A few fun new accessories for the New Year. I absolutely love the iphone case and the crystal watch. I chose lots of earrings this time too as Baublebar has some particularly lovely ones at the moment.
Which ones are your favourite?
Perfume is something I’ve really only become interested in the last couple of months or so. I found it quite overwhelming to begin with. I had no idea what I liked and where to begin. Anyway, in the process I’ve come across some amazing online resources that were of great help to me, so I wanted to share them here to hopefully be of help to you too :)
This is an absolutely incredible site. It’s by far the best perfume review/community I’ve come across. They have break downs and member reviews on pretty much any perfume you can think of as well as lots of great articles and information to help you understand everything perfume related. You are given recommendations based on what other members like, the season, time of day, similar scents etc. I’ve already spent so much time on this site and there still seems to be so much good information here I’m yet to discover.
I’m just setting up a profile too.You can me here. :)
The forum on this site is really great too and members are more than happy to help recommend you some new perfumes to try.
Basenotes is another community/review perfume site that looks really good too. I haven’t spent as much time on this one as I don’t find the layout quite a helpful as Fragrantica – but definitely worth a look :)
Perfume expert Katie Puckrick’s Channel on Youtube is both incredibly helpful and really entertaining. She does lots of nice, short and sharp reviews on some of the most famous fragrances and has lots of tip and collection based videos too. I’ve gotten so much out of watching her videos lately. They’ve provided a great introduction for me to a range of different scents.
I highly recommend checking out her web app too – Fume Finder. Here she lists her favourite scents categorised by season, style, ingredient and more. I’ve discovered lots of lovely new perfumes through here too.
It’s rather difficult to get mini sample vials here in Australia and I’m someone that really has to try out a perfume a number of times before I get an idea of how much I like it/or will wear it. I’ve come across two websites that look really great for purchasing sample vials.
This site is amazing!!! They actually produce the vials themselves so you can choose from a 1ml up to a 15ml (depending on the scent). My favourite thing about this site is that they produce vial sampler sets of about 8 different scents based on perfumes notes/categories, colour, periods in history, seasons, award winners and popularity for example. There are so many perfumes to choose from it’s actually rather overwhelming. They seem to ship to a lot of countries too, including Australia. Sets start from about $25 for 8 x 1ml vials. Single vials are start from about $3.
I also find it really helpful to look through the lists of sample sets to get an idea of some perfumes I might like to try. I am thinking of purchasing one of the Introductory Oriental Vanilla or Floral Sets – If I get this I’ll let you know how I go.
I can’t actually find the sample/vial page now (if there was one??) but if you search for a scent you’re interested in there are usually samples available from $3 to $6. I don’t have any personal experience from here but it looks really great – they also sell makeup and skincare too.
Also, at the moment Sephora has the most amazing gift set – Fragrance Sample For Her. It comes with 14 samples of some of their most popular perfumes plus a voucher for a full size bottle of your favourite scent. I really wish this was available here in Australia. It would be such a great gift for someone starting out with perfume.
I really love checking out the mini perfume gift sets that come out around christmas and then are on sale this time of year. As mentioned above, perfume is something I find really difficult to know how much I like it until I actually start wearing it – sure there are perfumes I know I either love or hate straight away – but others are much more dependant on my mood.
This is the same sort of idea as with samples but instead of investing in a large bottle of a new scent, see if it available as a Roller Ball or within a Mini Gift Set first. I love getting these as they really give you a great chance to try out many different scents and also have lots of options on hand for different occasions. Most major perfume brands have them. They usually come with 4-5 little 1oz bottles and retail for around $50 US. I think it’s good to be sure you like at least 2-3 in the set before you buy it. It’s fun to see which perfumes you end up using. They are absolutely perfect for those just starting out with perfume. There are a lot of these sets brought out at Christmas time and are especially great to pick up now as many are on sale.
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Here is an early christmas present for you all. This is one of my favourite sweets to make – it’s simple, quick and absolutely delicious too (perfect for last minute Christmas hurry).
The fudge is velvety smooth and rich with the raspberries adding a beautiful tart freshness (it’s very nice to eat).
Adapt any measurements to suit you. I usually just measure by eye on for this one. If you like it more chocolatey, add more chocolate. If you like it more fudgey add more butter. If you don’t like raspberries, leave them out and add anything else that takes your fancy (or have it plain). You could use milk chocolate for this too and add some sugar. I chose dark as it’s my favourite. I have tried this recipe with white chocolate too but I couldn’t get it to stop splitting with the butter.
This is of course gluten free too, as long as you use gluten free chocolate and icing sugar. :) sugar.
Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fudge Make about 20 pieces (like pictured)
Ingredients: 200g (7 oz) Dark Chocolate, Broken (I like the Nestle Plaistowe 70% Cooking Chocolate)
110g (4 1/2 oz) Unsalted Butter, Cubed
A good handful or so of fresh or frozen raspberries (best is thawed first)
Optional:
An extra half block (100g/4 oz) or so of chocolate to melt on top
A spoonful of liqueur (if you like) Creme De Fromboise (or any raspberry flavoured liqueur), kirsch, even a little of something orange flavoured would be nice too – like Cointreau.
Icing Sugar to decorate.
You will also need:A small baking pan (or a tupperwear container) – I used a 15cm x 15 cm (6″x6″) one here, grease proof (baking) paper, a small saucepan, a wooden spoon, a mixing bowl, Instructions:
1. Measure out ingredients. Line baking pan with grease-proof (baking) paper. 2. Bring about 1 1/2 cups of water (1″ depth of water or so) to boil in the saucepan and let it simmer at a low temperature. 3. Place the broken chocolate in a bowl over the saucepan. I like to prop the bowl up on a spoon (like pictured) so steam can escape easily from the side. (You could melt this is the microwave too of course). 4. Stir chocolate with a wooden spoon until it has melted. 5. Add the butter and keep stirring until that has melted too. 6. Take the bowl off the heat (use oven mits as bowl can get hot!) and stir in raspberries. It’s nice if some remain whole while some break apart so you get a mix of both. Add some liqueur at this stage too it you like. 7. Pour mixture into baking pan. Cover, and let it set for a few hours or overnight.
8. Once it’s set it’s ready! If you like though you can melt some extra chocolate to pour on top. Let it set again and cut with a sharp knife.
9. Serve with a dust of icing sugar and good christmas cheer.
This fudge does melt in warmer temperatures so make sure to store in fridge.
It can be a bit messy to eat too (serviettes may be needed if hot) but it’s totally worth it!
This one of my favourite sweets to make – and all it is is melted chocolate and butter!
Hope this works out for you. Let me know how you enjoy it :)
I was only going to have 10 ideas under $10 but I found so many wonderful things that I could not narrow it down. These are all from Forever 21. They have so many wonderful accessories at the moment, hopefully there is something here for everyone. Santa, if you’re reading this I really like the heart mirror and the neon pink earrings (hint, hint)
