maybe I should have come with you to those gigs and pretended I liked it.

Maybe I should have talked more often instead of breaking into tears in the middle of the night.

Maybe I should have remember that you didn't like 'this kind of girls'.

I realized a bit too late that I was one of those 'girls'. 

The one who doesn't want to see her therapist cause she knows he's right.

The one who rather read Fitzgerald and write poetry, pretending to heal. 

The one who sometimes said 'I love you', out of fear to lose you.

The one who maybe did too much, when all you wanted was nothing.

Maybe I like myself better a little bit torn, a little bit broken.

Maybe I hang up too much to my bad habits.

I thought it would be easier to watch you leave.

But still today I remember every step you took, I remember the distance growing between you and me.

Still today I crave for your lips. Still today I want to hear you tell me 'I love you'.

Still today I want to be in the same room as you are. 

Breathing the same air as you do.

But now you're gone.

And all I can think is how right was Peter Craig when he wrote that the most abused words are 'I love you' and 'forever'.

In the end, you were maybe right to go.

Yet I can tell you that where I am now, 

In bed, drinking your favorite tea that I hate, 

Listening to your favorite music that I can't stand,

All I can think about is you. 

But anyway, I'm sure you already forgot about me. 

Because I'm just one of those girls.

xo

Amy

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Chanel Make Up

There are some brands that you deeply love, whether they are fashion brands, shoe brands, but also make up brands. You can obviously go cheap for your everyday look, no need for bloody expensive mascara or lipstick. However, someday you might feel like being fancy and adding a little bit of luxury into your life. No need for the latest favorite it bag, you can go cheaper and purchase a nice make up product from one of the best brand in tis field according to me, Chanel. 

Today I've decided to share with you a list of my favorite products from this brand at the moment, giving you some tips for how to use them, well, a little review. Here is my top five.

I love lip products. I'm really into lipstick, I just feel like it is the simple touch that will change your look, make it instantly fancier, prettier, smarter, sophisticated. Most of the time I go light on the eyes just to wear a pretty lipstick, most of the time dark ones in Winter. However I've never been into lip pencils. To dry for me, I've never liked the "line" that delimited your lips contour, I rather go for a lipstick or a gloss. But thanks to Chanel I've learned to love this type of makeup. Here I talk about Chanel 'Crayon de Couleur', a product between the lipstick and the lip liner, that you can apply all over your lips. It is really easy to apply, precise and most of all pleasant to wear. You do not even feel it on your lips, it is smooth and won't make your lips dry. I went for a light pink, 'Rose Clair', n°3. Easy to wear with everything and perfect to combine with a cat eye.
Chanel 'Crayon de Couleur', Rose Clair, n°3

I always felt like my eyes were the best thing in me beauty wise. So obviously my goal is to valorize them. But can we talk about this horrible quest that is the one to find the perfect mascara? I feel like since I wear makeup I've never stop trying new ones in the hope to find the perfect one. Well, Dior mascara are pretty good, Maybeline as well, but I've never found one that make your lashes looking really numerous and thick, almost 'fluffy'. Yet obviously Chanel created one like this. I've discovered it pretty recently, but I must say that I'm already convinced. It is the perfect mascara if you want to have an impressive look, attracting all of the attention to your eyes. With a nice cat eye it will look perfect, and it is long lasting! Yet a little bit to hard to remove. But well, since we look nice during the day, does that matter?
Chanel Mascara, 'Dimensions', n°10 (black)

To stay focus on the eyes, I've got another favorite from Chanel, however I still struggle to use it the right way. I've never really been into eye shadows. Never knew what was the right color according to my eyes (blue) and how to apply it according to my eye shape (still undefined to me). However after having watch hundreds of makeup tutorials on YouTube I've started to understand how to use it, and in order to test my skills I purchased a Chanel eye shadow. The texture - pretty smooth - and the application - so easy - completely convinced me. I still have to learn how to make the most of it, but I know I made the right choice by choosing this one.
Chanel Eye Shadow, 'Illusion d'Ombre Velvet', 'Rouge Contraste', n°132

This might sound weird but the state of my nails have a lot to do with my mood. If my nails are all scratched and painted in a color I don't really like on that precise day, you can be sure I will only focus on that and feel slightly depressed. Girls problems I guess. However I can't really complain. Nail lacquers are more and more long lasting, you can also apply a top coat just to have a nice finish and to keep it longer, but still some brands struggle to elaborate long lasting formulae. Chanel doesn't. They actually never did as far as I remember, but their new formulae is even more long lasting. And the colors are so numerous that it becomes really hard to choose. My latest purchase is a little bit different from what I'm used to wear - mostly nudes or burgundy colors. I went for a black one, with sparkles and nice reflects. Easy to wear with almost everything during this season.
Chanel Nail Lacquer, 'Gris Obscur', n°538

