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My little cats! 

A new hot spot in the 10th arrondissement again, it is definitely a nice arrondissement in Paris. I'm enjoying myself lately, I'm discovering lots of adorable places. Today it's HAÏ KAÏ104 quai de Jemmapes, +33 9 81 99 98 88, this hot spot really is a gem. I love the frontage that doesn't look like anything, or should I say that looks like an abandoned squat, and it is sublime inside, so white, perfect, as if all the light of the neighborhood was stock up inside it. A diamond wrapped in some newspaper. The deco is impeccable, so is what you have on your plate. And the icing on the cake, this place is from the association of three women, aaah girl power... Amélie Darvas in the kitchen, Gaby Benicio for the wine selection (among other things) and Elsa Kikoïne for the setting.

I think you're starting to get my taste deco-related, and it is all right, the white and natural wooden furnitures, the unmatching linen seats, every object has the right location. Plants are also all over the place but on a sublime and subtle way. It is clear and neat. I make some research about the HAÏ KAÏ name and find out that it is the other name for haïku, these very short Japanese poems, it makes so much sense really. 

I've passed it a million times before actually going in and it is the other day, for one of my previous articlesthe comptoir videothat I came in and I admit feeling stupid not to have entered it before. This place had the same effect on me as light therapy, I didn't want to leave it was beautiful and - when the plates came in (very quickly btw) - so GOOD.

(WANTED ALERT, this checks yellow chair is simply perfect). So I was with Tania the awesome film maker, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say we loved it. Just like the Blue Valentine, plates are these small gourmet and poetic ecosystems, yet with no Japenese cook but the talented Amélie Darvas (Ex Bristol, The Borken Arm among other things). And we want more. There is a permanent menu and another one that changes everyday depending on the Chef's desire and the daily delivery, I love this freedom, and these obligations which develop a bigger creativity I'm sure! Rush there! Everything is of course very fresh and HAÏ KAÏ hires small producers worried to feed us with some organic and responsible food. What more do you want ?

On the bill side I find it very honest, for lunch count on starter + main course or main course + desert at 17 € or 22 € for the whole menu: starter + main course + desert. The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday, for lunch and dinner... Enjoy !

My chestnuts!

I've had the internet in that new flat of mine since yesterday, and hot water since the day before that, I can now say that I'm back in 2014. Oh god how challenging it is! I didn't remember it to be so hard to lose your every bearings, to look for a new place to live, to fight to get it, to finally pack all your life, to make some space, to contemplate your future life in a new location, and to keep running your small business. My brain actually tried to sabotage itself on several occasions, but it tends to do it when I'm doing a 100 things at a time... Between forgetting the last workshop's materials in a cab, taking the plane without an ID or losing my phone at IKEA, and all of that in 3 days in a row (one day I'll tell you about one of my biggest sabotage...). But the good news is that it always gets back to normal, life goes on and there even is curtains to my windows for a couple hours...

Let me tell you... I visited this apartment 10 days ago, I got the answer on wednesday while in the train where I could only hear every other words. I slept away during my vide-dressing to sign on my new lease and last sunday was moving out on the morning and hosting the Petit Bateau workshop on the afternoon. I'm glad that the moving in is taking shape and that our new home is starting to be livable even though we still miss crucial stuff like a couch, a fridge or even a kitchen... But it will come along, I'm not worried... I'm going to be able to resume any normal activities around here!

And the real star on these pictures is Frida! This cat is crazy, I love my Frida, I'm not sure all the moving did her good, even if she is totally spoiled by us... She spends her day chewing some tape from the boxes, I don't know if she attempts to tell me I'm not unpacking fast enough or if she just likes the awful sound it makes when she does it or the chemical taste it has... I - the professional compulsive pen-chewer- can certainly not judge her but please Fridou, if you ever read this, stop chewing tape during the night, thank you.

Moving on from the cat-related digression, today I'm wearing one of my favorite look of the moment, & Other stories pink pants from an old collection but another beautiful pink one is available hereSonia Rykiel derbies shopped on Sarenza, a Lacoste Live shirt, a comptoir des cotonniers tuxedo jacket and a vintage man hat or a perfect Asos one here.

My little cats! 

I wanted to write to you earlier but I had some server troubles! You are more and more numerous to come here every day and it makes the website crash! Well, that should all be fixed by the end of April but I'll talk about that later! Today there is another collaboration, yes it is the season, and for this one I'm trying to make things differently, let me explain... Cacharel is re-editing its famous " Anais Anais " and for the occasion they asked me for a " beautiful " photo shoot in the " GIRLS TRIBU " spirit. But to make such a shoot you need to prep, you cannot do it on the run between the unpacking of two moving boxes... So since I know you're fond of backstage and making-of I'd like to show you how the preparation of a shoot concretely works.

