THE SUNSHINE AWARD

Hello Lovelies!

The fabulous Rae from http://www.4evafashionprincessmonthly.com nominated me for the Sunshine Award - I love finding out interesting facts about the people behind the blogs I read, something you don't expect to find in their usual posts.

So here are the Rules

- Share 11 random facts about myself

- Answer the 11 questions from the nominating blogger gave me

- List bloggers I believe deserve recognition

- Post 11 questions for my nominations to answer

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I have five dogs, two guinea pigs and two rabbits - I love animals, I don't think I could have a life without pets!

2. I've always wanted to be a Disney princess in Disney World, Florida but I can't sing or dance really!

3. My favourite films are Audrey Hepburn films - for me she is the epitome of elegance, grace and beauty.

4. I have been in a long distance relationship for 7 years

5. I love travelling, if I could I'd constantly save up just to travel to more places

6. I adore photography - I have no training in it and don't know much I'm more of a take hundreds of photos until I find the shot I love kinda girl

7. My favourite colour has always been pink (typical girl!)

8. I am a very positive person, always look on the bright side (of life do do...)

9. I love being comfy, that's why I spend most of my time in jeans and jumpers

10. When I go to the theatre or out for an occasion I adore dressing up -  as I said before I spend most of my time in my comfys so when I get the chance 

to put on a pretty dress and do my hair and makeup I really go to town!

11. For the past three years I have been to see Phantom of the Opera for my birthday - and guess what is top of my list next year?!

Rae's Questions

1. What is your favourite make-up product to buy? 

I love buying lipsticks at the moment

2. What is your favourite clothes shop? 

Hmm probably H and M - love the mixture of styles available and the prices are always so reasonable

3. What is your favourite nail polish brand?

Has to be Barry M!

4. What is your favourite nail polish colour/name?

Very plain and simple Natural Collection French Pink

5. Are you going to any Christmas/New years parties?

No! Well sort of - this year I am going to a dinner party at a friends house for New Years Eve, I am providing the pudding!

6. If you could only wear one make-up product, what would it be?

Oooh tricky! Probably mascara - my glasses are quite thick and so my eyes can disappear behind the frames

7. Do you have any pets?

See above answer! To recap - five dogs, two rabbits and two guinea pigs =)

8. What is your favourite thing to do on a weekend?

I work a Saturday so my weekends are Friday and Sunday - Friday I take Grandad out for lunch and do his shopping every week so Sunday I like to catch up on things, relax and blog!

9. What is your favourite meal?

My Mum's Cauliflower Cheese

10. What is your favourite TV show?

I loved The Ghost Whisperer as I think Jennifer Love Hewitt is just stunning - but currently its the Big Bang Theory

11. What is your favourite film?

Anything with Audrey Hepburn

My Questions

1. Do you take your own photos for your blog? (If so do you enjoy doing it?)

2. Why did you start your blog?

3. Who/which blogger made you fall in love with youtube videos/blogging?

4. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

5. What is your go to makeup look?

6. How would you describe your style?

7. Do you enjoy going to the theatre?

8. Do you do any cooking/baking?

9. What is your favourite beauty product?

10. If you could start your own company what would it be?

11. What was your dream job as a child?

I hope you enjoy filling these out and finding out more about people! 

I am aware that lots of you have done this already so I am going to tag some new friends and anyone else that wants to do it but hasn't yet:

Lauryn @ffairsfairydust

Tash Berbank @tdotberbank

Tamsyn @peachpowxo

Lucy @homemadephoto

Please let me know if you do the tag would love to know your answers! 

xx

BAKING BEAUTIES TAG

Evening sweets!

The wonderful Nicole Baxter from coleoftheballl33.blogspot.co.uk tagged me in this relatively new baking beauties tag - so excited to be doing this I adore baking and creating things.

So here it is:

1. What is the first thing you remember baking?

My first cook book was the Winnie the Pooh and Friends cook book and I made Eeyore's cheese straws! Nanny and Grandad were looking after my sister and I for the weekend while my parents went away and we made these for their return - along with some stuffed and scented coat hangers!

2. What was the last thing you baked?

My soaked lemon cake and chocolate ganache filled cupcakes for my step-dad's retirement party. 

3. Something you've always wanted to bake?

Ooh thats a tricky one there are so many! I would say the major one is a Christmas cake - I don't actually like many Christmas cakes myself but a lot of my family do so I'd love to make a really yummy one!

