Halloween Goodies

Hello my lovelies and a mahousive Happy Halloween to you all! I hope that you had/having a magical and spooky day and evening. I have a special baking blog post for you all to try to inspire you all for some fun Halloween bakes that you and all the family can try. I have included a range of different recipes from biscuits to cakes that the whole family can get involved in. Whether there to make for a Halloween party or just to indulge on over the festive season I hope you will try some of these bakes as they are great fun and super tasty too.

Iced Chocolate Halloween Shaped Biscuits

The first selection of baking ideas are some fun chocolate biscuits. These are great to make with all the family, very simple yet effective. We made these thinking that they would be good for trick or treaters and did we get any? No. All the more for us then, what a shame. These biscuits are smooth, chocolaty and light you could definitely having multiple of these. I have never been a fan of wrong dough mixture I think it's the thought of eating raw egg that messes with my mind. However, I was feeling spontaneous and tried some and oh my I have been converted to cookie dough mixture. Yum. Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream is one of my favourites so I suppose it isn't that much of a surprise but it was an exciting revelation for me. All the family can get involved making these and they are great fun to decorate.  They are so quick and easy to make, perfect for a Halloween party when you're rushing making 10,000 different dishes at once. You can really let your imagination go wild. I used ghost, bat and pumpkin cutters and decorated the biscuits using a mixture of chocolate, fondant and glacier icing. This is just a rough guide to give you a bit of inspiration but you could really go to town on the decoration if you wished to but these are just some simple yet very effective ideas for you all. I baked these this evening with Mum and now the house smells like a chocolate factory - bliss.

Ingredients - makes 20

125g unsalted butter
90g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp milk
175g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
small handful of white chocolate chips

Decoration:
orange fondant icing
icing sugar
black food colouring pen

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and grease and line two baking trays ready to bake your biscuits of chocolaty heaven

2) Cream your butter and sugar together until smooth, pale and creamy

3) Mix in your egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract to the mixture

4) Sift in your flour and cocoa powder into the mixture and mix together

5) Once mixed here comes the fun part where you can get your hands in and get messy. Gradually squidge (I love that word) your mixture together to form a dough

6) Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out your dough, I made mine to about the thickness of a £1 coin but I've never been one for precisely measuring dough thickness

7) Using your cookie cutters cut out your biscuits. You can use ever shapes you wish, you could make them all the same shape or use a variety the world's your oyster

8) Transfer the biscuits to your baking tray and bake for 10 minutes they really don't take long. For the bat cookies I lightly pressed two white chocolate chips to make eyes

9) Once baked remove the trays from the oven and leave the biscuits to firm on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely before icing

10) To finish the bats, I used a black icing pen to make two small dots at the centre of the chocolate chips to finish the eyes. You could make some quirky expressions doing this such as cross-eyed bats

11) For the ghosts I used a white glacier icing which I thought looked quite effective against the chocolate cookie. To make the icing it's a bit of trial and error. Sift around 100g of icing sugar into a bowl and add approximately a tablespoon of water and mix together with a wooden spoon. I know this isn't precise but you want to mix until you form a runny consistency that will allow you to spread the icing and get a smooth finish without leaking off the biscuit. To firm the icing simply add more icing sugar and to make it runnier add more water. Spread the icing onto the biscuits using a knife

12) For the pumpkins, dust your workspace and rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out a handful of orange fondant icing. Using the same pumpkin cutter, cut out pumpkin shapes. To stick the fondant icing to the biscuits I just added a small amount of the left over glacier icing and sandwiched the fondant icing on top

Oozing Caramel Monster Cupcakes 

The next Halloween baking selection I have lined up for you all are a group of characterful cupcakes. One of the main flavours I think of when it comes to Autumn is caramel. In fact I think of caramel all year round yet particularly during the Autumn/Winter months. These light and buttery caramel flavoured cupcakes have fun monster neon caramel buttercream faces painted on top, not forgetting the secret surprise of a salted caramel filling that will ooze out as you work your way through these tasty cupcakes. Monsters and oozing centres seem to go together quite well I thought. These cupcakes are really quick and easy to make. They are a great family bake to do as the whole family can get creative decorating the cupcakes with different monster faces. You can get really creative with these making every monster slightly different. I had great fun making these with my Mum we got really into it. I think these would be perfect for a Halloween party and it will definitely bring out the inner child within you all.

Ingredients - makes 11

150g unsalted butter
150g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp caramel extract
3 heaped tsp salted caramel sauce

Icing:
100g unsalted butter
180g icing sugar
1/2 tsp caramel extract
Food colouring of your choice, I used yellow, green, orange and pink
Handful of white chocolate chips
Black icing pen

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and fill a 12 hole muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases

2) Cream your butter and sugar together in a large bowl using a wooden spoon or whisk until light, creamy and fluffy

3) Beat your eggs together in a separate bowl using a fork and gradually beat in the eggs don't worry if your mixture curdles this will be resolved when you add the flour

4) Stir in your caramel extract

5) Sift the flour and baking powder into the cupcake batter and stir using a wooden spoon until smooth

6) Fill each cupcake case to around 3/4 of the way full and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. A skewer should come out clean when inserted into the centre of the cupcakes

7) Leave your cupcakes in the muffin tins for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

8) Whilst cooling you can prepare your buttercream, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract

9) You can use as many different icing colours as you like, divide your mixture evenly into enough bowls so you have one for each different colour that you use

10) Add a drop of food colouring for each bowl enough to get your desired colour. I went for neon monsters so I needed a couple of drops but be careful as food colouring can go from pretty pastel colours to fluorescent in one drop. Beat in the food colouring so that it is evenly mixed into the icing

11) Make a whole into the centre of each cupcake using a doughnut filler and insert your caramel sauce for a gorgeous oozing caramel centre using a piping bag

12) Now it's the fun part of icing your monster faces by piping your different coloured icing using a star shaped piping nozzle. Use white chocolate chips for eyes and a black icing pen for features



Crispy Chocolate Bat Cakes

These little spooky treats are great fun to make. No matter how old you are I will guarantee you will enjoy making these. Making these brings back many a happy memory making rice crispy cakes with my Mum when I was little. They are so simple yet very effective. The whole family can get involved. In fact I made these with my Mum and I'm now 19 so no excuses people I want the whole family to help with these and trust me you will find it very rewarding. The perfect treat to make on Halloween for trick or treaters, or for a Halloween party. There is something very satisfying about breaking up chocolate bars and then melting butter, marshmallows and chocolate together. Then stirring in rice crispy's is also very rewarding but I'm not really sure why. Everyone can also help with the decorating and especially the eating. They are chocolaty and gooey what's not to love? Theres no need to even turn the oven on. So no excuses not to give these ago they are so quick and easy, very little skill is involved.

