Ooh you sexy little plumper | 3 top pout-enhancing products

Big lips are big business. They are not only something every girl wants, but what every guy wants to be on, it seems. With some of the world’s most desirable ladies on the planet blessed with naturally bee-stung lips, such as Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts, it has left us mere mortals wanting the ‘power plump’ for ourselves. And while the surgery-induced ‘trout pout,’ as seen on Pete Burns and Leslie Ash, has served as a modern-day warning sign of what happens when it doesn’t go quite right, many of us are still on a quest to find a successful alternative.

That’s why safer options in the form of lip plumps, glosses, glazes and undercoats can be found in almost every beauty brand. And being no Lana Del Rey myself, I have tried an exceptional amount of them. Here is my low down on the best three.

1. Benefit’s Lip Plump. That’s a slightly deceiving name – this acts as more of a ‘filler’ and levels out the grooves on your lips to give a more fuller looking pout. Good if you’re sporting lipstick over the top, but due to its beige colour, you may look like you are wearing your foundation on your mouth if left bare. At £14.50, you probably need to know what you are doing with this to get maximum effect, or risk looking like Jodie Marsh.

2.  Soap & Glory’s Sexy Mother Pucker. Not only is the packaging with this product ahhh-maaaz-ing, for £10 this is a true bargain that will last for ages as you only need a little at a time. Clear in colour, you can wear it nude or over a lip colour. A word of warning though; applying this plumper will leave you with a sensation similar to getting your hot on at Nandos.

3. And the winner is… Victoria’s Secret Lip Plumper. This little beauty acts as my staple as it smells delish as well as being clear in colour, so you can use it any which way. The only problem is, the only place apart from the USA I have managed to bag it is in Heathrow Airport. Hopefully with the launch of the first UK Victoria’s Secret next year, I won’t have to travel so far to restock.

Do you know of any better lip plumping products? If so, do share!

COMEDY | It’s all Greek to me

A new night starting next week aims to get to the bottom of the European economic crisis via the medium of comedy.

Have you got any idea what’s going on with the EU at the moment? All that Italian financial foolery and the governmental crisis the Greeks have got themselves into? Neither have I to be honest, which is why I’ll be going along to the Black Heart in Camden next Thursday where an assorted bunch of comedians, musicians and people a lot cleverer than I am will be attempting to get to the bottom of it all.

It’s All Greek To Me is the first of two nights from Lampoon Apathy, the live production company that puts on events that are as informative as they are entertaining. They don’t claim to have all the answers, but they’ve heard some people do: ‘We’re inviting them down to help us understand the mysteries of the crises, what it means for Europeans (yup, including us), and what we could be doing about it.’

What can we expect on the night? Organiser Neil Hughes, who happens to be a friend of mine, told me: ‘You can expect an eclectic mix of top comedians and highly informed campaigners, journalists and commentators.’ Neil says the comedy line up is fantastic – and he knows his stuff when it comes to comedy. Add to that the political speakers and ‘frankly,’ he says, ‘it’s amazing!’

Comedians lined up for the two nights include Perrier award winner Scott Capurro, Absolute Radio’s Danielle Ward,
Tiernan Douieb, Phil O’Shea, and Yianni Agisilaou. Interspersed with the music and funny stuff will be political folk talking about scary things like the prospect of a Greek default and the future of social democracy in Europe. If that sounds a bit serious, don’t worry – having been to Lampoon Apathy nights before I can vouch for the fact that they always manage to handle ostensibly heavy topics in a fun and fascinating way.

It’s All Greek To Me (Part I) takes place on Thursday 17 November at the Black Heart in Camden. Part II will be held on Monday 5 December. Ticket’s are £6/£4.50 concession and can be purchased here. Check out the Facebook event page or visit www.lampoonapathy.com. If you’re going, be sure to tweet using #allgreek2me.

