Easter Sunday Funday!

Yippee it's Easter- but it's also the end of the month which is bad because:
1. the clocks go foward (or is it back?) today so there's less time in bed this morning
but good because:
2. the evenings are lighter!
and also good because:
3. It's the season finale of Walking Dead tonight
which may seem bad because there are then no more episodes butttt, it's okay because:
4. Tomorrow is the first episode of the new season 3 Game of Thrones!

It's also good because it means that Spring should technically be here- which I suppose technically it is, but It doesn't feel like it especially, the sun is kind of shining today, but then mostly hiding away behind clouds.
This morning my mum hid my eggs (Hello Kitty and Cadbury Cream egg)  for me in all sorts of imaginative places such as the tv cabinet, a cupboard, a wardrobe. By this time I was already dressed in my Easter outfit:

Rainbow jumper from H&M for £10!
Navy Blue jeans from Select
Hello Kitty socks from H&M but they are olddddd stock

I was supposed to be wearing something much brighter and more pastel, it was an outfit I had brought home especially to wear for Easter, but it was too chilly!

I did very natural makeup and I could tell you that I left my hair natural on purpose, but actually time got away from me and I was running late for the Easter church service, so I sped along to their and thankfully the damp ends and back of my hair air dried on the way, although it did look a bit frizzy but I suppose that doesn't matter at Church.

When I got home around 2:30-3:00 my mum had made a beauuuuutiful roast dinner. It was wonderful, I forget to take my phone down to dinner most of the time so I didn't get to take a picture, but I suppose you probably know what a roast dinner looks like. Then for dessert we had brownies which were still warm from the oven and gooey in the middle.
I was quite impressed that my eggs hadn't been touched all day - when I was younger Easter was the only day that we could eat as much chocolate as we wanted and I took advantage of that - but then about half ten I gave in to the Cadbury egg and ate half!

On a completely different note, today my little YouTube page got it's very first banner!
You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexiaEsque

Or... if you can't be bothered to click I will just round up this month with the videos from March:

Cersei Lannister Game of Thrones Makeup Tutorial

Game of Thrones season 3 is on it's way, and even if you don't watch it you probably knew that because of the huuuge billboards that have sprung up everywhere with random characters faces on.
This was the funnest makeup look that I have made in a long time, unfortuantely trying to upload it several times but each time a new problem arose - a section had been cut out, the music blanked out, the speaking blanked out and the music was still playing- every kind of problem, I don't know if it's my laptop, my video editor or YouTube.
In the end I gave up with the HD uploading because it was taking well over an hour and after about 3 times and watching the day turn to night and realising I've got zilch done today, I decided it was better to upload something in lower quality today than nothing at all.

The look itself is super simple, I use Foxy, which is a yellowy/nude colour and Tease which is a taupy brown, so a light brown with a grey undertone and it is 100% matte- no shimmer allowed in medieval/fantasy times! Sorry it's the way it is...
Hopefully this fuelled your excitement for the new series! I looked around for music for this video before realising that nothing could beat the original soundtrack so I went with that, and hopefully you'll enjoy it!

Videos coming out of my earsssss!

Today I've been filming and editing like a mad crazy woman so that I have videos backed up for a few weeks so that I can knuckle down to some studying without distractions (except this blog which is a daily distraction) and without neglecting my channel!
Here is a sneaky peak at what is coming your way!

 Can you guess what makeup look this could be?
I'll give you a clue
DUNNN DUNNN DU DU DUNNNN DUNN DU DU DUNNNN

A little of this....

And a pretty makeup look because what season is soon-to-be here? (Hint: It's not Spring or Summer)

Roll on Easter Weekend!

Today is the last working day before Easter, so I must say that I am very excited to have no alarm to get up to tomorrow morning.
Today, after I got home from work I was hoping that I might feel in the mood to film a very special 'non Easter' but still has some relation to Easter video/ makeup look- think what else is happening on the 31.3.2010 - but I didn't feel up to it, but maybe tomorrow will be better!
Instead I got home and cosied up on the sofa with a duvet (Yes it is a Barbie duvet cover)

I then went to have a sports massage since my back is still aching since I injured it wayyy back in October. I'm lying in bed now feeling bruised because there was a lot of pressure to break down scar tissue on my muscle! Not nice!

