Ciate Dolls House Collection

This is an old release from Ciate, but I got my hands on the Dolls House Collection at the Clothes Show Live in December. You get 5 perfectly pastel mini polishes, all packaged together in this super cute paper dolls house. The colours included are; Dolls House, Paper Doll, Poppet, Baby Doll and Sweet Pea. Poppet, a gentle lilasc is my favourite! They are a part of Ciate's porcelein matte collection. They dry super fast and super matte, but with a top coat, you can also wear them glossy and fresh! I needed 3 coats for these to go opaque. - But that's the usual with lighter colours.

What are your thoughts on these? Have you tried any Ciate polishes before?

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A day in York

On Friday, I decided to take a trip up north to York to visit one of my best friends. I hadn't seen her in a couple of months so we had a lot to catch up on! I did plan to take lots of pictures throughout the day but then the majority of it was spent inside shops and I got distracted hahah. The journey was obviously spent doing my nails, this is one of my favourites at the moment, and it’s a Ciate polish called Boudoir 017. After a lot of shopping, we ended up in Nando’s - even though I really wanted to go to Yo! Sushi lol - and I took a picture of my food! I got a veggie wrap, with halloumi cheese in it, with creamy mash and spicy rice as my sides. YUMMMMM! And I did manage to get one picture of York, it looked nice all lit up. All in all, I had such a fab day and I will definitely be making more trips to see York again!

Nail Addiction

So last month I did a post on a new brand that I had discovered called Cool Cos. (You can read it here) As well as those eye shadows, I also picked up a couple of nail polishes. The first one is a greeny/teal colour, the next is a light muted minty green, the third a navy blue, and finaly a brown. (The brown actually looked deep red at the time).

All of the colours are actually really pigmented, going opaque with two coats. Although they do dry glossy, I prefer the finish of a top coat on top. The brushes are quite wide - similar to that of Essie - so applying it is so easy and quick, you can cover the whole nail in 1 swipe. And the lasting power is pretty incredible, on me, this polish lasts around a week (with minor chips) which is insane compared to a lot of polishes I own.

Have you tried any new brands recently? 

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Melting Moments

It's no secret that I adore anything sweet. Dessert is definitely my favourite part of a meal. This week, I decided to make these cute little crumbly biscuits which are sandwiched together with an Italian buttercream. They are a bit different to what I would usually make - I usually opt for cake or cookies - but it's nice to try something new now and again. They are perfect for get together, or if you just fancy a treat!

You will need:

For the biscuit: 

 250g plain flour

180g custard powder

200g granulated sugar

75g rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

180g butter

60ml milk

For the buttercream: 

250g granulated sugar

150ml water

4 large egg whites

250g butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

• Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add in the butter with a pastry blender - you can even use your hands for this part - until it resembles crumbs. Stir in the milk until it forms a firm dough, and then wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. After the dough has chilled, roll it out and use a cookie cutter to cut out all of the cookies. You can then pop these in the oven, on a lightly greased tray, for 12-15 minutes. And make sure to let them cool before piping the butter cream.

• For the buttercream, you will need to whip the egg whites at a high speed until it forms soft peaks, then add half of the sugar into the egg white and whip this until it form firmer peaks. Meanwhile, pop the water and the other half of the sugar in a pan and boil on a high heat until it reaches the soft ball stage - this is when you drop a small amount of the syrup into cold water and it makes a soft ball and usually happens at 240 degrees F - When your egg white mixture and syrup is ready, pour the syrup into the egg mixture and whip thoroughly. Keep your mixer going for a while until it has cooled and then slowly add the butter. Pour in the vanilla extract and whip.

Now you have your cooled biscuits and your buttercream ready, you can sandwich them together by matching the biscuits up and piping some buttercream in between.

Enjoy!

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Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

 

My new favourite foundation is the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation (£32). It has a really nice natural, skin-like finish which isn't too matte or too dewy. It blends beautifully, without feeling heavy or cakey on the skin. The formula is super breathable and buildable so you can have a fuller coverage if you like.

I like to apply this with a buffing brush, my favourite is the Real Techniques one. I like to squeeze a small amount on to the back of my hand and then I take a little bit at a time on my brush, to then tap it onto my skin and then lightly blend until I’m happy with the result. It creates the most flawless coverage, by blurring any imperfections or uneven skin time.

The lasting power is incredible, even without a setting powder. It is a good one to take from day to night as you are getting a pretty heavy coverage, although it does become dewier as the day goes on, without looking sweaty, so if I was wearing this in the evening, I would probably use a matte primer first.

I am not a huge fan of the packaging, I can imagine getting the rest of the product out may be next to impossible which would be annoying. But you only really need a tiny amount so I feel as though the tube would last ages.

What are your thoughts on the Skin Base foundation?

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