Heavenly scents: A woman’s right to perfume

I recently read an interesting fact that 81% of British women own 5 or more different types of Perfume. And with Christmas in the not-too-distant future and Boots stuffing its shelves incessantly with perfume gift sets of cheap smells and body lotions, I got to wondering what it is about scent that Britain’s female population are so addicted too.

Take our male counterparts for example. They’re happy as Larry with a can of Lynx Africa yet throw a bottle of Charlie Red at a woman over the age of 15 and chances are you’ll have it hurled back at your head. Scent, it appears, is as important to many women as foundation or lipgloss. You just feel naked without it. It can help define who you are.  Perfume can shape a woman’s identity and that’s possibly why over 90% of the UK have given and received perfume for special occasions.

Whether you favour classic aromas such as Chanel No.5, the contemporary like Therry Mugler’s Womanity, or the cheap and cheerful celebrity endorsed bottles (hey, I’m not knocking it, everyone from Britney to Prince is cashing in!) it is fair to say that once you find a scent to suit, it will stick in your mind like a powerful memory.

So guys, I don’t see buying perfume for loved ones this Christmas as an easy gift. If done right, it can be the most personal present you can give.  And we all know how much of an absolute bitch it can be when your favourite gets discontinued. So if you are choosing to opt for the sweet-smelling stuff this Christmas, for someone else or for yourself (hell, we are all about girl power here ladies) you might want to check out some of the bargains Cheapsmells.com have got going on, as well as faithful Boots and Asda (who boast some of the cheapest ‘per-spray’ prices on the market).  You could even pick up this Prince perfume from their online service! (Who knew this ever happened?!)

So what do YOU think?  Do you have an absolute favorite perfume you couldn’t live without?  Let us know.

Andrej Pejic: A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Image by Sabine Villiard (Photo France March 2011)

The young Serbian-Australian, Andrej Pejic, has been causing a stir on the fashion scene for a while now. We are all fascinated by how he looks just like a beautiful slip of a flat-chested girl, the ultimate conclusion of a society obsessed with androgyny.

Something about it all disturbs me, though. Before you jump to any conclusions, I just want to prefix what I’m about to say with the qualification that I’m not making a comment about Transgendered people in general or anyone’s lifestyle choices. What disturbs me about a man modelling women’s clothes is, simply put, this: haven’t women been trapped and pressured into eating disorders and body image issues by society for long enough by skinny female models? Isn’t this just moving the attainability of our ideals of beauty just another dangerously distant step too far?

On the one hand, this does not seem like an original point, and I feel like it must have been said time and time again before now, but on the other, the fashion industry seems strangely quiet on this fact at the moment. It’s as if mentioning it might make you look overly conservative and anti-progressive. But is it really that wrong to suggest that designers should be designing for women’s bodies, that they should be celebrating and not repressing femininity? Male misogyny at the heart of the fashion industry is no new thing. After all, Cecil Beaton called the stunningly curvaceous Elizabeth Taylor a ‘great thick revolting mass of femininity’, a heinous insult spat out in disgust at the feet of all woman kind.

I should come clean about something here: at 5 foot 10″ or thereabouts I have always had a rather ‘boyish’ build, and rather than feeling pressured into losing weight growing up, I’ve wished again and again I could gain it and have a more feminine body. It horrifies me that so many of my female friends feel dissatisfied with their beautiful curves. In the Andrej Pejic debate, people have suggested that it’s a good thing for a man to model women’s clothes instead of emaciated-looking women. Perhaps this ideal is just so unattainable that women will finally give up on trying to look like models, they say. This argument seems utterly stupid to me. When we see Andrej Pejic in women’s clothing, it does not matter whether or not we know that he’s a man. We see a stunningly beautiful, other-worldly woman, and we – whether consciously or subconsciously – aspire to that ideal. Perhaps I should just calm down and accept the inherent disconnect between reality and the catwalk, I hear you say. Okay, fine – but try telling that to a woman whose life has been dogged by eating disorders. Seen in this light, there’s an intense glow of irony in the flash of those bulbs at the end of the runway.

