Saturday 25 August 2012

Chocolate Fudge Rocky Road





Out of all the things I like to make, rocky road is by far my favourite. I absolutely love it, there are so many varying recipes. I have never tasted a batch of rocky road either bought from the supermarket or made by someone else to have the same universal taste. The version I am sharing with you is a little more rich as its based around a chocolate fudge recipe.



What You Will Need:



350g cooking chocolate
1 (397g) tin condensed sweetened milk
2 tablespoons butter
Crushed Digestives (as many as you like, depending on how rocky you like your road ;D )
100g marshmallows
50g glace cherries, chopped


Method:

Break up the chocolate and place into microwavable bowl, melt slighly and add in the condensed milk and butter.

Melt in the microwave on full power, opening often to stir it and to make sure it doesnt burn, which can happen all too easily if you dont keep an eye on it

When the chocolate fudge mixture is ready add the crushed biscuits, marshmallows and cherries and stir in. Add as many as you like, you can also add other ingredients such as nuts, maltesers m&ms, fruit pieces, white chocolate chips :)

Place the mix into a greased tin and place in the fridge for at least two hours

Slice the rocky into bite size pieces and enjoy! mhhm <3






Happy Baking!

Helen xX

Saturday 18 August 2012

Beauty Product Haul/ Review


It is near impossible for me not to go into Superdrug without spending anything; mainly as its the only decent shop where I live. I know how sad right? haha. So here is a small haul and review on my most recent purchases.


HAIR


AUSSIE - It was buy 2 for £6 quid so I picked up a deep treatment and some heat protection spray. Aussie is definitely one of he best haircare brands, in my eyes anyways. They always leave my hair in fab condition, which is very important as my hair is bleached.I rarely use heat on my hair at all, except on my fringe, as I want to maintain the good condition of my hair as it has taken a while to get to this stage. This is why I bought the leave in heat protection spay to save my hair from being fried from the straighteners. It is enriched with Australian jojoba seed oil to prevent hair from drying out and to give it amazing shine. Perfect! :D The product smells lovely too, as do all Aussie products. They seem to have a similar smell, which is refreshing and clean.

I always have a Aussie deep treatment in as I like to use a variety of conditioners etc on my hair as I get bored easily, this is by far one of my favourites :) Its called the "3 minute miracle luscious long deep treatment" Its basically for long hair in need to some tlc. I can finally say now, that I have long healthy hair after two years of stopping using heat everyday and from cutting it short to get rid of  the damage. The treatment contains Australian eucalyptus extract with avocado oil to help deeply moisturise, revitalise and nourish tired long hair and all in 3 minutes ;D and repeated use im sure. I definelty noticed a difference in the texture of my hair after one application.. According to Aussie it "cares for dry and damaged hair by helping to reduce breakage associated with combing" thus being another reason i have turned to using my tangle teezer daily. I will be posting a review here shortly.

Provoke touch of silver twice a week brightening shampoo had been on my list of things to try for a while and I am so glad I did. Long gone are the horrible brassy tones that used to dull my hair inbetween appointments. This stuff is amazing! it is a violet pigment that neutralises orange/yellow brassy tones in bleached hair and dullness in grey and white hair. It is a toning shampoo so that is why it is only recomended that it is used twice a week to avoid colour build up. i.e patches of silver/purple tones in your hair. It it around £3 and definitely an essential for bleach blondes!


TAN



My trusty Solait tan in medium/dark. This is a tan I purchase constantly and always have extra bottles in just in case I run out (atm i have 3...). I love the dark colour it gives and how it doesnt have that horrible digestive biscuit smell that many fake tans have. Instead it has a caramel scent. It is also tinted so you can see where you have applied it. It also givs a slight bit of instant colour which later develops into a much deeper richer tan.It costs around £7. Much much better than frying your skin in the sun, for sure.

For when I dont want such a dark tan I picked up L'oreals sublime bronze gel self tan. I had never tried a gel tanner before, so was interested to see how this would apply. It applies very smoothly and glides on without having to rub in too much. One thing though, it claims not to be greasy but I I found it to be; but not so bad that I wouldnt use it again, as I like the light natural tan it gives. It claims to mimic the colour you would naturally go after being in the sun. Over all for under £10 and by a realiable brand, I am impressed.


SKINCARE



I purchased these items to remove my make up. The nivea daily essential wipes are more for the lazy days when I want my make up off quickly and easily. They are very moist so can get stubborn mascara and foundation off without too much hassle. Skin is left feeling soft,cleansed and refreshed, lets be honest at the end of the day or a heavy night out there is nothing better than taking off your make up! Also very handy to have in your handbag or taking on holiday with you. The Johnsons face care cleansing lotion is gentle which is perfect for sensitive skin. It lifts away impurities, including waterproof mascara (bonus!). I usually squeeze on to a cotton pad and move in circular motions over my face till all traces of make up are removed. It has a pleasant clean scent and both are reasonably priced, which there always being some sort of deals on the wipes.


