Two-Tier Rose Cake (Attempt 1...)

Last week I came across a beautiful 3-tiered cake decorated with cascading roses in my newest cake decorating book (£1 from the M&S sale, very much worth looking out for!) and thought it would be lovely to make for guests we're expecting at the end of the month. I wanted to practice it first, as I had grand ideas of a two tiered cake, with different flavour sponges and buttercreams, with a beautiful display of fondant roses. It was just as well I did because I'm a baking novice and as such encountered several hitches along the way, all of which lead to a less-than-perfect looking cake :( But at least I know what to improve for the real thing I guess! Namely;

- Do NOT forget the Marzipan. (I said I was a novice!) I completely missed this out from both the ingredient list and method, and it was only when I came to add the royal icing that it  seemed like icing the cake was a lot harder than it should be. I was right. As a result the icing didn't quite stick to the cake as well as it should have, and you can see where the sponge cakes are sandwiched together. It doesn't look good.

- Remember that baking a small cake means adjusting the cooking time. I forgot to do this and as a result my "strawberry" tier tasted predominately of overcooked cake.

- Make sure the cakes are level before applying the icing. Yet another rookie mistake and this caused a fondant rose to roll off the top of the cake, land in the middle of the previously smooth icing leaving a big dent and then proceeding to fall (and smash) on the floor.

I'm disappointed with the overall look of the cake (and didn't really want to upload the photo to my blog, but It's a learning curve right?) but not to get too disheartened by it, I was pleased with how the roses turned out - it took me an entire evening to make them all and it took a while to get a technique going, but I don't think they look too bad for my first attempt at making roses, and I do like the colour of them too. I also made a strawberry buttercream for the top tier cake and luckily that turned out very nicely and added some flavour back to the cake!

So, here it is...hopefully the second attempt will look a lot better!

(And yes the picture is small in a vain attempt to minimize the obviousness of the awful icing...I know it doesn't succeed however!)

Latest Poundland Haul ♥

I was in London last week and managed to find my way to Poundland for a quick look as I'd seen a few things on their website which had caught my eye. I didn't have long to spare but I still managed to fill a basket! The first thing I picked up are these cute Cath Kidston style floral coasters. I thought these would be lovely on our garden table, and I couldn't resist taking a picture with my newly polished nails as they matched so well!

The next thing I spotted was a cupcake carry case which holds 12 cupcakes. I was really pleased to find this as I've been on the look-out for one since I saw them on the Poundland website a few months ago. I already have the cake carry cases and they are great for keeping cakes fresh and transporting them. Similar cupcake carry cases are sold in Asda for £6, and Lakeland for £15.99, so i think this is great for £1!

I also finally remembered to pick up a couple of packs of food covers. These are so handy in the summer to keep flies off your food, especially for picnics and barbeques outside. These food covers fold flat for storage and pop up when you start to open them, which I think is a better design than the old ones I used to have which would have a little string that you'd pull to clip a plastic clip in place, as they would wear quite quickly and wouldn't stay up. Each pack contains two covers too so even more of a bargain!

And last but not least I found this amazing little gadget, which is a 4 way USB charger, and can be plugged in to the USB port on a laptop or computer, or a usb car adaptor (which I also bought from Poundland but I put it in my car before I remembered to take a photo, so I've found a stock photo). This is so useful as I can charge my mobile, ipod, tablet and camera from this at the same time, so makes it a great space-saver for travelling as I can take just one little charger for all of my electricals, or with the help of my car adaptor I can now charge them all in the car. If I spot another of these I will definitely be snapping it up for a spare!
 

I couldn't find the 9 piece fondant stamp kit I've seen on the website though, so I'm still searching for this, but it looks ideal for decorating cakes, and much cheaper than fondant cutters usually are!

Dior Addict Eau Sensuelle Perfume Review

A couple of months ago I received a 5ml sample of Dior's new fragrance "Addict Eau Sensuelle" which I took on holiday. The little sample card holder didn't have any description as to the fragrance so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the delicate fragrance surpassed my expectations, with strong notes of jasmine and slightly lighter rose tones, it's like a burst of a freshly cut bouquet. I'm fond of floral scents so this appeals to me, but if you're not keen on floral perfumes you might want to try one of the original scents.