Do you think I’m over-reacting? Let me know your thoughts, below.

Films for November – it can’t be time for more Twilight already

The Rum Diary – out November 11th

This is basically Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Part Deux. Johnny Depp is back playing Gonzo journalist Hunter S.Thompson – sorry I mean Thompson’s fictional journalist Paul Kemp – as he takes on a post in Puerto Rico. Expect an overdose of quirkiness and strange happenings in Bruce Robinson’s film.

The British Guide to Showing Off – out November 11th

A bit Glastonbury meets Rocky Horror Show, this documentary tells the story of the Alternative Miss World party that kicked off in 1972 with artist Andrew Logan running the show. Nothing is too OTT to wear to this party – the costumes look out of this world.

The Deep Blue Sea – out November 25th

Rachel Weisz plays Hester Collyer who falls for a toyboy pilot, leading to a destructive affair as she’s already married to an older man in this adaptation of the Terrence Rattigan play.

REVIEW: Degas at the Royal Academy

Degas is a pretty safe bet for modern audiences; everyone loves a bit of Degas. Along with his Impressionist contemporaries, Monet and Renoir, reproductions of his painting are the go-to decoration for hospital walls, old people’s homes and slightly out-dated cheap hotels. For an exhibition to present such a popular artist in a new light, then, and to remind us that he was a controversial artist in his time, is quite a feat, and one that the Royal Academy pulls off well.

The first room you walk into is dark, with three big dramatic screens playing black and white films of the silhouette of a dancer rotating in an arabesque. This sets the scene for a rather unconventional exhibition which focuses on Degas’ obsession with the movement of the body and the human form. It mixes his own work with old film reels of nineteenth century ballet performances and photographs and sculptures by his contemporary scientists and photographers, trying to document patterns in the movement of dance and the flight of birds. With so many of Degas’ charcoal and pencil sketches on display, it was very obvious that he was trying over and over again to capture the movement of a split second. He had to work quickly, and in a lot of the pictures you can see faint sketches of arms and legs in slightly different positions, leaving a trail of movement like a slow-lense captured photograph.

I went to see the exhibition with my ballet dancer friend, which made the experience even more interesting. She said the ballet dancers’ poses, the way they held their arms and legs, looked almost sloppy compared to modern standards. This was probably mostly because they were all wearing tight corsets that restricted their movements, as well as the fact that their point shoes didn’t have blocks in them, making it a lot more painful to balance on tiptoe. It also showed the impact that the development of good quality photography had on dance: knowing your every movement could be perfectly captured forever, you naturally work harder on looking picture perfect every second of the dance. Because Degas captured dancers in natural, off-guard positions, he presents the modern ballet expert with a fascinating record of how balletic technique has evolved over the years.

The queue was out of the door, and the exhibition was crowded, but somehow it didn’t feel claustrophobic. Some of the rooms had so much empty space in the middle that they reflected the empty floorboards of the rehearsal spaces in Degas’ paintings. I felt like I should have done some pirouettes or something across them.

Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement is on at the Royal Academy until 11th December.

Is Versace for H&M the highstreet’s most opinion-dividing designer collaboration yet?

‘Eww.’ That was my reaction when I saw the first ads from the Versace for H&M collection that premiered in New York last night with a high profile fashion show and performances from Prince and Nicki Minaj.

In the photo I saw, model Daphne Groeneveld was wearing a long-sleeved dress and leggings, both in garish black, turquoise and fuchsia oriental pattern. More ads were released and I still wasn’t impressed – the retina-searingly bright colours and brash head to toe prints are a far cry from the sleek, sexy dresses that Donatella has been sending down the Versace catwalk for the last few seasons. It looked from comments on the web that I wasn’t the only having a WTF moment, but then I was chatting to fellow blogger Simon at a recent H&M event and he was saying how much he liked the collaboration and that he thought everyone did too.  Clearly, Versace for H&M is dividing opinions.

