Mmmmmmmmm……

…Banoffee Pie – one of life’s great pleasures!

I threw this little beauty together after my brother gave me possibly the easiest recipe ever. As I’m feeling very public-spirited today I thought I’d share the love (and recipe) with you as its the perfect bank holiday treat!

Ingredients:

For the pastry

• 500g  plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 100g icing sugar, sifted
• 250g butter, cut into small cubes
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 large free-range eggs, beaten
• a splash of milk

For the filling

• 2 ripe bananas
• 50g grated dark chocolate
• 300ml double cream
• 1tsp camp coffee
• 1 tin carnation caramel

First of all, make the pastry: 

Sieve the flour and sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl. (You can do this straight onto a clean kitchen surface and not bother with the bowl but I find that a bowl stops things getting too messy) Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture then mix in your lemon zest. Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together till you have a ball of dough. Flour the dough lightly. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in cling film and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour. Once the pastry has had chance to rest, roll it out on a floured surface and line a flan tin (preferably with a loose bottom), fill the pastry case with baking beads and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, Remove the beads and bake for a further 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Alternatively you could dispense with this step entirely and buy a pastry case from the supermarket!

Then for the filling!

Spread the caramel on the base of the pastry case, then slice the bananas and layer on top. Whip the cream with 1 tsp of camp coffee and spoon on top. Sprinkle with chocolate and enjoy!!

xxx

REVIEW: Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum

Some of you will already be aware that skin care is not really my forte. I religiously remove my slap and cleanse, tone and moisturise but I have never paid too much attention to fancy-schmancy skincare brands, I mean why would I when there are so many eyeliners and so little time?!

This means that serums are not high no my list of priorities, in fact the only time I have ever used a serum is when my mum gave me a sample of Boots' famous Protect and Perfect Beauty Serum to try out. I quite liked the serum, and loved the way it made my skin feel however I have never re-purchased as I was of the opinion that during my early twenties I didn’t need to concern myself with anti-ageing products. However now that 25 is looming round the corner I've decided I need to take a few more pro-active steps than just wearing my sunglasses at all times to try and stop the onset of crows feet!

This product was sent to me for review purposes by Mypure, a site offering the best in natural make up, haircare, skincare and organic products. Kosmea is an Australian brand which has been at the forefront of natural skincare since 1993, with this latest product being one of the first natural skin care products to use patented anti-ageing ingredients.

So, on with the review:

My first impressions were that the serum smells VERY strongly of roses (funny that, as it contains Rosehip oil). I don't mind gently scented products but I found this a bit overpowering. I’m not sure how strongly scented the rest of the range is, but as all of the products appear to be formulated using rosehip oil it could well be a recurring theme.

The consistency wasn’t at all what I expected – it was more of a cream than the slightly more gel-like serum I was expecting, and the product took an age to sink in. Though this wasn't a problem at night I'm generally in a bit of a rush in the morning as I like my bed, so I can't really afford waiting around for 15 minutes for the serum to sink in.

Also, immediately after application I found that my skin came out in bright red patches all over it! I don't know if it was the serum 'working its magic' or what it was, but the patches did fade out when the product had soaked into my skin

The packaging recommends wearing this under moisturiser during the day - as I found the product to leave my skin feeling quite greasy I think that if paired with a moisturiser my face would literally slide off!

I found that though it did leave my skin feeling soft and kind of plumped, I didn’t feel that the results were any more than my usual moisturiser gave. Perhaps this product would be more suited to mature skin, and I'm considering passing it on to my mum to try as I think I’ll be sticking to my good old soap and glory!!

If you want to try it out for yourself, Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum can be bought here

xxx

NOTD 23/05/2010

London from the Nails Inc for Diet Coke collection. I think this is officially my polish of the summer and I’m really glad I picked up a couple of back-ups when I got the chance!

xxx

Reasons to be cheerful….

All in all I’ve had a pretty rubbish week this week, what with falling off the gym wagon due to a heinously busy week at work, the Mr being away all weekend and silly fall-outs with one of the besties due to incompatible diaries. I was planning on sitting on the sofa all weekend and wallowing in self-pity but I realised not only is that a complete waste of a weekend but its also counter productive, so I decided to head off on a little road trip to my brothers and count my blessings instead – which made me realise that I need to give myself a good shake and get on with it.

I thought that I would share some of my reasons to be cheerful, so that the next time I’m feeling sorry for myself I can re-read this post and realise how silly I’m being!

• Three weeks to my holiday -  I absolutely can’t wait, In under a month I’ll be topping up my tan here:

• The besties – like any group of friends we have our ups and downs, but I know that they’ll always be there for me – whether its to tell me to man up and stop moping around or with a shoulder to cry on complete with Ben and Jerry’s.

