the perfect everyday eye palette

Considering i've never been one for eyeshadow, let alone neutral offerings, even I'm pretty suprised at how in love I am with the most easiest of them all, customisable in variations of 3 or 6, Laura Mercier offers the best of pigmentation and ease of application in palette form.

I collected the first of the collection from Space NK a little while ago now, Canyon Clay (far right), the most perfect golden bronze shadow, beautiful all over the lid for a subtle glow or used on the very outer corner to add some warmth and depth to the overall look.

Transition shadows are somewhat in my eyes, quite hard to come by, being the neutral shades that they are, its all about mimicking that shadow you would naturally create to achieve a more contoured look.
The middle of the three shadows, the perfect warm tone beige, Warm Sands is just the most perfect shadow for the job, the sateen formulation of these shadows look rather glittery in the pan but once applied to the skin transform into more of a matte finish, which makes these incredibly easy foolproof even for the eyeshadow novice!



The most neutral of this trio Sparkling Dew is just the most effortless vanilla shade, applied all over the lid for that wide-eyed awake look, I also use this in the tearduct and under the brow bone to add a very subtle highlight for my everyday look!

Blendable with minimal fuss, pigmented with one application and some of the most beautiful shade ranges, Laura Mercier has the formulation of shadows down to a T & I for sure will be adding more to my ever growing collection!

Have you tried any of them, let me know your thoughts below, Lots of love, Frankie xo

Laura Mercier Sateen Eye Colours - £19.00 

sanderson mad-hatters afternoon tea

Have you ever watched Alice in Wonderland and dreamed of becoming Alice and running away down that rabbit hole?

Well I basically did the next best thing, just off of Oxford street you can step into a magical world of teeny tiny sandwhiches, pocket watch macaroons, ladybird red velvet cakes and splendid cups of queen of hearts tea.

The Sanderson is one of the most beautiful hotels i've ever stepped foot into, having been twice before, it literally wows me everytime as much as that very first time I stepped through those unique doors.

 The interiors are quirky & unique, as soon as you walk through the door you are greeted by a huge pair of cushiony red lips and a swinging chair suspended from the ceiling - literally the best props for instagram photos ;)

The Mad Hatters Tea takes place in the ever so beautiful courtyard garden, with the most calming waterfall and marble tables adorned with piteresque themed crockery by Luna and Curious, literally every bloggers dream! 

To begin with is the savoury treats, scottish smoked salmon, quail and caviar scotch egg which is out of this world tasty, and caviar is not what I expected atall, its actually really sweet and lovely, the wiltshire ham and smoked applewood croque-monsieur was absolutely to die for, I couldve literally eaten these over and over, sneakily we ordered extra (hint, they do not offer you extra but are aloud to ask for more)!

Moving onto the most important course, the delectable puddings, seriously I have never tasted sweet treats quite like it, my favourite would have to be either the vanilla scones with clotted cream and fruit preserve or the white rabbits pocket watch macaroon, a delicate white chocolate and coffee flavour!

During your time at the tea party, you can help yourself to as many cups of the beautiful fragrant flavoured tea as you like.. considering how much of tea fan I am this definitely went down well in my books, the fruity leaf teas were just as delicous as everything else, my favourite was Alice - China black tea infused with blackcurrants, vanilla, caramel and citrus.

As im sure you can tell by now how much I literally love this experience, if you ever considered venturing out for an afternoon tea date, please do make this top of the list for places to go.

Such an experience for all ages, I cannot reccomend it highly enough, infact ive just booked again for this years Mothers day treat, I really hope she loves it as much as I do!

Frankieboo xo

about me

Welcome to Frankieamelia.co.uk, my name as the blog url would suggest, is Frankie, i'm a blogger & vlogger, living in a small town in Kent & this is my little space on the internet on which I love to babble on about the things I have a penchant for!

Having studied Fashion & Design alongside Graphics & Photography, I always had a keen eye for anything creative and *hopefully* my blog portrays just that!
I love having a portal where I can share this all with you and interact with other like minded creative souls.

I also enjoy creating regular content on YouTube, having watched so many channels over the years, I thought it was about time I put my best face forward and branched my blog into more of a viewer friendly aspect and let you get to know me a little better.
I love creating lifestyle vlogs which feature my fiance Samuel & our 2 ginger kitties, Simon & Bella, going about our day to day lives, you will also find beauty musings and lots of other fun content over there too!

I hope you enjoy sharing this space with me, Frankie xo 

most amazing brownies..

Evening everyone, hope your humpday has been as exciting as mine, i only say mine has been exciting as i have been baking today, and this is one of the creations i cooked up in my kitchen this afternoon..