Now that the entire collection (all 117 photos worth) has surfaced we can make a more thorough critical assessment. In actual fact I think my initial reaction was a bit harsh (but I stand by it where that fur vest is involved, you’ll see what I mean below). Not every piece makes me say eww; there are a few I really like – but a VERY limited handful. For arguments sake I’ve picked what I think are the 10 best and 10 worst pieces from the collection and put them in the gallery below, along with a selection of opinions gathered from a sample that includes tweeting celebs, trusted blogger friends and internet randomers alike. Bear in mind that the average dress costs £80 with some going up to as much as £150.

The case FOR Versace for H&M:

• “I think that’s a great idea – rejuvenating the brand in this way” – fashion writer Katie_Jane_Rose.
• “Its all about 80s/90s nostalgia! The old Gianni prints we know and love having a come back. Donatella’s a fashion force!” – fashion blogger The Very Simon G.
• “Saw some of the Versace for H&M stuff today. Amazing!!! Love love everything! Fab colors and patterns” – actress Emma Roberts tweeted.
•  ”At first, I was really negative about it because Donatella said she would never do it a few years ago, so obviously she’s after the old money now…I actually quite like the collection- it is VERY Versace and definitely has its signature all over it. Which is good, as it doesn’t feel completely watered down like past collections for H&M.” – Style & Then Some’s own Helen Coakley.
• “The glossy look book was released this morning, showing the designer-meets-high street collection in all it’s leather-clad, gold-studded, pattern-clashing glory. And we LOVE it.” – the MyDaily team.
• “Some of the studded shift dresses, the less-crazy printed pants, cut-out plain coloured frocks, and even some of the accessories are actually pretty darn cool.” – blog Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily.

The case AGAINST Versace for H&M:

•  ”I am hugely disappointed by the men’s. Who is really going to buy the pink suit? The other products for men are equally as loud, with wild screaming patterns or street gang type clothes. Disappointing!” – fashion blogger JaimeLondonBoy.
• “Some of it is genuinely cool, but it’s just RIDICULOUSLY over priced, as it’s still H&M” – fashion blogger Abimarvel.
• “Possibly the worst idea on the planet, ever. Who’s idea was it to combine H&M’s cheap materials, and obsession with leopard print, with Versace’s tacky silhouettes? All for a…oh wait it’s not even that cheap.” – fashion blog EyeSpyFashion.
• “Half of this collection is as bat-shit crazy, and unwearable as I expected (what a shame it’s out in November, there are so many great Halloween costumes here).” – blog Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily.
• “This collab is barf worthy. One of the worst H&M/designer collabs yet IMO. Never was a big Versace fan and this is exactly why. Absolutely fucking hideous.” Comment on StyleForum. OUCH!

Which side are you on? Will you be queuing up eagerly when the Versace for H&M collection is released on 17 November or will you be giving it a miss?

Visit the collection’s UK microsite.

The best (first ten photos) and worst (last ten photos) of Versace for H&M:

 

Photos: courtesy H&M via Cut blog

The annual boob-off is back | Victoria’s Secret Catwalk Show 2011

It costs over £7 million to stage and boasts of the finest models in the industry. This year’s performers have an impressive 17 Grammies between them and the most expensive item of clothing on show includes a $2.5 million diamond bra.

Not bad going, considering Victoria’s Secret was originally invented in 1970s to save men embarrassment of openly buying sexy undies for their wives.

Well, thanks to the lavish affair that is their annual catwalk show, it’s quite easy to forget the brand’s humble beginnings. Indeed, some of the costumes have been considered so raunchy that critics have labeled the show pornographic and demeaning to women – an extreme opinion and one that I don’t personally subscribe to.