Ingredients - makes 35

150g milk chocolate
50g unsalted butter
340g mini marshmallows
240g rice krispies
100g dark chocolate
50g white chocolate chips
black icing pen

Method

1) Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper, a good tip is to extend the paper beyond the tray leaving you with handles to lift out the crispy cake mixture

2) In a bowl melt your milk chocolate over a saucepan of hot water on a low temperature

3) In a large saucepan melt your butter followed by the marshmallows until melted stirring constantly

4) Stir in your melted chocolate into the melted butter and marshmallows and stir until combined. Add the rice crispy's and mix together

5) Pour the mixture into the lined tin and press down firmly

6) Allow the mixture to cool until firm for 5 - 10 minutes at room temperature

7) Using a bat shaped cutter, cut out your crispy cakes. Don't waste any mixture you can make use of every last piece of puffed rice by pressing trimmings together

8) Once completely cool and firm you can decorate your cakes. In a bowl over a saucepan of water on a gentle heat melt your dark chocolate

9) Spread the dark chocolate over the top of your bat cakes

10) Top each cake with two white chocolate buttons for eyes. Using your black icing pen, draw two small dots in the centre of each eye


Chocolate Toffee Apple Biscuit Boulders 

I like to think of these biscuits as a fun camp fire treat, incorporating three top and very important Autumnal flavours: chocolate, caramel and apple - it's a classic. I'll be the first one to admit that these look very homemade but they sure do taste delicious. I'm a home baker and I always think home food tastes better then shop brought food as you put all of your time and love into it. I named these biscuits boulder biscuits as they are round domed little creatures which don't tend to flatten or spread. I quite like these as most biscuits are small and dinky so it's quite nice to have a substantial cookie for when it's cold and wintery. These apple flavoured biscuits contain a hidden gem in the centre of a Rolo chocolate, oozing with chocolate and caramel it is simply a magical combination. The smell you get when you lift the lid of the biscuit tin is just heavenly. These are a really fun family bake to do where everyone can get stuck in. A little bit of taste testing along the way is also essential in my eyes. My Mum took some of these into her work and they went down a real trick and were gone in a flash.

Ingredients - makes 25

175g unsalted butter
140g golden caster sugar
2 egg yolks
50g ground almonds
125g Rolo chocolates
85g dried apple chunks
225g self-raising flour
3 tbsp milk

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 190°C/170°Fan/ Gas mark 5. You also need to grease and line your baking trays, I used three in total

2) Cream your butter and sugar together using an electric hand whisk until pale, light and fluffy

3) Add your egg yolks, ground almonds, dried apple chunks, flour, milk and chocolate and mix together to form a dough. You will probably find it easier to use your hands for this and enjoy getting messy

4) Roll the mixture into large walnut sized balls and place on your baking tray. Gently flatten the surface using a fork. I find these biscuits work best with one Rolo per biscuit which you should conceal in the centre of your dough ball for a gorgeous caramel centre once baked.

5) Bake in the oven for 12 - 15 minuted until golden brown. Aim to try and remove the biscuits before any caramel leakage occurs, you want to savour that gooey centre

6) Leave to cool on the tray before transferring to a wire wrack to finish cooling. A top tip would be that if you find your biscuits stuck to your tray, return the biscuits to the oven for 2 -3 minutes to heat the caramel before removing and quickly transferring to the wrack before the caramel sets

Chocolate and Lime Whoopie pies 

The final recipe is a special one for you all my spooky lovelies. We have a hybrid. Introducing the whoopie pie to you all. It is a cross between a cake and a biscuit taking the best of both worlds to create a magical and indulgent creation. Whoopie pies are new to me I have never tried or baked one before but I have definitely been converted. They are delicious and really easy to make. For Halloween I have created rich and chocolaty whoopie pies packed full of light and refreshing lime buttercream. I thought the pale green colour gave these a spooky edge perfect for Halloween parties. The batter of a whoopie pie is what I would describe as a thick cake batter. You then pipe these babies onto a baking sheet. They don't take long to bake and when they emerge they appear like biscuits yet they have a cake like texture to them. They look heavy yet they are so light you could easily justify treating yourself to multiple pies. If you are a fellow chocolate lover you will love these as they are rich and chocolaty yet the lime icing is so light and refreshing stopping these from being silly sweet. There are so many different chocolate variations you could do: strawberry, orange, raspberry, coconut, coffee, peanut butter or 'cookies and cream' the list of possibilities is endless depending on what your tipple is. I just love the name whoopie pie theres just something fun about saying it.

Ingredients - makes 15

175g plain flour
100g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
125g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 egg
225ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

100g unsalted butter
225g icing sugar
zest of 3 limes
green food colouring

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and line three bang trays with baking paper. You then need to draw circles on your baking paper which have a 2 inch diameter leaving about 3 cm between each circle, these will be the templates for your whoopee pies. Once drawn, grease your sheets of baking paper

2) Sift your flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl

3) In another large bowl, cream together your butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy

4) Beat in your egg followed by your buttermilk and vanilla extract

5) Slowly fold in half of your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients using a metal spoon. Repeat with the remaining half of the dry ingredients

6) Use a pipping bag pipe circles onto your baking paper

7) Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Once baked leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

8) Whilst the cakes cool you can make your buttercream filling. Beat together your butter and icing sugar until soft

9) Add in your lime zest and a small drop of food colouring for a pretty pale green colour

10) Once the cakes are cooled, spread buttercream onto the bottom of half of your biscuits using a knife. Sandwich each of the iced biscuits together with a non-iced biscuit to create your whoopee pies and enjoy!

Thank you for reading this blog post my lovelies, I hope you enjoyed reading it I certainly had fun creating it. Let me know in the comments if you tried any of the recipes. I hope it's given you a little bit of inspiration. I have had a magical Halloween from carving the pumpkin, decorating the house, baking and much more I feel like the inner child in me has really gone to town today. On a final note,

Happy Halloween!

XXX

Lush Halloween Range 2015

Hello my lovelies I have a right treat for you all today. I have been so excited to write this blog post for you all for months and months now. In fact I think I have been on countdown for Halloween and Autumn since August. I have always loved Halloween. My Mum always made it so special when I was little. We would decorate the house with banners, orange and black balloons, confetti, Halloween candles and we would fill bowls with Halloween chocolates and black and orange sweets. My Mum would also do Halloween treasure hunts for me and of course every year we would carve a pumpkin, how could you not? Even though it was just for the two of us we still loved it, it makes me happy seeing families with young children going shopping and buying all of these Halloween goodies and carrying on traditions. Talking of traditions every Halloween we will wear our ghost and witch headbands and have chilli on jacket potatoes for dinner. Where these traditions start from I have no idea but we were talking about it yesterday and I'm pretty sure it goes back to when I was at least seven years old. I think we might also do a bit of Halloween baking as well this weekend. I have a blog post planned of Halloween bakes that all the family can get involved with and try.

