Food

The ultimate breakfast

13:37:00 Neona 0 Comments

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".. I cannot count how many times I've heard this but as teenagers we're also told "sleep is so important" however if I want to get enough sleep it means I have to sacrifice my breakfast and vice versa. Most mornings I have to survive on a couple of breakfast biscuits and will my stomach to keep from letting my classmates know just how hungry I am. Weekends on the other hand are bliss, I get a lovely lie in and can have a great breakfast- basically the definition of having your cake and eating it! A lot of the time I stick to the staple cereal or a toasted bagel but at times I feel like venturing and having more 'aesthetically pleasing' breakfasts. This week I made a simple bowl of oats, decorated with sliced strawberries, candied nuts and cinnamon sugar. A breakfast that took no longer than 10/15 minutes to make and tasted delicious (not to mention it was also highly photogenic). The recipe is highly customisable as well which means you'll never get tired of these good ol' oats!

Ingredients 

-Regular oats, literally whatever kind
-A couple of strawberries (I only used two but I have the appetite of a small child) or any other fruit- bananas or blueberries work quite nicely
-Two teaspoons of sugar, again whatever kind you have
-Half a teaspoon of cinnamon

For the nuts
-Handful of nuts of any kind or skip out on them if you're not a fan
-Teaspoon of maple syrup
-Teaspoon of honey
(If you don't eat honey or maple syrup, two teaspoons of any kind of syrup is usable whether agave or golden syrup)

Method

1) cook the oats as instructed on the packet- unfortunately I don't follow a rigid recipe and go for the 'just do whatever and hope it works out' but I'd say roughly 300ml or any milk/water with about half a cup of oats?? Honestly just see what looks right
2) (you can actually do this in advance and I think it does work better that way) start by crushing the nuts with a rolling pin, place them into a small saucepan with the honey and syrup on a low heat. Make sure to stir continuously until it starts to thicken and bubble a bit. Take these off the heat and spread them onto greaseproof paper or something that's greased down so they don't stick as they cool. The best thing to do is to let them cool completely then bash them up with a rolling pin again to get the candied pieces ( I made the mistake of eating them right after I took them off the heat and they were a bit too chewy)
3) in a small bowl mix the sugar with the cinnamon until the sugar is coated and sprinkle this on the oats (make it as pretty as you like!)
4) slice the strawbs and begin arranging them on the oats as well going to town with whatever design you choose
5) EAT!

I hope this tastes as good to you as it did for me, these oats have me craving breakfast at all times of the day!




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Beauty

Lipsticks I love

16:07:00 Neona 0 Comments

I don't own a lot makeup at all and honestly I rarely put on a full face (where is the time?), basically I've just got a little bag or two with just enough bits and bobs to get by. Don't get me wrong though I'm very fond of my makeup and I do love to experiment but definitely not enough to be a beauty guru like Zoella or my current favourite beauty YouTuber Irishcel507. Saying that I did want to show you all the lipsticks I'm currently loving, all from different brands so there's a lot of variation which I do love!


1) Sin by M.A.C
This is a little gem I picked up at Christmas, a deep berry shade which is matte. I love this lipstick so much as although it is matte it's so creamy and also I think it smells like chocolate?.. One thing I'd recommend before putting this on especially if you have chapped lips is some lip balm before hand just to make sure it stays perfectly in place and doesn't "crack" (I think that's the right word?).

2) Matte 1993 by Urban Decay
Words can't describe my love for this lipstick! It's a nude colour for me which I love as I can use it for a natural makeup look. Like the M.A.C one it is matte also (it's in the name I know) and it does go on really well but I'd still say a bit of lip balm would do you good! As with most nude colours it's recommended you do put a bit of lip liner on to define your lips, I just use a brown and it does the trick!

3) Military Red by Burberry
Now this lipstick is just a sample, a miniature I got for free when Burberry did a little online Twitter promotion. This lipstick is honestly the creamiest consistency I've ever felt, it's like butter I swear. I would recommend the full sized version- although it was a bit pricey- as it is a nice red lip!

4) Harlow Red by Bobbi Brown
This was the lip crayon I used for prom, and what I do love about it is that you can vary the shade (at least I can) depending on how much you apply. From a simple "red" to a bright "crimson" it's great to know it's quite versatile- and it's great to colour your lips on with a giant pencil like a child playing dress up!

I've also got a quick swatch just to show you what the colours look like on!




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Travel

Cyprus, an escape to the sun

18:36:00 Neona 2 Comments

As a lot of you probably don't know (due to my lack of updating) I spent Valentine's weekend in the south of Cyprus with my family this year as a little break from school and the awful English weather. For three days we stayed in a beautiful apartment and drove around the amazing city, randomly picking pre-programmed tourist attractions in our sat-nav and letting it take us anywhere! It was the perfect adventure, having your own car to drive around in meant you could pack as many different location visits into one day, don't like where you've ended up? Totally fine just drive somewhere else! Being able to do this meant that in the short few days we'd been there we saw more than we could have dreamed of, from beaches to zoos and quaint little rock pools- which I may or may not have fallen into.. Each day held a new surprise and although it wasn't hot enough to use the outdoor pool (and sadly we only discovered the indoor one on the last day) we still managed to be busy from dawn to dusk!

We went to a mini cliff type thing, rock pools and the Tombs of Kings on the first day which were all so lovely! Just taking in the view of the sea and hopping from rock to rock was enough to satisfy me for ages and the tombs which could date back to 4th century BC were so quiet and serene, I really love archaeological sites!











The second day was the zoo which although I was hesitant to go to as I've been to the zoo multiple times at home I was far from disappointed! I think we all revert back to our five year old selves when surrounded by animals, my inner Snow White came out as I tried to communicate with them all. The zoo had a little show they did mainly with the most talented Parrots I've ever seen in my life but also some beautiful owls (one of which was in Harry Potter!). Weirdly enough our favourite part of the zoo was actually feeding the Goats, who were very aggressive when it came to eating the leaves! We also came across the cutest baby Goat and I was tempted to pick it right up and take it home with me. We also visited the mall, where I couldn't resist going into Zara and having a mini top haul as Cyprus really know the meaning of 'sale'.








That evening we went on a bit of a drive around to the harbour and stumbled upon a castle which we hung around until the sun completely set, listening to the sea (I swear I would've stayed there forever).



On the last day we came across the indoor pool, so naturally we spent a good hour in there soaking up as much chlorine as possible. Clearly we couldn't get enough of the water as we went on to visit the beach. I don't know how many beaches it'll take for me to not be in awe as I gaze off into the horizon where see meets sky *and a few other cheesy quotes*. After that it was back to the mall where I picked up two blouses for school again from Zara and we returned back to the hotel content with how we'd spent the day. The evening was packing- and sneaking back into the swimming pool again- before watching the sunset and having an early night ready for our early flight.





Three days was definitely not long enough for this trip! It was gutting to land back home, facing the mountain of work I'd so casually left 'for later', not realising 'later' would come a lot faster than expected!

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2 comments:

A little catch up

17:35:00 Neona 3 Comments


Hello everyone! After many months of being stagnant I'm back and with a new fully functioning theme (at last I know). So over the last 7/8 months a lot has happened! From results day to a new school, birthdays and the stress of A Levels, it's been quite eventful and I really do regret not documenting it all. Time got the best of me but now I'm hoping to take this blog seriously and keep you all updated until you're sick of me (which may have happened already but we won't dwell on that).

With a new theme I have also come up with a few new ideas that I hope you'll all enjoy. I'm so excited to begin blogging again!!

As always if there's anything you would like to suggest or just general feedback, feel free to let me know in the comments.

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