The Melt Crowd - December 2016 ❤

Hey everyone😀 Back again with another Flamingo Candles Melt Crowd box! This one is definitely my most favourite box! Hope you enjoy💙

Sherry Trifle  

This smells just soooo fruity and cakey with a hint of booze, this is a perfect scent for anytime of the year especially for relaxing😍!

Cinnamon Buns

This literally makes your house smell like you're baking cinnamon buns! It's a sweet yet spicy scent that definitely smells good enough to eat😜

Gingerbread

This smells exactly how you'd imagine it - like a freshly baked gingerbread man! It has a slight hint of vanilla too which doesn't make the ginger scent too overpowering. 

Chocolate Orange

Think Terry's Chocolate Orange and you'll know exactly how this smells. I was a bit scared that this would be too sickly and strong but it isn't at all - it smells like you've just melted a chocolate orange when you melt this wax🍫

White Lilac & Rhubarb

This scent is lovely, it has a nice floral base with a hint of rhubarb, I've been obsessed with the Rhubarb & Pear scent melt i got last month and anything else rhubarb scented, so this is a nice change - this would be a perfect spring scent🌸

Christmas Tree Gin

This is probably my most ideal scent combo! I love Gin and absolutely love all things Christmas - especially the smell of a real Christmas tree! This smells like pine with a hint of citrus, amaaaazing for burning on Christmas day🎄

Bah! Humbug

I actually have this burning as i'm writing this, it's my new addiction. It smells exactly like a peppermint humbug sweetie or a peppermint candy cane. Mint is one of my most favourite candle scents so i can see me buying a lot more of these🍬

Mulled Wine & Berries

This makes me want to go to the Christmas markets with cosy scarves and gloves on for some mulled wine💜 It's quite a fruity scent with a hint of spice like cinnamon! Very Christmassy!

In this box i also got the cutest little pink tree decoration, it's the one in the top left of the pictures, i'm actually going to hang it in my car💗! This was honestly my favourite box I've had yet! Get onto flamingocandles.co.uk to give some of them a go, why not even sign up to The Melt Crowd while you're there? It's only £10 a month and you get a free wax burner with your first box!

Hope you enjoyed, Ashley💙

Homemade Pop Tarts ❤

Hey everyone! I'm finally back with another post, this time it's delicious homemade pop tarts! I woke up one day really wanting a pop tart but didn't have any so decided to make some😋!

You will need;

280g Plain Flour

225g Butter

2 tablespoons Caster Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

5 tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 Egg

3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder (leave out when making strawberry pop tarts)

(for the filling)

Jam or Melted Chocolate/Nutella

(for the icing)

230g Icing Sugar

3 Tablespoons milk or water, add more if needed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(for chocolate pop tarts use vanilla icing then marble melted chocolate into the icing)

In a bowl add the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder (leave out for jam pop tarts) mix together well then add in the butter.

Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs then add in your water. Knead all your ingredients into a dough then roll it into a ball.

Once you have your dough, pop it into the fridge for 1 hour. Once your hour is up, preheat your oven to 180°c (fan assisted oven)/200°c. 

Roll out your dough into a rectangle shape to about 2cm thickness

Cut your dough into 6 smaller equal rectangles, this will give you 3 pop tarts!

Use 1 tablespoon of jam (or whichever filling you chose) for each pop tart, spread it over the middle but don't go too close to the edges.

Add another rectangle on top of each, press down the edges with a fork to create a seal and lightly poke holes down the middle. Beat your egg and give all your pop tarts a light egg wash. Bake them in your preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown😍.

Whilst waiting on your pop tarts to cool, make your icing. Add in your icing sugar, vanilla and 3 tablespoons of milk/water, if needed add more liquid.

Once your pop tarts are cool, it's time to decorate! I used 1 tablespoon of icing for each, then marbled some melted chocolate for the chocolate pop tarts, i then decorated with chocolate covered honeycomb and freeze dried raspberries🍫.

