Pont de l'Archevêché- 15 Panels Along

My boyfriend and I had a lovely weekend break for his birthday to my favourite ever city- Paris!

There is such a romantic fashion blossoming in cities around the world; from Seoul, Korea, to Serbia and Rome. Love Locks can be seen on so many bridges and fences, and being the 'City of Love', many bridges in Paris can be seen with engraved padlocks locked to their railings. 

Pont de L'Archeveche, Paris, Janvier 2012

When we passed over one bridge, I found one lock which read;

'My darling Helen will you marry me? Angus 11.11.11'

I hope she said yes!!

It was John's Birthday on the Saturday so I thought it would be really sweet to have our names and date on a lock and go to Archbishop's Bridge, just behind the Notre Dame to lock our padlock.

Soooo girlie, I know, but he was nice and smiled and made me feel like it was special!

So I thought I'd show you how I made the padlock all pretty.

15 Panels Along...

While I was Googling for inspiration, I came across a website called Lovelocks - SO cute! They will engrave a heart shaped lock for you- I loved the idea but the character count wasn't enough for what I wanted to say! 

So instead, I just bought a simple padlock from B&Q- the same sort that you could get from any hardware store, and also a really cool craft engraver called Inscriblio (It was around £15 from the Lovelocks website) This was nicer really, since I could engrave the lock in my own handwriting and make it a bit more personal.

So here was the end result of my engraving!

The quote was taken from my favourite ever film, Anastasia- honestly I'm so sad, I've always wished I could say that line!

Just for decoration, I found a sweet bird on a necklace in the sales, so fixed it to the back of the padlock with some wire  

Dropping our key into the Seine

Is seems as though Paris isn't too happy with the thousands of padlocks that hang on the bridges and are concerned about preserving the 'architectural heritage', which I can understand. Though, I do still hope that next time I go back to Paris I can find my lock again.

 Pont de l'Archevêché, 15 Panels Along.

Have you Locked your Love somewhere in the world?

Emma xx

Shadow on the stairs- The Louvre, Paris, January 2012

Red Velvet Cupcake

Giant Velveteen Cake!

For my friend's 21st I decided to try something special for her present and bake her a giant yummy cupcake! 

I got an amazing giant cupcake mould from my mum for Christmas which I've been looking forward to using for weeks. And for my birthday last year, my flatmate Mel put together a cute goodie-box of cupcake treats along with her Red Velvet Cupcake recipe so I thought I'd share it! ❤

It's an American recipe, so the measurements are in cups but 1 Cup= 240ml. Also, bear in mind, if you decide to use more than 1oz of red food colouring, you can start to taste the colouring in the sponge.

❤ Melody's Red Velvet Cupcakes ❤

- 2 1/2 cups of flour (self raising or plain)

- 1/2 cups of unsweetened cocoa

- 1 tsp of baking soda (only needed if you used plain flour)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 cup of butter (softened)

- 2 cups of sugar

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup of sour cream

- 1/2 cup of milk

- 2 tsp vanilla

- 1 oz of read food colouring (1.5-2 oz for bright red sponge)

1) Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix the flour, cocoa, (baking soda) and salt. Set aside.

2) Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream, milk, food colour and vanilla, and slowly beat in the flour mixture. 

3) Spoon into molds- cupcakes, baking tin, whatever you choose!

4) Take care to know your oven for cooking times. for cupcakes, 20-25 mins should be fine but check every ten minutes after this time if you are baking the sponge in trays or molds. When they are ready, a cocktail stick should come out clean- enjoy!

As the mold I have is silicone, I was advised to buy some cake release to stop the sponge from sticking, so I ended up with a bottle of Cake Release from Lakeland  (which you can buy here Cake Release) 


Actually, I don't know the oven in my flat well at all so to be honest my sponge turned out as a bit of a mess. It didn't come out of the mold as easily as I had expected and was more cooked on the outside than in the centre so I had to salvage it with the decorations!

Sweet as sugar roses!

Decorations

For the top of the cupcake I piped a butter icing using a 15mm Rosette nozzle and a little icing bag. I set a little of the butter icing aside and coloured it with some pink food colouring to make the little pink swirls around the back of the cake- which I did to cover up the imperfections in my swirl of white icing! 

Here is my butter icing recipe:

❤ Buttercream Icing ❤

- 3 cups of icing sugar/confectioner's sugar

- 4 oz butter (works best if it is still quite stiff as it warms when mixing)

- 4 tbsp of milk

- 1 tsp vanilla

- A couple of drops of food colouring if you fancy

1) Mix altogether using an electric whisk! Easy peasy. 

❤ The roses and the pink swirly base ❤

For these I used  Dr Oetker white fondant and simply kneaded in my hands until it was soft enough to play with. I had some pink paste colouring so added a bit of this and realized I could create some really pretty swirls through the icing. Then I rolled it out into a thin sheet and pressed it around the base of the cake, pushing into the indents so it still looked like the bottom of a cupcake. 

Sorry, I was silly and forgot to take pictures of how I managed the roses so here's a great link which explains how to make them, and also shows how I mixed the paste colouring! how-to-make-fondant-roses

I'd love to hear if you've tried the recipe and how it worked out! Enjoy! 