Last but not least, my fifth favorite is a lipstick. I had to pick one, since Chanel might do the best ones. So nice to apply, so smooth, so light, so pretty, you can't help but fall in love with their lip products. They are many ones, many tips, many textures and styles. And here I choose a pretty nice formulae, quite original and most of all, unique. They call it a 'stylo', understand a 'pen'. This might sounds like the 'crayon de cooler' I told you about, but it is actually pretty different. The texture is not the same, you don't feel like applying a lipstick nor using a lip liner, it is much more like you are coloring your lips like you would fill a coloring book. It is really easy to apply, and the final look is stunning. Just a little bit shinny, not too thick, it will just look like it is the real color of your lips. A must have for lip products lovers, you'll just struggle choosing a shade.
Chanel 'Rouge Coco Stylo', 'Récit', n°212

xo

Amy

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A Day in... Basel

It's been quite a long time since I last published an article like this one. Actually since I live in Amsterdam I don't really have the time to discover new places, and basically Amsterdam is already a city full of surprises and things to discover, so for now I try to focus on here. But last year, as you know if you read my introduction letter I left my lovely hometown and followed my boyfriend to Basel, a city located in the German part of Switzerland. I know the name of this rubric is "A day in...", but even though I've spent almost a year there I never really took the time to discover this city. My boyfriend and I actually managed to get some time to do that the last week we were there, trying to make the most out of it before leaving Basel. We spent awesome moments discovering the old city and its hidden treasures, walking along the water, having a coffee break in a cute little café...

This year in Basel has surely been a hard one for me, but I can't help but feel a little bit nostalgic today when I think about it. Without this year I would have never started this blog, without this year I would have never know what I wanted to do with my life. And, yes, I would love to spend another day here, just to remember what this place brought me. 

Basel, sometimes I miss you. 

xo

Amy

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Interior Inspiration

Today is Sunday, and so it is time to take a moment for yourself and for your wellbeing. This sentence makes this article sounds deeper than it really is. Actually, when I talk about your wellbeing now I just mean spending your Sunday on Tumblr looking for inspiration. And today I decided to bring some to you. Happy Sunday to you all.

xo

Amy

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Just words

"Just for future reference, don't use words like 'love' anymore. It's a very sensitive word and it wears out quickly. Romeo barely says it, but John Hinckley filled up a whole journal with it. To put it into terms, it's a currency that's easily devalued. Pretty soon you're saying it whenever you hang up the phone or whenever you leave. It turns into an apology. Then it's an excuse. Some assholes want it to be bulletproof vest: don't hate me; I love you. But mostly it just means -- more. More, more -- give me something more. A couple of years from now, when you're on your own completely, if you really fall in love, if it really comes to that -- and I pity you if it does -- you have to look right down into the black of her eyes, right down into the emptiness in there and feel everything, absolutely everything, be crushed, buried alive. Because that's what real love feels like -- chocking. They used to bury some women in their wedding dresses, you know. I thought it was because all those husbands were too cheap to spring for another gown, but now it makes sense: love is your first foot in the grave. That's why the second most abused word is 'forever'."

Peter Craig, Hot Plastic

Today I just wanted to share with you an extract from this novel by Peter Craig. It is one of my favorite quote ever, and I thought it was too beautiful not to be shared.

xo

Amy

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January Favorite: Constance, Hermès

In Winter smaller bags always feel better to me. Maybe it is because you already have seven layers of sweaters and two coats, looking a lot like a polar bear. So you need something light on your arm, something that will just cary your essentials and not weighting too much on your freezing body. So for my January favorite, while I'm fighting the cold weather in Amsterdam, I decided to choose the Constance bag by Hermès. First of all, because it is as I said one of those light and small bag, but also because it is by Hermès, and I never choose one from this brand even though it is maybe one of the most iconic one. You can always recognize an Hermès bag. It is this "something special", this timeless and elegant look that most of the time seems like they will suit better a grown woman with a serious job. However, it feels like the Constance bag is perfectly adapted to a younger look, less serious, more about it-girls. That is maybe why it is my favorite one from the brand, younger, maybe less iconic than a Birkin but also more wearable for a young lady who does want to have style but who doesn't want to be too serious. 

As you can see, the Constance bag is small, it is one of those bag where you can only put your cardholder, a lip balm, gloves and sunnies. But what else can we ask for when we are fighting the cold in our enormous parka?

