Mini Beauty Haul @ Poundland

Hi there!

Yesterday I decided to defy wind and snow to go to the grocery store, I swear my intent was to buy only eggs, milk and a little more; surely the decision to go to the shopping centre was hiding a secret desire to buy something else entirely.

I went to Poundland to buy light bulbs and other household items, well aware that you step inside to buy two things and when outside you discover you've spent >£20 (and you do not even know how). I expected to give in to the sweet department, or chips, or buying unnecessary scented candles, but while I was reading quickly the ingredients of the cleansing wipes, this struck my eye:

isn't it lovely?

I usually take a blush with me to use it as a mirror, so I have no proper compact mirrors (well, I had a Nana mirror once ... I wonder were it is now, probably lost), so how could I resist in front of an adorable heart-shaped, vintage style, 50s mirror?

Obviously I could not, and so he went inside my shopping cart together with cleansing wipes, a notebook and various sponges. At that point I had to a look more carefully at the counter (more goodies could be hidden among fake lashes and nails) and the brand Sleek popped out from the others.

quite different from the current paper packaging

I love Sleek make-up  I have two of their famous iDivine palettes (the Oh so Special and the Au Naturel) and I am literally craving for more (i.e. the Ultra Matte V2 and the Lagoon), so I am really interested on trying other products from this brand. At Poundland you can find some of the older shades of their True Colour Lipstick and Sheer Cover Lipstick (which are no more available on their website). 

After rummaging through make-up sponges, Revlon and Maybelline duos and quads, and all kind of beauty stuff all mixed together, I managed to resurface from the chaos with two True Colour lipsticks: Blaze (827) and Fuchsia (833); as it was impossible to open the packaging without damaging the products (and I hate those who do not care about others and open all the products), and there were no testers available (also, it was a very impulsive purchase, so I didn't look for swatches on-line), I could only trust the labels on the bottom... ah ah! How deluded! As if labels have ever been faithful to the real product colour... but for £1 only I was willing to take the chance.

the fuchsia label was truthful

Fuchsia is fuchsia, not a magenta, not a hot pink and I am really happy with this colour; I have never worn this kind of shade as I usually wear blue based red, purplish red and when I was a teen I used to wear a Rimmel lip gloss which came in a small jar and was a nice biscuit colour. I am really looking forward to try it on and experiment with make-up matches (I really don't know how to wear a fuchsia colour on the lips, so it will be fun!).

natural light by the window

Blaze really startled me, while the label suggested an old-rose, purplish shade, the swatch on my hand was a brownish/coppery shade, with a frost finish and a glittery look (don't worry, the glitters don't show up too much when on the lips). I am not sure this kind of colour suits me well, it gives me a sort of "vampy" look, which I really like (I love MAC Dark Side because it's really vampy on me), but I usually wear cool colours and I need to get used to wear brownish/warm colours.

I think that with a well studied make-up, with a good balance of warm tones, this lipstick could be amazing, especially with a little tan that enhances the golden tones on my skin.

I also think that given it frosty and glittery finish it would be perfect for layering with another lipstick and/or lip pencil, lip stain etc.

wearing blaze, no other makup on
taken with mobile, sorry for the crappy quality, better pics coming soon

Last but not least, I bought two products from a brand I was curious about for a long time: Simple, which has great advertising, packaging and all, but when I read the ingredients I always feel somehow disappointed (I guess we have different definitions of "harsh chemicals" and "unnecessary ingredients"), so after a thorough analysis of the INCIs I choose to take home the Kind To Skin Soothing Facial Toner (really lovely ingredients this one) and the Kind To Skin Moisturising Facial Wash (from the INCI it seems delicate and soothing).

So if you want to buy yourself a little beauty on the budget treat, check your nearest Poundland!

Which brands or products would you like to find at Poundland?

What do Japonesque and Vintage have in common?

They're both behind and inside my first order from Latest in Beauty ^^

But let's start from the beginning.

I was browsing the web, looking for new cosmetics to be tempted with, when I stumbled upon Latest in Beauty website, which offers to us consumers the possibility to try new products samples for a very small price (£1.50 for a "Little Beauty Box" containing 3 samples categories, and 1£ to 15£ for bigger -sometimes full- size "Luxury Samples").

How could I resist?

So I ordered a Little Beauty Box a few weeks ago, and 3 luxury samples a couple of days ago. The three products I chose to be packed into the Little Beauty Box were a Melvita Moisturizing Rose Nectar day cream for dehydrated skin (1x2ml sachet), a Lavera Liposome Intensive Night Cream (4x1ml sachet) and the Lady Gaga Fame Eau de Parfum (1x1.2ml spray). Unfortunately I haven't tried these products yet because I was waiting for my face to come back to normality after a bizarre period full of zits and impurities, as I don't want my trials to be affected by "extraordinary" skin conditions; while the Lady Gaga perfume has been saved for a special occasion.

