Loving and lusting #19

I know, I know, you're probably all sick of my lust lists after two (yes, two) in a week, but ah well. Everyone loves a bit of online shopping, even if it is only imaginary, right?

Top// Nail varnish// Ring

By the time this post goes up I'll be in Paris, and so comes this fabulous cliché, in the form of a Breton inspired top. Jack Wills are pretty pricey, but I love the top anyway! I've also wanted to try Essie nail varnishes for a while, and whilst browsing the beauty bay website a couple of days ago I saw this colour, which I fell in love with. It's quite original, and I haven't seen it mentioned it much, but I think it looks so pretty! This ring is also the prettiest ever, and whilst expensive, is just so dainty and adorable!

Bye!

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The post-run whopper

I like to run, in the sense where 'like' is used very generously. On returning from said runs I am very hungry, and so this whopper commences. It may be unnecessarily huge, but I've just burned loads of calories, right?
I would insert a picture of me in the process of eating this bonanza, but well. Sweat, red face, bleurgh.
Anyway, on Wednesday, I took some photos of my plate, because that's what food bloggers do, right?

Part 1: green beans. Living on the edge is something only the best of us can master, and green beans cooked in oil and garlic pretty much sums this extremely difficult stunt up.
What is wrong with me?

Part 2: bulgur wheat salad. My favourite salad, ever. Cook some onions, chuck the bulgur wheat in and cook as specified. Add walnuts, coriander, pomegranate, and anything else you feel like. Chicken or mackerel are both great.

 

 

Part 3: salad. A nice big green salad, with cucumber, carrot and lettuce, and lots of balsamic vinegar and oil. So healthy, me.

Part 4: salmon quiche. A recipe for another day, but all I can say is mmm.

So there you have it, the hugest plate you will ever see, and one of the only times you can justify it. Kinda. Obviously, post-marathon would be better, but baby steps...

Bye!

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The big summer loving and lusting

Hello!
Today I thought I would do a special big edition of loving and lusting for summer. Now we're more than halfway through May, and the weather is on the way up (again) I'm seeing a lot of wishlist posts, and as summer is my favourite season, and there are a ridiculous amount of things I am currently lusting after, I thought I would share them all in one huge post!

Dress// Shorts// Sunglasses// Bag// Playsuit// Floral crown// Nail varnish// Surf spray// Bikini top and bottom

So obviously these are really clichéd choices, but I love the look of all of them, and they just make me so excited for the summer holidays!
If any of you have done one of these posts please leave them below, as I would love to get even more things to put on the wishlist! Also, more of my summery wants will be in my regular loving and lusting posts every Sunday!

Bye!

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Loving and lusting #18

Hello, and apologies for not posting last week! I had exams and was preoccupied with revision, but they're all done now so I can get back to posting!

Dress// Detangling spray// Notebook

I really love the irony of the children's hair product and classy notebook being next to each other, but whilst certainly random, I really love all the items this week. The dress is the perfect summer dress for me, as broderie looks so delicate and feminine, and white is the perfect colour to wear with a tan. I can imagine myself wearing it way too often in the summer holidays. The mother also happened to receive a £15 Boden voucher in the post, which always helps... The beauty product is most definitely for young children, but my hair has been ridiculously knotty recently, and I've seen this mentioned quite a bit, so hopefully it should do the trick. Any recommendations are, however, welcomed, as I'm not a keen fan of oranges. The last product is something I've had my eye on for a while, as I am a complete stationary addict, and this notebook is so beautifully made, and I love the colour, and the message on the front, and you can get it personalised, and it is small enough to fit in my bag, and I need to calm down! However, with the personalisation it came to about £65 so I may need to either rethink or put it on the birthday list.

T'ra!


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Sunday sun

Despite every one of my past outfit pictures involving me standing extremely (and I mean extremely) awkwardly, I've decided to try again. Why? I love summery clothes as much as possible without it getting creepy, and I really want to share these outfits with you. So hopefully y'all look past the tensed body and just see the clothes.

Getting past that, this is a really simple outfit perfect for sunny Sundays. This skirt has been featured so much on blogs, and I know it's not been styled to the best here, but I'm a very laid back kind of gal.
Or not.

What I mean, is that it is a casual outfit, and I think it's perfect for summer! (in my humble opinion)

Please ignore my legs, they haven't seen the sun in a veery long time. Well, other than sport, but I don't count that.

