Current Beauty Favourites!

Hey everyone! 

July has been quite eventful - college finished, Ramadan began, lots of birthdays and then of course Eid. Also through July I've made a few new makeup discoveries and I am loving them. Here we go:

1) Nars Creamy Concealer. My shade - Custard

This concealer is everything I've ever looked for in a concealer. It is thick yet creamy, lovely texture. It covers well even under my eyes and does everything I could ask it to do! As this is quite thick only a small amount is required 

2) YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils Mascara (what a pain to type.. ) Shade: Black

This is my favourite mascara EVER! I've had it for a while now. It is amazing for length and volume with no clumps or spider lashes! I purchased it in the Harrods sale. I got it in a set that had about 4 other things for £17!! And the mascara itself retails for around £23! So defo check sales for bargains! 

3) Max Factor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush. Shade: 07 Soft Candy 

Another new discovery this month. This is a lovely item, it's not as thick as other cream blushers I have tried. It's almost like a lip balm texture! But it dries in to the skin as soon as you blend it. Quite an unusual colour, something I usually wouldn't go for but it looks great. 

4) Rimmel Natural Bronzer. Shade: 022 Sun Bronze

I've only started using the bronzer this month but I can already say I love it. I love the colour - it's so subtle it looks natural. I've also found it is quite long wearing which is rare for a high street item. It claims to be waterproof but I haven't tested this out yet and also has SPF 15 which is always a plus. It's not orange either so highly recommend! 

5) MAC Plushglass. Shade: Full for You

I feel like I use and mention this product a lot here on my blog but only because it is my favourite gloss. It's a lovely pink colour, makes my lips look fuller and is long lasting. It may tingle at first but after using it for over a year I don't think I even notice it anymore.

6) Nars Tinted Moisturiser. Shade: Alaska

Over July I've only used this a few times but every time I have worn it my skin looks so flawless. I would say it's medium coverage which I like as I don't like my skin to look too caked up. Combined with the concealer these two are the perfect ingredients for great looking flawless skin ; )

7) Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette: 

I've been using this for quite a few months and surprisingly never mentioned it on here. When I feel like slapping on a bit of eyeshadow I always go for the shade Trick. A sparkly rose gold colour. And I love the pink and purply tones as they complement brown eyes as well as other eye colours too. 

And here are a few shots of my ol' mug with the products I have mentioned

 And I HAD to add these two pictures because when I looked back at the photos my brother had taken I laughed SO much. The first I don't even know what I am doing and the second one I am completely oblivious to the fact that I have lipliner and lipgloss smeared over my teeth XD hehehe. 

Sorry this was a long un but I hope you enjoyed reading! :)

Until next time.... 

My Eid Day and Outfit!

I've never really been one to wear traditional Asian clothes on Eid, I tend to gravitate towards clothes that I will be able to wear again and again otherwise it's just a waste (in my opinion). This year I quite liked my outfit, usually I go quite casual in just a dress and jeans and last Eid if you read my blog post I wore a sweater and jeans! While I was in town a few days before Eid the hunt for something to wear became rather stressful and annoying because I had nothing until New Look - the very last shop I entered came to my rescue! I spotted two ladies looking at this kimono and when I saw it, It was a Hallelujah Praise the Lord moment!!! Off to the changing rooms I went with the kimono and the t-shirt I'm wearing in the pictures and I knew I had my outfit! I also bought a plain black maxi skirt from H&M but then realised it was too dark against the tops so I wore this skirt which also features in my previous OOTD. 
For my shoes I decided to stick to comfort over style and wore flip flops! I only sat around in a house all day so it was all good! 

 

I'm such an awkward poser... XD

T shirt and Kimono: New Look

Scarf: Unknown

Skirt: H&M

I also tied my scarf in to more of a summery 'turban-ish' style and I've been really enjoying wearing it this way especially in such hot weather it's nice to be able to feel a little more breezy! 

For my makeup I kept it pretty simple: I used the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette with a brown eyeliner (UD 24/7 pencil). On my face I used a small amount of Nars Tinted Moisturiser, the Nars Creamy Concealer, Rimmel Bronzer and Max Factor cream blusher. And finally on my lips I used a nude lipliner and my favourite lip gloss - MAC Full For You. 

So I got dolled up and had nowhere to go for about 3 hours so I did some work for my dad, took blog pictures and I ATE!! It felt so good to be able to eat during daylight hours and my mum had made 'Semiyah' on Eid morning - so good!! 

Anyone else get dressed and made up with nowhere to go?! 

This year's Eid was ok but its not the same when some family members are missing! My aunty Peeny, I know you'll be reading this) couldn't make it because of work and my dad also had to spend a lot of the day at work so I visited him for a few hours. 

Hope you all had a lovely Eid. Thanks for reading! We are officially one week away from One year of blogging! Exciting times..! 

Throwback Thursday #3

Hello! 