Classic meets eclecticism. The Constance bag keeps its iconic style thanks to the massive 'H', but is modernized thanks to a colorful but still basic look. Sometimes all you need to be classy is the right handbag. And this might be the one. 

xo

Amy

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The Garden of Earthly Delights

Regarding art, I try to be as open minded as possible. But even though I've spent three years studying medieval art - it was compulsory, don't get me wrong - I've never been able to enjoy any of the art work from this period. I guess it is simply because when you have studied Raphael and Nicolas Poussin you cannot go back to this and enjoy the way they didn't know how to represent a face with the right dimension. Ok, maybe I'm being a little too critical. They are of course some master pieces and important artists from this period, but well, it is just not my thing. However, last Summer while I was in a library in Geneva with my boyfriend, he stumbled upon a book compelling all of the details from the well-known tryptic The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Of course as a student in Art History I've studied this artwork, simply because it is weird and so pretty interesting. Nevertheless, I've never been able to enjoy it and basically I just learned the dates and some highlights about it to pass my exam. 

Yet my boyfriend found himself really interested in this book, and so since I knew some things about this tryptic I started explaining it to him. He was more and more interested, and basically enjoyed every details. And so, for the first time, I really looked at it. I saw what he was seeing. How dark and weird it was, and so how enjoyable it is to watch every detail. He never really found himself interested in visual art, but when I saw him enjoying Hieronymus Bosch's work so badly I thought, "he is smart, he is sensitive, there is something to take out of this weird painting". So I looked back at my courses, read them again, did some researches, and well, I still don't like medieval art, but honestly, this tryptic fascinates me and luckily I've got someone to talk about it with. Maybe sometimes what is interesting is not the art work itself. Maybe sometimes it is the person you talk about it with who makes it interesting.

xo

Amy

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Winter favorites

Few weeks ago we changed season. And new season means new list of favorites! The colder times are here now, snow is falling, wind is blowing and some of us have been victims of the seasonal depression. I haven't really been one of them this year. I actually like Winter. Yes of course it is all grey and foggy, cold and stormy, snowy and windy, but even if those adjectives don't sound so good this season is still pretty nice. First of all, there was Christmas. Well, I know it is over since quite a long time now. But stay positive! Because, yes, maybe when we don't live up in the mountains, if there's just rain and wind and no snow and sun, Winter can be quite depressing. But remember that under the frozen ground Spring is getting ready... Until then, here is a list of my favorites stuffs of the season, so just be patient for Spring, and try to make the most out of Winter time...

With the new year comes the need of a new planner. Last year I didn't have one. Maybe because it was a gap year, I don't know, but when university came back into my life I really missed having one. So this year I've decided to buy one as soon as possible, and to get mine I choose to take a look at the amazing Ohh Deer website. This is where to shop for stationary lovers, and I already picked up some of my favorites on this website last season. 

# Palm Tree weekly planner

# Cactus monthly planner

To stay in the stationary thematic, and in order to plan your week or your month with style, you will need a pretty good pen. And the better ones are for sure by Caran d'Ache.

# Blue pen, in copper

As I told you in my latest post online shopping is a must if you're feeling down, and even more if you are a victim of the seasonal depression. This season, I went a little bit crazy on Zara, and so I decided to make you a list of my top 5 articles on the website.

# Velvet sweater

# Stars printed dress

# Preppy dress

# Knitted hat

# Biker coat

New season also means new fragrance. And my favorite for Winter is for sure the latest by Chloé, always so chic, so romantic, smelling like a garden in Spring, it is for sure the right choice if you want to smell like a romantic girl, whatever it does mean. 

# Chloé, Love Story

Winter is maybe pretty when it is snowy, but your lips might hate the colder times and the violent wind. So in order to protect them, use the EOS lip balm. It does smell amazing but it will also keep your lips hydrated for hours! And the feeling is just awesome.

# EOS lipbalm

Scared that your dear IPhone will be cold? Head immediately to SkinnyDip and order the craziest phone cases! Here a selection of my favorite ones. 

# Not your babe

# Vodka Fish

# Lobster

# Folk

# Eggplant

Have a wonderful Winter!

xo

Amy

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10 (new!) things to make you feel good

Last summer I published an article entitled "10 things to make you feel good", because since I find myself running into terrible state of mind quite frequently I've decided to feel better and to share with you what does make me feel better. This list is still true, I still do all of this, I still read, watch Keeping Up with the Kardashian, I still cuddle my cats with a cup of tea in hand. However, this winter, the anxiety was stronger than ever and I had to find new things to make me feel good, in order to make me feel better. So here is my new list.

