Over the Nail

Trend alert. Over the nail rings popped up on my radar about a month ago. They came and I thought they would soon go. But nope they are catching on. Big time. I've started seeing them on the high street and flooding into eBay and cheaper online outlets. They looked a bit deadly and pointed but here are a few more dainty ones. I'm still unsure, what do you think?

Happy Halloween!

Until next time xo

Shakes!

The amazing American milkshake joint in Guildford's busy town centre has closed down! They used to make the best, creamiest milkshakes using different commercial cookies, chocolates, candies and sweets. I only ever had one the kinder bueno and it was so amazing. Chocolate, hazelnut, white chocolate, ice-cream and milk. So indulgent but so good. It's a shame when you see big businesses being bought out by large chain companies, which there is one down the road from this establishment. Goodbye shakes!

Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

I stumbled upon a lovely food blog and found an amazing ferrero rocher recipe. How could I not make these? They looked amazing with the gold wrapping and hazel nut topping. I couldn't find any of the gold cases and being my impatient self could not wait to look around and find them. So a quick pop to ASDA after university and picked up a few key ingredients... Nutella. Bloody delicious chocolate spread as I couldn't find any hazelnut syrup. They are relatively easy to make, the only complicated part if you are new to baking is the ganache. These are extremely indulgent but worth the calories, they are freaking delicious! My new favourite version of cookies and milk.

Original Recipe

Recipe:
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
110g milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g Nutella
200g Butter
7 tablespoons dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
240g all purpose flour
100g hazelnuts
1 bar of bakers chocolate
50ml double cream

Cake mix, mmm.

1. Melt cocoa powder and nutella with hot water in bowl
2. Cream the butter and sugar 
3. Add eggs and vanilla
4. Add chocolate mix and flour into butter mixture until all folded in
5. Fold in milk
6. Add half the ground hazelnuts
Bake at 170 degrees for 15 minutes or until skewer comes out clean
7. After the cakes have cooled, use a teaspoon to hollow out the cake
8. Spoon in Nutella and replace cake top
Break the bakers chocolate into a bowl. Boil the cream and pour over the chocolate until melted and shiny.
9. Pour gently over cupcakes 
10. Sprinkle nuts to decorate

I hate to brag, but these are amazing. 

Tip - Practising new recipes in a cheap case saves a lot of money!

Until next time xo

Cookie Dough recipe

Everyone has become addicted since Americans have broadcast it all over their sitcoms and then trickled into Domino's and American style diners and of course Ben and Jerry's. Its delicious and really fattening but it does taste amazing. The only problem is after about 5 teaspoons, its so sweet and rich that you get a bit sick of it. So its probably best to make these as cake pops which I might try soon. I got this delicious recipe here.

Fairly cheap ingredients

My indulgent dough

Original recipe

Recipe:
200g butter
230g brown sugar, 
200g all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of milk
toppings

1. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth
2. Add vanilla extract and 2 spoons of milk
3. Mix in half the flour
4. Add all the flour and milk and mix well
5. Mix in all the toppings
6. Eat raw

This would probably taste amazing, stuffed into the middle of a cupcake. What do you think? You need to serve this straight away as if you keep it for too long, the butter melts and seeps out. blegh.
Until next time xo

Named and Shamed - Topshop

As much as I love the fashion forward ways of Topshop, the amazing shoes and fitted jeans. I hate the standard of the jewellery. The design is great and generally unique they are completely overpriced for the quality. An item you'd expect to last you at least 2 years since you paid around £15 for (triple the price in Primark) the quality is of the same standard. Every item of jewellery I've ever bought from Topshop has broken within the first 3 weeks. This isn't because I'm throwing it on the floor and doing a work out in them, they just never make the grade.

The final straw was today when I nipped into the sale and bought a gorgeous T I'd been eyeing up for a while. I found a huge range of cuff earrings which I am addicted to and purchased a dainty Aztec gem one for £2.50. Yes it was only £2.50 but they were selling this full priced not long ago so the fact it broke when I took it out of the packaging? Wheres the explanation.... 

The feathered one managed to be removed from the packaging without breaking, but I'm scared to wear it out of the house. Has anyone had a similar experience? Or am I just very heavy handed?

I'm going back tomorrow to see what they can do. I will let you know!

Until Next Time xo

Barry M and Rimmel

After trying some Nail inc colours at the student lock in I was craving some new varnishes. But at £11 a bottle I can't justify buying Nail inc although you do get a more vibrant colour from some of the range. I picked up 3 Rimmel 60 seconds.

The grey colour I tried was gorgeous but the Rimmel version fails to live up to the standard. Although the bottle looked like a very similar colour and the quality is usually very good. After my nails dried the colour was disappointing and looked a rather dull and dirty shade of grey. 

The red was my favourite a very vibrant, popping and sexy red. It dries very quickly and only needed one coat for a gorgeous last minute touch. 

But the black which I thought was a sure thing, was not. It took 4 coats to get a nice bold, black colour. After the first two coats it looked like a liquidy eye liner effect. Bit strange but a few more coats and the colour is gothic and gorgeous. 

Aqua green (I really can't remember what this colour is actually called, so for now its aqua green? ha) is a very in demand colour this autumn, its been used everywhere. From blazers to shoes and now nails. This colour is gorgeous, it takes longer to dry than the others obviously but the result is gorgeous. It does need 2 coats but then most colours do.