On another note...
It is still super freezing cold here, I wore about four layers today, kept my coat on and had the heating up on full and still could not warm up! I also brought a spare pair of socks with me and thank goodness, because my feet were like blocks of ice. The whole journey home I had the car heater blasting warm air on my feet like a hairdryer to try and thaw them out, it worked a little bit..
Now I'm cosied in bed and I have two duvets, long sleeved and long legged pjs, thick bed socks and a towelling dressing gown on, I've slept in a dressing gown since I came home for Easter- I just don't know what is the matter with me, I never had me down as someone who was really hypersensitive to the cold!

Baby it's cold outside!

It really is cold, but I made an expedition to my good friends house as it is her birthday on Easter this year!
Presents!

I ended up needing a scarf but forogt to bring mine home, so I borrowed my mums- it was the best decision that I had made all day, the scarf was amazing and wrapped around me so many times that it covered my entire face (except the eyes, I had to see!)
I got some funny looks for my chunky bright blue headgear, but I felt like I was walking down this:

Whereas I probably really looked like this:

 

Just kidding, I actually looked like this:

Well at least I was cosy

 

Twinkle toes!

I have to share with you one of the greatest purchases of the year....

My beautiful glittery Ted Baker bow pumps!
I've had my eye on the Ted Baker bow footwear for a while, I liked the bright sandals a lot, so when I spotted these sweet delights in TK Maxx for half the retail price I couldn't resist!

Look at the cute box they came in, it's design is like a sweet shop or something!

I've worn them already even though my feet froze (it's snowing here) but it was worth it, and they are a rubbery material so they do not feel like they need to be worn in like other shoes.
Hooray for spotting a bargain!

Birthday Sister!

It was my sisters birthday yesterday, but after all the commotion I was too tried to upload all the pictures until today, plus I was eager to show you the new video that I uploaded.
But here is the run down of the day!
A whole group of us went out for lunch which was amazing! We ate at a place called 'The Goods Shed' which was a converted train shed or something so a really unusual building but absolutely freezing, there was snow on the ground!
For starters I had a duck egg tartlet, which sounds very fancy but it was basically pastry with a mushroom filling and then a poached duck egg on the top and some salad... I'll show you:

It was soooo delish, I was sad that it ended, and then filled up on a bread basket until the main course arrived which was...
Steak with vegetables and potato:

For dessert me and my sister shared a chocolate mousse with honeycombe pieces all over it, but I forgot to take a picture of it!

Later, we went back to my sisters for cake! She had two birthday cakes, they were so pretty!

I got my sister a guestbook for her wedding day, it had the couples names on the front and the date of the wedding, but the most fun gift I think came from my mum, it was a wedding trinket box made especially for the wedding day, it included all sorts of personal details.

 Here is has the whole bridal party, including the bridesmaids and flower girls, all in the colour scheme! And there's a little indication to my sisters dress if you look reallly closely

 On the side it has even more cute details including their shared interests!

 On the front is the bride, groom and the flower girls (I can't tell if they are bears or mice)

Then, a very cute and accurate painting of the front of the wedding venue!

Picture overload, It's nearly half 1am! I'm getting me some sleep!

New Video: Makeup for a night out!

Here I'm vamping it up a little with darker eye makeup than usual, so it's not really been created with a daytime event in mind- unless you like darker daytime makeup- which is totally cool!
I was getting ready myself for a night out here and I was wearing all black and wanted makeup a little more smudgy than my normal to wear, I never like how the camera picks up my makeup- I always think it looks better in real - I know they say a bad makeup artist or person in any skill trade blames their tools, but, well I am blaming my tools. I just don't think the colours are done much justice sometimes, and the shimmery shades are made to look like they are full of chunky glitter- not pretty!

Anywho, I hope you enjoy!


Straight after this I filmed an empties video that will be up next week!

Packing up for easter

There's nothing much excitign going on here.
I'm travelling home from university for an Easter 'break'
it's been snowing and the snow is going to follow me home so I'm unfortunately packing jumpers and jeans when I was hoping it would be the kind of weather for summer dresses and sandals... nevermind

Here is a before and after shot

I've crammed it with stuff to leave at home on a permanent basis until Summer, so my case shouldn't be this full coming back- hopefully!

This was the view outside my window on the way home:

and this is the book I read for the journey:

It is amazing! I'm obsessed with it!
And now I'm all washed out from transport I can barely keep my eyes open!

Italia shopping-a

This summer I'm heading off to Italy- Yippee!
I am so so so excited to go abroad, I haven't been on a plane in two years and I got my passport renewed last year so I'm glad to finally be exercising it!