MAKE UP



Eyelure lashes are my second faves after elf ( I have a review on my last post ;). Superdrug had an offer to buy 2 for £8  saving £2 so I thought why not. I love the shape of these, they flare out towards the edges. Perfect for the cat eye look. The glue that comes with them is amazing, also, so I do not have too much trouble applying them. Overall I would say thy are great quality and if taken care off they can be reused. I am keen to try Katy Perry's range by eyelure, love the packaging! Finally I have jumped on the Revlon Lip butters band wagon and I am glad to say I have! I picked up strawberry shortcake, not the type of pink I would usually go for, but I am really liking it. These butters are so moisturising so there is no need to prime with lip balm at all and the colour pay off is great ( at least in this colour). I will defo be picking up many more colours from this range as they are quite long lasting and dont crack and look gross after a few hours from application.


Thanks for reading!

Helen xX

HAUL


As you know I have been sooooo bad at updating my blog, but today I finally have a full day to myself so I am going to spend it writing up new posts and uploading photos I took ages ago. These items are from the end of May.. oopsies! Not that I dont enjoy blogging, I love it! I love stumbling across new blogs to follow, but I think its just that I prefer reading other peoples than I do making them; they can be quite time consuming and I am having difficulties arranging my pictures :/ But i do log on everyday and I keep up to date with posts from everyone I follow. I really admire the hard work and dedication that you all put in, esp seeing as there are a lot of people that upload a new post nearly every day.. I might reach that stage at some point, heres hoping! Anyways I want to share some purchases from New Look and ELF :)


First up, I' bought this gorgeous envelope clutch bag! Ive noticed quite a few bloggers have it and that is sort of what inspired me to get it. I'm in love with the neon pink, gold  and nude colour scheme. Its really great for a night out as it is quite big, so can carry a lot of things. I tend to bring the kitchen sink with me when i go out..haha. I love that it can be used with or without the chain strap, I tend to use it with as I am worried i will put it down somewhere and forget about it..pretty standard for me. I think it was around £17.99 at the most.

These wedge shoe boots are from New Look. I ordered them online so I didnt realise how high they are. Id say just over 5 inches maybe. I was wanting something not so high as i have tonnes of heels and I am quite tall as it is. I absolutely adore how they look but they are so painful after about an hour, so not very practical. I think i should have probably got a bigger size. Its a shame as I really like the style. They only cost £24.99 so were a bargain. LOVE new look heels, so much variety! :)


ELF PURCHASES! 




I am in love with ELF. They are so reasonably priced and always have some sort of discount offer so a few months ago I spied this eye shadow pallete and ended up getting a few wee other things. This probably being the least I've bought from elf EVER! But Ive made up for it now, purchased some more non essentials a few weeks ago;D


My everyday eye make up look consists of browns, golds and neutral colours so when I saw this palette for only £6 I bought it straight away. I know from previous purchases that elf eyeshadows are of high quality and are very pigmented and I was not disappointed, The pallete comes with TWELVE amazing quality eyeshadows in very wearable colours. I've been dreaming of purchasing the urban decay naked pallete for so long but right now I cannot justify spending over 30 quid on eyeshadows.. so for any girls on a budget Id say this was quite a good dupe. The palette comes in other colour schemes this one is called " natural eye" and I also own the "smokey eyes" and I have hit pan on most of them.  The Blush is in the colour "pink passion" it is the ultimate barbie pink colour. The blush is not overly shimmery so it is perfect for everyday use and as it is highly pigmented a little will go a long way so will last for ages and at £3.50 (when I bought it) is a bargain. Think they have slightly increased the prices now, but not by much :) 


Finally, Thee best false eyelashes in the whole world! I buy these repeatedly because they are just so good. The ones I bought are "dramatic" in black. Iwouldnt necessarily say they were dramatic at all they are actually quite natural and so easy to blend with your own lashes as they have a thin strip, this also makes the gluing application easier as they stay on your lashline more easily. I dont use the glue that comes with it so I am unable to say whether that is any good or not. I tend to use Eyelure glue which you can buy on its own for around £2.99 for a reasonably sized tub. Oh, and at £1.50 for the lashes you really cannot go wrong esps they can be re-used if taken care off. The blending brush was also £1.50 and is fantastic for blending any harsh eyshadows. It has really soft bristles and doesnt shed at all. Highly recommend elf brushes, do not let the low price put you off at all.


Thanks for reading!


Helen xX

Quick Coconut & Cherry Macaroons

I LOVE coconut cherry macaroons. They really do taste amazing and only take a few minutes to prepare and bake so I thought I would share :)






What You Will Need:

110g Desicated Coconut
75g Caster Sugar
2 Egg Whites
Cherries

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Combine coconut and sugar together in a mixing bowl

Whisk egg whites in a separate bowl, until they double in size and form a peak

Add coconut and sugar to the whisked egg whites and fold in

Make medium sized round and flatten slightly

Place half a cherry on the top

Bake for 6 - 10 minutes


Happy Baking!

Helen xX