Behind the scenes

With Rowan from ‘Red Reiding Hood’

Welcome to Rowan’s world of layers, lipstick and latte macchiato.

2Published march ‘12

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Index• Profile (4-6)• Blogging (7-10)• Fashion (11-13)• Beauty (14-15)• Music, books and TV (16-17)• Eat&Drink (18)• Health (19-20)• Bf, friends, family, (21-23) pets

ProfileQ What’s your full name?A Rowan Reiding

Q Do you have any nicknames?A Yes I do, the most easy one is just Ro. Funny fact: When I was little ‘Rowan Reiding Hood’ used to be my nickname.

Q How old are you and when is your birthday?A I’m eighteen years old and I will turn nineteen May 7th, so I’m a ‘93 baby.

Q How tall are you?A 175 cm, that’s approximately 5,7 feet.

Q What size are you?A It really depends. Since my body is kinda out of proportion I’m a size 34 or US 4 when it comes to tops. But at the bottom I’m probably a size 38 or US 8.

Q What’s your favorite holiday and why?A Easy one! Christmas for sure. I just

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love the whole vibe of this holiday. The stores are decorated so nicely, the cold streets suddenly feel so cosy and everybody is just so busy (in a positive way) with everything that has to do with Christmas; decorating the tree, buying presents, sending cards and cooking. I especially like the family diner, which many people hate. My family always cooks so much delicious things and we just have a blast chatting and eating on Christmas Eve.

Q Is there someone you see as a your big example or just a big source for inspiration?A I don’t know if example is the right word, but I truly admire Angelina Jolie. She just seems to got it all; the perfect body, face, family, husband and career. To me she is the true example of a power woman. She’s tough (Lara Croft), mysterious (The Toursit) and sexy (Mrs. Smith). Besides thatshe seems to be such a loving person, being

a Goodwill Ambassador and a mom of six. Some of you tell me once in a while that I look like her, probably because of the lips. Someone even called me the blonde Angelina Jolie. Thank you so much for these kind of comments, you now know why I appreciate them so much.

Angelina Jolie

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Q What do you want to become in the future?A I just quit my planology study, so I do know what I won’t become in the future: a planner. I would like to have a career in fashion or something to do with writing. I would love to write for a big fashion magazine for example.

Q What’s your favorite place on earth and why?A Of course I love being at home, where I can be my self and have the people (and cats) I love the most around me. But there's one other place in the world that immediately popped up in my head, Ardèche. It's a department in the south of France in the region Rhône-Alpes. One campsite in particular, Arc en Ciel, has a special place in my heart. I've been there several times, since I was two years old until a year ago. The campsite lies alongside a beautiful clear river with

green mountains in the background. The villages, such like Vallon Pont d'Arc, are very charming and typical French. Besides that I just love talking French, people really appreciate you trying. Okay, it sounds like I'm promoting this place, but at this place I just can relax and forget about all the things I've got to do when I'm home.

Ardèche

Blogging

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Q When did you start blogging?A April 21st 2011, so my blog’s birthday is coming up.

Q Why did you start blogging?A Since a couple of years I've been admiring other girls' blogs and dreaming about the beautiful clothing they wear. One day my boyfriend told me I could have one too. I always thought my style wasn't 'alternative' enough, but then I realized you don't necessarily have to wear alternative clothing. I think my blog turned out pretty well!

Q How did you come up with the name for your blog?A I'm so glad to be able to explain why I added the extra 'e' in reiding. The answer is simple: Reiding is my last name. My dad always used to call me ‘Rowan Reiding Hood' when I was young. Another explanation for my blogtitle is the meaning of my surname. One of it's meanings is 'little red one', which explanes the 'red' part. I skipped the word 'little' since I'm not that little anymore.

Q What's it like for you to have a blog? Is it always easy or don't you sometimes have a clue what to write? A Well, I've got to admit it isn't always easy. I sometimes am in a 'I don't have anything to wear' depression, what makes outfit posting very hard. But since I want to keep you guys

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interested, I'm forced to literally pull anything out of my closet. I don't really have a set time to post, just when I'm inspired or have something new to show. But as I said before, to keep you guys interested I think it's important to post regularly. 

Q What’s the greatest thing that ever happened to you because of your blog?A Definitely the fact that there’s a Frenchonista clutch named after me. The ‘Rowan clutch’, doesn’t that sound amazing?

Q What do you think is the best thing about blogging?A This may sound cheesy, but really the fact that I receive so much love from people all over the world. Every single one of your compliments make me smile. I’m sorry I do not answer all

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of them anymore, but I do read them all. The next best thing about blogging is meeting such great people, like designers and fellow bloggers.

