Thursday 31 October 2013

Spooky Playlist!

Happy Halloween!
Having a fun Halloween tonight? I quickly whipped up a Halloween themed playlist this morning for the sleepover I'm going to tonight if you fancy a look! It's very Ghost Town based; if you haven't heard of Ghost Town, you need to have a look! They're such a great band and I'm going to one of their gigs in November. 

It's quite a varied playlist but I think the songs are certainly relevant. Here it is- http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL19bEAYInDTZq1uYsEgj2Ycl4gBRvJ1Ej

Have a scare-tastic (bad pun) Halloween and I'll be back tomorrow with fun pictures and more from my Halloween sleepover! 

Ciao for now
Xx

Friday 25 October 2013

Arctic Monkeys Live: What A Night!

On Wednesday night, I went to see Arctic Monkeys with 3 of my besties: Shay, Georgia and Jess.
I can honestly say that it was one of the best nights of my life (apart from having beer thrown all over us half way through Brianstorm and smelling quite strongly of it for the rest of the night...)

Their support act, The Strypes, really got the audience pumped and ready for Arctic Monkeys. I've never heard of them before then but they were really good. Have a look here at one of their songs.

After The Strypes, about half an hour was spent waiting in anticipation for the band to come on, they finally came on and opened with Do I Wanna Know. The atmosphere was unreal. . Alex Turner, oh my. He was wearing a, what looked like suede, forest green blazer... wow. It was quite a sight. We were seated as we weren't old enough to get standing tickets (you had to be 16, damn.) and, looking down on everyone standing, it looked incredible. Everybody was jumping around everywhere and going insane as the beat kicked in on each song. I was quite jealous;I'm not complaining though, I still had an amazing time

Time flew by in a singing, dancing blur and, before I knew it, Alex was announcing that it was their last song of the night. We all went home singing happily to AM in the car and feeling as if our lives had just been made.

Throughout the concert, I took so many videos that my phone ran out of storage. I'd post some of them but my embarrassingly loud singing is too much for the internet and my dignity.

Ciao for now
xx

Saturday 19 October 2013

Boots Haul

This post is a few days late because I'm a lazy, procrastinating, hopeless case. I've had it written up for days but I completely forgot about it because of my baking excitement. Anyway, I've remembered it now!

The other day, I went to boots and bought some things so I thought I'd show you what I got-


Firstly, I bought this concealer. I've purchased this a few times now but I just have to renew it whenever it runs out; I really love this concealer. I think I'm going to look into purchasing some other concealers soon to see if I'm missing anything; I've had a look around but only at reviews. Until then, I think I'm going to stick with this because it's just so great! I highly recommend it for getting rid of dark, under-eye circles.

I was recommended this Maybelline eyebrow pencil  by my friend, Rae . I've only very recently started filling in my brows so I'm looking around for a perfect brow product. I couldn't find my exact shade, this is slightly lighter than I would have liked, as there wasn't a variety of shades to choose from (the next shade down was way too dark). I tested it out when I got home though and it seemed to look okay.

I went to the Rimmel aisle next to renew my amazing Stay Matte setting powder (seriously, this stuff works wonders on my oily skin). I saw that Rimmel had added a foundation to their Stay Matte collection so I thought I'd give it a try. Since I love the powder so much, I have high expectations of this foundation. I've never really ventured into foundation products before (I'm aways scared it will make me look caked in make up) but its got to the point, on bad skin days, when I use way too much concealer; I decided to give in to my cakey-face worries and just buy a foundation for these days. I'm hoping that the next product I bought will help to make it look evenly spread and blended...

Ah, yes, my ultimate buy of the day- a Real Techniques brush. I've been drooling over these brushes every time I spot them in Boots but I've had to drag myself away and stick to my list. I finally decided to put this stippling brush on my list and purchased it. I've heard so many good things about these brushes, I'm excited.


The last aisle I went to was the Barry M aisle. I was browsing through the nail varnishes for an Autumn shade and saw that they have a new matte collection. When I spotted this burgundy one, of course I had to buy it. I also had a glance at the lipsticks, reminding myself that I've been wanting a berry red lipstick for autumn. I've never really looked at the Barry M lipsticks before but I'm glad I did! When I saw this colour, I didn't think twice about purchasing it. I've been wanting a lipstick in this shade for a while now and I think it will look great with neutral eye make up.