Top//Skirt//Cardigan (Hollister-old)

Aside from the sun coming out, a true sign of summer's arrival for me is the cherry tree in our back garden coming into blossom. I know cherry blossom has been around for a while this year, but as ours is a fruit tree rather than an ornamental it's a little later. It's just so pretty, and come summer the cherries definitely make the wait worthwhile.
Unfortunately, this was basically the only fresh air I got all day, as I am currently in a world of revising; every girl's dream. So I apologise if posts are a bit irregular, but just think of the pictures of cherries I'll be able to post later in the year!

(I've always been a great briber).

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A small haul

This post was meant to go up ages ago, around Easter, but as it didn't I thought now would be a good as time as any. This is actually my first haul on my blog, which I can't quite believe considering the amount of shopping I do! I also bought a few clothes, but as they photograph quite awkwardly decided to save them for future outfit posts. So, whilst it was quite a while ago, these are my latest beauty and accessory purchases!

 

Body butter// Body scrub// Nail varnishes in 'blueberry and 'papaya'// Hair mask// Shampoo// Eyeliner

 

I'll post reviews of some of these sometime in the near future, although reviews of the nail varnishes and eyeliner aren't exactly hard to come across at the moment. My first views of all of them are that I really like them! The shampoo and mask were both just random products I picked up on offer as I'm never too fussy with hair products, and I really like them, as previously stated! They smell amazing, but I wouldn't say either are particularly life changing. The two body products also both smell like heaven (what can I say, I like to exaggerate), despite being different. The body scrub is really refreshing and zingy, and sweet peas are my favourite flowers so the body butter was just made for me! I also quite like the unique concept, and it's actually surprisingly handy having both a rich and light product in the same pot! The eyeliner was just something I had put off buying for ages, and I felt like I *had* to try it. The same goes for the nail varnishes; spring nail varnishes are definitely my weakness! Finally, the necklace I picked up from a stall at Spitalfield's market, and thought it was too cute to not pick up!

So sorry for that huge paragraph, but I just wanted to summarise my recent purchases rather than give full-blown reviews.

Bye!

Onion and taleggio tart

I have decided to put up some summery recipes. I don't care if it's only 9oC outside; it's summer in my head and no one ever said you had to eat summery food just in summer. I think.
So this is a recipe that is perfect for eating with salad, and can be eaten warm or cold, and is delicious! It's also really simple to make, and does take a while but is one of the easiest recipes ever considering the results.


*Ingredients*

• 6 small/medium onions (I used white, but have used red before and they work equally well).
• 50g unsalted butter.
• 200g puff pastry.
• 120g taleggio cheese.
• Thyme (however much you see fit!)
• Flour for rolling out pastry.

*Equipment*

• A big greased rectangular tray/ lightly floured baking sheet (both the size of your pastry).
• A large frying pan.
• A chopping board
• A sharp knife.
• Scales.
• A rolling pin.
• A wooden spoon.
• Goggles (optional).

*Instructions*

1. Peel and chop your onions up into thick segments, or whatever size you prefer.
2. Melt your butter in the frying pan on a low heat, and then add the onions in.
3. The onions will cook for about half an hour, so whilst cooking slice your cheese up and break into smaller pieces, and roll your pastry out to no thicker than a 10p coin. Prick the pastry all over with a fork.
4. Preheat the oven to 220oC/gas 7.
5. When the onions are translucent, golden and slightly sticky tip them onto your pastry and spread out.
6. Make small lines as a border around the edge of the pastry.
7. Put the cheese amongst/over the onions, and break the thyme over.
8. Put the tart in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffing up and the onions beginning to brown.
9. Eat!

So this is honestly the most delicious tart ever, and I hope you all make it too! If you do please Instagram me your pictures (@fuchsiaforest)!

Bye!

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Blog of the week: Style Peaches

Hello!
This week I have been really loving reading this lovely fashion blog: style peaches.

I tell you, this girl has the prettiest style ever. Every time she posts an outfit I literally drool, that's how much I like them. She's hot on the pinafore trend, and she absolutely rocks it, if you can forgive me for being so cheesy. I also like her hats. And bags. And printed blouses. Her blog design is also really nice and simple, and I love the name!
I honestly don't know what else to say, other than go and check this beautiful blog out!

