Baking Blondies

Baking has always been one of my passions. Since I was a kid you could always find me in the kitchen baking pies, cakes and cookies. Eating all these baked goods afterwards was also very pleasant and nowadays I am still a real sweet tooth.

When I was watching Tanya Burr's last baking video there was only one thing that popped into my head: I NEED to make these. The blondies looked really good and I just had to try them. I have always been a brownie kind of girl, but I guess there is a first for everything right?

I also changed up the recipe a bit compared to Tanya’s version, so here we go!

What do you need?

300 gr white chocolate

125 gr butter

150 gr caster sugar

1,5 teaspoon vanilla essence

Two eggs

200 gr flower

First, put your oven on 170 °C and line a baking tray with some baking paper. This way it’s easier to get the blondies out.

Then you are going to melt 200 gr of white chocolate and the butter using the ‘au bain-marie’ method. After everything is melted you take the bowl with the melted chocolate and the butter from the heat and add in the caster sugar. Mix this very well and add in the vanilla essence. Then you put two eggs into the mixture. Make sure you keep mixing, because you don’t want the eggs to scramble. Now it’s time to add the flower and keep mixing until there are no lumps in your mixture. Chop up the rest of the white chocolate in small pieces and add those to the mixture. This will make the blondies even yummier!

Scoop your blondie mixture in the baking tray and spread it out evenly, then place it in the oven for about 28-35 minutes. It really depends on your oven, so just check once in a while. When the top is golden brown and they are still a bit chewy on the inside they are perfect!

Let it cool down, cut it in squares and your blondies are done! Enjoy these yummy treats with a cup of tea and they will be gone before you know it!

What is your favourite sweet treat?

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'Bad Skin Day' Everyday Make-Up Look

Today I wanted to talk about something that has been a big insecurity of mine for the past 7 years. Ever since I got my first blemish my skin got worse and worse, especially in the years when I was 16-20 years old. I have a lot of scarring, redness and break-outs that keep coming back.

Since November 2013 I have been getting facials every single month and this really helped to improve my skin. It still didn’t solve the problem, but it made it a bit better. Last December I was introduced to a wonder product. I call it that, because believe me it is THE BEST! This product is called Gladskin and I will do a full review of it on my blog soon, but this product really helped to fix all my skin problems.

A couple of weeks ago I did get a few break-outs and I filmed this video. I mainly filmed it because I had time to film and I really wanted to film an ‘Everyday Make-Up Look’. While editing it I saw that my skin wasn’t the best. I contemplated a lot if I should upload it or not and it has been on private for about two weeks now.

In the end I decided to put the video on public, because overall I am quite happy with how it turned out, when it comes to the editing part. The only problem is my skin and some of you might think that I should not worry about it. Maybe your skin is way worse or you just don’t care, but for me this was and still is a big obstacle. I decided to overcome this by uploading it and maybe helping some of you along the way.

While I am typing this my skin is actually pretty good and I filmed a new make-up look yesterday which I still have to edit. It will hopefully go up soon! :). That video will also be the last video with sucky video quality, because I got a present from my dad and it’s a Canon 700d! I cannot wait to film loads of videos for you, but for now here is my Everyday Make-Up Look on a ‘Bad Skin Day’!

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The Anti-Frizz Remedy

I have always had a love/hate relationship with my hair. I think everyone with long hair can relate to the fact that sometimes you love your long locks and the next day you want to get a short hair-do. This happens to me all the time, but I am too scared to actually cut it.

Frizz has also been a problem for me. I have these tiny hairs that sit on top of my head and just won’t lie down. Luckily I have an all new hair care routine that really helped my locks to become shiny and frizz-free.

Last year I went to an event where they introduced a new hair care range of GUHL. It’s not a brand that is well known worldwide, but I still wanted to mention the range on here, since it helped me so much.

The GUHL range is made to give you frizz-free hair and bouncy locks and it sure did! There are four products in the range: a shampoo, a conditioner, an intensive repair mask and a daily intensive treatment. I used all four products together to get the best results. The scent of these products is amazing and my hair feels clean, fresh and frizz-free afterwards.

My favourite product, out of the whole range, is the intensive repair mask. I’ve never really used hair masks regularly, but now that it’s right next to me in the shower, I use it every single time that I wash my hair and it makes my hair feel so soft and nourished.

This hair washing routine of mine has also changed a lot. There was a period in my life where I would wash it every single day and I know this is very damaging for my hair, but it would get so greasy and gross otherwise. Now I wash my hair two times a week. When I don’t need to leave the house, I just leave my hair in a bun on my head and let it be. Then there is my good friend dry shampoo. I just spritz it in my hair on ‘greasy hair days’ and I am good to go. I feel that all of this has helped in the anti-frizz process.

What are your remedies for frizz-free hair?

Raw Oreos

I am a real sweet tooth. Cakes, cookies, pancakes; I love it all! Now lately I have been obsessed with one particular type of cookies and those are Oreos. I just love everything about them, but sadly they are not very healthy.

Last year I bought the book ‘Powerfood’ by Rens Kroes. It’s a Dutch cookbook and yes, her sister is Doutzen Kroes! I have been making lots of healthy things from the book and there was one recipe in particular that I really wanted to try: Raw Oreos. A healthier version of my beloved Oreo cookies. So last week I made them and let’s say they are freaking amazing! They don’t taste like your regular Oreo, but they are sooo yummy and healthy too.