I've begun the shopping process which is strongly fueled by Pinterest since I've been pinning outfits I'm dreaming of wearing while walking along the street with an Italian sunset... -sigh-
Unfortunately I don't have nearly the budget to fulfill my Pinterest fantasy so I thought that a charity shop or 'thrift store' if you're fancy,  would be a good place to start building a dreamy Italian wardrobe.
Within 5 minutes of walking into a charity shop I found two gems:
A skirt still with the tags, that was £9 that I got for £3
I love the ruffle at the bottom, it's so pretty and girly!

A floaty white blouse that would look so pretty as a way to cover my arms in the evening and would look striking with bright, maybe even neon shorts and a (fake) tan.

This concludes the beginning of building up a cheap summer wardrobe, because I feel confident that the weather in England will never be warm enough to wear any of this again- It's approaching Easter and we have fresh snow on the ground, it's driving me loopy loo

Extra Sweet and Super Sour chicken recipe

This recipe is a 'win' for taste
but a 'fail' for health

The recipe is as follows:

Chicken Breading:
3-5 chicken breast
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup canola oil

Rinse chicken, trim off fat or extras and then cut into 1 inch cubes. season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into cornstarch and coat all the way and then into eggs. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook chicken until browned. Place in baking dish. 3 chicken breasts can be in a 9x9 but 5 chicken breasts fits better in a 9x13.

Sauce:
3/4 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Whisk until smooth. Then pour evenly over chicken. Turn chicken so the sauce gets on both sides and then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. turn chicken and then cook for 15 more minutes.

recipe courtesy of: http://madeitateitlovedit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/sweet-and-sour-chicken.html

It's super straight foward and doesn't really require anything at all, I was excited to try it because I'd made sweet and sour chicken before that was just super bland, with a thin lifeless sauce- The picture sold it to me:

So I followed the recipe as best as I could, but my errors were this:
Thinking that beating one egg instead of two would be enough to coat the chicken - it's not and all the breadcrumb crusting falls off if you don't have enough egg

Not having a skillet so shoving all the chicken together in a little sauce pan- the chicken merges into a big chicken lump and the cornflour coating ends up mostly on the bottom of the pan

Halving the sugar in this recipe- I began to pour out the sugar measurement and suddenly realised that this would all be going into me- I freaked out a little bit so poured half back in the bag which then made for a rather thin sauce... which you see me try to resolve later... Next time I will use brown sugar and maybe get away with using half since it would make a thicker sauce.

I bought an onion for the recipe too to chop up and add in, and that worked a treat.

You can see how watery the sauce is, and the onions added in

 15 minutes before the end of cooking time i was frustrated that the sauce wasn't especially sticky so I decided to thicken it up with a bit more sugar, then flour... well I had a bit of a flour-tastrophe and accidentally poured in more sugar than i anticipated, so much more that the sauce got sticky... a bit too sticky! Thicker than wallpaper paste, so I boiled a kettle and added hot water slowly in an attempt to thin it out a little, the result looks nothing like the picture, but I've given up trying to make mine look like the picture anyway...

My goodness, it tasted fantastic, despite the thick sauce, despite the fact that the chicken isn't all crumbed. The recipe really does taste like the local chinese restaurant, it was pure indulgence and next to no nutritional value whatsoever.

When I make this again (and I will, it's in my top 3 favourite things to make) I willl...
Skip the coating in cornflour step, it's less healthy and a bit faffy for nothing
Use 1/4 cup less vinegar, the vinegar was amazing at adding the 'sour' but I think I overmeasured
Add more onions and red and green peppers to give it a bit more nutritional value
Add flour again if need be despite using brown sugar but be more careful to add it slowly

Happy St Patricks Day!

Of course the theme is green!
Here is my green eye makeup!

I used Shamrock by Madison Street Beauty on Etsy for the outer corner, and Half Baked by Urban Decay on the inner corner and blended them a little with a nude colour on the brow bone and a lot of Folie by MAC along the crease to shop the green being an eye sore
I'm wearing a brown eyeliner on the top and bottom lash line with half baked along the inner of the lower lashline and lots of mascara!
 Here is my outfit:

and I'm out like a light!

Another box of Millies cookies

I couldn't resist!
So I got another box of millies cookies
The woman at the counter gave me a judgmental look but I don't even care!
In this box I have:
3 double chocolate cookies
3 milk chocolate cookies
2 chocolate orange cookies
2 white chocolate cookies
2 toffee chocolate cookies

I was hoping that they would have some green coloured cookies that are mint and chocolate flavor for St Patricks day but never mind!

