New Things!

I said in yesterday's post that I didn't think I was going to buy anything any time soon, so just posted about the few things I did have. Well, I went shopping today haha. I set out to buy t-shirt bras, vests and some sandals and/or dolly shoes to go with my new brown shorts. I didn't get any of those things, but I'm still happy with my purchases.

New Look - Balconette bras - £12.99 and £11.99

I love these bras! They're so pretty. I don't normally spend over £6 on bras (I either buy mine from Primark or buy them when they're in a New Look sale), but I thought I'd treat myself (Again...).

H&M - Cardigans - £9.99 each

I love my H&M cardigans, so couldn't resist these colours. Most of my cardigans are blue, so I wanted to branch out. The green/teal one is a lot brighter in real life. I don't have many warm toned clothes, so I also picked up a peach one. I just need a red one and a pink one now :)

H&M - Flower hair clips - £1.99 each

I've started to clip my fringe back and clips like these look really pretty in. I already have the cream ones in pink, and love them.

Accessorize - Pearl necklace - £4 (Half price)

Obviously, I couldn't resist Accessorize's half price sale - I just had to pop in! As I was leaving, I saw this necklace. My last pearl necklace broke a couple years ago and I haven't worn one since. At £4, I think the necklace is still overpriced though.

Time to eat my extra McDonald's double cheeseburger! Thank you for reading!

Summer Bargains

Hello, all! I feel like I haven't blogged about my beauty or clothing purchases for a while, so thought I'd show you the things I've bought in recent months. As you can see, I haven't bought much at all. This is because I've been buying books, crafts and items for my room. Also, if I have bought a beauty product, I have shown you it in a post already, so didn't feel the need to include it in a haul. As I was gathering the above items, I realised that all of them are appropriate for the Summer months, and all but one of them was bought with an offer.

Let's start with the Superdrug order I placed over a month ago. Superdrug had an amazing offer on the sun lotions (I know they don't come under the 'beauty' category, but I still wanted to include them). Selected products were half price and then buy one get one free. They also had free delivery, so I just had to order! So, for the Nivea Sun Invisible Protection Spray and the Nivea Sun Spray, I paid £7.15, including delivery. Around £3.50 per bottle is a bargain, considering they're between £12 and £15 each when they're full price. I've tried them a couple of times and like them. I'm really not fussy when it comes to sun lotion though. As well as the sun lotions, I bought the Simple Kind To Skin Sun Kissed Moisture Cream for £4. I've used this a couple times a week for a month and I really like it. It gives me a subtle, natural glow and makes me look healthy.

The next order I placed was with ASOS. I bought Models Own Fluro' Orange nail polish for £3.50 in the sale (I blogged about it here) and a skinny, lilac waist belt for £3, which was also in the sale. I was unsure what size to get, but I bit the bullet and went with a small. The smallest hole on the small belt is perfect, so I'm glad I'm not any slimmer! I also bought some other things, but they're for a birthday present.

The last item I bought, which arrived this morning, are these New Look chino shorts. These were an absolute bargain! They were originally £17.99, but were in the sale for £5.40. Then, I had my student discount and a free delivery code, so altogether, I paid £4.86 for them. They fit perfectly, just like all of my other New Look shorts. I can't wait for the sun to come out now.

So, they are all the beauty and clothing items I have recently bought. It's not much, but I didn't have the patience to wait until I bought more things to blog about them.

I'm off to make cheese straws (The recipe will be up shortly). Thank you for reading!

Nails of the Week!

Natural light. It doesn't quite look like this in real life - My camera couldn't handle the colour! This photo makes it look like a yellowy orange, but it's actually a true orange.

Flash. This is a better representation, but it still doesn't capture the polish extremely well. Just imagine an orange highlighter!

This is Models Own Fluro' Orange - Oh how I love it. I had been umming and arring whether to get it for ages, so when I saw it in the ASOS sale for £3.50, I couldn't resist! I'm surprised at how much I like it. I think it's because I've been wanting to paint my nails a bright colour for a couple of weeks and this satisfies my craving. It took 2-3 coats and dried quickly. It dries more matte than your average nail polish, but it still has enough shine to look 'normal'.

I want to try a few more neons now! I've wanted China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy for a while, so I may just bite the bullet and buy it.

What neon nail polishes do you like? Leave me your suggestions!

My New Beauty Product Storage!

Hello! The corner where I store all my beauty products has had a make-over! It looks so much better in real life - If only I could capture it with my eyes for you, instead of with a camera. I had been wanting to change my beauty product storage for months, but could never find the right chest of drawers. As you can see, my products were taking over my room!

