This Season's Statement Item | Chenille Roll Neck Jumper

This Season's Statement Item | Chenille Roll Neck Jumper

Hey,


With the clocks set back and the day light fading, Winter has set in. And with this change of weather, there's nothing I like more than a new, warm item to add to my Winter wardrobe collection.

This Chenille Roll Neck Jumper is my newest addition to my Winter wardrobe, and being a massive jumper addict- especially for the thick, roll neck types- I am in love with this new jumper already.
Costing me just £16, it's affordable and a great fashion statement item that will keep you warm in the cold Winter months.

The Chenille Roll Neck Jumper achieves a casual, effortless look for the Winter season. Paired with Black Skinny jeans and Black Chelsea Boots, I feel this outfit is elegantly congruous for any Winter occasion.  

This jumper is a definite favourite of mine. It's affordable, simple and elegant. It is extremely warm with a soft texture to it, making it very comfortable to wear; something I believe is highly important for any item included in my Winter wardrobe this year.

Thank you for reading,

Yours truly,
Caris

Autumnal Photography | Catching the Last of Autumn

Photography | Catching the Last of Autumn

Hey,

hope all is well,

I thought that with Autumn nearly gone for the year, I would catalogue just a few images taken on my phone the past few days to share with you all. 

I love Autumn with it's gorgeous contrast of colours and can never resist to take a few pictures when ever possible. I love the way the trees look and the way the birds sing when it starts to get darker, the cosy nights snuggled up warm at home watching your favourite films, and the way the leaves float to the ground, spiralling and spinning like a dancer. 

   

Autumn also reminds me of new begins before the new year starts in January, with the trees letting their leaves go as if they're memories from this year being placed out of the present and into the past; a catalogue of memories. This may attach to me as one of my favourite seasons, because of this, I am an Autumn baby, but also find beauty in nature and the trees letting their leaves free. It's just magical. It has also been a changed year for me, with things happening that have transition me out of the same routines and into a less predicted world with new beginnings in itself.

So without further ado, here are the pictures I captured on my phone the past few days before we see the last of Autumn and it's gone for the year. Enjoy 😃 🌌

Hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I love them and their beauty.

Thank you for reading,

Caris 

🎃 🎀 Halloween Look | Broken Porcelain Doll 🎀 🎃

🎃 🎀 Halloween Look | Broken Porcelain Doll 🎀 🎃

The final look: Broken Porcelain Doll

Hey,

During the Halloween period, I can't help but take part in the fun and get creative with Halloween looks. Every year I enjoy the fact that no matter how unusual you look, it's acceptable because it's Halloween and everyone looks extremely different to their normal, human selves. And so I thought I'd share my Halloween look with you. 

This year, I dressed up at work to raise money for the children's charity the NSPCC, which my employer frequently supports all year round, and with the chance to show my creativity, I couldn't help but take part and become a broken Porcelain doll. 

   I just love the idea of a broken Porcelain doll and all its hidden meanings for Halloween. Think of the symbolic representation that's associated with dolls: the notion that they resemble childhood and joy, yet when broken, a doll can convey sense of a loss of freedom and hope a child may feel when their toy is broken. This is the basis for all films with creepy, haunted dolls; they symbolise a loss of childhood, broken dreams and lost joy. An example, Annabelle the possessed doll.... 

Make up used for the look

So with my love for horror films, and my interest in the hidden meanings and symbolic representations, I decided to get creative and become a broken Porcelain Doll for Halloween. The idea sprang to me when I was thinking of a Halloween look, and my idea for the broken Porcelain doll popped into my head. My design is my original idea and was created using just my ordinary things: make-up and my every day clothes. I personally prefer not to use expensive make-up for Halloween looks, as you cannot tell the difference and at Halloween the aim is to look as creepy as possible, even if your lipstick is cheap as you'll only be wearing it for a short period. Plus drawing on myself is a bit of a waste of make-up, so I tend leave big brands out of the picture, except for my everyday makeup which consists of brands such as Maybelline, Rimmel and Soap & Glory because I have no other make-up brands to use.

Silver Nude eye-shadow

     The images are from two occasions, my first practice so I could have time to take the images for you lovely people, and the others are from after I got back from work; as I had to set off at 9 for work so wouldn't of had enough time to take images of my look.

Firstly, for the look, I wore my White Long Sleeved Turtle Neck- my essential top for everything - my Black Dungaree Pinafore Dress and white shoes. I paired myself with an old teddy, that is conveniently broken at the back, to mimic the toys that dolls would come with, and give off a creepier vibe. 

