Today I realised that I am uttering this excitement more than ever in a perfectionism when it comes to my appearance that day. After I made sure that my daughter’s outfit was tip-top and that my husband’s appearance will be top-notch, I started ticking off the details of my silhouet. I found it somewhat harder that on other occasions, since I’m four months pregnant at this point. I’m not going to dwell on the complete picture yet, just for a little tension :-). I’d rather give you a peek into my preparations during this last week, I think they will be recognisable to many girls and ladies living up to such an important event.

Monday: Pj’s and high heels

I was working from home today. Which usually means: “homewear time, baby!”. This was also the case today, with one difference: I wore these very high heeled Karen Millen sweethearts all day long underneath my not so very flattering pj’s. I will do so for the rest of this week, to avoid the well known “new shoes agony” on the big day.

I also invested in a pair of very strange items, as shown below…

These invisible pads by Bama cushion the front of my feet, thus making walking in high heels noticeably more comfortable. This should help me pretending that I’m very much allright wearing this high heels in my in my pregnant condition. Thanks to air cushion technology with fine air passages, these pads should provide me with softness and a perfect fit. I wonder if they will do the job.

Tuesday: Nail Couture

A girl has to be neat from head to toe, or, from hand to toe, as I worked on today. I went to my favourite nail parlour, Nail Couture 43, and picked a coral red from their wide range of Gelamour colours, #004 Seductive Sun. My outfit will be salmon pink with golden accents. I found it necessary to create a lively contrast when it came to my nails, hence the coral red.

It goes without saying, that my toes will have to be adorned with the same colour. I went on a quest at Di and Parfuma and found myself a holy trinity: Essie nail laquer “Color Binge”, Chanel‘s famous “Le Top Coat” and Elegant Touch “Rapid dry for Nails”. This last one needs to be applied after the top coat and is a great help for impatient ladies such as myself, since it dries your polish in 60 seconds and adds some vitamin E at the same time.

Wednesday: Balayage

Today I gave in to temptation of two things I promised myself  I would never ever do (again). One: cutting my hair in layers, two: colouring it. Partly, Pinterest made me do it. These thousands of picture perfect balayages, ombres, dipdyes and highlights cannot leave a girl unmoved. Also, these shades of blonde always work out better on layers.

But the biggest incentive was the fact that I would like to create an over the shoulder messy fishtail braid on the day of Eriq and Sven’s wedding. Adding a subtle balayage to my already blonde hair will give some extra dimension and playfulness to the fishtail.

So, here we are:

The cut and balayage was performed at Salon Jules. The colouring products are by Vitality’s, which are very hair-friendly and guarantee radiant shades.

Thursday: Extensions

My customers and colleagues in beauty know, that I love to work my magic on my models hair using handmade clip-in extensions.  I have a wide array of hair colours in stock in by now, it becomes quite an addiction, I have to admit. I use clip in extensions to create more volume and/or length in updos, and to secure the curls in loose hairstyles. Sometimes my extensions addiction results in somewhat over the top creative projects, such as for example the “hair throne” photoshoot on my website.

As I mentioned above, I want to wear my hair Saturday in an over the shoulder fishtail braid. I will need some extra volume and length to create a fishtail worthy of its name. For this purpose, I “fitted” different colours of extensions today and, I must say, I found a nice colour blend with my own locks.

If you would like me to create a custom-made set of clip-in extensions especially for you, please let me know

Friday: Baby Belt Glamour

Pregnancy and glamour are not always an obvious match to make. I try very hard not to give into the pregnancy look, and keep glamour on my side as long as possible. This sometimes asks for some secret interventions, which are not secret anymore, since they are published on this blog

For starters, I have to wear compression stockings, type 2, all through my pregancy. This is to avoid having to much varicosity after these nine months. I wear Mediven Elegance in black, skin tone and white, even throughout summer. Mmmm, sexy…

Secondly, I have an “outie” belly button, which means that it pops out because of the pressure of the uterus on the inside against it. Ow yeah, nice…  What a lucky coincidence, that my compression stockings also support my belly, so that it covers up the outie when I wear them.

Saturday, however, I won’t be able to wear my ever so loved compression stockings, since they would show in my beloved Karen Millen stiletto sandals. I had to find an other solution for this nuisance of a belly button. I went to my  favourite place at this moment, the orthopaedic shop, and they sold me a baby belt by Anita (which is a nice looking, oldschool brand from 1886, with a sound history, hence the picture above). It is made of breathing microfibre, and is in fact designed to prevent back aches during pregnancy. It feels heavenly supporting, which I like (I’m a push up type ;-)).  It works magical on the outie as well! I find it awkward to show my belly here in public, but here is a beautiful model showing it for you:

It doesn’t look very sexy, but acceptable when combined with a fine set of lingerie (which I find a bit awkward to show here as well, but bought a way too expensive Chantal Thomass set ;-)). Glamour finds its origins underneath your clothes, darlings.

Saturday: The Big Day

After enjoying the most emotional wedding I have ever attended, I did’nt feel like posting pictures about myself anymore. Suddenly, all of this felt very superficial. These guys made us all cry several times during the day, because of their spontaneity, humour, softness and inegrity. I think that this picture says it all:

Anyway, I think I owe you guys some pictures of the finished look. Here they are.

Picture by Cristina de la Madera.

Picture by Cristina de la Madera.

Image by Cristina de la Madera

I didn’t regret this day of traveling, since Francesca Tolot seemed to be an even more fantastic personality than I could even imagine her to be. She is no less than an icon in the world of make-up and became as significant for beauty, fashion and showbizz as the celebrities she has brought to perfection throughout her already three decennial career. She delighted us with telling the story of this impressive career and giving a demonstration of one of the looks of her recently published book “One Woman 100 Faces”. In this book, she shows -no kiddin’- 100 make-up and hairstyling looks on Mitzi Martin, her favourite model and muse, all this in collaboration with her husband and photographer Alberto Tolot. The foreword of the book is written by no less than Beyoncé Knowles, who is one of her regular clients. She writes for example: “Whether she (Francesca Tolot) is using neon colours, feathers, period make-up or natural make-up, she is the only artist I trust will bring out a beauty in me I didn’t even know existed.”

The masterclass was hosted by Michele Magnani, Senior Artist  MAC PRO Team Italy. His Italian demeanor and accent entertained us all and gave the meeting of make-up pro’s, journalists and bloggers the atmosphere it deserved. He was one of the many people who adressed me this day about my braided updo, much to my delight, of course. A few people at the Francesca Tolot gathering also complimented me with it, but the must unexpected comment was the one of a train conductor at Rotterdam station. He especially stepped into the train from his surveillance on the platform to utter his admirance of my hairdo, resulting in a few giggles and grins from my fellow travelers.

Michele Magnani and me. This picture is taken by Elke Willemen, senior artist Benelux and now working together with my former other half Ines Borgonjon. I’m wearing a long black jacket by Frankie Morello, that I found in an outlet store in Budapest. The leopard print scarf is by Essentiel, an Antwerp brand we can be very proud of.

The backside. I did this braid in the train without a mirror, by the way… It’s a question of knowing the dimensions of your own skull by heart

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Image by Cristina de la Madera

I’m wearing white furry wrist warmers, available on ebay. The powder pink sweater you see in the background is H&M.

This cheeky set of nails match my new Tamaris shoes.

I know this is not a very hip brand, but I love their extremely confortable form and straightforward design. I bought the pink/beige ones first, and went back a week later for the silver version. Addict, moi?

Picture by Cristina de la Madera