Breakfast Granola | Recipe

Hello,
It's exam season at the moment, which means everyone I know and I are completely snowed under with revision. There aren't many things more depressing than cutting a lovely pub trip short because you know you've got to be up at 7 if you have any hope of getting a space in the library!

So because of this I've become a little bit obsessed with breakfast recently. It started with an unnatural addiction to cereal and then quickly progressed into a need to make my own granola. I looked up loads of recipes online but loads included honey (yuck), weird nectar substances or a thousand different types of nuts.

 I decided this was all too much. I made up my own granola recipe and it was so delicious that I've since worked my way through two big batches of it. Thought I'd share the recipe because it was just too good to keep to myself.

So first, I put 125g of butter and 100g of brown sugar in a pan. I melted them together until I had a nice caramel-y syrup.
Then I took that off the heat and stirred in about 250g of porridge oats, give or take a few handfuls
Once all the porridge oats were coated in the syrup mixture I added a few decent handfuls of raisins. You can add as many or few as you liked but I added quite a lot because I love them!
I also stirred in a few mixed, dried fruits and nuts. I bought them in a pack that said "breakfast mix" on it but really you can add whatever you like (I bet dried apricots would be really nice!)
Then I smushed all the porridge mix into a oven dish, I pressed it down quite hard so that the oats would bind together.
I put the dish in the oven at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, every 5 minutes or so I stirred the mix around in the dish so that the oats at the bottom would get the same amount of bake as the ones at the top.
And there you go, wait for it to cool, pour some milk over and enjoy!

Cup of tea is mandatory.

This granola is so, so delicious! It fills you up for the whole morning because of the porridge oats and the dried fruit makes it super tasty. As well as this I think it's really cheap, much cheaper than buying boxed granola. I really don't think this cost me more than £3 to make and it lasted ages.

Give it a go, tell me if you like it. Or do you have a different recipe? Let me know and I can add it to my cereal obsession!
See you soon, Maisie x

MUA Lipsticks | Review

Hello there,
I recently indulged in a little bit of retail therapy. I'd read one or two reviews of these lipsticks and so decided to head into Superdrug and pick them up for myself.

I love the MUA brand. It's so affordable and is surprisingly good quality. These lipsticks came in at around £1 I think, which I was more than happy to spend. Usually I'd consider three lipsticks on one day a bit extravagant (I'm a bit of a scrimper) but when they're so cheap it seems rude to only pick up one!

I chose three colours. I'd been on the hunt for a nice orange lipstick for a while so I got Shade 16 Nectar in the original formula. I'm a big fan of matte lipsticks too so decided to pick up a couple of those. I bought 'Pouty Pink' (a sweet, bright pink colour) and 'Totally Nude' which was pretty much exactly what it said on the tin, a totally nude colour. I always just stick to red lipstick to I wanted to branch out and get some different colours that I usually wouldn't consider.

Oil slick orange - not my best look (MUA Lipstick Shade 16 Nectar)

I really have to say I'm not impressed with these lipsticks. I know they were only £1 but I've bought lipstick from Poundland before (yes really) and it was much, much better than this!

The orange colour is far too greasy. It looks like an orange oil slick right across my mouth. I would never wear it outside the house I'd be far too worried about spreading it all over my face and looking like a clown!

(MUA Lipstick in Pouty Pink)

The matter lipsticks are completely different. I really like them on first application. However, after time they stick to weird bits of my lips and end up giving me a really "bitty" look. I love the colour of the nude lipstick which surprised me as I usually hate that 'foundation lipstick' look so I was really disappointed. The only way I've been able to get it to work is by applying really thin coats really regularly - I mean like every fifteen minutes regularly.

My favourite of a bad bunch (MUA Lipstick in "Totally Nude"

I'll put a little disclaimer on the end of this post...I do struggle with lipsticks generally. I have kinda big lips. I never know how to explain it but quite a bit of my bottom lip is actually like "inside mouth" lips. So it's really difficult for me to ever find a lipstick that will stick to my lips and not give me a weird pink stripe across the top of my mouth. That means, if you've got smaller, less pronounced lips then maybe these would work a treat for you. Unfortunately they're not for me.

Love, Maisie

Where have you been?

Heya
I've been gone in forever. Recently I've just been feeling a little overwhelmed by university work and life. I've basically just been finding everything really tough. My solution so far has been hiding under my duvet until it's dark and then emerging to eat food. I've realised this isn't really a great way to deal with anything and so have decided to take this blog, my blog, a lot more seriously. I hope it'll act as a good, creative outlet!

I'm going to start making posts at least weekly. I really want to do more outfits of the days, more reviews and more insights into my actual life rather than just an online life.
If you've ever read my posts before I hope you notice the change. If you've never read a post before then you're tuning in just at the right time woo!

In new news I have just been made Editor in Chief of The Tab Norwich. I'm really excited about this. I think I posted aaaages ago about being made Features Editor but, obviously, Editor in Chief is a huge step up from this. Initially I've been shocked by the amount of work truly involved in running a student newspaper but I'm really enjoying it and excited about getting to work properly.