That’s why today I am sharing the recipe of these raw cookies!

What do you need?

Cookies

50 gr oats

180 gr almonds

100 gr unseeded dates

120 gr raw cacao powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cashew Cream

130 gr raw cashews

Two tablespoons of water

One tablespoon of unsweetened vanilla-extract

One tablespoon of melted coconut oil

A pinch of salt

One tablespoon of agave syrup

How do you make them?

Soak the raw cashews, in water, for 4 hours and soak the unseeded dates, also in water, for 15 minutes.  I prepared the raw cashews the night before, so I probably soaked them for about 12 hours.

Put the oats, almonds, soaked dates, raw cacao powder and cinnamon in a food processor and mix it until the cookie mixture has a fine consistency. I found that the mixture was too crumbly and I couldn’t make proper cookies out of it, so I added a bit of coconut oil to the mixture.

Put the cookie mixture on a piece of baking paper and roll it out until it’s about ½ cm. Then cut out circular cookies, about the same size as an Oreo. I used a glass to do this. It takes a bit of time to get all the cookies to look good, but in the end it went alright. :).

Firstly, clean up the food processor so you can make the cashew cream. Put the soaked cashews, water, unsweetened vanilla-extract, melted coconut oil, salt and the agave syrup in the food processor. Mix it until it has a creamy and smooth consistency.

Now it’s time to make the raw Oreos! Take a cookie and put a bit of the cashew cream on the cookie. Top it with another cookie and press the two cookies together. Repeat this until there are no cookies left.

There you have it: your own homemade raw Oreos! They are super delicious and made with healthy ingredients. You can even put them in the freezer, so that when you are craving something sweet you can just take one out!

Please let me know if you have made these raw Oreos, because they are AMAZING!

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Love, Tanya

I have always been a fan of lifestyle books. Lauren Conrad’s ‘Style’ and ‘Beauty’ are two of my favourites and often I take a book like this, snuggle up on the sofa with a cup of tea and start reading. I find it extremely interesting to read someone’s point of view about fashion, beauty and everything else that covers the book. It’s not that I don’t know all the information in the book already, but it’s just nice to read about topics you find interesting.

When Tanya announced her book I knew that I really wanted to have it. I started to find out about YouTube back in 2012 and she was one of the first YouTubers that I subscribed to. I just like her bubbly, happy personality and she is the best for make-up tutorials.

Last week I went looking for the book at Waterstones in Amsterdam, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it there. Luckily, a Dutch webshop is selling the book, so I made the order and received the book a few days later.

After opening the hardcover book I immediately was amazed by it. It looks amazing and the photography in the book is just perfect. I love all the photos. I think the chapter photos are lovely and I really like the skincare chapter photo.

Love, Tanya holds twelve chapters:

Growing Up: Part One

Growing Up: Part Two

Skincare Essentials

Make-Up Essentials

Hair and Nail Essentials

Fashion

Love

Life

Baking & Recipes

Confidence & Happiness

YouTube

Looking Forward

I immediately went to the Confidence & Happiness chapter and read all the other chapters one by one. I love the personal side of it. Tanya tells about her own life and her own experiences throughout the book. Because I have been following Tanya for a very long time I know a lot about here, but I still find it very interesting to read about her journey to where she is now. Can I also say that reading the ‘Love’ chapter made me even more jealous and I really need a Jim in my life haha; they are just so cute together.

I also love the ‘My Top 10’ pages that come back every chapter. They are very diverse and cover subjects like ‘My Top 10 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety and Stress’ and ‘My Top 10 Must-Haves for your Make-Up Bag’. The reader can also get creative because in every chapter there are ‘Notes’ where you can write down your own favourites and lists. From ‘List your Favorite Fashion Items…’ to ‘List your Funniest or Most Embarrassing Moments…’.

It’s a book with very different sides. You can learn a bit more about beauty and fashion and also get to know Tanya on various levels. It’s put together very well and I love the design of the pages and the book cover. You can see that Tanya has been working very hard on the book and when you read it you really see her bubbly personality shine through every word. I love how she is still very down to earth and she deserves all the success she is having!

Have you read Love, Tanya?

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The London Haul + Vlog

 As you all know I went on a trip to London a few weeks ago. I saw all the highlights of the city and of course shopped a lot. I rambled up all my adventures in a post that you can read HERE.

As a beauty addict I couldn’t leave the British drugstores unvisited, since there are many good products in there. I went a bit too crazy in Boots and Superdrug, I have to admit, but I got everything I wanted!

As for fashion, I also went a bit cray cray. I love the style of many British bloggers, so to actually go to Topshop, Primark and New Look was amazing!

Instead of doing a blog haul, I decided to make a video out of it. Making Youtube videos is something I always wanted to do, so here it is: My first ever haul!

A few things:
1. I had a bad hair day and putting it up in a ponytail clearly didn't solve the problem.
2. I say the words 'super duper' and 'love' a lot in this video. Mainly because I was super duper excited about London, but in the future I will try to not use them as much. :p 
3. The quality is a bit off, but I am hopefully getting a new camera in the upcoming months! :)