Getting back to the point of this blog post, when it comes to Autumn/Winter all I want to do is indulge in a Lush bath. Whether it involves a bath bomb, bath melt, bubble bar, shower jelly or shower cream the world's my oyster. Just imagine a Lush bath and candles - heaven. Perfect for when it's cold, windy and rainy outside and you're nice and cosy in a multicoloured extravaganza. Every year I get so excited for the Lush Halloween and Christmas range. I'm constantly checking online and in stores to see if it has been released yet. I'm a sucker for season's and go crazy for the limited edition things. As I said earlier as I have so many fond memories of Halloween throughout my childhood I still get excited for Halloween and when it comes to going into Lush I'm like a kid in a sweet shop. As soon as I saw that the Halloween and Christmas ranges had been released an emergency girly shopping day to Tunbridge Wells was organised last Saturday and my cravings were soon fixed.

This year Lush have relaxed four products for Halloween and thank God they have brought back my two favourites from last year, *squeals*. The collection includes a shower cream, bubble bar, bath bomb and shower jelly although you can buy these in cute pumpkin and bat gift sets as well which look very tempting may I add.

You will have to bare with me on this blog post as I'm not the best at describing scents but we'll go with it anyway.

Lord Of Misrule Shower Cream

The first product that I picked up is a new product yet it is based on the Lord Of Misrule Scent which I believe was brought out for the first time last year as a bath bomb which I instantly fell in love with. I have been using this for a week now and I love it, simple as. I forgot how good the scent was and the good thing about having this scent in a shower cream is that it will last longer rather then just one use from a bath bomb. It is a gorgeous emerald green shade with a shimmer and glitter to it but don't worry you're not left looking like a glitter ball afterwards. When it comes to products containing glitter I'm always a little weary of this as I'm not sure how professional it would be turning up to work the next day sparkling but you'll be fine with this one. It reminds me of the musical Wicked (favourite all time musical may I add) as it is that rich, sparkling, indulgent emerald shade.

As a shower cream it is a different formulation to a shower gel. It doesn't lather as much it's a lot more runnier although I have found that it has left my skin feeling incredibly soft after using it. Whether that's because it's a cream or just an amazing product I don't know but I love it. I find it a really difficult scent to describe as it's quite earthy and woody with a slightly spicy scent to it. To me that sounds discussing but I promise you it isn't, it is an essential to go into Lush and smell this as even if you don't like spicy scents I promise you, you will love this. I would 100% re-purchase this product in fact I might stock up again when I pop in for a cheeky Christmas splurge. I picked up the small size which cost me £4.95 but you could go all out and indulge in a 1kg bottle at £27.95. Don't worry I won't judge you.

Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bath

My baby is back, thank you Lush. Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how adorable this little fella is. The sparkly pumpkin bubble bar has returned from last year. It is a vibrant orange bubble bar coated in gorgeous gold glitter topped with a little cinnamon stick. I will warn you that from last year this will leave you and your bath a little on the gold glittery side but when something is this cute it is an exception I'm willing to make. With bubble bars you certainly get your moneys worth, I think I had about 10 baths worth from my Holly-Go-Lightly bubble bar from last Christmas. You break a portion of the bubble bar off and crumble it under your running water to create beautiful bubbles and an inviting orange, sparkly bath. I think I will get about four baths worth out of this little guy. The only let down for me is that Lush have made him smaller this year. This has a spicy cinnamon scent with refreshing citrus lime scents in there as well. I have recently been loving both of these scents so that's a win, win for me. Beautiful scent, gorgeous colour and lot's of bubbles all for just £3.65 this is an absolute Halloween essential.

Nightwing Shower Jelly 

This is a new product this Halloween, a shower jelly which once removed from it's little pot looks like a bat - cute! These can be messy but so, so fun. This is slightly different to the earthy, spicy products from the range with a fresh fruity lime scent which honestly smells like fruit pastels, yum! There are a  lot of lime products about this Halloween it seems to have taken over from orange. You get multiple uses out of shower jellies so they are well worth their value of £3.95 for a little, cute bat. You can store these in the fridge/freezer in between uses but you might want to check with your parents first or whoever is in charge of the fridge. Rub this sweet little bat over your skin and feel the moisture soaking in. Shower jellies will leave your skin feeling really soft afterwards as they are packed full of vitamin E.

Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb

This was my favourite bath bomb from last year so that fact it has returned pleases me immensely. This is a mahoosive bath bomb which will transform your bath into an emerald green with purple swirls running through it leaving you with a rich red wine coloured bath, glorious. Who needs to see the northern lights when you can use a Lush bath bomb instead? Bath bombs are really easy to use; place your bomb into your bath and watch the magic unfold. I find bath bombs really therapeutic listening to it slowly fizz away. Packed inside this beauty is popping candy which I love as again I find it very therapeutic to listen to the candy slowly crackle away. Perfect for a Friday night in. This has the same scent to the shower cream that I mentioned earlier, very festive and comforting. I think I might be saving this one till last as it is a special one for me. You can grab one of these for £3.95 which I think is pretty good value for a Lush bath bomb, especially going by the size of it.

I hope you enjoyed this spooky blog post my lovelies. Let me know in the comments which your favourite products are. I'm looking forward to trying the bat-wing shower jelly next. If you're interested you can read my blog post on the Lush Halloween collection from last year by clicking here. I would also love to know what you all have planned for Halloween, whether it's a Halloween party, a bit of trick or treating or a night in with a Lush bath. I'm so excited to go back to Lush in a couple of weeks and pick up all of their Christmas goodies, that's where this months wages will be going. I did have a cheeky sniff and they've brought back some good classics with lot's of new products to also try so I cannot wait. I hope you all have a good day my lovelies and stay tuned for a spooky baking blog post for Halloween. 

XXX 

Chocolate And Honeycomb Refrigerator Cake

I would suggest that non-chocolate lovers just skip this post as it is designed especially for fellow chocolate lovers. This is a highly indulgent chocolate treat that I got just as much pleasure from baking it to eating it. I say 'baking' it, there isn't actually any baking involved that's the beauty of refrigerator cakes. For individuals who struggle with baking this is the perfect type of cake to make as it is so easy. All the skills that are required are a bit of chopping, stirring, pouring and of course eating. This is another take on the ultimate classic rocky road which you cannot beat in my eyes. This is very similar just with a bit of variation on the biscuits, fruit and nuts and with the edition of honeycomb over marshmallows. The principle in making the cake is still the same: chop your ingredients, melt the chocolate, stir it all up and as the name suggests refrigerate the cake for a couple of hours.

