Sushi Making

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share another recipe I've been loving recently. As you know I absolutely love sushi but this was my first attempt at making it myself, it's much easier than I expected so let me know if you give this a try :)

Ingredients:

250g of sushi rice

4 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Salmon

Cucumber

Crab sticks

Cooked prawns

Sushi nori sheets

Wasabi paste and Soy sauce to taste

Method:

Cooking the rice is the key step in making sushi, it must be sticky enough to hold everything together, but not be allowed to turn into a sticky dough. Firstly, the rice must be thoroughly washed and drained. Once this is done there are three steps to follow; soaking, boiling and resting. Different people use different times for each step; I use about 500ml water to 250g of rice, leave this to soak for 20 minutes, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes and finally allow to stand for 10 minutes. The remaining water should then be drained and the rice left to cool. In the meantime, gently heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves - and then mix into the rice.

Everything else is simplicity itself – although it sometimes gets quite messy.

Place you sushi nori (seaweed sheet) on a bamboo mat and cover in a thin layer of rice. I use the back of a spoon to spread the rice out – I’m told you should use your fingers, but the rice is so sticky this inevitably makes a real mess. As shown here leave a half inch gap at the end of the sushi nori that you can dampen with water and use for sealing once you have rolled your sushi. The rolling itself is surprisingly simple.

The joy of making your own sushi is that you can make them to match your taste. For California Rolls, you use mayonnaise, tiger prawns, crabsticks and avocado. But here I’ve used a mixture of Smoked Salmon, crabsticks, cucumber and prawns. If you want to add bite to your sushi then add a little to taste.

Other than the rice, which can be a little fiddly to get right, this a simple (as well as being healthy) recipe.

Let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think :)

Tam x

Versatile Blogger Award

Hello everyone! Firstly I’d like to say thank you to Bethany for nominating me! Make sure you check out her blog, she does amazing fashion posts and looks at upcoming trends which are great for outfit inspiration. I hope you enjoy the ‘facts about me’, I’ve tried to choose interesting and original facts so you guys can get to know me a bit better :)

About the Award:

In case you don't know, the Versatile Blogger Award is to 'honor those bloggers who bring something special to your life, whether every day or now and then', when nominating you should 'consider the quality of writing, the uniqueness of the subjects covered, the level of love displayed in the words on the virtual page and the quality of photographs, as well as the passion displayed in taking them.' 

The Rules:

-Show the Award on your Blog

-Thank the person who nominated you

-Share 7 facts about yourself

-Nominate 15 blogs

-Link your nominee's blogs to let them know 

Facts about me:

1. I am half Norwegian on my Mum’s side, but I can only say a few phrases in Norwegian and I’ve only visited the country once, when I was younger, but I’d love to go back there at some point. I also celebrate Christmas and open my presents with my Norwegian family on Christmas eve because that is when Christmas is celebrated in Norway.

2. I’m in my final year studying English Literature at University and once I graduate I want to work in Retail Buying.

3. I’m moving to London later this year which is sooo exciting, I’ve wanted to live in London for so long now so I just hope it lives up to my expectations, (i.e. drinking cosmos every day and basically living the life of Carrie Bradshaw from SATC).

4. I moved around a lot growing up and I’ve probably lived in around 15 different houses so far, and been to a few different schools in different areas of the country, which means that I’m a pro at moving now and I find it quite easy to talk to new people.

5. If I could only buy my clothes from one place for the rest of my life it would have to be ASOS, I am literally addicted to their website, and I constantly have about 100 items saved in my wishlist that I will never be able to afford *sigh*.

6. I love listening to R&B, my favourite albums at the moment are X by Chris Brown and Aquarius by Tinashe – if you like old school, chilled R&B, you should defiantly check out these albums! (If you're interested, click on either of the album titles and you can check out the songs on SoundCloud).

7. I’m a huge film buff and I love watching horror movies and playing horror games; myself and my big sister have a tradition of drinking white wine spritzers and watching horror movies whenever we see each other (I know this sounds like a strange mix but it's so much fun, you guys should try it!). 

I hope that these facts have helped you to get to know me a little better. 

