FOTD // The Feline Flick

I am really sorry to say that I have completed neglected my blog for the past couple of weeks, I thought it was going to be easy to work and blog but it's actually really difficult and hats off to all you ladies that manage it, you're all better women than I am.
I've had this face of the day post hanging about on my laptop for about a month now but I've lacked the inspiration to write and post it. Today though, I just got the sudden urge to blog again and I am suuuu-per happy about it, so here goes!

I started off by preparing my lips with Lush's Sweet Lips Lip Scrub, I don't think they do it in this flavour/scent but they still have many more to choose from and they are wonderful for getting rid of chapped lips. To keep my lips moisturised throughout the day I then applied Balmi Lip Balm in Coconut. I always use the same foundation, Rimmel Match Perfection in the shade "Porcelain". To conceal my under eye dark circles, I decided to go for a heavy duty concealer, Seventeen's Phwoarr Paint. Powder is a must in my make up routine, this time I decided to use Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder. At this stage I need to liven up and put a bit of colour back into my cheeks, I did so using a No7 blush that I have had in my make up collection for far too long. Onto the eyes, I started by lining my tightline with the Rimmel Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil. The only eyeshadow palette I keep in my make up bag is the Make Up Revolution Iconic 3 palette, I dusted the fourth shade all over my lid and then used the seventh colour in the outer corners. I've really been loving felt tip liners at the moment so I used this one from Collection to create a feline flick. Last but not least, to finish off the look I coated my lashes with Maybelline's the Rocket Volum' Mascara. 

The Perfect Sunday

I must admit, I've never been the biggest lover of Sundays. Not until I started working weekends that is. Since this Sunday, probably as you're reading this, I am going to be at work, I thought I'd tell you a few of my favourite things to do on a Sunday, a weekend or just a day off.

Walks 

With the pup and the boy. This is one of my absolute favourite things ever, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. There's nothing better than getting away for the afternoon with your favourite people and usually a picnic in our case.

Lazing About

Luckily, I did have last Sunday off work so the boy and I took to the couch armed with our duvet, lots of goodies and a laptop and that is where we remained for the duration of the day. We watched "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" and You've Got Mail. If you've never seen Monty Python before, I would highly recommend that you spend  your Sundays watching all of them because they are the most stupid, most hilarious thing you will ever watch and it is wonderful. 

Baking 

I don't think this will come as I surprise to any of you but I love to bake. If there's ever a day when I can spend the whole day baking, I will usually experiment and try new recipes. Sometimes they don't always work out so at least I know I will have time to bake an old trusty favourite.

Organising 

I left this one until last because I feel like it may be a bit of a weird one. On Sundays, I like to sit down with my notebook and plan out the week ahead. I'm one of those people that when they have too much going on in their head at once it just gets very full and I begin to feel quite overwhelmed. It's good for me to write out what my plan for the week is, maybe some meal planning and blog posts. 

So there you go, just a few of my favourite things that occupy my Sundays. I hope you've all had a wonderful week & you're enjoying your Sunday. What are some of your favourite weekend things? 

Super Gooey Chocolate Brownies

Happy Friday to you all! It dawned on me last week that I haven't actually shown you guys my favourite baked treat before. They have been featured on a guest post over on the lovely Lizzie's blog but I've never put them on my blog. As they are my favourite thing to bake and by far my favourite thing to eat, I had to share the recipe with you guys.

 I mentioned last night on Twitter that there's nothing more satisfying than having a tin full of homemade brownies. As I'm writing this post, I am so tempted to sneak downstairs and have another one, I will try and refrain from doing so as it's just gone 11pm. If I don't just cut them up and eat them straight away, I put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, they come out all gooey, warm and chocolatey, like they have just come out of the oven.

I made brownies in my Minnie Mouse Silicone cake mould last week and they were super adorable, I posed a picture of those on Instagram if you fancy a look! However, that didn't turn out to be very practical as it involved baking four individual brownies, so it took about three hours in total. Some of the brownie also got stuck inside so all but one kind of failed. I usually just bake them in a square baking tin, as shown above. I line the tin with greaseproof paper and leave two flaps at either side so it's super easy to lift out of the tin when they come out of the oven. As you can see here, I had to use tin foil this week as I forgot to buy greaseproof paper, it worked fine too though! This recipe makes about 12 portions and I promise you after trying this once, it will be your go to brownie recipe!

