CLINIQUE TAKE THE DAY OFF

I don't know about you, but I find great joy in getting home from a long day and taking my making up off. My skin is so thankful. It may have taken me many minutes that morning to put my Picasso skills to work to create a convincing human-like appearance but I certainly don't want fussy, complicated products to take it all off. Which brings me to today's post.

I wasn't sure I would write a post about this particular product but three jars later I realised that it had earned a place on the blog. For some reason Clinique has always been one of those brands that I've never really looked twice at but I heard skincare goddess Caroline Hirons mention this balm and I'm really loving using it. Take the day off cleansing balm is designed to melt away traces of make up and is fragrance free and suitable for all skin types.

Like I say, I am a few pots into using this product and I really like it. It has a solid, waxy texture to it which when warmed between the palms becomes a silky balm. I use it every evening to take my make up off and apply it by massaging onto dry skin, including over my eyes to dissolve mascara and eye make up and rinse off with warm water.

I am a double cleanse kinda gal and this for me is a great first step. It clears all traces of my make up and leaves my skin prepped for my second cleanse which I use this product for. It really does the job and is definitely a product I keep returning to and I would recommend it if you are looking for a make up removing cleanser. It doesn't have all the skin loving ingredients that you will find in products such as the Emma Hardy balm or like some oil or some cream cleansers have but for a first step cleanser to simply get your skin make up free and ready to take in all the nutrients of your second step cleanser it works perfectly.

I'm impressed with this pot and a little does go a long way so it should last you a good few months.

Have you tried it? What's your go to cleanser?

Until next time, Steph x

RED VELVET EASTER CUPCAKES

If your after a little dusting of Easter baking inspiration today's post has got you covered. I am not a huge chocoholic, don't get me wrong I like a bar everyone now and then, but I do love a nice cake and red velvet is one of my absolute favourites. So I made these Easter red velvet cupcakes.

To make these yummy little cupcakes, I followed Nigella Lawson's recipe which you can find here. It was the first time I have ever attempted to make these and I was quite pleased with them however I think when I make them again I may reduce the amount of cocoa powder slightly and increase the food dye as there were slightly more brown than I had hoped! There's always next time hey!



I slightly adjusted the original recipe to make these cupcakes so you will need:

250g plain flour
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
100g of soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 and 1/2 heaped teaspoon of red food dye
2 teaspoons of Vanilla extract
2 large eggs
175ml milk
Cake tray and cupcake cases
Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees or gas mark 3.

Now you have everything you need, let's bake!

Firstly, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa together in a large mixing bowl.





In another bowl, mix the caster sugar, vanilla extract, softened unsalted butter and eggs together until it becomes a light creamy texture.

Add the red food dye to this mixture. Like I said in the ingredients list, I would put more of the dye and less of the cocoa than the original recipe says next time as I wanted them a little bit more red in colour.

Add the red butter mix to the dried flour and cocoa and stir together.

Split the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes.

To make the cream cheese frosting you will need:

50g icing sugar

125g cream cheese

125g unsalted butter

Vanilla extract

Galaxy Golden eggs

Milk chocolate for grating

You will need to combine the icing sugar, cream cheese, vanilla extract and butter for this frosting and for best results this is done using a food processor so your frosting has a smooth and whipped texture.

Grate some chocolate and put aside some Galaxy Golden balls- if you can manage to not eat them about before the cakes are ready! Look how yummy!

Cakes are baked! Like I've said already, I did think they were a bit too chocolate in colour so next time I'd do the alterations!

Tadah! Cakes are ready to be eaten!

They did taste really good though and my friends and family were grateful for their cake deliveries! I made them a bit more Easter themed by adding some grated chocolate on top of the cream cheese frosting and placed a very yummy Galaxy golden egg on the top of each! De...... lish!!

Let me know if you give these a go, tag me on Twitter with a picture of your baking creations!

I hope you have a lovely week, until next time Steph x

ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELY MAKE UP RANGE

I love Rosie Huntington-Whitely. She is a gorgeous successful business woman and she has recently expanded her Autograph partnership with Marks and Spencer by bringing out a dreamy new make up collection.