Ingredients♥

185g unsalted butter

185g best dark chocolate

85g plain flour

monogrammed

Monogramming has always been a huge love of mine, I love little personal touches to those intricate items you own, I love adding the last detailing to something I cherish, and something else I love.. Aspinal! 

Aspinal of London has always been my go to brand if I want that little piece of luxury without having to break the bank to do so, but at the same time feels super luxurious and really make a statement 

I own everything from bags, to ipad cases & makeup bags from the brand and i'm never failed by the quality and workmanship, the leathers are by far some of the best I have felt and they stand the test of time, I have owned my card holder for around four years now and it still looks as pristeen as the first day I purchased it.

Stumbling into Selfridges one afternoon I came across the Aspinal department, and noticed they had a monogramming service, this is something I have been wanting to add to my pieces for a while so whilst I was in London I decided to get my card holder personalised with my initials, and whilst i was browsing I came across the beautiful beige saffiano leather luggage tags, which I decided to also have personalised as i was there with mine and Samuels initials.

The process is really easy and quite educating to watch, its all done on an old fashioned machine which stamps the product using pressure to begin with, and then using the colour you have chosen, a foil is applied to the underneath of the stamp and then pressure reapplied to the same area which therefore pushes the foil into the previously stamped area leaving you with your selected monogram. 

It costs £15 per product to be monogrammed which I personally feel is a little steep per product, especially if you shop in stores like Louis Vuitton where mongramming is free, but nether the less I was happy to pay for it when I know they look so beautiful and it means I have my own personalised items at the end of it.

I am so happy with the end result, I think they look amazing and it is definitely something I would reccommend if your looking for something that extra special for yourself, or for a gift for someone else, next on my list is a monogrammed diary..

Have you ever had anything monogrammed before, or own anything from Aspinal, as I said before I love there products so would love to hear any of your reccomendations?

Lots of Love, Frankie xo 

new hair new year

So with 2016 upon us i have been finding myself more motivated than ever to make changes in my life and my surroundings, the first thing to make its exit was my hair.

I'd been lacking in positivity regarding my image, my hair was looking limp and lifeless, id been growing it out for the past god knows how many years and had managed to get it past boob length, i loved it but over the previous few months i just felt like it was weighing me down and no matter what i did with it, it never looked 'styled' i felt messy and knew it needed to go, so off i trotted to my local salon for the chop!

 Im so shocked at how much i love it, i feel like i have a new lease of life and feel much fresher and more awake, its crazy how that trusty blanket of hair can make you feel so suffocated!

_____________

Adapting my surroundings is another big change i plan for 2016, we are finally moving house in 3 weeks time and to say i cannot wait would be an understatment after living with parents for the last 13 months i can safely say i am ready to re'fly the nest and start a new chapter with Samuel in our new space, im feeling all white interiors, calm and serene is my inspiration.

_____________

So i know everyone goes through the phase of new year new resolutions but this year i have adapted mine ever so slightly, instead of resolutions i have a new mindset, i have changed my ways of thinking and aiming to be more positive and happy in the year ahead, 2015 for me was a very testing year in my life and also on my mind, it had a negative impact on my life and i hated it, i detested waking up everyday and feeling low, as soon as i decided to stop thinking this way i instantly felt better, i know its not easy for everyone to switch it off, and for me it usually isn't but im just being optimistic and as soon as i feel those negative voices creeping in occupy myself with something  i love doing, for instance ive started a YouTube channel again after four years which is something i love doing, ive been creative all my life and never had an outlook where i feel fulfilled until now, i love creating, i love the editing process and i love the interaction with other who have similar interests to myself. 

Second to this i have two little things I've started to do this year which are keeping my positivity in track.. a memory jar and a memory scrapbook, they are as simple and basic as they sound but they fill me with joy and keep me going on this new journey.

In the jar i write small postive notes of the things i have enjoyed that day/week/month and in the scrapbook i am filling it with photos of those events so i can look back over the year and remember all the happy times!

_____________

So as you can see the year ahead for me is looking good, and i really hope yours is too, do you have any new years resolutions or aims for 2016? Id love to hear them!

Frankie xo

Home-made Millies Cookies Recipe

Home-made Millies Cookies Recipe.

During the winter months i've found myself baking a lot more than usual and today was no exception, as i was attending a friends birthday i thought i would bake up some treats to take with me and cookies were my first thought.. milk chocolate super soft Millies style cookies!

Ingredients:

125 grams softened butter 

100 grams light brown sugar 

125 grams caster sugar 

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract (i forgot to add this and they still tasted amazing)

225 grams self raising flour 

1/2 tsp salt 

200 grams chocolate chips/chunks 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.