Here are my nominees:

- Kate Louise Blogs

- Sarah Justine Style

- Salt and Chic

- Rachel Coco

- Alphabeth

- BubblyBeauty

- Grace Takes Photos

- Suzie Shrestha

- it'sEvelina

- Amy Elizabeth

- Life's Open Pages

- Fashion Confession

- Eimante

- Drugstore Dreamer

- Storybook Apothecary

Sorry if you’ve already been nominated guys.

I’m looking forward to your responses ladies, make sure to let me know when you have posted your response and leave comments below :)

Tam x

My Top 5 Makeup Brushes and Brush Storage

Hello everyone! So I finally got around to cleaning my makeup brushes the other day, (I seriously need to get into the habit of doing this more often than once every six months)…and this inspired me to show you my top 5 makeup brushes and how I store and clean them. Hope you enjoy :)

MAC 217 Blending Brush - £19

I cannot rave about this brush enough, if I could only have one eye makeup brush, this would be it! I use this every day, whether I’m doing a subtle day look or a dramatic smokey eye. I know there are plenty of other blending brushes on the market, a lot of which are cheaper, but this is by far the best one I have tried. It may seem pricy for such a small brush but in terms of price per use, this is one of my most economical makeup brush purchases. Once you have applied your crease shadow simply run this brush over the top to get rid of any harsh lines and blend the shadow up towards your brow bone.

Real Techniques Buffing Brush - £21.99

This brush comes in the Real Techniques Core Collection, which also includes a flat foundation brush, a contour brush and a flat eyeshadow brush. This is the only brush I use when I apply my foundation (I use NARS Sheer Glow), it distributes just the right amount of product and gives a really natural finish because it buffs the product into the skin rather than caking it on top of the skin, which I find a lot of flat foundation brushes do. This makes applying foundation so easy, I could probably do it without a mirror! It’s just the right density and the synthetic bristles are beautifully soft and don’t leave any brush marks in the foundation.

Real Techniques Bold Metals 201 Pointed Crease - £12

This brush is a recent discovery for me but I’ve already fallen in love with it, it’s the perfect domed shape to fit in your eye crease and distributes just the right amount of product. I always use this when I want to darken up the crease as it’s tapered and very precise. And like all the Real Techniques brushes the bristles are so soft and easy to wash. The Bold Metals brushes are weighted so feel lovely to hold, they look and feel very luxurious and high end.

EcoTools Skin Perfecting Brush - £7.99

This is another recent discovery for me, I’ve recently been wearing a lot of BB creams and much lighter foundations and this brush is designed for use with these lighter products. It’s much denser than the Real Techniques buffing brush and gives a more natural finish. I don’t use this brush when I’m wearing medium to heavy coverage foundation, but it’s perfect for when you’re having a good skin day and just want to even out your skin tone slightly. I already know I’ll be using this a lot over the summer months!

EcoTools Deluxe Concealer Brush - £5.49

I have real trouble with my under eye circles and this brush makes applying under eye concealer much easier, and allows me to achieve a heavier coverage than simply blending with my fingers. This is also useful for covering any blemishes, I find that if you apply foundation first with a brush, then products sit better if they are applied with a brush too.

Storage

I keep my brushes in a cute little pot which I bought from IKEA, I think it’s actually supposed to be a plant pot but it’s perfect for keeping brushes in. If you are looking for makeup storage, IKEA is a great place to go, I know a lot of people buy their makeup storage from Muji but I don’t have a Muji store near me and I didn’t want to order online. I managed to find an alternative in IKEA which is much the same as the Muji makeup storage (the containers are have a frosted finish rather than a clear finish) and it’s very affordable. They come in various sizes and all stack neatly on top of each other so your storage can grow as your makeup collection grows. If you’re interested, I’ll link them here. 

Brush Maintenance

I clean my brushes with whatever shampoo I’m using at the time, most of my brushes are duo fibre and clean really easily. I then just place them on some kitchen towel near an open window because I prefer them to dry naturally rather than through artificial heat. 

Let me know what your favourite makeup brushes are and if you think I've missed any.

