My Hair Care Routine

I love trying out new hair products, I'm still searching for the perfect combination of things. I'm very fickle when it comes to shampoo, hence why there's not one mentioned in this post. I find my hair gets used to shampoo so I have to change what I use quite frequently. I would recommend the L'Oreal Elvive Re-Nutrition Shampoo, I used it in conjunction with the matching conditioner (which I have mentioned below) and it worked a treat for about a month, always leaving my hair soft and shiny. 

L'Oreal Elvive Re-Nutrition Nourishing Conditioner - I've been faithful to this conditioner for about six months now, it leaves my hair super soft and smelling like I've just come out of the hairdressers. 

Dove Hair Nourishing Oil Care Leave-In Spray - I mentioned this in my April Favourites so I won't blabber on about it for too long. I spray this in the ends of my hair when its wet, it has worked wonders on my dry ends. 

Boots Ingredients Coconut & Almond Leave-In Conditioner - This is my holy grail hair product. After I shower, this is the first thing that I spray on my hair as it makes it much easier to brush through  It's cheap and cheerful, coming in at just under €2 but I find it better than any other products that have claimed to leave your hair "tangle free".

Argan Oil Hair Treatment - I use a drop of this oil on the ends of my hair when I come out of the shower. Again, it really helps with my damaged ends and eliminates a lot of unwanted frizz! I avoid using too much of this stuff because it can leave my hair feeling greasy when I overuse it. I picked this little bottle up in EuroGiant for €1, this made me ridiculously happy as argan oil treatments can be quite pricey. So if you're from Ireland, I suggest you go pick some up! 

What are your holy grail hair products?

Furry Friend Tag

This will be my very first tag post, I am super excited about it because it's always fun to try something new and I get to tell you more about my favourite (and the cutest) puppy in the world.

1. What is your pet's name? 

His name is Max. Or Maximus as I wanted to write on his dog tag.

2. What kind of pet is it and what breed? 

He is a dog, a Jack Russell Terrier to be exact. 

3. How long have you had your pet friend?

I've had Max for nearly three years now. 

4. How did you get your pet?

A family friend's dog had puppies but she was too young to understand how to look after them so at four weeks old, Mum brought him home for me to look after. I fed him milk through a syringe for a couple of days and stayed up all night with him. He slept in any boxes or containers I could find and put beside by bed. His last bed was my washing basket.

5. How old is your pet?

He's nearly three now. The picture above was taken when he was about 12 weeks old and the one below was taken on one of his first days at home,

6. What are some quirky things about your pets personality?

He is extremely independent, although I think that's pretty common with most terriers. He likes to follow me round the kitchen while I am baking or cooking, standing directly behind me. He's not the most obedient of dogs, he will go to sleep in his own bed but manage to find his way up onto my bed in the middle of the night and snuggle himself up to any warm part of my body or in between the boy and I. He isn't very fond of small dogs, anything his size or smaller. He absolutely adores bigger dogs though. We also have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Ollie and Max thinks he is his best friend. 

7. What does your relationship with your pet mean to you?
Absolutely everything. He's wonderful, I really do not know what I would do without him and Ollie. He can be a real pain but I'm sure I annoy him just as much. There is nothing more comforting than a cuddle with a doggie. Max and Ollie have been two of the biggest comforts to me in the hardest of times.

8. What are some of your favourite past times with your pet?
During the summer, or when the weather is nice, Brian and I will take Max out somewhere nice for the day. This generally involves a car ride and Max gets car sick, although we have remedied this problem with travel sickness tablets (we give him 1 human travel sickness tablet about 3 hours before we leave and it works a treat). The last time we took him on a big long walk, I let him off the lead for the first time. I've always been really anxious about this because as I said, he is not an obedient dog so I thought he might run off. He didn't though, as soon as I called him he came running back.

9. What are nicknames that you call your pet?
We call him Moo more than we call him Max. I can't remember how this started. I also call Ollie, Ollie Bear or just Bear.

I will leave you with a picture of my two favourites. Brian didn't like Max, or any dogs for the matter, until about 2 years ago. Now he loves him (thankfully). I hope you guys enjoyed this post, I might make another telling you all about Ollie, if you would like. 

Do you guys have any furry friends?

Viennese Whirls

Before I get into telling you all about these delightful biscuits, I must address the fact that I called these "Viennese Swirls" in Sunday's post. Swirls, Whirls, all the same in my head apparently!
I can't actually say that I got to try these, I gave half to a friend for her birthday and the other half were gobbled up by my Mother within minutes (you think I'm exaggerating, I'm really not). However I was informed that they were "the nicest gift ever" and "better than Mr. Kipling's ". I decided to use this recipe, although I found that a lot of them were the same so it didn't matter too much.

