Shopping Trip

I think Google Reader enjoys messing with my head. 

Logged on today and there wer 989(!) unread items in there. I clicked on one, read it, and now there's only 787 unread items. The hell, google?

I've been trying to watch The Runaways for 4 days now. That movie hates me too. Got 45 minutes in 4 days ago and the sound went. Streamed it the next night and when I brought my laptop to bed to watch it, it turned out to be in black and white. Last night I got to the final 20 minutes and my battery died. Grr. Actually does anyone know if it's out on DVD yet in Ireland? I always like to buy DVDs when I like the movie, rather than watching them online.

In other news I went to Dublin for a shopping trip yesterday. It was fun, I got some nice new clothes and had a yummy dinner. 

So I got to Dublin on the early (7:05, it was horrible) train. I had read online that Superdrug in Tallaght had Sleek so I got the Luas out there to try and get my hands on the new palettes.

Because I was still half asleep, I wandered around for 10 minutes looking for the shopping centre. Of course it turned out to be literally right across the road from the Luas stop. Typical. 

So I finally found the Superdrug and went in all excited. Had a look around and saw no Sleek stand. Assuming my lack of sleep was making me stupid I found a sales assistant. "Hi, I'm wondering where you keep the Sleek cosmetics" "That what?" "The Sleek, you know... the cosmetics brand" She turns to another SA, "Hey, do you know anything about this... Sleek?"

It turns out she did, and what she knew was that they don't stock it in that Superdrug. Feeling so not impressed, I had a bit of a look around and managed to come across some M.U.A. things I liked, which were super cheap (€1.05 each I think). I'll swatch them and do a review once I've worn them, but I picked up a silver liquid liner, a blush, a clear mascara, the MAC Club dupe, a pale nude colour, which I'm thinking could be a dupe for my beloved MAC Orb and a purple. 

At least it wasn't a complete waste of a trip. 

I got the Luas back into town and rather annoyingly I finished my book halfway through the journey. I was reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and it was supposed to last me for the journey home too. I quite enjoyed it though. 

So I got off at Jervis st and went into the Jervis Centre. Annoyingly, Forever 21 is opening there on Saturday, so I missed it. I was starving by the time I got there so I popped into Boots for a sandwich. Why doesn't Boots in Galway do food?? Seriously, it was the best value lunch ever. For €3.99 I got a mexican bean wrap, a chocolate brownie (it was nom) and an Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie. Since the smoothies alone are usually the best part of €3 I thought that was super cheap for all three. 

I had a look in the new New Look and was seriously underwhelmed. Sure, it's big. Yay. It doesn't really have much more in it that New Look here though, everything is just far more spaced out. I had to leave because the OMGBRIGHT lights and super shiny things everywhere were hurting my head. I went upstairs and bought a mustard yellow vest top in Stradivarius and a t-shirt in Bershka. Then I grabbed a coffee from Costa (mega expensive, but so frothy it was worth it) and off I hopped. 

Check shirt- H&M, t-shirt-Bershka, mustard vest- Stradivarius

I went on a bit of a wander while I was drinking my coffee and I came across a Penney's. I didn't get much of a chance to look around, but I did notice some nice brogue-ish shoes. They looked cute in the small sizes on display, I'm sure on my size 8 feet they'd just look like I'd stolen a man's shoes. I picked up a few things from the Catrice stand in there, including a yellow glitter nailpolish, and I got a Penney's GILT gold gel liner which looks very promising. I've never tried Penney's cosmetics before, I often see nice looking bits reviewed on blogs, but the store in Galway doesn't seem to get the good things in.

The Ilac centre is one of those kind of forgotten shopping centres, isn't it. It's the one that misses out on all the cool shops. That being said, they do have the best H&M. I picked up a check shirt in H&M. I know for a lot of people these have become a staple, but I've never worn one before so I bought this one. I wasn't too impressed by what H&M had to offer to be honest, I usually like their jewellery and accessories but I didn't see anything that caught my eye. 

