Saturday 29 October 2011

Nail of The Day: Nails Inc. Blair and Priviledged

Second in my "Nails Inc" series is the "Blair" collection - another from their recent "Gossip Girl" release. 

(I apologise for the picture heavy post... and the layout... my editing software has died!)





I'm glad the pictures captured the Teal Green colour to this... you have to look real close, but it's not quite black!



How gorgeous are these green flecks? SCRUMMY! 




What do you think of the Blair Collection? Yay or Nay?

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Wishlist: The Perfume Collective

I've become a little obsessed with perfume lately. 
 I'm a "sweet smells" lady and love the likes of "Ghost - Sweetheart" and my ultimate favourite, "Dior - Miss Dior Cherie". 

I thought I'd compile a list of my "Most Wanted" sniffs and share them with you... with Christmas coming up you'll be seeing more and more of these posts - a girl can dream!! 

- First of all, "Flowerbomb" by Viktor and Rolf. I saw this on the beautiful Vivianna's blog and HAD to go and grab a sample from my local Boots... it's divine but extremely expensive, that's always the way isn't it?:

Next, "Sensuous" by Estee Lauder. I love the simplicity of the bottle and the fact that Estee Lauder is my current favourite high-end brand makes them awesome! 

My third must have is "Angel" by Thierry Mugler - absolute YUM! One of my best friends uses this when we go out and I love to have a squirt of it when I visit her. Another extrememly expensive perfume, maybe one day eh?!


Number Four on my list,"Daisy" by Marc Jacobs. I love the oversized plastic daisies on the lid, how cute! I bought this for my little sister for her 18th birthday in July but wish I'd gotten one for myself too!

The penultimate perfume on my list is "Juicy Couture" by, you guessed it, Juicy Couture. This bottle has some serious BLING and it'd be the second time I've purchased. The first bottle didn't last long at all! 


Finally, one of the most popular perfumes over the last few months... "Lady Million" by Paco Rabanne. I bought this for my second sister in July, another one that I wanted for myself! Maybe I should stop torturing myself by buying smellies for other people when I'd like to keep them instead?!

What're your favourite perfumes at the moment? Any that you'd add to or take away from my list?


Sunday 23 October 2011

Nail of The Day: Nails Inc. - Serena and It Girl

Nails Inc have recently released a series of "Gossip Girl" polish collections. Being a total maniac... I threw caution to the wind and ordered all three to try them out - I absolutely LOVED the look of them after seeing various press releases and I'm so glad I did! 

A quick side note: All of these polishes, along with EVERYTHING else I review/post on Cookies and Blush have been paid for with my own hard earned pennies. Just incase you were wondering!

This is my favourite out of the three, the Serena collection! 

(I apologise for the picture heavy post... and the layout... my editing software has died!)


What do Nails Inc say?

"Using hand cut particles, overglaze top coats will give your nails a futuristic finish which is bang on trend for this season. Applied over a deep glossy nails inc polish, overglaze provides a unique and exciting look for your nails."




It's pretty tough to tell that there's any difference between the three dark polishes, "Serena" is a patent black polish with the most fantastic finish - a one coater and shiny as you can get! 


(Please excuse the messy manicure *embarassing*)



"It Girl" is the most BEAUTIFUL overglaze... with those gorgeous blue flecks of glitter. Amazing! This happens to be my favourite colour and the cobalt blue particles really show up against the black background. Well done Nails Inc! I will be wearing this to death!!

Have any of you guys tried these so far? What do you think?

Monday 17 October 2011

Anne's Banana Bread: The Recipe

This is one of my favourite recipes, I've not posted one for an awfully long time so I thought, "why not re-launch Cookies and Blush with one of my Mummy's creations?".

I love making this, it's simple (which is ideal for little old me) and tastes great even if you burn it a little. Fantastic for using up those bananas which may have browned a little - don't chuck 'em!!! They can be put to good (cakey) use!! 



Ingredients: 

- 3 Large Eggs
- 5oz Sugar
- 3oz Margarine
- 8oz Self Raising Flour
- 2 Ripe Bananas
- Pinch of Salt

Method:

- Cream the margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon to soften and a spatula to make the "creaming" (lol) easier!
- Whisk in the eggs.
- Using a small bowl and your standard fork... mash the bananas into chunks. These need to be big enough to see... no making baby food people! 
- Add the mashed bananas to your sugar/egg/margarine mix and fold in.
- Gently add the self-raising flour, no need to use a sieve - we aren't fancy! 
- Drop in the pinch of salt and mix one last time.
- Add the batter/dough/whatever the mixture is called (you can see I'm an expert right?) into a small bread tin. I use a silicone one as it's easier to extract the cake once baked! 
- Gently bake in the centre of your oven for one hour at 180C.

Voila!!! 

You have one mean looking banana bread! How does it taste?