Are You Going For Gold ? - A Review And Giveaway x

Please excuse the attempt at relieving my youth, but I hadn't heard this song for ages :) What on earth has a piece of indie / Brit pop got to do with this post? well this post is all about the MUA Make Up Academy Going For Gold Eyeshadow Palette.

As you know I'm a huge fan of MUA as a brand and I absolutely love their eyeshadow palettes. I could quite easily buy every single one but lately I've tried to reign it in a bit. One of the last ones that I bought though was Going For Gold.

Released in 2012, there is no doubt that the theme of this palette was the Olympics.The palette features 10 shades and each one is in a shade of gold, silver or bronze.

Like the rest of the palettes from MUA that I've tried, the pigmentation is amazing! All of the shadows feel super smooth and silky, and the pay off is superb. All bar two of the shadows contain heaps of shimmer, and even the two that aren't (2 and 6) aren't completely matte, and certainly aren't lacking in pigmentation.

Despite the similarity in some of the shades this palette is actually extremely versatile, you can create everything from a subtle neutral eye to something bright and vibrant or the classic smokey

This look was based on the mini masterclass on the back of the palette and features shade 7 used all over the lid, shade 9 blended across the outer third of the lid and shade 5 a super bright yellow gold blended into the socket line, and along the lower lash line x

 

This is another bright look that I created using the light yellow gold colour, shade 7, and the 2 brighter yellow gold, almost mustard shades, 5, and 8.

If yellow gold isn't your bag, using shade 9 all over the lid gives a really stunning bright copper look, which I really think looks gorgeous with my green eyes :)

This palette isn't all about the brights, it has a couple of shades that you can also use to produce a really neutral brown taupe look - this subtle look was created with shades 1 and 3.

So we've covered the bronze and the gold, what about the silver? Well this palette contains 4 shades which are at the cooler end of the colour spectrum - first up this shimmery smokey eye look using shade 4 a beautiful almost liquid silver colour and shade 10, a gorgeous metallic charcoal grey.

If full on shimmer and metallic lustre isn't for you, you can also create a more subtle (haha) smokey eye, with shades 2 and 6, which have more of a satin finish and a lot less shimmer.

When I first looked at the palette I thought it was a bit samey. It seemed as though there were too many colours that were similar. I bought it though and I'm pleased that I did, it's actually a lot more versatile than I'd envisaged. The bright yellow gold have been dug out when I've worn one of my favourite skirts - a bright mustard number, and the neutral tones and smokes have been great for everyday and of course for a dramatic evening look.

If you don't like metallics and shimmers and your more of a matte girl as I said this palette isn't for you. The two more matte shades still have a tiny bit of shimmer and a more satin finish. As well as looking gorgeous shimmer does usually equal a bit of fallout and this palette is no exception as you can probably see from a few of these pictures but this is something that I can live with, just grab a fan brush or a small brush dipped in a bit of face powder and the shimmery bits will be gone. For just £4 I think this palette is great value for money, it's great if these that you love but at the same time the price means that you can experiment a bit.

If you don't fancy shelling out £4 though ;) I have a brand new Going For Gold palette to giveaway. Not only that but you can also win this little guy :)

Yes it's an official London 2012 Olympic keyring featuring one of the official mascots Wenlock :)  I was a bit of a bad blogger and I bought this to giveaway last year but I completely forgot about him - I mean how could I do that !

So yeah one lucky winner will win both items. All you have to do is fill in the entry form below. You've got a little while to enter this one, because I'm going on holiday so this giveaway will end on the 14th October x and it's open worldwide x

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for reading and following and good luck xx

What's In My Bag 2013 Edition x

Hi Guys x This has been one of my most requested videos on You Tube lately so I thought I'd do it and share it with you here.



What's In My Bag videos are one of the easiest to do as you have a prop to use. The contents of my bag isn't that interesting but I hope you enjoy anyways x If your reading this post on a phone and you can't see the video, you can see it here via You Tube xx Thanks for reading and watching xx

Thinking Slimmer - Slim Pod - Week 18

Another maintain for me this week, but I'm not disappointed, in fact I'm feeling pretty good. Last week I had a hospital appointment and my consultant was super happy with my weight loss so far. She knows how hard it is for me to lose weight and the fact that she was pleased with, and surprised by my progress gave me a real confidence boost.