No, what really matters to me is what lies beneath all that glitter and gloss. Previously only available in the United States, Victoria’s Secret announced back in August that it was set to open its first UK flagship store on New Bond Street in 2012. Having blogged on here before about the problems faced by the fuller-chested woman, I’m keen to see if their products stand-up to all the hype.

In the meantime, though, I will be channelling my inner Gisele as I tune in to the annual boob-off. Do drop us a line if you’ll be watching it too, or to let us know what you thought of all the catwalk looks.

The Victoria’s Secret fashion show 2011 takes place on 9 November and is broadcast on 29 November. The clock is counting down on the Victoria’s Secret website.

Why do only TV presenters get to wear sparkly poppies?

The truth is, that’s not the case. Those sparkly pimped up poppies that have become de rigueur for presenters and contestants alike on X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, are actually available to buy from jewellery makers Kleshna – if you want to spend £59.95 on a poppy that is. And it looks like plenty of people do, because the Kleshna 2011 Poppy Crystal Brooch has already sold out. There are some cheaper versions though, in the form of a brooch, ring, bracelet and hairclips – I think I spied a couple of them on X Factor ‘stars’ Johnny Robinson and Frankie Cocozza last night. Check out the whole of the Kleshna 2011 range below.

Kleshna 2011 poppy crystal brooch, £59.95

Kleshna poppy enamel brooch, £49.95

Kleshna poppy ring

Kleshna poppy bracelet, £10.95

Kleshna poppy hairclip, £12.95

www.kleshna.com

Jumping on the BandWagon

New self-promotion platform BandWagonGigs promises to ‘makes booking gigs easy.’ Is this the future of the music industry?

It is no secret that the music industry is facing a modern-day crisis.  With major record labels ready to scam hard-working musicians mercilessly out of their earnings, through dodgy contracts and high percentage fees (S Club 7 really should have been more careful), it is no wonder that musicians are looking to other outlets to self-promote and take charge of their own acts rather than leaving it to a manager who makes them feel ‘grateful’ to have them.  Thus, with the steady growth of self-promotion through social networking sites such as the virtually deceased Myspace (the Arctic Monkeys used it to their advantage brilliantly), a band no longer needs the ‘all-important’ contract to break in to the mainstream.  Could this end up leaving the major labels up the creek without a paddle?

And with new internet services such as bandwagongigs.com giving musicians the opportunity to sign up to a platform in which they can self-promote and manage their acts all in one place, it looks like the industry is to once again set to become ‘all about the music.’

BandWagon offers musicians as well as promoters the chance to sign up FOR FREE until 2012, with the ability to search for gigs/bands in particular areas of the country, create profiles, add music demos, manage bookings as well as building professional relationships with each other by contributing to a ‘ratings’ scale something which can be invaluable when dealing with difficult individuals.

With a subscription fee due to take place in 2012, there really is nothing to lose and everything to gain for emerging artists who wish to sign up free of charge now.  With the aim to ‘ improve communication between bands and promoters by providing the necessary platform to seek, communicate and satisfy the thriving live music scene’, BandWagon looks set to help support the UK’s live music industry which contributes £1 billion to our economy every year.

Visit www.bandwagongigs.com

My day as an online writer at Stylist magazine

You might have heard that I won a competition as part of Stylist magazine’s 100^th issue last week (mainly because I didn’t stop tweeting, blogging and generally yapping about it). I sent in my entry, a list of the top ten funniest fictional Twitter accounts, and was picked to go and write for the magazine’s website for a day. Here’s how I got on.

I arrived at Emerald Street (you’ll recognise that name if you subscribe to Stylist’s mailing list) in Holborn at 9.30am and met fellow competition winner Stacey. We were going to be spending the day together so I was relieved to find she was really friendly and chatty. Online Editor Stephanie Wood came and collected us from reception and took us up to where the website team sit, on the floor above the print magazine folk. She got us started on our first task: scouring news sites and blogs to find interesting stories for the website.

