Sunday, 31 July 2016

Monthly Favourites

  Hello everybody!
  This week is a Monthly Favourites! I have 9 things to share with you so here they are...

  ▪️Kiko eye palette 02 BRIGHT DUO
  ▪️Kiko Pure Clean Face Gel
  ▪️H&M strapless floral coral bikini
  ▪️ Lotus Biscoff
  ▪️ Zara floral crop top
  ▪️ H&M mustard dress
  ▪️ Bershka iPhone 5 ombré henna lion cover
  ▪️ Adidas white Super Star Foundation trainers
  ▪️ White and gold Venetian mask


  That's all for this post! I hope you enjoyed! The items in this monthly favourites could possibly be my favourite items I've ever included! Let me know what your favourite item is! I will see you next week for another post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Italy Tour | Part One

  Hello everybody!
  My family and I are currently on holiday in Italy! So far, during the holiday we have visited Venice and Florence. They were both so beautiful and Venice was like no other place I've ever been to. I did a travel blog post late last summer, but since these places are so amazing I couldn't resist making another post about it!

  Venice

  We arrived at Venice Treviso airport and got taken to Piazzale Roma, the main bus station on Venice Lagoon. Here we got our first view of the canals (which there are LOADS of!) and we were then taken to the hotel in a private water taxi. Unfortunately, the views weren't great as it was quite late at night, but it still felt special. When we arrived at our hotel, called Hotel Splendid, we were taken to our room... And then we just slept, feeling tired but excited about the adventures to come...


The following morning, we just wandered around (and got lost) to explore the area a bit. We also went to San Marco Square which was very "Wow!" After that we had lunch and did more exploring, crossing the Rialto Bridge many times and of course, we ate icecream! Later on, we chilled for a bit then got ready for an evening in Venice! When we went out we headed for the Grand Canal and went on a gondala ride. If you ever go to Venice definitely do that! We had dinner in the hotel restaurant set in a beautiful courtyard which was very nice! I had spaghetti carbonara and also tried some linguine with lobster sauce.

  
The next day we saw the Bridge of Sighs and went to the BAUERs Hotel for a drink. We looked around some shops for a while and we walked over the Rialto Bridge again. While walking over the bridge we saw a small market stall with some beautiful Venetian Masks. After that we had lunch at a restaurant right next to the Grand Canal and of course...ICECREAM!
  

  Venice/Florence

Our third day was traveling day... To Florence! We got the number 2 Vaporetto water bus down to the train station. We then boarded the train to Florence, the journey was about 2 hours. When we arrived we got a taxi to the hotel. It was called Hotel Balestri and it was by the river. Like Venice when we arrived we just walked around and saw some parts of Florence, while wandering around we came to Piazza Della Sognoria, which is where the majority of the big statues are. After that we went back to the hotel got ready for dinner. We had a very lovely dinner at a restaurant called Frescobaldi.
  

  Florence

  On our first full day we explored some more and went to see Duomo di Firenze which was so beautiful. After doing all this exploring we had a very BIG lunch in a famous sandwich shop called All' Antico Vinaio. The sandwiches there are HUGE!!! And, incredibly tasty! After having lunch we decided to go to the Gucci Museum where we saw lots of old Gucci bags, luggage and clothes etc. From around the mid 1900s. Then we had.. Icecream! (Don't be too shocked; we had one every day!) But this icecream was special. It was a magnum.. Only you could design one yourself!!!! Yeah, I know pretty cool, right? We then made our way back to the hotel to get changed for dinner, and headed back to the Piazza Della Songria where we chose one of the many restaurants with a nice atmosphere overlooking the square.


  The next day we went to to the Galleria degli Uffizi and saw all the old art pieces which were just breathtaking. Slightly later on in the day we walked down to the boutique district where all the designer shops and fancy hotels are. For dinner, we found a very trendy restaurant called The Corner. Once we had finished eating dinner and I had signed the visitors board, we headed back to Piazza Della Songria where an orchestra of about 20 people were playing live music. And that ended day 5!


  Florence/Rome

  Another day of travelling again, this time to Rome, which is where I am now.......

  But I am going to end it there because I will write about all my adventures in Rome in a few weeks. So that's all for this one! I hope you enjoyed this for a change. Venice and Florence are certainly two places I would say should be on everyone's bucket list because they really are just so amazimg! I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!

Sunday, 17 July 2016

Getting To Know Me!

  Hello everybody!
  This weeks blog is something quite similar to the second blog I did, that time it was only 'Facts About Me' but this is more or a Q&A from and to myself. I hope you understand how it works and you get to know just a bit more about me!
  

  Q. If I could have any dog, what breed would I have?
  A. A fawn pug.

  Q. What is my favourite song?
  A. Hello by Adele.

  Q. What was the last book I read?
  A. Girl Online by Zoë Sugg.

  Q. Who's my favourite youtuber at the moment?
  A. MoreZoella. Love all her vlogs! 
  
  Q. Do I wear glasses?
  A. No, but I have fake ones that I love!
 
  Q. What is my hobby, other than blogging?
  A. Singing and drama.

  Q. Would I ever like to make ISayBell merchandise?
  A. Definitely, would love my own clothing line.

  Q. Am I a gamer?
  A. Yes. My favourite game is sims 4.
 
  Q. What is my favourite scent?
  A. Baby Powder or Coconut.

  Q. What is my favourite blog post?
  A. 'Embarrassing Dad Jokes.'


  That's all. I hope you enjoyed! They were all a bit random but hopefully it answered some of your questions about me and got you a bit excited for what could come in the future. This week's blog is a little earlier than usual as I am going on holiday today (literally at the airport now!). Also, the time of day for next week's blog might change but I can't confirm on that!
  I will see you all next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!
 

