Thursday, May 27, 2010

London Part 1

Hello my lovelies, how've you been?

The first place i ran to once i hit Europe was Laura Mercier! There were a couple of things I've been really wanting to get from there so of course i bought them in like 2 minutes.


Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 (Bisque), GBP32/S$60.8






Yes i know, it was really expensive but i've read so many good things about it that i had to buy it! And its a 50ml tube.The girl at the counter helped me choose from a few colours and bisque fit me best. I tried to get a good picture of the colour but it didn't come out nice cause of the lighting but here you go, http://www.lauramercier.com/store/shop/Tinted-Moisturizer_Tinted-Moisturizer-SPF-20_prod210061. I'm quite in love with this. The salesgirl applied it for me at the store and i wore it the whole day. It was wonderful. Very light, medium coverage, it doesn't get very oily and it didn't melt. Of course the British weather helped. But i still think this would work really well for our Singapore climate. I'll use it when i get back home and let you know more about it!


Laura Mercier All Over Eye Colour Brush, GBP24/S$45.6


The other thing i've been wanting is a good all over eye shadow brush. I keep wanting to buy the coastal scents ones but i never get down to it. This brush from Laura Mercier is really good. The bristles are not too long so you will have a good control of your colour and i find that there is less fallout when the bristles are not too long. And the brush feels awesome! It would work wonderfully if you just plan to use one eye shadow colour and it would work well to use with a base eyeshadow. I know its a little pricey but its really quality stuff and the MAC brushes are not cheap as well anyway.


So thanks to the wonder of Selfridges & Co., we not only get awesome salt beef sandwiches. We also have: NARS. Thank you London.



NARS Cream Blush (Penny Lane), GBP19.50/S$37.05

  

Mel darling this is for you :) So they had a bunch of cream blushes but this one was really pretty! Its a kind of nude pinkish brown colour that will give a really nice glow to your skin. I always believe that as much as colours are really fun, a nude-ish colour like this will give a nice healthy glow to your skin and because of the texture of cream blushes, the right shade will give a nice natural flush which is really pretty and could match everything.

Mel says her skin holds cream blushes better than normal blushes. Lucky girl. But for those of you who find that the cream blush doesn't stay, you can dust a finishing powder over it (i use the MAC Prep + Prime transparent finishing powder) and it works wonders. But make sure you get a really light fluffy brush otherwise you're going to wipe the blush all off.

Again i couldn't get a nice shot so here you go :) http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/color/blush-and-bronzers/cream-blush.html


NARS Lipgloss (Turkish Delight), GBP17/S$32.30




Only the most talked about lipgloss in the world. I'd never seen it in person before until i got to the store today and i have to say that it's a lot more of a marshmallow pink than i thought it would be but its still hell pretty. The shimmer isn't too strong and it just gives a nice sheen to your lips :) Makes the boys go crazy. Although i do know many boys who hate lip gloss. Hmmm.

This is great over a nude lipstick and even more wonderful on its own. Because its quite cool toned you can also use it to tone down a lipstick you think is too strong. If you want a lipstick that goes with everything and that isn't too shiny, turkish delight is the way to go. The texture is good too. I hate hate hate sticky lipglosses and those that bleed over your whole mouth. So far this one has been okay for me but i'm going to use it a couple more times before i make my judgement! 


So on a final note, the prices in SGD are an estimate. The exchange rate today was about 1.9 so i used that so it might not be exactly accurate but it is how much i paid in pounds :)

IF ANYONE IS IN LONDON, HOLLER AT ME! :)

Take care guys! See you really soon! Like tomorrow? :) Hehe.

London Peace and Love, Tasha

Back in Business

Hey guys!

Many apologies for the longggg absence. Its been quite crazy, i've had to do so many things lately. So sorry for that. But we're back! Judy just did an awesome entry on cheesecake brownies and she's gonna do more for you really soon!

Just a little update, i'm in London so for the next few posts, i'll be showing you guys some make up stuff i picked up in London! London has awesome awesome make up. Today i found out that Topshop has a make up range! So i'll check that out tomorrow and show you guys some nice stuff! :)

Look out for London Post Number 1!

Love, Tasha

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Cheesecake Brownies

Thank goodness its over!!! My exams I mean. And university life. I'm gonna be graduating this semester so anyone know of any good job opportunity, please let me know.

And can somebody please tell me whats up with the humidity levels recently? It feels like a sauna outside on most days. And as Tash would gladly testify, that's never good for your makeup (right babe?). Annoyed, annoyed, annoyed.

Anyway. So the other day, me and Mel decided to bake some cheesecake brownies. If you haven't yet tried out these brownies, please do. They are awesome. Except for the part where they stuck to the aluminium foil. Usually I use baking paper but I thought I ran out of it so I decided to use aluminium foil instead. Bad idea. Just stick to baking paper next time. It'll save you a lot of trouble. Unless of course you like scraping off gooey brownie bits of aluminium foil. Which honestly wasn't that bad...

Here's a list of all the ingredients you'll need:

For the brownie part,
175g unsalted butter
350g white sugar
Pinch of salt (if you're using salted butter you can leave this out)
80g cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or milk)
3 eggs
80g all purpose flour

For the cheese part,
250g cream cheese (1 block)
2 egg yolks (not the whole egg!)
7 tablespoons white sugar


First, combine the butter, 350g sugar, salt and cocoa powder and set it over a double boiler. Let the ingredients melt and combine, stirring occasionally.


After about 5-10 minututes, it should look something like this: grainy, messy and coarse.


At this point, take it off the boiler and add in the milk or vanilla extract. Stir and allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes. Do not add in the eggs yet because the heat from the mixture will cook the eggs upon impact, causing it to curdle and ruin the entire batch.


Once the batter has cooled, add in the eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition until well combined. The batter should be smooth and thick by now.


Now, sift in the flour and fold until the flour is completely incorporated. Set aside the entire batch.



In another clean bowl, cream the cheese, yolks and 7 tablespoons of sugar until smooth. It should look something like the image above.

 

Now comes the fun part. First, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and position our oven rack in the middle. Then, pour the brownie batter into a lined 9 X 13 inch baking tray. Use baking paper, not aluminum foil as I did. This is because the brownie will stick to the aluminum after baking - not pretty. Trust me. Once all the brownie batter has been poured, slap on the cream cheese mixture on top (see pictures above) and swirl using a spatula/knife/whatever you have on had. Don't worry about being too neat or messy. Just swirl it and have fun!

After which,chuck it in the oven and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Check for doneness using a toothpick inserted right into the center. It should feel moist but not dry.


The end result should look like the picture above on the left. Lovely ain't it?

Peace out!
Judy (and Mel!)


Yea baking is glamourous, what can I say? I wonder how Nigella does it. Hmmm.