10 things I love about Autumn

Now that it's officially Autumn I feel like I can start making my blog very autumnal too - it is one of my favourite seasons after all. So today here are some of my favourite things about Autumn.

1. It's cooler - Summer is great for getting out and about and doing stuff but sometimes it is just TOO hot. I'm an autumn kind of person all the way and I'm looking forward to being able to sleep without having to keep the window open.

2. Hot drinks - I'm a big tea drinker and although that doesn't change in the summer months, autumn (and winter) are definitely the time to bring out the hot chocolate and chai lattes.

3. Berry Colours - I know all you bloggers out there secretly can't wait for those cosy burgundy knits and the berry lipsticks and nails to become acceptable again, just like me.

4. It's getting closer to CHRISTMAS - If you know me at all you'll know that Christmas is my favourite time of the year and for me Autumn is when it starts to feel like it's getting closer.

5. All the candles - I do love a fruity scented candle in the summer but you just can't beat an autumn/winter/christmas scent, my current favourite has to be 'Spiced orange and clove'.

6. Baking - Who am I kidding? I bake all year round, as you may be able to tell by some of my latest blog posts. But there's something much more special about a nice warm apple and cinnamon crumble, mmmm.

7. Cosy clothes - Snuggling up in your favourite fluffy socks and cosy jumpers in front of the fire is the best.

8. Leaves changing colour - How could you not love seeing the green leaves change all shades of yellow, orange and red.

9. Halloween - I never use to be a big fan of Halloween but since going to uni and dressing up for it every year, I've started to love it!

10. Bonfire night - Seeing the dark nights sky lit up by fireworks is just so much fun.

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Review: NYX Tame and Frame Brow Pomade

An aspect of makeup that I've been wanting to improve on for a while are brows. I'm one of the probably few bloggers that have never had their eyebrows waxed or threaded and just used a brow pencil. From what I've seen in the blogging community the most raved about brow product in my eyes has to be the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. But there was no way I could justify spending around £15 when I had no clue how to use it or if I'd even like it. So I was obviously quite happy when I came across this NYX 'dupe' for a mere £5.50 in Boots.

I bought the NYX Tame & Frame Brow Pomade when I was in London and had to wait until the next week to use it after I'd taken these photos. But it was definitely worth the wait! The item is packaged in a little box, inside of which is this little pot of, which I'd call miracles. The pot itself is really slick with the clear pot and glossy black lid with the white text, this is only the second piece of makeup I own by NYX and I am really loving them as a brand so far.

Opening this pot was like when you see fresh snow in the winter and just want to dive straight in but also don't want to ruin it at the same time - *insert crazy face emoji*. I was torn between two shades, Chocolate or Brunette, I found Chocolate was more of a warm toned brown which was more similar to the brow pencil I'd previously been using to do my brows, and the Brunette shade was more of a cool toned brown but matched my hair colour more. So in the end after a debate on which colour to go for with my friends in the store, I decided to go for Brunette, and I'm so so glad that I did.

This is now my favourite brow product and although I don't use it every single time I leave the house, if I have time to apply it I will. For those quick trips to the shop I don't want to waste this amazing product. It's definitely one of my favourite pieces of makeup altogether at the moment and I will purchase this again when I do eventually run out. The photos below were taken before and after my first use of the brow pomade (a few weeks ago now) so although I think I did quite well for my first attempt, I think I've got a better hang of it now.

What are your favourite brow or NYX products?

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Recipe: Pineapple upside down cake

It's that time of the week again.. GBBO night! So of course here is another recipe that I made lately, I actually made this last week when I didn't manage to upload the post (ooops) but I'm starting to get use to baking every week! So for this weeks recipe I thought I'd bake something I've never tried before and that is a pineapple upside down cake from the recipe book Tanya Bakes, by Tanya Burr. I may have to do a separate review of this recipe book because it is SO good. Almost everything you could ever want to bake and more is in this book so it took me a while to decide what to bake first.

