Where am I? UPDATED with lounge!

Hello gorgeous girlies!

It’s been a while! So sorry for being absent for a couple of weeks, things have been so hectic. Darren ♥ and I have moved into our first house together so I’ve been without internet/time to post anything. I’ve also spent my ‘Stacey Funds’ on some lovely bits and bobs from Next home! (What’s happened to me?) lolz!

Here's a pic of my kitchen, we're in the middle of decorating the lounge/dining room so I will do a post on that when it's done, should be next weekend, maybe I'll do a little home corner section on my blog.

Please stay with me whilst I get back into the swing of things. Having a house takes up so much of your time! I can’t wait to get home every night to just potter about and get everything organised for the next day. I love it!

I went to the Vitality Show this weekend and bought some lovely bits and pieces so can’t wait to blog about those!

Someone tell me what the hype is with these Revlon Lip Butters!!! Are they worth picking up?

♥

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FOTN - UD Naked Palette 1 look

Good afternoon lovelies!

This is probably going to be my last post for a week due to the fact I am moving this weekend into my very own house! *dancing round the room to LMFAO* Please don’t leave me whilst I swap my life around and move the powers that enable me to write this blog! I love you all!!

I have packed most of my make up away ready for the big move, but kept out my UD Naked Palette for work. I had a free afternoon on Saturday and decided I would quickly throw together this look.

I’ve had the Naked palette for nearly a year and I don’t think I’ve ever used the shadows Gunmetal and Creep, both gorgeous colours that were sat unloved in the palette. So this is what I came up with. Gunmetal is such a gorgeous colour, it came out a kinda bluey grey on me and in some lights it just looked blue, it has a gorgeous shimmer to it. I love both colours and I need to use them more!

Face

Chanel Pro Lumiere 10

MAC F&B mixed with foundation to darken slightly

MAC MSFN Medium

FashionistA blush (can’t remember name but peachy colour)

Benefit Hoola to contour slightly

Eyes

Gunmetal and Creep e/s from UD Naked palette

Avon Supershock Mascara

Avon Supershock Gel Liner

Matte brown from Sleek Oh So Special palette for brows

Lips

MAC l/s Hue

MAC l/s Lovelorn

Shame I had nowhere to go, after this it was back to packing boxes and breaking more nails! Boooooo!!

Stay with me girlies, as Arnie says “I’ll be back”

♥

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Chocolate and Hazelnut Cupcakes

Good morning girlies!

A few weeks back I used my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook that Darren ♥ bought me for Christmas to make these gorgeous cupcakes! I am on Weight Watchers at the minute and I won’t lie to you I’m struggling. I was doing so well before Christmas and was 2 pound away from my stone award I’m back up to 8 pound lost, 8 pound in 17 weeks is rubbish, but I’m not giving up. The week that I decided to make these I didn’t go to Weight Watchers and the bad eating carried on for 2 weeks, when I went back to Weight Watchers I had gained 4½ pound! It was well deserved and very easy to do!

Pages 14-45 in the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook muffin cases were used  instead of cupcake cases, with muffin cases this recipe makes 12 and on Weight Watchers they are 10 pro points each. If you were to make them in cupcake cases the recipe would make 18 and the pro points would be 7. I followed the recipe and made 12 in muffin cases.

1 ate 4 of these cupcakes (greedy cow! Haha)

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g butter, at room temperature

120ml whole milk

1 medium egg

120 Nutella

36 whole hazelnuts to decorate

Frosting

250g icing sugar, sifted

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

25ml whole milk

80g Nutella

12 silicone cases or a 12 hole tray

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170’C (325’F) Gas 3.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric whisk with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cold, hollow out a small section in the centre of each one and fill with a dollop of hazelnut and chocolate spread. (the cute outs are lovely with a bit of nutella on them!)

Frosting

Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed. Slowly pour in the milk, then when it is all incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

Stir in the hazelnut and chocolate spread by hand until evenly mixed into the frosting. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top and finish with 3 hazelnuts per cupcake. Voila!

This recipe said to use muffin cases instead of cupcake cases which are a little bigger, however next time I make these I will use cupcake cases because I prefer my cupcakes to be a little deeper in sponge!

Nom Nom Nom!

♥

Month in Photos #1

Good afternoon girlies!

Apologies for lack of posts at the minute, me and Darren ♥ are in the middle of moving house so I’ve packed my make up away and just have out my everyday items. Normal posting should resume soon!

This is a new section on my blog, I wanted to do a weekly photo’s section but to be honest I don’t do that much weekly and some weeks are busier than others so I thought monthly posts would be better.

Annnnyway! (I do ramble sometimes)

Went to NTA’s * little mix @ NTA’s * cinema * snowy street * footprints * my handywork * Emma’s birthday drinks * the crazy juice * giant Baileys cupcake * MUA love * MUA event sweeties * TOWIB * nom * WICKED * Funky OPI bag * Real Techniques in

Boots Liverpool Street

* Desparados in Angel * lip hero!

Hope you like these kind of posts!

