February Favourites

1st March is rolling around, I hope you're going to make some Welsh Cakes, I'm not even Welsh and I'm looking forward to them.
This month has gone hellishly quickly and I'm sorry about the lack of blog posts this past week but I've been doing my mock A levels oh, the unbounded joy that they bring.
I haven't got a great deal of favourites this month so I thought I'd throw in a few of my phone photos of what I've been up to.



My amazing boyfriend brought me back a chocolate ski from Austria



I roasted a chicken (apologies poor blackberry quality)

Eating breakfast like a king: porridge made with coconut milk with honey and chopped banana

My boyfriend has a real knack at knowing exactly what I like, especially when it comes to jewellery, which, from what I've heard is pretty rare.
He surprised me on Valentine's day with these beauties from Helen Odor and I've worn them nearly every day since.

I recently rediscovered this little Estee Lauder blush and bronzer quad, my favourites are the bottom left, Pink Kiss, because it's so fun and the bronzer, Bronze Goddess, which doesn't look like much but is nearly beating Benefit's Hoola for the make up bag spot.

Top: Nude Rose 11, Rosewood 13 Bottom: Pink Kiss 02, Bronze Goddess 01

Nude Rose, Rosewood, Pink Kiss, Bronze Goddess

I popped into Primark (one of the extensive range of shops that Ipswich has to offer... Not!) and I saw this blouse

 

The pattern isn't unlike the Willow pattern we have on our plates and bowls etc, which I personally think is really pretty and at £12 I couldn't find a reason not to buy it.

Now, in the shop this had rhinestones on the collar, I don't like rhinestones so I pulled them off, if you're doing the same, be careful, but it should be fine.

Finally, this MUA palette has been lying unopened in my make up drawer and I've really liked it. It's called the "Undressed" palette and it's a bit of a no brainer that it's a wanna be Naked palette!

 The colours are great but you need a primer to make them last all day.

 

My favourites are 2nd on the top row, for all over eyelid, 3rd on the top row for my brows and 4th on the bottom row for my crease and eyeliner.

Shade 2

Rose's Soda Bread

I'm supposed to be revising for my A level mock exams but when my Mother announced that we needed some bread, I jumped at the chance as there was a cetain recipe by Rose that I wanted to try out.

Now, soda bread has to be one of my all time favourite breads, second only to a baguette which, if I was given some garlic and butter, I'm pretty certain that I could devour a whole loaf in one sitting, but my love of carbohydrates and overeating are different matters entirely.
A large amount of flour goes into this, about half a bag, but you end up with two heavenly smelling loaves which take only half an hour to cook, or one large loaf that would take about an hour.

 

I made one plain and one fruity, this was because I wasn't sure how well the fruity one would taste...

 

Clearly the loaf with cranberries and pinenuts didn't go down too badly, seeing as I, ahem, ate half a loaf in one sitting...(slight loss of dignity)

 

I urge you to try out this recipe, it's delicious.

Lazy Sunday

I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment and am trying to get a bit more into shape before the sun comes out, so no Chocolate Fudge Cake for me.
One of my favourite breakfasts is pancakes, the best pancake being Baconcakes by Rose, while these are absolutely delicious and I could live on these, despite the fact I wouldn't live very long,but they're not exactly healthy.

So let me introduce the two and a half ingredient pancake (fanfare):

The ingredients below make a filling batch of about seven small pancakes.

You will need:
1 ripe banana
2 large free-range eggs
1/8 tsp baking powder

First mash your banana until it's as smooth as can be, mine had a few lumps, nevermind. Then add your eggs and whisk them together.

 

 

Once they are combined, add a small amount of baking powder, this is optional, but personally I like my pancakes fluffy, if you like your pancakes dense, leave it out.

 

 

 

Once everything is combined, heat a greased frying pan and add your batter,

 

 

 

 

Cook on either side until browned, and watch the stack grow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing as they're so healthy you could probably use any topping you like, I love peanut butter and banana, but beware this isn't for banana haters!

 

 

A perfect lazy Sunday morning breakfast, or in my case Brunch!



Chocolate Chew Balls

This is the quickest and easiest recipe ever, it's a twist on the normal cornflake cupcakes in a recipe that was given to me by my friend Lowri after I mucked up making toffee for a Banoffee Pie.
I apologise in advance for the poor quality of the photos, this was done in a rush before supper so I only had my Blackberry to hand.