The range consists of quad eye shadow palettes, eye liners, brow pencils, lipsticks and so much more she really created a full collection of beauty must haves and the packaging alone is an absolute dream. Who can resist make up encased in rose gold? Not me!


Rosie's range is designed to reflect of her own signature look, quite natural, classy, seductive sophistication and playful too. Every single product in the range is something you can see Rosie using, the eye palettes are browns, light pinks, creams, pale greys the lipsticks are a selection of silky nudes with a couple of pops of colour.

 I (somehow) managed to control myself and just picked up the translucent finishing powder. I needed to replace mine and I really like the texture of this product. The powder is really fine and light and very similar to the Nars light reflecting powder in it's texture but it's £18 versus Nars's £27. It has a lovely light lavender scent to it which I fell enhances the experience of using it and it's not overly heavy in the aroma.

I've been using the powder for around a week now and I have to say I'm really impressed with it. It set's my foundation without making me skin feel caped in make up or without getting rid of a healthy glow. I've found in the past that some face powders can dull the skin and make the complexion look flat but this has a lovely finish to it and it really has lasted well all day. I don't have time during work to touch up my make up so I really need products with staying powder and this really does deliver.

I am a big fan of Rosie and her Autograph lingerie range mainly because I love that she has designed a really classy, fun and flirty line that goes down to a 30 inch bra size. I know that a lot of bigger busted ladies struggle to get pretty bras big enough for them but the same goes for those of us with small backs and I've forever been grateful for her Autograph range because of this! I think it's always tricky for someone with as her profile as hers to go branch into a new empire but she really has create a fantastic range and I already have my wish list ready for payday to buy some more!

From my playtime in the store I have felt how moisturising the lipsticks are and how good the pigment of the palettes are. This range really should come with a warning because you will most definitely want more than one product from it! Make sure you go after payday!

Well done Rosie, it's a fabulous success.

Until next time, Steph x

MY BLOG HAS A FRESH NEW LOOK

Hello reader and welcome back to my blog! I've been spending quite a lot of time giving my blog a little makeover since you last dropped by and I'm so pleased with the finished look and I hope you like it too!

Layout

I've completely overhauled my layout which I'm so happy with. I feel it looks more refined and is now more like the vision I had for it. When I first started this blog I didn't know how long it would last and whether it was going to be something I would manage to keep going alongside a full time job but as the one year anniversary passed, I really wanted to upgrade it and get it looking how I wanted. The prices for pre made templates does vary a great deal there are companies such as Pipdig where templates range from £29 or Etsy is an absolute Aladdin's cave of templates ranging from as little as £5! It's always worth getting involved in blog chats and asking the blogging community for their experiences and recommendations. This is exactly what I did and the lovely Annalea who has a blog here suggested  VefioThemes which is ran by someone called Angga on Etsy. The prices for their templates are around £8 and they are so helpful with setting up the template and I continue to be back and forth with questions I've had and have found them so friendly so I would definitely recommend this Esty shop. I'm really pleased with how my blog looks now and I like that I can keep building on this new template and adjust things. What do you think?

Name changer

I've also had a name change from Stephanie Fay to I'll Tell You Tomorrow. I found it so difficult to choose a name when I set my blog up and going with my name seemed like a good idea but I felt ready for a change and to embrace a new name with the new look. So where does the name come from? Well, when I went to Santorini last year there was a bar there that had a sign outside which said 'free drinks tomorrow'. This really tickled me at the time and I thought it was a fun, cheeky sign that I really liked. So I've adapted it for my blog as although I proclaim myself to be a blogger, I also have a full time job and what I don't get time to tell you today, I'll tell you tomorrow. I really like and if you follow me on Twitter and Instagram, which you totally should, I'm all matchy matchy on there too. Yay!