My sister had told me about a shop on O'Connell st, beside Kylemore, that was selling cheap Urban Decay. I picked up a lipstick and the cherry big fatty mascara in there. A lot of the stuff they had in the shop I already own, but I tried to buy a surreal skin foundation, only to be told at the till it was twice the price I thought it was (apparently it was on the €8 shelf and should have been on the €16 one). I left it because there was no tester and while I don't mind spending €8 on a foundation that isn't a great match, €16 is too much to waste.

After getting my Urban Decay I headed over towards Temple Bar and had a bit of a look in Urban Outfitters. I was disappointed with UO, I usually want to take the whole shop home with me, but this time the only thing that grabbed me was a brown satchel, which I didn't end up buying. I really like it though, so maybe if they still have it next time I'm there. 

Pic from UrbanOutfitters.co.uk

American Apparel was up next and I had printed an email for 20% off in there so I bought some green high-waisted jeans and a blue hoodie. It's so hard to find high-waisted jeans so whenever I do, I have to buy them. The jeans I got can be found here, although they don't have the colour I got on the website. I bought this hoody in Mermaid Green. It's the most comfortable hoody ever.

I have a question- Where exactly sells Urban Decay in Dublin? I was told that all the big boots stores sold it, and I checked every single one I saw but found no Urban Decay. It's really annoying because I need a new Bourbon eyeliner, all of mine are so small they can't be sharpened. Actually, has anyone else noticed that the silver bit on the end of 24/7 liners twists? So when the pencil begins to get small it becomes a total pain to sharpen and you have to abandon the last inch or two. Sneaky...

I took a bit of a wander around Grafton St without being amazed by anything and by then I was starving so I decided to head on over to Yamamori for a late lunch/early dinner. I had the lunch bento box (€9.95) and a Mojito (€5.50). It was lovely, and so filling I couldn't finish it all. In the bento I got 2 pieces of tempura fish, a brown rice ball, miso soup, salmon nigiri, prawn nigiri and a lamb and potato curry. The tempura fish was amazing, I think it had some pickled ginger in it and the batter was perfect. I didn't think I'd like the curry much when it arrived, it didn't look like the kind of thing I'd enjoy. Luckily I was proven wrong, it was great. I was a bit let down by the sushi, but maybe it's just what I got as I often hear people rave about their sushi. My prawn nigiri was ok, fairly tasteless but not awful and the salmon was clammy and seemed like it could have been fresher. 

Oh, I forgot about my charity shop finds. In Enable Ireland I found these two great dresses. The gold and black one is from Warehouse originally and was €9 and the polka dot one was €15. I've always wanted a poofy polka dot dress, and now I have one! 

After my dinner I went for a bit of a wander around. I was looking to find a second hand bookshop to get something to read on the bus but I couldn't see one anywhere and none of the charity shops I checked had anything decent. In the end I bought the new issue of Elle and, realising I'd just missed a bus, I popped into a cocktail bar to wait for the next one. I think it was called Morgans, it was around Temple Bar anyway. I had an amazing Raspberry Mojito, made with Bacardi Oro, mint, lime, fresh raspberries and raspberry liqueur. 

It was niiice.

A sad story about Cake Balls

Ugh, I've just put on OPI Russian Navy and I wish I hadn't bothered. It's so pretty when it's wet, with little red and purple sparkles, but when it dries it just turns into a flat inky colour. It's a little like MAC Naughty Nautical but ugly and it was horrible to apply, all streaky and messy. Hopefully I can save it by sticking a little glitter over it or something. 

Until today I had on China Glaze Agent Lavender. It was quite nice but I felt like it made my fingers look dirty or something, I think it was too cool toned for me. That one wasn't great to apply either, it was quite streaky and went flaky and weird around the edges. I was wearing it for only a few hours when it started to chip.

A friend of mine got a new puppy last week, she's so tiny! 

Isn't she cute? It's weird because my friend has a load of cats and I'm so used to them that everytime the puppy was sitting on my lap I kept expecting her to start purring. 

Last week I was in TK Maxx and I saw an icing piping bag that was cheap so I bought it. That evening I made cupcakes and had my first icing piping attempt. I sucked at first and I was just getting the hang of it when I ran out of frosting. Typical. 