Emma x

Niederau, Austria, 2011

Porefessionally Pretty Benefits for a Red Face

Benefit is a range I haven't really ever looked into properly. Part of me always thought it was a bit overpriced and I always feel awkward about browsing make-up out of my price-range. I've given up telling assistants that, 'No I don't need any help and there isn't anything in particular I'm looking for thank you.'  (now leave me alone)

But yesterday I was given an impromptu Benefit make-over by a nice assistant in Boots, so took the time to have a chat about their products. 

I was feeling in need of a little pamper after a morning wrestling with a birds nest on my head, and not to mention the worst skin fail I've had in a while... the other day my brother handed me a tube of cream and said, 'Feel free to use some of this on your spots.' Great, spots. So I took the tube, lathered it on and around an hour later my face was on fire.

After a frenzied wash with Clinique's angellic facial soap and some cooling Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion I dared to look in the mirror. Acne cream certainly obliterates spots.. and unfortunately also takes the rest of your face with it- ugh! A red, sore and pretty much burnt T-zone.

So the assistant used; Remove It makeup remover, Moisture Prep Toning Lotion and Total Moisure Facial Cream from Benefit's new B.right skincare range. It all feels beautiful on the skin, in particular, the cooling cucumber and aloe vera extracts in the toning lotion felt lovely on my volcanic skin, and smelled good too.

I'm not going to go into all the makeup that I tried because, in all honesty, I'm in love with the Clinique foundation I'm using at the moment and I swear my Bourjois blusher is going to last until I'm 90. What I was really impressed with though was the Porefessional primer and the Erase Paste concealer. So impressed, I bought the Porefessionally Pretty set (£23.50 Boots).

Porefessionally Pretty

Porefessional Application Tip sheet

It is quite an expensive set but it was the same price as the tube of Porefessional on its own, so it made sense to have a try of the other products too. 
I find I've got quite a complicated complexion; while most of my skin is quite dry, I have an oilier nose which is more prone to spots, open pores and the dreaded shininess.

Porefessional feels amazingly smooth and velvety on the skin, and I felt it instantly took away the shine. I started by building up small layers on my nose to see if it actually made a difference then decided just to use across my whole face as the Benefit assistant had done. Usually half my battle is actually feeling nice in the morning, but it made me feel silky and airbrushed. It's oil-free so helps to matt the skin, and I did feel that the pores on my nose were less noticeable, smoother and overall more filled-in.

I'm not convinced that it held my make-up any better than other primers I've tried but it seems to provide a good barrier against all the makeup I add on top from clogging my pores. 

I am in love with Erase Paste!! Concealer in general is a bit of a love affair of mine since my skin tone is so uneven; so it's a portable lifesaver when I glance in the mirror in the ladies and from somewhere, dark circles, a red nose and imperfections have appeared. The set came with Colour no.2, which is darker than my colouring but ideal for touching up during the day when my makeup is already on. You only need a tiny amount of the paste to get great coverage so I'm going to have to invest in a brush to use it properly. love love love!

As a little bonus, the tube of Girl Meets Pearl let me try a product I wouldn't really have considered spending full price on. It's nice, and although I don't often choose to add shine, it did brighten my complexion and make me feel a bit more radiant. I thought maybe I'd use it more in the summer but after putting some on   around my cheekbones and  wrapping up warm to go out, it did make me look all glowingly pearly and stand out a bit more in my winter woolies.

I think its a lovely set and well worth the money for the 3 products, but I'd have to fall head over heels for the Porefessional balm before I bought a single tube as it is quite expensive on its own on student funds!

I feel a Benefit convert emerging and would love to hear about anyone's favourite products!

Emma
xox

'You are gonna own 2012'

Hope for 2012

After such a peaceful Christmas it feels almost impossible that this isn't the speed that the world always moves at- and that in a week's time suddenly its going to be full throttle until summer! For me, this year is a year of new beginnings and exciting things to look forward to; and so I figured, what better time to start blogging about them? 

I guess every new year the resolutions flow, and despite some of them falling away (by the end of January usually), I really REALLY want to make an effort at mine this year!

During the holidays I went to visit the other North East to see my gorgeous Mackem man and his family. His parents (honestly Pamela and Michael from 'Gavin and Stacey' I swear!) took us to see the amazing Legally Blonde in the theatre. I always forget how wonderful Elle is- and as well as being stunning, how insanely lovely! I don't think I've ever noticed just how beautiful your attitude makes you before- so there's No.1. Be lovely and selfless!

I have so many fun and scary things coming up this year: from a photoshoot and hopefully a mini ski holiday with John, to my dissertation and first proper engineering placement. It's funny, I want to be exactly like Elle- I love being the girl that everyone is surprised studies engineering but is driven and (on occasion) confident! No.2 Don't let any opportunities slip away- really live for the day and have no regrets. 

I'm honestly not sure why I think that twenty twelve is going to be so great, I just have this feeling- let's hope I'm right! He doesn't know this, but a text I got from a friend on New Year really touched me for some reason. He said, 'I reckon you are gonna own 2012 :)' 

❤

Christmas Memories...

My amazing Frozen Planet book!

Let us be Thankful

❤