FaeriWood

Something a little more lifestyle than beauty today in the form of a recipe. I feel the need to share because ever since I made these Baileys Marshmallow Brownies a few weeks ago   I haven't been able stop thinking about them! Side note: The measurements are in cup measurements because I'm lazy & when making things up off the top of my head I find it easier than weighing everything!  Ingredients: 1 cup baking flour 1 cup caster sugar 1 cup hot chocolate powder 1/2 oil  veg oil 1/2 cup of melted dark chocolate (I used pure cacao I found in TK Maxx but mixed it with some milk chocolate to lighten it up a bit) 2 eggs A miniature bottle of Baileys A cup of mini marshmallows  Method: Typical Brownie method here I think. Mix the wet ingredients first then stir in the dry ingredients & the marshmallows.  Bake for 20ish minutes @ 175c fan assisted for seriously gooey brownies! (don't worry about brown spots that's just the mars

It's only in the last few months that I've really started looking after my cuticles. And I mean really looking after them, not just relying on hand cream and hoping that it keeps them moisturised too! Part 1 of my routine is daily care. I work in an office so am sat at a computer for most of the day. This gives me the perfect opportunity to quickly rub the cream over my cuticles and let it soak in for a few minutes. The cream is not messy at all so I can still work away whilst all the goodness is happening before massaging it in and removing any residue. In the pictures above I have shown my portioning 'technique' (1 nail full of product) which does both hands so this tiny tub has lasted ages!! You may wonder why I'm going into so much detail over a simple cream but this is such a relaxing 5 minutes of my day and leaves my hands (which can get dried out sitting under air conditioning) feeling soft and smelling great. I've also noticed a strengthen

I have a problem. I simply do not have enough nail polish.... Ok that's a blatant lie but I do have very few Jewel tones in my collection and this set of 14 polishes for £15 from E.L.F came at the perfect time.  At time of purchase they were doing a special offer on orders over £30 so for £20 I got this and some others lovelies I can't talk about (santa's secret!)  Below I have swatched each polish with only 1 coat and the quality is amazing considering I got them for less than a £1 each! Every colour was fast drying, opaque in 1 coat and the glitters were jam packed and smooth to the touch so no need for top coat !  L-R: Desert Haze | Glamour Girl | Gold Star ( layered over Desert Haze ) L-R: Blushing Beauty | Taupe Of The World ( now you know what Taupe is )| Smoky Brown  L-R: Misty Haze ( this will replace my much used Barry M Grey )| Dazzle Diva | Chic Confetti  L-R: Red-y or Not | Cherry Bomb | Violet Velvet L-R: Green Machine ( this is the perfect green! ) | Sea Esca

Im a bit naughty when it comes to my hair. I only get it cut roughly every 3 months and have a tendency to just let my colour fade until I can't take it anymore which, to be fair, is an improvement on my student days of cutting it myself twice a year and hoping for the best with harsh box dyes.  Praise the gods for the wonderful  Sharon  at  Paul Stafford Hairdressing  for converting me to the salon! What I love about her is her adventurousness with my colour and recently I've been rocking an amazing copper & pink combo but as with most all fashion colours it fades fast and hard and can be rather expensive to keep up.  But thanks to a combination of a £10 voucher with a Boots 3for2 offer on the new  BLEACH London  home hair care products what did I get? An awesome way to freshen up my colour without breaking the bank! So who are BLEACH? They're basically the new hip & trendy salon in London and are coming out with amazing on-trend looks such as pastel colours, dip d

I am officially 2 months in to my wee course at college and absolutely loving it. At only 3 hours a week though it is slow going, especially given that we are spending half our time working on theory. A vital step though as it is equally important to know about anatomy & contra-indications (nail disorders that could prevent treatment) and as a nail geek I'm in my element! If you've been following me on Instagram you will have seen a few sneaky snaps of my progress but today I thought I'd share my first proper full set of finished acrylics! Pretty good  if I do say so myself! Not perfect but watch this space come June! They've actually lasted really well and I've not had any lifting or popping off which means my pre treatment nail prep is going well too.  Yay!  I can't wait to keep learning and progressing and, most importantly, practicing on anyone with a spare evening. We will soon be moving on to the slightly easier task of gel extensions and we've