4. Tell us about something you baked and it went terribly wrong

This is easy! I really fancied making some cookies one night - envisioned biting into a gooey super chocolatey cookie so found a recipe online, chopped up LOADS of chocolate (milk, white and dark, I was really going for it!) and followed the instructions. Watched them bake and when I took them out of the oven I almost danced with glee I was so excited to eat these - as you can imagine once you have built something up this much they were a major let down. They went rock solid once cooled, couldn't even break them by throwing them on the floor! They smelt like gone off eggs and tasted like stale popcorn! Threw them in the bin!

5. Be honest, do you lick the spoon?

Definitely not, I've never understood the appeal! I eat the chocolate while cooking though =)

6. How often do you bake?

Depends how much time I have but as often as possible maybe once a week. Also depends on if I've got any cakes on order. I'd really like to bake more, I have so many fantastic cake tins, cookie cutters and piping bag tips and ideas but its difficult when not in your own kitchen.

7. What baking success are you most proud of?

Hmm that's also a tricky one as recently I've made some pretty cool (if I do say so myself!) cakes, I really try to experiment with different ideas. If I had to choose it would probably be this one: 

I think the home made honeycomb and the little bees really make the cake.

8. Do you tidy up as you go along or leave a big mess until the end?

While baking I tidy up as I go along but while decorating I leave a mess until the end, don't want to ruin the creative flow. Paha!!

9. Do you use recipe books or get them online?

Nearly always use recipe books, I have a few that I stick to like glue, they have never failed me.

10. Do you stick to the recipe or experiment a little?

Always like to experiment I find it more fun - unless like I said before I have a cake on order then I stick to my classic recipes, don't want to disappoint after all that hard work.

11. Who are your favourite food bloggers?

http://www.whatrachelate.com/ - she hasn't posted in a while but love looking back at all her yummy eats! And http://eatlikeagirl.com/ great mix of food and travel.

12. What is your favourite thing to bake?

I love trying new things but probably my favourite things are biscuits - simple, so many variations, different ways to decorate and can eat straight from the oven =)

I hope you all enjoyed the read, now I tag:

Tamsyn Elizabeth at http://peachpowxo.blogspot.co.uk

Sam from http://www.honeygo-lightly.com/

and Krystina at http://krystinaskitchen89.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking forward to reading all your answers xx

SKIN CARE TAG

My lovely friend Chloe  tagged me to do the skin care post, it has taken me a while as I’ve been on holiday (blog coming soon!) but here it is, I hope you like it =)

Describe your skin care routine in 5 words.

Exfoliate, wash, tone, moisturise, massage ( technically massage and moisturise come hand in hand, I tend to massage my face cream into my skin - I read somewhere it helps the blood flow in your face but to be honest I just do it because it feels nice!)

What’s your skin type?

Combination but more towards oily. I get some dry patches and terrible eczema in the winter but have a very oily tzone (until recently!).

Top blemish zapper?

Sudocrem - I have relied on this for as long as I can remember!

Face wipes - yay or nay?

For me its definitely a no - they leave my skin feeling sticky and my pores clogged - they also make me lazy, if I have face wipes lying around the house and I get back late or am too tired I tend to head for these in favour of my normal skin care routine, not good!

Toner - yay or nay?

I love toner I have always used it and I feel like my pores are tighter after using it - think its just me thought!

High-end skin care or high-end makeup?

I can’t say I’ve actually used much of either - I used to use a lot of Clinique make-up and have used YSL touch éclat but apart from that I am definitely a high-street girl (my bank account is very happy with this fact!). However if I had to choose I would go with high-end skin care as not only have I heard very good things about skin care from Clinique and Liz Earl but I believe that no matter how expensive the make up is if your base isn’t right it will never feel perfect. 

What’s the most unusual skin care product you’ve tried?

Apart from using numerous different face masks and washes I haven’t really experimented much apart from using lemon juice to try and reduce spots and take away streaky fake tan, toothpaste on spots and cold tea bags on my eyes! 

Tell us your top skin care tip.

Moisturise! I was always under the impression that if you had oily skin you shouldn’t moisturise but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This week I returned from my summer holiday to America with this fantastic face moisturiser from The Naples Soap Company - my skin feels so soft and smooth afterwards and my oily skin has been significantly reduced!

I hope you enjoyed my skin care post - nothing revolutionary but just what works for me =)

I now tag :

Leanne from lipsticksoflove.blogspot.co.uk

Shannon from raspberrykiss.co.uk

Becki from right-up-my-street.blogspot.co.uk

Beth from bethanyworall.com

Nicola x