My beauty diary mask review plus a korean mask review

*11*

Hi readers,

Hope everybody's been well...weather is actually getting pretty cold over here 0_0 so winter is definitely on its way.

Today's post is about two mask reviews. I've only used each product once so it's not highly accurate but I feel like I only need to have used it once to get an impression of how it works :D One of the masks is a Taiwanese brand and the other is a Korean one.

This is the Taiwanese brand: My beauty Diary. It's pretty popular and I've seen many people use it and I like it but I have mixed opinions. I agree that they have nice packaging and cute scents but so far nothing I've used has screamed wow at me. I also bought a vanilla soufflé cleanser from this brand which looks so nice but haven't used it yet, I'll review it at a later date. This is the second MBD mask I've used (my first was the black pearl mask) and I was slightly disappointed. The rose scent wasn't very noticeable and my skin didn't feel particularly softer and more hydrated after the use.

My skin before and after looked and felt the same

 

I had it on for about 30mins because it didn't say how long you're supposed to have it on for but I remember doing the other pearl mask for around half an hour. But afterwards when I took it off, my face didn't feel any different.

And then, after all the moisture from the mask on my face had absorbed, my face began to feel dry. The mask didn't actually hydrate my skin :/ The black pearl mask that I used a while ago was not like this, it was pretty hydrating and my skin did feel better after using it, so maybe it's just this type of mask. This rose mask is also meant to be 'whitening' so you'd probably have to use it for a long time before seeing any effect.

I only bought one capsule clay mask from INNISFREE but it has already become my favourite. I definitely recommend it!!! You can comfortably use it for 3 applications and my skin felt super soft, smooth and very white after only one use. I was soo amazed and was so upset I only bought one. My sister bought one as well and I tried it also and it was equally as good, I'd give it full marks! My skin has never looked so nice and bright!!! I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't intending on doing review which I really regret but hopefully you'll trust me on this one.

 


We bought these two :D
 

Pros of the MBD mask are :

Cute packaging

Subtle scent

 

Cons:

Scent not that strong and not rose like

Not hydrating

No English instructions and no diagrams

 

Overall score: 2/5

 

This is the second mask I used, once again it states that it has a chocolate scent I think? But if I hadn't been shown the packaging I wouldn't say it had a chocolate smell to it. Furthermore, it doesn't have any English written on it so you kind of just have to guess what it says. I would have preferred maybe some slight English instruction but it's still easy to follow because it has pictures. This mask is slightly smaller than the other so I feel that it fits better but there's still a lot of excess in some areas but I guess maybe it's because my face is smaller than the average?

 

This mask was more hydrating and brightening than the first but still not as hydrating or brightening as others I have tried. I paid around 85p for this mask so I'd say despite the cute packaging it wasn't really worth it. There are many other masks from Korean brands like etude house and Innisfree where you can get super good masks for the same price or less so I'd rather spend the money there.  

 

Pros

Cute packaging

Easier fit on face

 

Cons

Price not worthwhile for results

Not particularly hydrating or brightening

Scent not obvious

 

Overall score: 2/5

 

Ketchup soldiers (savoury bruschetta like breadsticks with a sweet salsa), Jungle trekker (dried pineapple, chocolate covered honeycomb and vanilla coated pumpkin seeds- I loved the vanilla coated pumpkin seeds so much!), crunch bunch (pretzels and corn chip chunks), Jaffa flapjack (choc and orange flapjack)

Oh and I thought I'd just show you my graze box my friend sent to me. Graze boxes are getting really popular now so my friend sent one for me to try and I love it!!! It was super tasty and healthy as well! There are coupons you can get to have you first box free or if you pay, it costs I think around 3.85 per box or something. There's lots of options to choose from, desserts/seeds and nuts/savoury snacks so there'll definitely be something you like! There's lots that I've found that I love :D

Go try it out!!!

Hope you liked the new post, there'll be a post on cheese straws, homemade pizza plus bakewell slices coming soon as well!!!

