April Favourites

April has gone by so quickly! It doesn't seem so long ago that I was writing my favourites for March, but here I am now at the end of April. It has been a very busy month for me as there's been a lot of work to do. But on the plus side, there has been a fair amount of indulgence in chocolate. This is the only time of the year they sell Cadbury's Cream Eggs, so I couldn't let that opportunity pass me by.

Without further ado, here are my favourite things in April. It has been a good month, so there was a lot to like. But here is a breakdown of just a few of the things I loved this month.

Favourite Beauty:

This month I am most definitely loving my Bobbi Brown correcter and concealer which you can read about here. It has quickly become a staple of my everyday routine. It is so creamy and just covers up the darkness under my eyes so well. As much as I love highstreet products, I think you have to have at least one high-end somewhere in your make-up kit.

Favourite Tea:

I've been trying to drink less caffeine in April and generally be more healthier. Of course it didn't help with the abundance of chocolate at Easter. I have tackled this by drinking my new favourite tea: Mango and Lychee Green Tea. I love mangos, and I love lychees so it was hard not to love this tea. It is so incredibly delicious and refreshing with the warmer weather.

Favourite Film:

At the end of March Frozen was released on DVD and The Muppets Most Wanted began showing at cinemas. I have tried, but I really can't decide between them. Frozen has been stuck in my DVD player and has quickly become my favourite Disney Film. A privilege that has not moved since Aladdin. I just love the story, the songs and the positive messages throughout. The Muppets Most Wanted however, is just hilarious and fun. Ty Burrell in particular is brilliant in the film and truly makes it what it is. It also includes some brilliant songs. The Interrogation Song and I'll Get You What You Want have been played repeatedly. Seriously, how could you not love The Muppets?



Favourite TV:

I've not been watching as much television as usual this month. In fact, I am even still behind on Game Of Thrones but catching up slowly. Despite this there has been one show I have been watching the most. My favourite show this month has to be Modern Family. Sky 1 is still airing series 5 and has been showing it in double bills. I absolutely love Modern Family, as it's just so funny. There are not many other shows that will make me laugh out loud.



Favourite Music:

This month I have been on a Tinie Tempah kick, and I quite like this particular song. I couldn't even say why, but you got to love a bit of Tinie, right?

Birch Box - April 2014

Yesterday I finally received April's Birch Box. Because the March one was so good, I was excited to see what little surprises April's would bring me. It is fast becoming a favourite part of the month. I love finding new things that I wouldn't have considered purchasing at all otherwise. It is great for trying out new products. And this month in no exception. There were some great items in the box.

Yes to Cucumbers Facial Wipes: I'm saving these for when I go away this year, as it is just the perfect size pack away with me.They look great, and with them being cucumber,it means they will be extra refreshing. I'm looking forward to trying these out.

Thebalm 'How 'bout Them Apples?' Cheek and Lip Cream: I absolutely love this product. The palette I received came in the shade 'Pie', and it is just the right size to keep in my bag to be able to top-up on the go. It is very creamy and goes on lovely. And first I thought the shade would be too bright on my lips and cheek, but it enhances them perfectly. A added bonus is the cheeky packaging. I'm definitely considering a full size of this one.

Campos De Ibiza Almond Body Milk: This smells absolutely delicious and it is in a really great sample size. Unfortunately, the big down to this product is that it is full of parabens. The ingredients lists five, so it has made me reluctant to use it. I'm not sure whether I'll try this one or not.

Colour Club Nail Polish: I received mine in the colour Heirloom Pearls, which is such a beautiful shade. It's a lovely pearl colour which paints on opaquely. It has a beautiful shimmer to it. I'm looking forward to using this one throughout the summer.

Lord & Berry Eye Pencil: To me, this product is what it is. It's a pencil. I'm not sure I could justify spending £10 on a pencil which I could get a similar quality for a much cheaper price, especially when I don't use eye pencils that often. It is nice to have a little extra one handy though.

Proper Corn: This is a healthy alternative snack. The flavour of this is Sweet Coconut and Vanilla. What a delicious sounding flavour combination. I cannot wait to try this!

Easter Nest Cupcakes

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Today it is Easter Sunday, which is notoriously the time of year for indulging in chocolate. This year I have five chocolate eggs all to myself to scoff, as well as a whole batch of cupcakes that I made. They are very, very easy to make, but look really effective for Easter, whether it's for afternoon tea or a buffet. And best of all, they taste delicious.

