THE Sneakers

Chanel, D&G or Gucci include them in their collections. 

Fashionistas make them cool by wearing them for (almost) every occasion. 
Yes, sneakers are running the (fashion) world.

The Adidas Stan Smith and Gazelle, the Classic New Balance or the Nike Air Max are just a few examples of models that have become icons.

Yet, it seems like there is a new member in the family:

Puma Suede Heart... 

the sneakers everyone has been talking about!

After the craziness over Puma Heart first edition (a makeover of original PUMA Basket), the brand decided to launch a new edition: PUMA Suede Heart... in lovely pastel colours! (Yes, you read it right, PASTEL!)

With a bow-like lacing system, the best adjective to describe them is: FIERCE. 

Trust me, everyone will be looking at your feet when wearing them!

Myself, being a sneakerholic, I couldn't resist them when I first saw them.

Indecisive between the aruba-blue and lavander ones, I ended up going for the lavender ones. As they actually look blue and so, are easier to combine with other pieces. 

Honestly, I cannot wait to show you the outfits where these beauties will be the main piece! 

With love, 

Raquel 

Monday's mood

Monday's mood: statement t-shirt!

_________________________________________

Estado de espirito: t-shirts com mensagens!

with love,
com amor,
Raquel

P.S: All the photos are from Zara/Mango websites

Monday's Mood

Monday's mood: bell bottom jeans!

I wore them when I was 10... 
11 years after, I'm trying to convince myself to try on a pair of bell bottom jeans. 
Truth is the more I see them around, the more tempted I feel!
What do you thing? Should I?

_________________________________________

Estado de espirito: calças à boca de sino!
Estão de volta e em força. Confesso que primeiro estranhei mas agora está a entranhar-se!
Ando a tentar convencer-me a experimentar um par.
Quanto mais as vejo mas tentada me sinto.
O que acham? Devo?









with love,
com amor,
Raquel

Monday's Mood

Monday's mood: white walls bedrooms!

I'm at this moment of life where you start making (imaginary) plans of how your dream house would look like. 

And honestly...

I just cannot stop myself from looking for rooms... with white walls!

_________________________________________

Estado de espirito: Quartos com paredes brancas!

Estou naquele momento da vida em que começo a fazer planos (ainda que imaginários!) de como seria a casa dos meus sonhos. 

E, muito sinceramente,

não consigo parar de procurar imagens de quartos... com paredes brancas!

With love,

Com amor,

Raquel

P.S: Please, notice that I do not own any of this pictures. 

Monday's Mood

Monday's mood: Pink winter coats!

After all, who said Winter cannot be about pastel colours?!

_________________________________________

Estado de espirito: Casacos de inverno cor-de-rosa!

Quem disse que no Inverno não se usam cores claras?!

Love,

Raquel

P.S: I do not own any of this pictures. Click on them to see where I found them!

Christmas and I, I and Christmas!

Those who know me know: I am Christmas time lover.

December arrives and my inner child shows up.

The lights, the smells, the Christmas spirit get me smiling from ear to ear.

Maybe it's because of the memories Christmas brings back to me.

Gifts are not the first thing to pop up in my mind.

It's the images of my family around the table at grandmas' places, the fireplaces, the Christmas trees, the food... and the sweets! The board games, the smiles and the wait for midnight. And the feelings...

Is tipical of Christmas to bring all kind of feelings. 

Nostalgia of the "good old times". The longing for those who are not with me anymore, and those who live faraway. The happiness of having so many good memories and stories to tell; the happiness of being with my beloved ones.

Maybes, it's because of what Christmas means to me: Family.

If at the age of 5 the best gift were Nenucos, at 21 the best present is to have my family reunited.

The feeling of having them around me, to be thankful for being able to share yet another moment with them and appreciate them being there. It's the fact of wanting to absorb every single thing: the emotions, the love, the union and the smiles. Those small details that make my heart warmer.
And of course, the magic that makes this moments even more special.

Maybe it's because the heart is more open or because hope grows more.

Maybe it's because of that magic I talked about.

Maybe it's the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's all of these and much more...

After all, there are things that not even 1000 words can be describe.