• My family – I haven’t lived with my mum and dad for almost 7 years now, and my brother is currently exiled at the other end of the country but I know that I just need to pick up the phone to be cheered up by any one of them.
• The Mr – there's not really much that needs to be said here, I love him to pieces
• Millie – she’s always there for a cuddle (even if I don’t particularly want one!)

So there you have it, my reasons to smile! Sometimes I just need to remember not be such a miserable sod an shake myself!

Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine :)

xxx

NOTD: Nails Inc for Diet Coke in Paris

I'm sure you are all aware of the fab promotion that Diet Coke and Nails Inc are running in Boots, but it you don't spend half of your life in Boots or have been hiding under a rock for the past week or so the deal is that if you buy two 500ml bottles of Diet Coke you get a free limited edition Nails Inc Polish. There are four colours to choose from: London (a gorgeous mink-y nude, which is also my favourite), Paris (a deep pinky-purple), New York (a bright fuchsia pink ) and Milan (a firey hot red). So far I have picked up Paris and 2 bottles of London, but given that I'm a Diet Coke addict I'm planning on getting my mitts on New York and Milan this week.

Have you picked up any of these polishes, and if so which is your favourite?

xxx
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Bargain-tastic Haul

Hello lovelies

I thought I’d do a quick post on some of the bargains I have picked up this week.

First up are two of the Special Edition Nails Inc polishes in London and Paris. I’ve had some issues with Nails Inc polish in the past, however I pretty much run on Diet Coke and figured that as they were free it would be rude not to get involved. I’ve fallen completely in love with London and am planning on picking up a back-up over the weekend.

Next, I put my No 7 vouchers to good use for once. Usually I use them on eye make-up remover as I’ve never been very taken with No 7 products, but after a glowing reference from Rhamnousia I picked up a couple of the Metallic Eye Pencils, in gold and green. I’ve been really impressed by these so far and may have to pick up some of the other colours, turquoise and blue in particular have been screaming out to me!

Finally, my favourite bargains of the week were 3 full-size Paul Mitchell conditioners for £6 in Debenhams – yes, you read that right SIX POUNDS!! All in, they should have set me back somewhere around the £30 mark. As regular readers will be aware I’m a Paul Mitchell junkie and (after concealing a squeal of excitement) I picked up a Super Skinny Treatment and two Daily Moisture Boost conditioners. I found out the reason that they were on sale at such a knock-down price was because the in-store salon was closing down, if only I’d realised this earlier in the week I’d have cleaned them out!!

p.s Sorry about the dodgy picture quality, I’ve lost my camera lead – again!!

xxx

REVIEW: Paul Mitchell Hot Off The Press

Regular readers will be aware that I’m a bit of a Paul Mitchell devotee. I’ve tried out hair products from almost every brand going, but I usually always come back to Paul Mitchell. Though they are slightly more expensive than the products you would pick up in Boots, I’m a firm believer that its worth splashing out on professional products as they are so much more effective, and generally last much longer too.

The latest Paul Mitchell product I’ve tried is the Hot Off The Press Thermal Protection Spray. I picked this up last time I was at the hairdressers, and I believe its a relatively new product. Because my hair is bleached it needs a bit of extra protection, and my hairdresser has always drummed it into me that drying/straightening my hair without first using a a heat protection spray is a cardinal sin, akin to lying by the pool without wearing sun cream. I generally use Heat Seal as my heat protection spray, but my hairdresser sold this to me as it’s part of the Express Style range, and anything that makes drying my hair quicker is worth a try in my book.

Hot Off The Press is much more than just a heat protection spray, it also acts as a flexible hold hairspray which means that I don’t need to overload my hair with products – one will do.  According to the blurb, rice hull extract acts as a barrier between the hair and heat  and wheat proteins strengthen the hair.  The spray is an aerosol and gives a lighter mist than traditional heat protection spray. I find that a light spray before drying/straightening and also immediately after leaves me with perfect straight hair that holds its shape and volume for a good couple of days. The hold is very natural so it doesn't look like you’ve piled on the products or make your hair crispy like some hairsprays. I’d liken the hold to Soft Spray, and the smell to Hold Me Tight (which to the uninitiated is lovely).

The thing that I really like about this product is that it is as effective on dry hair as it is on wet hair, meaning that it is great for touch-ups, or straightening naturally dried hair. 

I haven’t yet tried this before curling my hair, but from past experience with Paul Mitchell products I’m sure that it will be fabulous. I’d definitely give this product a massive thumbs up!

xxx

…and the winner is…

Thank you for all of your entries – I was really happy to get so many, but in this case there can only be one winner and that lucky lady is….

The lovely Laura at Lollipop Loves!!

Congratulations sweets, email me your address and I’ll get your goodies posted out!

xxx