I'm looking forward to trying the other perfumes in the Dior Addict range, especially Dior Addict Eau Fraiche, which is described as sparkling and sharp, fresh and woody with a radiant and subtle freesia combined with white lotus flower and delightful pomegrantate.

Technic Nail Polish Review

I thought I'd do a quick review of the technic nail polish which I used to create my Cath Kidston nails. I bought 3 shades from Bodycare, a pastel blue, pastel green and dark pink, and at just 99p each I didn't really have high expectations for them. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are actually durable, long-lasting polishes, and even the pale blue was opaque in colour in just two coats and left no streaks. Since painting my nails I've washed my hair, done some gardening, cooked, been grocery shopping and carried out other chores and yet my polish has still not sustained a single chip! I can't wait to call in to Bodycare again soon and see what other pretty shades they have, I've already seen a pretty multi-colour glitter which looks like a very close OPI dupe, and at 99p they're a bargain!

Technic nail varnishes can also be purchased online at love thy makeup for £1.25 if you don't have a Bodycare near you.

Cath Kidston inspired Vintage Rose Nail Art

I've wanted to try a floral pattern on my nails for ages now, so when I was in town today I picked up a couple of new nail varnishes to create my own rose nails.

Edit - I've added green leaves now and it think they look a lot better; very vintage and Cath-Kidston-esque!

 For the pastel green I used shade "picnic" by technic (reviewed here) and the darker green is "Envy - 960" by Sinful Colours (a new nail polish range available in Boots, it has a vast range of colours and they retail for only £1.99). I didn't use any special nail art pens, although I've been wanting to get some for a while I was actually quite pleased with the quality of both brands which I used, the brushes were easy to hold steady and use precisely without the need for nail art pens or tools.

No 7 BB Cream Review

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my Boots Haul,which included a No7 BB Cream. I'm an extreme latecomer to the BB cream party, it didn't particularly appeal to me as I have a reliable foundation which gives good even coverage, so what else could a BB cream offer? Having now tried No7's BB cream I realise that the two are pretty much completely different products. The BB cream has a light moisturising formula, yet provides a noticeable even coverage.The best thing about it is how easy and quick it is to apply, there's no need for a brush or sponge, simply blend in with your fingertips and in seconds you have a more even skin tone; it's great for days when you're in a rush or don't want to overload your skin with products. The other benefit is that it is long lasting so with its light-weight formula it's great for summer (and it has SPF 15 to protect your skin in the sun). Unfortunately I often need a medium-full coverage foundation to fully disguise imperfections, so the No 7 BB cream won't be replacing my foundation, but it has become a firm fixture in my make-up bag for the summer months.

Holiday ♥

I have the post-holiday blues already! So I thought I'd upload a few pictures from my holiday as I'm sorting out which ones to get printed. In the collage above I've included pictures of some of the amazing food we had for dinner one evening at a Lebanese restaurant (the falafel in particular was delicious!) an ice cream shaped like a rose (I bought it purely because of this, despite not actually being hungry as we'd just had a huge dinner!), the beach we had all to ourselves when we got up early one morning to sunbathe, and views over the city.

In other news, I'm on a bid to reduce my spending! Despite normally being relatively frugal, the array of summer sales have been not so good for my purse (or my already full-to-bursting wardrobe - and yet still, every morning I find "I have nothing to wear". I can't figure it out!). We'll see how it goes!

Chocolate Baskets filled with Ice cream / Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop Book Review

I have just finished reading Abby Clement's latest book "Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop," which is the perfect light holiday read. I won't give too much away but the book follows two sisters as they try to take over their grandmother's ice cream shop in Brighton, and as one heads to Italy to learn how to make gelato, the other is left to start running the shop, and both encounter setbacks along the way! I took it with me on holiday and luckily enough I spent some time in Italy so I could try out real Italian Gelato to see what the fuss was all about in the book, and it really was delicious so I want to try making gelato too!

