Sunday Samples Raspberry Cupcakes

During the week I showed you the cupcakes that I made for my little sister for her 20th birthday. I said that I'd give you the method to recreate them. These are seriously the best thing to bake for starter at home bakers. They don't take alot of effort but have a great pay off.
You will need:
150g Plain Flour
125g Softened Butter
125g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1tsp of Vanilla Essence
1/4 Tsp of Baking Powder
These amounts make 12 Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius

Cream your butter in a large bowl with a Mixer

Add your sugar and your vanilla essence

Beat until light and fluffy

Add the eggs while continuously beating

Sieve in the flour and baking powder

Mix it all together until soft, fluffy and lump free

Put your cupcake cases into a cupcake tin

Fill the cases with your mixture and put in the oven for 18-20 minutes

For these cupcakes I used raspberries that came from my Uncle and his Wife's Allotment. You can literally use whatever you like. Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, a little lemon juice or plain icing with a flavouring which you can get at any baking store and in some supermarkets. Again you can colour the icing to match any theme that you might have.
For this method you will need:
75g Softened Butter
175g Sieved Icing Sugar

Weigh out and sieve your icing sugar

Make sure the butter is softened for easier mixing

Mix together and add a handful of raspberries
until the consistency is right.

You don't want to add to many raspberries initially because when the icing is too runny it won't frost the cupcakes as easily. Add a little at a time. And always make sure the cupcakes are fully cooled before attempting to ice them or the butter will heat and melt, making a big mess.

Frost the cupcakes in whatever design you desire

Hope you like these. They are always a go to for me when having people to the house. They are so quick and easy to make that you can literally whip them together and have them cooling for the icing while getting the dinner together. Amina loves these cupcakes and sits there salivating over them while they're cooling. If you try them out let me know how they go.

Kate Moss Wedding

So the Bridal March is on repeat and I have been doing my best keeping up to date on the Wedding Season by covering all the Celebrity Weddings of the season with Lily Allen's wedding, the Royal Wedding, Lily Aldridge's and a few others in Wedding Fever as well as my own  Father's wedding and in September one of my Best Friends' Wedding. So as you probably know the supposed hottest wedding of the year, that of Kate Moss and Jamie Hince took place yesterday.

Now I will say now, I am not in any way a Kate Moss fan. I won't go into too much detail with my opinion but the chances are she won't be mentioned on my blog again. The dress was always tipped to be designed by Galliano, who is on trial at the moment for the drama he caused, but nobody knew whether or not she would go through with a gown by the designer or not, until yesterday when every one's questions were answered. 

Kate arrived at the church in a vintage Rolls Royce with her father and daughter. She wore a Vintage inspired Galliano gown, bias cut, in silk satin. The dress was decorated with sheer panels, what look like pearls and rhinestones and a gold sequined leaf print design that ran to the hem of the dress. She accessorized with Manolo Blahniks with a blue insole, her something blue, which unfortunately you can't see in these pictures.

She wore a white lace veil decorated with embroidered flowers and decorative flowers at either side of a head band. I love this veil, it's so beautiful, very vintage looking with the cap style and flowers either side and completely in tune with the countryside.

I can't quite figure out what I feel about this dress however. I definitely don't think it suited the setting of the beautiful Cotswold Country village and the tone of the wedding to me is a little confused. I mean look at all the gorgeous little bridesmaids in their pretty, simple, short chiffon dresses with gypsy style necklines and floral bands in their hair with little ballet flats, now that suits the surroundings but the sequins is a tad out of place. I think anyway. I get that he's a rock star and she lives that lifestyle and this may be her style and typical Galliano but I think I just expected WAY more from the dress. I like it but not for her, for this occasion and in this setting. And seriously she could have worn a bra, or at least some nipple covers. Jamie however, funnily enough I think looked good, apart from the glasses. The colour of the Stefano Pilati for YSL suit matches the Maid of honour and sits nicely beside the bridesmaids little dresses. I will say though, she looks happy and isn't that the main thing?

Kate had 14 Bridesmaids all dressed the same as well as her Maid of Honour, Jess Hallett, her former casting agent, dressed in Stella McCartney and her beautiful daughter Lila who is pictured holding Kate's hand. She wore her hair in loose waves which was done by Sam McKnight and natural makeup was done by Charlotte Tilbury. I left questioning this also. I mean, it's her wedding day and she looks as rough as she looks every day. I guess it just shows how much photo shopping goes into her pictorials. I think she looks a little disheveled to be honest. Well I suppose that is her style. I hoped for more!!!

Although I have said all that, I am hoping they release some pictures of the 3 day after party because you know that party was good. She was also reported by Grazia to have worn an Oyster Silk chiffon dress by Stella McCartney for her first dance and another Stella creation, a micro mini bodycon dress for the after party. A third Stella McCartney outfit, a 3 piece wool suit, is said to be her going away outfit. I definitely want to see some more pictures, especially as the list of big named celebrities there was fairly impressive.
So what do ya'll think? Did you like, love or not rate the dress?

Who's Wearing It Floral Style

Florals have in the past been a print regularly turned to for many of those boho chic ladies out there such as one of my favourite Style Stars, Nicole Richie, who has used florals prints of various designs to decorate even her own label Winter Kate ( J'Adore by the way and I'll be doing a feature on it very soon) as well as wearing Florals by other design labels.

Another Boho Chic Style Star that rocks the florals on occasion is Rachel Bilson

Queen B herself was spotted in florals and possibly most recently when she was in Paris shooting the promo pictures for her album "4".

Each of 'The Hills' Stars have been spotted in florals, some more than others. For another style star turned fashionista and designer, Lauren Conrad has used floral prints in her own labels Paper Crown and Lauren's affordable line for Kohl's.

'The City' stars have stepped out in florals and especially Whitney Port who wears floral prints alot.

Who could forget the Kardashians. I have to say j'adore Kim's Bebe skirt. It's so pretty.

Blake Lively who is well known as her own stylist has been spotted on occasion wearing Florals, Whether on set as Serena Van Der Woodson or as Blake Lively herself, muse of Karl Lagerfeld. This dress on the left was the Chanel creation that she stepped out to the Met Ball in escorted by Mr. Lagerfeld himself.

This Dolce and Gabbana floral dress seemed to be the It dress to wear when Selena Gomez, Allesandra Ambrosio, Diane Kruger and Kate Bosworth all rocked the little white number.

Other Style stars rocking the trend are Jessica Alba, Victoria Justice, Alexis Bledel, Camilla Belle and Taylor Momsen
2nd Row Sophia Bush, Chloe Sevingy, Elle Fanning, Emily Blunt and Ashley Green,
3rd Row Pixie Lott, Liv Tyler, Vanessa Hudgens (j'adore this Rebecca Taylor jumpsuit), Fergie and Kate Bosworth.

Rihanna seems to have a floral fancy as the beauty wears florals on quite a regular basis whether it's for award shows, her appearances or as a street style when not working.

She's incorporated floral set design into her television appearances for the Loud Album where she sang on Xfactor UK and various other European tv shows.

Florals have played a huge part in everything for her Loud Album most provocatively as a shield on her album promo pictures. As sexy as the pictures are, the florals bring a slight naivety and innocence to the insinuation.

Rihanna's love for all things Floral doesn't stop there, she Even called her first fragrance Reb'l Fleur

As you can see the Floral Trend is a strong and very popular one. Everybody has at one stage or another rocked a cute little floral dress or a ditsy print playsuit or statement floral skirt. With the fine weather starting to become more frequent and the sun peeking out from behind those pesky clouds I most definitely will be pulling out some florals to fit the season and rock the trend. Will you be rocking it with me? Has anyone caught a sniff of Rihanna's perfume yet? I'm dying to try it out.

Trend of the Week Florals

This week's Trend of the Week is something everyone likes, Florals. Seriously, I don't think anybody doesn't like Florals. From fresh flowers on your kitchen table to the first signs of spring with bluebells, snowdrops and daffodils lining the streets and popping up in unexpected places. For me in Ireland where the weather is always fairly bad there's something so refreshing about that first sign of life again after a long, cold and snowy winter. Of course fashion designers and highstreet stores had to cotton on to the appeal of flowers and start making clothing featuring beautiful designs from ditsy print to statement flowers and this season was no exception. It is only fitting that I should be covering the floral trend as the weather is warming up and the sun dresses are coming out. If you ask me there is nothing prettier than a gorgeously fitting floral sundress.

Florals were a huge part of the runways this season whether there were only a few statement pieces with a large floral feature or an entire collection centred around the beauty of nature.

Betsey Johnson

Benetton

Giles

Paul Smith

Peter Som

Carolina Herrera

Nanette Lepore

Oscar de La Renta

Paul and Joe

Karen Walker

Erin Fetherston

Jil Sander dropped a few floral pieces in with her mainly Minimalistic but Bold Colour and striped runway show which you can see more of in my Trend for the Week Bold Colour.

Erdem showcased a stunning collection which has become a firm favourite for celebs rocking the floral trend, with people such as Anne Hathaway. Rashida Jones,Sarah Jessica Parker,Julianne Moore, Emily Mortimer, Lea Michele, Michele Williams, Anna Wintour, Cynthia Nixon, Keira Knightley and today Kate Middleton landed in Canada wearing the designer.

Alberta Ferretti put the most beautiful Collection of florals with chiffon, laces and billowing fabrics all decorated in Florals down the runway. I absolutely love this collection and this is exactly the kind of thing I would wear if I had the money.

And my favourite D&G. Seriously this is probably one of my favourite collections all season. I love everything about it from the pretty prints, the ruffles, the fabulous lust worthy maxi dresses, the cute little jumpsuits, the bloomers shorts and even the gorgeous runway decorations. Too adorable. It's a serious LOVE, WANT, NEED Collection. I would actually remortgage my life for one of those maxis.

And what a beautiful Print Ad. The models smiles to the light in the photographs seeping seductively through the trees really accomplish what ads are supposed to do, make you want to go out and buy the garments. All round this D&G collection deserves a standing ovation.

What do you think about this trend? Do you go loopy for some Florals? Are ya'll loving this D&G collection as much as me? Who was your favourite Runway Collection?