Golden Bronze baked eye shadow

For my makeup, I put on my every day look: foundation, concealer, press powder and mascara. I then used a lot of pink blush for my cheeks to mimic the rosy cheeks dolls have, and smokey eye look to make my eyes pop using my frosted Silver Nude eye shadow, and Golden Bronze and Chocolate baked eye shadow. I followed this with my Avon Matte Lipstick in 'Peach Flatters' (which I have previously blogged about alongside other lipsticks: Favourite Lipstick Picks | Lipsticks I Couldn't Live Without) to achieve the heavy and bright lipstick dolls would have.

Chocolate baked eye shadow

I tied my hair into two messy pig tails, then left my fringe out at the front, to present the often childlike hairstyles that dolls would have. This look can also be with your hair down which I wore for work when I decided to leave my hair down for the day after it fell out. 

The finished look close up: Broken Porcelain Doll

To achieve the cracks on my hand and face, I used my Soap & Glory felt tip eyeliner pen and drew the cracks lightly onto my skin, filling in some parts to make it seem as though I was missing pieces. Soap & Glory is the only brand I own for eye liner, as I find it to be amazing because it doesn't smudge, lasts all day, and the felt tip is perfect for precision of make up. The trick with drawing the cracks is to make them as thin as possible and imagine your drawing what cracks on a delicate window would look like. I drew cracks on my right side of my face reaching from my jaw line to my temple, and a smaller one on my left side of my face by my jawline and cheek bone. I then dusted press powder lightly over the cracks on my face to help set the eye liner, and to gain depth of the cracks on my hand, I used ordinary eye shadows in jet black, grey and then white to go over the harsh black lines to give a blended effect, and complete my look. 🎃 🎀


Thank you for reading and happy Halloween,

Yours truly,
Caris  

       

Autumnal Look | My Autumn Wardrobe Favourite

Autumnal Look | My Autumn Wardrobe Favourite

Hey, hope all is well,

With the leaves turning brown and the temperature dropping, Autumn has arrived. in response to the change of season, it only seems appropriate to grab anything warm we can find and throw it on. And with this norm, I felt it was time to update my Autumnal wardrobe for the chilling season ahead. 

In this cold weather, there's nothing I love more than big coat to keep me warm; and I think I've found my love. A few days ago, I brought this Faux Fur Collar Burgundy Duster Coat for £35.00, and have decided it is one of my favourite items 😃

I love the colour burgundy, especially in the Autumn when the leaves turn yellow, to gold, to burgundy, to brown. Walking around buttoned up in this coat, I've never felt more congruous for the season. Paired with skinny black jeans and a jumper and black Chelsea boots, I feel set for the cold weather. 

I adore this coat and it's growing on me by the day. The best part is that it's a statement piece that changes your look from cozy to glamorous and makes you look felicitous for the Autumnal days ahead.

The Faux Fur collar keeps you warm and the best part is that it can be unbuttoned and taken off, transforming your coat into a Boyfriend Coat; meaning you can change your look and add to it to suit any occasion. 

Thank you for reading,

Yours truly,

Caris 

Day Out | Trip to Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Day Out | Trip to The Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Hey hope all is well,

This is a blog repost from my other blog, xDance Dorkx and I thought why not share this post on my blog Caris' Blog for any of you who don't follow or read xDance Dorkx; so that you can all see what amazing pictures I managed to sneak in to my English trip. Enjoy 😊

A few weeks ago (possibly two if I can separate that memory from the memory of the stress A-Levels have given me these past few weeks) I went to The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, to see a recorded screening of the play Jerusalem for my A2 English Language exam. 

     Now you may be asking 'why did you go to see a play that is the recording of one instead of a live performance' and my class and I asked the same question. I guess our teacher felt it would be easier to understand and refer to the play for the exam if we watched it, which is true. But I also found that trips to London with my A2 English class are very amusing and eventful, such as our breakfast at Weatherspoons before we left Oxford for London; and the lady serving hated me with a passion because I paid 39p on my debit card 😂 ....

 However that's not the basis for this blog post, although it's a pretty funny story that I may talk about another time, but the story behind this post is that before I watched the play, I managed to take some pictures of the artifacts, and I've decided to post some of them here for you all to see; because believe me some of them are amazing!      Unfortunately when I tried to get these images onto my laptop, they deleted themselves off my phone, and some artifacts I was not allowed to photograph, but the ones I still have and was allowed to take pictures of are below; so just have a scroll down and take a look. I believe I was in the 'Religion' section -although I cannot recall the exact name- so I believe most of these images are of religious items and just to say I didn't manage to write down what each item was, but it's amazing how beautiful these artifacts are. Here are just a few of the pictures. 

