Behind the Lens: Beauty Shoot

I am reaching the end of my time at university (not sure if I'm happy or sad about this) and this means that I'm nearing the end of my role as Fashion & Beauty Editor of my university's student magazine Platform. With that said, with the help of my deputy editor, I put together a beauty shoot for our final edition as a team.

Make-up isn't something that I ever used to consider myself to be particularly interested or knowledgeable in, it isn't until I start talking to somebody that I realise 'Hey I like talking about this stuff!' Hence an earlier post on what's in my make up bag that you can read here.

And photo shoots are so much fun that it was great to combine the two. It's so easy not to get involved in things at university but it's so so easy to get involved and its full of amazing opportunities so why not take advantage?!

Anyway, what I'd really like to talk about is the beauty shoot.

I decided on a simple concept of Spring looks for 2014 so orange lips, pin up, cat eyes and glitter and a dewy barely there look. All of which worked beautifully on model (and deputy editor Louisa). I was also lucky enough to be sent over an Eye of Horus eyeliner to be used in the shoot (more on that little beauty later).

Once we had the studio, photographer (A very very talented second year, you can see more of his work here), make up artist and model organised we were ready to go. It wasn't without stress as we are all students and most of us are in our final years it was a bit of a balancing act getting everybody in the same place at the same time but, we got organised! And I was so so happy with the final looks.

For any one whose curious, here's how it appeared in the magazine:

Just a really quick post before I run off and cook my dinner and get back to doing uni work (a lot less fun that writing about make up and pretty things). More on the final looks next time!

xoxo

Short Hair, Don't Care

Actually I do care, quite a lot!!! I've been meaning to write a post like this for a while now and as I've had my hair cut this week I thought no time like the present. Once again I've been neglecting my blog, sadly, in favour of third year uni work. Sigh.

Anyway! Over the last year I've come to terms with some simple facts: I look better with short hair. Long hair does not suit my teeny little face. So, I thought I'd share with you my hair journey over the last year or so. 

I've had my hair really short in the past and then at the end of my first year of uni I decided (partly because I couldn't afford the regular trims that short hair requires) that I would grow out my hair and on occasion it behaved quite well: 

Most of the girls in my family are graced with lovely long hair, my mum, my sister even my seven year old cousin. But even when I was little I had short hair– so short that in some of my baby pictures I look like a boy in a dress. The trouble is that I love love love reeeeally long hair, waist length but mine would get just past my shoulders and set up camp. 

So, I conceded that I would be stuck with shoulder length tresses so I thought I'd at least get it styled;

I was really happy with this cut for about a two days and then I was bored. So about four weeks later I decided to just give in and go back to what I know: A bob, slightly graduated and longer at the front.

This trusty cut kept me happy for a good few months and even as my hair grew longer I knew not to fall into my old habits of letting it grow out and having to over style it. So this week I went and got a short bob cut back in and although I would have preferred it a teeeeeny bit longer at the front I'm happy, that's just me being fussy! 

I'm sure my style will change but I think I've finally realised that, hey it's okay if long hair isn't my thing!

Bit of a different post today so please do let me know what you think (Apologies for all the shameless selfies) Until next time! xoxo

They Eat And They Drink: A Little Trip To Thailand

As mentioned in my last post it was indeed my birthday yesterday and as it fell on a Sunday this year my boyfriend and I decided to go out for a lovely meal and drinks (lots of drinks, that's my excuse for the not great pictures!) on Saturday night. I chose a little place that I've been dying to try called Thailand No1 in Nottingham's Lace Market after hearing lots of good things about it from my housemate (you can read her blog post on it here). 

The restaurant has a lovely atmosphere and I didn't feel at all out of place in my fairly dressy birthday outfit, we were seated by the window which is fine by me as I love a good people watching session! The staff are all so lovely and our extremely cute waitress even explained what some of the words on the menu meant, I was also struck at how accommodating they were for our special dietary needs. Everything on the menu is clearly labelled if it is vegetarian, gluten free or contains nuts making order a hell of a lot simpler!