Ingredients:

150g butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup

6 slices tinned pineapple

150g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

150g plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

60ml pineapple juice (leftover from the tin of pineapple slices)

Method:

1. Firstly preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Grease the cake tin with some spare butter and microwave the golden syrup for 20 seconds and add it to the cake tin, covering the bottom.

2. Dry the pineapple rings slightly with kitchen paper and lay in the bottom of the cake tin. In Tanya's recipe she added glace cherries too but I decided not to along with a splash of rum.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl before beating in the eggs. Then add the flour and baking powder before slowly adding the pineapple juice and beat the mixture again.

4. Pour the cake mixture on top of the pineapple in the cake tin, smooth over and bake for 30-35 mins until risen and golden. Turn the cake out onto a plate and ta-daaa, pineapple upside down cake.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and maybe even creating this recipe. Let's hope I can keep up all of this baking through this series of bake-off. Who knows what the Great British Bake Off will be like next year after this weeks news!

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Review: Myleene Klass Lipstick Trio

When I think of lipsticks or makeup in general a brand that doesn't usually come to mind is Myleene Klass. That is until I received these last Christmas! With a trio of 3 different shades and a lovely black and gold packaging, it's hard not to like these lipsticks just for that reason.

The three different shades are; Frida, which is a lovely orange shade which I probably get more wear out of in the Spring and Summer. Hedy is like a bubblegum pink, not something I would have usually picked out for myself but I actually really like it. And last but not least is my favourite of the three shades, Rosa. Rosa is a gorgeous red (my favourite kind of lipstick) and something I think you can get away with wearing all year round, day or night.

The staying power of these lipsticks are also really quite good too. When applying a red lip liner before gliding Rosa onto my lips, the lipstick really does stay on well - even when you're having a few drinks! The only down-side to these lipsticks is that I just can't find them anywhere online at the moment, they were originally purchased from Littlewoods so keep checking there around Christmas if you'd like to get some of these too.

Thanks for reading.

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RECIPE: Banana Loaf // Blogging Anniversary

Today marks the day that I've been blogging for 3 whole years! My blog has changed a lot since then from the name and web page to the design and what I like to blog about most. So today I thought I'd write one of my favourite kinds of posts - baking! It's also fallen on a Wednesday which, as most of you will know is Bake Off day! Last week as the first episode of the new series aired I posted a recipe on Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, so Wednesday's on Abigail's World could become days for everything baking!

Today's recipe is Banana Loaf which I made a couple of weeks ago and it went down a treat! I originally found the recipe here on BBC Good Food and although I had to alter the cooking time, it was delicious, so if you're a banana lover the recipe is below.

Ingredients:

140g butter (softened)

140g caster sugar

2 eggs

140g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

2 bananas (mashed)

50g icing sugar

(optional) banana chips for decoration

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly with some flour. Then fold in the rest of the flour with the baking powder and banana.

3. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for about 30 mins, however mine took slightly longer and baked until a skewer came out clean.

4. Set aside to cool once cooked and make the icing. Mix the icing with 2-3 tsp of water and drizzle over the top of the banana loaf and add the banana chips to decorate.

I really enjoyed baking (and eating) this Banana Loaf, and I can't wait to bake it again soon!

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love baking just as much as I do then you'll know that tonight is the start of a new series of one of my favourite shows.... The Great British Bake Off! To get in the mood of baking yesterday I decided to bake these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I've never made these before or any cookies with oats for that matter so I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out, but they taste so so good if I do say so myself!

I managed to make 12 (quite large) cookies with this recipe, although there's definitely not even half that many left now!

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

175g unsalted butter

100g dark brown sugar

100g sugar

1 egg

2tsp vanilla extract

250g rolled oats

75g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Stir together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer.

4. Add the egg and whisk again, followed by the vanilla.

5. Then gradually add the flour to this mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until combined. Then add the oats and chocolate chips and mix again.

6. Using a tablespoon add the mixture to the baking trays (I managed to fit 6 onto each tray) and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon, but ensure that there's space between the cookie mixtures.

7. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you decide to make them too! They're definitely the best cookies I've ever made before, but would Mary and Paul approve? I hope so!

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