I don't know why I found this such a satisfying cake to make. I find it very therapeutic breaking up chocolate bars I mean the smell you get when you open a fresh bar is just gorgeous. I also love melting the chocolate and just stirring the ingredients all together. I know I probably sound a bit psycho to some of you right now but I'm sure I'm not alone, someone please back me up on this one. I know I'm going to over use the word 'satisfying' in this post, let's play a little game and see how many times I mention it.

This is the perfect indulgent treat to enjoy over Autumn/Winter when it's cold and yucky outside and you're tucked up in your warm house with your pyjamas on, films, blankets and candles - pure bliss.

Ingredients - serves 12

200g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
50g salted butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
150g all butter shortbread fingers
100g macadamia nuts
45g honeycomb
150g glace cherries (I used French morello cherries as I prefer the taste to the usual cherries as I find them less artificial but any type would do)
100g honeycomb chocolate bar (I used Galaxy honeycomb but you could also use a bar of Cadbury's Crunchie as Cadbury's is my favourite type of chocolate)

Method

The main element of this chocolate treat is the preparation with all your chopping and measuring then it's just a bung it all together kind of bake.

1) First line and grease a baking tray with grease proof paper

2) Start by weighing and chopping the non-heated elements which include: macadamia nuts, honeycomb, the glace cherries and the shortbread and place these in a large bowl. The size at which you cut these is entirely up to you but it doesn't have to be perfect and symmetrical. In fact the more variation the better. I found macadamia nuts already cut into halves which was the perfect size for me so they went in whole along with the honeycomb which saved a lot of time

3) Next break up the 200g of dark chocolate into a saucepan - I find breaking up chocolate bars way too satisfying

4) Add the butter and golden syrup and heat over a gentle heat whilst stirring occasionally. I also added the left over glace cherry juice to enhance the cherry flavour throughout the chocolate. Once smooth, glossy and all combined remove the pan from the heat

5) Pour the melted chocolate mixture into your large mixing bowl and stir all of the ingredients together - again highly satisfying

6) Transfer your mixture into your baking tray and flatten evenly pressing down with a wooden spoon so the mixture reaches all of the corners

7) Break up your honeycomb chocolate bar into chunks and randomly press chunks into the tray. I stirred mine into the mixture before pouring the mixture into the tray. This gave a really pretty marbled effect as it melted some of the chocolate but I think next time I would add it after pouring the mixture into the tray leaving you with chocolate chunks running throughout the mixture

8) Place the cake in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and once ready to serve cut the cake into 12 portions

Then simply indulge and pray thank you to the chocolate God's. You could enjoy this on it's own or if you wanted to go all out you could enjoy it alongside some chocolate, vanilla, caramel or honeycomb flavoured ice-cream. Heaven! It is really quick and easy to make and the perfect pick-me-up if you are in need of a little bit of comfort. Let me know in the comments if you chose to give this a whirl. Thank you for reading my lovelies.

XXX

October Glossybox 2015

Good morning my lovelies. Two Glossybox posts in one month *Gasps over dramatically* no pigs haven't flown by and they've sent two boxes this month. No, I was just slow last month and never posted Septembers box until October - oops. Slaps wrist, bad blogger. But hey look on the positive side it means that you are treated to two posts this month. Glass half full not half empty people. Last month's box was one of my favourites so far - highlight being the Nails Inc nail polish. Now let me tell you we are sure in for a corker this month my lovelies. No theme I'm afraid only that for preparing ourselves for all things Autumn. There are a grand total of five full size products aiming to brighten your completion and nourish the skin through the cooler days.

Photo-Hydra Day by Talika
Talika is a luxury French brand and a new one to me and let me tell you this feels like a luxurious product. That's one of the great things about Glossybox, it gives you the opportunity to discover lot's of new and exciting brands across the world. This is a luxurious moisturiser aiming to sooth and nourish the skin to leave you with glowing, soft skin to tackle the Autumn months. You apply the moisturiser in the morning to your cleansed face, neck and décolleté - I love that word so much. Try saying it over and over again for a giggle. The moisturiser also claims to use energy from natural light to moisturiser it. Whether it does or not I don't know, complicated scientific components go right over my head but I'm still intrigued to test it out. Like I said previously this is a luxurious product and I love the packaging, very sleek. The price alone at £24.85 tells you that it is a high end product so I'm looking forward to comparing it to my lovely, trusted Simple moisturiser.

Airbrush Blending Sponge By Nicka K
Another new brand to me, yet a product that intrigues me. Beauty blending sponges have been all the rage recently and what I would like to claim them as a beauty trend of 2015. They keep popping up every where amongst new and old brands and in the beauty bloggers world. They aren't a new product of 2015, more of a retro product yet still they have been the ultimate craze. These beauty blending sponges are an alternative way to apply your foundation or concealer to a foundation brush. I use my trusted classic of the Maybelline Dream Matte Mouse foundation and being a mouse foundation I'm not sure how well a sponge would work to apply my foundation. I'm a stickler for routine, once I have something that I know and works I find it very hard to deviate. Having said that I use a liquid concealer of the Collection Lasting perfection concealer and I think this sponge would be a great way of blending in concealer. The contoured domed shape would allow this sponge to reach all of those little nooks and cranny's on your face such as around the inner corner and under your eye for tackling those pesky dark circles and around your nose where you may experience redness, I know I do especially on a cold Autumn morning.

To use the sponge you simply dampen the sponge in water to allow it to swell. Then tightly squeeze the sponge to remove any excess water. You can then either dip the sponge into your product or blend out any product you have left randomly dotted around your face. I am really looking forward to trying this as a beauty blender sponge has been something I have been debating trying for several months now so I've saved some pennies there - winning at life! I also really like the shape of this brush as the curved middle will allow greater precision to your usual classic 'egg' shaped sponges. At only £6.50 this is a bargain and if it transforms your foundation then so, so worth it.

Highlighting Pencil By So Susan
So Susan is a brand that is a regular within a Glossybox full of dreams so it was nice to see the return of it. This is a gorgeous ivory cream highlighting pencil. Perfect for under your eyebrow bone and in the inner corner of your eyes. It also claims to be a hybrid as it can be used to tackle dark circles. Anything that claims to tackle dark circles in a welcome edition to my make-up family. I've definitely over used the word tackle today it's starting to sound weird in my head now. Highlighters are used in areas that would naturally catch the light. They help to brighten your completion, highly useful this time of year when everyone starts to look tired, run down and with streaming colds as they are on countdown for Christmas. Eek.

This has a really nice smooth and creamy formulation which is promising for easy blending. I also love the beautiful pastel packaging it reminds me of the MeMeMe mystical fairytale packaging. I don't own many individual highlighters, the majority of my highlighter collection is in a palette form along with a bronzer and/or blusher for a bit of cheeky contouring. However, I think it would be really useful to have an individual highlighter to throw in your make-up bag and use with individual bronzers. This would encourage me to experiment with my collection more as like I said I'm a stickler for routine and when your rushing to get ready for work it's easy just to grab a palette rather then individual comments. This highlighter will force me to have a bit of variation going. Living life on the edge people. You can pick one of these up for £15. The fact it's a crayon also pleases me immensely. I had a very strong and still do having said that, obsession for crayon lip products so it's nice to branch out my crayon love to new areas of expertise.

