June Favourites

It seems that I'm slightly late to the party with this month's favourites. It's been a hectic week with lots of exciting news. My Thursday post was going to be my favourite shortbread recipe but that will have to wait until tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. Back to the task in hand, what I have been loving this month! 

Coconut & Almond Leave In Conditioner - This product featured in my hair care post, so it is a staple in my hair routine. However, when I went to Paris earlier this month, I couldn't bring it with me as it was over the 100ml liquid limit and I was unable to find a travel size spray bottle in time. In those five days without it, I realised how much I rely on it when my hair is wet. I drench my hair in this before I brush it out after I shower and it makes it so much easier to brush through. I have just got all my hair cut off into a bob though so I don't think I will need as much of those but at just €2 a bottle, I will definitely continue to pick this up.

Simple Kind To Skin Moisturising Facial Wash - I used this facial wash to wash my face after removing my make up with a wipe. It removed every trace of my make up and left my skin feeling so soft. The boy also used this, while it did leave his skin moisturised, it also broke him out, which just goes to show how products work differently on different skin types. This is just a travel size but I will be repurchasing a full size when this runs out.

KIKO Nail Laquer in 344 Light Misty Green - I mentioned this in my Paris Haul, I got the colour wrong though. None of the nail polishes have names on them, just numbers, that don't match up to the names or numbers shown online. I had been looking for this colour for such a long time, so when I saw this one I knew it had to be mine. I've had it on my nails ever since returning home. It takes just two coats to gave a very opaque colour and there is minimal chipping with this polish.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor Deep Conditioner - Again, I just have a travel size of this product but I do have a reason for this. I find that with Aussie products my hair gets used to them really quickly so I only use it once every so often. However, I used this for the second half of this month and I found that it took a lot of the frizz out of my hair, as well as making it smell uh-mazing. I may have to pick up the full size.

So that is everything I have been loving this month. I usually have a TV favourite too but I am still making my way through Gilmore Girls (still perfect) so that's pretty much all I've been watching this month. 

Leave a comment below telling me what your favourite things have been this month! 

Summer Make Up Wishlist

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Blush in Peach Passion

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Flush

NARS Blush in Gaiety

YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in Pink In Devotion 

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Antwerp

Essie Nail Varnish in Sunday Funday

Soap & Glory Brow Archery 

Benefit They're Real Push Up Liner

L'oreal True Match Foundation in Natural Ivory

So those are my top picks for make up this summer! I love corals and bright pinks. I'm also dying to try S&G's Brow Archery, I never usually do much to my eyebrows but this needs to change.
 What are your favourite picks from my list and what beauty bits have you been lusting after? 

Seven Happy Things #7

So, if you've been hanging around these parts for awhile now, you'll know that I usually post these on Sunday mornings, or early afternoon. Today has been an extremely slow day though, I am lacking motivation. However, I have just had dinner (quorn shepherds pie, it was yum) and now I'm ready for action! Ready to write a blog post, at least.

This lovely little blog I have reached 100 followers on bloglovin' earlier this week. I woke up to an email about it and it really brightened up my day. Thank you so much to everyone that reads, comments and follows. I really appreciate it.

I received an email from a lovely girl asking for some tips on blogging. Now, I am in no way an expert and there are definitely waaaay better bloggers she could have asked but it meant a lot that she asked me. I hope I helped.

I've managed to keep up with reading blogs this week, which I am really happy about. I tried to comment on as many as possible as well. I enjoy when people comment on my posts, it's always nice to make other people happy too.

Yesterday, the boy and I went to see The Fault In Our Stars. I read the book quite awhile back now and he is currently reading it. We both loved it. I presume everyone has seen it by now but if you haven't, you should. Bring tissues, I cried through most of it.

This week's baking post was Mini Cherry Pies. I was a bit hesitant about this one, I wasn't sure how well it would go down with everyone. A lot of people (myself included) prefer something chocolate-y. People seemed to really enjoy it though, my taste testers were also impressed. 

I've started mixing up my make up slightly this week by using the Make Up Revolution Iconic 3 palette. I'm completely amazed by how pigmented it is. It has made it into my make up bag, replacing my MUA palette.

As I mentioned above, the been keeping up my blog reading this week. However, I haven't been keeping up with my Youtube subscription box, so videos have began to pile up. I am looking forward to curling in bed this evening with a cup of tea and catching up. 