So, they're the things I bought from Boots. I hope you've liked this. I love seeing what other people buy and talking about my own purchases; I think I'll do more posts like this!

Ciao for now
xx

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Autumn nail art

Hello! Just a really quick post showing off my nail art...

It's been a while since I've put in the time to make my nails look pretty. I think I'll get back into the habit of it.

I used two Barry M colours: Crush from the Matte collection and Cappuccino. I think these colours go really well together and create a lovely, simple yet effective, Autumn-style nail art. I bought the matte one on Saturday so this is like a sneak peak of my little Boots haul that I shall be uploading today or tomorrow.

Ciao for now
xx

Monday 14 October 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie And Brownie Recipes

Hello and Happy Monday! As I promised in yesterday's blog post, here are the two recipes for chocolate chip cookies and brownies...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¼  cup caster sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2 tsp corn flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Chocolate chips (as many as you want)


Directions:
  • Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
  • Mix in the egg and vanilla.
  • By either using an electric mixer on a low speed or by hand, mix in all of the dry ingredients (including the chocolate chips) until a dough is formed.
  • Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for around half an hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
  • Form small balls with the dough and flatten them down slightly.
  • Put them in the oven for 10 minutes.
  • Make yourself a cup of tea and test out your delicious treats.


Brownies

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups of chocolate (any kind you like)
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • ¾ cup caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup cocoa powder (we used hot chocolate powder; it’s basically the same thing)
  • 1 cup of plain flour
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Directions:
  • Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl in a microwave (do this in 30 second intervals until it’s completely melted) or melt in a bowl over a saucepan with simmering water; set the mixture aside.
  • Using a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla together, either by hand or electric mixer, until thick and pale yellow.
  • In another bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients.
  • Pour the dry ingredients into the eggs, sugar and vanilla mixture; mix until incorporated and add the chocolate and butter mixture.
  • Refrigerate this for half an hour.
  • Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees.
  • Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture in.
  • Bake for 20 minutes.
  • Poke it with a cake tester/skewer; if there's still mixture on it afterwards, leave it for another five minutes and check again. 
  • Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes
  • Cut into rough squares and enjoy! 
I hope you give these recipes a go and enjoy them as much as Shay and I did. We didn't come up with these recipes ourselves; we got the recipes (before tweaking them slightly) from Pinterest. Here are the links to the original recipes-

Happy baking!

Ciao for now
xx


Sunday 13 October 2013

What A Busy Weekend!

Hello! How has your weekend been? I hope it's been fabulous.

I've had a very busy weekend which means I have a couple of blog posts. There are going to be two this week:

On Saturday, I went to Boots and bought a few things (or maybe more than a few) so I'm going to do a little haul later on this week. I also had a sleepover with one of my best friends, Shay: we watched Kick Ass, ate shortbread dipped in caramel that she made and had hot chocolates with cream and marshmallows. On Sunday, we baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies; they were amazing (I'm actually eating a brownie as I write this). We decided to do a kind-of blog collaboration and I'm going to post both of the recipes tomorrow so be excited!
                                      
That's all I have to say today so I'm going to go and watch Doctor Who (I'm re-watching them from Christopher Eccleston to Matt Smith). Come back tomorrow for two awesome baking recipes!
Ciao for now
xx

Monday 7 October 2013

Lazy Day Braids

Being British and all, we use the word 'plait' instead of 'braid' but I think 'Lazy Day Plaits' sounds a bit odd so I went with 'braids' instead. Anyway...

Everyone has those days where they just can not be bothered to spend a lot of time on their hair. For me, this is most days. Plaits and braids are easy to do, they look really great and they're perfect for those days when you only have 20 minutes to get ready (which, again, is me most days). This is my first tutorial-style blog post so I'm not sure how it's going to turn out; I'm not the greatest at instructions but there's a first time for everything. So, I went and had a look on my Pinterest board of hairstyles and got some inspiration for a few simple braid/plait hairstyles.