Domain name

Along with a name change I decide to purchase a new domain (web address) I did this through GoDaddy as I wanted my blog to look more professional and now that I'd changed the name for what I wanted it seems like a good time to tie it all in. I found GoDaddy really easy and fortunately there are some really good YouTube videos to show you step by step on how to change over from a blogger.com or Wordpress domain. The video I followed is here. I did have a couple of issues and was offline for two days but the power of Twitter and it's direct messages meant that I could contact GoDaddy on their help Twitter page and they looked into my account and got me sorted! When my blog did disappear offline whilst my new domain web address was established, it did make me feel quite anxious that the blog wasn't live and you guys couldn't access it. Not that anyone potentially was trying to access it but ya' know, if they were, they couldn't. So that did make me realise how much I like being a creative and having an online space and also how important the changes I've made are to me.

I'd love to know what you think of what I've done so far in this makeover so please do leave a comment, but remember this is a positive space! Constructive please! I'm looking forward to making this even better but I am very happy with where I'm at so far. Don't forget to click on the links on the right hand side and make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin', I would love it if you would!

I hope your having a lovely day, it's good to be back online. Catch up soon, Steph x

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO MY BLOG!

WOWZERS! Happy birthday to my blog! When I first started this little blog of mine I wasn't sure whether if was going to be a flash in the pan job or whether it would be something with real staying power but here I am a year on and I'm still going at it! I can't believe a year has passed with me posting my musings and actual people ACTUALLY reading them!

When I look at other people's blog's I always end up giving myself a hard time that mine doesn't look as good or is as high end or as interesting but when I look at the posts I have made throughout the year I can already see growth and improvement throughout the year. In content, writing style and photography too. This makes me really happy because you can only measure your success by knowing where you started and acknowledging and embracing the changes, challenges and improvements. By writing this post today, that is exactly what I am doing. Yes, I wish I posted more regularly, yes I wish the layout was more flash, yes I wish I had more Twitter followers and more readers to reach out to and yes I wish I could nail a flat lay. But I accept it is a work in progress, I am not done, I am learning and I will continue to grow and so will this blog. I am proud to be into my second year of being a blog owner. It's a big commitment and a lot of responsibility. Most of which I put on myself for feeling pressure to post. But if I don't post, it's because I've nothing worth sharing just yet. I don't post for any old reason. I hope you appreciate and accept that. Time is a challenge. But stick with me. I want to do more and hopefully this second year will bring more opportunities to reach out and have a chat.

If you have read only this post, last weeks post, or all of them THANK YOU. It means so much. Here's where I started, my very first blog post about a product and brand I absolutely love. My Ultimate Cleanser


Year one done. Steph x

LAURA MERCIER BROW DEFINER

I have been using a budget brow kit for about a year now from Collection and whilst it has been a good starting point for brow shape training, I have been after something a bit more refined for a while and after a shopping trip to Leeds I found a great replacement product from Laura Mercier.

Brows are big business and in the last few years it's been all about making them look shaped, defined and tamed. I have mine waxed and tinted every few months and I'm trying to grow them a bit thicker following the post over plucking days! There are starting to get a tad sparse in areas *cries inside* so I've been looking for an brow upgrade product and here's what I bought.

I popped into SpaceNk and a lady in there showed me the Laura Mercier Brow Definier .She used it herself and applied it to my brows so I could see how it looks and I was immediately impressed.

The Collection palette is a powder brow kit and the main downside I found with this type of brow kit is that you tend to be able to see the powder on your skin underneath the fine brow hairs which I really don't like. I've had the same issue with brow pencils too so these for me are a no go.

The brow definer is a wax gel formulation which attaches to the brow hairs to build colour and definition without having the skin stained look. It clings to each brow hair and holds them in place without that crusty feeling which is brilliant! I picked up the shade warm which is the darkest of the three on offer and it was the sales assistant chose for me so I'm afraid I didn't actually see the two other shades to be able to tell you about them! However I think the warm it a great shade for me, I have fairly dark brow hairs anyway and I think this colour matches well.