For this first post I'd like to explain the mechanism that follows the reception of a briefing. First of all I make some research about the history of the brand and the product in question. Here it's Anais Anaisthe brand's legendary perfume of which the campaign was shot by Sarah Moon in 1977. A perfumery masterpiece in short. Cacharel decided to bring a fresh wind with a new "first delight" juice and based its campaign on a generation of hyper creative young women bearing the "girl power" standard. On Valentine's Day Cacharel organized a photograph exposition at the Palais de Tokyo gathering a handful of young women set in their daily life simplicity with an unsettling poetry. Through incredibly romantic photographs you can feel the boredom of the young lady who spend her every summer at her grandparents' country house and the eagerness of becoming an adult while keeping one foot into childhood... Oh the famous woman-child !

So the new Anais Anais campaign was shot by the beautiful Olivia Bee, 20 years old, little hyperactive genius. And it's in this context that the briefing came! Imagine a shoot for make my lemonade inspired with this ultra creative spirit, find a photographer (I have my idea, keep your fingers crossed for her to accept!), make the stylization, find a place, find accessorizes (I have a feeling about colored smoke...) and regarding the gathering of my " tribu " (= tribe) I think that shouldn't be too difficult, let's just hope they'll be on board... I always make a Pinterest board to start, I have dozen of secret boards... Then I make a little montage on Photoshop with the pictures that stick to the theme to most, I make a list of key words and of things that should be featured during the settings, and I transfer these boards to the photographer. Then, will be joining this file the choice of clothes, possible places, accessorizes, people likely to pose etc... I'll leave you with these first two boards and fix our next rendez-vous in May to talk about the advance of the projec

In the meantime, I invite you to be creative, be inspiring and inspired, have fun, put on a performance and publish your pictures of the #girlstribu theme mentioning @anaisanaisofficial @makemylemonade with the #anaisanais and #girlstribusnapchat hashtags. Every months you'll discover the theme to re-interpret on the anaisanaistribu snapchat account. The most beautiful pics will receive the ANAIS ANAIS perfume (the Originale and the premier délice) and flowers crown, lucky you...

Good morning my little cats! 

When I was offer a collaboration with Comptoir des cotonniersthe brief was to make a video where I'd be seen riding my bike in Paris with the new Comptoir parka... Yeah a bit like a new Martine opus, after " Lisa gets her hair cut by Fred ", the new " Lisa rides her bike in Paris " so instead of wandering about parisian clichés, I wanted to show you my " typical day " or should I say the way I wish my days were: sweet, simple and light... With a special guest star: the grey Parka, the navy parka and the printed Parka (my favorite), the part were I try the three different parkas is quite realistic because lately I've been suffering from a "it takes me a hundred years to leave my place " illness. The symptoms are: switch a light, take an invite, brush my teeth, correct my eyeliner, change mtg jacket because I'm not sure... I'm treating myself because the complications of such disease can be the "I'm always late" syndrome... To ban. Somebody told my some day that punctuality is a quality and not a flaw.

The Alice's White Rabbit digression is now closed. You're about to discover a bit of Charlotte, my wonderful assistant, my roc, my second brain, the one who gets things done when I'm procrastinating sometimes... Charlotte, you'll learn to know here a little bit more because she'll soon present the "making of" section and tell you all about what's happening behind my different activities...

Okay, all of this is enhanced, normally my day is totally cadenced by much more interaction with people, business meetings, friends showing up in my living room to tell us some joke, to help us cut stuff, to work " in their head ", by the mailman, the delivery guy, the neighbors asking how the packing is going and so on... And of couse with on top of that the 48 phone calls, the 230 F word, the 12 daily hug with Frida (minimum) and the 63 " We need an office! ".

But don't you have an office at your place? you might ask. I do, but for now it is full of boxes, things to sort, pieces of paper, full suitcases and laundry to iron... Not too videogenic but much more real though... And I noticed that Charlotte and I are looking for the light, a bit like green plants, and the living room definitely is the brighter room, or maybe we're just looking for another room to vandalize... Anyway, here is my dream day: morning, Pinterest, emails and todo list for the day, Charlotte arrives, I give her her daily instructions, we work together, I run to a lunch, or to a business meeting, or sometimes the two of them at the same time, I run doing some shopping for the current works, I work in my head on my bike, I come home, we work some more, we make jokes, we listen to silly music and when I feel the motivation (and it doesn't happen everyday) I go to the gym! After all that, it's none of your business!