In my second order I chose to go for the Luxury Samples because it seems to me that they are better value for money, you get a lot more product than the tiny samples inside the Little Beauty Box and this allows you to get a better idea on how the product works for you before buying (or reviewing) it.

This time I chose to stay more on the make-up side and I made a pure rational and thoughtful decision process which led my to an Eyelash Curler, a pack of Make-up Remover Swabs and a Hand Cream; the fact that the Eyelash Curler comes from a company called The Vintage Cosmetics Company and the Make-up Remover comes under the Japonesque brand it's totally irrelevant, I swear U__U

But I have to say that this is my first eyelash curler, that I am a mess with lipstick and mascara so these makeup removers will surely come handy, and it happened that I finished my hand cream (Caudalie Hand&Nail Cream, just love it!) ^__^

Also, the fact that I have paid £10 for two full size products, a generous sample and some tiny tiny samples help me feel less guilty.

While I was shooting some photos for this post another product popped up from the box, it was hidden under the shredded paper so I didn't notice it at first especially because I didn't order it, so I guess it's a gift or just a lucky mistake ^^

The extra product is from The Vintage Cosmetic Company and it's one of their most famous products: the false lashes, called the Girls as each one is identified by a girl name, so call me Betty from now on (if I manage to wear them XD).

I've tried false lashes a couple of times before, and both times I found them to be heavy on my eyelids resulting in a drowsy look rather then fresh and wide open eyes; the Girls eyelashes should be "incredibly light and comfortable to wear" and also suitable for contact lenses wearers, I am so looking forward to try them on!

Stay tuned for some reviews coming soon ^^

Happiness is... a creamy risotto

When I was a little girl my mother sometimes used to ask me for help in the kitchen, and since I was totally helpless in cutting parsley, onion and garlic with the proper shape and thickness, the only task available for me was stirring (my mum is very proud of her almost invisible chopped garlic while I just don't mind to find huge chunks of onion in my plate  ^^). 

So my job was stirring, stirring soups, sauces and almost anything that needed stirring, including the very much hated Crema Particcera (which today I'm still unable to cook due to unpleasant stirring experiences)

[how many times did  I say stirring in one sentence? XD]

The one and only kind of dish I never refused to stir meticulously and diligently but I rather enjoyed to help with was the risotto. I love risotto, I am a huge fan of pasta but I also love rice (in all its versions), and risotto always had a special place in my heart (and tummy); so one of the first dishes I learnt to cook (along with some basic pasta sauces) was the "Risotto alla Milanese" or saffron risotto, which is still one of my favourites.

risotto alla milanese, made and photographed by me

I find cooking risotto extremely relaxing, and very satisfying; plus, it doesn't take so long, in half an hour you can have a (almost) proper risotto. And while the much hated crema pasticcera (no, it's not custard cream) is a nightmare because even if you stir frantically you can be sure that eventually it will burn or turn out full of lumps, the risotto can actually help you develop skills as patience, creativity and self-esteem. 

Patience because you have to stay for 30-40 minutes in front of the pan, stirring continuously, and adding the right amount of stock at the right time, you just can't rush things with risotto U__U

Creativity because once you have learnt the basics of risotto making you can introduce almost whatever ingredients you like, from limes to seafood, all kind of vegetables and more (my winter favourite risotto comes with whole nuts, mushrooms and Gorgonzola cheese).

Self-esteem because a creamy risotto is a great satisfaction, it takes time, care and effort to be made and once it's ready and it's delicious... it makes you proud ^__^

Risotto is generous, risotto repays the attention and care you put in making it, risotto understands (ok, I get carried away XD).

cooking lentils&sausage risotto

I want to share with you some tips I find essential to prepare a perfect, creamy risotto:

• having lightly fried your onion (either thinly or thickly chopped) let your rice toast (yes, we toast the rice, we do not stir fry it) for at least 2 minutes or longer (just make sure your onions do not turn brown), this will help the release of starch and therefore the creaminess of your risotto;
• immediately after toasting the rice and before adding the stock pour 1/2 a glass of wine (white is better) and let evaporate, this will boost the flavour;
• add the stock a little at a time, the rice must not be boiled! You want the rice to absorb all the previous stock before adding more, watch as your rice slowly releases its starch and the thickness start to build up... nice, uh? Just make sure your rice or the onions don't get burned or stick to the pan, if this is happening add a little more stock or add the stock more frequently.
• the final part is the "mantecatura" (= creaming),  i.e. the addition of butter and Parmesan cheese to our almost cooked risotto (it usually takes place 2 minutes before removing the pan from the heat) that allows to obtain a creamy and homogeneous appearance.

