Christmas Home Tour & I love Winter #Holidaze

One of my absolute favorite things about Christmas, and the winter season in general, is spending cozy, relaxing time at home. I still love to go outdoors in the winter too, dressed in weather appropriate clothes, but there's something so comfortable about being indoors when it's freezing cold, snowy, or nasty weather outside.

I love decorating my home for Christmas, so I thought I'd show you what I've done in my apartment to get ready for the holidays. Enjoy the video!

I also wanted to share some picture of a beautiful walk I went on this weekend with my boyfriend. We've had a bit of snow already, but recently we had some beautiful hoar frost, which has turned all the trees into delicate, spindly white icicles. It's a unique weather setting that transforms the surroudings into a beautiful winter wonderland. See for yourself!

We drove to a lake where there's a nice walking trail, and as I'm driving I look out the window and see THIS!! I just had to stop the car on the side of the road and snap a picture.

We got to the lake and had a chilly walk around. I forgot my gloves! I hate having cold hands, but when I got back to my car I found a spare pair of gloves in the...wait for it...glove compartment!! Wow really? Who woulda thunk it?

The lake is so beautiful when it's frozen. I think still a tad too early to try ice skating on it quite yet.

By the way, if you're always cold outside in the winter - here's a piece of basic advice. Buy a high quality outdoor jacket, preferably one made for skiing or snowboarding. They are made for proper winter climate, will keep you warm, dry, and most importantly will completely block out wind and cold air. I like to wear my wool coats more in the city, of for going out for an evening somewhere, but when I'm out and about in nature, I always wear this Roxy snowboarding jacket. Matched with a hat and gloves, and the hood up, I can be outside for hours in this thing and be perfectly cozy and warm. Wool coats always let in a breeze or draft somewhere, and sometimes they're not even made of 100% wool and thus aren't even that warm.

Outdoor jackets can be quite stylish nowadays too, with most brands catering to women with cute, more tailored styles. Honestly, this is probably my most worn jacket in the winter, since I actually love this time of year and like spending time outdoors. I love the bright turquoise color too and the faux fur trim is cute.

Do you like winter? Do you spend time outdoors as well, or do you prefer to stay inside when it's cold?

My New Studio + Make Up Room

You may know I moved into a brand new Penthouse last month, and I'm so excited to finally have a proper Studio and makeup room for myself! It has solved many of the bad lighting issues I had in my old apartment, and there's plenty of room to store all my inventory, and to set up professional lighting.

Here's an overview of what things look like so far. I plan to add some more wall decor in the coming months, but one white wall is always essential to leave blank for photography purposes - a perfect, neutral background for make-up close-ups, outfits, etc.

I will do another detailed post soon-ish on my lighting and camera equipment, because that's a whole other story!

Here's a detailed video, which also included an updated Makeup Collection part. You can view it also on Youtube here.

Above is the vanity where I film all my makeup tutorials. This is the discontinued IKEA Malm vanity in the large size. IKEA now carries a smaller version of this table (also called Malm) in their range which is more suitable for smaller collections or smaller rooms. The hanging curtains are from IKEA and are actually 3 partitions, which slide on my built-in curtain rods. They were a bit tricky to align, because when they are slid together they make one contiguous picture of purple orchids.

Then I also have the IKEA Alex drawer unit which is absolutely perfect for makeup storage. I have two at the moment, one which has faded in color over time (which I didn't even realize until I stood the two units next to each other. I store some of my chunky jewellery on there, magazines, and some decoration.

This is the collectible Ermine from the MAC Fafi collection. Isn't she adorable?

Here's a peek into some of the drawers of my Alex...

I needed more storage so I invested in the IKEA Expedit unit, and added some drawers which can be bought separately. I've left the bottom row empty for now and decorated with some shoes, but I can always add more drawers in the future there too! You can also see my area rug peaking out there, which is also from IKEA.

I have some fake flowers in a beautifully handmade porcelain vase, which I inherited from my grandmother...

And some real flowers - these pink orchids!

And these decorative reeds add something interesting to an empty corner. I also added some candles and a pretty lantern for a personal touch.

So, that's what I've got so far in my studio. I'm absolutely loving filming here, the lighting is so much better with both the natural daylight from the huge windows, which has a view onto the Swiss Alps no less, and the studio lamps on rainy days. I've already got some ideas for the one wall on the left, where I plan to make a DIY jewelry organizer to hang up in a large frame, but I need some time do invest in all those DIY projects first. Right now my next issue is the patio, where I want to get a beautiful garden going - though the horrible weather has not been on my side!

What does your makeup area look like? Do you get ready in the bathroom, or do you have a dedicated space?