New Video: Red lip

It's been a little too long since I uploaded a video but here I have it!
How to do a matte red lip using only a lipliner



Lip liners do not have to just line your lips, they can and should be used for the whole lip! Enjoy!

What did I just finish reading?

I read a really good book called Brutal by Nabila Sharma
It's difficult to describe a book of this nature as 'really good' because it's an extremely sad and true memoir of a young Muslim girl growing up in the Midlands UK. Nabila was abused across a period of years by her religious teacher.

It's truly sad to hear the horrific things that happened to Nabila, especially when described from the perspective of a child, it adds to how confusing it must have been.
On another level the story is a great insight into the close knit Muslim community.
The storytelling is fluid throughout the book but I found myself becoming progressively angry throughout the narrative as there were a few indications across the years to indicate what was happening to Nabila but they were ignored. The book works to a conclusion with Sharma eventually seeking counselling, finding some solace in her personal life and eventually reporting these crimes committed against her to the police, I wanted to know more about how the case was being followed up and to not know was unsatisfying.
If you enjoy reading these tragic child memoirs there are shelves stacked high and wide in book shops but this makes for a fresh take on a saturated genre.

Pinterest Winterest - a recipe that WORKED

The hilarity of pinterestfail.com was supposed to put me off trying anything and everything that Pinterest promised to be delicious, easy or 'the best'
But I saw this recipe and did wonder if it would be too good to be true

This is the recipe itself:

• 1 large head cauliflower (the one I used was at least 7″ in diameter
• olive oil for drizzling
• Few dashes garam masala (optional)
• 3 medium to large sized peeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 7 cups filtered water

First, preheat your oven to 400 °F and cut up your cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle cauliflower lightly with garam masala. Place cauliflower onto ungreased cookie sheet and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven and let roast until golden brown on the tops and tender, but not mushy, about 20-30 minutes. There’s no need to flip ‘em. Just remove from oven and let cool while you cook the rest of the soup.
In large stockpot, bring sweet potato, onion, garlic and water to a boil. Salt (abt 3/4 tsp) and stir. Reduce heat and allow to remain at a constant simmer until sweet potatoes are tender. Add in cooked cauliflower and divide soup into 2 parts.
Let soup cool and then blend one part soup in blender until very smooth. Combine with second part soup and stir. Salt to taste and warm up over stovetop if needed.

From Manifestvegan.com



Here's a little side by side comparison, mine is on the left... or I wish it was! Mine is on the right hand side and distinctly less photogenic and kind of messy looking, and the cauliflower on top sank before I took the picture which doesn't help matters!
Nonetheless, it is a really really easy recipe. Has a sweet and mild taste. I added dried mixed herbs to give it a bit of a kick and next time I'd add another clove of garlic, you might want to add a little spice too if you want to! So although it may look like a Pinterest fail, it tasted like a Pinterest win!

Lets go to the movies: Wanderlust

If you're a Friends fan, just the poster of this film is concerning. Mike... you're meant to be with Phoebe not Rachel... everything's wrong!

Once you get past the initial shock that the cast have a life after Friends you can enjoy 'Wanderlust'
It's a comedy genre, but I don't distinctly remember laughing out loud that much, maybe I did, I watched it quite late so when I'm sleepy I'm less likely to vocalise a laugh. Regardless, I know that at least in my head if not outwardly that I really enjoyed this film. It's just easy watching, no hidden meanings, no weird symbolism- it's just a fun story!

George and Linda are a couple in New York with jobs in the city, after forking out for a 'micro-loft' in New York things rapidly go downhill for George and Linda, they can no longer afford to live in the city and have to move in with George's brother who is the most horrible man imaginable, ugh he's just frustrating and a mean person. On their way to live with George's brother George and Linda are in a (non-serious) car accident and end up staying at Elysium which is a huge hippy cult (but not sinister like a cult usually is) and everyone is very welcoming but also very 'themselves' (think nudists, free love, sing-songs)
After a night or two there seeing how the cult live George and Linda accept that they have to go back to reality and live with George's brother, which becomes unbearable and they end up going back to live at the cult.
There are all kinds of catastrophes and disasters that occur on this 'new life' they embark upon that basically ends up causing more trouble than they first anticipated.