The white chest of drawers are from Argos and are from the Aviemore collection. They were £99.99, but I've just checked and they are now £67.99 - Bloody typical! Why does this always happen?! Anyway, I like them (I would like them a lot more if I paid £67.99 for them though). They're not solid wood, but they're still sturdy. The top two drawers hold my make-up, the third drawer holds my skincare products, the fourth drawer holds my body products, the fifth drawer holds my hair products and the sixth drawer just contains boxes and extra products. The two white wicker baskets on top of the chest of drawers, the white wicker chest next to the chest of drawers, the patterned shoe box and the bin all come from Store Twenty One via QS (I wrote a post about them here). I've even changed my make-up brush holder to try and look more sophisticated. My brushes were in a pink smiley face cup (Can you spot it amongst all the mess in the 'before' photo?) and now they are in a glass. A cup for a glass - I think I've grown up ;)

I hope you're enjoying your Saturday. I've had a headache and cramps all day, but I'm about to make fajitas and paint my nails neon orange, which should cheer me up!

Also, I've recently hit 1000 GFC readers! Thank you so much, you lovely bunch!

Update: I contacted Argos about the reduction in price days after I ordered and they've just refunded me the difference! How nice of them!

Lemon Fairy Cakes Recipe

I've just made these yummy little treats and thought I'd post the recipe! I didn't get this recipe from anywhere specific - It's just from my general knowledge.

Lemon Fairy Cakes Recipe - Makes about 25

You will need:

200g of self-raising flour

200g of caster sugar

200g of soft butter or margarine

3 large eggs/4 medium eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

The rind of 1 lemon

Lemon juice (About half a lemons worth)

Lemon icing-

100g icing sugar (This will cover about 12 fairy cakes. If you do not want buttercream or plain ones, just double the amount)

1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons of water

Lemon buttercream (I didn't weigh these ingredients, so just use your own judgement!)-

Butter or margarine

Caster sugar

Lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and line your bun trays with baking cases.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, beaten eggs, lemon rind and lemon juice.

3. Add in the flour and baking powder, and beat well.

4. Distribute the mixture evenly in the baking cases.

5. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

6. Wait until the fairy cakes are cool and then decorate with lemon icing and/or buttercream (To make the icing and/or buttercream, just beat the ingredients together).

New Storage!

Yesterday, my mum and I went down to the square to pick up some baking ingredients and groceries. My mum wanted to go in QS, so off we went. She ended up buying a top and I bought more than I could carry! I really loved their homeware section. All of the tags for these items say 'Store Twenty One', like most of the homeware items I saw.

The large, white wicker chest with floral lining was £24.99. I'm going to use it to store my shoes. Currently, my shoes are lined up against a wall and get covered in dust easily, especially my suede heels! The white wicker bin with floral lining retails at £5, but I was only charged £2.99 (Yay!). The teal patterned, cardboard box was also £2.99. I love the colour and pattern, and it's sturdy. I don't know what I'm going to store in it yet, but I couldn't resist buying it! There are a few other designs and sizes, which I may have to buy. The small, white wicker baskets were £3.99 each. I'm going to put these on my future white chest of drawers that will hold my beauty products. In one basket, I am going to store my everyday make-up products, and in the other, I'm going to store some eyeshadow palettes, face masks, nail wraps and false eyelashes.

I just need a white chest of drawers now! All of my beauty products are out to be seen, which makes my room look more untidy than it is. The trouble is, is that I don't want to spend over £100, but cheaper draws have mixed reviews. I normally wouldn't mind if a chest of drawers were not very sturdy, but they need to store my (heavy) beauty products in.

I had to include this photo of Puddin'!

I hope you're enjoying your day!

Crunchy Peanut Butter Biscuits Recipe

Hello! I've caught the baking bug. I made cookies yesterday (They're misshaped, but taste really good), I've just made crunchy peanut butter biscuits and I will be making a lemon cake tomorrow.

I absolutely love peanut butter, so I can't see these lasting long! I thought I'd post the recipe, so you can make them too, if you would like. I got the recipe from The Farmhouse Kitchen Baking Book. I picked it up at a charity shop a while ago.

You will need:

175g of plain white or wholemeal flour (I used plain)

125g of caster sugar

50g of light soft brown sugar

75g of softened butter or margarine (If yours has just come out of the fridge, place in a bowl and microwave for a few seconds)

4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter

1 medium egg, beaten

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon of milk

1. Line trays with baking paper (I used 1 large baking tray because I didn't separate the mixture. I cut it into slices after it was baked) and preheat the oven to 200C.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter or margarine, and the two sugars.

3. Add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Beat in the peanut butter (Again, to make it easier, I put the peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds).

5. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the mixing bowl.

6. Fold the flour into the creamed mixture, add the milk and beat. Add a little more milk, if necessary, to achieve a soft dropping consistency.

7. Place onto the baking tray(s). I covered the whole baking tray, but if you want to bake separate portions, place teaspoons of the mixture about 7.5cm/3 inches apart on the trays and flatten each one.

8. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Allow the biscuits to firm up on the tray, then turn out onto wire trays to cool. I then cut mine into slices.

The recipe states that it will make around 30 biscuits. I made 20 large biscuits, but I could easily cut them in half again and make 30-40.

They're similar to a flapjack consistency and are really delicious!

Please let me know if you make them!

Happy baking!