See you soon :) To keep updated, follow me on instagram @mylittlebitofheaven

Bye ¬¬¬

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Raspberry molten cakes

*10*

Hi everyone, how has your week been? I was going to use this post to show my clothes on myself, the part two, but I decided to do a recipe and alternate. So I hope that's okay and I'll post a quick beauty post on two masks I've been using early next week and then I'll get back to the clothes post. I hope by doing this you won't get bored as easily as there's more variety.

So this is a very simple recipe which I added my own twist to.

As the days get colder and we near winter, there are few things more comforting in the evening than a warm dessert and I’m sure most of us would be united in our love for warm chocolate puddings. The chocolate molten cake is a moist chocolate sponge hiding inside, a rich velvety liquid chocolate centre. My twist on this dessert is a handful of raspberries in the batter so you get soft, juicy raspberry jewels within the chocolate sponge as well as topping it with a raspberry sauce. This decadent dessert marries well with raspberries, as the tartness balances out the sweetness of the chocolate whilst the sauce enhances the raspberry flavour and makes each mouthful of the dessert less sticky. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make the dessert even more special or swap the fruit for mango or pear to get your five a day :D This recipe for the basic chocolate cake is by Rachel Khoo and is featured in her recipe book The Little Paris Kitchen

Ingredients (makes 6-8)

170g dark chocolate, finely chopped

170g unsalted butter, cubed

170g light brown sugar

85g plain flour

6 eggs, beaten

For the ramekins: 30g soft butter, 30g unsweetened cocoa butter

For my twist: Raspberries for the batter (amount up to you),

Raspberry sauce: 8 raspberries, 4 tbsp caster sugar, 10 tbsp water

Method

1.       Prepare 6-8 ramekins by brushing them with soft butter and dusting it with cocoa powder, making sure to tap out the excess. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave in rounds of 30 seconds until it’s melted. Mix together until incorporated.

 

 

 

 

 

2.       Combine the sugar and the flour in a bowl. Mix the melted chocolate with the eggs followed by the flour and sugar. (If adding raspberries/fruit, add in now). Fold together the fruit and divide the mixture between the ramekins and refrigerate for a minimum of an hour.

 

 

3.       Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit/Gas mark 4. Bake the cakes for 15-20 mins, so the edge is firm but centre is runny. Insert a skewer and it’ll be wet. Leave to rest for 2 mins and turn out onto a plate.

 

 

To make my raspberry sauce

1.       Add the raspberries, sugar and water together in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, swirling the pan often to prevent the sugar burning.

 

 

2.       Once the sugar has dissolved, keep it simmering for a further 10mins over low heat. Let it cool, it will thicken as it cools but if you would prefer the sauce thinner and find it too thick, put it back on the heat and add more water.

To serve: Spoon over the raspberry sauce, top with more fresh raspberries and add whipped cream or drizzle cream over the cake. Break the cake and let the chocolate liquid pour out…

TIPS: Dusting and buttering the ramekins makes it easier for the cakes to slip out

Pour the hot melted chocolate into the eggs slowly so you don’t scramble the eggs as this bridges the gap between the two temperatures

Avoid over mixing to bring the batter together as you’ll make it more liquid, causing it need to bake for longer and result in a less firm sponge and lack of rise.

 

Hope you like it and try it out!!! Thanks for reading

 

Follow me on instagram @mylittlebitofheaven to get more updates, I'm starting to do my short videos on there as well if that's tempting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute Korean/Chinese style shorts Part 1

*9*

It's autumn!!! And flu season... :/ urgh sorry for the lack of posts, I've been caught down with a cold for like almost a week now :( and I always get the feeling I need to write long posts but I think now ill alternate because then I can update more :D 

Now I love summer so I'm sort of sad that the weather is starting to get colder...no wait... It's not! We're having this mini heat wave come back again so it feels like summer :D I can't tell you how happy I am because I really dislike the cold. I only like it when it snows because it feels really festive and looks so pretty...