It's the kind of film that I could and would watch again, I really enjoyed it, and it kind of made me want to live in Elysium because it's a nice way of living, except they're all vegan and I like lasagna too much to be vegan.

A years supply of Millies cookies!

Warning if you are trying to get trim for Summer then look away now

If ever there was something to brighten up a Monday morning it would be a years supply of cookies.
It sounds like I won them in a competition, but no, it's something that they offer for sale all year around and it costs £35
For £35 you get 12 cute coupons in a presentation box and whenever you fancy you can exchange a coupon for a box of 12 cookies (any flavors you like) So although it is marketed as a year supply, you could get a box every day for the next 12 days and use up all your coupons meaning that your 'year supply' would actually have been supplied in under two weeks, or you could use 5 coupons in one go (that's 60 cookies!)
So it's pretty flexible but sooo delicious and if you eat a lot of Millie's it does work out cheaper as usually a box of 12 cookies is £6.49 a pop
If you really are tempted to get about 3 or 5 boxes in one go think realistically if you have enough people to eat them as after 3 days they get stale and a little odd tasting.

Anyway, so the investment for a year was made and I was very excited as I adore the Millies giant cookies which I sometimes get for my birthday, and I've had the odd cookie here and there and they're soo sugary!

It sounded so funny going to the Millie's booth and saying "Hi there, a year supply of cookies please!'
I just want to stress that this is not some super special one off deal that Millie's are offering, they offer a year supply of cookies all year around, so if you decide tomorrow, next week, next year that you'd like to buy a year supply of coupons the offer will probably still be there.

We asked the lady at the booth for a mixture of all the chocoaltey flavoured ones, and we got a mixture of Double chocolate
Milk Chocoalte
White Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
Unidentifiable Coconut Chocolate

It was pretty good... they didn't last long at all!

P.S they make a great gift if you've forgotten a birthday, just exchange a coupon for a box of cookies and give to your friend for smiles all round!

Gum Girl! The cutest free webcomic

Sundays are for lounging, and I stumblest across the cutest thing to do while lounging...
Gum Girl!!! - The picture book (chic-er way of saying comic)

I saw this on a shelf in a store and thought it looked sooooo cute! I didn't buy it there and then but when I got home saw if I could get it from Amazon, until I realised.... that the Gum Girl website are offering this issue to read for free online, you can read it straight from the website, no downloading needed or anything! How often is it that you get stuff legally for free that you can also buy- almost never- so I was very excited and had to share this.
I read this issue online, it was so so so cute. If Gum Girl becomes popular, I want to dress like her on special occasions, just kidding, on a day-to-day basis.

Here's a link directly to the picture book if it takes your fancy:
http://www.gumgirl.co.uk/p/webcomic_12.html

Blue Wedding!

Today was a frantic rush of getting ready, I was so excited for this wedding that I hadn't slept very well for a few nights running up to it.
I got my hair done in the morning which took some of the pressure off, my hair-spiration came from Pinterest:

but I did my own makeup which was a neutral eye using the Urban Decay Vice palette - I forgot my Naked Palette and only had my Vice at home but luckily there were a few neutral gems in there which made it work out okay!
I did a bright bold red lip too video to follow, and then I had to do my sisters makeup too!
My sister is wearing a purple dress so wanted makeup to match, I found this:

From Pinterest of course...
and delved into the Urban Decay Vice palette and it had the perfect colours to recreate this

Here's how we turned out and then I will give an outfit break down!

My sister breakdown:
Purple dress from Karen Millen
Nude shoes from.. New Look or Next Probably
Makeup- me!

My breakdown:

Nautical dress from a boutique but I think I saw the same design at Blue Banana

Red Heels eBay - £10! (new, from an eBay shop)

Beaded clutch- Present from my sister from Debenhams about 5 years ago!

I did get some comments that it looked like I was wearing fancy dress- but I didn't care I love nautical-ness!

Us with the bride!

I wasn't sure if she'd appreciate her picture being put anywhere other than her Facebook, so I covered her face in hearts, just to be certain that it wouldn't be disrespectful to the privacy of her special day!

Her dress was completely stunning and breathtaking! It had lace all over and the train was beauitful and sort of scalloped! It was divine! I really want to try it on! The day was really lovely and the speeches were so funny - speeches are usually boring but these were not, although it probably helps when you know the bride very well!

It was also really nice to be with all my nearest and dearest all in once place, this hardly ever happens, not even at Christmas! 

The side effect is that it has just made me even more nervous and excited about my sisters wedding this Summer!