Wednesday 31 October 2012

#OrangeOctober The Final Segment

#OrangeOctober Day 31.

Happy Halloween!!

Wow! 31 Orange manicures! I can safely say I will not be wearing orange on my nails any time soon. I am craving dark, vampy colours ready for winter :)

Todays post is double the trouble, in honour of Halloween I am going to share with you two of my favourite orange glitters, but these are no boring orange glitter.

China Glaze Fortune Teller was an US exclusive in 2009 that was extremely hard to find. I managed to find on ebay last year and paid a pretty penny for it. But I just had to have it after falling head over heels for it after seeing it on SayAnythingBrooke and Scrangie's blogs.

Fortune Teller is small and medium round orange glitter and larger hexagonal orange glitter in a black creme base.



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The magic really happens when you add a matte top coat to this glitter. I used China Glaze Matte Magic.

Doesn't it look like molten lava?



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The other Halloween themed polish is an all time favourite of mine, this is Ick-a-Bod-y. I have a particular fondness for this polish because of the name, I absoltulely LOVE the story of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow, so much so I named my pet cat after the main character, Ichabod or as I liked to call him Ichabody. So of corse I had to buy this polish when it was released.

Ick-A-Bod-Y is a fine orange glitter suspended in a black gelly base colour.



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China Glaze NEVER disappoints with their Halloween collections.

What is your Halloween mani? Don't forget you can share photos and links to your blog posts on Facebook and Twitter

Trick or Treat! Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Trick or Treat!

Today's post  is a super quick and easy recipe for a delicious and tasty treat; Toasted pumpkin seeds I really am utilising every part of my pumpkins this year ;)

Here's what you will need,

A baking sheet,
Baking parchment,
Fresh pumpkin seeds,
Salt and pepper,
Olive oil,

There is only 3 steps to this recipe!

Pre-heat your oven to 180o

Lay out your pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet covered in parchment, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.



Bake in the oven  for 10 minutes or until they just start to turn in colour

and that's it! toasted pumpkin seeds!




You can even add a little chili powder for a

Tuesday 30 October 2012

#OrangeOctober Flocking Orange

#OrangeOctober Day 30.

Welcome back for the penultimate #OrangeOctober blog post.


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Flocking is the latest craze to come to nails since the caviar manicure, but how easy is it for an at home manicure?

I ordered my flocking powder from ebay and a couple of days later it arrived through my door. I can't say I was excited at the prospect of having furry nails, for some reason I imagined it would feel uncomfortable, like matte nails, but 100 times worse. I wasn't fond of the idea of mess or the removal process either. But me experience wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

Here's what yo need for an at home flocked manicure...

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Base coat,

Regular polish in a matching colour to your flocking powder,
Quick drying top coat,
Flocking powder,
A sieve,
Hoover to clean up ;)




Apply base coat, two coats of your base colour, I'm using a Kiko polish that I have somehow managed to leave out of #OrangeOctober *shock horror* This is Kiko


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Apply your top coat, I am using Seche Vite, but any top coat will do the trick :)

Working quickly sieve your flocking powder onto your nails.


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Gently press down on each nail to ensure the flocking has adhered to the nail.


Your all done!


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Overall I actually like the effect, I couldn't wear it all day, or on a day to day basis, but it isn't uncomfortable at all on the nails.

It kinda reminds me of this guy...







Spooktacular Tag

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Today's tag comes from Elle aka AllThatGlitters21 on YT. I know you all know who she is ;)








Lets jump right in!



1. Do you still Trick or Treat?

No! erm I think it would be weird if a 24 yr old was Trick or Treating, but if it was acceptable I totally would.




2. Do you like going to haunted attractions?

If its a Disney attraction then yes! otherwise its a difinative NO! 




3. Favorite Halloween Candy

Two days ago I would have said Cinder Toffee or Reeces, that was until I discovered Dairy Milk and Oreo!!!!







4. Favorite Halloween Movie

The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow




5. Favorite Scary Movie

Guillermo del Toro El Orfanato







6. Favorite costume you ever wore as a child

Pocahontas 




7. First costume you can remember wearing

probably a witch costume, everyone always dressed as witches or wizards at my school, we weren't very imaginative. That or it was just cheap!




8. Favorite Fall Food and Beverage

I love lentil soup to warm me up on a cold winters day, the spicier the better! as for a fall beverage, I like Cafe Nero's Caramelatte.




9. Do you have a festive background on your phone?

Yes! 