I've been using this little brow pot for about two weeks and I have to say I really love using it. I apply it with a Real Techniques slanted brow brush from the core collection set and I use light upward strokes following my brow shape and applying more where the sparser areas are. I have taken some before and after pictures to give you an idea of how the products looks. I'm not into strong brows, I just wanted a defined but still natural look. I've taken some before and after photographs to give you an idea of the look you can achieve with this product, obviously if you want a stronger look you can keep building the colour.

 

 
 

I'm really impressed with this product and I can already tell it's going to be one of those products I'll be repurchasing.

What are your best brow products? Have you tried this one?

Leave me a comment lovely readers!

Steph x

MY WEEK: 3

This week I had a few days off work which was VERY nice and VERY much needed! Working in retail, I am still catching up and coming down from the madness that was Christmas and obviously retail during this time equals not a lot of time off! So this was me catching up! It's been quite a busy one so here's what I got up to.

If you've been following my blog you will know that I am still in the long drawn out process of buying a house and my plan is then to rent my flat out. So I took some time to freshen up the paint in the hallway and start making small improvements to get it ready for renting. I bought my flat from new 7 years ago so it's in really good condition as a result. I remember being shown around it when I was considering it as a future home and it was very much in the early build days and had no walls. Me and my Mum did our best to use our imagination as the sales lady showed us round using phrases like "this will be the bedroom, obviously once the walls have been put up" and then turning to me to ask " what do you think?" Erm. It has no walls. "Yeah it's really nice, very homely" my answer.

There isn't really a lot I need to do to it before renting it but I'd like to re paint the bathroom and maybe get a new lounge carpet, a cream carpet does not fair well seven years on. But I'm pleased with my paint job and it's nice to get it ready for someone and for it to be as nice a home to them as it has been to me.

Also this week I went for a walk around a park not too far from me where I used to go so often with my Grandparents and feed the ducks. The weather was a bit grey and dull but I thought it would be nice to have some fresh air and take some blog photo's. I use a Canon 1200D for my blog photo's which I'm still learning how to use and I'm more than sure I don't use it to it's full spec. Note to self; learn how to use all it's features!

 

 I also thought I would give vlogging a go! I keep umming and ahhing about whether to start up a YouTube channel and as I have never recorded myself or had a go at putting together this kind of content, I thought I would give it a try. I headed out with my Canon camera which I tend to take my blog pictures on and then I had my compact camera to try vlogging. I've literally never felt so self conscious in what was actually a pretty empty park! I kept trying to get into areas where no one was around and then quickly whipped my camera out, spoke some rushed words and then shoved my camera back in my pocket and attempted to look like a casual park stroller. I really do take my metaphorical hat off to daily vloggers and those who vlog in busy public areas. I don't know how they manage to be so confident and not bothered by the looks they must get from people who really don't get what they are doing. I know if I saw Alfie Deyes with his camera, on the street, I know he would be vlogging but what must people who have never even heard of it think! Anyway I managed to put some clips together and if it ever makes the internet, you'll be the first to hear about it! Once I'd got into it I did actually really enjoy it and I was laughing at myself thinking 'your bonkers but this is fun!'


I had a lovely trip to a Centre Parcs Aqua Sana spa this week for a twilight evening session. I have been to their spa's many times and they are still one of my favourites. If you've read my bio you will know that I used to work in a spa as a Senior Therapist for 5 years and I love going to them. I feel that with the Aqua Sana's, they have such a good range of rooms, different steam rooms, herbal rooms, sauna and quiet areas. I really do rate their facilities, the only thing I would love them to offer is classes. I think if they had yoga (we know how much I love me some yoga!) Pilates, and Zumba type classes this would make me more interested in going for a full day. I had a nice chilled evening, had dinner there and almost fell asleep three times which was risky as I usually go with a friend but I went on my own this time so I could have ended up having an impromptu sleepover! Side note, I think it's better to go with a friend, I found I was getting annoyed with other pairs talking in some of the rooms which you only really notice when your sat quietly on your own without anyone to talk to! Obviously I couldn't take many photo's but here's a few!