Risotto lenticchie e salsiccia
made and photographed by me

I hope you enjoyed my post, share your love for risotto and leave a comment if you want ^^

White Weekend

Every year I wish to have a White Christmas.

This year, like every year, my wish wasn't answered, not a single snowflake was seen in London and even fewer were seen in Sardinia, were I spent my holidays at my parent's house.

However, when the first serious snowfall of the year eventually arrived I was lucky enough to be free to enjoy it, it started during the night between Thursday 17th and  Friday 18th, and it kept falling for most of Friday, even if very light and at times it was just flurry. 

first snow on Friday morning

For me the snow has always been magical and is one of the things that make me feel like a child, full of excitement, simple joy and genuine amazement; just to watch it fall lightly, flakes dancing in the air, following Mother Nature choreography, is almost hypnotising, like watching the flames dancing in a fire, they directly call to some deep and ancestral part of myself.

frozen berries
photo by me

Friday afternoon I dressed (not warm enough, as I was about to discover), I forced my feet into my faithful old boots and forgetting my gloves (why should I need them? it's just snowing after all XD), I went around my neighbourhood under the falling snow to shot some pics and enjoy the maybe too short, maybe first and last of the year snowfall (as Latins used to say: carpe diem). 

Garratt Park

photo by me

I went to the near park which was completely covered by snow and deserted except for a few people: a mum with her enthusiastic child jumping all over the place and another girl of my age wondering about the once green lawn and now white carpet; we exchanged a knowing smile when we crossed and each went on her way, while the swings rattled and whispered to the snow in the playground.

Garratt Park

photo by me

for the make-up addicts: 
I'm wearing MAC lip pencil "vino" under a light coat of red lip pencil;
love the deep cool red I get mixing these shades;
the colour lasted for hours, even after drinking a cup of coffee.

the face of happiness

To complete my snowy wondering I went to the local Starbucks to sip a Vanilla Spice Latte (can I say that neither it tasted of vanilla, nor of spices?) from a china mug, while looking the people in the street doing their errands, hurrying to catch their bus or chatting with their friends under the falling snow.

Vanilla Spice Latte

photo by me

Unfortunately on Saturday we had just a few flurries and the temperatures rose enough to start melting the snow, so I just stayed home to enjoy a quiet day with my boyfriend, occasionally peeking out of a window to see if it had started to snow again.

photo by me

At some point between Saturday and Sunday night the snowfall started again, light but steady; the smallest snowflakes ever seen tried to cover up the melted siblings from the previous day and by the afternoon a fresh layer of snow was waiting to crunch under my feet.

photo by me

photo by me

I really loved this proper winter weekend, I know that lots of people dislike snow, cold and all the inconveniences caused by them, especially if you are working and you can't enjoy the snow you'll see only the problems it comes with, but I wish my winters were more like this weekend and I hope that you had enjoyed this snowfall as much as I did.

PS: please do not look at photos quality, I am not a photographer, my hands shake and all photos are made with my poor mobile camera; so forgive me for the crappy quality, I'm just a girl who likes to take pics.

Art is in the Hair

In spite of my not so happy relationship with hairdressers&co. one of my best friends is training to become one (hair stylist actually), and she’s doing great, so great that I’m thinking to have an hair cut done by her (and I've been cutting my own hair for years now).

Elettra and her model, Margherita
photo by me

Tuesday 15th I went to see and support her and her model of at the Richard Ward Junior of the Year Awards, a competition where trainees show off their talents in front of an audience of parents, partners and friends, as well as an esteemed panel of judges including Catherine McMahon from L'Oreal Professionnel and Richard Ward himself (I know I’m missing some judges but I don’t remember their names, I’m so sorry! If anyone could please fill my memory gaps I’d be very grateful).

photo by me

photo by me

 

Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa is the past winner of Hair Magazine’s London Salon of the Year, and has been described as ‘leisurely and luxurious yet unpretentious’; glamour, excellence and an outstanding customer service are perfectly combined to transform customers experience into a little luxury treat.

photo by me

The competition has been running for several years, and it consists of two separate awards: The Junior of the Year Award itself, which was voted for by the senior team at the salon based on day to day work ethic and achievements throughout the year; and the Technical Achievement Awards, which is the one I went to watch and cheer for. For the second award juniors were asked to create a look that combined current trends with model style and features. As well as creating a suitable style, entrants were also judged on research, inspirations and presentation. 

photo by me

This is the second time I have been part of the audience and I have to say that this year the standards were amazingly high (even for one who is not an expert like me the styles were just wonderful) and I really enjoyed it, especially for the ’50 atmosphere which seems to have inspired almost everyone.

rock/romantic braided updo
photo by me

This year I really enjoyed the show because I saw a lot of styles which I would like to try on my own hair (I’m thinking about two braided styles in particular) and also some of them which I personally would never wear but were amazingly done (I’m thinking of an extra short cut with the most beautiful red shade I've ever seen and a lovely Marilyn inspired style).