Whilst looking for a recipe in one of my dessert books I came across one for chocolate ice cream in a chocolate shell, so as I didn't have the ingredients at hand to make the ice cream I decided to try making chocolate baskets and filling them with some from the freezer for my first attempt.

The method is simple, cover a small bowl with clingfilm and pipe melted chocolate around the edge and across it and leave to set. I didn't have any clingfilm only foil, and this proved quite difficult to remove resulting in a couple of broken baskets, so next time i'll be trying it out with clingfilm and hopefully will have better results.

Boots No 7, Sanctuary and Champneys Bargain Beauty Haul!

I called in to Boots yesterday and as I was passing through I noticed lots of big reductions on their luxury brands including Sanctuary, Soap & Glory, Champneys, Burts Bees and National Trust, some with 75% off. I am quite keen on Sanctuary (their products are paraben free too which is a plus) so I was pleased to spot a few items on sale (two of which I had already had my eye on, but didn't buy as my beauty box is already quite full following a successful visit to the Boots Christmas sale in January!) And it is the perfect chance to try new Sanctuary products that I otherwise wouldn't have; whilst I don't mind paying a premium for products that I know work and are reliable, with limited money in my account for non-essential purchases I'm not keen to spend over £10 on one product without knowing it won't be tried once and then stuck in the back of the cupboard.
So, on to the small haul I picked up!

The first thing I picked up was the Sanctuary "Dream time sleep in-a-box" which contains everything you need to send you off to a relaxing sleep. I can't wait to try this out later, it has a soothing bath float, 4 in 1 body elixir, smoothing silk scrub and comforting night butter. This had 1/3 off and was reduced to £8.38. I also spotted a box of skin conditioning oils, (which I'd also wanted to try before), and you can either use these as an intensive moisturiser on your skin or add to a bath to leave your skin soft and smooth. I'm a big fan of hair oil treatments so I'm hoping that these will work just as well! These were down to £2.30-ish from about £10. The third product I bought was a micro-dermabrasion body renewal scrub. I hadn't actually seen this before but I'm really keen to give it a go as I have an uneven skin tone and according to the scrub 9 out of 10 women noticed a visible difference to the appearance of their skin...so this has high expectations to live up to! This was also about £2.40-ish from about £10. Boots is also running a promotion where if you spend £10 on sanctuary you get a free creme souffle worth £11, so obviously I added this to my basket too! I've tried this out already and I really wasn't expecting much as I have quite a lot of moisturiser that I need to use up and didn't think it would be particularly different, but I soon changed my opinion. It is so rich it absorbs very well and quickly unlike some body lotions which seem to take ages to absorb, and it leaves skin feeling soft, supple and smooth and with a lovely fragrance.

Just when I thought I was done with my sanctuary haul I spotted the Champneys hand scrubs (far left in the picture) which were down to £1.50 and buy-one-get-one half price. I picked up two as I used to have a Sanctuary hand scrub which was lovely so I thought I'd give this a go. And even better I had enough points on my Boots card to pay, so effectively my bag full of goodies didn't cost me anything! There were also plenty of bargains to be had on the Soap & Glory shelves, Burt's Bees and National Trust aisles (including gift sets which would be good for birthdays or Christmas if you want to prepare early!), so if you're passing by it might be worth calling in and seeing what bargains you can spot!

As you can see in the picture I also picked up a couple of bargain No7 products. I'll keep it brief but currently boots are giving out vouchers at their self-service tills for £8 off a purchase of both No7 skin care and make up, and I already had a £5 off skin-care and £3 off make-up voucher from a till from my last trip to Boots, so I purchased a No7 BB cream (which is £13) and No7 eye illuminator pen (also £13) and was able to use all of my vouchers which gave £16 off, and as make up is on buy one get one half price this just left a few pounds to pay. I also used my mums vouchers to get her a BB cream and top coat nail varnish. I think that the reason all of the vouchers work and you still get the buy one get one half price promotion at the till is because BB cream is classed as both skincare and make-up, so if you want to purchase a few items yourself you'd need something in both categories like the BB cream or Bronzing pearls/palettes.

Now I just have to fit it all in my beauty box....!