Todays post we are throwing it back to possibly 10 years ago. Now, I can't remember the exact year but I was probably between 5 and 8? I remember briefly about this day. I was in the Bullring (back when I lived in Birmingham) and there was a shop opposite Druckers which sold lots of cool bits and bobs, mainly that pointless stuff we used to love as kids (I'll have to admit I still love those shops..) When I went to Birmingham last year I'd discovered that shop was now some sort of wedding boutique.. 

Left to right: Myself, my younger brother Usama and my older brother Omar on the right. 

Looking back at pictures like this one brings back great childhood memories but at the same time it saddens me to think about how fast we are growing up in to young adults. I've started to apply for university and I'm closer to 20 than I am to 10! When it is put like that it can be quite overwhelming. Life really is very short! Sometimes I still feel like a kid wanting to be protected by my parents forever rather than making big decisions about my future! 

Anyhoo I'm signing off now : ) 

Maryam

xxx

My first attempt at Cake Pops!

Hey guys! 

Today whilst browsing through Dunhelm Mill I came across this cake pop mould and it reminded me of how I've been meaning to make some! When I first discovered cake pops my mind was blown! I didn't know how such a thing could possibly exist - how were they so perfectly round? And cake... on a stick?! Well, today I got to make them.. These are definitely not something you will see on those fancy tumblr / Pinterest pages but at the same time I think they're not bad for a newbie like myself. 

The following recipe makes 57 cake pops! You can halve it if you don't need as many

You will need: 

- A cake pop mould (mine has 20 holes and is from Dunhelm Mill, also available from Lakeland)

- A few pieces of styrofoam for your cake pops to stand on. If you don't have any like me, you can use the upside of a colander. See pictures below 

-500g of patience! 

Ingredients: 

- 220g caster sugar

-220g softened butter

-220g plain flour 

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 4 large eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

For the topping:

-200g milk chocolate 

-Hundreds & Thousands or any other small cake decorations

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius. 

Start by mixing your sugar and butter, once nicely mixed add half of your flour and two of your eggs. Combine and once mixed together, add the remaining flour, eggs and the baking powder also. Finally add the vanilla extract. 

Spoon the mixture in to the mould, fill it right to the top for nice big cake pops! 

The mould comes in two pieces, spoon the mixture in to the bottom half of the mould and place the top half on top. Place in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes. 

Once baked, take the cake pops out of the mould and let them cool - this doesn't take too long. Melt the chocolate very slowly. 

Pierce each cake pop with a stick - I got re-usable sticks with the mould- and then dunk the cake pop in to the melted chocolate. Here is where you have to be a careful because it is messy. I ended up spreading the chocolate on with a knife because the chocolate was going everywhere. Place the cake pop either in your styrofoam or upside down colander if you don't have styrofoam. 

While the chocolate is still quite wet sprinkle on your decorations. Leave aside or in the fridge so the chocolate sets et voila!

I made these while I was fasting so let me tell you it was torture not being able to lick my fingers or anything! I made so many so I'm taking them round to my cousins house as it his 7th birthday tomorrow :) 

These are also perfect for Eid - I'm already planning on making them for my whole family on Eid so I'll probably have to make around 100! 

If you try these out please let me know or send a picture!

Hope you enjoyed reading ; )

xxx

Summer Outfit + Happy Birthday Usama!

Today has been an awesome day! The sun has been shining and this weather always has a great impact on my mood - usually a good one. Today was also my younger brother Usama's birthday, so for Iftar I made two desserts! A tiramisu and a classic chocolate cake.  Yum yum yum....

Happy Birthday little brother and thanks for taking these pics for me! 

I hardly do OOTD's mainly because I can't pose (as you will probably be able to tell) and I do have a few body image issues but aside from that today I was feeling too summery and had to share this outfit :) 

I know, the grey t-shirt doesn't go but it was comfy and loose so i went with it, I'm all for comfort! 

Oh yeah, did someone say something about awkward posing? Hehe...

I had to include this picture just for the LOLZ! Haha.. What am I even doing?! XD 

Usama's turn for his OOTD.

Selfies with Birthday Boy!

Close up of the jacket

Jacket: Forever 21 - bought 4 years ago in Dubai! It's still hanging in there despite the fraying

Grey T-Shirt and Skirt: H&M

And here is my chocolate cake in all its glory! It's quite flat but who cares when its delicious. Everyone loved the Tiramisu as well, but I'm not a big fan of coffee so I stayed away.

Overall its been a pretty good day! I went to do a little sale shopping which I might show you in my next post. When I got home, my dad's friend brought around his puppy Alsatian for us to see. Everything was ok until he decided to do a huge poo in the garden! Bruno also decided to give me the fright of my life and he climbed up my back and on to my head. I'm not really a dog person, so I'm sure you can imagine it was a horrific experience! haha...

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'm trying my best to post regularly now :)

xxx