Homeware Wishlist

I've been getting really into interior design lately and here a selection of a few items that I really want to pick up as soon as I get some money. I've got to say I'm really impressed with the home ware stuff in Asda at the moment especially their Luna themed collection! 

 Faux Fur Throw - £25 - George

Mixed Texture Print Cushion - £7 - George

Phrenology Head - £10 - George

Metal Storage Basket - £6.99 - H&M

Framed Butterfly Wall Art - £19.99 - Argos

Easy Chocolate Biscuit Recipe

I've had this post stored away in my drafts for a while now as it's one I started working on in July before the whole hospital fiasco, so I figured it was about time I finally got round to publishing it. So admittedly this recipe was more a case of experimenting in the kitchen and seeing what the end result was. What was supposed to be Toffee Crisp Cookies sort of ended up being chocolate biscuits instead which made me feel ever so slightly reluctant to share the recipe, however they did taste really good so I decided to post it anyway. They're so easy to make and if you're anything like me and never have a cupboard stocked with baking ingredients then it's a pretty ideal recipe as it only involves a few ingredients (most of which you should probably have lying about anyway) 

You will need:

1 Cup of Flour (150g)
1 Egg
1/2 Cup of Sugar (I would recommend caster but granulated sugar is all we had)
2 - 3 Tablespoons of Nutella

and any additional ingredients you'd like to add, I decided to add in some chopped up pieces of Toffee Crisp for some extra flavour and crunch.  

First you want to pre-heat your oven to 180C. Then grab a mixing bowl and pour in your flour.

After that you then want to add in your sugar and your scoops of nutella. I added around 2 - 3 tablespoons.

After that crack one egg into the bowl and mix it all together until you have smooth consistency. Then feel free to add in whatever extra ingredients you want. I chopped up a toffee crisp bar and added in little chunks of that and then mixed it all together.

Grab a baking tray and line it with a sheet of baking paper. After mixing the dough to evenly distribute chunks of toffee crisp, you then want to roll tablespoon sized balls out and squash them down with a glass to create that flat biscuit shape. 

Then just simply place in the oven for 12 minutes and leave them to cool.

There you have it! A simple easy to follow recipe with minimal products involved. My only advice for this would be to make your biscuits larger and wider rather than small and thick, as the larger ones are more like a cookie whereas the small ones end up quite hard and crunchy. 

Beauty Haul

It's been a little while since my I last did a beauty post on here but I recently popped into town to repurchase some of my everyday make-up products that had ran out and I also managed to pick up a few new bits to try out. I'll probably do more of an in depth review of some of these products later on but for now here's a little round up of everything I bought.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Peachy Glow Palette - £8

I'd seen a few bloggers post about the new Tanya Burr Cosmetics Palettes that had recently launched however I never intended to purchase any of them up until I recently popped into Superdrug and saw the last remaining Peachy Glow palette. As soon as I'd picked it up to look at it I knew I had to get it. This palette contains a bronzer, a blusher and a highlighter. So far I am yet to try the highlighter however the bronzer and blusher are beautiful and I have now incorporated these shades into my everyday make-up look. I'm definitely interested to try some more products from this collection.

PS Design Nails - 50p

I've purchased false nails from Primark before and I only got round to wearing one set very briefly as this was around the time I used to bite my nails and therefore didn't have any so I found wearing false nails just too weird and took them off within an hour of having them on. Over the summer I managed to stop biting my nails and now have some lovely nails of my own but I just couldn't resist picking up these cute pineapple print ones, especially as they were reduced to just 50p! I can't wait to give these a go and hopefully they will feature on my blog sometime soon.

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation - £8.99 

This is hands down one of my favourite foundations that I have ever tried. I think I'm still yet to find the perfect pale foundation for me but this one is pretty close to my skin tone. It's a very light, easily blendable foundation with subtle shimmer throughout it which helps give your skin a very healthy looking glow. This is my second bottle of this foundation now as I found that my first one did last a few months so although almost £10 for a drugstore foundation does seem a bit much, it definitely is worth it.

L'Oreal Miss Manga Mega Volume Mascara -  £8.99

Next up is another repurchase, I'm pretty sure this is my favourite mascara that I have ever tried. Although I really hate spending the £8.99 on it, I do find it's one of the only mascara's that gives me a noticeable boost in the height of my lashes and also does a really good job at lengthening them without getting too clumpy or thick.

Rimmel London 60 Second Super Shine by Rita Ora (Shade Peachella) - £2.99 

As I've recently grown my nails I've been enjoying buying nail polish for the first time and actually experimenting with nail art. One of the first shades I picked up was this one from the Rita Ora collaboration with Rimmel London. This is a beautiful peach colour which I'm very much looking forward to trying when I get round to it. 

Rimmel London 60 Second Super Shine (Shade Caramel Cupcake) - £2.99

This is one of the nail polishes I picked up that I actually have tried. Caramel Cupcake is a really nice nude / mauve kind of colour which I think I'll get a lot of wear out of. It's really quick drying which is great for me as I'm pretty terrible at smudging my nail polish however I do find that this chips quite easily. 

