Brioche

I have spend the weekend baking one of my favorite breads. It is the French brioche (sweet white bread). I love it so much I needed to share the recipe and a few pictures.

Here is what you need:

• 500gr of flour
• 1 Egg
• 15gr of fresh yeast
• 100gr sugar
• 60gr of butter
• 125ml sweet cream
• 150ml milk
• Tiny little bit of salt
• 1 yolk

Instructions:

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and egg in a bowl.
2. Melt the yeast in a bit of the cream in a separate bowl. Once all is smooth add the rest of the cream and then add the milk.
3. Add cream/milk/yest into the flour/sugar/egg mixture.
4. Add the butter in small pieces.
5. Knead everything well.
6. Form a ball and let dough rest for an hour.
7. Knead dough one more time and bring it into its final shape. Cover dough with yolk.
8. Let dough rest for another half hour.
9. Bake at 170C for 15 minutes

As you saw in the first picture I chose to bake small brioches. From step 7 on you can see what I did step by step. To prepare small brioches I created a total of 12 dough balls which I braided into small breads. I baked the brioches in a muffin form but you can bake them also as they are or make one big brioche.

Here are some of my dough balls.

Out of each and every one of them I created 3 ropes.

I attached them at the top and braided a small bread.

Then the breads went into a muffin form covered with yolk to rest another half hour. 

Afterwards I baked the brioches for 15 minutes in a preheated oven. Remember that the baking time increases if you chose to prepare one big brioche.

Here they are fresh from the oven!

They are so tasty! I can only recommend you to try the recipe!!

Tatcha Deep Hydration Lifting Mask

The Tatcha Deep Hydration Lifting Mask is from the Tatcha Luminous series. It retails for $ 28 (one mask) or $ 98 (for four masks). It is available from Tatcha’s website.

The gel mask comes in a sealed light purple packaging. Each mask is packed separately to insure a maximum of hygiene. I received one mask as a gift with order. This is how it came:

The mask is to be applied on cleansed face. I am sorry that I was not able to capture the mask once I took it out of the package. It was so heavily soaked with products that I needed to hold it with my both hands not to damage it. 

Once you open the package the gel mask is white and has to be unfolded. One layer of mesh has to be peeled away. Once done you need to place the gel mask face down on your face. Then the second layer of mesh has to be removed.

In order to place the mask straight on my face I worked from the eyes and then I set the rest. For me the mask is quite big as it is a bit too long on the chin and a bit too wide on the sides.

Once the mask is placed on the face the magic begins. My face started to get really cold. I felt that something was happening under the mask as I felt some kind of tingling.

After 20 minutes I removed the mask and massaged the leftover of the product into the skin. Then I applied Tatcha’s Moisture Rich Silk Cream. Having removed the mask and creamed my face, it stayed cold for at least another half hour or so.

I applied the mask during the evening before I went to sleep. The next day my skin looked very relaxed and moisture. I felt great the entire day as the skin was extra smooth. I really enjoyed the mask. The cooling effect was nice and the way the skin looked the next day was wonderful. I experienced no irritations or any kind of other inconveniences. 

Summing up:

Pros:

·                     Great feeling, nice cooling effect

·                     Smooths Skin

·                     No irritations

Cons:

·                     Price!

January Recommendations

1. Tatcha Discovery Kit

2. Ankle Boots

3. Guerlain "La Petite Robe Noire"

4. Guerlain Terracotta in Blondes 02

5. Repeat Cashmere Scarf (sold out)

6. Hermès Agenda (similar)

7. Michael Kors Bangle

Jour de Hermès

Today I would like to talk about a lovely spring scent that I discovered back in 2013 but I love to use it also on gray rainy winter days. It reminds me about the lightness of the first sunshine and the smell of the first blooming flowers.

I am talking about “Jour d’Hermès” from Hermès. It has been heavily advertised during last year and I guess most of you have probably come across it one way or another.

It is very difficult to review a scent as it smells often times different on different skin types and everybody seems to smell something else. So here you find my personal thoughts and I remind you that you might feel different about this product.