Side-Braid

This one is probably my favourite; it reminds me of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. When I first saw something similar to this on Pinterest, I thought I'd never be able to do it as it looks quite complicated but it's really not! As long as you know how to do a French-braid, like I've done at the top, this hairstyle should only take you five minutes at most. 

Step 1: If you don't already have a side-parting like me (if you do, you can skip this step), you need to choose a side and brush it into a side-parting. 

Step 2: French-braid your hair, starting at the root of your parting, down to around the bottom of your ear. If you need to, you can take a small elastic band and tie it around the braid to hold it in place. I, personally, prefer not to do this, I think it looks like it flows into the second plait better without it.

Step 3: Joining the braided hair into it, plait the rest of your hair as you would in a regular side-plait and tie a bobble at the end.

Easy, right?

Plaited updo
This was actually my first attempt at doing this hairstyle and it was really simple. I'll be using this one quite a lot now, I love it.

Step 1: Split your hair into two on either side of your head and plait each side like this:
Step 2: Cross each plait over your head: wrap the left one behind your head, towards the right and over towards your parting; use grips/bobby pins to secure it in a couple of different places to keep it secured all day. Do the same with the plait on the right but bring it behind to the left.
Here's a pretty bad demonstration picture:
Step 3: Use more grips/bobby pins to keep in any loose bits of hair. Try not to use too many though or you won't be able to see the actual hairstyle. 

That's it, you're done! Another simple yet effective hairstyle for bad hair days.

Fishtail Plait
This one is probably the most difficult to do, it took me a few tries when I first learnt how to do it. It's also really difficult to explain so, instead of trying and miserably failing to show you how to do it myself, here's the tutorial that I used-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZkowmdZv8. Once you've mastered how to do it, it's a really quick style to do.

Little Extras
To make your side braid/plait even cuter, simply tie a ribbon at the end of it; look at how great they look:

To keep my hair neat and tidy all day, I use L'oreal salt spray:
I've gone through quite a few bottles of this stuff; it's a really great product. Not only does it work as a sort-of hairspray by keeping my plait intact all day, it also gives my already wavy hair (or 'Hagrid Hair', as I like to call it) a great boost of volume and texture when I decide to leave it natural (which is usually when I wake up late for school and have 10 minutes to get ready). I simply just spray it onto my hair after having a shower, while it's damp, and then plait it. I do this before I go to bed sometimes and then take the plait out in the morning, give it another quick spray and I'm good to go. I seriously recommend this product, especially if you have wavy hair.

That's all for today. I hope you liked these little tutorials; I think I'll do them more often.

Ciao for now
xx

Thursday 3 October 2013

Happy October!

(Sorry this post is late; I've been busy being suffocated by piles of homework and revision)

October is finally here! You know what that means, don't you?

Yes! It means it officially feels like Autumn, leaves are turning to orange, it has many rainy days that give me an excuse to stay my pyjamas and drink tea, Halloween is on the way and I'm going to see Arctic Monkeys! 

I can't believe I've only been at school for a month; I can't even remember the summer now, it seems such a long time ago. Although, as much as I do love summer, I am inviting the Autumn in with open arms as all the great things happen in Autumn! (Have I over-used the exclamation mark now?... Yeah I think I have.)

I was planning on doing a September favourites post but as September is in the middle of a season-change and I tend to buy things based on the season, I didn't have many things to rave about. I will, however, be doing one for October that shall include many autumny things: Halloween goodies, cosy knitwear and lovely, tasty, hot beverages! Ooo it's all so exciting isn't it? 

The other day, the 'C' word was officially used for the first time this year in our household as we started discussing our Christmas plans for this year. I have to admit, it gave me a few festive goosebumps. If you've read some of my previous posts, you will know that I am absolutely obsessed with anything and everything festive so I just can't wait to get stuck in to the festivities! 

Another thing that 'accidentally' happened the other day was that I picked up this book...
I only put The Deathly Hallows down a few months ago but I couldn't help myself. I have quite a few books that I still need to read but I feel like the Harry Potter books are appropriate for the build up to Christmas. (Any excuse Kate, honestly!)

So, anyway, I hope you had a fabulous September and have an even better October; I will see you soon.

Ciao for now
X