With love (lots of it!),

Raquel

I am a girl who...

I'm a girl who studies health and being so no other definition of health could be as good as the one I learnt for my exams. If I remember well, on one of those 1001 pages I had to study you could read that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

In other words, to be healthy is much more than eating five fruits and vegetables a day. To be healthy is much more than not being sick.
Saying so, you can only consider yourself someone healthy from the point where there is a balance between all these things. They interact with each other and if one of them does not go as it should, all the others will be affected negatively.

Now... here is where the hard work starts: to keep the balance.

Life is as complicated as beautiful, and I believe everything depends on ourselves. If I'm healthy or not, it only depends on me as if you are healthy (or not) depends on you.

Life is fascinating and you, me or anyone else, we are the result of it. Tell me the truth... Don't you feel extraordinary because you are unique?

What makes me feel good can easily make you feel not so good. I'm lactose intolerant while you probably can drink milk without feeling sick. However, it's not because I have this problem that I will stop drinking it. There are other solutions... like soja milk (which is expensive as hell but I love it so much!)

Another exemple? It is not because I can't climb that hill close to my house while jogging that I will stop doing my morning runs and sit all day on my couch. Something about me is that I always believe in myself no matter what is going on. Proof is... I can already jog half of that hill. 

I'm a healthy woman who is surrounded by positive people, with strong characters, and who side my well being. These people make part of what I like to believe to be a good environment for my health.  The other ones, the less good ones, those I don’t even allow them to enter my life. 

The conclusion that I came to is that being healthy is not as easy as it may seem. 

To go for a healthier lifestyle demands a lot - love, curiosity, wisdom,  determination, dedication, and much more!

After all, being healthy cannot be summarised in a text. Being healthy is a constant “travel”.

With love,

Eduarda

Small changes, big differences

Do you know those resolutions' list we all make with our objectives for the New Year? What happened was something like that.

When I left the teens, to enter the (twent)ties, to have a healthier lifestyle became one of my life resolutions.

So, one day I woke up and thought:

"This is it! Today is the day!"

And it was.

Don't you think it was a quick change. No, no, no. 

It was a slow process. It still is.

After all, radical changes never end well for me.

I took my time but it was worth it!

I started by changing my diet.

I became more aware of the quantities I eat, the quality of my food and the times I eat.

This eventually led to weight loss (that I actually needed!) but also to a healthier skin and hair.

It may seem weird but it even affected my mood!

The next step was working out.

I spent weeks telling myself that I had to do it; I had to move more.

After hours sitting in class, working out would only be beneficial for my body and mind.

To tell you the truth... it became a (good!) addiction; one of those that is worth to invest in.

If you think I stopped here... I did not!

We all know the old proverb "a sound mind in a sound body".

This is why I also changed other aspects of my life that didn't seem that important before.

For example, I try to have a good night's sleep and be well organised. All this to avoid being stressed and in a bad mood. 

I also started tohave a "myself time" every day.

With a nice music playing in the background and a cup of tea, for a few minutes, it's just me, my thoughts and reflections

I believe that we all need and deserve our "selfish" moment. We all need a moment to distance from everything, to think about everything we did and be thankful.

All this blablabla is to remind you that small changes can make big differences. 

After a year, I regret nothing about the choices I did. 

I see the differences, I see the benefits and that make me want to keep going.

To be happy with yourself is to be well with others.

And you? Have you ever reconsidered your lifestyle?

With love,

Raquel

Stop to think and redefine

I have always been the girl with 1000 projects going on. Those who know me, know that I love having always something to do. My problem is... to manage everything.

The truth is when there's a lot to do, it's so easy to miss the point of something. This is exactly what happened with Jardin Secret. There were so many things going on these past months that I had to  stop, think and redefine my priorities. Between school works, passing my exams and university applications, the blog had to be left on stand-by. 

I stopped because everything I do has to be done from heart and soul. (On top of that, I'm a perfectionist!). Long story short: either I give my best and do it well, or I don't do it at all!

Being the determined woman I am, I know that I want more and better for Jardin Secret. Actually, what I want for Jardin Secret is what I want for everything in my life. The best of me! I want this blog to have my true essence... my 100%. After all, if it has to be done, let's do it very well!