Aloha Samhain lovers. It's that time of year again where all fashion consciousness goes out the window and we go wild and crazy. Or least that's how it should go! Last year you may remember I embraced my geek and went as a Star Trek Red Shirt. I survived, thankfully, and this year I embraced my child side and went for a Disney theme!  Enter Ariel! A drunk photoshoot at 2am was,of course, the best time to do outfit shots! Hmm... I went for Aqua & Pinks on my eyes but kept my make up fairly clean looking. Ariel wasn't caked in makeup & neither would I be.  I'll be honest the inspiration came at my last hair appointment when my friend described my new pink & copper locks as Mermaid Hair! Who didn't want to be Ariel as a child? Who doesn't now?!? Well I definitely did and do so it was decided.  Did I apologise for the blur yet? Oh well. This is, of course, Ariel's sail dress just after she loses her voice (like me!) and becomes human (I have always b

I'm a creature of lust. I'll happily admit that I swoon over all the pretty things. Especially when it comes to nail trends. One of the latest trends sweeping the scene (& my latest lust bug) are nail charms. These are different from studs, decals & stickers we've seen in the past as they are metal, reusable & ridiculously cool.  My favourite brand of charms comes from Hex Nail Jewellery and I've borrowed a few of their Instagram pics to demonstrate why. They blend cute & edgy equally and best of all they're only $1.75! That's currently just over a £1! So yeah you can see why I'm lusting.  Check out their gallery of customer photos & video tutorials on Instagram: @hexnailjewelry Unfortunately my budget has been well & truly blown by college and more specifically buying my kit for acrylic & gel application. It's early days in the course but practice is going great & I look forward to showing you some finished work once th

So I wrote this post 3 days ago when I heard the news yet for some reason blogger couldn't publish it. It's not news any more but I'm still excited!  Enjoy! I've had a bit a of a style crush on Rita Ora for a while now. Aside from the fact that she is stunning, I love her (& her stylist) ability to take elements of vintage, retro & modern styles and mash them all up to create that London vibe everyone is going for. She's is definitely a style icon for me not that you'd know it. I don't have nearly enough confidence to try and actually replicate her looks! I'm just not "gangsta" enough I'm afraid... ...moving on.  What I am happy to replicate, however, is her makeup! And with the help of Rimmel London we'll soon be able to do this. I am all biz for this news! (All biz being a Northern Irish colloquialism for "on board" or "excited" for you non local readers out there!) Rumour has it they are focussing on lip

We've all done it. Found THE perfect dress and then looked at the price. we then spend hours, even days, going over our inner monologue: "Is it worth it?", "Can I justify that amount of money?" and "Would I wear I wear it again? Oh I'm sure something will come up". The answer is always Yes, No and probably not. Thus making the torture pointless for me as I will always end up taking the sensible option and putting my debit card back in its hole.  This was the story of my brief affair with the Eliza J - Lace Detail 3/4 sleeve ruched detail dress. From its discovery on the House Of Fraser website late last night to chatting about my love for it early this morning with the lovely Debbae from the HOF twitter account to trying it on in store this afternoon with the sales lady oohing and cooing. It was a whirlwind romance but at just over £100 it couldn't last.  And so I took to the bargain hunters paradise: EBAY . Below I've pictured 6 options

It's been a while I had the occasion to break out the red lippy for a night out but I picked this MUA  shade 1 recently and just can't help but wear it around the house at any opportunity (I honestly never thought I'd look at another red after I found Lime Crime Velveteen  which is my precious). We all know MUA products are complete bargains and this is no different. An easy, comfy, classic Red  that will be perfect for the upcoming Christmas season.   Speaking of the dreaded seasonal C word. I've been watching Christmas cookery programmes all day on Food Network UK & can't wait for all of the stuffing! Yum.

This week I attended the House of Fraser   A/W launch as a little pre-Fashion Week treat. It seems like only weeks since we last had Fashion Week on the horizon and, with it, the launch of the Spring/Summer season. Well summer is well and truly over and we move on to my favourite fashion seasons. Autumn/Winter.  Now I'm never one to dress weather appropriate. I don't like massively bulky jumpers in the winter and I never go without some form of sleeve in summer no matter how warm I am! It's a comfort thing. So autumn is kind of my favourite time to shop. It's not too cold that we are massivly covered in layers and we have firmly said goodbye micro shorts (or at least we should have) in the shops. Ok so enough blathering on its time to show you some of the goodies I spotted after enjoying breakfast & gossip with my FABB girlies Nic (Strawberry Blonde Beauty) & Gemma-Louise (That Belfast Girl) This ring from Filli Folli was simple but s