Elf Haul!

So, some of you know that I took advantage of the 50% off ELF products last week. I have interested in ELF products for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to get some little bits. Let’s get to it…

Firstly are the face and nail products I bought.

I bought the Studio Cream Blush in ‘Heart Breaker’, you get a whopping 15g of product. The only issue is that it doesn’t fit in my ‘blush’ drawer! The texture is a soft cream, I haven’t used it yet, but it feels as though it will give a powder finish.

Next is a Blush in ‘Blushing Rose’. I am loving this blush right now, I can’t stop wearing it. It’s a purpley pink with fine gold shimmer in it (you can barely notice the shimmer).

The two nail polishes I got are ‘Mango Madness’ and ‘Passion Pink’. These are my type of colours and perfect for summer, don’t you think? They dry so fast! You need to apply three coats but because it dries so fast I’m not bothered.

Moving on to lip products. On the far right is the Studio Matte Lip Colour in ‘Praline’. I am loving this product, for me it’s a ‘my lips but better’ kind of colour. The pen type tube makes it easy to apply. It’s not too matte and the pigment is great. I wish I had got some more colours if I’m honest.

In the middle is a Lip Balm SPF 15 in ‘Peach’. This is quite moisturising, which it should be and the colour pay off is just right for a balm (meaning sheer).

On the left is the Lipstick in ‘Seductive’, which is described as a deep warm pink crème. The swatch on the website quite different than what the colour actually is, but I like the colour and it suits me. What has annoyed me about this is that it has already broken =(. I can still use it and repair it but still, it shouldn’t have broken.

Last few items are two Eyeshadows in ‘Wild Wheat’ and ‘Raspberry Truffle’. The pigment is quite good but you definitely need some kind of base for the shadow to stick to.

And finally my obsession with make up brushes doesn’t cease! Don’t look at me like that…I can’t help it. I got the Bamboo Eyeshadow brush which is a similar shape to the mac 239 but a lot more fuller and the bristles aren’t as soft but it seems good quality but only time will tell. The next brush isn’t something that I have seen before, it’s the Defining Eye Brush, I haven’t used this brush yet so I can’t really comment but I am looking forward to it.

Did you take advantage of the discount? Have you tried ELF products? What’s your favourite product? =) x

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins!

After drooling over the wonderful creations by the lovely Rachel, the baking bug hit me. I love cooking (if you follow me on Instagram or know me, you know this) but baking is where it really began for me. Started with cookies and I never really looked back.

So let’s get to it my fellow baking enthusiasts, I followed a basic apple and cinnamon muffin recipe but tweaked it a little.

Ingredients

3 Cups Plain Flour
3/4 Cups Caster Sugar
3/4 Cups Brown Sugar
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 Cup Milk
2/3 Unsalted Butter, melted
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 or 2 Cooking Apple(s).
1/2 Cup Ground Almonds (optional)*
Handful of chopped Walnuts (optional)*

Method

• Pre Heat oven to 190C.
• Chop the apple(s) into small bite sized pieces.
• *Place into dry pan and let it cook, add 1 Teaspoon of cinnamon and ¼ cup of the brown sugar to add moisture – cook for 10minutes, stirring occasionally. When they are done remove from heat and let cool.
• Whilst the apples are cooking, add all the dry ingredients into a large bowl – that is flour, caster sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, ground almonds, chopped walnuts. Mix those.
• Add the wet ingrients now – that is milk, butter, eggs, apples. Mix.
• Add into muffin holders. And put into the oven to cook for 25minutes.

N.B

You can also add raisins or dry fruit depending on your preferences. I would have but I didn’t have any =(.
You could also try using an apple sauce or normal eating apples along with the cooking apples.
I used muffin cases which gave me 13 muffins, but you could use cupcake cases which would probably give you around double if not more.

Result

I’m really pleased with how they turned out considering this is the first time I have tried this recipe. There was something missing for my liking but I think it was some raisins and maybe some normal cooking apples to add something else to the taste. They aren’t too sweet which is really nice. I can honestly say these will get devoured by me within the next few days. =D yes, yes, I know, I’m a fatty…oohh well!

What’s your favourite flavoured muffin? =) x

(*) represent my little tweaks =)

Recently purchased – Clothing!

I’m on a roll with these posts ay?! I have to keep it up! As promised from earlier posts, here are my recent clothing purchases. It’s only a few so I didn’t go over board. I did try and take pictures of me wearing the items but it wasn’t happening. So sorry but you’re stuck with pictures of them on hangers.

Here is my jacket from Pull & Bear (size S) from the sale. I originally bought a dress from the sale for £19.99 but it was too tight around my bust…fail! So I went to exchange it or get a refund and this jacket caught my eye. I don’t have anything like it. It’s a bit biker chick but not black or leather. The tag said £29.99, so I was willing to pay that extra £10 for it, but to my surprise when I went to the till to exchange the dress the jacket had been reduced further! Yay! Don’t you just love it when that happens!

Next up are my items from H&M. The two jumpers are the same style and material but they are just so comfortable and easy to chuck on I wanted both. I really like the purple one because it has black woven in with it. They were £7.99 each. So not expensive, especially knowing that I will be wearing them all the time.

The last thing I bought from H&M was this floral print razor back top. It’s long enough that it covers my bum so I can wear it with jeggings. This can be dressed up or down so really looking forward to wearing this. This again was £7.99.

Hope you all have a good week! =) x

June Favourites!

Beauty

Skin care:

Same as last month, just one skin care item to mention, although I have already mentioned a gazillion times. The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair. Amazing. That’s all, if you want to read more click -> *post*.

Make up:

Not that many make up bits.

Starting with this beauty; the Makeup Forever HD foundation. I got this when I was in America last year, I wasn’t too keen on it at first but as my skin has improved I’m loving it. It’s a good colour match and it’s not heavy for these ‘summer’ months.

Next is my Bobbi Brown cream Blush in Powder Pink (*post here*). The consistency of this is lovely and easy to apply with my real techniques contour brush.

Finally in this months make up loves is this NYX Jumbo pencil in French Fries. It’s a perfect bronze with very subtle gold shimmer. Again I was lucky enough to get this whilst on my travels in America. It’s been so east to just draw on my eye lid and blend it out and go out of the house.

Leisure

Books:

Like I said in my instagram post 50 Shades really took over this month when it came to what I was reading. I even managed to get some of my friends to read it too. I know there is controversy surrounding these novels, like most things, but I have to admit I was obsessed (still am a little) with them. If you look past the ‘smut’ it’s actually a good (and when I say good I mean completely fake and would never happen in real life but that’s the point of a book, right?) love story which you get drawn into. There isn’t much to say about these books, I mean I could but then you would be reading an essay and there is just no need to put you all through that! =)

TV:

Source

I think you can probably tell that I like my fantasy stuff by these favourite posts lol! I am addicted to True Blood, it’s more of a ‘real’ vampire story rather than the laa-dy da versions *cough* Twilight *cough*. And hello, it’s got Alex Skarsgård in it. Enough said I think.

Music:

Source

I know I am probably behind on this but I have been loving Watch The Throne by Jay Z and Kanye West. I’ve been listening to it non stop this month. I think it’s due to the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend and having Jay Z head line. My favourite song from the album is "Lift off" and “That’s my B****”.

What were your favourites this month?! =) x