Lots of kisses! I leaving you with this parka look, I was already convinced by Mademoiselle Plume that I wore underneath my coat in the winter... The new Parka really is convenient, I packed it in a small pouch at the bottom of my handbag, always ready...

And here is the last post of this special Grand Budapest Hotel week, I hope you enjoyed it... I finish with my biggest joy, the DIY... At first I wanted to make a short theme week with only a beautiful shoot with Charlotte E.a interview with the Nose team and that's it. But when I saw the movie I thought it was impossible to resist the call of re-appropriation, it was too beautiful and I too wanted to come home with a pink box and its baby blue ribbon from Mendl's bakery, I wanted one of my own, and these embroidered handkerchiefs... So one morning in the shower, this is where the inspiration shows up when I'm stuck, I told myself it was silly not to use this Grand Budapest Hotel imagery a little more! So I wanted to go over the illustration of the hotel and to twist it a little... With "the grand AMOUR hotel", and I sure the l'hôtel Amour won't mind this little pun... To your needles!

Difficulty: Easy Peasy

Time: forever or two season of Games of Thrones but it worths it, doesn't it ?

Cost: less than 10 € (sweater not included)

To make this DIY, you will need:

• a sweater
• an iron on transfer paper sheet for printer
• embroidery thread
• baize
• glue
• a needle
• embroidery hoop
• scissors

Start with downloading the Grand Amour Hotel vector illustration HERE and print it on transfer paper without modifying it with axial symmetry. Turn your sweater inside out.

Iron the transfer paper sheet on the underside of your sweater for a few minutes then gently peel off the sheet to admire your nice and hot transfer: you will use it as a guide to embroider the front side of your sweater.

Turn your sweater over and take your embroidery hoop to start your needle work.

Sew on the wrong side in order for the needle to come out on the right side, then you will sew back in the same hole.

Don't pull your thread entirely, there must be a loop as in the above picture, then on the wrong side sew a few millimeters away by making the needle coming out inside the loop. Well done you just made a chain stitch!

Repeat the operation, sewing back in the same hole, and so on... Do it along EVERY black lines, you'll see I didn't embroider everything that was on the illustration. Summon your patience, you can ask your grandmother if she's fit or one of your unemployed buddy for help.

The chain stitch is one of the easiest, if by any chance I wasn't clear enough you can go on this video.

You can also print the illustration another time on a regular paper sheet (if it's recycled it's even better!) in order to cut the pieces of baize (here lettering, hearts and windows).

Happy monday my little cats! 

I am glad to give you this special Grand Budapest Hotel shooting today! Thanks to Nose we had the good luck to be able to shoot at the Raphael hotel, for the fans you might recognize the setting of the short-movie hotel Chevalier by Wes Anderson... Btw, I re-watched this short-movie for the purpose of the post and Justine B looks like Nathalie Portman so much that it is unsettling! 

I am really happy with the result, and to have been able to make this shooting with my friends, I rarely have fun like I did that time making the stylization for the serie, but it wasn't easy. Because the shooting was organized in a very very short time and finding costumes mauve and purple with such a short notice was almost mission impossible, we had to improvise a little... On top of it I was delighted to make this shoot with Charlotte Evrardwhom I love working with (Make my Party among other things!!) and who helps me a huge deal with my happy friday. Thank you Charlotte for everything! I need to tell you, this shoot with Justine B, even though we look like we sulk big time, we are real actor studio, if you knew how horrible we were laughing all the time... Charlotte, who had just seen the movie the day before the shoot, was deeply into it and was coaching us like crazy with incredible sentences of her own so we'd get into the shoes of Wes Anderson's characters... 

We giving you today a few scenes of the movie... I hope you'll enjoy it, be assured that new collaborations, faces and writers will soon be around here... 

A big kiss!

We're wearing Cédric Charlier for La Redoute pants and coat, an Asos shirt, lobby boy hats Larose Paris. Justine's wearing a Laurent Desgrange bow tie, and I'm wearing a Balzac Paris one with a Macon and Lesquoy brooch. 

We are wearing an crazy Asos mauve suite and an Asos light shirt, Larose Paris hats. Justine is wearing conversesand Macon and Lesquoy brooches. I'm wearing What For shoes and a bow tie Laurent Desgrange.

We are wearing Mina Crew dresses, all unique made out of vintage linen sheets! 

 Justine is wearing an Asos Premium dress, a River Island necklace and an Asos turban, and a vintage chapka, and I'm wearing an Asos dress with the famous "Air de Panache" by Nose!

Justine is wearing pants EDC pour ESPRIT and a top  Esprit and I'm wearing a Morgan jacket and an Esprit skirt. 

