Cookies & cream chocolate fudge brownies

I know this isn't going to help our new years diets! *sorry girls* but I just couldn't resist (I figure if I blog about it then I won't want to eat it, hmm..) so this recipe is off Baking Made Easy on BBC 2 with Lorraine Pascale and eventhough she's one of those tv chefs that really quite annoys me anything involving crumbled Oreo's is good enough for me!

So heres the ingredients and how to make these yummy Cookies and Cream Chocolate Fudge Brownies..

You will need:

165g Butter

200g Dark Chocolate

5 eggs (3 full, 2 yolks)

A vanilla pod

160g Soft brown sugar

2 Tablespoons plain flour

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

100g/1 Pack of Oreo's

Now, lets get on with the baking!

1. Melt the butter over a low heat, when melted turn the heat off.

2. Grate or finely chop the dark chocolate and add to the melted butter.

3. Add the 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks to a bowl or mixer

4. slice a vanilla pod down the centre and scrape out the seeds with the back of the knife and add to the eggs.

5. Start to whisk the eggs until mixed together and you can see small air bubbles, then add half of the soft brown sugar

 6. mix again until blended together, add the other half of the sugar and give it another whisk until it's slightly frothed up and has some slight bubbles.

7. Add the butter and chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture (pour down the side - not in the middle to avoid knocking the bubbles out.)

8. add 2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp cocoa powder and a pinch of salt before folding the ingredients together, you can do this by creating a figure of 8 with your spatula or spoon until everything is mixed together!

9. Now crumble 3/4 of the Oreo's into the mixture and give it a good stir.

10. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined tin, crumble the remaining oreos on top.

11. place in an oven for about 25-30 minutes (but check them after 20!) at 180ºC

Once they're cooked they should look cooked on the outside but slightly gooey on the inside. Let them cool, cut into squares, place them on a serving plate and dust with icing sugar and voila! And they're yummy if I do say so myself, I'm eating one as you read this watching Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (twitter is going mad!)

Big love for Emma Bridgewater

Hooraahh! Heres the post I've been promising for so long, and I must apologise again for being so absent recently! My head has not at all been straight but thanks for baring with me :)

So as you can see in my household we LOVE Emma Bridgewater (this is only a small portion of my mums collection but the heart cup & saucer are mine!!) My mum has been buying this crockery since we lived in the house I was born in. She used to keep it all under her bed - yes, the bed I was actually born in! She said she was saving it until she had her "perfect country home" which we now live in and love.

I  had only been on the Emma Bridgewater website until just before christmas when I paid the factory shop in Stoke a little visit when we went to buy my brother and his Fiancee some little goodies for the house they've just brought - yaayy finally! So me, my mum & mammar finally arrived at the shop after about a 2 hour or so drive and we were starving like marvin so we sat down in their little country style room complete with tables, sofas and a spotty aga that I had been dying to see! It truly lived up to expectations.

for lunch I had tomato & basil soup with a crusty roll that had come straight from the aga, no microwaves in sight! And it was dee-lish! After we had eaten we went on the search for the items on my brothers wish list, thankfully they had all they wanted in the seconds shop which is much much cheaper than buying from the firsts shop and usually had un-noticable imperfections anyway. A couple of my favourite collections are Black Toast and obviously the Polka Dots!

They sell everything from cups and saucers to tea towels, pens, candles and cutlery (witch costs £10 for a tea spoon, by the way!!) so i nabbed one. Wrong I know but come on..£10 SERIOUSLY?! Plus my brother told me too and I wouldn't want to be branded as a bad sister would I..Theres factory shops in London (Fullham, Marylabone & Chiswick) Edinburgh or Stoke on Trent that you can visit or many of the collections are sold in high street stores.

If you love old fashioned country style stuff with a modern twist you'll love Emma Bridgewater and I recommend you go! It's a fabulous day out and you can even paint your own item and they have it glazed for you and posted within a week! (as you can see in the last picture) this is the bowl I painted with multi-coloured hearts and "true love never dies" around the inside, aww! I hope I've converted some of you to the wonders of Emma!

