ByHester goes Pinterest

 

ByHester is finally on Pinterest!

Have a look on my profile to see images from the blog

and images that inspire me for future blog posts!!

Please add me to your likes.

http://pinterest.com/byhester

Pink for Bobbi Brown

October is breast cancer awareness month and from the 1st of October you can purchase this gorgeous Bobbi Brown set and help raise money for the Breast Cancer awareness campaign.
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics continues to empower women and provide them with the necessary tools to go from pretty to pretty powerful.  This year, in memory of Evelyn Lauder and her profound legacy and devotion to The Breast Cancer Research Association, Bobbi Brown offers a limited-edition set featuring a Pink Peony Illuminating Bronzer and Mini Face Blender Brush

Stars no stripes

Last week I wrote about my new found love for nail wraps, I have discovered more exciting brands.
Just look at these blue stared beauties!!
These little gems are from Myleene Klass's nail wrap line, surprisingly called Myleene Klass nails ;)

Every pack contains 24 instant manicure&pedicure wraps that don't peel or chip and should last you all week. The pack also contains a nail file, I was struggling a bit with the coarseness of the file and ended up using my own slightly softer file. But overall they are dead easy to apply.
So whats your excuse for boring bland nails? :)

Have a look on Myleene's site for all the other nail designs and a handy instruction video, here.

Sweet Paul takes you into Fall

Who says great things don't come free?

The latest Sweet Paul magazine is out and you can read it online for absolutely nothing!

How great is that!

Paul takes you by the hand and guides you through to Fall with gorgeous pictures and mouth watering recipes. Even though the sun is trying to make a comeback, autumn is definitely in the air, but flicking through this magazines pages I cant wait for the cold an wind to set in!

You can read Sweet Paul magazine here.

Wrap them round your little finger

Last year I picked up some Sally Hansen nail polish strips while working in the US. The whole nail wrap concept was new to the UK but already an established fact in the States. Very happy that I managed to buy a few boxes they ended up in my make-up drawer to be never seen again.
That is until last weekend, I couldn't decided what shade of nail polish to wear to a wedding, with my purple dress everything seemed to be either to matchy, to wintery or just to pink, until I remembered my black and white flower nail polish strips lurking around in my nail polish drawer!

From the moment I put them on I was sold,  nail wraps are so easy and so much fun!!!
There are only a few steps you should follow to get salon perfect finger tips.
1. clean your nails with nail polish remover, make sure there is no grease left on your nail, this will make your manicure last longer.
2. peel the protective film of the nail polish strip and apply to your nail
3. press down and smooth in place, I like to use the flat end of a cuticle stick to make sure it is sticks down properly
4. smooth over your nail edge, and use a buffing file to take cut the excess off.

The wraps are supposed to last up to ten days, I would say the stay nice for a couple of days unless you are a lady of leisure and don't lift a finger ;)
I might not be the best person to judge the longevity of the nail wraps, even gel nails chip after a few days with me...
But the effect is gorgeous, the prints are something fresh and they make a real statement. I wear my nails very short so any pattern looks great, if you have your nails a long I would go for a more simple colour or pattern to avoid looking like Peggy Bundy.

Most nail companies sell  nail wraps at the moment, I really like the Sally Hanson ones (unfortunatly not for sale in Europe) and are also going to try out Models Own Instant Nail Art and the nail wraps of Nail Rock.
The best deals seem to be made online, a little Google of the word nail wrap already showed up lots of exciting patterns for a fraction of the store bought price.
No more excuse for boring nails, get your nail wrap on and send me a picture of your flashy finger tips!

Mon Shu

Karl Lagerfeld has designed a makeup range for Shu Uemura called, Mon Shu Girl.
Mon Shu is a play on the french term of endearment 'mon chou' (my dear) and the collection is utterly irresistible. Available as a preview this weekend in Selfridges, the collection of Japanese pop mixed with French chic will contain an amazing dark purple gel eyeliner and two false eyelashes of which one is made of red and black fabric, a first for Shu Uemura.
Karl’s four lip shades are titled Mon Shu Red, Luxe Burgundy, Celebrity Beige and Parisienne Pink, the nail varnishes come in Karl Black, Shu Shu Red and Royal Beige. To top it all off each pot of varnish will be sold with a strip of nail stickers featuring the Mon Shu doll.

Have a look at the collection,

Did you know mister Lagerfeld uses Shu eyeshadows to draw all his fashion illustrations?

Mon Shu Girl is available in shops from October.

 

Zara kids video

A few weeks ago I already showed you

the Zara kids AW12 campaign I had the pleasure of

working on in Barcelona a few months ago.

 Now the video is also released!!

Hope you like it.

 

Have your Olympics and eat them to!

