Outfit of The Day: Statement accessory

Today outfit was a simple combination of shirt and shorts. Simple is great but sometimes an outfit just needs that little extra something to liven it up! My answer to this? About 99.9% of the time is a piece of statement jewelry. I was eager to wear my latest jewelry purchase which was a silver, spikey rope and chain necklace from Urban Outfitters, this placed nicely under the collar of my shirt which I tucked into my vintage Levi shorts.

Shirt: H&M, Shorts: Levi's, purchased at vintage fair 

Ellie

Product of the week: Soap & Glory duo

This dynamic little duo of 'Scrub of your life' body scrub and 'The righteous butter' body butter are a match made in heaven. Over summer my skin tends to go quite dry and I get a lot dead skin, particularly on my shins! A good exfoliator always does the job at getting rid of the dead skin, however it can still leave my skin feeling a little rough so there has always been a little something missing. But I can now proudly announce that I have found the answer in these Soap & Glory products. The body scrub has the texture of an exfoliator with the beads needed to get rid of dry skin, but also when rubbed in it goes really soapy so feels like a normal shower gel. Once massaged into the skin I rinse it off and gently pat my legs dry. I then can trust in the application of the body butter to moisturise and keep my skin feeling silky smooth. Not only this, the product also smells like summer in a tub, and it matched the scent of the scrub which always helps.
I think the mistake I was making in the past was using exfoliators and body butters individually. The scrub never quite had the finishing touch it needed, and the butter didnt perform at its best because of the dead skin barrier. So together they work a treat!
The products retail at £7.00 for a large tube of 'Scrub of your life' and £10.50 for a gigantic tub of of 'The righteous butter' this may seam pricey for bath products but they will last for ages and keep for 24 months. However if would rather not commit to sending this much right away then not to worry as you can buy travel size tubes and tubs of the products which is what I did initially. These will cost you just £1.25 for the scrub and £2.50 for the butter, you cant go wrong really!
You can buy both these products from Boots online along with many other Soap & Glory items.

Body scrub texture

Body butter texture

Ellie

If heaven was a cupcake...

Needing a chocolate fix is a regular occurrence for me and usually a chocolate biscuit or two (okay the pack) will satisfy my needs. However the other day I panicked when I discovered that there was no sight of a single milk chocolate coated biscuit in the cupboard. Thankfully I had a light-bulb above the head moment and thought why don't I just bake?!

Baking has always been a hobbie of mine and I like to experiment a little bit and play around with the recipes, a personal favorite of mine are my vanilla, double chocolate, marble cupcakes. They are heavenly!

To make 12 of these delicious buns you will need:

For the vanilla mix:

4 ounces of self raising flour

4 ounces of sugar

4 ounces of butter

2 eggs

Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence

For the chocolate mix:

3.5 ounces of self raising flour

4 ounces of sugar

4 ounces of butter

2 eggs

1 ounce of coco powder

A table spoon of milk

White chocolate chips (as many as desired)

For the marble icing each flavour of icing will need:

6 ounces of icing sugar 

2 ounces of butter

A table spoon of milk

0.5 ounces of coco powder (chocolate icing only)

Firstly preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

I don't mess around when it comes to baking, my motto is, the quicker the prep, the quicker you can eat them! Therefore I like to use the all in one method so all the flour, butter, sugar and eggs all goes in at the same time. I like to use an electric hand mixer, which isn't a necessity but I suggest it because its much quicker and makes the mixture really light and smooth. Once all mixed together, for the vanilla mix add the vanilla essence last and stir in with a spoon. For the chocolate mix, add the coco powder and milk at the start, mix, and then I usually add the chocolate chips after. Next put your cupcake cases into your cupcake tin, a deep muffin tin is best! Then using your little finger and a dessert spoon, add a spoonful of both the chocolate and vanilla mix to each case, if you feel they are a little empty you can top them up if you have any spare mixture. I then using the other end of the teaspoon gently combine the the two mixtures together as it can give a noticeably better effect in the end as you will see!

Put your tray of 12 cupcakes into oven and to be safe i tend to leave them in there untouched for 12-15mins, after this time I then check them using a cake tester (or if you don't have one of these a toothpick or something similar will do). This is a great way of seeing if your cakes are cooked, you simply stick the cake tester into a couple of the buns and if it comes out clean they are ready, it it comes out with mixture on it then they need to be left in the oven for a few more minutes. 

Now just leave the to cool.

While you wait you can prep the icing! Likewise to the cake mixture you make two bowls and combine them later. There is a slight knack to this icing so I unfortunately don't use the all in one method for this. Firstly I add 3 out of the 6 ounces of icing sugar to a bowl, I then mix this with the 2 ounces of butter and milk. I tend to use a wooden spoon to mix the icing, not that you can't use a handheld electric mixer, you just end up looking like a geisha by the time you've finished with the amount of white icing sugar that is blown out the bowl! Once this is mixed, add the remaining three ounces and then for the chocolate icing you just repeat the same process, adding the coco powder and milk at the start.

Now for the fun bit! Once your buns have cooled and are ready to ice, get a piping bag and fill it with icing using a teaspoon and alternate between the two flavours. It might not look like a lot of icing but trust me it is sufficient for 12 cupcakes, and remember there is always more left in your piping bag than you think so if it feels like you are running out just twist the bag and this will force the icing to the end.

If you don't have a piping bag you can instead mix the icings together gently and spread on the cupcake with a palette knife however the piping bag is my preferred way as it creates a really effective and professional looking finish. Once your piping bag is filled carefully ice your cupcake going around the edge in a circular motion, ending in the centre. And voila! Enjoy.

Ellie

Outfit of The Day: Promoting the print

Whether it be aztec, geometric, tye dye or floral, printed clothing is everywhere this summer, so today I am doing my bit by wearing some geometric print  trousers I bought in early spring to promote this bold trend. I pieced them with a collarless royal blue blazer that picked out the blue in the trousers so together they looked like a casual two piece suit. You might say I was a little overdressed just to go shopping but hey ho!

Tapered trousers & blazer: both H&M, Bag: Topshop

Peplum top: Topshop

Studded shoes: Newlook



I also had a very successful shopping spree bagging three items in the sale, and without even thinking they actually create a nice summer outfit all put together. My first buy was from Zara, a pair of white textured jeans that I had previously tried on but didn't buy for some reason, and obviously fate was telling me to come back later as today I found them in the sale for £10 cheaper! Next I headed to Newlook, where I purchased a simple black cami top for a splendid £6, the fabric is nice and light so perfect for summer. Finally, as always I have to make a pit stop at urban outfitters because even if I dont have the intention of buying something, I love seeing how they piece items together for inspiration. But, and I would be lying if I said it was an accident, did stumble across the jewelry sale and found a b-e-autiful statement necklace, which just so happens to be the type of jewelry I have a guilty pleasure for. So for £12, well it would be rude not to!

Ellie