 These taste amazing and are actually quite easy to make! Give them a go and let me see if you do😀! Ashley 💜

The Melt Crowd - November 2016 ❤

Hey everyone😁 back again with The Melt Crowd, this is November's box - the theme was 'Out of this world' 😍

Hot Fudge

This smells good enough to eat! It's not too sickly - and smells just like you've been making fudge or tablet!

Strawberry & Geranium

This one smells just like strawberry laces but it also has a lovely light floral scent! I see it as a nice summery one!

Chai Tea Latte

This is quite hard to explain, it's quite a milky scent with a hint of cinnamon and ginger - just what you'd imagine a Chai Tea Latte to smell like.

Cranberry, Orange & Cinnamon 

If you imagine a smell to describe Christmas, this is definitely it! I can see myself buying more of these - it's the perfect winter scent!

Black Raspberry & Vanilla

I'm not overly keen on vanilla scents so the raspberry in this definitely takes the intensity of the vanilla away. It smells just like a milkshake😛!

Popcorn 

Think buttered popcorn, that is exactly what this smells like! It makes your whole room smell like the cinema!

Banana Pancakes

When i smelled this one it instantly reminded me of 10 pence mixtures from when i was little and those foam bananas you get! I honestly cant wait to burn this (and buy more of these😉)

Rhubarb & Pear 

I can't even describe to you how much i love this, it smells exactly like Rhubarb & Pears. I actually cant stop smelling this and i need to buy like 50000 more of these so i never run out. I love anything that smells like rhubarb💙!

Asian Pear & Plum -

This one has a really fruity scent with a slight hint of floral/musk to it. It's a really good scent for a good cosy night in🙂.

As i always say, i can't recommend Flamingo Candles highly enough! They are the best quality and a huge range of amazing scents. They scent the room almost immediately! Give The Melt Crowd a go - it's only £10 a month!

Ashley💛 

Cinnamon Buns Recipe ❤

Hey everyone! I really enjoyed writing my recipe post for Toffee Apples, so i thought I'd pop up another recipe for one of my faves - Cinnamon Buns💜

You will need; (for the buns)

225ml Milk (i used soya milk to make them dairy free)

75g Softened Butter (i swapped this for soya spread)

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

7g/1 packet of dry yeast

560g Plain Flour

1 tsp of salt

112g Sugar

2 eggs

You will need; (for the filling)

180g Brown Sugar (i used Caster sugar as I'd ran out)

3 tbsp Cinnamon

75g Softened Butter

You will need; (for the icing)

1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (or vanilla extract)

3-5 tbsp milk or water

280g Icing Sugar

Start by heating up your milk until it is warm, make sure not to boil it. Once warm, add in your yeast packet stir it into your milk and set aside. Add all your dry ingredients together and stir, make a well in the middle then stir in the eggs. 

Now is time for your butter, i actually prefer to have my butter melted to make it easier to stir in - but make sure its not too hot i stir my vanilla bean paste into the melted butter and add them together. Lastly add in your yeast/milk mixture and stir everything together until you have formed a dough.

Knead your dough well for 5 minutes, once you have done this pop your dough into a lightly oiled or lightly floured bowl to rise for 1 hour - it will double in size.

After your hour is up, preheat your oven to 200॰C/180॰C fan oven. Roll out your dough on a well floured surface to about 1cm thickness into a rough square shape (don't worry about neatness) Now you can spread your butter over as close to the edge as possible.

Mix together your cinnamon and sugar then sprinkle it over the dough right to the edges just like you did with the butter. From there, start rolling your dough from the closest edge to the furthest away - rolling tight enough so that the sugar mixture doesn't fall out but not too tight.

Once you have done that, cut the cinnamon rolls into slices about two fingers width apart (i managed to get 15 buns from mine) and pop them into a lightly greased cake pan not too close together, as above.

Pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown😍.

Once out the oven, (if you can resist, i normally cant wait and burn my tongue😛) Set aside to cool whilst you make your icing!

Put your icing sugar, vanilla paste and 3 tbsp of water/milk into the bowl and mix - adding more water if you need to, to reach the consistency you like.

Once your icing is smooth drizzle it all over your completely cooled buns.

You can also do the traditional cream cheese frosting but i much prefer this glaze on my cinnamon buns!

I guarantee you will become addicted to these like i am. These are the thing i always get asked to make and enjoy making the most as they are actually surprisingly easy! They taste absolutely amazing, even if i do say so myself😜

Ashley 💚

Current Faves..♥

Hey everyone! I've not done a favourites post for ages, so here's what I've been loving recently😀!

Molton Brown Pink Pepperpod body lotion - £25 300ml

I got this as a present with the rhubarb & rose scent (which is my favourite thing ever) and it smells soooo good, it has nice spicy peppery scent to it with a hint of ginger which sounds a bit odd but i promise its amazing! These body lotions sink into your skin almost immediately not leaving you with any horrible sticky feeling, leaving your skin feeling so moisturised and soft.

Eyeko Black Magic mascara - 8ml £18

I love trying out mascaras, this one i was interested in because of the packaging and i got it with a magazine - its so cute! The brush is amazing, its a thin one with a big curve in the middle. It gives you fantastic volume/curl that lasts all day and is smudge-proof! I will definitely buy the full size!

Nougat London Sparkling Body Lotion - Cherry Blossom 250ml £14

This smells so amazing, and it dries sparkly - what more do you need?! I got this in a Glossybox a while back, a little definitely goes a long way and it works so well on dry skin!

Spectrum CO3 Flawless Finish Brush - £8.99

Make Up Revolution Highlighter - Pink Lights (Left) £3

                                                      - Golden Lights (Right) £3

I am addicted to these highlighters, they last all day and this brush applies them perfectly! I actually bought 3 more of these highlighters when i seen they got reduced to £3 as i was scared they were discontinuing them🙈 i highly recommend them they last for ages, and the Spectrum brush (which is cruelty free - amazing💙!)

Makeup Revolution Matte Liquid Lipstick - Rebel £3

I am addicted to matte liquid lipsticks right now! This is such a beautiful colour, perfect for Autumn/Winter time! It's a lovely creamy formula that dries really quickly but doesn't dry your lips out. It also lasts all day, i only have to top up after i eat! Amazing for £3.

The Body Shop Hand Cream - Mango £4

                                                       - Pink Grapefruit £4

I think I've mentioned The Body Shop's hand cream about 5000 times! It's just the best thing ever i actually love all the different ones! They are so moisturising and sink into your skin straight away without being sticky. I get really dry hands with the cold weather and dealing with money at work everyday - these are the best ones I've ever tried!

Makeup Revolution Pro Fix Oil Control Spray - £5

I always have problems with dry skin then before i know it it's oily! My makeup likes to randomly just disappear off my face and its so frustrating! I decided to give this a go in the hope that my make up might actually last the day! It has definitely helped me as my make up lasts all day at work now instead of the usual couple of hours. I've found that applying it after my moisturiser helps too!

MUA Glitterball Palette - £4

I loveeeeee this palette, its so glittery and beautiful! The formula is sooo good, they're so soft, they last all day and don't crease. The bronze/gold colour is my fave!

Hope you all give something a go from this post as they're all amazing! Let me know if you do.. Ashley 💜

(as always the link to purchase the products are all in their individual titles)

Easy Toffee Apple Recipe..♥

Hey everyone! Thought I'd pop something different up today for Halloween, I loooove Toffee Apples so i thought I'd have a go at making them. They are super easy to make, so why not give it a go🍎!