(Sorry for being so cheesy)

Bye!

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Loving and lusting #17

(I know this technically this isn't the morning, but I'm only 4 minutes out so please forgive me!)

I've really missed writing these loving and lusting posts, so I thought my first 'proper' post in a month just had to be one of these! It was actually really hard, as I have been lusting after way more than three things, but these are the ones that have made the cut... for this week.

Pinafore dress// nail varnish// watch//

I've seen pinafores, particularly denim ones, on literally every blog I've clicked on recently, and it's a trend I'm a little apprehensive to try, in fear of looking a little bit 'school-girly' (not that my favourite bloggers do, but I might, if you get my jist). However, this is like the perfect middle-ground between dress and pinafore, and I love it! I've also really been getting in a really summery mood lately, with the little sun we've had. ButterLONDON have recently launched in Boots, and the summery colour and this 'newness' absolutely justify the rather hefty price tag for me. Finally, this watch is literally sheer perfection for me. It has rose gold, it has a pretty inter-changeable strap, and it's a perfect size. What more could a girl want in a watch? I saw this brand a while ago on Rosie's blog, and am seriously considering putting it up to birthday-list status. I know.


I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!


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*Insert apology here*

Um. Well. Um.

So if you are a regular reader of this little blog, you may have noticed that it has been a *cough* while since my last blog post. I'm going to try not to ramble on too much in this post, but I feel like I need to explain myself.

But first, hello! It feels like (and is) absolutely ages since I've chatted to people on the interweb, and I want to say hi again! The sun has been out this week, which has put me in an absolutely fab mood, so hi again!

And now for the excuses...

Uno. My camera (yes, the new one) broke, which is code for broken by my brother. HAPPY FACE.
Due. My phone broke, which left me with no photographic equipment (i.e. a totally justifiable cause for my blogging absence).
Tre. I decided to take a short break, which is justifiable but got a teensy bit out of hand.
Quattro. I got my camera back, and took photos all through the Easter holidays for during term time (reeeeaaaaly yummy recipes) and MY SD CARD ONLY DECIDED TO NOT WORK, AND DELETE ALL THE PICTURES AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH.
Cinque. I found out I was getting a new laptop, so thought I might as well wait. And wait I did.

So hopefully I'll be back with some more posts soon, although I have another excuse I'm quite clogged up with school work at the moment, but we shall see!
Bye!


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Mini pastel DIY bunting for spring

Hello, and happy bank holiday!

Today I thought I would pop up a very small, very easy craft post, as making crafty things is something I really enjoy but haven't yet share on here.

This is something I made when I was making my mum a birthday card over the weekend, and it looks so cute in my bedroom. It's currently on the memo board above my desk, and brightens it up when I'm in the depths of homework!

It's extremely simple to make; all you have to do is cut sheets of pretty coloured paper into triangles and stick them on some string or ribbon. You can have as many and whatever colours you feel like, and make them as big or small as you like!

I personally love this mini DIY, and plan on making more for my bedroom! My new header is also very obviously inspired by it for spring!
Bye!


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Pistachio shortbread

Hello! Another day, another sweet thing made and eaten by me.

This recipe is for some gorgeous pistachio-crusted shortbread biscuits I made last week. It's originally an Ottolenghi recipe, but I just felt that the biscuits are so good not sharing would be criminal. It's also a bit different to the original.

Image soft, crumbly, buttery shortbread flavoured with cardamom, crusted with pistachio pieces, sprinkled with vanilla sugar before being cooked, and you're about right. They're delicious, but beware before you start that they are quite messy, and are quite a lenghty recipe, due to the leaving in the fridge. But it's worth it, no doubt about it.

*Ingredients*

• 6-10 cardamom pods (depending on how strong you want this flavour to be, I used 8 and it was subtle but still definitely there).
• 200g unsalted and softened butter.
• 265g plain flour (use white rather than wholemeal unless you want weirdly-coloured biscuits).
• 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• 35g icing sugar.
• 60g shelled pistachio nuts (NOT salted!).
• 1 egg, lightly beaten.
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (just put a vanilla pod in a jar of caster sugar a few days before use to make your own).
• Scales.

