L'occitan Shea Butter in "Apricote flower"

I love anything with shea butter in it out of everything I use on my elephant dry skin it seems to be the only thing strong enough to keep my skin hydrated for a few days per application. I also once read that applying artifila creams and lotions can make your skin even more dry than it is so I was happy to see that a few months ago QVC decided to have little TSV on their Apricot Flower Shea Butter collection :)

I have always read the shea butter is the way to go for soft smoth and moisturies skin, I tried many creams and "body butters" but they never seemed to have a lasting effect on where I put it on my body.

And I have to say I really think I will be repurchasing their products but only in a multiple piece set like I got from QVC

The star of the show is the %95 Shea butter tin that is probably the only thing that will keep my knees looking normal is this! I have been putting it on day and night but in the last few weeks I haven't been using it because I have been going through LAZY skin care phase and I am yearning to use it to revive my knees especially since I fell and skid on my knee last month :(.

I also adore the Shea butter shower gel its amazing smell and feel is luxury at home, this is the only product along with the hand cream that doesn't smell of apricot flower.Although I wish the shower gel did smell like apricot though I really love it when the whole range smells the same and not just the lotion or the body butter.

The best way to describe the apricot flower smell is that it smells like apricot sweets would smell like fresh and sweet!

Has anyone else tried any of the apricot flower range from L'Occitane ?

P.S heres a few pics of the scones I made :)

A few faves and what I ate :)

So here we have a few of the desserts I ate in July I love deserts of all shapes and sizes and I love trying new ones I crave them during the day so that's why im posting this now :) .

when you want chocolate but you have a wedding to go to this is what you should eat!

When your at Cappacino in Westfeild this is what you should order.........YUM!

Cupcakes for my birthday in July these were from the "Love Bakery" in Chelsea its also the one they have in "Made in Chelsea" my friend told me 

CAKEPOPS! I  LOVE THESE!

As you can see I did enjoy my self a bit but never the less I was careful and did not overdo it .

On to the Stuff:

Again as I was at my cousins house I was rummaging through her stuff since I was bored and I found these I actually did not have much make-up with me things like blush and lip products I forgot at home so I was using these for a few days and I really liked them.

I loves this blush my Chanel I forgot to take the name but it is a light peachy pink perfect and soft barely there but gives a wonderful look you can't go wrong with Chanel.

I also tried Hue lipstick from mac its very Kim K but if you wear it without lip gloss it can be a little chalky I still like it and I may purchase it in the future .

Hue Lipstick/Chanel blush

Lastly I wore this bright red nail polish its so nice the colour is beautiful and is really opaque you only need one coat I applied 2 coats just in case and this was the 5th day. 

I do have one problem with it though, I actually put this on in the night and the following morning I found bed prints on my nails :( I haven't tried H&M nail polish before but they worth a try they also have amazing shine no base coat or top coat.

Randomness in my life

I felt like doing a random post :)

I love food a quiet alot! I thought it would be nice to show you guys what I consumed......

Although before I show you I thought I might add a photo of my nails I have been really loving the free Nails Inc polish in Electric teal.

Ok on to the food!

Home made Chinese food yumm!

Something I ate from an Indian food place 

a traditional arabic dish called "maqloubeh" which means upside down they cook the rice meat and veggies in layers and then topple in upside down like so on a serving dish 

Salad to go with it :)

and finally oven cooked chicken with sweet potato and salad 

And speaking of food I decided to try out the DIY Onion hair mask which basically consists of putting onion juice on your hair as it is supposed to increase hair growth over time, I have to say I only did it only once and im still debating with my self as to whether to do it again or not its been 2 weeks and 5 washes and I can still smell the onion in my hair :( 

I actually used onion pulp as I didn't want to put an onion down our juicer my mum wouldn't be happy :D

I left it for for 4 hours then washed my hair as normal 

Has anyone tried the onion hair mask im told that yogurt is also good too but I have yet to try it maybe I will do it later and see how it goes

What have I been up too?

Its crunch time for me it gets hectic this time of year all the courseworks and revision gets worse too much to juggle I have just been drowning in it! I still am but I have neglected my blog for a while and I miss it after all it is my secrete getaway lol. As far as beauty life goes I have been using my

Bobbi Brown skin foundation
Urban Decay Naked Palette
Stereo Rose MSF/Joues contraste blush in Caprice (I think) very old now
Buxom Gel Liner (in Leather)
No mascara only rarely L'oreal Million lashes
Bobbi brown Creamy Concealer and corrector
Korres Pomegranate  lip balm

I also bought a lovely purse from Cath Kidston when it was on sale

 soooo lovely! 

My craving for Chocolate has been at its peak at the moment and I have been resulting to this

Nutella!

And since I have been studying so hard my mind steers towards making random things in terms of food and i remmebred how I wathed TV chef Giada make these stuffed olives fried in batter SERIOISLY THE BEST! but they only taste nice fresh I will look for the recipe but im sure if you google "Giada stuffed Olives" you can find it

we decided to do a few prawns too :) YUMM!

I recently have been loving this stunning nail polish by MAC its from the Pret a papier collection I really can't find the bottle to write the name since I changed it yesterday but I wrote about it here

 Stunning!