Photographer : Charlotte Evrard - Stylization : Lisa Gachet - lobby boys : Justine Beaussart & Lisa Gachet. Thank you to L'Hotel Raphaël, Stéphanie, Nose, Nicolas and Mark, Justine and my Charlottes team. 

Happy Saturday my birdies, 

I'm taking my time for this week, I find the time to write to you seated on a pile of moving boxes and yet I'm good, the desire to write to you is stronger! Especially as I have quite a lot in stock for you! Today I'm giving you a crazy recipe! Still for our theme week, I reinterpreted a major pastry of the movie. Indeed, Zero, the Lobby boy from the Grand Budapest Hotel falls deeply in love with Agatha, the pretty pastry chef from Mendl's, who excels in the making of the house special "La courtisane au chocolat". Okay, I admit I don't really like chocolate, it really isn't my favorite, yes yes it is possible, but I make it up with lots of other things don't worry... So here is my version of La courtisane au chocolat blanc!

For the base of your courtisane, here is a classic muffin recipe: (it makes approximatively 9 muffins, you'll have leftovers for breakfast...)

• 3 eggs, 
• 100 g butter
• 180 g flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 90 g sugar
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 1 bag of yeast
• 1 cap of rose syrup.

Start with heating your oven at 200°C. Sieve the flour and the yeast altogether, put aside. Beat the eggs and add the sugar, the mix will whiten and when it does, add the milk, the salt and the rose syrup, then stir together well. Little by little add the powered mix, flour and yeast. To finish add the melted butter and stir together well until you get a smooth dough. Pour it to the 2/3 of your molds and bake for 10 minutes. Check the cooking with the tip of a knife.

 For the choux pastry:

• 150 g flour
• 75 g butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 L water
• 1 pinch of salt

Start with heating your oven at 190°C. In a saucepan, pour the water, the salt and butter and heat it up at medium heat. As soon as the liquid starts boiling and the butter is melted, take the mix off of the heat and add the flour in one time. Energetically stir together with a wooden spoon until the dough is perfectly smooth, it must peel away from the pan, leave it to cool. Add eggs one by one, before adding the next one wait for it to be fully incorporated. Control the dough: if it's shiny and slowly peeling away from the spoon, it's ready to be cooked; if it's thick, add an egg. Drop little balls of dough on your trays covered with baking paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Icing and stuffing!

• 20 cl creme fleurette 
• a tab of white chocolate, special cooking
• 170 g powdered sugar and one egg white
• red, green and blue food coloring
• a few macadamia nuts or almonds 

Once your muffins and choux buns are cooled down, it's time to assemble your courtesan... Start with melting the white chocolate in a bain-marie, when it's done coat your choux buns on a grill and let them harden for 20 minutes... Keep some melted chocolate for later, you can add it a few drops of creme fleurette, put aside. In the meantime, whip the very cold creme fleurette into a Chantilly and when it starts taking, add a little powdered sugar. Take your choux buns and pierce a small hole in their base, and with a pastry bag filled with Chantilly, fill in the choux buns... Keep some Chantilly and add a bit of blue coloring, this cream will be the binder between the different elements of the courtisane. In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and the egg white, the mix must be very opaque, and coat the top of the muffins. Separate what's left of the mix into two and add a few drops of green coloring in one part of the royal icing and a few drops of red coloring in the other part... Now coat the top of your choux buns in green and red. Let it dry for a few minutes in the refrigerator. With a syringe with no needle filled with the rest of the liquid white chocolate, you can draw some arabesque on the top of you choux buns and muffins before assembling the courtisane with the rest of the blue Chantilly! A small macadamia nut on top and enjoy!

And since you're all asking for it wildly, here is the template to make this adorable box! The secret is to print it in red on a pink paper!

MENDL'S visual and the box templateI love you!

Today I'd like to talk to you about a location, a perfume, a beautiful story... A few weeks ago I was contacted by Nicolas Cloutier, founder of Nosewho offered me something really crazy! I was telling you in my previous article about the very smart promotion of the Wes Anderson movie, the Grand Budapest Hotel... and how the movie kept living outside the theater, well I'm about to tell you about a great example! 

In the movie, Gustave H., concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, very well-groomed and absolutely insane, wears the " Air de panache " perfume, he has a collection of bottles and when his Lobby boy gets him to escape from jail the first thing he asks him during their run is whether he brought his perfume... 

So the Fox decided to have this perfume made... A perfume you cannot buy but a perfume you can smell, in the lobby of the greatest hotels and at Nose20 rue Bachaumont 75002 Paris, the fabulous Parisian boutique who created this juice. 