You will need;

400g Golden Caster Sugar

5 tablespoons Golden Syrup

120g Water

About 8 medium sized or 10 small Apples of your choice (I used gala apples) 

Lollipop Sticks

Greaseproof Paper

Add the sugar and water into a pot and heat until the sugar has dissolved (this will take about 5-8 minutes, whilst you're waiting for this you'll need to pop the apples into a bowl with some boiling water for a couple of minutes to get rid of the horrible waxy layer they have. Once removed from the bowl of water dry the apples, pull all the stalks off and pop a lolly stick in each apple.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add in your 5 tablespoons of golden syrup heat until you can drop some toffee into a glass of cold water and it goes hard. If it doesn't it isn't ready yet. When it is ready you can use it how it is, or add some colouring of your choice. I dropped the heat down a tiny bit when i was coating the apples.

I used some of the toffee as the colour it came out then i separated half of the remaining toffee into another pot, i added a touch of Wilton violet colour paste to one half and Wilton red colour paste to the other. 

I absolutely had to make red toffee apples as these remind me so much of the ones i used to eat when i was younger! Then purple because i thought it was a good spooky Halloween colour! You can make which ever colour you want. These food colours are the best I've ever used, you only need a tiny bit and they last ages! You can get a set of 8 different colours on Amazon for only £9.63 > Wilton 8 Colour Icing Set 💙

I used cake pop sticks for my apples as i couldn't find lollipop sticks in any shops! Once you're ready to dip your apples, I suggest getting a tablespoon to help. Simply dip them into the toffee twist them until covered, if there is any bits you've missed pour the toffee over with your spoon, then pop the finished apple on your sheet of greaseproof paper to dry and repeat until you have no toffee left.

The toffee starts to set straight away, but leave them for at least 1 hour (if you can resist) to give them that classic hard toffee finish! I was so happy with the finished product and couldn't believe how easy it actually was! You can go for a different finish by dipping the apples in some chopped nuts, sprinkles, chocolate or your fave sweets before the toffee sets. Or if you don't like toffee apples why not make chocolate ones with melted chocolate instead?🎃

If you give them a go, let me know and show me your creations💜! Happy Halloween, Ashley..👻

The Melt Crowd - October..♥

Hey everyone😊 I'm back again with another Flamingo Candles melt crowd box, this time it's October's Sugar v Spice box🎃

Buttered Rum - This is a really spicy scent but also fruity! Like Apple & Ginger with a bit of cinnamon in there too! Would be the perfect scent for a cosy night in on a rainy day!

Pumpkin & Walnut - On first sniff this smelt a bit like aniseed, but when it is burning it smells like you're baking something tasty! A Very nice nutty scent, this is my fave in this box!

Cherry Sundae - This may sound like a weird description but this smells exactly like the scented kids footballs with the faces on them (not sure if you can still get them). Reminds me of my childhood! 

Candy Floss & Pear Drops Duo - This smells soo much like Snow Fairy from Lush, that is one of my all time faves! I can't tell you how many times I've sniffed this one. This will be the next one to be burned!

Sweet Tobacco - I'm not so sure about this one, it's quite a musky scent. I will give it a go though, i might like it when it's burning.

Pink Ribbon - This one is a really fruity scent with a light hint of rose. It's a special one as £2 from each Melt Crowd box goes to the pink ribbon foundation.

Oriental Lotus & Rose Otto - I think this smells so similar to baby powder but with a floral hint. It's a very fresh scent despite it being floral, i can't wait to burn this!

Salted Caramel Apple - Smells exactly like toffee apples! The moment i smelt it i could have ate it, it smells incredible! This one and the Pumpkin & Walnut are the perfect Autumnal scents!

If you're like me and are absolutely addicted to scent melts, you need to subscribe to The Melt Crowd! It's only £10 a month, you get 8 different melts every month and a free burner with your first box. Better be quick as the boxes are shipped on the 1st of every month..💙

Let me know what your favourite scents are😀 Ashley..♥