♥

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MUA Love Heart polish mix up!

Afternoon daaaaahlings!

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to attend the MUA Love Hearts event. In my goody bag was a couple of the nail polishes, I WANT YOU (orange) and U & I (yellow) that are coming out with the launch. I already have something similar at home so knew I wouldn't get much use out of them.

I set my artistic mind to good use to see what I could do about this, I thought about swapping with someone but I don’t think anyone would want to swap with me……….so I mixed the colours I had to make my own unique colour!

China Glaze by Peachy Keen

I found a container and got to work, I poured in mostly yellow polish then a little bit of the orange, using the lid of said container to mix the colours together came up with a gorgeous peachy colour. I don’t have anything like this shade at home so I was most impressed with it. I saw a lot of hype last year about a colour by China Glaze called Peachy Keen, I think it’s not far off that colour and maybe with a few more mixing’s I could have it bang on!

If you do this mixing malarky....be quick with your painting, because it starts to dry and go a bit gloopy. I'm so happy with the shade I mixed though. Defo need some more!

Do any of you mix your nail varnishes too?

♥

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Avon Supershock - Review

Hello my little butter nut squashes!

A few weeks back my Mum told me to have a look on the Avon website to see if there was anything out of the book at the minute that I wanted to try. She told me about the deal they had on in that catalogue.

The deal was Supershock Mascara, Supershock Gel liner and Supershock Eyeshadow pencil in Starry Night/Moonshine all for £12.50, this deal also included the free gift which if I’m honest isn’t really me, I’m a silver and white gold kinda gal but I have worn the pearl style earrings and they are beautiful! Darren ♥ disagrees and said they looked tacky! What would he know!

Supershock Mascara

I didn’t think anything could outdo my beloved Max Factor mascara but this Supershock mascara has done it. Just look at that length and separation! I don’t like my lashes to be too clumped together and spider leg looking so this is perfect. There’s none of those flakey mascara bits that tend to fall off the lashes half way through the day so it has good longevity and still doesn’t clump up after applying more on top.

Supershock Gel Liner

This stuff is seriously amazing, it’s a pencil but nothing like I’ve seen before it’s so soft…. like butter! Glides on the eye and has some serious staying power. I have used this along the top of the eye almost like a gel liner with an angled brush, it works wonders. This is the pencil the Pixiwoo girls swear by, I’m so pleased I now have it in my collection.

Moonshine/Starry Night Eyeshadow duo and Supershock Gel Liner

Supershock Duo Eyeshadow Pencil - Moonshine/Starry Night

As you can see from the swatches the colour pay off is really good, again a beautiful texture. I will do a full review and FOTN on Saturday so look out for that then. So far though, just from the swatch, I like it. I would probably use these as a base to eyeshadows to help them stick and make the colour pop. Starry Night has a lovely glittery look to it so it may not need any shadow over it.

I also picked up a double ended shadow brush for £2.50, it has a flat shadow brush applicator on one end and a rubber smudgey brush on the other. I’ve used it everyday since getting it, it’s a beauty of a brush.

Free Gift

A while back I blogged about the Deluxe Chocolate nail varnish by Avon for £3, they didn’t have this one in stock so picked up another but it’s for a giveaway. I’m seriously impressed with their nail varnishes though. Mum bought a foundation from Avon and loves it, so I’ve asked for a sample, I can’t wait for that to come.

In the next Avon catalogue (# 4) they have Supershock Mascara and Gel Pencil for £5!! Go go go! You will not be disappointed!

Thanks for reading my beauties!

♥

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Valentines Night – The Food.......The Outfit.......The Face

Good afternoon sweeties! Did you all have a good Valentines Day? Or are some of you totally against it?

Me and Darren ♥ agreed we wouldn’t buy anything for each other this year because we’re in the middle of buying our first house blah blah blah, well I stuck to this but was absolutely spoilt rotten last night.

The day started at 6.30am with a card exchange in bed, inside my card was tickets for that night to see Wicked! I’ve wanted to see this for so long, me and my sister have been looking out for cheap tickets for a while so was pleased I got to see it.

Before that though I was instructed to meet Darren ♥ at Chancery Lane at 5pm, I couldn’t help but google it to see what was around that area and sure enough it was my favourite Steak restaurant Gaucho! We’ve been to Gaucho’s about 3 times now, every time we’ve been it’s been better than the first. I had the 400g Rib Eye Steak with hand cut chips and a big ol’ tub of Tommy K! (ketchup). I had my Rib Eye cooked medium and Darren ♥ had his Medium Rare. He said mine was better though ha! We’re both not that into puddings so skipped that.

The Steak

The Outfit

Shift dress from New Look, Cardigan from New Look, Black tights ?? Knee high boots from Dune. Silver snake bracelet I've had for about 16 years, it wraps around my arm and I love it! ♥ White gold earrings, white gold necklace and engagement ring all from the main man ♥

Our seats weren’t amazing, very high up in the nosebleed seating area but it was still fab. We had that annoying couple infront of us that don’t stop moving from left to right! The main characters (Green witch and the Good witch) both had such strong voices. I tweeted yesterday to say I was going and someone said to listen out for the Defying Gravity song, well it was so good and it certainly woke Darren ♥ up from his slumber! He’s not really into musicals but went because he knew I’d like it.