I want to get another piping bag now, with bigger nozzles. The one I got is quite small and basic.

These were supposed to be chocolate orange cupcakes but I was low on oranges so I made them chocolate, orange and almond cupcakes. The recipe is vegan, so it's handy to have if you're low on butter or eggs. Or if you're vegan, obviously. 

Vegan Chocolate, Orange and Almond cupcakes

Makes 12

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp almond extract 

1. Preheat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4. Line a bun tin with paper cases.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa power, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the orange juice, vegetable oil and almond 

4. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
5. Spoon batter evenly into cases, fill around 3/4 way full.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

I made up the frosting as I went along, so these measurments aren't exact

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

8 squares plain/dark chocolate (I used the big Dairyfine bar from Aldi, the dark one)

2+ tbsp Icing sugar

2+ tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 tbsp butter

1. Chop/break up the chocolate, place in a bowl and microwave in short blasts until melted. Allow to cool for a few minutes

2. To the chocolate add the butter and two tbsp each of the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat with a fork until combined. Keep adding cocoa powder and/or icing sugar according to taste and the consistincy you want. For a more chocolate taste add more cocoa powder or for a sweeter taste add more icing sugar. As I was piping the icing I wanted it very stiff to hold it's shape so I used around 4 tbsp of icing sugar and around 2 tbsp of cocoa power altogether. The result will still be quite runny so place it, covered, in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. Remove from fridge, beat to loosen it a little and pipe or spread onto cupcakes. 

I also made some Almond cupcakes. They were originally going to be vanilla but I was out of vanilla and had a full bottle of almond extract so I used that. They were a nice alternative but I'm not sure they can take over from my love of vanilla cupcakes.

Almond Cupcakes

Makes 12

  

1 cup Plain flour 

Scant 3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

Pinch of salt
3 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Milk
1 Egg 

1 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4. Line a bun tin with paper cases. 

2. Using a stand mixer or hand held beater mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter on low until it looks sandy and is all combined. Gradually pour in half of the milk and mix until the milk is just incorporated.  

3. In a seperate bowl whisk the egg, almond and remaining milk, then pour it into the flour mix and keep beating until everything is just incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix until just smooth, do not overmix.

5. Spoon batter evenly into cases, fill around 3/4 way full.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.

 I made a caramel buttercream frosting to go with these ones. Again this is improvised, so everything is approximate.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

2 tbsp caramel. I used homemade, you could use a tin of dulce de leche if you like

3 tbsp butter

2+ tbsp icing sugar

1. Melt the caramel in the microwave. Allow to cool.

2. Beat in the butter and 2tbsp icing sugar with a fork. Add more icing sugar if needed, but bear in mind the frosting will already be very sweet with the caramel.

3. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. 

4. Remove from fridge, beat til it's fluffly then pipe or spread on cupcakes. 

The next day there were some of the Almond cupcakes left so I decided to make them into Cake Balls, inspired by Bakerella. The Cake Balls were so good, the almond and caramel worked really well with the chocolate. I was saving the most perfect looking one to photograph but unfortunately someone ate it. No one will own up to eating it too, it's really annoying me! Cake Balls are a really good way to use up cupcakes/cake when you've made too many and you're afraid they'll go stale.

Cake Balls

 Makes6-8

3 Frosted Cupcakes

8 Squares Dark Chocolate

75ml cream

1. In a bowl break up the cupcakes into crumbs and mix into the frosting. My mix was a little dry so I added and extra spoon of caramel. Form this mix into small balls and place on greaseproof paper. 

2. Place the cake balls in the freezer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the coating. 

3. You can just use melted chocolate for the coating, but since I had only 8 squares of chocolate left I made a ganache to make it go further. For this you need to heat up the cream in a saucepan or in the microwave, until it's hot but not boiling. Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Allow to cool slightly. Try to resist eating the whole bowl. 