We both decided on the Tom Yam soup, a hot and sour clear soup with lemongrass, chilli and coriander. I went for the mushroom option and Jack went for the king prawn and mushroom variety. The soup was a great dish to start really delicious despite packing quite a punch in the spice department!

For mains we both went for curries, I love love love Thai curries so it really wasn't much of a decision for me! But in the end I decided on the Gaeng Pha which is a spicy jungle curry with Thai spices and mixed vegetables, again this was definitely spicier than I'm used to but it was super tasty all the same especially along with the sticky coconut rice we ordered. Jack went for the Thai green curry with duck and it smelt absolutely perfect. I had a sneaky taste of the sauce and it was perfection. 

Shamefully we were both too full to finish our main courses but obviously found some room in our dessert tummies for something a little sweet to finish the night off with! The boy ordered us a shot of Baileys each along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm banana in a coconut sauce, this was the perfect end to a lovely meal, the Baileys was smooth and the banana was so creamy and rich with the coconut and the ice cream off set all of this keeping it light and delicious. 

I would also like to mention the wine. I have recently become partial to a glass of rose here and there, but I went for a Thai classic rose on Saturday night and needless to say it was excellent as I polished off the entire bottle. It went great with the food, possibly a little too great judging by my sore head the next morning!

Thai food is most definitely a favourite of mine, I much prefer it to Chinese which I find can be quite heavy and greasy at times, and aside from my own mums excellent curries not much bets a Thai curry, be it red, green or jungle.

xoxo

She Eats: Italiano

February is a very exciting month, my birthday, mine and my boyfriends anniversary (three years on Monday!) and Valentines day. So we decided to take advantage of Zizzi's offer of a free bottle of Prosecco and a free main course last night. 

I've always been a big fan of Italian food and Zizzis especially, my only complaint is how often they change their menus! I always have something absolutely amazing and then return to find that it's no longer available, sigh. Anyway we throughly enjoyed our meal and they really do well to accommodate for everyone as I'm vegetarian and Jack requires a gluten free dish we both came home with very full tummies indeed!

I started off with Arancini which is risotto balls with mozzarella and peas coated with breadcrumbs and served with a tomato pepperonata dip. A great dish to start, they were so crisp on the outside and full of flavour on the inside and the dip complimented them perfectly. We also shared a  portion of olives and both concluded that the giant nocellara olives are delicious but the purple olives taste like cheap wine. You win some, you lose some. 

For our main I went for the simple Spaghetti Pomodoro E Bufala which is simply tomato spaghetti with mozzarella, I drizzled it with some chilli oil from the table and devoured it. Sometimes the simplest of dishes are the tastiest. This did need a tiny bit of seasoning and I would have liked a little more mozzarella but it was lovely just the same. 

Across the table my man friend ordered the Risotto Di Pesce which consisted of king prawns, mussels and squid rings in a tomato, chilli and white wine risotto. From how quickly it disappeared I can only assume that it was delicious (I asked and true to form the boy simply replied 'Yeah, it was nice' he's a man of few words). 

I was pretty much bursting at the seams after my pasta but theres always room for dessert! We both went for the Chocolate Melt which is a delicious oozy chocolate (and gluten free, I've never seen the boy look so happy when he realised he could actually eat this) cake served with vanilla gelato. This was amazing, really rich and scrumptious I could have done with a tiny bit more gelato to accompany the warm chocolatey cake. Jack also decided on a Baileys coffee, I had a quick swig and it was lush. Real creamy and rich, thumbs up from us! All in all a great way to finish off the meal.

What's your favourite Italian? 

xoxo

She Wears (She Wishes!)...

I haven't blogged in far too long and my excuse can be that I've been leading a very dull life lately... I'm in my final six months of being a student so hopefully this time next I won't still be living on such a tight budget! One thing that I am actually rather excited about is my upcoming 21st birthday which has lead me to window shop online lusting after all these beautiful things that I can't afford. So I thought I'd share my pain with you all, here are some pieces that have stolen my heart...

