Queen of Hearts - Fancy Dress

I could babble on about this outfit for eternity but I won't!! I thought I'd let the photos (sorry they aren't the best quality) speak for themselves.

I sewed up part of an old black formal dress, added my red tutu from last year, made a collar from card and a tea towel and sewed it on. I added the glitter heart bag, bought a fab crown, little Alice in Wonderland bracelet from Claires Accessories and glued together some playing cards to make me a fan.

Make up wise I went for dramatic smokey glittery eyes and glittery Barry M polish (I will definitely reuse this for Christmas!!). And how could I forget the fab feather lashes I had picked up in TK Maxx for the bargainous £1.99!

All in all it was pretty bargain basement and a bit rushed in the end. I might just go for something big that I can wear my pyjamas under next year!

Did any of you get dressed up? Make me jealous with all your costume photos :D

LoubouLush x

Estee Lauder Christmas Spectacular

I love Estée Lauder. It's a relatively new thing for me. I have a couple of lipsticks, mascara, eyeliner and the night repair which I've bought in the last couple of months. My lastest addition and new love is the double wear foundation so I am a convert. I also have more than a little bit of love for their opulent, retro chic kind of packaging which reminds me a bit of the 80s - think it's all that gold!

Estée Lauder has been in my life for as long as I remember as it's the home of my Mum's signature fragrance, Youth Dew. Every year Daddy LoubouLush buys it for my Mum so I was intrigued to see their offer on the Makeup Artist Professional Color Collection 2010.

The Collection is £49 (for £315 of makeup based on RRPs) when bought with any Estée Lauder fragrence so I thought this was too much of a good Christmas present for my Dad to pass up (I'm more than a little jealous I can't afford it for myself just now).

The offer started yesterday, 25th October as far as I know and includes:

Deluxe Eyeshadow Compact with 18 coordinating shades (Ivory Slipper, Silver Bell, Tranquil Moon, Smoky Ember, Candy Crave, Polished Platinum, Enchanted Forest, Hot Cinnamon, Peacock Blue, Sugar Biscuit, Amethyst Spark, French Vanilla, Wild Sable, Nude Fresco, Berry Burst, Safari Green, Tempting Mocha, Provocative Plum)
Deluxe Face Compact (Estée Lauder Signature Silky Powder Blush in Nude Rose, Rosewood and Pink Kiss, plus Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer)
4 Pure Color Long Lasting Lipsticks (full-size, in Pink Parfait, Tiger Eye, Rose Tea and Bois de Rose)
Pure Color Gloss (exclusive double-ended gloss with shades Pink Kiss and Plum Divine)
3 Artist's Eye Pencils (great for smoky eyes, in SoftSmudge Black, SoftSmudge Brown and Slate Writer)
Gentle Eye Makeup Remover (full-size 100ml)
4 Deluxe Makeup Brushes (Powder, Blush, Lip and Eye)
Look Book with tips on creating great makeup looks with your new shades
Golden Stand-Up Mirror
Cosmetic Traveler Case
Companion Makeup Case

I bought this with a bottle of Youth Dew in my local Boots and I'm not sure if the set looks exactly as this photo but it came with the added bonus of Advantage Points so I'm happy and no doubt my Mum will be pleased when she sees it on Christmas morning. The box it comes in looks nice and festive and the kit overall looks sizable and pretty glam.

All in all a great bargain I think - anyone else snapped it up??

Available online, instore and only while stocks last...

LoubouLush x

Trick or Treat... Malteser/Mint Aero Traybakes

This weekend I decided to give some chocolate tray bakes a go. I’d heard they were simple. I heard they were delicious so I thought they would be worth a shot. Mmm and my tastebuds told me I was right. My scales, mmm not so much!

Recipe
100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tablespoons Golden Syrup
225g finely crushed Digestive biscuits
225g Mint Aero or Maltesers

Melt the butter, milk chocolate and golden syrup in a pan (careful as this can burn if not stirred) or in a bowl over hot water in a saucepan.

Crumble the digestives into fine crumbs using a food processor ideally or put them in a food bag and bash them around.

Add the crumbs to the melted mixture and mix them both well by hand. Fold in the Maltesers or broken pieces of Mint Aero.

Pour the mixture into a lined tin/sided dish to you desired thickness. Allow to set in the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting into portions.

I used this recipe and divided the melted mixture and digestives in two and added half Malteser, half Mint aero and got 8 generous portions of each. Mmmmm.

Possible additions...
100g milk chocolate (for the Malteser version)
100g mint aero (aero version)

The Malteser one is less chocolatey as there is less chocolateyness to melt in the warm mixture so I melted some extra milk chocolate to add to the top.

For the Aero version I added a rectangle of Aero to the top of each tray bake.

Other variations...
You could try this out with so many other chocolately delights... Toffee Crisp, Mars Bar, Crunchie and not forgetting you could substitute Digestives for a different biscuit or add some Marshmallows so extra yumminess.

I'd love to hear if you have tried these or have any ther similar recipes for me to have a go with :D

LoubouLush x