I also found this in the post lol from Sky could they get any desperate?

haha WATCH E! 

And to finish off I had to show you these beautiful flowers I saw at Hilton towers in Mayfair my uncle came over so we went to visit him but this was the highlight of my evening :P

pretty! I know someone who would love these too you know who you are!

I hope to post a few more of my random photos of what I have been doing xx

Cup Cake part D'eux

Ok so as you guys may have guest I love cooking and makng food especially CUPCAKES! I got a lot of good feedback on the previous cupcakes I did you can have a look at them HERE!

My mum was reading one of her cook books and asked me if I wanted to try a different cupcake recipe that might be fun.

I thought it would be nice to try them since they contain a rather special ingerdient "Reese's Peanut butter cupcakes" soooo yuummm! they are so delicious you won't stop your self from eating them and if you take them to someones house as agift they'll love you for ever lol!

I followed Gizzy Erkins recipe I couldnt fine a direct link to her recipe but I found this webiste that has it down pretty well I have realised with Celeb cooks and chefs that they only publish selected recipes online so that you buy the book so if you really want to then go ahead but this recipe should be sufficient.

What you need:

INGREDIENTS
170g softened butter
170g golden caster sugar
3 large free-range eggs
170g self-raising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g fudge, chopped into small cubes 6 Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped into small pieces
Reese's peanut butter cups or peanuts, to decorate
For the peanut butter frosting
200g peanut butter
170g icing sugar
150ml full fat cream cheese (Philadelphia is good)

What you need to do: 

Preheat the oven to 170 C/gas 3. Put 18 cupcake cases in the holes of 2 Yorkshire pudding or muffin tins.
Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk for around 5 minutes, or until pale and creamy. Whisk in the eggs, one by one, until combined. 

You may find the mixture curdles a little when you pop in your last egg but it should come together again when you add the flour.
 
Sift over the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and stir in. Loosen the mixture with 3 tablespoons of milk and the vanilla extract. 

You want the batter to fall off the spoon easily; if you think it's too thick, stir in another tablespoon of milk. Stir in the chopped Reese's peanut butter cups.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. You can check this by sliding a skewer into a cake; if it comes out clean, it's done.
Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter frosting, beat the peanut butter with the icing sugar and cream cheese for a few minutes, or until smooth and creamy. There are no real rules when icing a cupcake except that it has to be thick - really thick ' so whether you want to use a knife or piping bag, give them some shape or make them smooth, the choice is yours. Decorate with chopped Reese's peanut butter cups or peanuts

Makes 18
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes 

Here's some pics for you guys to mouth water on!

One little thing to add is that I personally would have preferred to use a butter cream icing since the cream cheese felt a little weird to me but others loved it my brother and sister scoffed them all lol 

Happy Baking

All in a cupcake

Hey everyone!

Its been a while I know January tests have been happening and for the past 2 weeks the revision has been intense.

I had my first 2 assessments today and I am so drained I need a rest! so no studying today but since I'm so used to looking at the laptop or reading or writing I had to catch up on my blogging you could say its the only thing I know right now lol.

I didn't do my beauty resolutions or best of 2010 but I will soon once the pressure dies down a little and I get to complete a list of favorite products, but for now i will update on you on what I had been up to in the kitchen this past winter break.

About 3 weeks ago I was studying like crazy! and having been stuck in the house studying and finishing coursework I craved cupcakes and not just any cupcakes really good quality ones like the ones you see at Lola's bakery. But to be honest I wasn't prepared to go out and pay £2.75 per cupcake and knowing it wasn't going to be all homemade. 

So I researched online for recipes and different types I found the Red Velvet recipe and really wanted to give it ago, however things didn't go to plan and I ended up making Chocolate buttercream icing cupcakes and I am glad to say I'm happy I chose them!

I made around 2 dozen cupcakes and me, my mum and sister iced them hence the different designs I made the rose looking ones

I got the recipe from this website I still used the Red velvet cake mix recipe but didn't add the Red coloring, I liked the idea of using Buttermilk or yogurt in my case since we didn't have buttermilk but it basically makes the cake more moist and yummy!

To make these cupcakes  I followed a video and the recipe at the same time however due to lack of preparation and panicking I missed out a whole cup of flour resulting in this

Cup cake flop!

However they still came out good just a little rough around the edges everyone loved them just remember to prepare all the amounts you need in separate bowls and I really advise using an electric mixer like Kenwood or Kitchen Aid or even an eggbeater.

HERE is the video I watched and the recipe I followed to accompany the video

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons red food coloring

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Please note that these measurements are in american terms so refer to this really helpful page by Delia smith that describes the difference

Preperation 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour three 9- by 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Butter cream Icing:

To make the Icing I litrally put the above title into google and serched around for a good recipe but I ended up finding my old cupcake book by Primrose bakery and its so simple I love their recipes!

Here is their recipe for Vanilla buttercream Icing, for chocolate I added a bar of cooking milk chocolate and dark chocolate. This is enough to ice around 20 cupcakes.

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

60ml (2fl oz) semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

1tsp good-quality vanilla extract 

500g (18fl oz) icing sugar, sifted 

Here are a few pics of how they came out!

Has anyone made cupcakes before ? Let me know!

If you guys like me to include food posts let me know too in the comments! xxx