Lip Ointment By Lanolips
I hate the word ointment I wish they hadn't included it, I don't know why it reminds me of pig farms - don't judge. Although I don't hate this product in fact I think I may love it. This is a major hybrid, a 3 in 1. It is a moisturiser for your lips, it contains SPF 15 and yes and it is a beautiful peachy pink glossy colour. This lip gloss/balm what ever you want to call it will help prevent chapped lips due to containing lanolin, vitamin E and natural oils keeping lips smooth and moisturised. It even contains prunes which boggles my mind but all natural. It's always useful to have an SPF in lip products as I think many including myself forget about protecting your lips from the sun as you tend to focus on smearing sun cream over your body but we don't tend to stop and think of our lips. Let's me optimistic that we will experience that gorgeous warm Autumn sunshine. If you google sun burnt lips that will change your mind.

The product has a really nice fresh and fruity Rhubarb scent and it is a gorgeous dark peachy pink shade. Perfect for a pinky nude shade for a daytime look in Autumn. I believe they also do a rose version as well but I'm not a fan of flower scented products so i was tickled pink with rhubarb. The gorgeous gold packaging is beautiful making it feel like a very luxurious lip product. Yet at only £7.99 from Boots it might be a bit of a life saver this Winter whilst looking gorgeous at the same time. I was expecting a glossy formulation although I would describe it more as a lip butter that you can rub into your lips. It has a thick formulation which I believe will make it really moisturising and nourishing. I cannot wait to join this little fella to my hand bag as I know it will be an on the go gem which will save me from dry lips this winter. During Autumn/Winter I tend to look out for nourishing products as supported to glossy/shinny/pretty ones so a product that does all of those things is an added bonus to me.

Play Paint By Jelly Pong Pong
Judging by the name of this product you're probably a little perplexed as to what this product actually is. I am as well. My great detective skills inform me that it is a lip and cheek cream. Designed to give a bit of colour to your face when you're tired and feeling like death. Nice. This is a velvety thick formulation - creamy and soothing I imagine. You really don't need a lot of this as it has a very strong pigment so you would probably need that equivalent to a rice grain to avoid looking like a clown. It is a beautiful, beautiful rich raspberry pink shade which does scare me a little as I'm not a mahoosive fan of bright pink cheeks however I could see myself using this more of a lip then cheek product. I recon it would be really useful for instant colour on the lips and one that would suit my lip colour at that of a darker pink berry shade. Autumn in a tube.

The product contains pumpkin seed oil which will help repair any damage to your lips from the cold weather whilst keeping them nourished. The product also claims to last up to 10 hours and judging by that rich colour I could believe that but it will be interesting to test that bold statement, and it is a bold statement at that. This seems like a fun product yet it also has beneficial products within it as well so again another key essential over Autumn/Winter when an added bit of healthy glowing radiance is needed. You can pick one of these up for only £8.95 if you are interested.

So there you have it my lovelies - a first impression look of the Autumn Glossybox that will set you up for Autumn. I think my favourite products this month would have to be well all of them. The Glossyboxes recently seem to be getting better and better. If I had to pick one product that excites me the most it would have to be the Rhubarb lip ointment but the whole box pleases me immensely. I would love to know in the comments what you all thought of this months box and if you have tried any of the products and what you thought of them. Thank you for reading my lovelies and I hope you all have a lovely Tuesday. Stay tuned for next months November box.

XXX

Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake

Hello my lovelies I have one hell of a recipe for you all today. If you read my one year anniversary post you will know that I am started a degree in October in the hope of becoming a primary school teacher. After finishing my a-levels I took a year out where I have worked in retail for the past year to save up some money. It was mine and a friends last day so I thought I would bake a sweet treat to celebrate. When asked what would be preferred a cheesecake was requested. This suited me down to a tee as cheesecakes are my favourite dessert ever, ever. Now I have made many a cheesecake in my life but I love trying new recipes and I have had my eye on this one for a while now. At the time I was working my way through a rather large box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates so I thought bingo that would do. Personally I would be dead chuffed if someone made me this as who can resist that gorgeous combination of chocolate, hazelnuts, Nuttella and praline - Oh my absolute bliss. I found this recipe on What Jess baked next which is an amazing baking blog for any of you who are interested.

If you are a fellow chocolate lover out there then you will absolutely love this recipe. It was so easy to follow and it turned out to a tee. The hardest part of this recipe is the patience you need to wait for this baby to set. Once you indulge in this baby it will be like having mouthful after mouthful of Ferrero Rochers. It's creamy, chocolaty and highly indulgent. If you're on a diet I would stop reading now or through caution to the wind and sod the diet.

Ingredients 

Base
300g digestive biscuits
140g unsalted butter

Filling
300ml double cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
500g full-fat cream cheese
85g icing sugar
5 Ferrero Rocher Chocolates

Topping
4 heaped tbsp Nutella
handful of hazelnuts
12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates

Method

1) Greece the bottom of a 23cm cake tin, I used one where the base separates from the sides which allows you to easily remove the cheesecake from the tin when you are ready to indulge

2) For the base, crush the digestive biscuits to form biscuit crumbs. You can use a food processor for this or go for the old fashioned method like I did which involves placing the biscuits in a plastic bag and smashing them to pieces using a rolling pin - a great way to remove any tension or stress, I also find this method strangely satisfying

3) Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs

4) Pour the biscuit-butter mixture into the tin and distribute evenly in the tin. Press the biscuit crumbs down firmly and place in the fridge to chill and set whilst you create that luxurious cheesecake filling

5) For the filling, whisk the double cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks are formed. Careful not to over whisk it or you will create butter which wouldn't make the nicest of cheesecake fillings

6) Crush the five ferrero rocher chocolates which will be incorporated into the cheesecake filling for that heavenly chocolate flavour

7) Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and the five crushed chocolates in a separate bowl

8) Gradually fold in the cream cheese mixture into the cream. I did this in stages to attempt to not over work the cream

9) Pour the cheesecake filling over the cheesecake base and chill over night or for at least 6 hours. Yes this requires a lot and I mean a lot of patience but it is well worth the wait my lovelies. I also covered the top of the tin with foil for that little bit added reassurance and peace of mind

10) Once the cheesecake has set you can decorate it which is my favourite part as it involved Nutella and Ferrero Rochers - what more could you ask for in life? Melt the Nutella in a saucepan over a low heat to form a runny chocolate sauce. Once melted, allow to cool and simply indulge in the remaining Nutella tub

11) Lightly toast a handful of hazelnuts. To do this, place the hazelnuts in a saucepan over a low heat and occasionally shake the pan to prevent the nuts from burning. Once a golden colour, remove the nuts from the heat and allow to cool. You don't have to toast the hazelnuts but I just find that it enhances the flavour

12) Once the nuts have cooled, crush them into pieces of the desired thickness of you want, they could be smashed to smithereens as a powder or left coarse. I left mine fairly coarse so you can taste them and it gives the cheesecake a bit of texture. Again you can use a food processor for this or turn to my old fashioned method of hazelnuts plus plastic bag plus rolling pin and crush

13) Pour the cooled Nutella over the cheesecake and sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top

14) Finally decorate with the Ferrero Rocher chocolates, you can use as many as you can for this but I used the maximum possible as they are one of my all time favourite chocolates and you just can't beat them.