Hope these were interesting, and apologies that there aren't many here, as thanks to my phone they are now deleted 😡 But these are the surviving images and I still think they're just as amazing 😄

Thank you for reading,

Yours truly,
Caris.

A Sweet Treat | Mini Vanilla Bites

A Sweet Treat | Mini Vanilla Bites

Hey, hope all is well,

Image of my Mini Vanilla Bites

A few days ago I made some cakes, which I call my 'mini vanilla bites' and I thought it to be a good idea to share it for all to see. I will be posting images and some quick short instructions to make it as simple as possible, as even though these cakes took me around two to three hours due to complications with the cake as I initially intended these to be cake pops, however the cakes tore in the silicon mold and wouldn't stay put with the sticks, I decided to turn them into my own creation being my mini vanilla bites. 

Ingredients and equipment:

To start, as I did but with the intention that the cakes would become cake pops, you will need a cake pop mould in order to achieve the small round shape of the cakes, one which I recieved as a gift years ago and decided it was time to use it. 

     Secondly you will need to have a cake recipe to follow. I have cake recipe cards which are perfect, but you can find multiple cake recipes in books or online, such as on the BBC Good Food website which I often go to for recipes which I then modify to my desired needs. The cake recipe mustn't be anything too difficult, as you will need to make sure they mold to the cake pop mold, so I went for a simple vanilla fairy cake recipe which doesn't require too many ingredients and so is cheaper to make. This recipe makes 20 mini cakes, however because I was experimenting, I ended up with a two extra cakes, so be sure to scale up or down to the right number. Unfortunately, I don't have to amount for the icing as I experimented with the portions as all recipes were too much for the small cakes, but roughly only 100g because the cakes are so small.

To conclude, you will need:

Cake pop mold or small cake tin

Large mixing bowl

Spoon

Sieve

2 Egg

150g butter/margarine for the cake

150g self raising flour

150g Caster sugar (be sure to use this instead of granulated sugar, as when granulated sugar heats, it clumps together and makes the texture of the cake gritty due to its larger size compared to caster sugar which is finer)

1 1/2 cap (the lid from the vanilla extract bottle) of vanilla extract

Butter/margarine for the icing

Decorations, such as 100's and 1000's and icing pens like I used.

Method:

1) Firstly preheat the oven to 180 degrees-for the vanilla fairy cake recipe I have given above- and make the cake mix, add butter/margarine, caster sugar and beat in the bowl until smooth. Beat the egg/s in a bow/jug until bubbles of air are on the surface-this lets you know air has been beaten into the egg so it will help the cake rise properly into the molds.

2) Using the sieve to avoid lumps of flour in the cake when it's finished, sieve the flour and add the egg and mix until smooth without lumps. Add vanilla extract, bearing in mind to stick to the recipe as too little vanilla extract wont be able to hide the eggy taste of the cake, and too much will make it overpowering and sharp on your throat when you eat the cake.

3) Greece the cake mold/tin with butter/margarine and spoon the cake mixture into each mould making sure to fill it level with the top of the individual cake moulds. If using a cake pop mold like I did, connect the base with the cake mixture to the top mold carefully, and then place on to a tray before putting into the oven as the silicon mold will bend and spill the cake mixture without a tray to support it. Now be sure to only open the oven when you're sure the cake is near or is finished, as this will allow the heat to escape which will effect the cakes' ability to rise like it should into the molds, and may result in flat, deflated cakes. Just follow the instructions and all should be fine. 

4) Whilst the cakes are cooking, make the icing. For mine I used buttercream icing which I would recommend as it's thicker and wont run off the round sides of the cakes like normal icing which concisest of water and icing sugar. Add the better/margarine and sieve the icing sugar to make the icing lump-free. Mix until smooth and creamy, and ensure that the icing does indeed taste like a mix of both icing sugar, with a hint of butter flavour. Icing that tastes solely of butter needs more icing sugar to ensure it's sweet, creamy taste. 

5)Once the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven. After leaving to cool for a while, carefully remove the top cake mold and check the cakes are risen properly by pressing the cakes gently in the middle, if they spring back after pressing them down, they're cooked and risen properly. 