You will need:
1 can of condensed milk
Cornflakes (I used about half a medium box)
Chocolate of your choice
Porridge oats (about a handful)

Apologies, this recipe is based on guesstimates!

First melt your chocolate, I had lots of little chocolates to use up, hence why mine is a Heinz 57 but in the end, chocolate is chocolate.

The triple threat

 Next grab a large bowl to put the cornflakes in, add the chocolate and condensed milk. Seeing as these cornflakes were all that I had, I prayed that there would be enough.

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They weren't. So in went a handful of oats...

 

 

 

 

Mix that all together and dollop into cupcake cases and voila!

 

 

 



Make up Bag

My make-up bag is pretty minimal, seeing as I'm at school/college/sixth form, whatever you want to call it, I don't really make an effort, so it's just BB cream and concealer for me on a weekday.

I do realise I am slightly contradicting myself, I relatively recently reviewed Laura Mercier's tinted moisturiser and while I think that it is great, I want something lighter for school and work, meet Garnier's BB cream.




I really like this, the thickness of it makes it feel like you're just putting on a moisturiser but with added coverage, I find that I don't really want to overload my skin to much on a regular basis and so this is perfect, I got a shade medium and I'm normally quite pale but I thought this would give me that "healthy glow" and I've had compliments on my skin since using this.

For my concealer I am a big fan of Maybelline's coverstick (similar) in Ivory for any redness or other blemishes and then I use the blogger famous Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer in 2. I have been through numerous tubes of these and I find them to be so great on pesky under eye circles.




















Blusher wise I only have eyes for Coralista by Benefit, it looks great with a tan and instantly brightens.
Benefit's Hoola is my bronzer of choice and I find it to be really natural looking as it has no shimmer, it basically is a really dark powder and the benefit with these Benefit (sorry... accidental!) boxed blushes/bronzers is that they seem to last for forever, so you get your money's worth.

 


I occasionally use eyeliner and I have found the best to be Colorstay eyeliner by Revlon in Brown as it doesn't come off until you want it off.
I also like to "brighten" my eyes using two eyeliners I found while on holiday in Italy by a brand called KIKO, they were so inexpensive and just as I was running out, they opened up a shop in Westfield Stratford, luckily they have now got an online store for the UK, the blue eyeliner is here, shade 809 and I like to put this on the outer corners of my lower lash line. The pearly white eyeliner is this, which I put along my inner lower lash line.

The eyeshadow is by Natural Collection and is in the colour Barley, I couldn't find it online, but they should have it in a local Boots. The gold is really flattering on my green/blue eyes and looks great with a tan and black liquid eyeliner.

 

 After curling my eyelashes I use Estee Lauder's mascara which lengthens and stays put until I want to take it off, which is perfect!

For my lips I just use Benefit's Benetint Lipbalm which I reviewed here in my January Favourites.

i-scream

My sixth-form is relatively small, meaning three classes of ten in each year, I've been very lucky and for the past two years I have been in a form that all get on really well.
Everybody has been turning the big 1-8 this year and as I.K was the second member of the form to reach this milestone and also kind enough to invite the whole class to her house in Greece this summer, we thought we ought to do something special.

Now, our class have one thing in common, a love of food, most of the other forms have gone out clubbing in the evening for eachother's birthdays, but as you can probably guess, we went out eating.

i-scream is an ice cream shop in Ipswich, basically a kind of "pimp an i-scream sundae". You choose your base (always go for marshmallows), sauce, 3 scoops or more of icecream, whipped cream, sprinkles or nuts and a topping.
It also can be hired for weddings and events and we had seen that they offered a 10 scoop challenge and seeing as I.K is the biggest eater out of all of us, she decided that was what she wanted to do for her birthday.




Next time: 45 scoop sundae



10 scoops complete with toffee and chocolate sauce, whipped cream, strawbs, stars,
 jazzies, jelly beans and turtles.



There are a huge variety of flavours, from bubblegum to tooty fruity to pistachio to rum and raisin, all depending on how mature you're feeling.

I didn't actually have an ice cream this time, last time I came I had marshmallows, raspberry sauce, pistachio, strawberry and crunchy caramel with whipped cream, chopped nuts and strawbs!

 

(For anybody wondering, I.K took an hour to finish, although, after a Nandos, cake and this, throwing up ensued.)