Nose is a parisian concept store and a e-shop exclusively dedicated to perfume, where cohabit more than 50 brands of perfume from the most specialized creators, very beautiful cosmetic brands and a selection of home perfumes. All these beautiful things revolve around the Nose corner stone: their concept of each and every one establishing one's own perfume diagnosis. 

So what is a perfume diagnosis? Nothing serious doctor, just an awesome and definitely revolutionary concept. When you arrive rue Bachaumont, you're given an Ipad on which there is the sesame questionnaire. Through a list of questions, like a much more scientific Cosmo quiz, the Nose diagnosis establishes your profile and offers you new juices to test to find what's suits you. It is an amazing concept for indecisive people and every single person on the cosmetic planet is trying to crack their secret... This app is in constant development, Nicolas savors his success: after the diagnosis, seven customers out of ten buy one of the recommended choice... 

Today I had the good luck to meet two enthusiasts: Nicolas Cloutiers, one of the founder of Nose, and Mark Buxton, the nose of Nose (oh yeah!). They tell us the fabulous Nose adventure with Fox, Wes Anderson and Gustave H.

• Nicolas: in a few words, tell us where you come from and why perfume, and why Nose?

I'm from Quebec and I've lived in Paris for 10 years. I'm an olfactory enthusiast, I was unsatisfied with the perfumes offered by large retailers that lack originality. Over the years I discovered exceptional perfumes but I had troubles understanding them, too many offers and not always very quality... I knew a few people in the industry and the Nose team was born. It is a human-sized project with one recipe: our passion and our complementary knowledge. No financing from big companies and no big money objective. We freed ourselves from this industry's constraints to grow at our own pace with the objective of making Nose an institution.

•  Mark: in a few words, tell us about this job ? What was your training to become a Nose ?

  I joined a German company (H&R) 27 years ago, I trained at their internal school for 3 years, studying raw materials,first compositions, bases etc...Then was sent to Paris after 3 years, as a junior perfumer, where I started working on the 1st briefs.

• What is your reaction when Fox calls you to realize this crazy project with Wes Anderson?

Even though we had several collaboration requests, we declined all of them. We were indeed too young and didn't have enough perspective to make collaborations. Besides, collaboration doesn't mean anything anymore today, every one makes co-signed candles for any occasion. When Fox approached us we had just blown our 18th candle (months)! We were glad but also embarrassed... We are a really small team (3 people full time) to handle the website, the store and the international development. Suffice it to say that such a project can quickly become a bad adventure if there is no team... With 6 weeks to deliver the perfume (maturation of the juice included) it was clearly impossible. A bit like the history of Nose. Everybody told us not to do it. Since we like challenges, we agreed. Voilà!

•   Tell us more about this crazy project "Air de panache", first collaboration for Nose.

We got an email from 20th Century Fox the day after new year! They asked us to make a real perfume from the fictional one. A quick briefing (information under embargo) but without any constraint on our creativity. Several grandes maisons had been asked, every project had been refused. Pressure! Mark was in a trip to Istanbul. I called him and told him: "Mark, we have less than a week to make our proposal! We nailed it on our first attempt without having anything to modify, him at the juice, me at the artistic direction. Our proposal was accepted by 20th Century Fox France, followed by 20th Century Fox USA, then by Wes Anderson. We then had 6 weeks to produce the perfume !

•  How do you create a perfume for a movie you haven't seen?

Nicolas: We watched short parts of the movie. Enough to understand the universe of Mr Gustave H. Just like Nose, Wes Anderson was a meticulous person, no details escape him. SO we explored and dissected every element. A transformation as the minutes went at the pace of the plot of the movie. The result: a "classical" cologne which transforms itself (olfactory pyramid) and becomes vert animal and woody. Just like the character!

 Mark: By watching the trailer and brainstorming with Nico, we came up with a cologne, classic but modern at the same time,rich lots of natural products,sensual and animal at the same time. All you need is a pen, a white peace of paper and a good imagination, that's how it all started!

•  Nicolas, in that order, what is your first olfactory memory and the smell you hate more than anything else?

The perfumed coats from the visit to my grandmother's bed where they were put at Christmas and in which I went to sleep, exhausted from the fatigue and emotions. The perfumes of all the people I loved gathered at the same time... My first perfume ? Drakkar Noir from Guy Laroche. My dater's perfume. I had and still have a lot of admiration for him. I wanted to be like him. His values and his smells. And the one I hate the most... The mandatory DutyFree passings before flying. I hold my breath every time !

•   Mark, in that order, what is you first olfactory memory, the smell that reassures you, the smell that makes you want to do the job you do and the perfume you would have loved creating?

