Monthly Archives: May 2017

Oh, hello cheeky new brand. I ♡ Makeup ! It’s the little sister brand to MakeUp Revolution so if you’re already a fan of MUR, then it’s (almost) a guarantee that you’ll like I ♡ Makeup. First up, and I will return in more detail tomorrow, are the Wow Glosses at £2.49 a pop. They’re not scented – just bright pops of glossy colour in some very cool packaging.

There are ten shades, of which I have five here, so starting from the bottom: Naked All Day, You Go Girl, Watch Out World, Scarlett and Pretend To By Psyched.

Yes, there are palettes – The Wonder Palettes; above is I Heart Passion and I Heart Sin (top). Each palette has a chunky heart on the centre of the lid – I genuinely haven’t seen this done before and I think it looks fabulous!

As you can see, up top is I Heart Sin with 16 shades of bold and brights, and below is I Heart Passion that errs to the more romantic with sultry, earthy shades. But if you like a gimmick with your palette, take a look at the Chocolate Palettes below.

Personally, these aren’t for me – although they’re so realistic that out of the corner of my eye I thought I had a bar of Galaxy waiting for me!

Inside, it’s nude magic all over again. On the right is Death By Chocolate, and on the left is I Heart Chocolate. Again, 16 colours to create a myriad of neutral looks and a mix of matte and shimmer in each one. At £7.99 each, they’re practically the same price as a box of chocolates.

I’ve just Instagramed the #Selfie Palette – it’s my favourite of everything I’ve seen so far – so do check it out @britbeautyblog. I’ll give more details on I ♡ Makeup tomorrow and over the weekend – there’s an awful lot to photograph and swatch, but wanted to give you the head’s up straight away.

The link to the new I ♡ Makeup will be live this afternoon, so I’ll update this post then and give a tweet out later.

The post I ♡ Makeup appeared first on British Beauty Blogger.

Continue reading →

I’ve been trying to cut down my bread intake. Which isn’t too much of a faff, apart from the fact that in the mornings I do tend to rely on being able to pop a couple of slices of wholegrain into the toaster and spread on some butter and honey. I can live without bread at any other time, but when I get up in the morning I tend to be either too rushed or too hungry to think about having to sort myself an alternative. Bread-free breakfasts require a little bit more thought.

And so, some bread-free breakfast ideas. There are loads I have tried, but I’ll start with the one that I’ve been indulging in most recently: the Herbed Mediterranean Frittata. This idea is from Dale Pinnock’s excellent recipe book, The Medicinal Chef. (If you want very, very tasty recipes that are healthy and colourful with everyday ingredients that aren’t a bore to source, then this is it. It’s £9.49 from Amazon.co.uk and a tenner incredibly well spent, in my opinion. I have cooked a few things from this book now and have pored over it for hours to get inspiration for meals and dinner parties.) The Herbed Frittata is basically a thick, no-flip omlette that is packed full of juicy, mediterranean things. You can put in whatever you like, but here’s what I did (it’s not the same as Dale’s recipe, I bastardized it somewhat!):

Two Eggs

Sliced Spring Onion (he says red, that probably would be better but I didn’t have any)

Halved cherry tomatoes (I went OTT and put twenty halves in)

Black olives

Basil leaves

Quarter pack of Feta cheese (Dale doesn’t put cheese in at all but I MUST say that cheese does liven things up no end. It’s a bit boring without the feta, in my opinion)

Warning: the following picture does not look as attractive as Dale’s one in his cookbook – I’ll have you know it’s very hard to make an egg-based dish not look like cat sick:

I have one of those tiny little frying pans that are perfect if you’re just making a frittata for one. You don’t really want to be spreading your frittata too thinly over a big old pan – keep it nice and compact, because you stick it under the grill to cook the top after the bottom has set on the hob. So. Olive oil into the pan, fry your red onions (finely sliced) and then add your cherry toms and olives. Beat your eggs and add them into the pan and then crumble in the feta and add some torn-up basil leaves. Dale also adds other herbs like parsley – didn’t have any, so it was basil all the way. Keep the pan on the heat until the bottom of the frittata looks set – only the top layer of egg and whatnot will move when you tilt the pan – and then stick the pan under the grill to cook the top. Make sure you don’t melt the pan handle or burn the frittata!

This is really filling – you don’t miss the bread and it’s quick to make. Not as quick as toast, granted, but it makes you feel a lot more wholesome. Not that I’m a total bread-basher, just so you know; it has its place in life. But I don’t want it every morning merely because I’m too lazy to prepare something else. More bread-free breakfasts coming your way soon!

Read more health and fitness posts here.

Continue reading →