Cakes Cakes Cakes!

At another attempt to improve my cooking skills, my sister and I decided to make some cakes.

I found a recipe for carrot cake online and we used it as a guideline for the main ingredients.

This is what we used:

175g  brown sugar

175g sunflower Oil

3 medium carrots- grated

3 large eggs - lightly beaten

100g sultanas

Zest of one orange

175g self-raising flour 

1tsp baking powder

1tsp cinnamon

A handful of walnuts lightly crushed.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Mix the brown sugar, vegetable oil and egg into a bowl and stir in the grated carrots.

Add the sultanas, orange and walnuts, then mix well.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix evenly until the mixture is soft and almost runny.

Instead of making one cake we decided to distribute the mixture into muffin cases so they would cook quicker.

They took about 15-20 mins in the oven, however it will vary depending on size and how much mixture is in each case, so keep a eye on them. (The top of ours were slightly burnt :P)

While we had the oven on, and as I found some Pandan flavouring in the cupboard, we made come Pandan cupcakes too.

"Pandan cake is a light, fluffy cake of Malay origins (Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines) flavored with the juice of Pandanus amaryllifolius leaves. The cakes are light green in tone due to the chlorophyll in the leaf juice. It also sometimes contains green food colouring to further enhance its colour. The cakes are sometimes not made with the leaf juice but instead simply flavoured with Pandanus extract, in which case colouring is added if a green colour is desired.

It is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Hong Kong and China. It is also known as pandan chiffon." -Wikipedia

200g Self-raising flour

200g Caster sugar

4 large eggs

1tsp baking bowder

75g Vegetable oil.

2tsp Pandan flavouring.

This is the flavouring we have is from See Woo, it also contains food colouring. Pandan flavouring is available in most Asian supermarkets. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Whisk the eggs with the Pandan flavouring, sugar and vegetable oil.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and carefully mix evenly.

Distribute into cake cases and bake them in the over for about 15 mins.

♥

The Body Shop Wishlist

Did anyone buy that The Body Shop voucher on groupon yesterday and the day before?

I remember re-tweeting it a few times, it was such a great offer.

£30 worth of items for £12?! 

I bought two!

At first I wasn't going to get any, as much as I like The Body Shop, I hadn't stepped into a store for so long therefore I didn't think I would be able to buy £30 worth of products.

But I check online and saw so many items I would love to try out, hence why I ended up with two vouchers! That's £60 worth of items for £24, not bad at all. 

You can also get a free gift if you spend £10 extra on top of the voucher value (so a total of £40 worth of items).

I'm going to use one voucher next week and leave the other for a later date (expires in May) for any potential new collections :)

Here is what's on my wishlist at the moment

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Do you have any The Body Shop recommendations?

♥

Dior Pink Boa

Dior Pink Boa. Three thin coats.

My first indulgence in a highly priced nail polish XD

I love the brush on these polishes! They're flat and apply so well!

Pink Boa is a lovely baby pink, and is such a beautiful shade for the Spring.

♥

Sheer Love!

Lipsy Pin Tuck Blouse With Contrast Lace Trim

You probably remember that I had this Lispy blouse on my wishlist not long ago. 

After seeing it online I lusted for it.

I bought it thinking if it I didn't like it I could return it (yay for free returns!).

I bought it, received it, and I'm in love with it!

It's stunning!

I'm wearing it with a H&M bodycon dress.

I love the lacey elasticated cuffs, the combination of the loose sleeves is beautiful.

The contrast of the lace and sheer chiffon makes this blouse so unique. 

It's it so comfortable and a must-have staple in the wardrobe.

♥

Down The Drain It Goes...

In regards to my last post, I think I will get a few pieces of the beauty supplies. I see how well they do before extending it into jewellery etc.

