Charldee: November 2017

My all time favourite recipe to use throughout these colder months, has to be Tanya Burr's 'the best cookies' recipe! Its the perfect evening treat, with a delicious hot chocolate, all cosy with fairy lights and candles! They are super sweet, but so nice! I've made these a few times before, and even have a video going up on my channel through December, where I've changed the chocolate. For best results, I'd always recommend using Galaxy, Dairy Milk and Milkybar. Cheaper chocolate doesn't always have the nicest taste. Either way, these are a firm favourite and I wanted to show you just how easy they are to make!

You will need:

200g butter
300g caster sugar
1 large egg
275g self-raising flour
75g cocoa powder
a little dash of milk
a large bar of milk chocolate (Cadburys is my fave)
a large bar of white chocolate

1. Pop your oven on to 200 degrees Celsius. Cream together your butter and sugar. I always find the butter is too hard, so I find there's no harm in popping it into the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

2. Crack in your egg and continue to mix.

3. Stir in all the dry ingredients gradually, pouring small amounts at a time. This stops the mixture from clumping!

4. Finally, add in the cocoa powder gradually and stir into the mixture. At this point, feel free to add a dash of milk if the mixture looks too dry.

5. Now you have your dough! Break up all of your chocolate and throw it in, using your hands to get it into the dough. I have been taking a palm sized ball of dough, place a square of milk chocolate in the middle and wrap the dough around it, then place a block of white chocolate on top!

6. Line 2 trays with baking paper (the cookies will spread in the oven so don’t place them close together). Pop them into the oven for 11 minutes – from using Tanya's recipe, this is the perfect amount of time. When you get them out they will not look cooked, it is vital you know this, as it will be very tempting to leave them in for longer and then they’ll be hard and overcooked once they are cool. Just take your cookies out after 11 minutes and leave them to cool for about 30 minutes.

7. Enjoy warm or cooled with a lovely cup of tea or coffee!

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Major confession alert! I took these photos back at the beginning of September. Yes, it has taken me that long to sit down and write a blogpost. I am planning a lot of fun content for my blog over blogmas, so look forward to that!

This haul was the highlight of my year! Why? Because I genuinely haven't had the time or money all year to splash out on Lush's store and treat myself. I do tend to wait until the wintery months before I whack out all the bath bombs and melts and bubble bars, but only because on those colder nights make you lust for a bath so much more! I grabbed a few of my festive favourites as well as a few new ones, which I am now an avid lover of!

The Comforter

Obviously, I could never order or even walk past a Lush store without grabbing a Comforter Bubble Bar. This bar has been and always will be a staple product in my bathroom! I've found that living in a flat, with only an extractor fan to reduce moisture (doesn't work), a lot of my bath bombs and bubble bars develop water marks and damp patches. So this year I decided to break all of mine up and bag them up. This beautiful bubble bar broke up into over 12 pieces, which for me would equate to approximately four baths!

Lush: Sometimes you just need to shut yourself off from the outside world under a blanket of fruity foam that will put you back in the right frame of mind to face the world. This bar is supersized, so you’ll only need to crumble half a bar under your tap to make enough bubbles for a long, comforting soak. Cassis absolute gives a distinctive blackcurrant fragrance, while bergamot adds an uplifting note.

Rocket Science

This was a new product for me, and they are always the most exciting for me as I never know what it will look like once it hits water. The Rocket Science bath bomb leaves your bath a lovely shimmery blue shade, with an uplifting citrus scent creating the perfect relaxation zone! Again, I cut mine up and have managed to get three decent baths out of this one bomb, which makes it well worth the money! Best thing about it? It shoots around your bath like an actual rocket! If that doesn't persuade you, I don't know what will.

Lush: Blast off to another world with this mix of uplifting bergamot and lemon. It’s smooth soaring to beautiful bath waters as mellow yellow fizzes with deep blue and pink. Lower onto the surface of the water, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride as it leisurely glides around the bath. You'll love this to the moon and back.

Candy Mountain

I was so excited to finally order this! I've seen so many bloggers and YouTuber's rave about this product so much every winter, and I was never able to get it because it was either out of stock or I just couldn't afford it. This year, that changed and oh my gosh, am I glad I finally managed to grab one! If you like Snow Fairy and The Comforter, you will love the Candy Mountain bubble bar! This bubble bar has a beautiful soft and sweet scent, that compliments any other sweet product. It doesn't change bath colour much, but if you're in it more for the scent and bubbles - this is for you!