My hormones have ruled the roost over the last week or so, so a maintain wasn't that unexpected - it is quite frankly ridiculous how much water I seem to retain at the time of the month, so I'm hoping a little bit more might disappear before my holidays. Never mind if I'm still at the same weight when I get on the plane on Sunday I'll be a fairly happy Lou x

My plan for the rest of the week is to eat as well as possible, try and eat plenty of fruit and veg, and basically chill. I'm still going to be listening to my Slim Pod every night  this week for a little boost before I go away so hopefully I can at least maintain by my next weigh in.

Obviously I won't be here next Monday - I'll be flaunting my beach body ;) so the next Thinking Slimmer update will be live on Sunday x

Any questions please leave me a comment xx

(The Thinking Slimmer Slim Pod "Create That Summer Beach Body" Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

Wild Things - Nails Of The Day And Changing Your Nail Polish x

With less that a week to go I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit. Today's warm sunny weather has certainly helped, and so has this bright nail polish that I wore last week.

Avon's not to catchily names Color Trend Wild Things Colour Me Shiny Nail Enamel in Roaring Blue, is a beautiful, bright sky blue shade, just looking at it makes you think of a summer sky :) Application wasn't too bad but wear unfortunately wasn't amazing and my first chip came after less than 24 hours booo.

It's such a shame because this is such a pretty colour, so to hide the chips, I had a little play with some nails art, and applied these cute black star stickers which were also from Avon to create some accent nails :) 

Stickers are probably the easiest thing to do nail art wise, you just need some tweezers or an orange stick and a steady hand.

What do you think of this colour? and are you a fan of nail art stickers ? let me know in the comments x

Foodie Friday - Roasted Tomato And Basil Soup

Brrrr it's a bit chilly out there at the moment isn't it? Fear not the weather is supposed to perk up a little bit of the weekend but for how long! Nothing makes me feel better when I'm cold than a nice bowl of homemade soup. As you've probably gathered from my Foodie Friday posts I'm a huge soup fan. Soup is so easy and cheap to make in fact I don't understand why people buy it! The only soup that we regularly buy is cream of tomato for me , the taste, smell and texture just takes me right back to my childhood, and cream of chicken for Mummy Lou. I've never managed to replicate the taste of tinned tomato soup but I do often make my own tomato based soup. Unlike cream of tomato this soup is super fresh and filled with the flavours of the Mediterranean. Again it's super easy and quick to make, and it's a perfect winter warmer. The majority of the tomatoes that I've used here are home grown (there is nothing better believe me!) as is the basil but even the supermarket value ones will work just fine

Roasted Tomato And Basil Soup

2lbs Fresh Tomatoes

Drizzle Olive Oil

2-4 Garlic Cloves - Halved

Drizzle Olive Oil

Sprinkle Of Chilli Flakes (Optional)
About 1 Litre Of Vegetable Stock

Small Bunch Fresh Basil

Salt, Pepper And Sugar To Taste

1. Preheat your oven to about 200° C. Chop your tomatoes in half, if they are small cherry ones you can leave them whole.

2. Put the tomatoes into a roasting tray, the garlic and drizzle over the olive oil, and if you like add a sprinkle of chilli flakes. Pop the tray into the oven for 20 - 30 minutes.

3. In the meantime make up a litre of vegetable stock and pop it into a large pan - I'm using my trusty pressure cooker pan here but any large pan or stock pot will work

4. After about 30 or so minutes your tomatoes should be soft and slightly blackened and blistered - which means they are done x

add the tomatoes, garlic and all the juices from the roasting dish to the pan x

5. Then chop up your basil - I use the chiffonade method, lol a posh term for rolling up the basil and cutting it in to long thin strips :)

6. Add the basil to the pan and cook the soup for about 10-15 minutes for the basil to wilt and for the flavours come out.

7. Then blend x An immersion blender is best but I still haven't got round to buying a new one, so I carefully pour mine into a free standing blender. Then zap, you can make it as chunky as you like, I like it pretty smooth but Mummy Lou likes it chunky so I always leave a few chunks in it for her :) If your using a free standing blender like me you can add a little bit of milk or water to rinse out the blender and make sure you get every last bit of loveliness out.

8. Return the soup to the pan and check the seasoning, adding a bit of salt, pepper or sugar as needed, personally I normally don't add anything and heat again for about 5-10 minutes.