Within a couple of hours I had my first article online. Steph had told me by email the week before that it’d be a good idea to have a look at news online before I came in, so, massive nerd that I am, I spent the whole of the night before (and even got up extra early that day) on sites like the Huffington Post and The Cut blog. I ended up writing a celebrity news story on Zooey Deschanel’s divorce and another piece about adorably funny new Tumblr blog ‘Fashimals’ which I’d read about the night before. Lesson learned: it pays to be prepared.

After a quick guide to their CMS (Content Management System – the software used to upload content to the website) and a crash course in Photoshop from Lauren, another girl in the web team, our stories were up (Stacey wrote about the new Government pledge to fight sexual violence) and we went off for lunch. This was a great chance to ask Steph all about Stylist and what it’s like to run the website. It actually didn’t seem a whole lot different to running Style and Then Some, except on a much, much larger scale of course. A lot of the main concerns were the same, like getting quality, timely articles up every day, trying to increase viewing stats and followers, boosting Search Engine Optimisation and getting your content spread via social media and other channels. For instance, in August, a Stylist online article on the 100 best opening lines from books was picked up by the Huffington Post and that pushed the viewing stats through the roof that month. I told Steph that I’d quickly become obsessed with checking the viewing stats of my blog and she agreed it’s highly addictive – she even has an iPhone app so she can monitor the stats remotely.

Me and Stacey (right) the other online writer competition winner

Back in the office Stacey and I were put to work on a ‘life in pictures’ gallery focusing on Marilyn Monroe, to tie in with forthcoming film My Week with Marilyn, in which Michelle Williams plays the iconic blonde. With the aid of Rex features and Wikipedia we compiled photos and captions to represent the significant moments in Monroe’s career and personal life. Steph explained that using the gallery format helps with SEO (because it means the keywords are repeated on every picture in the gallery) and increases the number of page impressions, which is crucial for attracting advertisers. We beavered away until 7pm but didn’t have time to complete the gallery – hopefully it will be published soon, as will our original competition entry top ten lists.

All in all, I had a great time at Stylist. Steph and the team were all really lovely and so accommodating; I learnt loads in just one day and it was brilliant that Stacey and I were allowed to get really hands on with the website. Other competition winners may have had their work published in the Made by You issue of the magazine, but I really think we got the best prize – but then I guess I would say that.

Check out the two stories I wrote on Stylist.co.uk:

Zooey Deschanel splits with husband

Meet the Fashimals

Our pick of the Selfridges winter tech line-up

There’s nothing worse than a smartphone or laptop accessory that’s pink and diamante’d up and the only option other than plain old black or silver. Fashion tech accessories are now a huge market and Selfridges is stepping up its game – they sent us a preview of their winter line-up and here are our favourites.

Mulberry Simple Croc iPad Sleeve £165

The clue is in the name: Mulberry’s series of iPad and MacBook sleeves are simple, chic and much more affordable than a handbag. You might not want to get your iPad out of this pink croc version.

Nixon Nomadic headphones £80

Nixon make great, stylish over-ear headphones like the Nomadic line-up that will also provide good padding for your ears and head. Who needs earmuffs when you’ve got these?

Etre Fingerpoint Gloves £40

You might have already experienced the first-world problem of your gloves not being compatible with your touchscreen but if you haven’t already, you will soon. The answer is to splash on a pair of specially made gloves that will allow you to use your phone without getting frostbite.

LG Giles Deacon 3D Passive glasses £28

If you’re sat at home with a huge LG 3D TV, chances are you’re more into tech than being seen out and about in the latest trends. But with more and more of us having 3D film nights over at friends, you might want to think about an alternative to the horrid free (often white) ones that come in the box.

November’s best discount designer sales

Here are a couple of discount designer shopping opps for your diary this month. One is for city dwellers and the other’s for country folk – or daytrippers.