I'm back...

Hopefully, I'll stay around this time.

With love,

Raquel

#4 I want...

... a white (long/oversized) coat.

EN:

I have been a fan of minimalist "style" for a while now.
The outfits always look so perfect, so confortable, so stylish and so simple (the "Less is More" rule!)
Admiring it so much makes me want to go in that direction as my personal style.
This being said, my next step towards minimalism is:
finding a white long/oversized white coat.

I have been looking everywhere
but I have not founded THE one yet.

The hunt for the perfect coat continues...
Don't miss the next episode! 

With love,

Raquel

#2 On Friday We Follow...

... Kristina Bazan.

Kristina Bazan may be only 20 but she already has achieved incredible things in her professional life.

The influencer founded her blog "Kayture", back in 2011, together with James Chardon. 
And it is now the most influencial blog in Switzerland and one of the most famous worldwide. She has more than 2M of followers on Twitter, 1.8M on Instagram.

From blogging and modelling to being a creative director (and more recently a singer), Kristina can do A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

Her last big achievement?

To be the latest L'Oréal official ambassador! 

Can you imagine how amazing this is?! 
I mean, she is now in this small group of big names like Karlie Kloss, Eva Longoria or Doutzen Kroes!

After this... Don't you think Kristina is the person to follow... right now?! I think so too! 

You can follow her blog here .
 From there you can get to her Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

With love,
Raquel

P.s:Notice this aren't my pictures.

Bargain X Stella McCartney X Raquel

Stella McCartney

You surely have heard this name before, haven’t you?

And you probably know her for collaborating with brands like H&M, Bendon or LeSportsac.

And now, this is where, Adidas, Stella, a bargain (and me!) come in.

The designer started working with Adidas back in 2004. 

Ten years after, Adidas and Stella launched “SportStella” a very young and colourful collection. Collection that I fell for but didn’t get my hands on… till yesterday!

One of the campaign's photo

While waiting for a friend, I decided to take a walk around shops to watch for some nice white trainers. That was when I spotted a massive bargain, probably the best one of the year so far.

The StellaSport Irana trainers for 19.99€ !

(They used to cost more than 70€!)

(C'mon, if this isn't a bargain, I don't know what it it!)

Well, no need to say that they came home with me. 

And this is it, a happy ending for me, my wardrobe and my wallet!

And here you have it, my story about a bargain, Stella McCartney and I.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! (See what I did here? ;)

With love,

Raquel

P.S.: I already have some nice outfits featuring these trainers. 
I can’t wait to share with you.

Grandma is 95!

95 years of inspiration, influence, uniqueness AND no wrinkles nor white hair!

 It doesn't look like but Vogue Paris is 95!

To celebrate this important date, Emmanuelle Alt and her team decided to do something special.

In October's issue we don't have 1 but 4 different covers staring 

Christy Turlington photographed by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

Kate Moss by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot

Gisele Bündchen by Mario Testino

and Kendall Jenner by David Sims

.

Besides the 4 covers, this month’s issue includes Vogue Paris' image archive which is enriched with images of people like YSL, or Marisa Bereson.

Furthermore, to celebrate its 95th anniversary, the magazine published "Vogue Covers 1920-2015", a book that assemble 140 covers of Vogue Paris through its 95 years. Covers made by talented people like David Bailey, Irving Penn, William Klein or Any Warhol. 

I already have my magazine and hopefully will get my hands on the book too.

And you, have you celebrated Grandma Vogue's birthday by getting yours?

With love,

Raquel

#3 I want...

... a new camera.

The first (and only!) camera I have bought myself so far is a Canon PowerSHot SX5000 IS. 

Being a digital compact camera it has a little bit of everything.

I do love it for being so little, light and for doing its work very well.  

But...

I feel I'm ready to go further, to try something new. Something bigger and better.

Something like a Olympus PEN or a Canon EOS or a Nikon.
(AHHHHH! DECISIONS!
\

Anyway, seems to me it's time to start saving a "few" bucks to invest in something new.

With love,

Raquel

#1 On Friday We Follow...

... Danielle Peazer!

