Mara Buur Shares All And Tells Us Her Dark Inspirational Secret

Influencer, forest witch and artist Mara Buur was brought up in the Netherlands and hopes to live in the forest one day as well as run her own tattoo studio. Mara has an alternative personal style which is admired by many across the world. We got to the nitty gritty about how Mara has been inspired to create her dark style...

What sparked your interest in fashion? I’ve always liked to put my creativity into everything I do; my work, my surroundings and also my looks. I don’t follow a certain style and kinda just wear whatever I like, but I love how it sets an image of how I am. I’ve always been inspired by nature, mythology, the music that I like, so looking like a forest creature of doom is pretty fun to do! When did you first start Instagramming? Did anyone or anything inspire you? I believe it was halfway 2015 that I truly started using the platform how I am using it now. Before that I was on Facebook and I still have the page online (same username), but the loss of organic reach due to this algorithm they introduced made me look for a different platform. And I quickly preferred instagram, because there are so many artists, bloggers and other cool people on there that also inspire me! I could never have dreamt that I have over 200k followers now, it’s amazing and truly honouring how many people like to follow me. Unfortunately Facebook bought Instagram, so now the algorithm is there as well and not everyone sees my content anymore, so I’m hoping to discover a new platform soon where I can start and grow again! What do you love the most about being an influencer? The community I’ve build; my followers are such lovely people! I like to interact online by asking questions in the photo description for example, and to learn about whoever follows me too! I like to stay as honest with people as I can and not act like I’m this perfect character, you know. I’m a very positive person, but even on days I’m not feeling that great (everyone has these!) I like to just be open about it. Which is scary, but the support I’ve received from followers is heart-warming. Do you work/study alongside your social media work? If so, tell us a bit about what you do. I graduated art academy last year as illustrator and now work fulltime as a freelance illustrator, animator, blogger, alternative model, I have a textile art business called Psypuff and I recently started learning how to tattoo as well. How many hours do you dedicate to social media each week? Not sure of exactly how many, but quite some hours! Social media is pure acquisition and besides liking to interact with followers, maintaining my blogs also helps me to get more collaborations and customers, so more money as well! I also recently invested in a better camera with remote, so now I really go out to take outfit photo’s, while before I took them inside in front of a cool backdrop. It takes more time to make these photo’s outside and to edit these, but I like to keep growing and become better in what I do. I truly think I stepped up my blogger-game with this new way of taking photo’s! Where do you get your inspiration from? As I’ve said earlier, nature is my biggest inspiration. Aesthetically but also spiritually, because I’m a green witch! I also love mythology and I listen to a lot of metal music or folk/pagan music, such as Wardruna, Ayreon, Opeth. I guess this all inspires me in a way, and also comfort! I love wearing flowy things, soft fabrics and comfy platforms. How would you describe your personal style? Forest creature of doom. Sometimes a bit like a goth granny, with dusty floral prints or a bit tropical in summer. But mostly dark and mysterious. Who are some of your favourite bloggers/Instagrammers? I love the work of my friends, @reign.of.the.forest, @maimagi, @manicmoth, @bymarije, @ashtray_arts, @katinka_melancholia and many more! I also love @felvae, @khaos.luxtos, @darkwrin, @oliviaemilyx, @tomarum! What’s your go-to song/playlist/album at the moment? Opeth – The Moor has been my favourite song for years and years but I’ve also made a public Spotify playlist called Bos heks. ! What are your goals for the rest 2018? Become better in my professions but also stop myself from wanting to grow too fast. Last year I was very frustrated because I know what I wanna do and have; live in the forest and build an art/tattoo studio there too, but I didn’t know when that would happen. So I was overworking like crazy, to save up enough money to move out asap. Which was obviously not a nice way to live and it stressed me out, so my 2018 goal was to relax a bit more! I still work very hard, but I don’t let myself have work weeks of 70 hours anymore, haha. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you choose and why? Dinosaurs. I want to see the dinosaurs! I’m obsessed with dinosaurs, haha. Oh, or Donald Trump, to punch him in the face with a chair. How many pairs of T.U.K.’s do you have and which ones are your favourites? I currently have two pair of creepers and they’re my most comfortable shoes I own! I have green velvet creepers and the crushed velvet floral one’s, and I think the florals are my favorites! I LOVE floral prints, and the colors in them are so lovely. What’s your favourite way to style your T.U.K.’s? I’m crazy about colour coordinating and my style sometimes even changes a slight bit whenever I got a new hair colour! So I love to style the green creepers with other green bits in my outfit and I have a lot of dark foresty green accessories! Same goes for the florals. Which T.U.K. styles have got your eye on for the future and why? At the last London Edge event I saw these creepers and platforms with a velvet floral print, very dusty and muted, which is exactly what I love! Granny florals are my jam. I think they just arrived in stores, the Dark Floral Velvet shoes and I need them in my life!!

Visit Mara's Instagram page @psychara