9. Then serve, you could pop a little bit of cream on the top if you wanted to be decadent or a little bit of pesto but I've just sprinkled mine with a little bit of extra basil :) This recipe made about 5 large bowlfuls, and it freezes well.

I love my soups and this is a super easy and adaptable recipe. It's pretty healthy as it is, but you can add what you have, and you could always add some rice, pasta, potato, lentils, red pepper, or any other vegetables to bulk it up a bit. You could also add a bit of cream or pesto sauce to make it richer and of course more calorific :) If you love your soup stick around :) next Friday's food post will be my review of the month, but by the miracle of scheduled posting the week after's will be another soup recipe :) Happy Eating xx 

Deep Heat Muscle Rescue Winners Revealed

Hi Guys x
I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for entering my giveaway x Using Rafflecopter I picked 3 winners who are

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Congratulations ladies - if you can please email with you full names and postal addresses to pootle28@hotmail.com ,and  I'll arrange for your prizes to be sent out asap x x

If you weren't lucky enough to win this time don't worry I will have a new giveaway up next week xx

My Weekend - intu Metrocentre, Heating Woes, And August Favourites x

I hadn't planned on writing this post today, but as per usual life got in the way, so this is a combination of two posts that were supposed to go up at the weekend.

On Thursday I told all of you lovely people about the Beauty Box event at intu Metrocentre, so on Saturday me and Mummy Lou headed to the centre to have a little peek.

It was pretty quiet when we first arrived so there was ample opportunity to have a little look around the little stands located in the square outside House Of Fraser. Although it was early there were already people there who'd been lucky enough to get makeover appointments, having their hair done, courtesy of some of the salons in the centre and GHD.

The rest of the event comprised of stands from individual brands and stores. Whilst I was familiar with all of the brands, the event did probably make me aware of how many top quality brands are available within intu Metrocentre - Decleor, L'Occitane, Clarins, Bliss and Top Shop were just some of the showcased brands. Also displaying were some of the centres beauty and nail salons.

Personally I didn't learn a great deal, but my highlight was definitely seeing all of the Top Shop nail colours swatched - heaven, and my mum's was having a little try of the L'Occitane Divine Cream

On the whole I think the event was a good idea, but there didn't appear to be a lot of leaflets or information available for potential customers, and I have to be honest and say that some of the staff on the stands seemed to be less than approachable, somebody appeared to be giving some form of leaflets out but they seemed to be very selective as to who they gave them too - me and Mummy Lou didn't get them but someone ahead of us did - very odd! My stand outs from the event were L'Occitane and Top Shop - the ladies on both stands were very pleasant and easy to talk to, and the L'Occitane discount voucher / free gift was a nice touch.

I would love to see them do something similar in the future but I do think that the staff need to be more approachable and there perhaps needs to be some more leaflets, and promotional material on display. Maybe some promotional displays or face charts of how to achieve some of the looks, or even some leaflets or take home samples would make this a more valuable and inclusive event.

We only stayed at the Metrocentre for a couple of hours, stopping briefly for a cheeky Costa trip before coming to a freezing house! I'd had the best of intentions on Saturday and I'd planned to film a video and take some blog pics, but when we got home it was so dark and the heating wouldn't work - Nightmare! so from Saturday till lunchtime today we had no heating and no hot water argh. I soldiered on though and had a busy day yesterday taking blog pictures and recording a video. I don't always put my favourites videos on here but I thought why not x



You've  probably seen quite a few of the things in the video but there are a couple of new items and old ones that I've learnt to love. If you can't see the video here you can check out my You Tube channel here x

So that was my weekend - I hope you've had a good one x let me know what you did in the comments x

Thinking Slimmer - Slim Pod - Week 17

Although I wasn't in the right place mentally to weigh in last week, now I'm kind of regretting it. I'm the same weight today as I was two weeks ago when I last weighed. I can't be certain as to why, did I just not gain any weight, or have I just lost the weight that I gained in that missing week - I'll never know now and that irks me a bit. Never mind , after a bit of a wobble the next two weeks are crunch time for me.