Danielle is a 27-year-old blogger (who happens to be a model and dancer as well!) from the UK.

She entered the blogosphere back in 2013 when she decided to create "Idle Lane". 

From her a YouTube channel, to attending some of the coolest events in the world (aka Fashion Weeks), and doing collaborations with brands like Topshop, BooHoo and Claire's, this girl has been doing an amazing job so far!

With a special sense of style, great writing skills (personally, I can't remember a single post that let me feel bored), and a massive passion for everything she does, Danielle has everything one needs to be a big name on bloggers' world.

Why do I follow Danielle?

1. Her sense of style. 

2. When you follow her, you can tell she does her best to keep us updated on what she's been doing, on what the new trends are, etc, etc, etc.

3. She motivates people around her. Seeing her work so hard, makes me work hard on Jardin Secret.

You can follow Ms. Peazer blog here, Instagram here, Twitter here and Youtube channel here.

With love,

Raquel

p.s: Notice that all the pictures come from Idle Lane!

#2 I want...

... go back to London!

EN:

It's been 2 years since I first traveled to London. 

It was my parents' gift for my 18th birthday as it was one of my dream trips.

London is one of those cities that makes me dream. 

Makes me believe that dreams can come true while you're there!

 I don't mind the weather, the rush hour times or getting on the tube. All I want is to go back any time soon.

With love,

Raquel

#1 I want...

... the 13-inch MacBook Air!

A few months ago, I "decided" (please, notice the sarcasm!) to break my laptop. Since then, I've been drooling over Apple's MacBooks.

Update 2.0

I'm very happy to announce the latest update on Jardin Secret!

From now on JS will have not 1, not 2 nor 3 but 4 new sections!

Time to let you know what they are.

1. "I want..."

In this section, I'll be sharing with you the items on my (very long!) wish list.

From fashion and beauty to lifestyle and high tech.

2. "On Friday we follow..."

This one is a weekly section because... every Friday, I'll "introduce" you to a cool kid aka People I follow that inspire me in different ways.

3. "This is how I dress"

I have done it before but!, what's better than doing it a few times? Doing it often! 

In "This is how I dress", I'll show you some of my outfits.

Favourite ones (or not!), as long as I feel like sharing it with you... I will do so! 

4. "Food for thought"

From time to time, I'll tell you about what I've been reading, watching and listening to because this blog isn't only about clothing and makeup.

Personally, I can't wait to start this new chapter on Jardin Secret!

I hope you are excited as I am!

With love,

Raquel

Social Media Detox

For this you will need:

1 cup of willpower 

I know, this isn't a normal detox recipe... because this isn't a normal detox plan either.

After years of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, I felt like I needed a break from social networks.

On a Saturday night, after telling my closest friends about my decision, I deactivated my accounts, deleted all the apps and that was it.

21 days without social networks!

I needed time to take some important decisions and reorganise my life.

I needed to stop feeling afraid of missing out little stories about everything and everyone.

I wanted new (and good!) habits/ routines for myself.

In those 3 weeks of freedom, I read more, I slept more. I even wrote posts in advance and planed new things for Jardin Secret!

I looked at certain things in a way I never did before. I enjoyed moments in a different way.

In 21 days, I got used to not care about everyone else was doing. I got used to profit of my time to do real things, in the real world.

I still use my accounts (as Jardin Secret depends on these too!).
I still check my Facebook and Instagram during the day... But less frequently.

Jardin Secret suffered with my decision but this detox was one of the best decision I've ever made.

One of these days, I might go on "holidays" again but for now time to enjoy my coming back!

With love,
Raquel

His Shirt

I recently noticed I do have a thing for men's clothes, specially shirts. 

I have a few on my closet and I can't help but love them!

My favourite? The timeless and essential white shirt. 

It screams freshness, simplicity and versatility.

Zara

When worn with a statement piece, like a necklace or a nice pair of shoes, we feel ready for anything and everything!

For work, for a shopping day with the girls or just to go for groceries! 

Now, you know what you have to do girls! 

Take over your boy(-)friend/dad/brother's closet and rock his white shirt on the streets!

Ready? GO!

Love,

Raquel