 

Sunday, 10 July 2016

Ombré Sponge Cake

  Hello everybody!
  This week is yet another baking blog, and originally I thought that this bake was more for looks than for tastes, however, it turned out to be yummy. It was quite crazy and nerve-wracking! But, when I finished the bake I was so happy with the outcome! If you want to learn how to make this gorgeous ombré cake continue reading...


  Serves: About 12
  Cook time: 20-25 minutes
  Prep Time: 1-2 hours
  Difficulty: Challenging

  Ingredients:

   Cake Batter
  ▪️ I took the easy option and used 2 packets of vanilla sponge cake, but you can prepare your own from scratch if you prefer
  ▪️ 2 medium eggs
  ▪️ 120ml milk
  ▪️ Food dye - I used Sugar Flair colour Deep Purple
  ▪️ 600g icing sugar
  ▪️ 300g butter

  Method:

  ▪️ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
  ▪️Prepare your cake batter as per the instructions. Separate the mixture into four bowls and start to add your food colouring. I did this very gradually adding the colour with a toothpick, one blob at a time.  For the lightest shade I used 2 blobs (sorry for non technical language), for the next shade 6 blobs, the next layer 10 blobs and for the darkest shade 16 blobs. Add the mixture to 4 x 20cm cake tins and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes ( or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean).

  ▪️ Leave the sponge cakes to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes.

  ▪️ To make the buttercream frosting, soften your butter with an electric whisk and gradually add the sifted icing sugar. Start building the cake using the buttercream to sandwich the layers and also spread on top and on the sides. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Now using the buttercream you have left over, start adding the colouring and spread the frosting around the cake starting from the top. Add more colouring and frost the next layer, then finally your apply your darkest frosting to the bottom of the cake. I also piped 3 rosettes on top of the cake with varying shades of the buttercream.

  

  That's it! I hope you enjoyed, I think the ombré effect looked really good and it tasted yummy as well. Let me know if you bake this and how yours turns out! I would love to see your recreation of this, remember, you can do all sorts with the design, this was just how I decided to do mine. Tag me on Instagram (@ISayBell_blog) or on Facebook (ISayBell Blog). I will see you next week for another blog post! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!

PS. Next weeks blog is going to be posted a lot earlier. (Probably before 14:00 (GMT+1)

 


Sunday, 3 July 2016

Expectations Vs Reality | Beach

  Hello everybody!
  This week is the second expectations vs reality! I did one some time back and it went down really well, so I thought I'd do another one but this time its all about the beach. I know I can relate to these, can you?

  The journey:
  Expectation: Arrive at the beach feeling chilled after a fun carpool session!
  Reality: After a 2 hour journey (thanks to traffic) arrive already boiling hot.

  Getting a space: 
  Expectation: While looking for the perfect space you hear your voice being called and it just so happens that your best friend went there too! So you go and chill together.
  Reality:  You hobble with 1000 bags/chairs/umbrellas to the worst spot on the beach since all the other places are full. Well, at least you got a space.
 
  Getting settled: 
  Expectation: You put down the bags you bought and lay down your towel out all straight and sand free. Let the tanning begin!
  Reality: You try and squeeze all your bags into a tight spot so that you can still lay down your towel. Once you have that problem dealt with, you lay the towel down and it ends up as a sandy scrunched up ball.

  Suncream:
  Expectation: You put on factor 30 thinking you'll tan easily, perfect! You begin to rub it in and luckily it doesn't take years to rub in so that you don't look like a vampire!
  Reality: Ooooops, so you squirt way too much suncream into your hands and start the huge task of trying to rub it all in. Accidentally, you flick some sand up with your foot and end up rubbing the sand all over your legs! Ouch!!!

  Tanning:
  Expectation: After laying down in the sun for an hour you notice you are already bronzing nicely! Lucky you, no terrible tan lines!
  Reality: You end up falling asleep, all seems fine, right? Nope, because you forgot to put suncream on your face and chest so you look like a lobster and even worse, you have your headphone wires on top of you so that made a horrendous tan mark. Great.

  Swimming:
  Expectation: You walk across the beach wearing your flip-flops (thank God) and down to the lovely ocean and walk through it calmly and feel the warm waves splash gently against you and gracefully dive in. Once you're in, you chat and swim with your bestie.
  Reality: You run down the beach burning your feet because you didn't put your flip-flops on. When you finally get down to the sea you start to walk in but soon waddle back out because it's so cold. You try again slowly getting in until you trip over a pebble and end up belly-flopping in. Embarrassing!

  Playing:
  Expectation: You get out bat and ball and start playing. Some while later you and your friend say "100!" You hit 100 hits! You keep on going and some other people are gathering around and cheering!
  Reality: You get out bat and ball and begin playing. After 10 minutes the most you've gotten up to is 3. It's also a shame you did it right at the front of the beach. *cringes*

  Eating ice cream:
  Expectation: You buy a nice big ice cream, your favourite flavour and it's on special offer! Perfect for a nice afternoon snack!
  Reality: You buy the only ice cream they sell which is probably left over from last year. Not only is it not what you really wanted, you have to pay a crazy amount for it! When you eat it, it all starts melting and running down your arm leaving you all sticky.


  That's all, did you relate? Perhaps you have had the expectation happen to you before! If so, you lucky thing! I'm now off for summer holidays and I have some very exciting posts coming soon! I hope you enjoyed! See you all next Sunday! Love you all!
  Byyeee!!!!