Do you remember my Emma Bunton, Argos and rainbow cake post of a few weeks ago?
On the shoot we had this amazing looking rainbow cake, it looked so yummy that I was dying to try and bake one myself. And so I did!
My friend G was very sad that the Olympics are all over so what other birthday cake to bake him then an Olympic Rainbow cake!

I didn't make as many layers as the original cake has cause I wanted to symbolise the 3 medals; gold, silver and bronze. Topped with a cream cheese frosting and Olympic cake toppers, G was very happy with his cake!

for the cake:

Cream 250 gr of butter with 250 gr of sugar with an electric whisk until smooth.

Add 4 eggs, one at the time until all the egg is absorbed.

Add 200 ml of milk to the batter.

Fold in 500 gr of flour and 6 tsp of baking powder until all the flour is mixed in.

Dived the mixture in 3 batches and colour to what ever shade you like, I used gel food colours.

Bake the cakes in a cake tin in the middle of the oven on 175C for about 45 minutes or until the cake springs back when you touch it.

 

Let the cakes cool and make the frosting.

Beat 600gr of icing sugar with 100gr of (room temperate) butter until well mixed.

Add 250gr of cream cheese and beat until completely incorporated. Turn the mixer to a medium-high speed and mix for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Add the frosting between the cake layers and lots on the outside, then decorated as you please.
The Olympic cake toppers are for sale on the 'not on the highstreet' website, have a look here.

Birthday cookies

Sometimes you want to wish somebody a happy birthday in a more originally way then just a post card so what about a Happy Birthday cookie?
I found this great little cookie cutter in a boutique a while ago, its from Sass&Belle and only cost £1.75 but what a great present it makes.
It even comes with its own cookie recipe, and I must say they are yummie!

For the cookies you need
225 g butter at room temperature
110 g caster sugar
275 g plain flour

1. preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3
2. cream the butter in a large bowl and add the sugar, beat until pale and fluffy
3. sift the flour and bring the mixture together to form a firm dough.
4. roll out the dough so that it is app. 6mm thick. Carefully press the cutter in to the dough and push the button down to stamp in the text.
5. place the cookies on a baking tray slightly apart
6. bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown and slightly firm on top.
7. carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I needed to add a bit more flour to my recipe to get a nice dough, also flour your cookie cutter if you dont want it to stick to the dough. You have to reflour after cutting out a couple cookies.

Sass&Belle also do a 'home made' cutter and a hart shaped cookie cutter that says 'with love' have a look on their website here.

Happy birthday to my best friend J!

Light the way

I love scented candles, I love lavender so what is better then this lavender scented Aveda candle that helps provide clean drinking water world wide!

These 100% naturally derived soy wax candle are infused with organic France lavender and the recycled candleholders were once wine cooler bottles, how cool is that.
 100% of the purchase price will help protect clean water. Over the last 5 years the Light the Way candle purchases and donations have raised $4.6 million, to help Greengrants fund water projects that touch the lives of tens of thousends of families, including those of the children living in Tilwari who illustrated the packinging of the candle.

Next time you purchase a scented candle buy one that also helps the world a little bit, find more information on the Aveda website here

Moisturizing on a budget

Back in June I wrote about the budget skin care line Lacura, for sale at Aldi (if you missed it read it here). Over the summer holiday I tested the Shimmering Day Cream and I must say I really like it!

For about £2 this 50ml jar will make your skin look more radiant and appear more even. The cream contains light reflecting pigments, they also give you a very soft golden hue.
The cream contains pro-vitamin B5 which provides day long moisture and its botanical oils support moisture retention.The fragrance in this day cream gives you a real blast from the past, its smells of old skool peach sweeties :)
The jar has a nice big pump so no more spills, and one pump is enough for your whole face. The cream is light and absorbs quickly, just don't use to much are you will look like a sparkly christmas bauble. A little Google search shows that once again this Aldi cream is a real winner, best tested radiant cream in lot of surveys.

Grab your change and off to Aldi I say!

Martha Stewart Home Office

We are back from holiday and am very much in a back to school mood.
The weather has gone all autumnal, the evenings are getting shorter, my work diary is full and I bought a lot of new school office supplies!
I while ago I heard the the Martha Stewart Home Office line for Avery was finally launching in the UK, eagerly I awaited its arrival in store and that day is finally here!
They have everything to keep your office orderly, organised and neat. From colour coded, textured, and metallic labels to stylish journals and notebooks.
I particular love the stack-able office organisers and the chalkboard labels, which you can use over and over again. And all is available in my favourite colour blue, this makes for a very happy Hester :)
Then there is the magnetic to do list and the pastel coloured sticky notes. These products will definitely make the transition into work mode way easier.

The products are for sale at Staples, to see the whole collection click here.