Autumn Essentials

Hello lovelies, today I wanted to share with you some of my favourite things about Autumn. This is my favourite season because everything is so cosy, the leaves are all pretty colours and I think the fashion is always so much better in these few months. So here are some of my favourite things surrounding Autumn.

Fashion

One of my favourite things about Autumn fashion is the fact that the colour scheme of the clothes always includes more maroons, khakis and brown shades. I also love layering items up and my favourite kind of outfit involes wearing cute little skirts with tights and ankle boots, ahh it just makes me excited writing about it. Anyway, I've included photos some of my favourite Autumn outfits so I'll list below where the items are from.

Outfit 1:

Jacket - New Look

Top - River Island

Skirt - New Look

Tights - Primark

Boots - New Look

Necklace - New Look

Bag - Michael Kors

Outfit 2:

Top - New Look

Skirt - New Look

Tights - Primark

Boots - New Look

Bag - Michael Kors

Outfit 3:

Jacket - New Look

Top - River Island

Skirt - New Look

Tights - Primark

Boots - New Look

Necklace - ASOS

Bag - Michael Kors

Makeup

When I think of Autumn makeup the first thing that comes to mind is darker berry toned lipsticks and golden or brown toned eye makeup, so it's no surprise that that has been my go to look recently. I tend to wear a golden shadow all over my lid and blend a darker brown through my crease to give my eye some definition. I also like to put some brown on my bottom lash line to balance out the look. Some of my favourite palettes for this kind of look are the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette (click here to see a previous post about this palette and a drugstore alternative); the Urban Decay Original Naked palette and the Urban Decay Ultimate Naked Basics palette.

As for lip products, I have a fair few favourites that I am loving and tend to switch between. They are all pretty similar in colour, however all have a slightly different finish on the lips. The majority of my favourites have a matte finish and they are as follows:

• Too Faced Melted Matte Liquid Lipstick - 'Sell Out'
• Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick - 'Lolita'
• NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream - 'Rome'
• Mac Lipstick - 'Whirl'
• Mac Lipstick - 'Taupe'
• Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil - 'Bahama' (Click here to see a full review)
• Clinique Pop Matte - 'Blushing Pop'

From Left to Right: Mac Lipstick - Taupe; Mac Lipstick - Whirl; Clinique Pop Matte - Blushing Pop; Mac Lipstick - Spirit; Mac Liptensity - Toast and Butter; NYX - Rome; Too Faced - Sell Out; Kat Von D - Lolita

The other lipsticks I love have a more satin/glossy finish. The first is one of the new Mac liptensity lipsticks in the shade 'Toast and Butter'. The other is a mac lipstick in the shade 'Spirit'. As for lip liners there are two that I like to use, one is the Mac lip pencil in the shade 'Spice' and the other is from Primark and it's the shade '16'.

From Left to Right: Primark - '16'; Mac Lip Pencil - 'Spice'; Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil - 'Bahama'

I've recently done a post on one of my go to Autumn Makeup looks, so click here if you would like to see that.

Hot Chocolates

Since the weather is starting to get much colder in the Autumn time, one thing I love to do it snuggle up with a blanket and have a warm hot chocolate. I always feel so relaxed and I love to this in the evening. It's always my drink of choice if I go out to a little café because I'm one of those people that doesn't like tea or coffee.

Nail Varnish

As I'm sure you can tell from the lipstick shades I like to wear, I really love marroon and burgundy shades in the Autumn. I have a few favourite nail varnishes that I tend to switch between and I have previously done a blog post where I share what my favourite dark red nail varnishes are (click here to read it). Since having done that post I have also discovered a few other shades that I love. They are as follows:

• O.P.I - 'Just a Little Rösti at this'
• Barry M Quick Dry - 'Sprint Finish'
• Essie - 'Bordeaux'

Although I love these shades I have also been wearing false nails more recently. The ones I have been wearing most are actually from Primark. They have a set which are the shade 'Poison' and they're such a lovely dark maroon shade. The glue is also really good and my nails stayed on for a full week without falling off and considering that they're only £1 that's so good! I'd definitely recommend you pick some up when you next go, I stocked up on about 5 packs because I really like them.

Let me know what your favourite things about autumn are because I'd love to know!

Thanks for reading,

ffy x

Chocolate Brownie Recipe

The other day I fancied baking something and as usual I decided to bake my favourite sweet treat - chocolate brownies. Today I have a post on what recipe I use so you can bake them too if you wish!

The recipe that I like to use is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. This book is super cute and contains so many lovely cake recipes and I can't wait to try baking some more!

Ingredients:

200g - Dark Chocolate

175g - Unsalted Butter

325g - Caster Sugar

130g - Plain Flour

3 Eggs

Icing Sugar to decorate
a 33 x 23 x 5cm baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

Makes about 12 Portions

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC (325ºF) Gas 3.
2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Leave them until they have melted together and are smooth in consistency.
3. Remove the bowl from the heat. Add the sugar and stir it in until it is fully incorporated.
4. Add the flour and stir it in until it is fully mixed together.
5. Stir in the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.
6. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until flaky on top but still soft in the centre. (I only baked it for about 25 minutes and it was just right). Be careful not to overcook otherwise the edges will become hard and crunchy.
7. Leave it to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar to decorate.

I absolutely loved this recipe, the brownies were so tasty. I would seriously recommend getting this book if you love baking, its so good!

Thanks for reading,

ffy x