Appologies

Hiya lovelies! I haven't totally abandoned you, I'm sorry..things just aren't very good at the moment and it's occupying lots of thinking space..I've got lots of pictures and posts and ideas so when I'm back on track my attention is all yours, just hang in there! Love,

New Look SS11 lace up brogue

I features these little babies in my SS11 post on Tuesday, ordered them later in the day off of the New Look website and this morning (Saturday) I tweeted about their arrival (at 9 O'clock may I add - thanks for waking me up Mr. Postman!) I didn't realise what they were as New Look has changed it's packaging but when I opened my little black package I was a happy bunny! And there was a note about their new free returns policy by Collect+ which I think is brill as I hate paying postage and hate even more if I have to pay to send it back.

At my first look at the shoes I thought the material looked like it was slightly stiff and would be uncomfortable to walk in (thinking about using the free returns already) so I tried them on without socks/tights on and they felt a little big but thought I'd give them another chance when I had some tights on and to my delight they were MUCH better! they didn't feel stiff and bent really well at the ball of the foot, so don't judge a book by it's cover!

They look a little grey/shiny in the pictures but IRL they're quite black with just a little shine - wouldn't even call it shine, and the lining inside is just too cute! The laces are a little stiff but I'm sure they'll become more useable over time, I am tres happy with my order! Ideally I would have preferred tan coloured ones but these ones are still lovely & I love the detailing. They will save me from wearing the same Topshop pumps all the time.

You can find more from New Look's SS11 collection on their website and they've added a few new pieces since my post on Tuesday - some are rather diar, some are lovely! I'm not sure if any are out in store as I've not been to town lately (was meant to go to Brum today but my best friends got this flu, boo! get well soon Jek x) but when I find out I'll let you know!

Estee Lauder foundation & concealer

Left: Double Wear Concealer, Right: Double Wear Foundation

Since I started college my tutor has been banging on about her Estee Lauder foundation, she has both Double Wear & Double Wear Light so I thought I'd go to the beauty counter in Debenhams (never done it before!) And got a sample for both foundations but the lady at the counter was rather snooty so I decided to go to Boots instead and the lady was lovely.

I used both foundations (not at the same time obviously) and loved the Double Wear, the coverage was medium to high compared to the Double Wear Light being sheer to medium coverage and I like a bit more through the winter months. The lady colour matched me as Fresco in Double Wear and 2.0 in Double Wear Light.

The Double Wear cost £25 (which the vouchers I got for christmas helped pay for!) which is a tiny bit less than the Double Wear Light at £25.50 but I'd say it's worth every penny. The coverage is great, it applies really easily with a brush, the best foundation I've ever brought.

I also purchased the Double Wear Stay-In-Place Concealer in Light from the same lady on the counter in Boots, she was again very polite and friendly and colour matched for me, I just simply wanted the concealer for covering redness and it does just that! Applies really well and it's great coverage, goes really well along with the foundation and a little goes a long way which is excellent for it's £18.50 price tag so I don't feel like I'm getting scammed out of money like I do with many drug store brands.

So overall I would give the makeup a 5/5 and the experience buying it a 4/5 (they could have done with another member of staff at the counter to avoid waiting) I love my buys & will definitely be purchasing from them again, the price is rather high but fully worth it! Hope this has helped if you are in need of a new foundation/thinking of trying some Estee Lauder products!

Versatile bloggers award..

I've been given this award by the lovely ladies Emily over at Emily Charlotte and Gem at flutter and sparkle - thankyou! Much appreciated as I'm a new blogger & didn't really think anybody took that much attention to my blog.

Right, on to the rules for the award..

thank and link back to who gave you the award

share 7 things about yourself and answer another 10 questions

give the award to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy

leave your recipient a note telling them about the award

So..seven things about me!

1. I go to East Midlands College of Health & Beauty

2. I would love to be some sort of makeup artist in the future

3. I love my Poppy Puppy more than anything!

4. I live on a farm, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 4 chickens & 2 horses

5. My favourite place to be is London

6. I want to buy my mum & dad a ticket for the Orient Express one day

7. I wish I could dance

& 10 questions..

1. why did you create this blog?

I can't remember why as I made it a couple of years ago and never used it but I started using it properly because I wanted to give my views and opinions on things, I planned it to be more of a beauty blog, hence the name. But now it seems to be more of a lifestyle blog full of everything.

2. what kind of blogs do you follow?