I want to thank all those who replied, once I get the stuff in I'll let you know :)

~~~~

So Frugal Feb is definitely out of the window, down the drain, whatever. My self control has a span of two weeks max! :(

So I did a little spot of shopping with my sisters today, despite having a hand full of shimmer and swatches I held back on the make-up and just bought clothes and accessories instead.

Here is my OOTD, a clash of patterns :)

Bow Cardigan: River Island

Polka Dot Tunic: TopShop 

Bow Tights: Primark

Onto the mini haul.

H&M: Bodycon dress; £7.99. T-Shirt; £6.99.

New Look: Hairband; £4.99

Primark: Hairbands; £1.50 Each. Ring; £2. Earrings; £2. Bag; £6

And I saw this in Marks and Spencer and thought it was really cute. Delicious too! The spoon that comes with it look like the proper stainless steel ones, but it's actually plastic. Anything to make it look luxurious, well it is M&S! :P

"Chocolate Indulgence.

Smooth mascarpone cheesecake on a crumbly chocolate digestive base"

♥

Would You?

I was wondering if any of my lovely readers would be interested in any of these items for the prices stated.

I've found some items at very good prices and wanted to re-sale them as I know some of these products are hard to find and are highly priced. I'm still at the should I, shouldn't I stages, but I'm thinking if I have enough interest I will start selling them here on the blog first to see how it all pans out.

If I do get enough interest, I will start pre-orders first as I don't want to buy a bunch of items and then get no interest whatsoever once they come in, orders will be paid for via paypal and then I will order the items. Items should arrive to me within 15-30 days of order being placed, once in my hands I will post via first class recorded. 

If for any reasons the products don't arrive, I will refund you. Communication is key so I will always keep you updated with the information I have.

Post and packages prices will be about £2 per item and 50p for any additional items, overseas orders will be a little higher.

Your thoughts please ladies :)

♥

忘れないで [Wasurenaide] (Don't Forget)

The title is just a song I've been listening to a lot these few days by Tohoshinki.

I have been taking quite a lot of random pics this week so here's a small portion of my week in pictures.

Woke up at stupid o'clock on Monday for a 7.30am shift! I don't know why I agree to such early starts when I can barely get up XD

Shift's finished, back home, lunch! Rustler Sub (chicken, bacon and cheese, yum!), Cheesecake yoghurt and a Peperami :P

Matcha Latte! ♥ Love the vibrant green!

Mum's homemade noodles. Mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil and peanut butter, it is really good!

Job hunting is harder than it looks...

Goodies I have been receiving in the post.
Influence; Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, gift for sister.
 i-to-i TEFL brochure, possible future plans :)
Mulberry Stickers from the lovely Georgie.
Sana Hadanomy Collagen Mist in the cute limited edition heart bottle.

Saturday's mail.
Dior nail polish in Pink Boa with bunch
Gorgeous necklace from amazing Yasumi.
NARS multiple tints in Beverly Hills and Cadaques. I couldn't believe it when I saw them on the Selfridges website, I thought they were completely sold out! The packaging too cute to rip open yet :P

Mum made some langoustines. So delicious! Deep fried then cooked with orange peppers, red onions and carrots! Nom!


Hope everyone had a great week!

♥

Pretty Mixed Blushes!

Today I'll share with you my small collection of Jill Stuart Mixed Blushes.

Packaging is gorgeous and sturdy as always, I really need to stop falling for pretty branding!

13 Milky Strawberry. 07 Lovely Tulip.
Milky Strawberry is one of Jill Stuart's Spring 2011 releases, the newest mix blush. The lovely Jennifer CP-ed this for me. Thank you again Jen! :)
Lovely Tulip was purchased from Cosme-de.com.

Milky Strawberry. All four shades together (top). Individual swatch clockwise from top left corner.

Lovely Tulip. All four shades together (top). Individual swatch clockwise from top left corner.


With these blushes it's like having four blushes in one, or three and a highlight. You can mix and match different shades, use them alone or all together.
The brush that comes with it is the perfect size and very dense, a little touch onto the blush is enough.

Anyone has Jill Stuart mixed blushes? What's your favourite?

♥

Resisting The Urge #2

My wishlist for the week :)

Bag, Knitted Dress, Becca Beach Tint Trio, Rimmel Sky High, Laptop Table, Lipsy Blouse, Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow.

Two items that had recently caught my eye while browsing on G-Market. I don't have any light coloured bags and this one is really cute and is a perfect size, I really like the design of the twist lock fastening. The dress looks really pretty on the model when paired up with a leather jacket, I have the jacket, need the dress!

I've heard lots of positive reviews about Becca cosmetics and have always wanted to try their lip and cheek tints. This limited collection was released late last year as part of their Christmas sets and is still available on some websites. Anyone tried their beach tints?

As soon as I saw the nail polish featured on Ling's blog I immediately wanted it, it's such a lovely bright shade that I want in my collection.

My laptop sticks onto my lap whenever I'm free (internet addict!), this table would be perfect as the legs are adjustable therefore I could place it on my bed, the floor or the sofa. It has a fan with is operated by plugging the table into your USB port, the table is can also be adjusted (pull up to suit your position).

This Lispy blouse was spotted on Sara's blog, her haul video featured this gorgeous blouse. I love the whole floaty, tight wrist cuff combination.

I love products that gives you a dewy glowing complexion, I'm a sucker for such items :P I've seen lots of blog posts and videos about the Jemma Kidd radiance creme (you can tell I'm easily swayed by bloggers and youtubers!), all positive and is highly recommended.

♥

Bubbles!

I've been wanting to try a bubble/foam hair dye for so long, the craze is all around Asia and is starting to push it's way through the Western countries. 

I chose this Korean brand thinking that the formula is made for people with dark hair, as that's our natural color. I was really excited to give it a go.

Etude House Bubble Hair Dye in 04 Wine Red.

The kit comes with the two parts you have to mix together (the pink packet and the bottle), a sachet of treatment (conditioner), a pair of gloves and a plastic protector you can wear over your clothes.

Both parts in the bottle.

'Bubbles!'

The longer you leave the darker the bubbles get, eventually turning red.

Product on my hair.

It is advised the hair dye is left on for 30 minutes however I left it on for about 40-45 minutes.

Results!

So the last time I dyed my hair was last June! I blogged about it, although the colour came out more during sunny days the colour was dark therefore when it grew out it blended in with my natural hair colour. Hence why I couldn't be bothered to re-dye it until now.

So here are before pics:

 Flash. Natural light.

After:

Flash.

Dark Natural Light

Light Natural Light

Artificial Light.

The colour may not have turned out exactly the same shade as the model on the box (does it ever do?) but I'm really satisfied with the colour. Out of all the times I had dyed my hair, this is the first time it's actually light enough to notice. The many times I had tried, the colour were always subtle and only noticeable in bright lighting. This is by far my favourite :)

I really like the whole bubble/foam concept. It makes the application process so much easier and quicker, you can also get a lot of product through the foam technique compared to the normal hair dyes where you may need to buy two packets for longer hair.

For me, I got too much product.

It doesn't stain, whether on your skin, the gloves, your bathroom sink, it can be washed off in a instant.

I will definitely try the other shades from Etude House (Natural Brown, next on the list) and other brands such as Kao Prettia.

What do think? Have you tried bubble/foam hair dyes?

♥