  I broke my mothers bottle of Chanel No.5 in the bathroom, at the age of 5 years, I never forgot the smell! My grandmothers kitchen in Germany, a mixture of black bread, fresh grinded coffee and the smoke from the old oven,(still stocked with wood). The smell of my British grandmothers kitchen, cheap floor cleaner, actually whole England smells like this... :) One of my all time favourite smells is Vetiver. And outside of the perfumery world, it is roasted chicken and fresh backed bread! Everything inspires me, for my job, everything is just a matter of vision. Besides a lot of my own creations, my all time favorites are Feminite du Bois and Nahema.

• Nicolas, you have an amazing style, can you give us one or two shopping address ?

I can even give you 3:

-Present London140 Shoreditch High St, London
-Sfäär Tallinn concept storeMere pst. 6E, Tallinn, Estonia
-Shopping center2 Rue de Marseille, 75010, Paris

•  #10 Mark, one good address to enjoy your senses ? Restaurant, hotel, bar, one or many...

 - Golf de Naple, the best Pizza au feu du bois in Paris,
- Patrick Pignolport Auteuil, the best resto in Paris, for nouvelle cuisine and my favorite Brasserie is Ille St. Lois
- I like all the bars in the big hotels,Raphael, Royal Monceau etc.

Other bars and night clubs , I don't know I'm too old But the all time best kitchen in Paris, is 12 Rue du Bouquet and Roiville!!! That's where I cook....

•  bonus... What is your next absolutely awesome project both of you?

 This is still secret, but I totally agree with Nico, for un little weekend in the country side, "Roiville"!

Photographs: Charlotte Evrard 

Illustrations: Damien Florebert Cuypers for Nose 

And cherry on the icing for the non-parisian of you who couldn't come to smell the precious in Paris, Nicolas and Mark offer to make you win 2 perfumes! To win one nothing more simple: register on the Nose website here and leave me a comment with your first olfactory memory. I'll draw the winner on monday evening!

My little cats I'm back! 

This trip was SO crazy! So I'm starting my week on a tuesday, I hope you won't mind! And I'm launching a theme week devoted to the seventh art! With the Grand Budapest Hotel movie! For the ones who are following me a little I was lucky to be able to attend the preview of the movie a few weeks ago with Mr Wes Anderson himself in the room, I was like a child. His movies are definitely unclassifiable, to me he has a touch, a genius something that achieves to create a true universe every time, everything is right and thought through in every details... They aren't fantastic movies like Tim Burton's but really just fanciful and unique. And I love that his movies don't just live inside dark rooms but keep existing through awesome collaborations, a magical website "the Republic of Zubrowka" in which you have to lose yourself, and so on... Okay I know it's called promotion but when it's as good and thought as it is, I also find it completely amazing. Thank you for my eyes and my little brain... I declare this special week open!

Find lots of pictures on my pinterest ! Big hugs and kisses!

My little chestnuts! 

Or should I say my little koala bears... For the ones who aren't following me on Instagram I've been in Australia lately... But I come back to it later... First of all thank you for your remarkable comments on my previous article, you are awesome and I'm really glad to " have " you... thank you! Today it's DIY, yes I wanted to offer you an " easy " one after the milk bags DIY from last week that I don't find that hard but I admit, takes a long time to make. 

This DIY is a sort of XL "flower knot", I made it for my book Make My Party (in the miniature version) but I offered it to the last Tara Jarmon workshop delightful participants, I thought that the brooch to wear in a scarf like a flower was good option to jewelry. Ever since my hair are short I've been trying to put all into feminine attributes: lipstick, heels, earrings (not all at the same time though) otherwise I can quickly look like a little boy or Justin Bieber on his bad hair days... And since the revival of earrings in my life I had a small infection related mishap and I find myself wobbly with an out-of-order ear (sorry I'm just telling you about my life). So wanting to find the time to go to an ear piercer, the headband with a large brooch is my salvation and a new way to have fun dressing up like a girl... There is no problem: only solutions.

Cost: 10€ max, don't hesitate to play with the width of the ribbons. 

Time: 30 minutes, perfect if you have nothing to wear, it gives a twist to any jacket.

Difficulty: facile, simplissimo, finger in the nose

To make this DIY you will need: 

• 2 m of satin ribbon (2 cm or 2,5 cm wide)
• 2 m of color-coordinated gros-grain (2 cm or 2,5 cm wide), if you're in a rush you can even find double ribbons with one gros-grain side and one satin side at Shindo. 
• color-coordinated thread
• a needle
• scissors
• pins
• a brooch base to sew (available at Fil 2000)

Before you start, cut the following pieces into the satin and the gros-grain:

• 1 piece of 11 cm
• 3 pieces of 25,5 cm
• 3 pieces of 34 cm 

Pin the gros-grain and the satin on one-another and with your machine sew them together. Sew pin tucks lengthwise a few millimeters away from the right edge and do the same on the left side.

Once your ribbons are assembled, iron them to flatten them and it will make the sewing work perfect and facilitate the folding.

Start with the 25,5-cm ribbons, take one in the side you want (either the gros-grain inside or outside) and make a loop a bit like the AIDS sign. Do the same with the other end of the ribbon in order to make an "eight", then pin it.

Do the same steps with the other two 25,5-cm pieces and the 34-cm ones. Then for the smallest one, roll the piece into your fingers in roder to make a ring and pin it (here the satin side is on the outside but you can invert with the gros-grain if you like it better...).

You can now fix all of your "eights" by making small hand-stitches on each side of the center of your loops.

Start placing all the middle " eights " on top of each other in staggered row, sew a few hand-stitches to assemble this first part.

Don't forget the 11-cm ring and fix it by sewing a stitch on each side of the ribbon width. Put it at the heart of your "flower/star".

Start the previous steps with the larger " eights " with one exception: for the last large " eight ", the junction point of its ends must be inside the " eight " so the verso of your brooch will be flawless and you can then sew the brooch base there.

Put each " flower/star " into the other. Don't forget the final ring.

With the thread and needle fix both of your " flower/start " and the ring altogether. I advise you to hold very tight all the parts of the brooch and to put the needle at the center of each part, do it several time to fix it firmly.

Don't forget to keep the length of your thread in order to make the ultimate step: fix the brooch base! And TA-DA !

I'm wearing a Zara skirt from last summer, an old collection top from Asos and a Tara Jarmon scarf.

My little cats, 

I hope you're all doing well. I wrote this post in my head several times and I thought I'd definitely forget something so here I am today, and if I forget anything or if you have questions just let me know and I'll answer in the comments below. I should warn you, it is going to be a long one...

Several people asked me about how I make money and other details regarding having a blog. First I have to say I felt like a Secretary of State who'd been asked to prove its credentials by revealing its real estate! And then I thought yes, after all if the blog exists and works it is thanks to you and I could explain how it works to you. 

To be short, I don't live from the money I make with the blog, this website isn't my primary source of income. I am extremely lucky to do what I love and to have a flexible work. Today I feel like my days last 48h, I'm working like crazy, I love it, while staying sound-minded and keeping the burn-out away - I hope so. I have a million ideas, desires and things going on at the same time, I'm like a juggler who drops a ball from time to time but catch it with the foot. I know I have trouble "getting off" but I'm working on it. NO PAIN NO GAIN.

The blog makes money with affiliated links, collaborations, product placements, banners, workshops etc... But I also have a job, I do set design/artistic direction, stylization, advice and various unclassifiable things. I let you imagine my excel table at the end of the month.

You may think that I make money off of you, or in that case your eyes. I say "I" but I think I'm not the only "girl with a blog" who thinks that. But considering all the time taking pictures, writing an article (and I don't even talk about the DIY), editing videos, looking up informations and so on, take... I think it's normal to earn money for it. And all the time I spend on make my lemonade, I don't spend it working on my other activities or with my family and friends. I'm not complaining because, once again, I choose it and it's a pleasure to work but all work has its merits.

You're going to say that the blog must remain a free space of pure love and sharing. But love and sharing do not fill up my fridge and pay my rent. You can also say that my collaborations make things less authentic, that I could loose my freedom of speech. Well, let me reassure you I remain free of my choices, I decline paid operations because I don't see the point of talking to you about a product you'll hear on 12 other blogs in the ongoing month, but this is actually a luxury because I have other source of incomes.

Affiliated links

For those of you who aren't hyper connected, let me tell you what they are. There are several platforms on which you have to create an account and register for affiliation programs: you have the " Amazon " program, the " Asos " program or the " Top shop " program and there are hundreds of thousands of them. Once you've registered you can generate tracked links. Those links are highlighted text-blocks on which you click to see the product from its source, like normal link except these are tracked because you have the name of the platform at the beginning of the URL. And if you buy the product from my link, I get a percentage (from 5 to 10% depending on the program) it doesn't mean you're going to pay more but that "Topshop" will trim its margin rate to pay me for the visibility I gave it. I admit I don't win crazy amount of money because I don't make so many looks but it is discreet and doesn't flicker away. 

Banners

I could say THE banner because I'm obsessive about aesthetics and I only want one. I have an ad sales agency who represents many websites. It offers me collaborations, banners and other product placements that I choose to accept or not. When there are several campaigns with banners at the same time, you will only see one at a time because there is a shifting system in place: when you refresh your page, the banner changes. And I get money only if you click on them, once again you're force to nothing. 

Collaborations and other product placements

As you may have seen, I don't exaggerate... Because here is the thing, I only accept them when I feel we won't be 45 girls to talk about a new revolutionary mascara... I'm no saint but I really think that above everything else I want to do something creative, to have something interesting to say and finally I'm trying to put myself in your shoes and find the "reader benefit". If there is a collaboration I tell you in the article; it was the case with Armani and the lipsticks last October, I precisely had carte blanche, it was creative and I really had fun making that article.

And I repeat myself but I am lucky enough to be able to decline some operations but if I can afford that it's because the blog isn't my only source of incomes and it allows me to keep my editorial line like I want it to be. I want to remain free to choose my partnerships and I want them to trust me to create contents that are different, a bit like my clients in my other activities: I love imagining creative things from a good briefing at the start, like a bill of specifications, then I go from there and have fun...

I'm realistic about the fact that today blogs are trendy and brands that underestimate these new influencers have serious reason to worry but I remain certain that you should do thing with intelligence and not do anything only because there is money in the end.

And to return to our subject today I'm wearing an H&M jacket from an old collection but in the same glittery with a crazy pattern spirit you can look at this onea also old New Look shirt but you thankfully UO is still here! A Kutjen sweater, MIH jeans and Sarenza heels.

My little cats !!!! 

Today it's DIY! I've been making this one for a while! And the reason is that I truly love it. A few months ago, or should I say a few years now, I fell in love with the Olympia Le Tan milk bag clutches. So adorable but so unaffordable for a clutch in which you can put absolutely nothing. And the day before yesterday, the Chanel show shook up the whole fashion world with it's grocery store, I even took a picture of a COCO carton of milk, it was a sign, today I post my little love Milk bags... And to thank you for being such golden readers, you can win two of these lovely bags! Rendez-vous at the end of the article to read about the details of the contest!!!! Hugs and kisses!

And by the way... If you haven't subscribe to the Make My Lemonade newsletter yet, you should do it now... Just saying...

Materials: 

• baize (4 different colors)
• thread (color-coordinated to the baize)
• good double-faced tape
• flat-nose pliers
• eyelet pliers
• hole puncher
• card
• two small magnets
• two bag completions found at Gérard Diffusion, 31 rue Yves Toudic, 75010
• embroidery hoop
• cord for the bag's handle, here it's Shindo (FYI if you go to the shop from me you'll have 20% discount, 2 rue Aboukir)

First of all, cut the downloadable base of the bag

 BAG TEMPLATE

no milk today: Version 1

cherry me: Version 2

nice cream: Version 3

super swag: Version 4

Then pin the 4 parts of your bag altogether on the wrong side (the side of the drawing).

Then with your machine, sew along the drawings and here you are with the base of your bag made in baize.

You can then put the previously cut in the baize patterns. Before starting the cutting I'd advise to starch the baize, it cille help a lot with the cutting and embroidering... Slightly glue the different patterns to embroider on your base.

Then take the hole puncher and make holes into the baize on the side of the bag, these holes will be used for the handle (you'll find the right position of the holes on the template of the bag).

Then put the eyelets, with the right pliers, and please be gentle...

You can now get to the embroidering part and use that time to watch one or two good movies... It takes a long time but I assure you that you get caught quickly. To embroider you simple have to make hand stitches, even when visible I think they bring an authentic "hand-made" touch that I like a lot.

Bravo, you've made the hardest part! You can now put the previously cut card plates in order to strengthen the base of your carton of milk. Don't forget to make holes into your plates at the same location as the eyelets.

Thanks to your great double-faced tape (mine comes from ruban de normandieit's 10 cm wide, so good) you are now going to stick the plates, being very careful not to stick them on the seams but against them (in order to avoid getting a disgraceful bulge).

You can now fold your bow and start admiring the result for a few seconds (it's almost done!)

It is now time to focus: sew the sides of your box in order to close it. Put the plates edge to edge and fold the hem width on the inside to get the perfect finish.

Take the bag completions' rod, put a light dash of glue before sliding them on the top of the bag. Be careful to take all the layers (card + baize).

Slightly crush the rods with flat-nose pliers to make sure they will stay.

With superglue, glue the magnets on the rods (on one side only, on the right for the recto and on the left for the verso, each magnet will be attracted by the opposite rod).

Finish with sliding your word into the eyelets, choose the length and make a knot. And TA-DA!

Rendez-vous on the instagram account of Make My Lemonade, follow it, repost the picture of your favorite bag (I'm going to post the 4 of them). To do so, simply take a screenshot and add a caption with a word and the #contestmilkbag hashtag! I'll draw 2 winners on monday! Sweet kisses and thanks for everything!