1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8.

1. Topshop £60. I am not a bag person, I am a shoe person. I much prefer slipping on a gorgeous new pair of shoes than using a new bag for the first time, so it takes a special bag to make me lust after it. That my friends it this Topshop leather and croc effect suede bag. I love the slouchy look and the fact that it has long and short straps.

2. Topshop £46. I'm a sucker for foral dresses and I love this monochrome version, love the little cut outs at the shoulders. Great for nice little evening out for dinner or drinks.

3. Topshop £40. My housemate and I have been practically salivating over these leather shorts since September. You've probably seen them in store so I won't go into telling you how incredible they are.

4.&7. Olivia Burton £85/ £125. I haven't been a huge fan of this rose gold trend if I'm honest but it was love at first sight when I saw both these watches. The black is sophisticated enough for evening wear but would make a great statement for during the day. And the white is just lovely, simple and elegant. I can't choose between them!

5. Missguided £40. I spotted this jumpsuit on a fellow course mate at a Christmas party and I keep opening it up on my browser and then somehow I resist the urge to just buy it! I just worry that it'd swamp my tiny frame, but the blue is just beautiful and the draping and all the sexy straps makes it a great outfit for nighttime. 

6. Topshop £48. It's been a long time since I left my chunky heels behind in favour or strappy little sandals but these really caught my eye, I love the combination of textures and their simplicity.

8. Topshop £32. I am yet to find a skort that I really really love but this slightly different take on the trend is a winner in my book, the sexy slit is just enough to take this little number from dinner to dance floor.

She Eats Burgers: Carnaby Burger Co.

This Saturday was a day of firsts. My first visit to the IMAX in London (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was amazing) and it was also the first time I'd ever eaten at this lovely little burger restaurant near Carnaby Street called Carnaby Burger Co., which is what I really want to talk about. 

As a vegetarian family whenever we go out and fancy some comfort food in the shape of a burger we tend to stuck with one of two options: a sad portobello mushroom or a drier than sawdust bean burger. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see so many interesting vegetarian options on the menu. 

There was the usual vegetarian section of the menu but they also highlighted where a vegetarian substitution could be made. Even better the menu was full of gluten free options so needless to say I'll be taking the boyfriend.

Firstly I want to say how quick the service was, we'd just chowed down on our starter of nachos when our mains arrived.

I decided upon the Quorn Chicken, Mushroom and Swiss burger and fries. To quote the menu it was; a sautéed portobello mushroom, fried onions, melted Emmental cheese with peppercorn sauce (this was seriously delicious).

It goes without saying that we all left with very happy tums! All us vegetarians and meat eaters were satisfied - I distinctly remember my sisters boyfriend describing his burger as 'perfect' and my sister was ready to eat her falafel burger all over again.

The season of stuffing your face has most certainly begun! Have a great Christmas everyone!!! xoxo 

Santa Baby...

It's been over a month since my last post and that simply will not do! I'm not one for excuses but being a poor student has meant that there have been very few fashion or beauty purchases as of late. BUT a girl can dream and that's exactly what this post is about; dreaming, more specifically, dreaming about Christmas jumpers. From the tacky to the tasteful to the downright ridiculous, I love them all!

With December 25th just ten sleeps away there's still plenty of time to nab yourself a festive knit whatever your tastes. Here are some of my personal favourites;

L-R Boohoo, New Look, ASOS, Topshop, River Island

1. My all time favourite Christmas jumper! The berry red makes this one a little less tacky, but let's face it, any jumper with a huge slogan is gonna be tack-tastic. Who cares, it's Christmas! You can get this one for a bargain £15 from Boohoo.com.

2. This ones a little less garish but equally adorable, for those of you who don't need any help getting into the Christmas spirit and just wanna show your excitement! A little more than the previous knit at £27.99.

3. I love love love this jumper from ASOS, it's so cute and the traditional print is a lot more understated which, by my estimations, means you can definitely get away with wearing this right up till February! Making the £35 price tag all the more worth it.