4. Remove the Cake Balls from the freezer and using a spoon dip one at a time into the ganache, tapping the spoon to get rid of excess before laying down on greaseproof paper. Allow the Cake Balls to harden in the fridge. As these are made with ganache, they'll remain a little melty. You could also roll them in chopped nuts or sprinkles.

5. Nom.

Oh no, I haven't posted in ages! I have a big backlog of posts to stick up here, so hopefully I'll get them up over the next few days. I've been busy enjoying the summer, lots of parties and it's been good fun. 

I've got my interview for the makeup course I want to do in September coming up so I'm trying to get some looks together to bring a little mini portfolio into the interview. I'll be posting them up and trying to get some inspiration too, if anyone knows of any blogs with kind of 'out-there' makeup that I could get some ideas off that would be great. I want to try to get out of my comfort zone but I'm drawing a blank right now. 

I have a few pictures of the last few weeks to share, and then I'll get onto the beauty stuff. 

The Dinosaur cake, buns and animal shaped biscuits I baked for my friend's 21st, I didn't get to taste the cake but the rest of it was lovely. I made the pizza with this pizza base recipe from Budget Bytes and it was seriously the easiest recipe and the nicest pizza I've ever had.

 

Jello shots, Zombie Walk, Cars from a Classic car show

Double Vodka Red Bulls, Dancing in the Club, pictures from a massive beach party.

So yeah, it's been a fun few weeks. I'll catch up on FOTD's next.

In other news

I made cupcakes for mummy (haha) on Mother's Day, which was last Sunday.
Myself and my siblings cooked dinner for my mum and granny. My older sister did the main course- Lemon and mushroom chicken, and my little brother did the starter- pea and mint soup, while I did the dessert- evilly good cupcakes.

Walnut and coffee cupcakes and banoffi cupcakes. God the banoffi ones were good! Not a good idea for someone on a diet though, I used a whole tin of Dulce De Leche, a lot of sugar and a lot of butter and cream to make them! The coffee and walnut ones I make becand some coffee in the cupcake mixture, the cupcakes topped with coffee flavoured marscarpone and half a walnut. If anyone wants the recipes just let me know!use mum likes coffee and walnut. They were a much healthier option, walnuts a

The Banoffi ones were a little messy, I was too impatient to let them cool before I iced them so the icing melted and went everywhere. They were so good though!

The excited family receving their cupcakes.

Okay, so they don't look very excited. They were though!

it's been a while

lots has happened though.

I got a fringe. wow, excting! be excited, yeah

it snowed a bit yesterday, which was a bit crazy for march.

^ a not very clear photo of the snow from my bedroom window

it was only a bit of snow and it didn't stick but it never snows here, so even a tiny bit is exciting.


my little brother turned 12 yesterday. mum made him chocolate cake.




I cooked some carrot and sweet potato soup for lunch

don't you just love giant cups/bowls with handles. also, new hair!


I basically did nothing yesterday though, except lounged about and went to the supermarket for yoghurt. didn't even go into uni. yes yes yes, I'm an awful person.

I had some yummy lamb and rosemary stew for dinner though, which mummy made.



ooh, I did do something yesterday, I went to the library to pick up a book. no. 6 in Stephan King's
dark tower series - Song of Susannah. I haven't read much of it yet but it seems pretty good so far.

I wore my silver docs, a black topshop vest top, black vero moda skirt, black topshop leggings, studded river island belt and a leopard print cardi from a-wear.




today wasn't much more exciting. i went to uni for a while, to an english tutorial and a lecture. fun stuff. I couldn't make out what was going on in the lecture and the guy sitting in front of me was on google earth on his laptop and reading cyanide and happiness so I just looked over his shoulder rather than listen to the lecture.

i wore make up today for the first time in ages. no clear pictures of it though. just the green and brown eyeshadows from the MAC warm pallette from their Colour Forms 08 collection with diorshow and my usual face makeup and 17 balmy beige on my lips.

clothes-wise i wore these new trousers which i got in topshop in dublin at the weekend for €15, reduced from €53. with my silver docs, green topshop top and grey cardi borrowed from my mum. along with the brown leather bag on my bed, which i wear pretty much everyday


x. Sorcha