Baking | Chocolate Brownies

If there's one thing I love more than baking it's eating baked goods. Recently I've been making brownies and I thought it was only fair to share the brownie love a.k.a. the recipe.

Ingredients 

175g Unsalted butter

100g Self-raising flour

250g Caster sugar

40g Cocoa power

90g Chocolate

20g Chocolate (for chocolate chips)
1tsp Vanilla extract

3 Medium eggs

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180⁰C, gas mark 4

- Grease and line the base and sides of your square cake tin with greaseproof paper or simply use butter

- Stir together the coco powder, sugar and flour

- Gently melt the butter with the chocolate and allow to cool

- Beat the eggs in with the dry ingredients

- Stir in the melted butter, chocolate and vanilla extract

- Cut some small chunks of chocolate and add to the mixture

- Pour into a greased tin making sure the mixture reaches the sides

- Bake for 30 mins (a knife should come out clean)

- Optional, sieve icing sugar over the top for finishing touches

I normally cut them 5x5 and then take them about with a spatula, then dust with icing sugar. I find this recipe super easy and they don't require any fancy spancy icing that you might mess up. Also if you burn the top a little bit you just cover it with icing powder and no one will know.

Happy baking! 

Til next time

Amelia

Patisserie De Bain | New bits and bobs

Last week I was kindly sent some beautiful products from Patisserie De Bain and Rose & Co (thank you Abi) so I thought I'd do a review for you guys as they smell amazing and the packaging is so so cute. If you're like me and love anything that smells sweet then you will absolutely love these.

Sweet as Cherry Pie - Hand & Body Lotion

This literally smells like Cherry Bake wells it's so nice. The formula seems to be quite moisturising and absorbs quite easily as well so I'm quite impressed. Can we just talk about the packaging for a moment because it looks like a little picnic blanket. The scent is quite strong at first but when rubbed in has a lovely subtle cherry scent. 

Strawberry Cupcake - Bath & Shower Creme

I wouldn't say this smells like cupcakes but the scent has a very lovely mix of strawberries and raspberries. You can actually smell the product after you've come out the shower which is really nice.

Cranberries & Cream - Hand Cream

This product I'd say smells the sweetest out of the bunch - it smells like delicious fruity baked goods. The formula is quite thick like most hand creams and is a little bit sticky but it's quite moisturising and the perfume lingers on your hands for ages. A little goes a long way with this and it's the perfect size to take in your bag.

Rose & Co - Rose Petal Salve
This lip balm comes in the cutest tin and has a strong scent of roses. The formula is moisturising and gives a slight pink tint to your lips which is really good for everyday use and just touch ups when you don't want a heavy lipstick. 

Sugar Rose Bath Fancies

These are so cute. I believe they're like bath melts.They look like little cupcakes in their paper cases and are all sparkly. They smell like roses and they're so pretty I don't want to use them up!

I'm really impressed with the quality of these for the price. I'm loving that the scents are based on different cakes/flavours from a french patisserie and I'm itching to try the Lemon Bon Bons scent. The packaging is so cute/vintage and you can pick these up from Superdrug for £5.99 - £1.99, bargain!

Til next time

Amelia  

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips | Kim K.W. & Liv It Up

As mentioned in my last recent beauty buys post, I bought two of the shades from the new Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips collection. As soon as they were released I immediately jumped on the website and ordered these (no swatches required).

Both lipsticks have the same signature Charlotte Tilbury rose gold packaging which looks so beautiful, and the lipstick itself has a lip pout embossed into it and it's actually going to break my heart when this is ruined. They're inspired by different celebrities and described as their DNA bottled - I wish!

Kim K.W. is inspired by Kim Kardashian and is the most beautiful nude. When applied it definitely looks more pink instead of a cool toned nude which makes it extremely wearable. Liv It Up is a beautiful blush pink shade inspired by Liv Tyler. I think it's a little bit darker than it appears on the website but either way it's still gorgeous! This is literally perfect for any time of year because it's not too pale and not too dark so I'm absolutely loving this at the moment. Both Kim K.W. and Liv It Up are of the Kissing formula which is extremely similar to Mac's Cremesheen so it's very hydrating and creamy on the lips so it won't dry them out.  Obviously as they have a creamy finish they're not going to last as long as a matte formula but I like it when colour just fade out instead of leaving really harsh lines.

There are 12 lipsticks in the collection, some with the Kissing formula and others of the Matte Revolution and I believe £1 from each lipstick goes towards charity! I also had my eye on Kidman's Kiss, a more peachy pink in the Matte Revolution formula, inspired by Nicole Kidman, but I think my bank balance would have hated me! At £23 each they're extremely expensive but these two shades are going to get so much use so it's absolutely worth it.

Til next time

Amelia x