4. Now I personally really like Topshop's Christmas jumper offering; The oversized holly motif would put even Ebenezer Scrooge in the holiday spirit! This one comes in at £50.

5. As far as the tacky jumpers go, this one is my number one. It's got everything: red and green, Christmas trees, a cute 'Under the Mistletoe' Slogan and an element of fairisle print! You can still order on in time for Christmas from River Island for £35.

The great thing about Christmas jumpers is that even the most fashion forward of us will embrace the ugly, the tacky and the bloody amazing, comfy, cozy knits to celebrate the holiday season! Team with a pair of jeans, killer boots and you're good to go :)

Until next time ;) xoxo 

Urban Indian Canteen: Tamatanga (Where else?!)

I've been a neglectful blogger it's shameful, if my blog were a child social services would have taken her away by now! I'm afraid third year is kicking my little behind and it's only the first term... Scary stuff. But enough about that, I've been meaning to write this blog post for weeks and weeks! I recently made not one, but two trips to the fabulous (yes it's that good) Tamatanga in Nottingham.

I come from an Indian family that know food. So it takes a lot for Indian cooking to rival my mums, which is why I often avoid Indian restaurants but I'd heard nothing but good things about this place so we ventured in...

Firstly, there's a warm and really inviting atmosphere in this place that makes you think it'd be far more expensive than it is. Our first trip was being paid for on expenses so we didn't hold back (free food always tastes the best). We had onion bhajis to start which were delicious and what made them even better was they were gluten free! They were accompanied by a yoghurt and mint dip (I think! Whatever it was it was to die for). 

My boyfriend got the malai lamb chops- this looked pretty awesome even to me and I don't eat meat! He described it as the best lamb he'd ever tasted and it kept him quite for a good ten minutes so I can only assume that it was scrummy. The menu sums it up beautifully, tender lamb shops marinated  overnight with ginger, garlic and freshly ground cloves, with a mint and coriander chutney.

I went the whole hog and decided on the vegetarian thali, so I had four dishes, naan and poppadums not to mention salad and another onion bhaji! Embarrassingly the couple at the table next to us were sharing this between them... This was great as I got to try a bit of everything- the naans are so fluffy and tasty and the curries were really tasty. They give you a choice of one curry and then give you a selection of three others. I went with the paneer makhni which was accompanied with daal makhni, bombay aloo and bhindi do piaza. All of these looked so good I didn't really know where to start! 

All in all a very good first trip! The second time round I went for one of the curry bowls, I chose the paneer makhni again because it was so good first time! The garlic naan was delicious both crispy and light :)

If all of that wasn't good enough if you go along before 5 you can get a curry bowl (with naan or rice) and a drink for £6.95! So if you're ever in Nottingham definitely take a break from shopping and head over to Tamatanga.

:) xoxo

Birthdays Are Natures Way Of Telling You To Eat More Cake

I don't really need any excuse to make a cake but the boyfriends birthday proved to be the perfect opportunity to try out a recipe my good friend Hannah sent me for a flour-less, yes you read that correctly, a flour-less chocolate cake.

Having recently found himself to be intolerant to gluten my lovely boyfriend is still adjusting to his new diet, so the best thing I can do is try to make some delicious treats to make up for it ;)

So lo and behold my very first attempt at a flour-less cake;

It's no where near perfect, I used a rather large tin which made the cake really thin and its a teeeeeeny bit over cooked. Despite this I'm pretty chuffed with this as my first go purely because it still tastes pretty damn good! 

I'd also like to bring this lemon and blueberry baked cheesecake to your attention, also gluten free, made by my boyfriends mum. With a dash of cream it was the bees knees, really moreish and just delish.

You can find a recipe the chocolate cake pretty much anywhere, I like to go with the BBC as their recipes are clear, simple and easy to follow. Must go, it is the day of rest and we have lots of wine to drink and cake to eat!

What's your favourite gluten free dessert recipe?