Ingredients:

300g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g dark chocolate
200g butter
70g plain flour
1tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, line a square baking tin with greaseproof paper and grease the rest of the tin with butter. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs.

3. In a second bowl, break the chocolate into small chunks, cut the butter into cubes and microwave until melted. Do this in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each to make sure you don't burn the chocolate.

4. Once slightly cooled, add the chocolate mixture to the first bowl. Stir in until everything is completely combined. 

5. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold in gently. Try not to stir the mixture. 

6. Pour into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. I find that the trick of putting a knife into cakes to see if they're cooked doesn't really work with brownies as you want them to still be slightly gooey inside. So bake until the edges start to come away from the sides of the tin. 

I hope you'll all give these brownies a go and be sure to tweet me if you do. Happy baking! 

July Favourites

Upon compiling these few bits that I've been loving this month I realised that over half of them are things that I've been using to make sure I smell good this month. It's been so hot and muggy here in July that things like a good deodorant are super important.

Black Clutch Bag 
So, I went a little crazy this month and actually left my house for an evening out. I realised that I don't actually own any clutch bags or even small handbags for taking out with me on a night out. I ventured into Penneys and found this beauty for only €3, which for the amount of use I will get out of it was about all I was willing to pay for a clutch. It's exactly what I was looking for, super simple, matte black faux leather effect with gold detailing and I am in love with it. I may even have to go out a few more times just to use it. 

Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Body Wash

Last week, I talked about the body butter and scrub from this range, you'll find my review here. I decided to use up the body wash this month as it smells amazing. That's all I'm really looking for in a body wash and this delivers. The smell also lingers on your skin for quite awhile after, so I find myself sniffing my own arm at various points of the day.

Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara
Everyone has been raving about this mascara for so long and I am now ready to jump on the bandwagon. It does exactly what it says on the tin, creates amazingly voluminous lashes with no clumps in sight, fabulous! 

Mitchum Advanced Control Shower Fresh Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant 

Like I said above, it's really important to keep yourself smelling fresh all day. This deodorant does exactly that. This has been a favourite of mine for many months now but I decided to add it to this months favourites as it has been well and truly put to the test this month. 

Charlie Black Body Fragrance 

I am a big fan of body sprays, I think they're great to keep in your handbag or overnight bag and spray generously throughout day. something that you're unable to do with a perfume without using up a whole bottle. I'm really enjoying this one at the moment as I find that the scent actually sticks around, so I don't feel like I'm just using it as a room spray! On the boots website the scent is described as "a sparkling creation of mandarincherry and white musk", in case you were wondering. 

So those are the things that I have been loving this month! Leave a comment below telling me what your favourites have been in the month of July! 

Chocolate Swirled Banana Cupcakes

I can't believe it's Sunday again and I haven't blogged since Wednesday. I knew I couldn't go more than a week without posting a recipe though. That's something I want to keep to, if nothing else. I do really miss blogging though, and I cannot wait for my two days off this week to just sit down and blog. Anyway, this week  I am bringing you Chocolate Swirled Banana Cupcakes. Anything that includes chocolate is always a hit for me and there's nearly always bananas in my kitchen that need to be used up.

Banana bread was the first thing that I ever made from scratch, so it's an old favourite of mine. I decided a few months back, after getting bored of the plain banana bread recipe that I would throw some chocolate in the mix, to change things up a bit. This got mixed reviews in my house, some people didn't like the chocolate taste with the banana, but I liked it. As I said earlier, anything with chocolate in it, I will probably eat.
These cupcakes are so easy to make and I made around 18 cupcakes with this recipe. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

150g caster sugar
120ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 bananas
220g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla extract
3tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line the cupcake tin with cases. 

2. In a large bowl, mix  the flour, cinnamon and baking powder. 

3. In a separate bowl,  whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. 

4. Mash up the bananas, in the third smaller bowl. 

5. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until they're fully combined. 

6. Fold in the bananas.

7. Take two small bowls and divide up the mixture, 1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in the other. 

8. Add the cocoa powder to the bowl with the smaller amount of mixture, add 2 tablespoons of milk if it becomes to dry. 

9. Place 1 teaspoon of the plain mixture into the cupcakes cases, followed by a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture, then a further teaspoon of the plain mixture on top. Continue to do this with all the cupcakes.

10. Swirl the mixture in the cases, lightly, with a toothpick to make the swirls. 

11. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy!