CHRISTMAS JUMPERS!

My favourite time of the year is nearly upon us! Woohoo!

To get myself even more excited I have been looking at Christmas jumpers and I have bought two already...Think that this will probably be it as I still have some from last year. 

They're both from Topshop who has come up with some jumpers that aren't too in-your-face (or at least that's what I think!).

TOPSHOP SEASONS GREETINGS SWEATER £40

The first one is a super cute light grey sweat top with the slogan "seasons greetings" on the front. It has cute sequin stars and red fold over cuffs at the end of the sleeves. It's a baggy fit which is super comfy to wear!

TOPSHOP SEQUIN CHRISTMAS TREE SWEATER £46

The second is a charcoal grey super soft jumper with sequin applique Christmas trees on the body and arms. This beauty has 6% wool making it really cosy and warm despite the material being quite thin.

I can't wait to wear these out and about along with the rest of my Christmas themed clothes! Yes I have socks and lounge wear bottoms too! 

Here are some other festive jumpers that I'm resisting the urge to buy:

 

L-R
Grey Christmas Pudding Jumper by Dorothy Perkins £26
Mint Green Fairisle Penguin Print Jumper by New Look £22.99
 Stone Santa Paws Christmas Jumper £14.99

L-R
Teal Christmas Tree Jumper by Monsoon £59
Medon Polar Bear Fairisle Jumper by Ted Baker £99
Grey London Scene Christmas Jumper by Monsoon £59

If you're after some more inspiration Cosmopolitan Magazine has a good article to get you in the festive jumper mood which can be found here!

I would love to see your Christmas jumpers!
#fromfifiwithlove and share your pics on Twitter & Instagram! 

FIFI BAKES: WHITE CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY CAKE

During this grim rainy Sunday in London I decided to get my bake-on and make this lovely White Chocolate and Raspberry cake filled with white chocolate ganache.  I used one of John Whaite's recipes who for those of you not in the know won the Great British Bake-Off back in 2012.

You can find the full recipe here but below I have done a little story board of how I made this cake.

Ingredients

L-R: Butter, White Chocolate, Eggs

L-R: Caster Sugar, Self-Raising Flour, Raspberries

For the filling you will need more white chocolate and some double cream!  

Method

 Line your baking tins, pre-heat your oven and melt the butter and chocolate together.

 Beat together the melted butter & white chocolate, eggs and caster sugar before gently folding in the flour.

Carefully fold in the raspberries taking care not to break them and then spilt the mixture equally between the lined tins.

Bake in the oven until golden brown and turn out onto a cooling rack.

To make the white chocolate ganache melt white chocolate and double cream together. Let it cool to room temp and then beat more double cream into it until it's thick and creamy.

Assemble the cake by topping one layer with the ganache and then sandwiching the other one on top.

Finish off with a sprinkling of icing sugar!

This turned out quite yummy! 

I was a bit worried about the amount of white chocolate in it but the raspberries cut through the sweetness nicely.

This is one I'll definitely be baking again!

ADVENT CALENDARS

The Christmas countdown is nearly upon us and it is now time to go out and get your treat-filled advent calendars! 

I've learnt to buy them before December as I recall my Christmas 5 years ago in Brighton where I went out looking for one on December 1st and they had all disappeared from the shelves! *Gasp*

Hence why it's mid-November and I'm all stocked up! *Phew!*

This year I have chosen to get a few different ones:

THE SWEET ONE:

Jelly Belly Advent Calendar £11.50

As a non lover of chocolate this one grabbed my attention as it's filled with 24 bags of Jelly Beans which is perfect for my sweet tooth. It has an image of Santa Claus made of jelly beans which almost looks like a pointillist artwork! I can't wait to open this one up!

THE BEAUTY ONE:

No7 Advent Calendar £35

Beauty Advent calendars have gained momentum in recent years and most come with ridiculous price tags namely the Benefit one which is £60! This soon left my wish list when I discovered that some of the windows have stuff like hairbands and cheap looking bracelets inside. 

Instead I have gone for No7's offering which I thought would double as a little pressie for my mum who uses No7 skincare. This one is great value for money as all the windows have a range of skincare, make-up, nail polishes and make-up brushes. Mum and I will share this one as I can have the make-up bits that she doesn't use. 

This one has 25 windows so you get a little pressie on Christmas day too!

If you want some more beauty advent calendar inspiration Cosmopolitan Magazine have a great link here! 

THE KITTY ONE:

Pets at Home Cat Advent Calendar £2

We shouldn't forget our furry friends when it comes to Christmas and for Daisy I have picked up the Pets at Home cat advent calendar. This one has catnip choc treats behind every window which I'm sure Daisy will enjoy!

THE ONE FOR THE HOME:

John Lewis Snowflake Advent Candle £8 

For the home I picked up an advent candle from John Lewis for us to burn during our cosy evenings in the living room. It is a white candle with beautiful silver snowflakes printed on it along with the numbered days along the length of the candle.

This really is my favourite time of the year and these calendars will add some more excitement to the month and after all who doesn't love a daily treat?

MANI MONDAY- METALLIC PLUM

Plums have really been on my nail radar this season which is a change from my usual bright pinks. 

This gorgeous colour from No7 fulfills my magpie-like cravings by having a lovely metallic finish and I decided to add a glittery gold accent nail to add some extra sparkle!

Products used:

No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in  Damson Dream £6.00

Mavala Nail Colour in 227 Sparkling Gold £4.75

Nails Inc Gel Effect Topcoat £12

 All of the above are available at larger Boots stores.

CUSTOM MAC PALETTE

After envying people's MAC eye shadow collection on Pinterest I decided to make my own MAC eye palette- what can I say, I'm easily influenced by pretty images!

 They are super easy to create online where you can buy the palette case and all the single pro-pan eye shadows to go inside. 

I went for a 4 pan palette and the lovely thing about these is that they slot in using magnets which makes them easy to remove and pop back in again. 

This is super handy if you want to change up the colours in the palette. 

The palette itself is reasonably priced at £5 and they come in different sizes from 2 shadows to 15!

Pro-Palette Eye shadow x4 can be bought here.

The shades I went for are :

Stars 'N' Rockets              All That Glitters

Pink Freeze                      Dazzlelight

Stars 'N' Rockets and Pink Freeze are purple / pink hues while All That Glitters and Dazzelight are great neutral shades. 

Now you might be wondering how I came to these choices seeing as there are loads and loads of colours and finishes to pick from. Well, I came across a picture on Pinterest that had every single shade available which led me to a blog post with all the info I needed. 

It is also easy to do a quick search of "MAC eyeshadow swatches" which will bring up many shades swatched on different skintones. 

The eyeshadow pans themselves cost £10 each and they slot into the palette holes with ease. So far I am enjoying using the palette as it's really clean and professional looking and the slim design makes it easy to pop into my make-up bag.

I'm already eyeing up more colours from the range...it seems that a girl can never have enough eyeshadow!