15) The final stage is to curl up on a winters evening with a large slice of this cheesecake, a spoon, cosy pyjamas, candles and a film. Make sure you put a large sign on the door stating do not disturb as trust me you won't want to be when you tuck into this. This is a chocolate lovers ultimate heaven and a new staple recipe in my household.

This went down an absolute treat at work and definitely got the thumbs up and high praise. This meant a lot to me as if my bakes don't turn out well at home it doesn't matter but when it's for other people I feel more of a pressure as I wan't people to like and enjoy my bakes and I especially don't want to poison anyone. I was expecting the cheesecake to be divided into portions with one chocolate each but when I saw people diving in for slices with two chocolates this gave me huge satisfaction and who would say no to an extra large slice of cheesecake?

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and let me know in the comments if you give it a go. This is a great party pleaser or perfect for a chocolate fix for a cosy evening in on a cold and dreary night.

xxx

Blackberry Jam Tarts

Hello my lovelies, yesterday I had the perfect morning baking a Blackberry and Pear Frangipane tart with my Mum. You can find the recipe on my blog by clicking here. I can't think of anything better then baking on a Sunday, pure bliss. I find baking a real enjoyment, along with my blog it is my hobby. If I could spend all day everyday blogging and baking I would be a happy bunny. I love baking with my Mum. We used to bake all the time when I was little but now our only chance to bake together is at the weekend so we're trying to make it a regular thing to do every Sunday morning.

After making our tart we had some left over pastry so the obvious solution was Jam tarts. We are officially the Queen's of Hearts. When I was little we always used to make jam tarts it was our signature thing. We would make a combination of different flavours ranging from strawberry, raspberry and apricot. I always thing jam tarts look really fun and colourful yet whilst making these we were thinking it must be years and years since we last ate a jam tart let alone make one. The scary thing is that it was probably around 14 - 15 years ago. Where does the time go?

So we thought it would only be fitting and tradition to knock up a batch of jam tarts. Sticking with the Autumnal theme of the Blackberry and Pear frangipane tart we made a batch of blackberry jam tarts using left over blackberry jelly. The good thing about using a jelly rather then a jam is that there is no pips or bits of fruit as I personally think a jam tart should have a smooth filling but that's just personal preference. This is just a simple recipe for a jam tart but you could chose any flavour that you want. I've included the recipe I used for the pastry but you could easily use a shop brought shortcrust pastry if you don't have time to make your own and it will work just as well but I personally think you can't beat homemade. Especially as I find making pastry very therapeutic and this recipe is so easy to make.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
250g plain flour
1 egg

This is the recipe for pastry that I used for my frangipane tart for a generic shortcrust pastry. I have no idea how many jam tarts this will make sorry to be so vague but pastry goes a long way so I recon this would make a lot of jam tarts, 25 - 30 maybe? Helpful Ellie, really Helpful. 

blackberry jelly

I haven't included a quantity of jelly as it will vary depending on how many jam tarts you make but I used 2 small tsp of jelly per jam tart if thats any use. As mentioned you could use any flavour jam or jelly that you wish depending on what tickles your fancy or what you might have at the back of your cupboard/fridge. 

Method 

1) To make your pastry you need to form breadcrumbs by rubbing the butter and flour together in-between your fingers in a large mixing bowl. Take time and pleasure from making your breadcrumbs it's very therapeutic, you shouldn't rush pastry

2) In a separate bowl beat your egg using a fork

3) Add your egg to your breadcrumbs and start by mixing together using a fork before finishing off combining the ingredients using your hands to form a ball of pastry

3) Chill your pastry for 30 minutes

4) To make the jam tarts preheat your oven to 180  C/ 160  Fan/ Gas mark 4 and grease a muffin/cupcake tin or tins depending on how many tarts you're making

5) Roll your pastry out on a flat surface to approximately 3mm thick, you may need to dust your surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent the pastry from sticking and braking

6) Use a cutter to cut out circles for your jam tarts

7) Fill your pastry cases with jam/jelly, I used about 2 tsp of jelly per tart but this will vary depending on the size of your cases. The cases should be about 3/4 worth full of filling. Enough so that when the jam melts it fills the case without overflowing

8) Bake the tarts for around 15 minutes and remove from the tins once the pastry appears crisp and golden

9) Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

So there you have it - easy. These are really easy and quick to make and require very little skill. They are a certain crowd pleaser that will make everyone smile as they are taken back to their childhood. I forgot how nice jam tarts are. The pastry is really nice and crisp - not soggy there were definitely no soggy bottoms involved. I personally enjoyed eating these whilst they were still slightly warm as the pastry just melts in your mouth and the filling wasn't too jelly like, it is just a magical combination. I would also recommend using blackberry jelly as it's very fitting for this time of year and the colour just looks beautiful. They look like jewels in a tin. Thank you for reading this blog post my lovelies and you can't deny it, I bet inside you're all secretly thinking you could do with a jam tart now.

XXX

Sephora Haul

As I say the word Sephora I giggle slightly and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. As a beauty blogger I feel a little embarrassed to be making this statement but I never realised Sephora was in France. Oops. For this shocking statement I apologise. I don't know why but I thought it was only in America as that is only where I had heard of people visiting it before. I've never been to America or seen a Sephora store so I'm going to put that down as the reason to my silliness. Living in England we don't have any Sephora stores so when I discovered that they were located in Paris - in fact Paris was crammed full of them - I got a little excited and dragged Mum in. In fact we visited three days and we were staying in Paris for four so that says it all really. After her first visit I don't think Mum needed much persuading to return.

For those of you who don't know what a Sephora store is I salute you and don't feel ashamed of that statement, be bold and proud ready to be educated. A Sephora store is a store of beauty dreams. It is almost like a supermarket or a department store composed entirely of beauty products ranging from skin care, perfumes and make-up. It contains Sephora products as it's own brand yet it includes all of the other essentials such as Clinique, Clarins, Urban Decay, Benefit, Too Faced, OPI, Marc Jacobs etc. etc. the list is endless. The only way to tackle a Sephora store is to grab one or possibly multiple baskets and simply crack on and work your way through all of the aisles thoroughly. I would recommend that you only bother visiting a Sephora store with someone else who wants to go otherwise it will be rushed and you won't be able to take in all in. Luckily for me my Mum was more then happy to visit.