Barry M Aquarium Nail Paint (Shade Pacific) 

The final thing I picked up was this Barry M Nail Paint from the Aquarium collection. For as long as I can remember I've been looking at this nail polish nearly every time I've nipped into Superdrug and now I finally have nails I could justify picking it up. I have tried this one out already and I have to say I was slightly disappointed with it. This polish takes a few layers to actually build up an intense colour and I don't believe the colour looks as nice as it does in the bottle. 

Freshers Week

Freshers is the most highly anticipated event of any young persons life. The idea of moving out, making new friends and doing nothing but dressing up and partying for two weeks is undoubtedly very exciting. I was unable to do re-freshers this year as I'm recovering from surgery still so I thought I'd do a little post reminiscing about my freshers week.

I started off freshers with literally no money whatsoever so I ended up going to the local convenience store and getting the cheapest drinks I could get my hands on and making some truly unforgivable concoctions in the hopes of getting really drunk on a tight budget. (Strawberry Lambrini and Vodka anyone?) Not only was I drinking absolute rubbish but I was eating it too. I was too lazy to cook most days so I either didn't eat as "eating is cheating" or I ate cake. Yes that's right cake for dinner. (Living the dream)

Freshers itself involved playing a lot of drinking games. Mostly ring of fire which I had never played before in my life so needless to say I think I was pretty annoying having to ask what every card meant. Still to this day I can't remember the rules but maybe that's just a sign that I was already drunk enough when they were being explained to me. 

My freshers involved quite a few themed nights so dressing up was a must. I probably spent a little bit too much money on buying my fresher outfits hence why I ended up with £10 to pay for drinks, taxi rides and junk food for the first week until my loan came in. Let me tell you now that £10 is NOT enough for multiple nights out. I was always the one getting out of paying for a group taxi (sorry guys) and I was always willing to accept a drink but not buy that person one back (sorry once again) and when that loan money finally dropped in my bank account I almost cried tears of joy. I could now buy my end of night cheeseburger and 6 nuggets without feeling guilty.

When I first embarked on my freshers week I was determined to make every event. Start as you mean to go on and what not. However I had to give myself 3 days off from partying as I just couldn't hack it, especially as I was going out in 6 inch heels every night and doing a ridiculous amount of slut dropping. Although I did go to as many nights as possible as it was quite exciting going out when everyone was in high spirits and chanting "T R E N T - WE ARE THE TRENT ARMY" 

Freshers was an interesting experience to say the least and it did teach me a two lessons;

1. Save some money as it can be pricey

and most importantly..

2. Don't expect to stay friends with the people you meet in freshers week (chances are you will occasionally pass them in uni and it will be super awkward and neither of you will say anything)

Invisible Illness Awareness Week #GoodAndBadDays

The 28th of September marked the beginning of Invisible Awareness Week and it also happens to be the same time Crohn's and Colitis UK are running their #GoodAndBadDays campaign where people fighting Inflammatory Bowel Disease post images of themselves during times of remission and flares. As I want to continue raising awareness and helping support this charity I felt like it was only fitting that I make another blog post regarding my fight with Crohn's disease.

These pictures show a variety of my good and bad days. The first image was November time last year where I was unaware I was ill. The second image shows the medication I was on at one point during this summer where I was in a short period of remission (1 Omeprazole, 1 Azathioprine and 5 Prednisolone) The 3rd photo is an image of me in the intensive care unit, 1 day after having 16 inches of my small intestine removed. I had been injected with a high dose of steroids 4 times a day for a period of two weeks which lead to my face becoming incredibly puffy and round. I'm also very drugged up with Morphine in this image which is why I look slightly out of it. The fourth image is a photo of my surgical scar - as you can see the bottom of the incision began filling up with fluid which has since burst and left an open hole in my stomach. However it is now almost healed up. The 5th image shows me having an iron infusion, something which may have to become a regular thing if I continue to experience problems absorbing iron. The 6th photo is a recent photo of myself, I'm currently in remission and I feel the best I have in a long time.

Crohn's is a horrible, degrading, invisible illness with no cure. Looking at the first photograph with my hair done and a full face of make-up, you would have no idea that I was chronically ill. You wouldn't be able to guess that inside my small intestine would be incredibly inflamed causing horrific abdominal cramps and not absorbing any nutrients from the food I was consuming - leaving my body malnourished and weak. On the outside I appear normal which is what makes an invisible illness so difficult as it makes it harder for people to understand and sympathize with what you're going through as they can't physically see it. I'm thankful that the people closest to me have been there to witness my struggles as they now understand my illness and just how it affects me, both mentally and physically. Invisible Illness Awareness week is an important reminder not to judge people based on what you can see as you never know what that individual is going through. 

If you can find it in yourself to help support people like me and put money towards research into finding a cure or alternative forms of treatment then please text DAYS22 plus your amount to 70070 to donate to Crohn's and Colitis UK. Thank you!