Q Who takes your pictures? And is it possible for us to get to see this person?A Most of the pictures are taken by my lovely boyfriend, Vincent, who’s shown in the next two pictures. If the bf isn’t available, my sister usually jumps in. Every once in a while my friends take pictures as well. That mostly occurs when we’re shopping or something like that. I know I sometimes complain because no one is willing to take pictures, but to be honest I’ve got a great team around me.

Q What kind of camera do you use?A I use a Nikon D90 with a 50 mm f1.8 lens.

10The bf and me

Fashion

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Q How would you describe your style?A I know everybody says this, but I truly hate this question. I can’t really define my style in one word. I like layering for sure. At the moment I’m really into the rock chic style; leather pants and jeans shirts combined with heels and an elegant blazer. But I’m also looking forward to wearing florals and mint this spring. So it changes a lot.

Q Where do you get your inspiration from?A Mostly from other blogs. I could fill a.

whole day with just browsing other blogs. Magazines inspire me as well

Q Which other blogs do you usually read?A Come Over To The Dark Side We Have Candy, afterDRK, Style By Kling, Ulrikke Lund, Hallie Daily (you should really check out her blog, even if it’s just to see here lovely son), Mode Junkie, Karla’s Closet, Northern Light and 5inchandup.

Q Which color do you like wearing best?A Definitely black. Boring? I don’t think so. Black can be anything; elegant, sturdy, feminine, boyish and so on. So instead of boring, black actually is a very interesting color.

Q What are your favorite garments?A My leather look H&M dragon tattoo leggings should be on top of this list, followed by my basic white H&M tee. Third place is for my black oversized Zara coat. This list will probably change when spring

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arrives, since I probably won’t be wearing such coats anymore.

Q What are your favorite stores? A Definitely ZARA and H&M. Although COS is very close as well. I’m still waiting for ZARA and COS to opens stores in my city, which won’t happen anywhere in the near future.

Q Which are your favorite jewelry pieces ?A For sure everything minimalistic; my gold bracelet, my MK watch, my silver armour cuff, my silver with faux leather bracelet, my chokers and silver rings. And of course my emotional stuff; the necklace my bf gave me and the ring with our date engraved in it.

Q How many pairs of shoes do you own?A Too many to count, but there are eleven pairs I’m currently wearing.

Some of my favorite pieces

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The shoes I’m currently wearing the most. My Mango ankle boots and Shoeby sandals are missing in this picture though.

Beauty

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Q What kind of make up do you use?A When I opt for smoky eyes (which I usually do), I use the grey and black shades of my Bourjous smoky eyes kit and pick a silver/withish color and a color close to my skin out of random pallets. I also use an eye pencil and mascara from Lancome Drama and a random eyebrow pencil. For this look I choose to keep my lips simple, since my eyes already are so dramatic.When I opt for cat’s eyes though, I use HEMA eyeliner and L’Oreal Paris Doutzen Kroes (for blue eyes) eye shadow. For this look I use scarlet tinted lipsticks, such like my YSL lipstick. For both looks I use Oriflame foundation.

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Q How do you apply your make up?A For the smoky eyes I use a smoky eye brush from essence. I start with applying the grey color from the Bourjois smoky eyes trio all over the lid and a bit above the crease. After that I apply the darkest color over the first layer. Then I apply the silver/white color above the crease (over the first layers) and smoke a bit out of the inner corner of my eyelid to the middle. Next I apply some black in the outer part of my eyelid and smoke that to the middle. I also use this color to put a line just above my eye lashes. Afterwards I apply the color close to my skin tone just underneath my eyebrows. Smoke everything out with a dry smoky eyes brush. Use the black eye pencil to color your waterline and the eye brow pencil to thicken your eye brows. Use some black eye shadow to make a thin ¾ line underneath your eyes, close to the lashes and fill in the other ¼ with the

silver/white color. Only thing left for you to do is to put on mascara and your look is finished. You can watch this tutorial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6GxrB8mwrg, for a better explanation. It really helped me out!

For the cat eyes I apply the darkest shade of the L’Oreal pallet on my eyelid, color two above my crease and number three just underneath my eyebrows. I use a liquid eyeliner to make a line just above my lashes. Think you can’t make a straight line? Yes you can! Just take away the ‘surplus’ with a cotton bud dipped in liquid eye make up remover.