I thought I would write a mini haul of some of the goodies that we picked up. There were so many more items that we could easily have also indulged on however you suddenly realise that you have baskets and baskets of products which do actually cost money. Shocking - I know.

Sephora Face Masks
I had seen these previously mentioned on other beauty blogs where bloggers have raved about them. They look really fun and colourful I was more then excited to give these ago. There are so many different scents and formulations to choose from it is really hard not to get carried away and get one of each so I thought that six (three of each remember) was well restrained by us. We picked up two honey masks which claim to be nourishing and balancing on the Saturday and we had a girly pamper evening in our hotel room. After a long day of sight seeing and traveling all we wanted was to wash our hair, make-up off, magazines and face masks. Pure bliss for two pairs of two little feet which were exhausted.

These are really easy to use. The face mask has a similar texture to a make-up wipe and it is filled full of nourishing goodness that soaks into your skin. The hardest thing about using these is keeping a straight face whilst wearing these and not cracking up in hysterics because you look ridiculous. They have little sections cut out for your eyes, nose and mouth. The moisturiser in the mask allows you to shape the mask to your face. You leave the mask on for 15 minutes and sit back and relax. Before using the mask you should cleanse your face after taking your make-up off. Once finished remove the mask and massage any remaining product into your skin. You don't need to wash these masks off. To finish all you have to do is apply your toner and moisturiser and boom you're all done.

The honey mask was just as it claims nourishing and moisturising. Our skin felt so soft after using these which lasted for days and days afterwards. We were so impressed that on our final day we returned and picked up another four. Another two honey as we knew that they were amazing and would both happily use these again. If we could have I would have brought this one in batches and boxes. I then chose a Pomegranate mask which claims to be energising and to have anti-fatigue properties so possibly one to use in the morning? Mum chose a Lotus mask which claims to be moisturising and soothing which sounds like heaven.

Sephora Hand Creams
After indulging on face masks a swish move to the right was made where we discovered rows, rows and more rows of hand cream. After putting our eyes back into our sockets a decent amount of smelling was done and we each chose a flavour. I plumped for Coconut of course. Everything I use at the moment is coconut whether it's beauty products or food. I think the only thing that I am lacking is a coconut perfume which I sure do need in my life. I'm just obsessed with it end of. Mum chose blueberry which also smelt incredible. So much so that I just had to get one as well - rude not to really. You don't tend to see many blueberry beauty products in England (she says whilst using a blueberry body butter from The Body Shop) yet blueberry products are everywhere in Paris so it seemed like a sign and very fitting to go for blueberry. We have tested these hand creams - of course - and were thoroughly impressed with both. They are so creamy and moisturising yet non sticky or greasy. They also absorb into your skin instantly so the perfect hand cream to keep in your hand cream. I would highly recommend that if you can get to a Sephora store you pick a couple of these up.

Sephora Eyeshadow Trio
At the checkout we were presented with this trio of beautifulness as a freebie. Well you can't say no can you not to three gorgeous nude shades. I said that Mum could keep these as it was her birthday weekend and she dose suit her nude shades. What a nice thing to do, I wish that, that happened more in the UK. Three perfect shades to be used together all with a hint of shimmer. You have your golden highlighter, a milk chocolate praline shade and a darker rich cocoa shade that you could use in the outer corner of your eye for contouring.

YSL Lipsticks 
Here we have it, the grand finale. Both of us have been staring at these lipsticks for what feels like forever, dreaming of being spontaneous and making a splurge. YSL is a luxurious high end brand so not the sort of thing you would buy everyday just by popping into Boots or Superdrug. I guess we just thought if we don't do it now we're never going to. What could be more special then picking up this duo whilst celebrating Mum's 50th birthday in Paris. So we took the plunge and went for it. After a whole lot of swatching we each chose a shade from the Rouge Volupte Shine range. I plumped for 17 Rose In Tension which I have had my eye on for years and I mean years now. It is a beautiful rosy brown shade with pink undertones to it. It is a my lips but better shade perfect for Autumn/Winter or evenings out yet I would still wear this shade all year round. If I could only own one lipstick it would be this as by having darker toned lips I find it hard to find lipsticks that suit me. I can't wear pale nudes, peaches or corals so this definitely floats my boat. It has no shimmer in it and it feels really moisturising and glossy. All praise the YSL Gods. Mum chose 9 Nude In Private which is a beautiful and I mean beautiful rosy pink shade with a hint of shimmer to it. Like me she has dark lips so she goes for rosy pink shades yet her lips are less 'pigmented' then mine so she suits slightly paler shades.

These lipsticks are just gorgeous. I mean just the packaging alone is stunning with the golden case and beautiful colourful ring running around it which I love as each shade represents the lipstick and is so unique to that lipstick. Just imagine rows of these - amazing. The lipstick quality itself feels so luxurious. I'm having a battle going on inside my body I want to wear it now all the time and everyday yet part of me see's it as such a special product that I want to save it only for special occasions. I'm going to write a separate blog post on these as they are in a league of their own and so special I feel that they deserve it and it would only be fair.

So there you have it my lovelies. A few little goodies from Sephora to show you all. As I said earlier we could have gone on and on but we were well restrained. I think Mum also did a little bit of private shopping for a special event that it is coming up in two months. Yes two months till Christmas my lovelies only 9 Fridays to go. EEK. Christmas is my favourite time of the year so I have been on countdown since the end of August. Let me know in the comments if you have tried any of these products and what you thought of them. Thank you for reading this post my lovelies and I hope you all enjoy your weekend. I'm just about to tuck into a curry and watch a bit of Doctor Who with my Mum - heaven. Perfect Saturday night in, in my eyes.

XXX

September Glossybox 2015

Hello my lovelies and a Happy Friday to you all! Just want to through this out there but this is my 100th blog post on the old blog. Celebrations all round I think. This blog is my baby and my hobby. It brings me so much pleasure so this is a huge milestone for me.

I have a little apology to make to you all as my September Glossybox post is a little on the late side - in fact half a month late. Oops. For which I'm very sorry about but look at it on the plus side you get not one but two Glossybox posts this month so like I say there's a silver lining around every cloud. September was a pretty hectic month for me with starting my university course and going to Paris so time was on the shorter side last month. I take my blog very seriously so I didn't want to rush out any blog post. Blogging is one of my hobbies and I like to enjoy it and write my posts properly so i hope this one is worth the wait.

