Joe's Chicken Pie

Good morning everyone!

I've been trying to be a bit more adventurous with food recently - by this I mean trying out some more recipes, not suddenly eating locusts etc....

So I have seen many posts about Joe's Chicken Pie from Joe Wick's Lean in 15 recipe book and I couldn't wait any longer to try it out myself.

It really didn't disappoint!

It was pretty simple to make too, leeks, mushrooms and chicken cooked up in a pan before adding a small amount of double cream, cornflour and some chicken stock and simmering for a while.

Lastly the spinach is added and allowed to wilt into the mixture before adding into a big baking dish and adding the filo pastry sheets to the top. I've never made anything with pastry before and scrunching up the sheets was a new experience for me!

Then you simply drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.

The first time I ate the pie I had some parsnips and peas to use up so had those, but the ingredients make four portions so I have also had some roast veg (carrots, courgettes and peppers) and also one of the frozen bags of veg that you microwave (peas, carrots and green beans).

I really enjoyed it and I still have one portion left which I am saving for a rainy day when I feel like I need a filling meal that isn't too stodgy. I added this into My Fitness Pal and each portion was around 400 calories before adding veg, so it's easily a 500 calorie meal.

Have you tried Joe's Chicken Pie? Have you tried any other recipes from the Lean in 15 books?

There are so many I want to try but not enough time!!

L xxx

Cruelty Free Skincare, Deodorant and Toothpaste Haul

Hey All

I've mentioned before on the blog that I've gone cruelty free. I've been cruelty free for the past few months across all beauty products and will be switching across our household one's too. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner as I don't agree with testing for cosmetic purposes. I thought I'd share with you a haul and some bits I've been loving. I'll still feature products on the blog from time to time that aren't cruelty free as I'm not getting rid of make up if I already own it I just won't be repurchasing it. 

One shop I've been going to more if Superdrug, I was always a Boots girl but Superdrug do amazing skincare that's all leaping bunny approved so it makes it easy to grab.

New CiD Cosmetics i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder

Hello there!

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to attend a wonderful evening at St David's Hotel and Spa and come home with a goodie bag of lovely products from Paul Mitchell and New CiD.

We've been using them over the last few weeks and couldn't wait to share the amazing i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder.

The i-Glow Compact Shimmer Powder is another of New CiD Cosmetics hand baked powders which uses waxes to stick ingredients together. This helps to make the product glide over your skin smoothly creating a more radiant and youthful look - this all sounds pretty wonderful to me!

The other ingredients in the shimmer powder help to 'bounce' the light off your skin which is why the best way to use the product is by picking up a really large brush, swirling it over the powder and dusting it over your cheekbones, collar bones and just about anywhere you want with a bit of a glow!

i-Glow is available in three different colours; Icy Pink, Sirocco and Coral Crush.
We were given Sirocco which is a lovely gold colour, the shimmer is amazing but the particles are so small it gives an amazing glow.

I've been really impressed with the colour payoff but also how blendable the shimmer powder is, it's easy to blend with any base make up I put on and has been suitable to wear in both the day and night.

Here it is on:

I really like the glowy look it gives, I've had so many people compliment me on it and ask me what it is as they want to buy it too!

You can purchase all of the iGlow products for £26.00 for 9g of product in the compact. The compact itself is also super sturdy with a decent mirror size, I'm overall really impressed with this and I definitely want to try out the Coral Crush and Ice Pop to see how the glow changes.

What do you think of New CiD baked products? Have you tried iGlow?


L xxx

This was one of the products I couldn't wait to try out as I already own ice pop (well my mum did but she wasn't giving it the love it deserved so gave it to me!) which I love. The texture of these are amazing they are so smooth and give an amazing highlight to the skin. Ice pop just adds such a pretty pink flush to the cheeks.

Sirocco is more of a bronzey shade, these are so pigmented as you can see from the swatch below (apologies for the slightly dark photo, I was battling the bad weather spell when I took these!). They have a really soft blendable texture which makes them so easy to work with.

Now I've got these two I really want the i-bronze as the colours in that one look amazing. These are baked products so they're going to last for ages. My ice pop is older than I should admit and doesn't look used still. Another great thing is they sell these in minis for £16, you get a lot of product in the original and I find I rarely use a blush up so it's nice to have the option to grab a smaller size one.