You will need: 5oz/140g self raising flour // 100g plain chocolate // 4oz/110g caster sugar // 1 or 2 packets of mini eggs // 5oz/140g icing sugar // 3oz/85g cocoa powder  //4oz/110g butter for the cake and 4oz/110g for the buttercream // 2 medium eggs

What to do:

1- Firstly melt the chocolate in a bain marie. The best way to do this is to boil water in a pan. Placing a glass bowl over the top, melt the chocolate in bowl using the heat from the steam. You can always melt chocolate using the microwave, but you have to be very, very careful not to burn the it. Once it's all melted, take it off the heat and put it aside to cool.

2- In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, adding a little bit at a time into the mixture stirring well as you go. Next, fold in the flour a bit at a time until it is all incorporated into the mixture. Finally, pour the cooled chocolate into the mixture and mix in very, very well so that it is all one consistent colour

3- Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases (or double up on a baking tray if you don't own one). I used yellow as I thought there is no other colour as apt for Easter. Fill up the cases by about 2/3, then place on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4/ 180C for about 20 minutes. When they are springy to touch, take them out of the oven and leave them on a wire rack to cool.

4- Time to make the buttercream! Firstly, beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mix the icing sugar and cocoa powder together, and then sift this in a little at a time into the bowl, mixing well. Keep mixing until all has been incorporated, and you should get a good piping consistency.

5- To make the nests, using a large star nozzle, pipe a ring around the edge of each cupcake. Fill in the centre of each cake with 3 mini eggs. I tried to use different colours for each until I ran out!

Finally, eat and enjoy!

My Tea Stash

It's no secret that I love tea. I mean, don't just love it, I looove it. So I thought I'd take you through some of the delicious teas I have in my cupboard

Most drank

1 - Tesco Finest Earl Grey Leaf Tea // 2 - Twinings Everydat Tea // 3 - Twinings Awake Tea

Twinings Eveyday is, as the name suggests, the tea I drink everyday without fail. I find it is the best of all the everyday teas. The Awake one is a new addition to my tea stash. It is a really great tea to start the day with. It is blended with ginseng, ginger and rooibos, so it is caffeine free which is an added bonus! And the Early Grey? That's a classic staple of my cupboard. It's also loose tea, so I get to use my cute house shaped infuser.

Summer Teas

1 - Twinings Mango and Lychee Green Tea // 2 - Twinings Mixed Berries Selection // 3 - Whittard Lychee and Mango Instant Tea

It might be apparent here that I love mango and lychees. Lychees are quite possibly my favourite fruit, though I haven't been able to find them at the supermarket for a while. The Whittard tea is incredibly sweet but it makes an excellent summer tea. The berries selection includes five pouches of five delicious fruit teas, of which only one of the flavours include mango!

Calm teas

1 - Twining Moment of calm selection // 2 - Twinings Christmas Tea // 3 - Clipper Organic Sleep Easy Tea

Tea is great for keeping you calm. I like to drink the Sleep Easy tea before I go to bed, and it really does give me a good nights sleep. The Moments of Calm Selection is great for winding down too. I particularly love the cinnamon and apple falvour which is incredibly delicious. I have one pouch left which I am reluctant to drink, as then it'll all be gone, which is the same for the Christmas tea. I don't even know if that's available any more!

April Sunday Style

April is the time of the year when the weather can go either way. The sun will be shining bright one moment before suddenly peeking behind dark clouds. You don't know whether to go outside in t-shirt or a jacket. Though, in Britain any flirtation of sun means the majority of people will be inclined to venture out in shorts and a t-shirt. I can guarantee that is not the appropriate temperature to go that far yet.

This month I am rocking my jacket and my fabulous new hat from Topshop. (Do you ever hear a word and then put it into a sentence? Because that's totally what happened there) As it gets warmer I just want to wear more and more dresses and skirts ready for summer! So that's what I was going for with this look. Something practical and warm enough for the April rain, but still looking ready for summer to begin.

Hat - Topshop // blouse - New Look // skirt - Asos // coat - Topshop // boots - New Look // watch - Urban Outfitters // Necklace - Accessorize // midi-ring - Miss Selfridges

what's in my bag

I've always wanted to do one of those 'what's in my bag' posts and at the moment I really love my bag. I picked it up in the January sales from Accessorize for a pretty good price. It's a small shoulder bag. It's extra useful as it has two compartments at the top so I can keep my lunch and drink away from my electronics, as well as a small zip pouch at the front. I'm not sure if the thin piece of fabric dividing the compartments would protect my electronics but it gives me a peace of mind anyway.

Without further ado this is what I currently carry around with me:

1. My tablet. I own a Google Nexus 7 which I love so, so much. I am most certainly an Android gal. The case was bought from Paperchase and it just fits snugly. It was bought as a quick cheap thing to use before I got round to buying a flip case, but I still kept it after 6 months as it works so well.

