25 Day’s Of Beauty: Days Twelve And Thirteen

Welcome back to 25 Day’s Of Beauty. Today I’m combining days Twelve and Thirteen as I didn’t post yesterday.

In Day Twelve I received a travel sized tube of the Beautiful Butters Coconut Body Butter. This is a delightful body butter that isn’t too thick or greasy feeling but leaves skin feeling hydrated. It also smells divine. Unsurprisingly it stayed out of the box and whilst for some this is a filler product, I’m thoroughly enjoying this product.

And in Day Thirteen I received a travel sized bottle of the Shay and Blue White Peaches EDP Spray. We normally receive a Shay and Blue fragrance in the Calender and luckily it’s been a different scent each year. The White Peaches scent is nice but just a little bit too sweet for me. I’ll probably end up giving this to my mum or nan as they do prefer a sweeter scent.

Marks And Spencer Beauty Advent Calendar Days Thirteen And Fourteen

Welcome back to Days Thirteen and Fourteen in my 25 Days of Beauty Series where I show you what I get in my Marks and Spencers Advent Calender. 

In Day Thirteen's box I recieved a generous sized tube of The Hero Project HyaSoft Instant Moisture Boost Gel. I don't actually know a great deal about this product but from the way the instructions read, it's some sort of moisture boost that can be applied alone or underneath your moisturiser. I actually don't anything about this product but I have tried it and it's amazing. I applied this alone to freshly cleansed and it made my skin feel so soft and hydrated. I'm definitely going to get some use out of this.

And in Day Fourteen's box I recieved a miniature Leighton Denny Glass Nail File. Now I'm not saying this isn't a nice product to recieve but you recieve a nail file in every year's calendar and glass nail files don't break or wear like a normal nail file does. I'm not being ungrateful, I'm just saying that they could have chosen another product to go in this particular box and rotated the kind of products we recieve.

Recipe: Lindt Brownies

Last week I shared with you the recipe for Mint Chocolate Brownies and it went down a storm. Everyone who had some of mine loved them, including my area manager. So today I'm back with another brownie recipe but this time featuring the only chocolate I've been eating this festive period, Lindt Balls. I can't get enough of these at the moment and a little while ago I experimentally stuck some into a batch of brownies I was making and they turned out so well. And of course with them being readily available at work I may have brought a few more bags to make a few more batches, including the one I'm sharing with you today.

Ingredients 
200g Dark Chocolate
200g Unsalted Butter
275g Caster Sugar
90g Plain Flour
35g Cocoa Powder
3 Eggs
100g Dark Chocolate Chips
12 Mini Lindt Truffle Balls

Method
1- Pre heat the oven to 180C. Grease a 9 Inch square brownie tin with greaseproof paper.
2- Into a bain marie place the dark chocolate and butter. Over a low heat, melt the two together, taking care to keep the heat down low so the chocolate doesn't catch and burn. I tend to stir mine every so often so nothing sticks to the bottom of the bowl.
3- Once everything is melted together, place it to one side to cool down. I always used to make the mistake of not letting cool properly and adding it before it was ready which resulted in a bread like brownie instead of the beauties I get now.
4- Into a seperate bowl place the sugar and the eggs. Whisk together until the mixture is pale, double in size and leaves a trail when you pull the whisk out. This is the only part of the recipe where you can use a higher speed on your electric mixer, everything else has to be slow or you'll end up knocking out the air you've just created.
5- Take your now cooled chocolate mix and pour into the sugar mix. Fold gently to keep the air into the mixture but remembering to scrape the side of the bowl so everything gets fully incoporated and nothing is left sitting on the side of the bowl.
6- Add the flour and the cocoa powder and fold gently into the mixture. Again this part requires slow, gentle folding actions to keep the air in the mixture. However you will need to scrape the sides of the bowl as the flour and the cocoa powder will stick to it and you don't want to end up with pockets of flour in your brownies.
7- Pour in your chocolate chips. You can use any type of chocolate chip you like but I prefer to use dark chocolate chips to give them a richer taste. Again fold everything in whether with your mixer or a silicone spatula.
8- Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin. Smooth the top over with a palette knife and then gently press your Lindt balls into the mixture. You should still be able to see them slightly but you don't want them just sitting on top of your mixture. Pop in the oven and bake for 30-40mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
9- Leave to cool completely in the tin. This helps it keep it's shape and gives them a chunkiness that a lot of brownies lack.
10- Once cool, cut into squares or chunks. Then all that's left to do is enjoy them or take them into your work and woo the management like I did.

Marks And Spencer Beauty Advent Calender Day Thirteen

Welcome back to Day Three in my 25 Days of Beauty Series where I show you what I get in my Marks and Spencers Advent Calender. 

 In today's box I recieved a bottle of Shay and Blue EDP in the scent Blood Oranges. It's a very festive scent, which makes it very appropriate to feature in a Christmas Advent Calender. It is an Eau De Parfum which means it'll last a long time on the skin, leaving you smelling gorgeous for longer. 

This is a nice scent but not one that I would wear personally. If you like fruity scents with a hint of musk then this scent would be right up your street. I may use this as a room spray as it makes me feel festive when I smell it and I don't want to leave a stunning scent like this in the bottle. So a room spray this will be for me as it doesn't sit well on my skin.

Mark's and Spencer Beauty Advent Calender Day Thirteen

Welcome back to Day Thirteen of my Mark's and Spencer Beauty Advent Calender Unboxing.

In today's box I recieved the Skyn Iceland Icelandin Relieft Eye Cream. It's only a tiny pot but a little bit goes a long way. This eye cream is a multi-action cream that helps the appearence of dark circles, puffiness and fine lines or wrinkles. It is quite cooling on the skin so your eyes will look and feel more awake. It also doesn't contain any mineral oil so won't clog pores or cause any irritation to the skin.

First Impressions: It's a nice eye cream. It didn't blow me away or wow me instantly. It felt cooling on the eye but it didn't seem to reduce any signs of puffiness. It may just be a case of the more you use it the more you see the results but I personally don't think there is enough in the pot to see a real difference.

Marks and Spencers Beauty Advent Calender Day Thirteen

Welcome back to Day Thirteen in my 24 Days of Beauty Series where I show you what I get in my Marks and Spencers Advent Calender. 

In today's box I recieved a product I didn't think I was going to enjoy but as soon as I smelt it I wanted to just smell it all day long It's the mio Liquid Yoga Restorative Bath Soak. If you don't know what Liquid Yoga is it's a bath soak that you use in place of bubble bath to help relax muscles and help wash away any stress. 

It's very menthol in scent but it isn't exactly a horrible scent. Strong, as I could smell it through the box but not unpleasent. I will definitely be giving this a go before Christmas as I know I'm going to need this but I don't think I'll be repurchasing it once it's run out. 

I'll see you all tomorrow for Day 14.