OPI: Russian Navy, La Paz-itively Hot and Elephantastic Pink

I've been after these 3 shades for a while now (Elephantastic Pink, Russian Navy and La Paz-itively Hot) when I saw them for cheap (9.50 for Russian Navy and 10.50 for the other two..cheap by OPI standards) on beautyfeatures.ie whilst I was picking up shampoo (25% off Kerastase..sweet). It would have been crazy to leave these behind! Elephantastic pink is kind of the perfect bright creme pink, Russian Navy is a shimmery Navy bluey/purple and La Paz-itively Hot is (unsurprisingly) a hot pink with a shot of lilac shimmer running through it. The pinks look similar here but are actually completely different:

Ya see?! These apply really well, no streaking and fast drying. They're also pretty much opaque in one coat but with two coats they're nicely glossy. I can't tell you how chip resistant these are because I'm still on my irritating OPI Nail Envy buzz (curse you, Everlasting polish) but I did a quick swatch of each (which I then had to remove and replace with the Nail Envy again. Sigh). Anyway, here they are:

Bottom Picture, L-R: Elephantastic Pink, Russian Navy, Elephantastic Pink again and La Paz-itively Hot

Lovely. I think La Paz-itively Hot will be a great toenail shade, Russian Navy is a great Autumn/Winter colour, while Elephantastic Pink is a nice pop of brightness but is still wearable enough to compliment most outfits. And that's my justification for buying more nail polish all sorted :-)

Cherry Scones

So we did our groceries at the weekend (an exciting start to any blog post, I'm sure you'll agree) and somehow we ended up with a bag of cherries that cost SEVEN EURO. Yes, shouty capitals are necessary here. We obviously didn't realise until we'd paid for them amongst all the other shopping. It's important to note that these weren't magical cherries or anything, so I'm unsure where the 7 euro price came in. Good old M & S. Anyways, as it turns out they are in fact delicious and as we paid such a princely sum for them I thought I'd take the opportunity to use my amazing mixer again. Oh the joys of the KitchenAid. I got the recipe for these from www.goodtoknow.co.uk

Ingredients:

• 125mls Milk
• 1 Medium Egg
• 250g Plain Flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 60g Butter
• 60g Caster Sugar
• 100g Glace Cherries (I used fresh instead, obviously)
• 5-6CM Fluted Round Cutter ( I also didn't have a cutter, so I just shaped them myself)
• Baking Sheet, Buttered.

1. Add milk to the egg to make 150mls. Reserve a tbsp of the mixture for the glaze. Tip all the ingredients into the mixer and whizz in bursts until the ingredients bind together. Take care not to over-mix it or the cherries will be too finely chopped. Alternatively, tip the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter. Roughly chop the cherries and add them with the other ingredients, mixing with a round-bladed knife until a dough is formed.
2. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 2cm thick and use cutter to stamp out scones. Re-roll trimmings and cut out more scones until dough is used up. Place them on the baking sheet.
3. Brush the glaze over the top of the scones, then bake them in the centre of the oven at 220 degrees Celsius (239 degrees F, gas mark 7) for about 15-18 mins, or until they have risen and are a light golden brown colour.
4. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with butter (and raspberry jam!)
5. Enjoy!

These turned out a little bit cracked but were delicious nonetheless. Yay!

Nars: Burn it Blue and Night Porter

When I was a youngster I experimented a lot with eye make up and wore a variety of colours- blues, greens, purples, reds and pinks. I was particularly fond of a blue Urban Decay shadow called "swimming pool"which I used to (ill advisedly) slather on, probably thinking I was great. Thankfully I had the sense to realise bright blue eyeshadow and pink frosted lipstick were a no-go, so at least I spared myself that misfortune. These days my make up look is a bit more subdued. I tend to reach for the Naked palette or Chanel's Illusion D'Ombres rather than anything too bright. Recently I felt like shaking things up a bit so I thought I'd return to my roots and get some blue/green action going on. Hence these babies:

Burn it blue is a duo-cream eyeshadow in turquoise and iridescent ocean-blue, designed to be either worn alone, together or under other shadows as a base colour. Because these are creams, they apply like a dream (Nars suggest fingertips or a brush- I prefer fingertips for this), are easy to blend and have a non-crease formula. As you can see from the swatch (which were lightly applied) they're also highly pigmented. What I like about these is that you can go all out and do a full eye or use just a small amount as liner on the upper lid with black liner to create a smokey look but with a flash of colour. I like these. That shimmery ocean colour in particular is actually really wearable and very pretty on. This will set you back around 33 euros (pricey but it's Nars- you're paying for a high quality product) and is also available in three other shades: Summer Time (Champagne and Sunset Gold), Madagascar (Satin Nude and Smokey Quartz) and Camarague (Golden Moss and Sienna infused with sparkly bits). Summer time and Camarague are calling my name..

 

This is kind of a cheat cause it's actually mostly black with green shimmer but what the hey! Nars describe Night Porter as a "micronized powder formula..highly pigmented, sheer shadows..crease resistant. Easy to blend, the shadows can be layered for a more dramatic effect, in a selection of matte and shimmer finishes". It's all true! Nars have not lied to us! Hurrah! Look at that swatch- it's so gorgeous and it really is just so pigmented, again that was only lightly applied but it still comes up a very strong colour. Love it. I got this when I was in Chicago and I have no idea how much I paid for it. Apologies. I just checked on ASOS though and it's 23.46 euro on that. Again, this is expensive but it is an excellent product. This also comes in 17 other lovely colours.

Anyone any other bright shadows they can recommend to me while I'm splashing out colour-wise?!

Fancy new ways of drinking tea

Whilst on Honeymoon we had tea in lots of fancy ways..

Afternoon tea (yes, we ate all of that..and it was amazing):

Bone china tea cups and saucers:

And in super fancy Jane Austen stylee surroundings:

So when we got home, having tea in regular boring mugs was a bit, well, boring. Luckily we recieved these little beauties as presents:

The very pretty robin mugs are from Avoca and the set of four bone china mugs at the bottom are from Cath Kidston (which is lucky, as they'll go nicely with everything else I own).
I also picked up this lovely tea cup, saucer and biscuit plate from Marks and Spencers:

So pretty. All of the above happily house these new teas I got, also from M & S:

I can highly recommend the white tea and raspberry..mmm. May have a cup now actually..If someone would like to provide me with a selection of sandwiches and little cakes to go with it, that'd be great!

The Burren Perfumery

While on Honeymoon we made a stop into the Burren Perfumery (Hubster's suggestion, as he thought I'd enjoy the products..he knows me too well).

Situated in the middle of the Burren, everything available to buy is made on site in the "still room", there's a slideshow that explains all about the different plants and flowers used and a tea rooms serving organic cakes, scones, pies and herbal teas. All rather lovely. The shop is beauty junkie heaven, selling oils, creams, balms, soaps, perfumes and aromatherapy salts.
As a present, Hubster (or Dr Fancy Pants as he can also now be referred to as) bought me the Summer Harvest Body Lotion and Shower Gel and Organic Rose Massage oil.

The body lotion and shower gel are 250mls each and are part of the Burren Botanicals range and contain no parabens, no sodium lauryl sulfate, no animal derivatives, no GMO ingredients and no colourants. So pretty decent then.

The range also comes in Spring and Autumn varieties but I was just really drawn to the Summer scent..it reminds me of the smell of the sun on grass and flowers, if that makes sense! It contains Camomile, Sage Extracts and Shea butter, is light in texture and leaves the skin really soft and moisturised.
The rose massage oil is for my back- particularly beneficial for aching muscles but can also be used for a head cold- a few drops added to a bowl of steaming water and inhaled. It smells divine and has definitely helped my poor banjaxed back.

As well as Rosa Damascena Oil, it contains: sweet almond oil, Jojoba, Avocado, Apricot Kernal Oil Sweet Orange Oil, Lavendar Oil, Cedarwood Oil, Geranium Oil and Olive Fruit Squalene. Almost edible.
So basically, really lovely products in a beautiful setting. If you happen to find yourself near the Burren I would definitely check it out. If not and you're interested in getting someone a present that's a bit different then you can also order online at http://www.burrenperfumery.com/