I'm determined to lose a little bit more before I go away in 13 days so I'm intending to be super good, watching what I eat and maybe doing a little bit more physical activity or yoga stretches. I'm still listening to my Slim Pod every night and that is something that I will definitely keep doing over the next fortnight x

 I've started sorting my holiday outfits on and deciding what to take and shock of horrors I've decided to take a couple of two piece swimwear sets alongside my swimming costumes, a couple tankinis and a high waisted mix and match bikini combo. My stomach is still way flabbier than I would have liked but I really think that Thinking Slimmer system has not only contributed to my weigh loss but I think it's also helped me to feel a little bit more comfortable in my own skin.

To find out more about the Thinking Slimmer programme please check out their website x Thanks as per usual for all your support and if your going on your own weight loss journey, good luck xx

(The Thinking Slimmer Slim Pod "Create That Summer Beach Body" Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

Foodie Friday - Gluten Free Spinach And Ricotta Cannelloni With A Twist - Pancakes!

The observant readers among you, have probably noticed that there was no foodie Friday post last week, but I'm going to make it up for you this week, with a triple whammy. Last Saturday was my mums birthday so I made her a pretty epic 3 course vegetarian meal. The main course was a spinach and ricotta cannelloni, with a difference. As you know I eat a predominantly gluten and wheat free diet, and finding something  like cannelloni shells is nigh on impossible. In the past I've used cooked and rolled lasagna sheets, but this time I decided to use the humble pancake instead of the pasta rolls. This is my basic recipe and method to make fool proof gluten free pancakes, every time

Gluten Free Pancakes

1 Egg

1/2 Pint Milk

4oz Gluten Free Flour

Butter For Frying

This is probably the easiest recipe ever just whisk the egg, milk and flour together, till it's smooth and combined, it might look liquidy but don't panic.

You can leave your mix to stand for a while but it isn't essential.

Now time to cook them, first of all you need a good non stick pan, in my experience if you don't have one don't bother, no matter how much butter or oil you use your pancakes will stick. Add a tiny bit of butter to the pan and heat you don't need a lot as it's a non stick pan but it you do want it to be hot! Then add some batter, you don't need a lot so add it, and swirl it around the pan, till you get a thin layer of batter that covers the base. If you get some gaps just fill them up a little bit of better.

You need to keep an eye on your pancake, gradually you'll see bubbles start to form on the surface, and the edges will start to cook. 

You can have a little peek at it, if you like, and if it's started to brown you can turn it over, I use a palette knife or a non stick spatula. Then leave it for a minute or so to brown on the reverse said, then you can turn it again, or toss it :). You just want it to be firm and and to be starting to brown. You don't want to overcook them as you still want them to be quite flexible so keep watching them. 

Voila, done :)  Just repeat the process using the rest of the batter. You might even find that you don't need to add any more butter to the pan. Your first and last ones are usually the worst to look at but they will all taste yummy. Remember to that they will cook quicker as your go on as the pan will be hotter so don;t burn them x Depending on the size of the pan this recipe will make around 4 - 6 pancakes - I actually doubled the recipe and managed 8 large pancakes.

Obviously you don't want to be rolling and stuffing freshly cooked pancakes, you'd burn your fingers :) so simply lay them flat on a plate in between sheets of grease proof and leave them to cool. You can even freeze them so long as you keep them separated and flat. If you want more exciting pancakes you can add all sorts of herbs, spices , and flavourings in to the batter, sage would be nice with a roast dinner, cocoa powder would make nice chocolate pancakes, and for this dish maybe you could maybe add some grated cheese or so mixed herbs - but I left mine plain. The basic pancakes made with this recipe could also be served  with lemon and sugar, syrup, Nutella or whatever else you fancy, but for this recipe I filled mine with a spinach and ricotta filling

Spinach and Ricotta Filling

350g Raw Spinach Leaves

350g Ricotta Cheese

2-4 Cloves Garlic - Crushed Or Finely Chopped

1oz Grated Cheddar (Optional)

Salt And Pepper

Grated Nutmeg (Optional)

1. Pop the full bag of spinach into a colander and give it a good rinse

2. You can cook the spinach however you like but the quickest way and the way I do it, is to pour two kettles full of boiling water over the top of it - instant wilted and cooked spinach - pop it to one side and leave it cool and drain

3. Pop the ricotta cheese into a large mixing bowl. I used about 1 and a half tubs, as I'd already used a bit in my cheese cake, and then add the crushed or finely chopped garlic. You can add as much or as little as you like I love garlic so I usually add 3 or 4 cloves depending on the size. Give it a good mix till it's smooth.