*Equipment*

• Electric hand mixer/beater.
• Pestle and mortar.
• Bowl.
• Clingfilm.
• Fridge.
• Food processor/ sharp knife and board.
• Flat tray.
• Baking trays lined with baking parchment.

*Instructions*

• Using a pestle and mortar, crush the cardamom pods, before taking the shells off and grinding the seeds to a fine powder.
• Using the electric mixer, mix the butter, flour, salt, ground cardamom and icing sugar until a paste is formed. You don't need to incorporate much air so stop as soon as you get a paste!
• Turn out the dough, dust with flour and roll into a log 3-4cm in diameter, and then wrap in cling film before leaving in the fridge for at least an hour.
• Whilst the dough is chilling, chop or ground the pistachios finely, but leaving a few chunkier pieces. Scatter onto a tray.
• Brush the log with egg and roll in the pistachios (this is messy) and re wrap with clingfilm. Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 150oC.
• Remove clingfilm and cut log into slices of 5-10mm thick. Layout on baking parchment, with spaces of approx. 2cm between.
• Sprinkle with vanilla sugar, and put in oven.
• Bake for approx. 20 minutes, and should remain golden. Remove from oven, and allow to cool before storing in a sealed jar.

Bye!

(P.S. These pictures were taken with my new camera, you like?!??)


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Blog of the week: Dearest Deer

Hello!

This week one of my favourite blogs has been Dunya's amazing one: Dearest deer.

Dunya's blog is a fashion one, and her outfits are literally perfect. No exaggeration, I would wear all of them any day. Actually, all in the same day. She is also hot.
Lots of her posts are also taken in Brighton, which is about an hour from where I live. I only realised this today, and I'm not sure what relevance it has but yay!
There's also some lifestyle and beauty bits thrown in there, and basically I love it!

So you should all definitely check Dunya's blog out; bye!

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Loving and lusting #16

Hello!
This week's wants have been massively influenced by some of my favourite bloggers, 20 points to anyone who can comment who they are!

1- fashion.
Spring in the UK is rarely warm, but I think this jumper is great for bringing colour and warmth into an outfit! It's crazily bright, but would look great with just some jeans or shorts.

2- beauty.
& Other Stories is a brand relatively new to the UK, and a child of H&M. They've been featured on a lot of blogs recently, and as their clothes are on the pricey side I headed over to the beauty section of their website. I need a new body scrub, and lemon is one of my favourite scents (this post!), and it's also pretty affordable. Brilliant.

3- other.
I think now you can all appreciate just how cool I truly am, but all I need say is...
Supercalafragalisticexpealidocious! (get me, I'm so cool!)


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Spending ban update #2: New camera!

Well. A bit of a change to my last spending ban update, as you may have guessed from the title of this post. You also may have worked out that the 100 days aren't up.

But. I have an excuse, surprise surprise. And as excuses go, I'd say it's pretty good. Excluding Christmas, I only bought ONE £5 t-shirt in the period of time from September to March. Which is more than 100 days, and as I managed to get enough money for what I was saving up for... I bought it.

A quick, not-the-best snap, but from now on there'll be no more bad photos on here!

And I love it!

It comes in the form of the Nikon Coolplix L310, and whilst not the fanciest camera around, and definitely not a £600 DSLR, it's what I wanted. It's a bridge camera, so is the perfect (for me) middle between a digital and DSLR camera. I won't go into it now, but let me know if you'd like a post/some more information on it.

So I guess this will be my last spending ban update, but I will still be saving, because all my money's gone, and I want to buy clothes!

Before I *finally* finish, I didn't post on Wednesday because I wanted to wait to use my camera, so apologies on that front.

Bye!


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Blog of the week: Live laugh lipstick

Hello!
This week's blog of the week I only found on Wednesday (through the #bbloggers chat), yet it's already a favourite. It comes in the form of Georgina's blog: Live laugh lipstick.
What a nice bit of alliteration.

As I said, Georgina's blog is a new find, but is just a really lovely beauty blog. From her wishlist posts, particularly her birthday one, I can tell she has a very similar style to me. Just look at the bag, and you'll see what I mean. Her reviews are also really great, and I now really want to try the Rimmel wake me up foundation after seeing it in her monthly favourites post. She's also just been to LA (the lucky thing!) and has two really nice photo diaries up. Also her header, which is shown above. Aaaah.

