What a "Billy No Mates"

Hello Lovelies,

This was a little goody that I picked up at TK Maxx, at a complete snip, I'm pretty sure it was £3.00 so a complete nail varnish bargain.

I really wanted a nice grey for the winter so when I saw this I snapped it up.  "Billy No Mates" is a pale blue based grey creme.  This is one of those nail varnishes that at first glance doesn't seem very interesting, but once it was on my nails I loved it.  I used two coats and no top coat in the picture, and I have no complaints about either the application or formula, so far it has lasted three days chip free, which is good when it comes to my nails.  This is definitely going to be part of my Autumn/Winter nail varnish collection.   

What is your colour for the cooler months going to be?

Pancake Breakfast

Hello Lovelies,

I am not really an English Breakfast kind of girl, if I want a special brekkie then I tend to turn to the humble scotch pancake. 

Ingredients

100g self raising

15g sugar

1 egg

150ml milk

Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl, then add the egg and half of the milk, and beat well until until it is smooth.

When your batter is ready take a heavy-based frying pan and brush with a little vegetable oil.
Take your batter and drop in spoonfuls onto the pan in 10cm round pancakes. 

When bubbles form on the surface flip your pancake and cook for another 1/2 min until golden brown.

Once cooked remove from the pan, stack then cover with a tea towel to keep warm while you cook the remainder of the pancakes.  

Once your pancakes are cooked, slather them in your topping of choice, butter, jam, lemon and sugar or maple syrup and fruit, bliss on a plate.

What is your favourite breakfast?

Salisbury Food and Drink Festival

Hello Lovelies,

Sunday was a serious day of food (I'm not complaining), we went to a food and drink festival in Salisbury. 

We started of the afternoon with a massive taco, from a street food company called Tacada, they said it was 'Dude food' and they weren't wrong it was the biggest I have ever seen.  I had pulled pork and copious amounts of salad in a yummy south american style wrap, heaven in a Styrofoam box!  There was a super hot chilli but as I am a serious baby when it comes to hot food I gave that a miss.

After filing up on jumbo tacos we took a wander around the other stalls, passing things like Mr Retrocool's ice cream truck full of all the old favourites.

Our next port of call was this lovely stall selling all these gorgeous Ghanaian baskets.  After browsing and picking up everyone, we walked away with this pink and orange beauty, we were the envy of every shopper there for the rest of the afternoon.

Next was the cheese stall that was selling seriously epic blueberry cheesecake which my brother snaffled down.  Cheesecake aside there were some yummy cheeses to try, my favourite was the buffalo cheese, I am mozzarella obsessed but had never tried a hard buffalo cheese, it was seriously scrummy stuff.

The coffee stall was calling us with the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans so we wandered towards it in search of some rich dark coffee for my father and some scrummy Green Gunpowder Tea for moi.  

There was one last sneaky treat to add to the days purchases.  I love fudge and this stuff is amazing, there were so many to choose from and so many yummy ones, but I was rather boring and went for the old trusty vanilla.

After our rather gluttonous afternoon we wandered home with a basket full of various yummy food that just couldn't be resisted.

Cheeky Chewy Choc Chip Cookies

Hello Lovelies,

These are killer cookies, big fat and chewy, the pinnacle of perfection, they are fab for that cheeky treat or a perfect gift for friends and family.

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g soft butter
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
325g chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 170 C/ Gas mark 3 and grease your baking tray or line with baking parchment.

In a medium bowl cream together your soft butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until it is well blended.

Next beat in the egg and egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy.  

Once you have a light and creamy mixture pour your sifted flour and salt into your mixture until just blended.

Once blended you should have a thick mixture, ready to mix in your naughty treats, these cookies had white chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.

After everything is all mixed it is time to pop them on your tray, each cookie should be 2 tablespoons of dough and should be placed 8cm apart, but DO NOT flatten the dough, just spoon and leave. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 10-15 mins, or until the edges are lightly toasted, then leave on your tray for a few minutes to cool and harden before transferring over to cool completely on a wire rack.

I personally think these are at there most scrumptious when they are still warm and really gooey, but I am definitely not knocking them when they are cool, they are devilishly delightful warm or cold.

So grab your self a glass of cold milk and a warm cookie to reward your self for your baking prowess! 

WINNER - Make the Most of the Last Few Days of Summer

Hello Lovelies,

The Emerald Dove is the winner of my 'Make the Most of the Last Few Days of Summer' giveaway, I know it was a pretty archaic way of choosing a winner, next time I will get the age old Rafflecopter to choose, far too much writing and chopping! 
 

Well done and I hope you, have fun with these bits and pieces.

NOTD: Dior Nail Glow

Hello Lovelies,

I have heard good things about this little bottle of pink, so decided to give it a go, not that I need much persuasion when it comes to nail varnish.  Dior Nail Glow (£18.00) is a nail varnish that is supposed to enhance your natural nails, it makes the pink of your nails more pink and the white whiter.  I am obsessed with nice looking nails, and normally have them coloured, but recently I have been going au naturel, but my nails aren't so bright after a summer of bright colours and reds, so this sounded like the perfect product.   

This product definitely has five stars from me, one coat made my nails look really healthy with a nice shine and two gave them a sheer pale pinkish colour, it is really easy to apply as it has one of those nifty one stroke brushes.  I also noticed that the colour got more intense as the day went on which slightly surprised me but a nice surprise.  It also lasted for a week without a topcoat which for me is pretty darn good.  I am rather in love with this product, with its shininess and chip free finish, so well done Dior.

Maybelline Color Sensational Midnight Plum || Review

Hello Lovelies,

Today I thought I would review this little lippy as I spotted it on bloglovin' yesterday (for the life of me cannot remember where I saw it and now can't find it, so sorry) and picked it up on my travels around town.

This Maybelline magic in Color Sensational Lipstick in Midnight Plum (£7.19) is a rather brave colour for me, but as autumn will soon be here I thought I definitely needed something for the evening and this was going to be it.  I stick to nude colours during the day and brighter pinks at night but this Autumn everything was going to change.

The colour is initially rather scary, but once you have got over the shock it is actually lovely.  The lipstick is a berry/plum colour with blue undertones and a shimmery hint which was impossible to capture on camera.  I love lipsticks with a blue undertone as they make you teeth look white, I don't know anyone who doesn't want a pearly white pair of gnashers!

As the Majority of Maybelline lipsticks it glides on really easily, but I do find it rather sheer so using a brush to build colour really helped. Maybelline does normally set standards pretty high when it comes to staying power, and I wasn't dissapointed.  Although this was for autumn I write this on a really hot day sitting in my garden in shorts, just slightly ironic you've gotta love British weather!  

Is anyone else being brave with colour?