Then if you like you can add 1oz of grated cheese, it's not essential but I think it gives a nice texture when it melts

4. By this time your spinach should be a bit cooler, if it's not pour over a little bit of cold water - you want to be able to handle it safely. Then attack it with the kitchen scissors, and shred it into smaller pieces. Obviously you could cut it before you wilt it, but it reduces in size so much you could end up with super small bits, and you want a bit of texture. When you've chopped it, pick out handfuls and squeeze it, you want to get rid of as much of the water as possible.

5. Then add it to your cheese mixture

and stir well, give it at little taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper, and if you have it a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Then leave it for about a hour if possible to allow the flavours to develop

Simples, this could be used as a pasta sauce or you could use it to stuff pasta, or pancakes. You could also maybe use cottage cheese instead of the ricotta, and I think it would also be nice to add a little bit of feta cheese to give it a more Greek feel.

The next task in my epic birthday main course is to make a good tomato sauce to top my stuffed pancakes with. This is stupidly simple and so versatile.

Super Quick Tomato Sauce

1 tbsp Olive Oil

2 Onions

2-4 Cloves Garlic 

I Can Chopped Tomatoes

4 x Fresh Tomatoes

Sugar To Taste

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Fresh Basil or Dried Mediterranean Herbs

1. Chop your onions, and fresh tomatoes in large, rough chunks, and add them to a food processor or blender, alongside the garlic, and the olive oil.

Zap it till it's roughly chopped and then add the tinned tomatoes and either some roughly torn fresh basil, or a pinch of dried Mediterranean herbs ( for example basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram) and give it a quick blast. have a little taste and then add either some more herbs, a pinch of salt and pepper, or some sugar depending on your personal taste and then pulse again.

2. Pop your sauce into a large pan and heat at a simmer for about 20 minutes or so, till it's darkened and thickened slightly. Then turn off the ring and allow to cool slightly

Don't buy it make it, a homemade tomato sauce just tastes so much fresher than anything you get out of a carton or a jar. This is a super quick pasta sauce, that you can use as a basis for bolognese, pasta dishes and as a pizza topping, and of course as a topping for my spinach and ricotta cannelloni with a twist :)

Gluten Free Spinach And Ricotta Cannelloni With A Twist 

2 Portions Of Gluten Free Pancakes

1 Portion Spinach And Ricotta Filling

1 Portion Super Quick Tomato Sauce

1 Ball Mozzarella 

1oz Grated Cheddar

1. Assembly time :) Preheat your oven to about 180 C. You will need a large baking dish, or a lasagna tray.

2. On a chopping board place your pancake, and at the top place one stripe of  the spinach and ricotta filling usually about 2 tablespoons - but you should be able to judge it by eye

Then roll it up, you want to roll it up pretty tightly if you can.

Then pop them join side down into your baking dish, and repeat till you've used up all of your pancakes and your dish is full. If you have some mixture left over either just ease it into the ends of your pancake rolls, or just pop it down the edges of your baking dish.

3. Then pour your cooked tomato sauce over the top of the pancakes.

4. Top with the sliced mozzarella and the grated cheddar or whatever cheese you like

and bake for around 30-40 minutes till the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted :)

5. You can serve this with a salad but to be honest you don't really need to, this is a meal in itself, carbs, veg and fat all in one. As me and Mummy Lou were having this as part of a 3 course meal and appetisers we had it hot from the oven, on it's own. We got four portions from the dish served on it's own. We ate one each straight away, and we ate the rest the day after warmed up in the microwave.

This dish was a total success and went down super well . Despite the number of stages this is actually a really easy recipe to make, as every part of it can be done at least an hour or so in advance, and as I said the pancakes can even be frozen or if your not gluten free bought ;), so as long as you have some in
the cupboard or the freezer you can make this dish anytime. I also love the fact that every part of this dish can also be used to make other things so once you've mastered something you can make it again and use it in another dish - voila more recipes to your repertoire.

I am definitely going to experiment and use pancakes in a few more dishes now that  I have my technique down to a fine art and that I officially make better pancakes than Mummy Lou :) I'm thinking of using them instead of lasagna sheets and of course to make more cannelloni inspired dishes. Do you experiment with dishes and ingredients as much as me ? leave me a comment and let me know and don't forget to check back at the end of the month to see everything that I made my mummy for her birthday dinner x