Carefully remove the cake bites from the molds and leave to cool o a wire rack. Once cooled decorate the cakes with icing and decorations, such as 100's and 1000's like I did. To note: be sure the cakes are completely cool as any heat will melt the icing and this will make it run off the cake. 

Leave the cakes on a plate and place in the fridge to ensure the icing sets. Once set, take out and enjoy :)   

I ca,e about this idea of my own, my Mini Vanilla Bites, as i initially intended to create cake pops, which failed massively, so I turned it into a new recipe of my own and they looked cute and tasted delicious, I shall have to make them again. 

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading,

    

Yours truly,

Caris

Summer Photo Picks | My Favourite Pictures Of My Holiday, 2016

Summer Photo Picks | My Favourite Pictures Of My Holiday, 2016

Hey, hope all is well,

 Mountains, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. This image isn't
edited at all, everything you see, all the natural colours;
are untouched, and only captured by me on my camera.

Now I have just been on holiday, and anyone who knows me and my blog, will know that if there's anything I like to do more on holiday; is to take pictures to catelogue my experiences. I have gathered together all the pictures I love the most, in order to share them and to highlight the beauty of the South of Wales where I spent my week on holiday with my family. This year, I am going to create a mini album one could call it, of all the pictures, putting a twist to my usual blogging where I end up writing and writing until about five pages later I only just finish, with the thought that a small collage of photos might be nice to share on my blog with all of you.

Llanelli beach

However, before you have a look at the natural beauty of South Wales, I'll first give you some context on my holiday. I went on holiday Saturday the 30th with my family off to South Wales to a small cottage in the middle of the hills and forest in a small village called Gwynfe, based in the county of Carmarthenshire, which was one of the two county's that wales consisted of. 

Dryslwyn Castle, a 13th century castle.

     The journey took approximately three hours, followed by pacing up the small, steep and narrow roads and over the mountains that I swear look like mount Everest's cousins. The further we went, the higher we got into the mountains, until thirty minutes later we reached the cottage, named 'Forest View Cottage'. 

Dryswlyn Castle

Now the cottage was an average size, painted white and with all rooms on ground level, and being so high up in the mountains, the cottage was cold, with its stone structure. Of course, as you may have guessed, there was no wi-fi, no phone signal- unless you drove twenty minutes to Pen Arthur Wood- and not even a telephone inside the cottage, with the owner of the cottage living next door, I guess they didn't see any reason to have one.To sum up, the area was pretty excluded or even 'remote' as some might say. 

The beginning of the National Show Caves

     Throughout the week, we spent some time travelling to different places, going along a mountain route that winds round the mountains and past the sheep who occupy it. The view was amazing, and you'll soon see why :) In summary, we visited Dryswyn Castle, a 13th century castle now with its remains standing high above the
ground, Llanelli and it's beach and it's national nature reservation grounds with a cycle route that a enjoyed so much, we spent two hours cycling around and even came face to face with swans that didn't seem too happy to see our bicycles because their juvenile babies were around, so they started trying to attack the wheels, and may I add; swans aren't the
most friendliest of birds I can think of. We also visited The National Show Caves which were amazing and had an intriguing history to them of bones found in one of the three caves called the 'Bone Cave' that were from around the iron age or older, with the main cave
being the first to be discovered by the Morgan Brothers in 1912 who had finished

Waterfalls in the National Show Caves

their farm work for the day and decided to finally explore the caves, mapping out every detail of it. We also went to Swansea for a bit of shopping, because I really needed some new shoes that preferably weren't broken like my other ones; and finally Pen Arthur Wood, a small woodland walk just twenty minutes down the road, and down the mountains, from Gwynfe.



So here are all the top pictures from my summer holiday, 2016. I could only choose a few because they were all amazing and I just couldn't fit them all onto this blog post. Scroll down the page to view the rest of images, click to enlarge them. All images are taken by me, Caris and my property :) 

National Show Caves

Waterfalls in the National Show Caves

The National Show Caves

This stalagmite was named 'The Angel'
by the Morgan brothers for its tall human-like structure
and long wings which can be seen to the back of
the stalagmite's structure. The Morgan brothers
 first ventured into the caves after finishing
their farm work early in 1912 and they mapped out
the caves as they went. one hundred and four years later,
they're open to the public with their rich history
and interesting past of the 'Bone Cave' which has remains
dating back to before the Iron age. 

I hope these pictures were worth a look, I think they are it it goes to show the real, untouched natural beauty of South Wales.

Thank you for reading,

Yours truly,
Caris