Lush: Give yourself the best kind of sugar rush with this sweet treat. Crumble this pink and white helterskelter under running water to create sugar-frosted peaks that will leave you smelling sweet all day. Vanilla warms and comforts while you bask in blush coloured waters.

Pink Pumpkin

This bubble bar is very similar to the original Sparkling Pumpkin bar they had last year. That one was an orange gold, that left glitter everywhere, and had a very strong citrus scent. This beautiful bubble bar has more of a floral scent, and created the best pink bath. It is also covered in glitter that disintegrates into the bath water, creating a magical glittery scene.

Lush: Get pretty in pink and make them all wink with geranium and bergamot oils. Simply crumble under running water for a cloak of uplifting bubbles. There's no need to leave a shoe behind; a sprinkling of lustre and sultry jasmine absolute will ensure your prince charming treats you to a happy ending.

Monster's Ball

I feel like this bath bomb is the perfect autumnal scent. The eye on the monster is actually a bath melt, creating a soft an gentle addition to your bath. It has a mix of soothing tones or jasmine, but also has woody fragrances, making you feel all warm and cosy and rock salt, fully relaxing your muscles. Of course, it changes your bath colour to a stunning purple shimmer. The Monster's Ball bath bomb is typically a Halloween product, but is still available online for a limited time.

Lush: Eye spy with this little eye something beginning with BOO! This monster mash-up of lime and neroli oils is a sure fire way to get the party started. Toss into a hot bath and watch it go. Olibanum oil relaxes and leaves you feelin’ Franken-fine all night long.

Shoot for the Stars

Another wondrous bath bomb with little bath melts inside! This bath bomb turns the water a beautiful shimmery blue, with the gold bath melts adding a warm glitter mist over the water. With a honey scent, the Shoot for the Stars bath bomb creates a softening and conditioning coat over your skin, with coconut cream and uplifting scents of bergamot and orange oil. This bath bomb is the perfect bath treat!

Lush: Honey-scented sparkles of Brazilian orange and bergamot waltz with swirling, golden stars, creating a world of cobalt colour. As the calming blanket of shimmering, midnight blue unfolds, Brazilian orange and bergamot oils combine to send your mood rocketing up to the stars.

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A little while ago, I was lucky enough to receive a package from Slim Life Tea, to try out and review for you! I wouldn't review something I don't like, and this tea has legit changed my idea on Green Tea, and now I am an avid lover!

Slim Life tea is slightly different to your average tea. It is advertised as a weightloss tea, with lots of benefits:

Boosts your metabolism, causing weight loss
Increases mental alertness
Betters your skin condition
Strengthens the immune system

As always, I was slightly sceptical about trying a 'weight loss' product, but I'm always up for a challenge! And so far, I've been pleasantly surprised!

The package contained two tins, both full of loose leaf tea. The only downside to this, was that their was no loose tea strainer/diffuser included. I wasn't aware that it was a loose tea (maybe a little naive on my part!). I had to order one online, which took a while to get to me. However, once I had received the strainer, I was ready to go!

All you need are these three things - the Slim Life Tea, a good size mug (holding at least 200ml of water), and your strainer. Oh, and a kettle! It is super easy to make and takes less than two minutes. Boil the kettle with enough water to fill your mug. Measure out two teaspoons of the loose leaf tea, and place it inside your diffuser. Fill the mug up with boiling water to 200ml, or for me, I pour water up to where the holes on the diffuser stop.

After approximately one minute, the tea will start to 'diffuse' and change the colour of the water. This does take a little bit of time! Depending on how strong you like your tea, you can leave the diffuser in there between one and five minutes! For me, two minutes is the perfect amount of time.

After a minute, you quickly start to see the tea diffusing fully in the water.

At two minutes, it begins to fully change colour and is ready to be served!

When your tea has reached the perfect strength for you, just take out the diffuser and stir. You can even add some sugar to sweeten it if you prefer!

The Slim Life Tea programme is so easy to stick to. Its recommended that for weight loss, you drink three cups a day; morning, noon and night. I was only drinking one in the evening as I was having it to help better my skin, reduce bloating and stop cravings at bedtime. However, from drinking just one cup an evening for a week, I still lost 2lbs!

You can view their products here.