The Face

Kept it simple. Acutally the same as my TOWIB face except I used Patisserie lipstick by MAC instead of red.

Did any of you get spoilt rotten too? I made reservations for Saturday night for me and Darren ♥ so will let you know all about that, he knows he’s going somewhere just not where. I’ll tell him Saturday night so he saves enough room!

♥

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TOWIB – the face, the clothes……...The Nando’s!!!

Hey girlies, on Saturday was the 3rd instalment of the TOWIB events. This event is organised by Hayley from London Beauty Queen. I met up with the girlies outside the We Will Rock You Theatre on Tottenham Court Road along with a few others too. Bloggers stand out a mile! Before we knew it there were over 20 of us. One of the girls whipped out her mobile sat nav and off we walked round the block to the Montague hotel where it was all kicking off! I can’t say that much more about it because after the first talk it became apparent that it wasn’t anything like the last TOWIB and was a little too formal for me. I asked the girls what they thought and we all agreed it wasn’t for us this time so we went our separate ways with some of them arranging a meet up in April. Yay!

Emma, Laura and I walked the short distance to Nando’s at Holborn and sat there for 2 hours talking lipstick, blusher, blogging and men!

Here is my FOTD, I decided to glam it up a bit for this occasion, it’s not like me to wear red lipstick, especially during that day but I loved it! I applied a Maybellline red lip liner as a base all over the lips then a Korres lip butter #52 Orange Red over the top. I kept my eyes simple with Phloof by MAC over the inner area and Buck from Naked palette in the crease. Loreal Superliner for a flick and Ardel lashes #102’s. MAC MSF Pearl for blusher.

My fur coat I’ve had for aaaaaages and I tell you what, I wish I whipped this bad boy out sooner, it was so warm. Darren ♥ wasn’t at home when I left so didn’t see me wearing it til I got home, he wouldn’t look at me or talk to me until I took it off! He hates anything leopard print and told me I looked like Pat Butcher (god rest her soul!)

This picture was from Christmas

The rest of the outfit you can’t see but I kept it black, I had a sheer shirt on that I got from New Look before Christmas, black cheapy vest from H&M, black jeggings from New Look and a pair of ballet pumps.

So that’s it, I doubt I’ll be going to the next TOWIB, if I’m honest I go to see all the blogging girlies and have a good ol’ chat. Find out about some new products from them and just have a girliy gossip really. We don’t need TOWIB for that.

The lipstick dolls!

Grace, Laura and Emma

For me the highlight of the day was seeing Emma and Laura and my new obsession……..Nando’s!

♥

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Eyeliner!

Girlies! Something amazing happened, I think (finally) I am starting to get the hang of gel eyeliner, well this is  Loreal Superliner but even so, it's taken me ages! A steady hand and getting to know your eyeshape helps.

It's not perfect but I'm very happy with it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Left eye, this is my good eye!

Right eye, hmmmm needs more practise, this is the lazy one!

♥

MUA Love Hearts Event with swatches

Hey girlies, I had the pleasure of attending the new MUA (Make up Academy) and Love Hearts collaboration. It was held at Fruitbox which was inside Piccadilly Institute right at the centre of Piccadilly Circus.

I met a few of the girls outside Boots (it was so cold that night) and walked the short distance to the event. A few drinks and a cupcake later (Ok I lie, 2 cupcakes) we went off on our separate ways home. I couldn’t wait to open my event goodie bag and was spoilt rotten by the goodies inside.

Here’s what I got, I managed to have a quick swatch up of the lipglosses and balms but will save the polishes for another day!

My swag!

Lovely glitter shatter nail polishes

3 n 1 Contour pen

LtoR - Nude, Peach Shimmer, Pink Sugar and Pink up Pink

LtoR - I WANT U and U & I

Me wearing Pink Sugar lipgloss

Sweet Kiss Lipgloss

Hot Lips Lipgloss

Sugar Lips

Sugar Lips and Lovelorn Lipstick by MAC

Me wearing both

The sweets that Darren ♥ has already started on!

The gorgeous heart tin, I can see hair clips ending up in this!

I am in love with the lip balms, they’re so soft and silky and just what we need this time of year. I’ve been going through Vaseline like no ones business! I’ve had a few admiring looks too from other commuters on buses/tubes. Haha! Jel bitches! I think my favourite is Sugar Lips, it reminds me of Lovelorn lipstick by MAC, it's in the same colour family, blue toned pink. Over the top it gives that extra shine.

All the products will be in Superdrug from mid February and on http://www.muastore.co.uk/ from 8th February, to find out which Superdrug stocks MUA check out the MUA facebook page, they have a store list on there.

Also take a look at Love Hearts facebook page for your chance to win a limited edition love hearts tin and send your loved ones a personalised love heart.

♥