Music, booksand tv

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Q What kind of music do you listen to?A That’s a hard question, since I like so many and what I listen to changes a lot. I like pop, such like Rihanna and Kesha, but also golden oldies, like the Eagles, Don McLean and Bryan Adams. Oh, and I should not forget to mention the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Pretty Reckless, their songs just make me wanna die ;)

Q What’s your favorite song?A One song? That’s so hard. Well, let’s just go for Hotel California from the Eagles.

Q Which songs currently are on your iPod’s playlist?A Oh well, let’s just show you. It does change very often though.

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Q What’s your favorite book?A Don’t tell this to any one, but I’ve got a huge weakness for chicklits. Some of them actually are really good. I own four titles of Lauren Weisberger (the writer of the Devil Wear’s Prada). I’m currently reading Last Night in Chateau Marmont, which is a whole new story with the same well balanced dose of humor and fashion. I think my favorite is Chasing Harry Winston (the Dutch version is called Chanel Chic).

Q Which magazine do you like reading most and why?A I like lots of magazines, but my absolute favorite is Cosmopolitan. It contains the right dose of fashion, reality and ads. I for example love Vogue, but it contains way to many ads. And the ‘reality part’ is very important to me as well, since I love reading about cheating husbands and that sort of drama. I just told you I love chicklits, so you can’t be surprised, right?

Q What’s your favorite TV show?A You really can’t ask me to name my favorite tv show, since I’m a big sucker for TV shows. So here we go, these are my favorites: Dexter, The Walking Dead, Shameless, Homeland, Modern Family, Pan Am, Desperate Housewives, The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl.

My favorite books

Eat&DrinkQ What is your favorite beverage?A It’s a very close call, but I opt for latte macchiato. This may sound snobbish, but I don’t like every latte macchiato. My favorites are from Starbucks (with caramel) and Douwe Egberts (definitely the Crème Brulée version). My second favorite beverage is hot choco.

Q What is you favorite dish?A Definitely my mom’s tagliattela with a white creamy sauce, pork tenderloin and mushrooms.

Q What is your favorite snack?A Pretty much everything covered with chocolate. I’m very much into chocolate rice waffles lately. Sounds disgusting, tastes yummy.

Q What is your favorite lunchroom?A I can’t chose between Bagels & Beans and the Douwe Egberts café. They’ve both got their plusses.

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Heart shaped coffee at the DE café

HealthQ What do you do to keep your body in shape?A I just watch what I eat. I don’t do diets (anymore) or count calories, but just listen to my body. Am I really hungry or just bored?

Q Do you sport? If so, how often?A I used to run three times a week. I even ran 10 kilometres without pausing! But when it started to freeze outside, I decided to skip a couple of times. And now I’ve just become lazy. I

just started running again, but my limit is 5 kilometres at the moment. So here’s my golden tip: Don’t ever skip a work out or you’ll become a lazy monster just like me!

Q Do you smoke?A No I don’t. Of course I tried it once out of curiosity, but I really dislike the taste of it. And I’m glad I do since it stinks, is unhealthy and very expensive.

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Me and my friend running ‘de ronde van Oranjwoud’, a 10 km run.

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Me in my running gear.

Bf, friends,family, pets

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Q What do your friends and family think of your blog?A Both my friends and family probably are my biggest fans. My

grandpa for example checks my blog every day!

Q Who are the most important people in your life?A That will be my parents, my sister, my boyfriend, my closest friends and the rest of my very big family. I'm used to having my family around, since we all live in the same neighborhood I can't imagine a life without them.

My parents

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Q For how long are you and your boyfriend together and how have you met?A We've been together since the 30th of March 2010, so it's two years now. He was in my dad's (ice) hockey team and I already was very curious to him before I met him, since he was the only one playing in their team of my age. The first time I saw Vincent was at a chamionship and I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Sadly enough I was too shy to talk to him, so I sent him a message through hyves, a social network site, and he asked me out for a date. We didn't need any more dates after that, since we immediately fell in love.

Vincent, my boyfriend (and Marco van Basten behind him)

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Q Do you have pets?A Yes I do! We’re huge catlovers and so we always had cats. We now have three cats: Ziggy, Sjonnie and Boefje. Ziggy is the oldest and she has a very special place in my heart. She was born at my fifth birthday party and so she became the most beautiful gift I ever got.

Ziggy

Q Are you and your sister close with each other?A Oh yes, we really are! Besides my sister Kayleigh also is my friend. We’re the type of sisters that tell and share each other everything. We borrow almost anything from each other; clothes, bags, earrings, make up etc.

Me (right) and my sister

THE END

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