2. An umbrella. This was also purchased from Accessorize. Living in Britain means that an umbrella has to be a staple of any bag. It's very common to be walking down the street minding your own business, then, BAM, rain!

3. Tissues. Because you never know when you're going to need them.

4. Wreck This Journal. I have just started this book and I'm already finding it quite fun. I may be thinking a little too much over each page as I want it to be perfect. I am aware that this defeats the purpose of this book, but I also don't care. I want it to have a meaning. I may post some of the pages sometime in the future.

5. My MP3 player. I don't even know what type this is as it was borrowed from a good friend. The nature of my job means that I'm not able to have any device with a camera at my desk. Sadly, there's not much choice if you don't want an Apple product so this has to do for now.

6. Beauty things. These are the little things I carry just to keep myself looking tidy. The staples are my Collection concealer, shine control blotting papers from Superdrug, Carex lip balm, L'Occitane hand cream and a compact mirror. The mirror I bought years ago. It used to have picture on I but that has since rubbed off. It is still a very good compact mirror though.

7. 3DS. I am a gamer and I find my 3DS the perfect device at the moment. I'm too busy at the moment to be able to sit and play through a game on my Xbox as I'd like. There's quite a few I keep meaning to play, but with my 3DS it means I can catch up during my commuting time. At the moment I am playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which I absolutely love, and Professor Layton and The Azran Lagacy. And as a side note, I am incredibly excited about the Professor Layton Vs. Phoenix Wright game.

8. My purse. This was a present for my birthday last year and I love it so much. It's just the right size to carry the essentials around with me. It also has a cute owl design.

9. My phone. Not pictured as I needed it to take the picture, but it is a complete essential. So much an essential I forgot to put it in my bag the other week and I felt incredibly lost without it. I have an Nexus 4 and it is the perfect phone for me. It's very user friendly and I love it.

Bobbi Brown correcter and concealer

Last Friday I decided to visit the make-up counters at my local House Of Fraser. To be honest, I was looking to try some Benefit products, as I've heard great things, but seeing as no one was there, I moved on and stopped at the Bobbi Brown counter. One thing I have been looking to buy for a while is a really good under eye concealer. I've been buying high street products but none of them have really worked the way I want. Being at work all day means that I want something that lasts.

The assistant at the Bobbi Brown counter was incredibly helpful. She gave me so many tips on how to apply it. It was such a refreshing change to have some good customer service. We went through a few shades until we found my perfect shades in both corrector and concealer.

I ended up buying the correcter in 'light peach', pairing it with the Creamy Concealer Kit in 'Sand'.

It is very creamy and glides on lovely. My eyes are really brightened and the dark circles minimised. I really love the way it looks and covers up my under eyes. 

Overall I'm really happy with my purchase. I love it and it's fit great into my daily routine.

Spring Wishlist

1//2//3//4//5//6//7//8

As you may have guessed, I'm rather happy that we're heading into spring. The air is feeling warmer, the days are getting longer and I can finally hang up my heavy coat and cardigans. I seem to be liking floral patterns lately which make me feel especially ready for spring. I've also added the scent I received in the March Birch Box to this list as I loved it so much.

All I can say is, bring on spring!

March Favourites

March is over and it's already April. This year is already going so fast. But on the plus side, with the clocks going back last Sunday, we are now officially heading towards summer.But before we throw ourselves head first into April, it's time to take one last look at the best bits of March.

Personally some really good stuff happened in March, but it was an incredibly busy month. Many of the posts I wanted to write didn't happen, but I did get my first beauty box! Luckily it had some good stuff in it too. So here is my brief, mini round-up of a few of the things I loved in March. I'm sure April's favourites will be much longer!

Favourite Beauty:

In March I have being seriously loving Top Shop nail polishes. I am very much into their pastel shades, and in fact, I am currently wearing their Peaches and Cream shade as I type this. Their colours are gorgeous and I find that they dry very quickly, which is brilliant for my impatient lifestyle.

Favourite TV:


There was some excellent television in March, and it was hard to choose. But the TV I really got into last month was Chris O'Dowd's incredibly charming Moone Boy. It tells the story of a boy and his imaginary friend growing up in 90's Ireland. It is such an hilarious show. It has some brilliantly, clever moments. I cannot recommend it enough. Now, I really need to find out how to get one of those hats.

Favourite Music:The song I have been listening to over and over in March is the incredibly catchy 'Beat The Love' by Autoheart. It's such a great song which I urge you to listen to. There's not much more I can say. You will understand why it is on this list once you hear it.