Marilyn
photo by me

rock/romantic braided updo
[front]
photo by me

super short/ultra red bob
photo by me

My friend Elettra’s creation consisted in a fusion between fifties style, vintage accessories and oriental look, inspired by Japanese anime and manga, the film “Memoirs of a Geisha” and the western '50s atmosphere. The result is an Updo consisting in three sections: the two frontal sections call to mind both the Geisha's hairstyle and the 50sVictory Rolls style, while the back ponytail was tied up to remember famous anime hairstyles as Sailor Moon.

pin-up geisha
photo by me

photo by me

The look was completed by a flower hairpin, a Chinese style inspired dress and a makeup that perfectly balanced Japanese Geisha's and ’50 pin-ups styles.

romantic braided updo - the winner
photo by me

After all of the trainees showed us and commented their creations, and a little break was allowed for everyone, Hellen Ward announced the winners: Elle with her romantic braided Updo won the Technical Achievement Award and she was also rewarded with the Junior of the Year Award itself; while my friend Elettra was the runner up for the Technical Achievement Award.

romantic braided updo - the winner
photo by me

I am really happy for my friend and proud of her work and results; her look was almost flawless and really creative, different from the others in spite of the common inspiration which seemed to have struck all the competitors; plus, it was just perfect for her model (who's also a dear friend of mine), she managed to combine her skills and creativity with her model personal style and character and I think she did a great job.

Elettra and Margherita
isn't that military coat perfect for the look?
photo by me

Eggs, bread and tomato sauce

Saturday I had planned to go to the Shoreditch Vintage Fair, but I woke up late in the morning and I wasn't feeling very well (thanks to a nasty cold which has been going on for two weeks and it's starting to be annoying) so I decided to skip it (luckily the next one will be on February, yay!) and stay at home.

I had lunch really late, if you can still call it lunch after 3PM, with a recipe inspired by Sardinian "pani frattau", which is slightly different from how I made it most of the time.

It's a very quick and easy lunch or dinner option, and it's perfect if you have some leftovers (as stale bread or a couple of spoons of tomato sauce).

You will need (for1 portion):

2 eggs; 

some tomato sauce; 

some stale bread,;

1\4 onion;

2 tbsp evo;

basil or dried Italian herbs;

a cup of lamb stock;

Pecorino or Parmesan cheese.

If you have a little tomato sauce as leftover then it's perfect. The best would be a very simple tomato&basil sauce, but if you don't have it ready don't worry because it's very easy to make.

Start chopping the onion (I like it in big chunks) and gently cook it with a little extra virgin olive oil. When the onion is softened add some peeled plum tomatoes (3 of them will do) or some spoons of passata and let it simmer for about 20 minutes; add fresh basil leaves or dried Italian herbs mix at the very end (you don't want to burn the herbs flavor).

You can choose then to cook the eggs directly into the tomato sauce or made them poached.

Remember to toast the stale bread (if you don't have stale bread, you can toast fresh one and nobody will notice), either in the toaster or in the oven, personally I prefer the oven; and then soften it with a little stock (lamb is better, but you can use whatever stock you have at home, just avoid the fishy one).

Serve the slices of stale bread topped with tomato sauce, the eggs and finally a generous amount of grated cheese.

Enjoy!

Snow sprinkles and a cup of tea

Sunday is my favourite day of the week since I was a little girl, and I had to wake up very early in the morning (6 am) to catch the school bus at 7 am, every day except for Sundays.

Now I usually wake up at 7am during weekdays (actually, I put set my alarm clock at 7 but I get up from bed at 8), and sleep all Saturday morning, so in Sundays I can wake up early enough to do something interesting, and spent some time with friends.

Last Sunday I enjoyed the light snow fallen on Saturday night, which by midday was already melting. I was invited by a friend of mine to have lunch by her place and then we would go to Goodge Street to meet another two friends of us.

I took some photos of my street covered by snow, children playing in Wandsorth Park  and a view from Putney Bridge.

For lunch we had a delicious chicken pie, carrots and guacamole, some pane carasau (Sardinian flat bread) kindly offered by my friend’s flatmate, and a few glasses of red wine.

We met the other two girls at Goodge Street and we all went to a bookstore nearby, this is a bookstore me and my friend were planning to visit for months. As it always happens with long planned and full of expectation things, they’re never the way you imagined them.

It was smaller and somehow “less” than I expected, but nonetheless I found some interesting books; in fact, although small, the shop was full of books, some of them ancient and rare, and it deserves a second visit.

After the visit to the bookstore, we went to Le Pain Quotidien to escape from the freezing temperatures, and we enjoyed hot drinks and some food. I love this cafés, the ambient is warm and shabby, the teas and food just delicious.