“Jour d’Hermès” is an Eau de Perfume (do not confuse with "Jour d’Hermès Absolu"). It comes in 30ml, 50ml and 85ml. The 30ml cost 60 Euros. All the bottles are refillable. In that regard I purchased the smallest bottle and a refill. The refill contains 125ml and costs 115 Euros.

Here you can see both next to each other:

As you can observe the perfume is of a golden color and the product looks very valuable. The bottle is made from heavy glass (already the 30ml comes in a quite heavy bottle). On the glass foot it says “Jour d’Hermès”.

The scent of the perfume as already mentioned above reminds me of light flowers as they grow in spring. I can not detect any specific flower. It feels rather like a bouquet. The overall feel is light, floral and a tiny little bit creamy. It is a great scent for the day as it is not heavy at all. I wear the scent and I feel like I am in a wonderful garden. “Jour d’Hermès” is a quiet perfume all ingredients are in perfect harmony.

The lasting power of “Jour d’Hermès” is great. I use it at around 7am before I leave for work and the scent stays till I get back home around 6pm. It gets lighter during the afternoon hours but it does not disappear.

The line includes also bath product and a deodorant.

I also own the Body Lotion and the deodorant. Both products smell exactly the almost the same as the perfume and are both lovely.

The body lotion contains 200ml and costs around 50 Euros. It comes in a white plastic bottle that tries to imitate the shape of the perfume bottle.

The lotion is very liquid and dries down very quickly. It moistures very well (I do not have any major skin concern, so it might be different for others).

The scent from the lotion holds on around 3 to 4 hours. For me this is fine. I do not own many other lotion products that get into that level. Most disappear on me after half an hour.

The deodorant contains 150ml and costs 43 Euros.

It comes in a white container with a golden cap. It is a spray and it is very easy to use. It has pretty much the same scent as the perfume. I would say it is slightly sweeter but not much.

The quality of the product is fine. I live in a hot country and I do not have any issues using this product. It never let me down. It might be different individually so please try it out for yourself and report back.

Summing up:

Pros:

·                     Very Good Lasting Power for all products

·                     Great light scent. I personally love the smell of flowers

·                     Perfume is refillable!

Cons:

·                     Not cheap

Happy New Year

My little pocket calender

Happy New Year to Everyone!

I can not believe that we are in 2015 already. The last year has passed so fast that I am not sure where I was. Seriously I still feel like I am 25 but I am not!

Today I wanted to take a moment to review 2014 and to share my plans for 2015.

I started this blog in February 2014 because I wanted to share what I love in beauty and fashion while giving you a glimpse of my other passions such as baking and travelling. I honestly enjoy every post I write and I am deeply sorry for not being able to blog all the time but what I post comes from all my heart. I do not want to junk this blog with things just in order to post something. The quality about what I write and and what I talk about matters to me. Though I am planning to be more available in 2015.

Front View

Side View

For me 2014 was a year of transition. From a point that I was not sure where I am exactly heading (I mean that not in a bad way) to a point that I know what I would like to achieve. It helped me to look at what I like and what I dream about to understand what I want. Not everything in life turns out exactly as planned but it helps me to have the main plan.
How did all that happen, you might wonder? During last year I had a serious back injury that forced me to go three times a week to a physiotherapist to get treatment for an hour each time. While I lay there with pain the doctor told me that I am not taking enough care of myself. I should do more sport and sit less in front of the computer and I should definitely reduce stress. I started thinking about that. Trying to figure out what I enjoy doing and what not in order to be more at ease. Once the thoughts started to turn inside my head I started to set different priorities. Allowing myself to do things that I love, taking myself enough time to rest and to reduce stress for example by disconnecting my work email from my smartphone (Yes, I did it and I do not regret!).
I have to say that I am definitely happier today and I am very thankful that my wonderful husband is always supporting me.

So now we are heading into 2015. What are my New Years resolutions?

• Be thankful for what I have
• Be there for family and friends
• Spend lots of time with my sweet dog
• Try to be more minimalist (I do not need tons of cloths and makeup, even though I often think I do, especially when entering a department store)
• Get rid of things that are not need and do not buy things that are not needed :-)
• Allocate time correctly to make most of everything
• Always give 100% of myself

Love,

Sandra