Love M

xxx

Lou Lou's Cardiff Vintage Fair

Hey All

So I've spent the last week celebrating my birthday. L and I went to Lou Lou's vintage fair on Sunday morning before heading for food and cocktails with some other friends. L had been before but I hadn't made it to one yet and couldn't wait to go and see it after some of the bits she's previously picked up.

In Cardiff Lou Lou's Vintage fair is held in City Hall. I love this building it looks so amazing and is a great location to hold it. The next Cardiff one is on the 4th September. We headed down at 10 am when it opened as it can get quite busy and we wanted to browse around before it was too busy.

L and I couldn't resist stopping for a cup of tea!! The cakes looked amazing but we resisted as we were off out for lunch! I love that they are served in vintage tea cups!!

There were loads of stalls selling amazing fashion pieces, I was loving all the sequins! I'd gone with the idea of buying a ring but L and I both ended up spending a fair bit on make up whilst we were there as there was the brand 'Outside the Box' there. We loved the look of it and the story behind it so we'll be sharing our thoughts on it soon! 

There were loads of cute trinket boxes and amazing vintage mirror and brush sets I wanted. 

This stall had some amazing jewellery and I couldn't resist a new floral crown!

The vintage fair is great to browse around and only £2 entry per person! We'll definitely be back again. I loved browsing all the different stalls! You can see L's previous vintage hauls from Lou Lou's Fair here and here

Love M

xxx

YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick in 12

Happy weekend!

I'm looking forward to catching up with some friends this weekend and getting out for some walks, hopefully the weather will get better too....

Today's review is about the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks, I don't think I've ever tried anything from YSL really but definitely not their lipsticks. This was given to me as a birthday gift and I absolutely adore it!

The colour is called '12' which is a little boring in my opinion, a name is always much more fun and more relatable, but that's just me.
Edit: I've looked it up to see the cost and actually it does have a name! Corail Incandescant, which is pretty accurate I would say.

The packaging is pretty special I think, who doesn't love some expensive looking gold casing and I like the fact you can see the lipstick colour without opening it up too. It's also a lot easier to find in your handbag than a MAC or Illamasqua one because the gold reflects off everything!

The Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks contain 6 essential oils, anti-oxidants, emollients and hyaluronic acid to ensure serious hydration and conditioning whilst wearing the chosen lip colour.

I've found this is so easy to apply and the hydration is amazing, there was no flaking whatsoever. The colour payoff is pretty good and it fades to a sort of stain after a few hours too, I personally just keep reapplying! Reapplication isn't a problem when the lipstick is this hydrating and easy to use, as long as you use a lip pencil to start it should be fine all day.

I really love the colour, it's enough to show that you have a lipstick on but not too much that it's a statement. I've been wearing it literally everywhere from family lunches, festivals, hen weekends and evenings at the pub.

For £26 it is a luxury item, I would never have spent this much on a lipstick but having said that I also think it is worth every penny!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for some money heading my way so I can buy a few more, the colour range is great and I'd love to have a nude, a red and a pink to add to the collection.

What do you think of the Rouge Volupte lipsticks? What's your favourite colour?

L xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

Today is actually my birthday, I spent yesterday with L we went to Lou Lou's vintage fair then off for food and drinks with some other friends which was awesome. It feels like ages since I've done a life lately post. I used to love doing these but with my blogging being a little more sporadic lately I always want to share some products I've been loving when I've got the time to post but thought today I'd share some things I've been up too.

A few weeks back I headed to London with my family to watch my super talented friend in Mamma Mia as Sky. I'd seen it with friends but my parents wanted to see it. He makes me so proud. My parents and I stayed in Camden, it was my first trip to Camden and I absolutely loved it. The vibe there is amazing and I fell in love with Camden market. He's in wicked soon so we'll be back to see that. 

I've been loving my Miss patisserie baths to relax in. L reviewed this amazing one here.

C came back from a work trip in June but was only home for 3 weeks before jetting back to Saudi for the next four so we treated ourselves to a night at Coldra Court. We loved it there and was great to have us time. Even though we live together it's nice to have nights away.

