May Favourites

Happy Summer! June is now upon us and it has come to Lincolnshire bringing rays of glorious sunshine and heat waves and I can't wait to do my June favourites! May was a crazy month for me, exams and dissertation were on the forefront of my mind but now that's all over for the summer! And what a better way to celebrate than to write about my favourites here :)

Now I've had this body shop body butter for ages and I just found it again just before may after a massive beauty clear out. You gotta love a good clear out when stuff like that happens! Anyway this body butter is gorgeous, I love honey based beauty products and this one probably rises above them all. The smell alone is enough persuasion to buy it! Not just that but it does wonders for my skin, I usually apply it on my legs after a shower and after shaving them, helping them stay lovely and soft and looking great something very important at this time of year! You can find the Honeymania body butter (love the name) here.

 Another product that's great for getting the perfect summer skin is the sanctuary spa body moisturiser spray. I also use this straight out of a shower, sometimes even on wet skin because it helps to lock in moisture. So I kind of just flit between honeymania and this to mix things up a bit and I couldn't decide which one I liked more so they're both on my May favourites. You can find a smaller version of this here.

 This just smells of summery freshness! I absolutely love it, I'm not usually a fan of zesty scents but you can't go wrong with this. It offers amazing protection even when sweating like crazy about exams! It even keeps me smelling fresh when I've been exercising, definitely one of my beauty staples for May (and probably the rest of summer!). Click here if you want to smell fresh all summer!

Ahh yes, my planner. I honestly don't know where i would be without this during May. I used it so much so I was prepared for everything. My brain was so scattered during may because of the uni pressures that I needed something to act like a second memory, which is exactly what my lovely little planner did. Plus its so gorgeous and the compact size makes it so easy to carry around! Also it can use both paperchase and filofax inserts which is a win win, although I've actually taken to making a few of mine such as a blog post planner which I may do a post about in the near future. They don't have this planner online any more but you might be able to find it in store somewhere. They have lots of other planners here though!

This picture kinda kills two birds with one stone. Firstly I went to see the new avengers film in May which I loved as usual! So these are representing that as I can't really take a picture in the cinema. Plus it represents what it actually is; characters for Disney infinity which was one of my favourite PS4 games through May. I went a bit snap happy with the figures, they're just so photographable!

You can get Disney infinity here.

I love love love these! Naturally in a very British way I love tea so when I saw this in Paperchase I
had to buy it, otherwise it would have been a crime! I'm also a bit of a bookworm so the second one was also necessary to purchase, plus I like the little inspirational quote! They're both now stuck to my fridge along with the other postcards I had to buy from paperchase! (I think I have a problem...). Check out the postcards paperchase have at the moment here, be careful though you may get addicted!

The more tea memorabilia the better! This was given to me by my best friend Rachael as a birthday present, she gave it to me in May because we hadn't seen each other on my birthday and that was the next time we saw each other, too long really! I love this and keep it on my desk for all to see! Rachael made this for me so its kinda bespoke, so sorry no one else can have it!

After I'd finished uni at the end of May I decided to spend a lot of my free time baking, I got these cook books for my birthday and haven't done as many recipes out of them as I had hoped so this seemed like the perfect time to do so! I can't wait to try some more in June! Learn to cook in 24 hours here.

Who wouldn't love a cook book full of comfort food! It is amazing and you can pick it up here.

Mmmmm cookies! and brownies... and everything ever baked! Mary Berry is baking royalty! Grab the book here.

I found this bottle in Wilko, it was so cheap! I needed something as a vase for some tulips and this worked perfectly, I'm thinking of getting another one to keep water cold in the fridge. It looks so chic and pretty! Get this lovely glass bottle at just £3 from Wilko here.

What were your favourites this May??

Charlotte x

Chocolate Swirl Meringues!

Good morning! This is hopefully the first of many recipe posts, I've been wanting to do a recipe post for a while but haven't been sure what to choose! Finally i settled on meringues as I've been a bit obsessed with them the past few weeks. Although these aren't just any meringues these are a bit of an experimentation of mine, I've seen meringues with chocolate swirls in meringues before (Carluccio's have the most amazing chocolate swirl meringues!) and have been dying to try them for a while, so here we are!

Egg whites and Caster sugar glossy mixture

Folding in the Cocoa with a swirly ribbon effect!

 Always like it a bit messy with dusted tops! 

Normally I don't do any experimenting with different or extra ingredients in my baking, I always like to follow the recipe to the letter and would have normally checked online for a recipe that incorporates cocoa powder however I keep meaning to try new things with my baking and trust my instincts so this seemed like an easy place to start. I hope you enjoy baking these as much as I did!

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 1-1.5 hours

Ingredients:

• 3 Med Eggs 
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 1.5 Tbsp Cocoa Powder 
• Whipped cream for serving (optional) 

Method: 

• Pre heat the oven to 120c and line a baking tray with baking paper, parchment or non stick liner (i use one from lakeland). 
• Separate egg whites into a mixing bowl (I use an empty plastic water bottle to suck the yolk out of the whites, it works just as well as one you can buy from the shops, however if the eggs aren't fresh then the yolk is more likely to break while being sucked out so i would recommend using fairly fresh eggs or a different method such as cracking the egg into your hand and letting the whites drip through your fingers or using a separator like this ). 
• Whisk the eggs using an electric whisk on high until they are stiff and fluffy. 
• Then add the sugar slowly, i recommend 1 tsp at a time, until the mixture is stiff and glossy. (If you dare to really test if it is ready hold the bowl upside down over your head and if it stays in place your good to go!) 
• Now add the cocoa and fold in carefully, it should look swirly a bit like ribbons, make sure not to mix it in completely to get the full swirly effect. If 1.5 tbsp doesn't look like enough feel free to add more, I originally started with just 1 tbsp but thought it could use more and 1.5 seemed perfect! 
• Once the mixture is to your satisfaction either use a piping bag to pipe the meringues onto the tray, however i find that a bit too time consuming so i just use to table spoons to spoon the mixture on in a roundish sort of shape with a bit of a peak on top! You can also dust cocoa on top before popping in the oven. 
• Pop in the oven for 1-1.5 hours (mine usually takes just over an hour to be done but ovens vary a lot so when it is done you should be able to take it off the non stick paper without it sticking at all). 
• Just leave them to cool for a bit and then enjoy with whatever you fancy! Also the most amazing thing happens with the cocoa powder, in the creamy centre it goes like gooey chocolatey goodness! They're a bit addictive! 

What experiments do you do in your baking? 

Charlotte x