10. What are you going to dress up as this year?







11. What would Pinecone be? (NYAN Cat?!)

My cats don't really like to dressed up :( I have two cats, a Persian named Felix and Louis a British Short hair but they both live with my parents.
























I would love it if I could dress them up, they would look so cute. I'd like to dress them as lil' pumpkins. In my mind they would look like this ...


 




But it would probably look more like this ...






12. What candy do you have left in your stash after you eat everything else?

Gummy eye balls, they are just gross!




13. Do you decorate your house?

Yes! Every year religiously!

I wish my house looked like a cross between Disneyland and Pier One








14. Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes, or Hayrides?

I'd have to say Corn Maze. 

I've never done any of the above, but we are thinking of going to a corm maze this year!



15. Going to a Corn Maze, what do you wear?

I'm planning on wearing jeans, warm boots and a big comfy jumper, not glamorous at all but who cares when your having fun!



The Questions


1. Do you still Trick or Treat?
2. Do you like going to haunted attractions?

3. Favorite Halloween Candy

4. Favorite Halloween Movie
5. Favorite Scary Movie
6. Favorite costume you ever wore as a child
7. First costume you can remember wearing
8. Favorite Fall Food and Beverage
9. Do you have a festive background on your phone?
10. What are you going to dress up as this year?
11. What would Pinecone be? (NYAN Cat?!)
12. What candy do you have left in your stash after you eat everything else?
13. Do you decorate your house?
14. Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes, or Hayrides?
15. Going to a Corn Maze, what do you wear?



As always I tag all of you! but to name a few, I tag...

ChesterLovesMakeup
BethsBeautyBlog
Zoenewlove
Cottonbuddle
LouLouLand



please leave your links in the comments, on FB or Twitter

Trick or Treat! Pumpkin Soup

So after making the delicious Pumpkin, Cheese and Chive muffins, I was still left with a lot of pumpkin that I didn't want to waste. So I decided to try making pumpkin soup :)







You will need ...

1 1/2 kg of Pumpkin, peeled and cubed (for a handy how to video click here)
1 Onion, sliced,
50g Butter, 
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled,
1 ltr Chicken stock,
1 ltr Water,
2tbsp Creme Fresh or double creme,
1 pinch or nutmeg,
1 pinch of cinnamon,
1tbsp Olive Oil,
2 tbsp Maple syrup,
Salt and Pepper.

I chose not to make the croutons, but if you want to you will need ...

2 Slices whole grain bread, cut into cubes,
1sp sugar


Heres the recipe I followed in the handy form of a video ...












Delicious!

Monday 29 October 2012

#OrangeOctober Extra-va-vaganza!

#OrangeOctober Day 29

Who doesn't love a glitter polish?!

Todays polish is the third that I have featured from OPI's Burlesque collection, wow! who would have thought Burlesque = Orange?!


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Extra-va-vaganza! (like Va-Va-Voom) is from the glitter half of the collection. A beautiful orange glitter mixed with silver, and if I'm not mistaken, green? Its a gorgeous blend which works really well for this time of year :)


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Trick or Treat! Peanut Butter Cookies

Todays treat is Peanut Butter Cookies.  This was my first time making this American classic recipe and I was so happy with how they turned out! they are delicious.




Heres what you will need for this recipe:
3/4 cup butter at room temerature,
1/2 cup light brown sugar,
1/2 cup caster sugar,
1 large egg,
1 tsp vanilla extract,
3/4 cup peanut butter,
2 cups plain flour,
1/2 tsp Bicarbanate of soda,
A pinch of salt,
Chocolate chips (optional).

Lets get started!


Into a bowl add the butter and sofen with a hand mixer.



Add to the butter the light brown sugar and the caster sugar, beat together with a hand mixer until light a fluffy.



Add in the peanut butter, you can use smooth or crunchy, whichever you prefer. Mix until fully combined.




Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.



In a sperate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and bicarb. 



Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix until it forms a dough.





I am going to make half a batch choc chip. If you want to do this separate the dough into two bowls and add the chocolate chips to one half of the dough











Chill both doughs in the fridge for 2-3 hours, or overnight.



Preheat oven to 180o and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Roll your cookie dough into balls approx 2.5 cm and place on the baking parchment.



Take a fork to and press into each dough ball, turn the fork 90o and press into the dough ball again. There we have our cookies!






Bake for 10-12 minutes, take out of the oven and leave to cool.



Eat immediately! Yummy!

Let me know if you try this recipe!

xoxo