I had this Neal’s Yard Bee Lovely Hand Cream free in the April edition of Marie Claire and I really love it. It’s my current favourite hand cream is equally as good as my all time favourite – the Cath Kidston Rose Hand Cream.
The Bee Lovely hand cream is made with organic honey and orange essential oil so it smells amazing. It sinks in really quickly so is a good one to keep in your bag from when you’re out and about. The hand cream costs £10 for 50ml and 25p from that will go to a Bee Lovely charity to help protect the bees.
I was sent this Body Collection nail varnish to review a few months ago but managed to forget about it until now. I’ve also forgotten who sent it to me and even after looking on Google I can’t find it for sale anywhere! I still want to show it to you as I really love the Autumn colour so if anyone recognises the bottle please let me know!
I’ve used two coats as after one it was still slightly patchy but the consistency is easy to apply and I love the way it looks different colours in different lights. It’s quite a unique colour – I definitely haven’t got anything else similar. It’s really hard to photograph and is actually more red in real life!
I made these cupcakes over the weekend. They were a bit of an experiment because I wanted to try out some food colouring paste my housemate had leant me. I didn’t really have many of the ingredients for the actual Orange & Cranberry Cupcakes recipe I found so I made my own version…… They worked well though and Nick said they were the best I’ve made in a while! I’m definitely going to get some food colouring pastes – they are so much better than the liquid stuff!
Ingredients
For the cakes…..
115g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
115g margarine
115g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
Zest of one orange
100g dried cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the icing…..
100g butter
200g icing sugar
Zest of ½ orange
Purple food colouring
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 6 muffin cases in a mufffin tray.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
3. Whisk the eggs together in a mug using a fork and then add gradually to the mixing bowl, beating after each addition.
5. Mix in the orange zest, cinnamon and cranberries.
6. Fold in the flour gently.
7. Share out the mixture evenly into the cases and then bake for 20 to 25minutes.
8. To make the icing, cream the butter and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. Finally mix in the orange zest.
9. Once the cakes are cool, pipe or dollop the icing on top.
I’ve bought my boyfriend face washes a few times but the A’kin PureMAN Face Wash from MyPure is the first one he’s actually used for more than a few days and also the only one which he has liked using.
His
skin has been looking really good since he started using it and it also feels softer. The face wash foams up quite well so a little goes a long way and it smells lovely. The smell of orange, ginseng and spice is quite Christmassy!
I’ve liked all of the A’kin products I’ve tried myself and think I’ve converted Nick who wants to try more of the men’s range! The face wash is pricey compared to others you can buy but is the only one Nick has tried which has made a difference. It is also free from all of the nasty chemicals like parabens, sulphates etc.
For my latest batch of cupcakes I thought I’d be a bit more inventive so went for a slightly out there flavour combination. It sounds weird but does taste good, I promise!
This recipe makes 6 large muffin size cupcakes.
Ingredients
For the cakes…..
115g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
115g margarine
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
grated rind of 1 orange
6 cardamom pods
For the icing…..
85g butter
175g icing sugar
few drops of vanilla extract
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 6 muffin cases in a muffin tray.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
3. Whisk the eggs together in a mug using a fork and then add gradually to the mixing bowl. Beat each time you add more egg.
4. Add the orange rind. Squash the cardamom pods with the flat of a knife to get all of the seeds out and then add these to the mixture.
5. Sift the flour if needed and then fold gently into the mixture along with the baking powder.
6. Share out the mixture evenly into the muffin cases and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. To make the icing, cream the butter with the vanilla extract and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. It’s best to add the icing sugar gradually, otherwise it takes forever to mix!
8. I used an icing bag for applying the icing but you don’t need to do that. I also topped them with Shimmer Sugar from Dr Oetker and, of course, some edible glitter!
I made these for my friends 21st a couple of weeks ago and they tasted pretty good!
This recipe makes six muffin size cupcakes.
Ingredients
For the cakes…..
115g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
115g margarine
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
grated rind of 1 orange
2tbsp milk
For the icing…..
85g butter
175g icing sugar
grated rind of ½ orange
red food colouring
yellow food colouring
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and put 6 muffin cases in a muffin tray. I used some lovely ones from Splat Cooking, but you should know that even though they look fantastic, they make the cakes a lot harder to ice!
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
3. Whisk the eggs together in a mug using a fork and then add gradually to the mixing bowl. Beat each time you add more egg.
4. Add the orange rind.
5. Sift the flour if needed and then fold gently into the mixture.
6. Share out the mixture evenly into the muffin cases and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. To make the icing, cream the butter and then gradually mix in the icing sugar. Separate the icing into two bowls and then add the red food colouring to one bowl and the yellow to the other.
8. Put the icing into an icing bag – one spoon of red then one spoon of yellow etc to give the icing a marbled effect. Decorate the cakes however you like. I did some swirly patterns and then topped the cakes with glitter. Remember to wait for the cakes to cool before you try to ice them.
Last weekend I went up to Cambridge for a friend’s 21st birthday. As it was also Halloween, I decided to make him some Halloween themed birthday cupcakes.
My aim with the icing on these cupcakes was orange but I couldn’t find orange food colouring in the shop so had to try and mix it myself using red and yellow.
They turned out much pinker than I hoped but were slightly brighter than these photos show! To try and make them more Halloween like, I covered them with black glitter!
This Orange & Cinnamon candle by the St Eval Candle Company has got to be the most Christmassy candle ever! It comes in a tin decorated with holly and Father Christmas with a big bag of presents. I really love the smell which makes it feel like Christmas time even now in October – I can’t wait to be able to use it nearer to Christmas. You can get the Christmas Tin in two other scents as well – Figgy Pudding and Inspiritus which is a mix of spices including nutmeg & cloves.
The St Eval Candle Company is based in Cornwall where it makes candles using traditional methods and materials from renewable sources whenever possible. All of the packaging is sourced from recycled materials. At £11.40 I would definitely recommend buying one of these Christmas Tins to keep the house smelling lovely in the run up Christmas!
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