I went to a local antiques fair this week as well. I've never been to one before and I didn't really know what to expect and whether I may not 'fit' the customer profile to these types of things but it was really good and I spotted the Bargain Hunt tv crew filing there whilst I dodged the cameras in my no make up state. I went looking for furniture pieces for the new home, which yes I still do not own yet but partner is home this week then all should get sorted! It was a pretty huge affair, a bit like a massive car boot to be honest. I did find another set of retro style drawers (see week 1) and I have to say I think I preferred them to the ones we've already bought however they were £20 and these ones were £200! They were made by Stag though which is a great furniture brand and really well made. I couldn't get hold of my other half to see what he thought so I ended up leaving them but I'm kinda gutted I've missed out on them. But my logical self is telling my, ' secure the home first'. There are more of these fairs coming up which, fingers crossed, is around the time we should be in so makes more sense to wait! God damn I'm not patient at all and I'm falling out with my logical self right now. Over drawers. Yep. Awesome looking drawers I don't now own. Wahhh. These are the drawers in question (took a pic to send the other half) which do you prefer?

On Friday night I went out with one of my best friends to Zizzi's for dinner and catch ups which was so nice. I haven't seen her properly since the beginning of December so we had a lot to catch up on. I always think it's a great sign of friendship when you haven't seen each other for ages and when you get together you seen to pick up from where you last left off like it was only yesterday. I ate way to much but it was lovely and had we not had to keep buying things to ensure we didn't get asked to leave, I think we could have stayed chatting for much longer!

On the train!

Saturday saw me head to Leeds for a spell of shopping.I absolutely love Leeds for shopping they have great shops and most of the places I like are all within easy walking distance. I went with the intention of getting some make up bits and I really wanted to be matched to the new Chanel Les Beige foundation and the new Giorgio Armani Maestro Glow but, it being a Saturday, the counters in Harvey Nic's were so super busy that I couldn't get to see anyone! Epic fail! I did also want to ask about the Nars Sheer glow foundation, I was matched to Santa Fe previously and this is so orange on me. It looked so nice when the lady I saw had applied it but it's definitely not the right colour so if I couldn't see anyone about the new launches I thought I'd get re matched to a more suitable shade of Nars. I popped into a considerably more calm SpaceNk and it turns out that none of the sheer glow colours are right for me! Aren't I awkward. I thought that Deauville might be the best option but the lady there said it would feel too pale so she matched my to Laura Mercier Silk creme mosituring foundation. I decided not to buy it and to see how it wore and after coming home I felt the shade matched really well in rose ivory but I'm not sure I'm that keen on the finish so maybe I'll hold out for a match with the new launches and try them instead. It just seemed to highlight my pores and imperfections. Quite the opposite of what anyone wants from a foundation! Not one for me.


I did have a nice afternoon tea for one at Marks and Spencer cafe which was a welcome sit down and a nice way to refuel! And I had no clue then even did it.

Whilst in Marks and Spencer I came across the new Rosie Huntington-Whitely make up range. The stand had only just been launched and I had got great timing as the ladies there said the products had only just come in that morning! I had a little play with some of the products and checked out the lipstick and eye shadow palettes and I did buy one item (and forgot to go back to grab some more bits I'd liked) but I will save all the details for another post! But I was quite impressed with the style Rosie has gone for for the range and the stand and packaging looked very premium and classy, just like it's creator.

I did also take my compact camera and again tried out some more vlogging! I just need to get myself set up with some editing software and see if I can make anything out of it! It is really fun though. Has anyone got any Windows 10 editing software recommendations?

My fiance is back late on Sunday night which is very exciting although I will probably be asleep! But hopefully once he is back we can get this house train moving once more!

It's felt like quite a busy week for a 'week off' but it's been really nice. I've realised what a loner I am having done most things on my own this week! But it's been nice to potter at my own pace throughout.

How's your week been folks? Any highights? Have you tried any of the foundations I've mentioned? Which are your favs? Suggestions and comments below!

Catch you later, Steph x