That is my week, summed up into seven happy bullet points. I hope you've all had a wonderful week. Summer has been coming in and out of Ireland this week. I'm not a massive fan of the sun (sorry) so I am patiently waiting for Winter. Let me know what's been making you happy this week! 

Mini Cherry Pies

I feel like the title of this post could be slightly misleading. The cherries themselves aren't mini, however the pies are. I prefer making one size servings of pies and tarts simply because they're easy to distribute amongst family and friends/anyone that is willing to try my baking creations. The mother decided to bring home cherries in last weeks shop, as they were 59c in Aldi, an offer that she can never refuse. Her motto is "If no one will eat them, I will see what Katie can bake using them", I task which I'm almost always ready for. This week's taste testers (guniea pigs) were my brother and my mum. The verdict from my brother was "they're lovely" and when I still continued to watch him eat it, "it's really nice, now please go away." charming. The only time consuming part of this recipe is pitting the cherries, I cut around the pit and then took it out, so the cherries were halved when I put them into the mixture. I'm still not completely confident with baking pastry but these pies seemed to turn out pretty well. I am no longer tempted to use ready to roll pastry. However, if you would like to take some of the hassle out of this pie, feel free to use ready made pastry. How much sugar you add to the filling is completely up to you and how sweet your cherries are, I didn't use too much. I made these in a muffin tin, so I managed to make four mini pies. I would imagine you would have enough to make one big pie, if you would prefer. Happy baking!

Ingredients

For the pastry:
125g softened butter
75g caster sugar
250g plain flour
1 egg yolk
1tbsp cold water

For the filling:
200g cherries
3tbsp cornflour
50g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp milk, for brushing on the top of the pie.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and the caster sugar, not for too long, just until combined.

2. Sift in the flour and mix together with your hands until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs 

3. Add the yolk and chilled water, combining again with your hands until a dough is formed. 

4. Wrap in cling-film and leave to chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. 

5. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the muffin tin or pie dish. 

6. Remove the dough from the fridge, set aside 1/4 of the dough for the pie tops. Place the rest on a slightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to about half a cm in thickness. Cut out a circle shape of pastry that fits your tin/dish, allowing space for the sides of the tin and a bit more to place the top against. Place inside your tin/dish, pushing into the edges. Once placed in your tin/dish, poke holes in the pastry and bake for 10 minutes. 

7. Begin pitting the cherries. As I stated above, I cut around the pit, which halved the cherry, discarding the pit and putting both halves of the cherry into a bowl. Add the cornflour, sugar and vanilla extract. 

8. Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Whilst this is cooling, roll out the remainder of your dough, to a size that will sit perfectly on the top of the pies.

9. Add your filling, discarding most of the liquid that has amounted at the bottom of the bowl. Place on the pie top. Fold the edges of the top crust underneath the edges of the bottom crust. 

10. Glaze over with a tablespoon of milk. Cut 4 slits in the top of the pies. Bake for 30 minutes. 

11. Allow to cool on a wire rack until they have completely cooled. 

Upon writing this, and rereading it, I realised how long and wordy it is. This was the simplest way I could put it and I like having lots of individual points rather than one big paragraph of instructions. I hope this wasn't too difficult for you guys to follow and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

What are your favourite summer pies?

Paris Haul

Despite promising myself that I wouldn't buy a lot in Paris I ended up coming home with a hauls worth of stuff. I like where everything in from below and I'll try and find direct links if possible, not to sure about the Disney stuff though. This is also my very first haul, so I am very excited about it.

Disney Store

Minnie Mouse Cake Mould 
Disney Eiffel Tower Cookie Cutter
Disney Castle Keyring feat. Mickey.

Silver Mickey Mouse Candle Holder 

Mickey Mouse Place-mat

Disney Dogs Food Bowl 

Masions Du Monde

Vintage Metal Bakery Sign

Sweets & Cakes Mini Tray 
Cake Plate 

KIKO Cosmetics
Nail Laquers - 343 Spring Green, 483 Papaya, 522 Pearly Sapphire Blue

Smart Lipstick - 912 Crimson Red 
Bioderma Crealine H2O Micellar Solution - Picked this up in a Pharmacy.

I'm really happy with all my purchases. I was worried about getting the cake plate home in tact but it survived! I love the KIKO cosmetics, wish I had picked up more of them seeing as they are so cheap and there is such a huge range. I had completely forgotten about Bioderma until I saw it in a Pharmacy I happened to walk into. I haven't tried it yet but I will report back when I do. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing what I lugged back from Paris with me! Is there anything else I should have picked up while I was there?