It's also been my niece's birthday recently so as tradition goes I made her birthday cake. I'm so glad I finally got to make a princess one. It ended up being way too rushed so didn't turn out totally how I wanted as my dad decided as I woke up he would like me to cook a roast dinner too, so queue mad panic of cooking full roast and decorating this,

L and I headed off to glastonbury for the second time and took C and one of my friends from back home with us. We definitely felt more tired this time and the mud was even worse than last time but it was absolutely amazing!!!!L and I were loving the glitter and bindis this year. I posted some of my festival hair styles and tips here.

C and I are trying to make our house a home and making a feature wall of our photos on the stair case. It's so almost finished now and I'm loving it. 

As C jetted off with work before my birthday we celebrated early and headed to Chapel 1877 in Cardiff. I've wanted to go and sit in the confessionals for ages and we managed to get one. I was so excited and we had an awesome meal and loved it there.

So that's what I've been up to lately. This year is definitely whizzing by. I've been busy organising holidays and things at the moment too. I'll be doing some more travel posts soon too which are probably some of my favourites lately. 

Love M

xxx

Crowd Colour Palettes

Hey All

This is a post I've been meaning to write for ages but for a while I wasn't happy with the photos I originally took so need to get round to taking some more. As soon as I saw Crowd Colour on Kickstarter I had to get involved. I absolutely love the idea that you can choose any image and get it printed onto a palette of your choice. 

The palettes come in three sizes, small, medium and large and with a black or white background. The whole process is really simple, you choose an image, upload it and decide if you want to add text. They also do pre-designed ones. The large of mine is a predesigned image. 

Picking photos was the hardest bit. I decided to go with a few favourite photos of C and me. These would make amazing presents for any make up lover. Each palette comes with a large mirror inside as well and a magnetised base.

I couldn't wait for them to arrive and to start depotting my make up collection. I have so many palettes and I wanted them all together so I'd get more use of them. Below you can see the large one (excuse the image being so dark). It holds a lot, inside are two naked palettes, minus two eyeshadows that were empty or broken and the benefit sweet cheeks box. I love having it all together and this palette now holds some of my favourite shades and is great to travel with.

The naked palette was reasonably easy to depot. I applied some heat from my straighteners to the base and then used a paring knife to ease them out. I do have naked 2 and 3 so had metal cases which made it easier. All of the pans are also already magnetic making it easy as they just stuck. The benefit palette was also really easy to depot. It's so much more convenient in this packaging.

The smallest size you can see below still holds a far amount of samples and is great for popping to the handbag. I really do love these and I've been able to streamline my make up. Any pans I depotted that didn't stick I just attached magnets too. I did break a few eyeshadows depotting things but most have been ok.

I did have a problem with one palette but crowd colour sorted the issue really quickly for me. 

I also got a lipstick. This shade doesn't seem to be on the website anymore but they still have some great one's. The formulation is these is impressive. You can see from the swatch below how pigmented they are and they're only £5. Again these make great presents with the personalisation option or even for yourself.

Have you depotted products before?

Love M

xxx

Guest Post: Festival Hair Styles

Hey all

Just to let you know I shared some of my tips to prolong hair for festivals season and some of the hair styles I do at festivals. You can check it out here.

Let us know if you're off to a festival this year?

Love M

xxx

Miss Patisserie Kyoto Bath Bomb

Hello there!

Miss Patisserie have featured on our blog many times already, and expect lots more because we are definitely super fans. My most recent bath bomb is the Kyoto bath bomb, the most pink and purple addition to the range so far!

Just look at those swirling colours!

As soon as I got it out the packaging I couldn't wait to get it into the bath, and it didn't disappoint. This bath bomb is inspired by Japan, it contains rose petals and smells like Peach Blossom, Orchid and Honeysuckle.....its amazing!

The website states that this was created for Mother's Day 2016 and is limited edition, but it is still available and many people have asked for it to stay as part of the full range, so fingers crossed it does.

The bath itself was exactly what I needed after a really long week. Not only did I want to relax but I also wanted to feel super girly, I made a whole evening of it and smothered myself in face masks, and body scrubs and oils - it was amazing.

I took quite a few pictures but actually the steam ruined most of them! The best one is copied below, the pink was just so vibrant!