These do require some attention in the piping department, other than that they're very simple to make! I almost broke my piping gun twice making these. I should really invest in some ordinary nozzles and piping bags. You by no means have to be an expert but I find them quite time consuming, if you're not hugely bother by what they look like, you could just make them into ordinary circles, I'm sure they would taste just as good! The biscuits  can be as big or as small as you would like, just make sure each biscuit has a buddy the same size. I managed to get 16 Viennese Whirls from this recipe, I think I made about 35 biscuits but a few didn't make the cut. I will definitely be making these again and sneaking some away for myself this time. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened
50g icing sugar
50g cornflour
250g plain flour
1sp vanilla extract

50g butter
100g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or grease with butter. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, icing sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract. 

3. Slowly sieve in your flour. I found that the mixture wasn't as thick as most dough but that's the way it's meant to be, so don't worry about it (like I did).

4. Place the dough into your piping bag fitted with a medium size star nozzle and pipe into swirls.

5. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until slightly golden at the edges. 

6. To make your icing, place the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk together until smooth.

7. Leave your biscuits to cool completely before filling. Spread some jam onto the flat side of one biscuit and about 1 teaspoon of buttercream on the flat side of another then sandwich together.

8. Sift a little icing sugar or drizzle some chocolate over the top, if desired! 

My Top Picks // Floral Patterns

I absolutely love writing these posts, it cures my need to go shopping and creates a wishlist for me. I adore most things with a floral pattern, mugs, bedding, notebooks and most importantly, clothes. Here are some of my favourite items for Summer 2014! 

1. Floral Collared Skater Dress // Boohoo, €28

2. Floral City Dress // Topshop, £40

3. Blue Floral Print Zip Trim Skater Dress // River Island, €51

4. Floral Print Green Pleated Dress // ROMWE, €29.95

5. Black V-Neck Floral Print Playsuit // Topshop, £37

6. Black Floral Print Playsuit // New Look, €24.99

7. Tea Flower Godet Skirt // Topshop, £22

8. Floral Print Belted Pleated Skirt // ROMWE, €20.22

 9. Navy Floral Print Casual Shorts // River Island, €25

10.  Lace Floral Print Runner Shorts // Topshop, £35

11. Black Floral Print Shorts // New Look, €17.99

12. Black Floral Print Running Shorts // New Look €14.99

13. Gold Tone Clustered Flower Necklace // River Island, €20

14. Black Tapestry Floral Chelsea Boots // New Look, €10

15. Mint Green Rose Garland Hairband // New Look, €4.99

16. Black Floral Print Purse // New Look, €7.99

As always, I hope you guys saw a few bits in this post that you liked. Maybe not too many, I don't want to be responsible for any damage done to your bank accounts! My favourite pieces are 2, 7 and 12. I have been eyeing up number 14, the Chelsea Boots for quite sometime now and they are currently in the sale (dreams do come true).
Which items have you added to your wishlist? 

Seven Happy Things #1

Good morning and happy Sunday to you all, I hope you have all had a fantastic week and that today will be just as good!

I absolutely love reading people's Weekend Round Up posts, however I feel that I don't post enough during the week to my blog, or to my Instagram to be able to post my own. I really like the idea of a post to end the week though, so with that being said I came up with this, "Seven Happy Things". The idea is to take one thing from each day of the week that has made me happy, whether it be something big or small and at the end of the week and write them down as I reminder that there is something good in every day. Life can be testing at times, for everyone. I think at the end of the day (or week) we tend to only focus on the bad things and forget about anything good that has happened. I would like to change that way of thinking.  The seven things will be accompanied by a quote (found on Pinterest) that sums up the week for me.

• My Monday evening was spent playing Scrabble and watching quiz shows. I know this sounds awfully boring but I love it.
  
• Tuesday got off to a wonderful start for me as the boy surprised me with tea and toast in bed. I like my toast barely toasted, with butter and strawberry jam on top, in case you were wondering.
  
• My first every post as a guest blogger was posted on Wednesday. I shared my favourite brownie recipe with What Lizzie Thinks readers.
  
• I am lucky enough to be going to Paris in June so I've been anxiously waiting to receive my new passport. Thankfully, Thursday was the day when my anxiety about this issue was put to rest as it finally arrived!
  
• I do most of my baking towards the end of the week so on Friday I made Viennese Swirls. They were fabulous (if I do say so myself) and I cannot wait to share the recipe with you guys!
  
• On Saturday I was back in the kitchen again making some Mint Creme Chocolate Cookies, I shall also have a post up about these as they were the best cookies I have ever made. Baking makes me happy, can you tell?
  
• Today is Sunday and I am extremely happy today about this post. I have really enjoyed writing it, it has made me see that this week hasn't been as bad as it may have seemed..

 I really hope you guys enjoy reading this post and feel free to leave a comment below telling me something that has made you happy!