Kilver Court Designer Emporium’s Winter Sale

When: 12-13^th November 2011

Where: Kilver Court, Kilver Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4  5NF

What: Make a day of it with a shopping excursion down to place that calls itself the ‘rural home of style.’ The winter sale will feature brands like Myla, Margaret Howell, Duchamp, Joseph and Cacharel, all with sizeable discounts.

More info:  www.kilvercourt.com or try the new Kilver Court phone app.

Trinity Fulham’s Designer Saturday

When: 19^th November 2011, opens at 10am.

Where: Trinity Hospice Shop, 785Fulham Road, London SW6 5HD

What: The West London charity shop will be transformed for one day only into a designer boutique, with high end goods coming from donors as well as designers themselves. Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Armani and Osprey are the sort of brands you can expect. And there’s the added incentive, of course, that all proceeds go to Trinity Hospice.

More info: www.trinityhospice.org.uk or follow twitter.com/trinityhospice

RECIPE: Rocky road cake

When considering the important question of how to get as much chocolatey deliciousness as possible into one slice of cake the other day, I decided this recipe would do the trick. I’m not talking a mega rich, dense chocolate cake. I wanted something with layers, something interesting, fun, and a little different. Something involving lots of chocolate, but without drying your mouth out and making you want to down several glasses of water after eating it. My younger sister should actually take the credit for the invention of this amazing rocky road chocolate cake, as she first had the idea for it earlier this year. I have shamelessly copied and adapted her recipe.

The cake base is an old family classic, the one that my mum cracks out for every birthday or special occasion. It is simple, light and delicious, and to me it’s exactly how a chocolate cake should taste. But then I would say that, wouldn’t I? Licking the bowl of this mixture instantly takes me back to ‘helping’ mum in the kitchen when I was little. It’s super easy – to make it, you’ll need:

- 6 oz plain chocolate

- 2 oz butter

- 4 eggs, room temperature

- half a teaspoon of vanilla extract

- pinch of salt

- 9 oz caster sugar

- 6 oz self raising flour

Preheat the oven to 170 C and grease a large cake tin. Melt the chocolate and the butter, stir well and leave to cool. Beat the eggs with the vanilla and salt, then sift in the sugar and mix well. This is the point at which you mix in the cooled chocolate mixture. Then finally sift in the flour and mix well. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35-40 mins before testing. The centre should be moist but not runny when you take it out. Leave the cake to one side to cool before turning it out of its tin. (Don’t worry if it sinks a little, or the top cracks – it’s meant to do that, it’s kind of meringuey on top and collapses a little. The icing will even it out.)

For the icing, cream around 4 oz softened butter with around 7 oz caster sugar, then melt a small block of plain chocolate, allow to cool and then stir in until the icing is smooth. Ice the cake and then prepare the final touch – the rocky road for the top. You’ll need:

- 4 oz butter

- 1 and a half tablespoons of golden syrup

- 1 oz cocoa powder

- 1 large packet of malteasers, crushed

- 1 packet of marshmallows, cut up into halves (I use scissors)

- half a block of plain chocolate

- half a block of milk chocolate

Melt the butter, golden syrup and cocoa powder in a bowl over a pan of water. Take off the heat, and stir in the marshmallows and the malteasers. Leave this to cool a little, and then pour onto the top of the cake, over the chocolate buttercream icing. Finally, melt the plain and milk chocolate together, pour over the top of the cake and use the back of  a spoon to swirl the melted chocolate with the rocky road mixture. Put the cake in the fridge to set.

It sounds incredibly rich with all of that chocolate and sugar, and it is very filling, but because the cake is so moist and light, the whole thing avoids being too much. This is the cake equivalent of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream: just the right chocolate-to-marshmallow ratio. Perfect for a chocolate cake occasion when you want to do something just a little bit different.

Ryan Gosling – what you need to know about everyone’s new favourite actor

He hasn’t just blasted onto the planet this year in films like Crazy, Stupid, Love; Drive and The Ides of March.