So moving on - can we just all take a moment to appreciate how pretty this months box is. A little firecracker. I love the combination of the pastel blue and hot pink. The limited edition boxes are always my favourite to receive as they just seem that little bit extra special. The September box was designed to inspire us fellow beauty lovers for the upcoming trends of Autumn and Winter this year. Judging by the weather Autumn has definitely arrived. Carry on reading my lovelies to discover more about the products and this seasons new trends.

Traceless Hair Ring By Invisibobble
The first product I have to show you all is a hairband. Yes a hairband. You're probably reading this thinking why would I be excited about a small hairband in a box? Well let me tell you my lovelies, this hairband is designed so that when you take your hair down you won't be left with any kinks in your hair. I hate it when I've had my hair tied up and you take it down and your left with kinks and curls all over the place. This means I then have to straighten my hair which I'm trying to do less of to try to take care of my hair better. You get three little plastic spiral hairbands in a pack which also claim to be invisible in your hair. The smooth plastic surface also means that the bands shouldn't rub against your head leaving you headache and damage free. I'm very excited to try these as they could be the wonder band that solves all hair issues so I will let you know how I get on with these. These will only cost you £4 and you can pick these up from Topshop. I recon these are really good value as they are chunky so not the bands that you are likely to loose either. It comes back to that famous question of how do hair bands always go missing? No matter how careful you are they always somehow disappear into a black hole. It's the same with hair grips or bobby pins, what ever you call them they will always go missing.

Eyeshadow Brush By Marsk 

I haven't heard of Marsk before so this is a new brand to me. What I will say though is that it feels like a really good quality eyeshadow brush which I won't say no to. I mean who will say no to a free make-up brush? The hairs feel really soft which you would hope so as one of these would cost you £16.70 so this is one of your high end make-up brushes. I recon it will be a really nice brush to use as the handle isn't too long allowing you to get closer to your eye focussing on the detail of your eye make-up. I don't own any high end make-up brushes other then this one so I'm looking forward to trying it. 

Shimmer Eyeshadow Powder By Bellapierre

Oh what a surprise, Glossybox have very kindly included an eyeshadow to accompany your eyeshadow brush, what a treat. This is a gorgeous metallic grey and shimmery eyeshadow with purple undertones to it which would make it gorgeous paired with a dark purple shade. It is a lose eyeshadow that can be found under the name of Whesek which you can purchase for £12.99 is you are interested. Glossybox are claiming that 'Greige' is the new seasons must have - a combination of grey and beige. Personally I tend to stick to compacted eyeshadow powders as I find lose eyeshadows a little on the messy side. If I'm running late or rushing to get ready for work and using a lose eyeshadow the chances are I will drop/knock/spill the pot all over me and the bathroom which wouldn't be the best way to start the day. However, if I'm not rushing and I have the time to take care and enjoy doing my make-up then I will be more likely to use a lose eyeshadow. Yes they are tricky but I do find that lose eyeshadows provide you with a stronger colour pay off so if you have the time it is definitely worth using one of these. 

Nail Polish By Nails Inc

When I first opened this months box this was one of the products that stood out the most to me. I guess because I know the brand Nails Inc to be a gorgeous and luxurious nail polish brand. Up until now I don't actually own any polishes from Nails Inc. Mainly because they are on the pricy side so it's not something I would really buy myself as one of these will cost you £11. Is it really worth it? Well to be honest I recon so as they have a really great glossy colour pay off and will last for ages without chipping. They are more like a thin liquid then a thick polish and so, so easy to apply. I have tried one of my friend's before and fell in love with it instantly. It was a gorgeous tangerine shade called Clifton Gardens which was perfect for summer. For Autumn a grey polish was included called Battersea Park which was very fitting as it is named after a park I visited with an old school friend in Chelsea last month. I would describe this as a khaki shade which would look gorgeous accompanied alongside a thick wooly Autumn grey jumper. Actually saying that any shade of jumper would look gorgeous with this neutral shade whether it's black, brown, green or red the list of possibilities is endless. That's why I'm so glad that I got over my fear of grey nail polishes last Autumn as I think they are a great neutral sophisticated shade to wear. It's probably one of my favourite products I've received in a Glossybox so far so a massive round of applause to you Glossybox editors, give yourselves a well earned pat on the back you sure have done good this month. 

Luminous Colour Hair Masque By Maria Nila

Last but by no means least is a new product that I am probably the most excited to try out of this box. This high end vegan - yes vegan hair treatment product is designed to nourish, strengthen and protect your coloured and natural hair. Something my hair could really do with. It is packed full of natural vitamins and minerals to boost the health of your hair. This is something mine could definitely do with as it gets damaged from me straightening it although I am trying to reduce this so I am trying to be good. Also dying your hair isn't the healthiest of things to do to it. I went blonde over summer and have recently gone back to being a dark chocolate brown of my natural hair colour. It was a treat and really fun to experiment and colour my hair yet it isn't something I want to make a habit of as I want to look after my hair so it doesn't all fall out when I'm older. 

I know it sounds sad but I also really like the packaging of this product, it definitely floats my boat it will look perfect on the bathroom shelf. The product was produced in Sweden and it raves about it's natural properties being 100% natural and vegan and it contains no sulphates or parabens. I'm not entirely sure what a paraben is but the impression I get is that it isn't good for your hair so we'll take the fact that the product contains zero amounts as a positive. The masque is designed to nourish your hair whilst providing a colour 'guard' to help maintain the colour of your dyed hair. This appeals greatly to me as I recently had a semi-permanent hair dye to put in so that my hair will blend back to it's natural colour once my new roots grow through so this should help to maintain a natural looking transition. You can read more about my recent hair adventures and experiences of dying my hair by clicking here if you are interested. The masque contains pomegranate extracts which help your colour to last longer which can fade from styling, UV light and washing.  masque is designed to be applied to damp hair that has just been washed where you can leave it in for three minutes but the longer you leave it the better the results. You then simply wash out the masque and apply your conditioner. This sounds like a hair care product that could revolutionaries my hair care routine so I am really looking forward to cracking on and giving it a try. Again like the other products in the box I will let you know how I get on with this and whether they are worth buying. A tub of this will cost you £18.95 so I am expecting great things from this. What I will say is that this is a mahoosive tub so if it's a gooden it will be well worth investing in to one. 

There you have it my lovelies - a rather late yet special September box. Here it comes another bold statement hold on to your socks kids but this could be my favourite box to date. Whoah there - I said it. I also love the quote that is featured on the lid of this months box. As that is something I agree with - style is unique to everyone and there is no right or wrong way of doing things. If it makes you feel good on the outside then you will feel good in the inside. Discover your style and roll with it. Let me know if you have tried any of the products and what you thought of them. There isn't a single product in this box that doesn't stand out to me, I want to try each and every single one of these now. Thank you for reading my lovelies and stay tuned this month for another Glossybox post I'm sure it won't be long to go until another little bundle of joy arrives on my doorstep. 

XXX