Cream the butter and sugars, once combined add the egg and vanilla.

Sift in the flour and the salt and combine together, adding the chocolate chips/chunks along the way.

         

Roll into walbut size balls, for a more homemade look, or roll into a long, thick sausage shape and slice to make neater looking cookies, i placed 6 on each tray as cookies tend to expand when cooking so you need to allow for more room than expected. 

Cook for just 7 minutes till the cookies are just setting, they will look really doughy but this is fine they continue to set once out of the oven to become soft and delicious!

This recipe is so easy virtually anyone can make these delicious cookies, i packaged mine into little clear bags with handmade labels, they also keep for a long time too which is great as i made around 24 cookies with this batch so great if you can resist eating them all in one go ;)

I plan on making some more this week, im thinking white choc chip and some terrys chocolate orange ones too!

Do any of you have any reccomendations for what i could add to my cookies, let me know, and if you happen to make these yourself dont forget to tag me in your photos @frankieboox

Lots of love, Frankie Xx

Marbella blues..

So last week i travelled not to far away to a place called Puerto Banus, a Marina located in Marbella Spain, a much needed break away with Samuel, his sister & her partner.

We stayed in the most amazing villa in the mountains, the views were the most spectacular i've laid my eyes on in a while, awaking in the morning to views of the sunrise behind mountains, white wash buildings, palm trees and the sea was exactly what my life needed! 

Puerto Banus Port is the most amazing place to visit if you want to see a life of pure luxury, with high end store from the likes of Hermes to Dior and million pound yachts among speed boats and supercars, you leave with an insight into how 'the other half live'!

Bars are strewn with beautiful people with there shisha pipes and cocktails in hand, whilst men drive around in lambos and ferraris aiming to attract the attention of the passers by, dont get me wrong as lovely to look at as it is, it is very ego-tistical and a "look at me" lifestyle, but visiting just makes you feel like you are living that life just for five minutes so it makes it super fun! 

We travelled to the main island of Marbella via boat which was amazing, it had open canopies above the ocean water in which you could sunbathe (even if the weather wasnt exactly co-operating)

The weather was slightly shocking and we ended up travelling back to where we were staying due to nothing being open that day from the weather + a bank holiday which we had no idea was happening that day!

We shopped at local markets, which sold everything from replica handbags, ceramics and jewellery!

I picked up some beautiful pieces, although i couldve quite happily have come away with a lot more but unfortunately baggage allowances wouldnt have allowed me to do so (sad face) 

I have been wanting to find little additions like these for a while now, i knew that the markets would definitely have had something along the lines of what i was wanting but these pieces were better than i expected to find, the coasters are originally from Marrakech and i just love the patterns and colours of them, and the bowl is made locally, this will be used for my love of balsamic vinegar and olive oil!

Aside from all the site seeing and shopping, we had a lovely time just relaxing around our pool, taking in the views and having a real chill out time, we cooked ourselves BBQ's and also dined out in the port and at local restaurants nearby, your typical holiday! 

It was so lovely to have some time away, but its back to normality for now, and to start preparing for christmas time and snuggle up under fur throws and drinking hot chocolate! 

I also vlogged our entire trip so if you fancy having a little nosey further into what we got upto have a little watch of those here.. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, have any of you been away this year, i would love to hear about it as im always looking for new places to visit in the future and love hearing your reccomendations :) 

Lots of love, Frankie xXx

My everyday makeup routine

Good morning all my lovely followers, hope your all doing well this Tuesday morning?

As i explained in my previous post, i am finally back to making Youtube videos and my most recent video is my everyday makeup routine, i had a great time filming this but i am slightly disheartened with the quality so i am going to upgrade to a new camera, i have my eye on the Canon 750d does anyone have this camera or know if any other amazing ones out there that film high quality Youtube videos, if you do please leave me a comment and let me know your suggestions as im wanting to purchase this fairly soon and have a little play around in the shops with them all :)

Anyway i hope you like the video, comment, like, subscribe and all those good things if you would like!

Lots of love, Frankie xXx

September Beauty Favourites

Happy October my lovelies, hope your all doing well and enjoying the lovely autumnal weather (my favourite time of the year)!

I have decided to get back into making YouTube videos, im so so excited by this, i literally love filming and weirdly enjoy the editing, i find it so relaxing, even if it does take a whole day for me to edit a 7 minute video but i guess it will all be a great learning curve for me, and hey it can only get better, cant it?

My first video is my September beauty favourites, there have been a few this month so grab a cup of tea and have a little look of my newest video!

I hope you all enjoy it, subscribe to my channel if you would like to see more from me and please leave me a little comment on your feedback if you have a second :)

Lots of Love, Frankie xXx