Coconut Berry Smoothie

Once again I have a recipe that is so easy it shouldn't be allowed to be referred to as a recipe. I thought this would be a nice, last minute Valentine's day treat if you want to do something special but don't want to/forgot to buy chocolates or a card. It's a really yummy smoothie type treat that takes no time at all. And it's pink! 

You could of course substitute all the fruit for other fruit of your choice as this doesn't have to just be Valentine's day appropriate. Hope you enjoy this 'recipe'!

Ingredients:

3 pots of greek yoghurt 

handful of raspberries

handful of blueberries

handful of strawberries

muesli

coconut sprinkles 

3 tbs honey

Serves 2

Put the yoghurt, honey, a handful of raspberries and strawberries (you could add blueberries but the whole point is to make the yoghurt pink) and some grated coconut into a blender. That's it, that's literally all you have to do. 

You can drink it like that or you can do what I did which was layer some more berries and some muesli in a large glass, then pour in the smoothie mixture and top with more berries and grated coconut. I also (tried to) cut a strawberry to resemble a heart since this is meant to be a Valentine's day treat. 

Milkshake glasses - Delhaize

Paper straws - Ava

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

These are basically Oreo cupcakes, except I used those fake knock off oreos. I've made these twice, once following the quantities and method used in this recipe however the batch made 22 cupcakes, not 12. So be aware of that if you ever follow that recipe. As per usual, I made a few changes but it still ended up making 22 cupcakes. So if you don't like things not being even and perfect, look away now!

I made up my own icing as well since I thought 350g of sugar was a bit excessive but that's personal taste. I added a bit of red food colouring too to make it pink and more Valentine's day appropriate but you don't have to do that because cake and chocolate shouldn't be celebrated just one day of the year. (What do you mean that's not what Valentine's day is about?) You could also add crushed oreos to the mixture for extra crunch and yumminess. I decorated them with red fondant hearts (I just rolled the fondant out and used heart shaped biscuit cutters), strawberries and crushed oreos. 

I bought these amazing cupcake boxes in a shop called Ava (which I have recently been obsessed with). It is basically a huge stationery/office supply shop that also sells baking stuff. Two of my favourite things combined! The boxes make the cupcakes look even cuter and slightly professional which is a plus when your decorating skills are as non-existent as mine.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour

280g caster sugar

40g cocoa powder

40g crushed oreos

3 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

80g unsalted butter

240ml Milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

22 oreos

22 cupcake cases

Icing:

250g mascarpone cheese

150g icing sugar

red food colouring

Decoration:

strawberries, red fondant, more crushed oreos

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line your muffin tray then add an oreo to each case. I did 12 like this and then decided to experiment a little and added a few oreos on top of the batter and a few stuck inside the batter. They all baked properly and tastes amazing!

Add the flour, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix until you get a sandy consistency, then add the crushed oreos and mix again.

In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs, and vanilla extract together then add half into the flour mixture and mix together so that it all sticks together in a lump. Then add the rest of the milk mixture and mix until smooth.

Fill the paper cases about two-thirds and bake for 20-25 minutes. When you stick a knife in to see if they are done, bear in mind that there are oreos at the bottom and the cream tends to make it look like the cupcakes aren't fully baked when they actually are. 

For the icing, mix together the mascarpone and the sugar until smooth. Then slowly add red food colouring. It's better to do this bit by bit to make sure you get the right colour. 

Once the cupcakes have cooled you can decorate them. This particular icing probably isn't the best for piping as it's a bit runnier than your standard icing, so just use with a knife. I'm not the best at icing so this suits me just find. My technique is to splat it on and spread it a little until it looks artistically messy.

Then decorate them however you want and you're done!

Rose Gold Soft & Sweet Valentine's Day Look

Hi everyone,

I felt like doing a makeup look using my Naked 3 palette and what with Valentine's day just around the corner, it seemed like a good time to do it. Even if you aren't celebrating Valentine's day you could still do this look because despite using a lot of different eyeshadows, I would still say it is wearable. The brown liner makes it a little less harsh too.

To go along with the pink theme I used my soft pink Nars blush in Amour. It's quite subtle and looks really pretty when lightly dusted on the cheeks. I also used my current favourite lip pencil which is in a rather sorry state after I tried sharpening it (sob) but still works perfectly fine. 

Face:

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Cool Medium 2:

on blemishes

Manhattan Soft Compact Powder in 0 Transparent:

to set the concealer

Sleek Face Form palette in Medium:

contour, bronzer & highlight

NARS blush in Amour

Eyes & Eyebrows:

Soap & Glory Archery Brow Pencil in Blondeshell:

to shape and fill in my brows

NARS Pro Prime Eyeshadow Base:

all over my eye lid and crease

Urban Decay Naked 3 palette & MAC palette:

Nooner in the crease, Liar and MAC Sable on the lid & blended upwards, Strange in the inner corner, Darkside & Factory in the outer corner and outer lower lash line, Trick in the center of the lid and inner, lower lash line

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Whiskey & MAC Teddy eye liner :

on top and lower lashline

Chanel Inimitable Mascara

Lips: 

NARS Descanso lip pencil

Valentine's Day

Hey lovely readers! This will be my first blogpost from my phone, so fingers crossed it works! I wanted to share my views on Valentines Day, since everyone is being sucked into this giant hype that is all bundled into one day, yet again. I was always the kind of person to steer away from all the commercial crap that comes from this one day, that isn't even a proper holiday, because there's still school and work to get to. And as my brother pointed out, back when he was about 8, why have just to one day to celebrate love? Or maybe he just meant people should get presents every day. Not that it matters, as his point was still very well made.

My boyfriend and I aren't too bothered about Valentines Day, and in the three Valentines Days we've been together, we'll be spending two apart, as I'll be in England next week. But we do get each other a little something, be it a box of chocolates, or a cupcake, or like last year, a pair of socks. And we always seem to "celebrate" on any other day but the 14th (not even on purpose). This year, we got each other some chocolates (and I got a really cute make-up box too), because it's cold and the last few weeks have been hectic and we felt like treating ourselves.

But the point of this rambling post is, whether you're in a relationship, or single, you shouldn't have to save love (and more importantly, chocolate) for just the one day. Go and indulge yourselves with all the special offers, I know I will!
Oh, and Vintage Cam has a new effect, called Caffe Mocha, which is what I used to take the following pictures. I love that app so much!