Tam x

Style Edit: LBD Take Two

Hello everyone! I thought I’d share another style edit with you today, this one will be a bit different to my usual outfit posts though, as I’m at University at the moment and it’s hard to fit in photo shoots, I thought I’d share some photos of an outfit I wore on a night out recently. Enjoy :)

What I’m Wearing

Dress – River Island

Lipstick – MAC

I was inspired by a blog post from SheWearsFashion (linked here) and had been on the lookout for a sheer, black maxi skirt and black knicker shorts for so long but I couldn’t find a sheer skirt without an underlay. Then I stumbled across a beautiful dress by River Island on the Asos website with a sheer overlay which was even better than what I was looking for initially. This bandeau midi dress is basically a figure-hugging body with a sheer, lace overlay (I won’t lie, there’s not much to this dress, it’s definitely a style statement, not something to wear for warmth and comfort). Another reason I love this dress so much is the bandeau shape, which I find really flattering because it shows the collarbone and décolletage. If you like this dress, grab it while you can, it’s now on sale at £48.50, down from £65 (I bought mine at full price, don’t you hate it when you buy something and then you see that it’s been reduced?!) For full impact, I would always recommend wearing with a postbox red lipstick, there is no more classic a combination than an LBD and a red lip! I’m wearing Mac’s Ruby Woo in the pictures; definitely my favourite matte red lipstick of all time, and definitely worth the price!

On a side note, the sunglasses pictured above are literally my favourite purchase of all time, hence why I was wearing them inside the house like a crazy person. I am so ready for summer now, mainly so I have an excuse to wear these glasses, I’ll definitely be featuring these in come style edits when the weather gets warmer. My friends all say I look like Willy Wonka but I think they’re AMAZING, so I’ll link them here if you like them too.

Let me know if you liked this post or if you prefer my photo-shoot style edits more. 

Tam x

Review: Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

Hello everyone, you may remember me yearning for an Urban Decay Naked Palette in my ‘10 Best Beauty Buys Under 10 Pounds’ blog post, well… *drum roll please* … I gave into temptation and bought the Naked 3 Palette! So I thought I’d post a review for you in case you were wondering if it lives up to the hype and is worth the hefty price tag. Enjoy :)

About the product

This is one of the bestselling eye palettes ever and it’s easy to see why – the colours are so wearable, there is a good mix of matte and shimmer shades and the pigmentation is excellent. In case you have been living under a rock for the past decade and have never heard of the Urban Decay Naked palettes, there are three palettes available, each with 12 neutral eye shadow shades. The Naked 3 palette shades are rose-hued neutrals. One of the reasons that the shadows are so excellent is their staying power, these shadows do not budge even after 12 hours of wear. However, if you do have particularly oily eyelids Urban Decay also sell a range of eye primers, this palette actually came with 4 free primer samples (pictured above). The shadows are also very blendable which makes creating an everyday smokey eye extremely easy (I simply apply a matte shade to the eye crease and blend with a Mac 217 brush). This particular palette has also been rated 4.7 stars out of 5 on the House of Fraser website by customers so don’t just take my word for it…this palette is loved  by literally everyone!

Texture

The shadows in this palette are velvety smooth and feel lovely on the lid, one of the things I love is that the shimmery shades do not have big chunky glitter in, the shimmer is very finely milled which makes them just as easy to apply as the matte shades. The texture is so buttery soft that you can easily apply the shadow to your lid and blend with your finger if you don’t have an extensive brush collection. This also makes that palette great for younger girls who are just starting to learn about makeup application, because the shades are so natural and easily blended that you can’t really go wrong!

Affordability

Although I’m sure you could find this product slightly cheaper on sites like ebay, I bought mine from House of Fraser which cost me £38! This is definitely a makeup product to treat yourself to, and not an everyday purchase. However, I really do think it’s worth it, I use this palette most days and the colours are so pigmented that you really don’t need to use much so this will probably last well over a year.

Packaging

 As someone that loves everything rose gold, I think the packaging for this palette is beautiful! Unlike the original Naked palette which has velvet material exterior, this palette is metal which feels much more expensive and high quality (and is also wipe clean unlike the first Naked palette). The palette also has a really big mirror on the inside which is very useful for touch ups when you’re on the go and means that the product great for travelling as you don’t have to pack a separate mirror. Moreover, the palette comes with a double ended brush, one side for packing shadow on the lid, and one side for blending. Most of the brushes that come with eyeshadow palettes are absolutely useless but this one is lovely and soft (the blending side is still not as good as the Mac 217 though).

After buying the Naked 3 palette I’m now addicted and am thinking of buying the first Naked palette too, so leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts on the original Naked palette.

Tam x