This bath ball costs £3.85 and is still available in store and on their website, I'd definitely recommend trying it out you will love it!

Have you tried many products from Miss Patisserie? What's your favourite bath product?

I'm currently loving their body oil and face creams too, I want everything!

L xxx

Benefit's New Brow Range!

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posts from us, we have both been super busy recently and have been away at Glastonbury followed by seeing Beyoncé on her stadium tour so time and wifi access a been very limited! We are super tired and looking forward to quiet weekends to catch up on everything so expect lots of posts to be uploaded soon.

The first post I needed to write was to tell you all about the new brow products from Benefit.

I'm sure by now you have all seen the new range but i really wanted to give you my thoughts on it too. 

When I heard that Benefit we're bringing out even more products and redoing their packaging I was equally excited and a little confused, surely there couldn't possibly be any more brow products that were necessary?? Aren't benefit the top sellers for brow products anyway, how can we need more??

Well let me tell you I was suitably impressed when I was invited to the Benefit counter in Boots Llantrisant to see the new products in action. 

There are many of them for starters, and also in new much needed shades. There really is something for everyone depending on the brows you have, the colour of your brows and also the look you want to achieve (which if you are anything like me will change regularly!)

First we had a demonstration of the products to give us an idea of the purpose of each of the products and then we were allowed to go crazy and test them all out ourselves which was fun.



So here's the run down of the new range (all 10 products!) in full:

1) Browvo! - this is a conditioning primer to enhance colour and extend wear, it will help to make your brows appear fuller-looking too which is an added bonus! £21.50

2) Goof Proof Brow Pencil - this pencil twists up to dispense the product and the pencil is flat with one side wider than the other, this makes it so so easy to get your brows on in the morning! Cannot go wrong with this style and it's available in 6 shades. £18.50

3) Precisely, My Brow Pencil - a super fine pencil for the ultra-precise brow and creating individual hair like strokes with 12 hour wear. Available in 6 shades, £18.50.

4) Brow zings - the old favourite and best selling kit has new packaging and a new extendable dual ended brush, plus guess what? Available in 6 shades! £24.50

5) Ka Brow! - this is a new cream gel that almost feels a bit like a mousse, it's waterproof and buildable for all brows even the big ones! 24 hour wear, available in 6 shades, £18.50

6) Gimme Brow - another favourite of mine but now the volumising fibre gel now comes in three shades! £18.50

7) 3D-Brow Tones - a totally new idea to me, this gel will give you subtle brow-enhancing highlights to stop your brows from looking flat. As far as I can see this is available in 2 shades, £18.50

8) Ready, Set, Brow! - this newbie is a shaping and setting gel to keep the brows where they need to be. This one is clear and quick setting to stay for 24 hours. £18.50

9) High Brow and High Brow Glow - these pencils blend super easily to give highlights on your brow bone, one is more luminous than the other

There is also a pencil sharpener, angled brow brush with spoolie, and a grooming tweezer with brush too.

I'm already a big fan of Gimme Brow and have used Brow Zings in the past and liked that too. Nowadays I like brows to be as quick as possible and take minimal time, but I do particularly love the new Ka Brow, the new colours are really good and the gel is so buildable I spent ages playing with it and getting the look just right.

After this I tried the Precisely, My Brow pencil and this was really good for adding in the extra hairs where you may have some gaps.

After this I also tried the 3D BrowTones and was surprised how this came out, it actually looked like my brows weren't flat but they weren't glittery either. I'm not sure I'd purchase this myself but I can certainly see why some people may need it to stop their brows looking so drawn on.

Lastly i finished off my look with the Ready Set Brow! setting gel which was great and something I would definitely want to get my hands on.

So how did it look? See below for some quick selfies post event:

I really like the overall effect and although I was sceptical that I would need even half of the products I can understand why you could need all of them!

They each have their own job and they do all of them very well. I already have Brow Zings and Gimme Brow, but I now realise I need Ka Brow, Precisely My Brow and the Ready, Set Brow! setting gel. Luckily we were given a sample of the setting gel so that will keep me going until I splash out soon!

Have you seen the new products? Which are your favourite?


They are all available and have been since the 24th of June, see you in store!

Thank you to Benefit Llantrisant for inviting me to their event :)


L xxx