So, now that I no it's sort of touch and go I'm really trying to make the most of it. I have to wear more summer clothes before the chance disappears! Literally most of my clothes are for summer, cos in the winter you tend to cover up more like with jumpers and cardigans etc 

I bought several pairs of shorts in Hong Kong all of which are different style and from different places. But they're all from little shops as opposed to commercial companies. Ohmygosh there was this time where I saw the most gorgeous shoes ever, sort of converse style, just above the ankle, had a platform about 1 inch high, soft grey coloured and had a material lace pattern on the back half of the shoe! SHOE HEAVEN! I fell in love with it at first sight because it was a good height, pretty colour and subtle detail of lace on the side and back and most of all it was so cheap. It was about 15 pounds!!!!!!!!!! All of the ones I've seen that I liked in Hong Kong were like 40 pounds so this was such a bargain buy. 

You can imagine how excited I was but then there biggest size was 39 and it didn't fit :( usually I'm a size 39 but maybe this was Japanese sizing so smaller as my feet were cramped right to the front. I was shattered :'( I didn't get it in the end because obviously it didn't fit and also the woman there was so sweet she was like don't buy it don't buy it because it'll hurt your feet if it doesn't fit. 

Usually they all tell me nah just buy it, if you wear it more often the shoes will listen and you'll fit into it :/ yeah, no. I'm not falling for that. She was so genuinely nice so I wished even more I could have bought it... 

So anyway, these are the 3 pairs of shorts that I bought, all at amazing prices, probably no more than 10 pounds each.

This was the first pair that I found, it’s the first pair of high waisted shorts I’ve owned and I think they’re really cute. I love the summery pattern of the light blue background against the contrast of the large flowers. The pair of shorts is elasticated so it looks great with an oversized jumper on top or tuck in a t-shirt for that stylish ulzzang look. The pockets are also really cool as instead of having a regular cut, it’s like culottes. 

I love this pink pair because it’s such a pretty colour. The dusty pink works really nicely both in the summer and in the winter. Therefore it’s very wearable and because the design has no pattern you can wear loads of different colours on the top. You could team it up with a cute cream blouse in the summer season or an oversized grey jumper when it gets a little chilly.  I love the cute detailing of the lace at the bottom plus the cute embellishment of the gold rose buttons. It’s cute and makes the style a little more girly!

This third pair is much more casual but I love it because it’s so unique. Giraffes are my favourite animal and I’ve never seen giraffe shorts. The material is thicker than usual and nice and sturdy and the slightly off white colour keeps it simple against the navy giraffes. There are also pockets at the front as well as the pack which is handy though I probably wouldn’t use the ones at the back ;)

So which pair do you like the most? Next post I’ll do a part two where I’ll take pictures of me wearing the shorts with different pieces to create different styles. 

Thanks for reading!!! 

Catch me on instagram: @mylittlebitofheaven

xxx

Rocky Road Mousse Cake and Chocolate Crisp mousse cake

*8*

Hi 

Today's post is about the two mousse cakes that I made on Sunday.  I'm very happy with how they both turned out which is a rare occasion which proves that this recipe book is fab!  I was also worried about the cutters I was using as I don't have those circular ring moulds she suggests so I used cutters that I use for scones or anything that needs a straight edge or edge with curves. So instead of making 2 3 inch diameter ones I made 3 of all different sizes and they all turned out well. The beauty is that it's no bake so changing the time doesn't matter it's just about setting it for a little while more or less depending on your change. All three of mine were set in around 1 and 1/2 hours which is super super quick. I was very surprised cos they usually say chill for a couple of hours or even 6-8 hours!!! 

I'm very fussy when it comes to biscuit bases, they have to be thick and dense. I hate it when it's so thin that you can barely see a layer and its all crumbly. I like the crunchy biscuit layer against the creamy mousse/cheesecake so I had a thinner layer of mousse to up the ratio ;). Does that bother you?! 

 See, nice thick base :D

So anyway I made two different ones: rocky road mousse cake that had a digestive biscuit layer and a rich chocolate mousse that had a chocolate crispy layer. I'm not sure if I just made them slightly differently but I got two different textures. Personally I liked both the rocky road was genuinely a mousse, light and melt in the mouth... Yum :D and the other one was more like a truffle so denser and thick but also melt in the mouth. 