1. Plants: I heard some people around me speaking out the good effect that plants could have on us, and basically I never really trusted the fact that having a ficus in my bedroom would help me get rid off my negative energy. Nevertheless, a year ago, I bought some succulents. They didn't really help me feel less sad when I wasn't feeling well, yet to take care of them always made me happier. When the clouds are coming in my head, I just go and buy a new one, or just rearrange them in their pots. I don't know why this makes me so happy, maybe because I prove myself that I can actually take care of something alive. 

2. Vogue: In a complet opposite register, reading Vogue is maybe my favorite method to get rid off my sadness. I told you a little bit about it in my latest editor's letter, and to be honest it is more than just a coffee break when I am feeling sad, it is a door wide open to a fantastic world, full of fantasies and dreams. Vogue is an escape to something a little bit more shinny, a little bit more glamorous, a little more happier. 

3. Putting lipstick on: To stay in the fashion register, here is one of my favorite thing to do when I'm feeling down. As stupid as it might seem, when I put make up on, I instantly feel better, more awake, prettier, and the final touch (lipstick of course!) can sometimes make it all better. 

4. Fresh flowers: Recently I have been a lot into plants. Don't ask me why, I have no clue. But in some way, it feels like I am in a better mood when I have some around me, so fresh flowers, since last Spring I would, have been a new habit that I took. 

5. Talking: Well, as dumb and banal as it seems, I realized very recently that talking was maybe the best way to feel better. Mad at your boyfriend? Relax for a moment, and when your mind is clear go talk to him about what is wrong. And if nobody is responsible of your sadness? When you don't even know why you're sad? Go talk to someone anyway. Say what's on your mind and let what is wrong go. 

6. Movie in bed and blankets: The good old method. You can also add some biscuits. 

7. Taking a walk: Nothing better than fresh air, time by yourself to think/cry/even talk on your own, and taking a minute to look around and see for once everything that is ok and not only everything that is going wrong. 

8. Online shopping: When you are sad, most of the time you don't really feel like going to the city and run around in the shops to find a cozy sweater or a pretty handbag. But let's be honest, shopping is pretty good at making us feel better when we are not so fine - the movie Confession of a Shopaholic, nevertheless, is not a good example, stay down to earth with money or you will have another reason to cry later. So online shopping is maybe the best solution to get through it. Zara.com, here I come!

9. Resting in your boyfriend's arms: This point obviously doesn't work if you are single neither if your boyfriend is the reason why you are sad. But if none of those apply to you, run into his arms. Nothing feels better than this. 

10. Smiling!: Well, as simple as it might seem, it does work. So show some teeth!

xo

Amy

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Coffee Break

It feels like everybody nowadays try to be the healthiest person on earth. No more milk, running vegan, detox everyday, veggies for breakfast and hot water with lemon in bed. Well, I tried of course to live the healthy life. But there are some guilty pleasures in life that it is hard to get rid off. I don't know if it is a French habit, or European one, or if it is just me, but some habits are so good that even if you know they might kill you, you keep them. For me, it is not that bad I believe. Coffee breaks. I love them. I don't only talk about drinking coffee. Of course I do drink some overtime I have to get some work done, every morning when I feel slow, every moment I think I need one. I've tried to reduce my consumption of coffee, but it is still hard for me to forget my 3 pm coffee break. Coffee with milk and one sugar - some biscuits on a side plate of course - and Vogue. How good does that sound? It is just the best way to get rid of the stress, to take some time just to chill by yourself, reading the best fashion magazine ever and drink the best drink ever. A break during the day, just before getting back into the stressful routine. Maybe I should stop coffee, I heard that it stresses. Anyway, let's have a coffee break. 

xo

Amy

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Text me back!

The other day, after I cried for almost ten minutes because my boyfriend hasn't texted me back for a day, I found myself thinking, "fuc***g technology". Let me explain myself. For a day I had send him messages on WhatsApp. So of course I could see he was receiving them, but even more horrible, he was reading them. And guess what? He was connected on Facebook as well, but didn't reply me! I almost went mental. He was complete ignoring me - something already terrible - but the worse was that I could see it. Nothing hurts more than this. Begging for attention from the one you love, and being rejected, right before your eyes. 