Bye!x


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Loving and lusting #15

1- fashion.
I recently saw this dress whilst perusing the UO (get me!) website, and really fell in love with it. I actually like everything from the brand, but thought this would make a really nice smart/evening but still summery dress for later in the year. It's a bit different to my normal style, but I love the collar.

2- beauty.
I genuinely seem to have a problem with lusting after mascara, apologies. The reason for this one? I always seem to get smudges under my eyes by the end of the day, and this is no smudge-simples! Also, it was featured in Sali Hughes' top 50 beauty products, which is a bonus. It's also not ridiculously expensive, only more tempting.

3- other.
I saw the black version of this in Alix's latest what's in my bag video, and instantly fell in love, for a number of reasons. One, I've been eyeing up the 'real' version for a while, which is way outside my price range. Two, I always get brown bags, which this one is. And three, it's cheap, and would be just about big enough for school. I've never ordered something similar from eBay before, so it would be very exciting. Yup.

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Brown leather loafers

Inventive post title, as per usual.

I haven't posted a fashion or style related post for a while now, so thought I would gradually ease my way back in with today's post.

I picked this pair of loafers up back in September from Clark's village in Somerset, for virtually nothing, armed with discount and birthday vouchers. Whilst it's not really warm enough to not be wearing socks just yet in the UK, I dug them out of the shoe cupboard the other day and my love was reignited.

I really love the simplicity of these shoes, in both the colour and style. Brown, or tan, is one of my
favourite colours to wear in accessories, and I like that the style is a bit more structured than a pump, but still really easy to wear. This exact pair isn't on the website, but there's a similar pair here.
I wore them on this particular occasion with my New Look jeans (completely random size selection). They're a really nice brightish blue colour, and in terms of material are a great dupe for the Topshop Leigh jeans, i.e. they can be rolled up very easily, as I have here. They're just so versatile!

Please let me know what you all think of this kind of post!
Bye!


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Lemon cupcakes

My baking posts historically have extremely inventive titles, so here's another one for you...

A couple of weeks ago I made these lemon cupcakes, and thought I would share with you the pictures I took. They are very yummy, and whilst they did go a bit wrong, it was my fault! Also, seeing these pictures I took outside is so strange- the patio I took them on is now covered in a foot of snow! This recipe makes between 12 and 24 cakes, depending on how much you fill each with, and what size cases you use. They are quite unhealthy, but they're healthier than chocolate cupcakes, which is good enough an excuse for me!

*For the cakes*

• 110g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150g self-raising flour, sifted
• 125g plain flour, sifted
• 90ml milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon single/double cream

*For the icing*

• 200g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 500g icing sugar, sifted

*Equipment*

• 2 12-hole muffin trays with cases
• 2 large mixing bowls
• Electric hand mixer
• Bowl
• Jug
• 2 spoons
• 2 teaspoons
• 1 knife
• Oven

*THE RECIPE* (cakes)

1. Preheat oven to 160oC fan/180oC/gas mark 4, and line tins with cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and pale with your mixer, in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition.
4. Combine the flours in a separate bowl.
5. Combine the milk, lemon juice and cream in a jug.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour to the original mixture and beat well.
7. Add 1/3 of the liquids and beat well.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until all incorporated.
9. Add the lemon zest.
10. Spoon mixture into cases. Each one should be 2/3 full.
11. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown and slightly brown. Basically until they're cooked and won't kill you (which they won't).
12. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before icing.

*THE RECIPE* (icing)

1. Beat together the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and half the icing sugar in a large mixing bowl.
2. Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar. Result should be smooth and creamy.
3. Ice cupcakes, I use this piping bag, and I really like it.
4. Ta-dah!

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Blog of the week: Scared Toast

I missed a week last week, but I'm back with my current blog of the week: Tabitha's blog, scared toast.

I know I say this about every blog, but she has a very cute url/name, and generally just a very cute blog. She's one of my current lifestyle favourites, and some of her recent posts have really made me chuckle. The post you can see in the picture above is one of these; I love the strangeness of the concept! She also blogs relatively anonymously like me, which is nice. She posts some great fashion and food posts amongst the lifestyle ones, and I love her diary of a spendaholic series.

So all go and check Tabitha's blog out!

Fuchsiaforest on twitter, instagram, pinterest and tumblr.