Previously I have always used gelatin in powder sachets but this time I tried leaf gelatin instead because every time I've used the powder they've always been unsuccessful hunh ~~~ but now I'm totally converted. Leaf gelatin all the way!!! It works great and easily too which is why I guess it's a bit more expensive. Plus I think they look really nice, the ones I bought had a little pattern on it that looks like those windows with a lattice patten on it. Then where the lines meet there's a little 3D dot, intricate detailing right?! 

Also, this was the first time where I used these ring moulds, set them and when the mousse was set, I had to remove the ring. In the book she says to use a hairdryer, the hot hair coming out of the hairdryer causes the mousse to melt slightly which loosens it from the mould as it is no longer stuck to the sides. Therefore, releasing it should be easy. It took roughly a minute, moving the hairdryer around the entire sides of the mould and the cake slipped off with ease. I thought it would melt so much that it would lose its shape but it didn't. You just see the top melt a tiny amount and then it'll work, if not keep heating. Make sure to return it to the fridge so it can set again and retain its shape. Any chocolate decorations you want, you could make them now and chill in the fridge as well.  

Ingredients for Chocolate Crisp Mousse Cake

Crisp cake base: 30g unsalted butter

                             30g chocolate

                             45g crisp

Chocolate mousse: 100ml double cream

                                100g milk

                                100g dark chocolate

                                 5g gelatin leaf (soaked in water until tender) - follow the instructions 

                                  

2 3inch diameter heart rings are used as moulds but it’s up to you what shape and size, so long as you use up the mixture ;)

Method

1. Melt together the chocolate and butter in a microwave or in a hot water bath, then slowly add to the crisps until you have the desired texture. 

2. Scoop into the base of the moulds and compress with a small spoon. Make sure you press firm enough so that the base will hold its shape when it sets.

3. Beat the cream with an electric whisk until stiff, set aside. 

4. Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat, once warm, switch off heat and add the dark chocolate, stirring until smooth. Add the gelatin to the chocolate milk mixture and mix till it has dissolved. Leave to cool.

5. Add the chocolate to the whipped cream and mix using a spatula. Spoon the mixture into the mould and chill in the fridge. 

6. Once set, using the hairdryer method, heat up the mould. Lift the mould up slightly and see if the cake will come off easily but don’t remove it. If it does keep the mould on and sift cocoa powder on top then remove the mould. If not, keep heating the sides. Place back in the fridge. 

    Ingredients for the Rocky Road Mousse Cake (2 3.5 inch circular moulds are recommended)

Digestive biscuit base: 30g Digestive biscuits (I used 8 biscuits)

                                        25g unsalted butter melted and cooled

Rocky Road mousse: 200ml double cream

                                      1 tbsp caster sugar

                                      50g chocolate

                                      5g leaf gelatin soaked in water until tender

                                      2 tbsp hot water

                                      Mini marshmallows for the mousse and decoration

                                      Whole almonds for the mousse and decoration

                                      Chocolate chips

Method

1.     Add the butter slowly to the biscuit crumbs until the texture resembles wet sand, if it isn’t we enough, add more butter. Spoon into the moulds and press down using a small spoon.

 

2.   Whip the cream until almost stiff, add the sugar and whip until stiff. Set aside.

3.      Warm the chocolate in the microwave/hot water bath until melted. Leave to cool and once done so, add to the cream. Mix together. 

4.     Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water and then add the gelatin solution to the chocolate cream, mix well using a spatula. Add the marshmallows, almonds and chocolate chips (chopped to sizes of your preference) and stir 

5.   Spoon the mousse mixture into the moulds and chill in the fridge. 

6. Once the mousse is set, remove from the mould and decorate with mini marshmallows, almonds and chocolate chips and return to fridge to set further.

Serve when set and eat immediately :D Hope you liked the posts!!! My next upcoming posts will be an ulzzang inspired make up look, some cute outfit pieces I bought in Hong Kong plus a review on Etude House's Sweet Recipe choux base which I have been using for ages now and you'll find out why.

Thanks for stopping by <3

Follow me on instagram @mylittlebitofheaven to keep updated!