New technologies, I believe, completely fu**s up our relationships. You CAN spy him, you CAN see what he does, you CAN even know where he is, you CAN witness that et ignores you. You can do it all, and of course you do. It is so easy now that we break up because he was tagged in a picture on Facebook, at party when he told you he was home, we break up because he was connected on WhatsApp for the all day but never texted back. It is so unhealthy and heartbreaking that sometimes I wish I lived in the 18th century like a Jane Austen character. Letters. It was it all. But love was maybe  stronger at this time. Maybe it was more valued. Let me think, the problem is maybe not technology, the problem might just be that he doesn't text me back because he doesn't love me anymore? I wish I could have been living in a Jane Austen's book. 

xo

Amy

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A Dior Fairytale

When you a are little girl, you watch all of those cartoons, from Ariel to The Sleeping Beauty, you see princesses marry the love of their life, you see poor girl being loved by the charming prince, and all of this happens in beautiful dresses. And when we grow up, even if we realize that the charming prince doesn't exist, we still dream about the dresses. But now, we don't watch TV for that, we just open Vogue or a beautiful coffee table book about any high couture brand. However, one of them seems to symbolize the princess's dream that we used to have: Dior. With their new book, Dior, 30 Avenue Montaigne, we dive in this world of fairytales and dreams, a world where girls wear couture dresses and, maybe, think about love. 

xo

Amy

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2017

Here it is. A new year has started yesterday. And basically I don't feel like anything has changed. Many of you must feel the same actually. You woke up, maybe hangover, but then the day went on. You showered, had breakfast, then your lunch, then you chilled at home or went on a hike with your too motivated uncle/father/mother/grandma, then tea time, dinner, bed, and so it goes today. New year, same life, right? Well, that is why it feels like new year's resolution are too stupid to be took. It is just like the first day of any month. It starts, it has got an end, and in between life happens with you just fighting to get through it. I am so pessimistic, right? Well, I think it is actually the best resolution I took - of course I did take some, I criticize but I am too much into the traditional way of thinking to skip this step. To be happy in 2017 - so cliché, right? - I will just don't care. Or at least, care as less as I can - I'm still a 21 years old girl, of course I care. The key to feel good is maybe so easy that it becomes stupid. Just listen to yourself, to your feelings, to what matters for you. Well, no matter the number of the year, just be nice to yourself. Listen to your heart, care less in order to suffer less, be light, be nice to yourself. But please 2017, be kind. 

xo

Amy

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December favorite books

Happy new year you all! I wish you all the best, and in order to help you start the year the right way I've decided to pick up my favorite books of last month so you can have good reads for this day off. This list is a mix between different types of books, from art books to modern novel, before jumping in the past to rediscover some of the most beautiful books of all times. Good reads make our life better, that is for sure. And so if you don't really feel like 2017 will be so nice, just dive into one of them and lost yourself into somebody else's life, even if it is just for an hour. 

There are some modern authors that are already legendary even though they are quite recent. Sometimes a little movie inspired by their novel is the best way to bring them under the spotlight, and this is exactly what happened to Lauren Weisberger. Her terrible experience as the personal assistant of Vogue US' editor in chief has been turn into one of the most popular novel of the 21st century before becoming a legendary movie, The Devil Wears Prada. By now Weisberger is one of the most popular writer of the century, and last 2016 she wrote another wonderful novel, this time taking place in the tennis game's world. Love, celebrity and betrayals are at the heart of The Single Games that will let you escape from your everyday life so easily that you won't let this book down before you'll finished it. 

A good old classic is always a good idea. But when it come to poesy sometimes we don't really know where to look at. However, one poet needs to be rediscover, Sylvia Plath. This is the kind of poesy girls dream of at night, the kind of poesy you read and then think, "I wish I could have written that myself". This is the kind of poesy that let you travel in another world only thanks to few words. Ariel is for sure her best collection of poems, a must read if you are a poems lover. 

Coffee table books always are a good idea for a Christmas present, and this year I've received The Coveteur new book released last October. At first an online magazine, it became a book gathering their best interviews and photographs. If you don't know the concept of the magazine, basically it is about sneaking in the personal spaces of style icon, going into their house, exposing their style and interviewing them about it. Inspiration is all over this magazine, and their beautiful book a real piece of art. 

Being distracted by a book is quite easy, but when you just can't get the book out of your hands it is for sure a good one. Overtime I read one of Sophie Tinsel's 'Shopaholic' book I close it only when I'm done with it. So I was really happy to see a new book coming out with new adventures for Becky. Shopaholic to rescue is a real treasure of entertainment, bringing you to both laugh and tears. 

Every mont I try to read or re-read a classic from the 20th century, just to educate my taste and my knowledge in literature. This month I choose a book from Ernest Hemingway, A moveable feast. It is the third time that I read this book, but each lecture brings new feelings and new discoveries. Paris, back in the old days, when writers from all over the world, artists, musicians, would know each other perfectly, gather in cafés to discuss their works, go on adventures with them. Hemingway writes a magnificent portrait of Paris and its artists, his Paris, the one he knew in his young years, the one when all would love to know. This book is history, but this is also a love story between you two. 

xo

Amy

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