Oh I've also cut the majority of my hair off. I know after what I've just said this must sound like a mid life crisis but it really wasn't. Much as I loved my luscious, curly locks they were in disgusting condition and needed lopping off. I dunno whether I'm going to grow it all back yet but for the moment I am enjoying the "short hurr don't curr" lifestyle.

Yeah so there we go. Let's hope this works.
I gotta go look for my camera!
Love, Maisie

Three From Collection | Review

Hello,
Sorry I've been a bit missing in action recently. I'm just going to stick with my usual excuse of "eugh degree, eugh reading, eugh essays, eugh too drunk all the time". I think that should suffice really.

Anyway, between drowning in referencing and bibliographies I did manage a sneaky trip into town. Do you ever just run out of all your make up at once? It happens to me all the time! So I popped into dearly beloved Boots to stock up little essentials.

My plan was to buy higher end high street but after swatching every foundation ever and realising that I need to STOP BEING SO DAMN PALE. I settled for some bits and bobs from Collection. I find that Collection suits my colour so much better than a lot of the high end products so why would I waste money on something that's going to turn me fluorescent?

I picked up the 'Collection Cover & Go Foundation & Concealer Duo', the 'Collection Primed & Ready Smoothing Make Up Primer' and 'Collection Volumnising Mascara'.

I'd never really been into primer before and I actually when I went into Boots I was intending to by the new Baby Skin thing. I was really skeptical because of all the dodgy reviews I'd read and when I swatched it on my skin it felt so greasy that I opted against it and went for the Collection one instead. I'm really impressed by this product. I'm pretty sure it's a silicon based formula (although I can't actually get the labels off to have a look at the ingredients). It leaves my skin incredibly smooth even after I've put my foundation on top. I really recommend this, it makes my make up look 100x better!

When I bought this I didn't even realise it had concealer in the lid. Top notch job on that packaging Boots it's brilliant. You can put it in your handbag and voila two in one! The concealer coverage is really good, I really rate this product (as you can tell by how used it looks). I'm still humming and harring about the foundation. It's ok but the consistency is a bit odd and it looks really streaky if you apply it with a brush rather than a sponge.

Whenever I buy anything new I instantly don't like it - it takes a while to convince me it's actually good. This was no different, when I first opened it I didn't love it. The brush is quite brittle and not the big fluffy mascara brush I usually like. However, after using this for a week I am converted and I admit the error of my ways. This mascara is really great, it gives a really volumnised look, kind of fake lash effect. The only thing I don't get is why it says '10x volumnising' on it. Can you imagine if a mascara made you lashes TEN TIMES BIGGER? You'd look like a maniac!

Overall I'm well chuffed with the Collection things I picked up. I think they're all fairly new products to the line and they all work fantastically. Collection is definitely starting to give some of the other high street brands a run for their money.

Primed, concealed, volumnised and ready to hit the rain

So have you tried any of these products? Did you like 'em? Lemme know 

Make It Highstreet | Screen Actor's Guild Awards 2014

Hellllo,

Blimey so behind schedule with the award season it is actually ridiculous! Many, many moons ago it was the Screen Actor's Guild Awards which saw Hollywood's finest get out there and strut their stuff down the red carpet. For some reason I always really like the SAG awards, I just think people always dress really well for them and this year was no different really. 

There were some truly lovely pieces on show and I felt like there was a bit of a tie for best dressed. Lupita Nyongo'o carried on her dress success in a gorgeous turquoise Gucci piece. The colour looked absolutely amazing on her and I really loved the statement neckline. My gal J-Law was also back to her rightful place on the best dressed look. I haven't been loving her choices this award season but this Christian Dior gown made her look like sequinned perfection. 

I love a good sequin and there were plenty on show. Claire Danes looked shimmied in big Vionnet sequins and Sofia Vegara looked hot hot hot in Donna Karan. She does hollywood sexy so well - I love her style! 

Also worth a mention is Isla Fischer who looked so sexy and classic in Bulgari. She rocked her Jessica Rabbit hair and looked like proper timeless hollywood. 

And then there were the others. Oops. Worst dressed of the night for me was Jennifer Garner. She usually keeps things so simple and classy and it looks great but I felt like her MAX MARA gown was totally underwhelming. Also Mariah Carey did what Mariah Carey does and wore a minuscule mini-dress. Classic mimi but me no likey.

Red Halter, ShopBop, £62.60 // Holly Hunter // Keyhole Wrap Dress, ASOS, £28

Pink Split-leg jumpsuit, In Love With Fashion, £23 // Julia Roberts wears Valentino // Pink Jumpsuit, Miss Selfridges, £42

High Neck Crop Top, Boohoo, £8 // Kerry Washington pairs Prada and Harry Winston // Full Midi Skirt, Boohoo, £12

Mindy Kaling wears David Meister // Blue Crossover with Gold Belt, Isme, £39

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