Lusting After... Skirts

I'm a strange one, I usually covet more dresses and skirts during autumn and winter than I ever do in summer and this season New Look are doing it for me! I've spotted so many skirts that really just belong in my wardrobe so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you (Mainly to make up for being such a bad blogger!) 

1., 2., 3., 4., 5.

Really quick post today as I feel like all I've done this evening is sit in front of my laptop! I WILL be blogging much more soon :) xoxo

She (Occasionally!) Cooks; Veggy Chilli

I've been a vegetarian my entire life and it's never something that I've considered changing about myself. Like most vegetarians I have struggled to get a sufficient amount of protein in my diet (there's only so many nuts a girl can eat!) but then along came Quorn! I know I don't have a frame of reference but I think it tastes pretty damn good, so I thought I would share one of my favourite meals with you all; chilli. I love anything and everything Mexican and chilli makes for a really hearty winter warmer and it's great on a student budget too! 

So here's what I use for this yummy meal;

Olive Oil, Rice, Ouorn Mince, Pointed red pepper, 1/2 Tin of Mixed Bean Salad, Chopped Tomatoes, 1 green chillie, Crushed Chillies, 1/2 red onion, 1 Clove of garlic and generous handful of coriander.

I will admit that I am the worst at cooking rice. But this Asda white rice came out surprisingly good! I just took a handful (roughly enough for one person) added a tiny bit of oil and salt to the boiling water and let it gently simmer while I cooked the chilli. 

The great thing about Quorn is that you can cook it from frozen, so I threw in a dash of oil to a hot frying pan and cooked the mince on a low heat. I then added the chopped onion, green chilli and garlic (I always crush garlic to get more flavour) and let that cook through. I then chucked in about half a tin of chopped tomatoes and sliced red pepper followed by the beans. Slowly let that simmer and thicken slightly before adding salt and pepper to taste and some crushed chillies for extra heat. Keep tasting it so you don't end up blowing your heads off!

Finish off with a good amount of coriander and let all the flavours combine for about five minutes before serving with rice and lots of cheese!

Et viola! A really filling and satisfying dinner, maybe not one to have just before donning that new body con leather skirt... But hey that's what Spanx are for!

I'm back to living away from home so I'll be experimenting a lot more with food and blogging all of my successes and some of my mishaps (I'm sure they'll be a few!)

:) xoxo

High Street Wish List

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

I've been a very bad blogger this last couple of weeks but I' all settled in my lovely new uni flat now so I shall be posting lots more. Plus I'm back in Nottingham which usually means going shopping all the time! All of that aside, here are my favourite high street pieces for A/W 2013;

1. It was love at first sight, as soon as the student 20% River Island event starts I will be straight in there for these little ankle boots! I find ankle boots can be a bit awkward on me but these sit a little lower which it perfect for me because I hate boots that make my ankles look chunky! And the gold capped toes are just bootiful.

2. I gasped a little when I saw this little skirt. Enough said.

3.Tartan? Check. Fur Collar? Check. Boxy boyfriend fit? Check. I was unaware that such sheer perfection could exist in a coat plus it looks like it'd be so cosy warm for the winter months. Miss Selfridge have done well here!

4.Even more tartan but hey, can't have enough tartan can you? 

5. I am obsessed with leather look anything at the moment and I think these quilted shorts have that added bit of texture, definitely on the 'To Buy!' list. 

6. Its a quilted sweatshirt with a tapestry accent, basically A/W in a jumper.

"The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy."

Well said Yves Saint-Laurent, well said. 

I love the routine of putting my make up on in the mornings and I'm also very very nosy and love reading other blog posts about everyday make up so I thought I'd share my make up bag with you all...

So this is what I put on my face to make me just that little bit more presentable to the world;

Mac Face and Body Foundation, Benefit Erase Paste, Benefit Pore-fessional, Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Liner, Bourjois 16h Liner Pinceau, No7 Eyebrow pencil, Mac Magnetic Attraction Mineralize Eye Shadow (used as a blush), Mac Goldmine Frost, HD Brows Brow Beater aaaaaand Benefit They're Real! Mascara. 