ALL kinds of blogs, mainly fashion but I follow a few blogs like mine, a few beauty, I've just been reccomended a cooking blog by Gem, a couple of jewellery blogs & some budget blogs. I'd like to follow a few more cooking blogs & travel ones, if anybody's got any reccomendations?!

3. favourite makeup brand

Esdee Lauder, MAC, Urban Decay.

4. favourite clothing brand

Topshop, Zara, Jack Wills.

5. indispensable makeup product

Dermalogica Sheer Tint Moisturiser in medium!

6. favourite colour

Blue, cream, beige, rusty orange.

7. favourite perfume

Calvin Klein - Euphoria, Marc Jacobs - Daisy.

8. favourite film

Sex and the City, every time.

9. what country would you like to visit and why?

Spain, because I can't wait for my holiday with my boyfriend later in the year & America to visit LA, NYC, Beverly Hills etc.

10. make the last question yourself and answer - whats your favourite food?

Ben & Jerrys Phish Food! (because it's just been on an advert!)

I give this award to (drum roll please!):

Kate's baking blog at A Girls Guide to Gluten Free Baking 

Lucy's spin off blog at Where Are My Knees?

Zoe at Zoella

Some beautiful jewellery at Sweet & Simple Jewellery Design

Heather at Simply Sunstar

Jazmine at Jazzabelle's Diary

& last but certainly not least!

Beth at Anchor of Roses

SS11

 I know I haven't blogged in a while (since christmas) and I know these lookbooks have been doing their rounds but I've had a couple in mind and need to get them out! So here we go..

Primark SS11

1, 2, 3.

Last year (it feels so weird saying that) I wasn't really too interested in Primark, partly because my local Primark is rubbish and partly because their trends haven't really pulled me in. But this year is looking a little more hopeful. I quite like the Belted Chiffon Shirt Dress £15 (1) the Stripe and Pocket Holdall £6 (2) and the Lace Up Wedges £12 (3) as I'm going on my first holiday with my boyfriend to his mum & dads apartment (aww!) and they would be perfect holiday picks.

I don't usually like buying the bags as within a matter of days everybody has them but as I'll be in a whole other country it will be a fab choice! I absolutely LOVE the Belted Chiffon Shirt Dress £15 (3) I love that colour and already have a couple of items that colour in my wardrobe and I love the length, it will probably be a bit long but I don't mind taking it up.

New Look SS11 

1 - 29.99, 2 - £19.99, 3 - 16.99.

I haven't really shopped in New Look in the last few months either as I never really find anything amazing in there, I prefer it for basics but I'm surprisingly impressed with their SS11 collection, or what I've seen of it. The Scallop Trim Playsuit is right up my street and will probably wear it for going out with a pair of heels and my Topshop kimono but I'm not sure if I love it enough to spend £30 on it as it's a bit plain in the waist for me.

I've always wanted a pair of brogues and I'm finally going to invest in this pair of Black Lace Up Brogues, cute and simple. The Animal Peter Pan Tunic is such a 'blogger' thing to have right now as peter pan collars are bang on trend and you can see why, the dress is cute, simple yet perfectly detailed with the collar without being granny-ish. Again it may need taking up as I'm only little!

Topshop SS11

Topshop's SS11 on their website has really disappointed me to be honest, there's not one thing I would wear, true I will probably love some things when they're in the shop but otherwise not overly excited for the collection. The items on their  blog on the other hand lead to a much more happy Topshopper, the prints are great, they still have over-sized boyfriend blazers and their laddered knits are very 'in'

The models did well to walk in their many-a-fringed sky scraper heels and still keep their balance with their matching hugely crimped and ombre'd hair probably weighing them down and bright red lippy. the  and the swimwear was fantastic - I will definitely be styling various swim suits on my holiday, I especially love the one shown above! You can see the show here.

 So thats the round up of the shops I may or may not be investing in their SS11 collections, I don't usually look for anything so much "on trend" that everybody has because OMGZ YOU HAVE 2 HAVE EVERYTHING THATS 'IN' but things that look nice and suit me. Some items have disappointed and some have induced excitement but overall I'd say it's OK, I'm sure they will be alot better when on the rails!

p.s. I have also just joined Blog Lovin'