I first came across him playing an introvert very well in Lars and the Real Girl, a warped version of Pygmalion which came out in 2007. And no, I haven’t seen The Notebook yet.

He has an embarrassing past and it involves Justin Timberlake, the Mickey Mouse club and some truly awful clothes. He is actually in a serious band with his friend Zach Shields, called Dead Man’s Bones. But this is funnier.

He’s quitting acting for good?? Rumours are circulating that Gosling might quit while he’s ahead and leave acting. We’re just crossing our fingers for an MMC reunion with Justin, JC Chasez and er, the fourth guy.

But he does have four films in the pipeline/ post production, according to IMDB: The Place beyond the Pines with Rose Byrne and Bradley Cooper, an LAPD drama set in the 40s and 50s called Gangster Squad with Emma Stone, the Thailand-set Only God Forgives and a Terrence Malick film due out in 2013.

OK fine here’s one of Dead Man’s Bones’ tracks.

#TodayImWearing – Chunky knits and added gold

If there is one thing I hate more passionately than stone washed jeans and a matching jacket it is Winter.  And not because I am a total Scrooge, I just have an overwhelming dislike for the cold weather.  And this more than partially stems from my inability to be prepared when the frost starts biting.  But not this year, oh no.  I have made it my mission to not get beat down by Mother Nature, and in a strange break with tradition, started stocking up on transitional weather clobber as soon as it hit the deck (or shop floor to be more precise).  As much as it pained me to part earlier with my flip-flops than usual this season (mainly mid October), I’ll have more time to properly think about my AW11-12 outfits rather than panick buying when the snow comes to town.

And Zara, I must say, have pulled out all the stops this season and are triumphing in the knit department.  I got hold of this grandad-chic jumper for £39.99 and it is fast becoming my comfort blanket.  Teamed with a pair of trusty jeans, my favorite grey Toms and layered gold necklaces (picked up in Forever 21′s Manhattan store-total cost? $5!) and my ASOS take on the classic Ray Ban Clubmaster sunglasses, I’m feeling much more prepared this weekend for the cold snap.

So apart from my chunky knits, what is your Winter wardrobe vice? 

RECIPE: Autumnal cupcakes

I have a brilliant carrot cake recipe that I always crack out at this time of year, when all the leaves turn orange and the air becomes frosty and hard. It’s the perfect antidote to Autumn weather because it involves a lot of vitamin C in the carrots and oranges, and I always add generous amounts of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg to give it some extra zing.

The other day I thought I’d experiment with making the cake into cupcakes, so that they could be a fun, bite-size snack or party food. The resulting recipe is below – my apologies for the American measurements, but I’m a big fan of the ‘cup’. Much more easily portable than a set of weighing scales, if you’re not cooking in your own kitchen.

Ingredients:

- 1 and a half cups of self-raising flour

- half a cup of light muscovado sugar

- half a teaspoon of salt

- 2 teaspoons of baking powder

- 1 egg

- half a cup of milk

- quarter of a cup of vegetable oil

- 2 carrots, peeled and finely grated

- 2 oranges, the peel finely grated and the juice squeezed out of them, pips strained out

- half a teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 generous tablespoon of ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Sift the dry ingredients together, then add the egg, milk and vegetable oil and stir well. Grate the carrots and orange peel together, then add the orange juice to the peel mixture. Add all the peel/juice mixture to the cupcake mixture, and stir together thoroughly. If it doesn’t smell spicey enough at this point I tend to add more ginger and/or cinnamon at this point. I like my cupcakes to be flavoursome! Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake for around 15 minutes, until they are going slightly golden on top.

For the icing:

- 6 oz/175 g soft cheese

- 2 oz/50 g soft margarine or butter

- 4 oz/100 g icing sugar

Blend these ingredients together and stir really well, until entirely smooth and lump free. (Using an electric whisk helps!) Let the cupcakes cool when they  come out of the oven, then spread the icing on and grate a little bit of carrot or orange peel on to each one for decoration.