The foundation and blusher brushes I use are from Body Shop and the eyeshadow brush is NARS. 

Wow, sounds like a lot when I list it!My make up bag is from Topshop and I love it, fits so much but isn't too bulky. 

The two things I could not and would not live without are the Mac Face and Body foundation and the Mac Magnetic Attraction Mineralize Eye Shadow that I use as a blusher. The foundation is almost like a tinted moisturiser and gives a really nice natural dewy finish. At just £27 for 120ml its the best value Mac foundation, this is my second bottle and my first lasted me almost a year of using it everyday! It's great if you only need a light coverage and works perfectly alongside a good concealer. 

The eyeshadow/blusher hybrid is the love of my make up life. The make up artist at the Mac store in Westfield was amaaazing, so amazing that I ended up spending about £60, but that's another story... He swept it across my cheeks and then that was it! It leaves a really nice shimmer on my cheeks which subtle and natural looking, big thumbs up from me :)

 I sadly dropped it in the bathroom last week which it why its crumbled slightly AND they've discontinued it so I'm on the hunt for a new one. 

What's in your make up bag?

:) xoxo

The Sweetest Thing: White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake

As you've all probably gathered by now I am a big big fan of cheesecake. I'm also a big fan of Wagamama's which inspired me to put together this tasty treat :) So here I present to you my white chocolate cheesecake on a ginger biscuit base. 

How did I put this together you ask? I used my recipe that I posted here added 200g of melted white chocolate (I just use the cheap stuff, it all tastes the same!) to the mixture and smoothed over the biscuit base. I had a slight panic when the filling seemed to be much thinner than any other cheesecake I'd made before but this is supposed to happen! I was not prepared to wait the full day that it took to set but it was worth the wait... 

This is definitely an indulgent dessert, it was pretty heavy and really rich! I think I'd use a little less white chocolate if I were to make this again, I have been requested by my sister in law to make a low fat one so we'll see how that goes :)

I also got my hair chopped, so watch this space for a blog on that! 

:) xoxo

Fabulous Internship: Week Two

Time is speeding by this year! Last week was my second and final week of interning and it's gone so quickly, but I suppose they do say that time flies when you're having fun ;) 

The week started off better than last as I didn't get lost! It had cooled down a bit on the tubes which made life seem a bit more bearable. There were four of us interns this week so a very busy and crowded fashion department! Mainly we were working on tackling the huuuuuge pile of returns which we successfully got down! I never thought I'd be so happy to see the corner of a room. Not just that but I was contacting PR companies checking availability and prices. 

One of the other girls Lola went on a menswear shoot this week and it looked so exciting so it was lovely to see all the pictures she took and to hear about a completely different shoot compared to the one that I went on. 

There were points during the week, especially Thursday, where I did feel stuck in the cupboard and like we were being forgotten about but then I remembered that everybody and I mean EVERYBODY starts in the cupboard! You've gotta do the grunt work and it means that when you get higher up you understand all the mechanics of the department because you started at the bottom.

You've gotta be memorable, hard working and a force of fucking nature to get out on that desk. 

By Friday I was feeling good but sad to leave, I felt like I'd hit my stride and knew what I was doing as soon as it was time to say goodbye! Everyone was so lovely and thankful when saying goodbye which really helped me feel appreciated :)

To say goodbye I got some cupcakes and a card which went down a treat and I even got an Instagram picture and an amazing goody bag.

Now that's what I really wanted to talk about, the goody bag. It was like the mother of all goody bags...

It included: Joico Shampoo and Conditioner, Famous Dave's Tan and Tone fake tan, Ciate nail kit, Nars eyeshadow brush, HD Brows Brow Beater, Carmex Moisture plus lip balm, Boots Botanics BB cream, Loreal lipgloss, Make Up Store eyeliner aaaaaaand Escada Elixir perfume! 

Everything I've used so far has been great, I haven't had the chance to use the nail kit which I'm really excited about so I'll post a review soon :)

Is it just me or is everything better when it's free?

:) xoxo