Sun

We've had glorious sunshine in the UK for the last week or so and I've been making the most of it with BBQs, ping pong in the park, ice cream, mini golf, eating out and plenty of other good stuff.

Here's a few photos from along the way...

 Sunbathing in the garden. Nail polish by Essie.

Trying new designs on my nails (I achieved this with the end of a hair slide dipped into polish)

Homemade strawberry lemonade 

Photo c/o Xue Tintin

 Birthday BBQ

Photo c/o Xue Tintin 

Getting last minute pieces before I go away next week. This hat is H&M.

 Nostalgic ice lollies - remember these? 

The pattern on my new maxi (New Look)

Phoenix

I've just got back from a delightful afternoon playing dress up at Phoenix dress agency in Cobham. I was invited by Nicola to visit her at her placement where she's in charge of the shop's social media.

If you don't know what a dress agency is, it's a second hand designer shop where people sell their unwanted luxury items. When I say second hand, I really mean that it was bought brand new by somebody ridiculously rich who put it straight to the back of their vast wardrobe - often with tags intact - never to be worn and then given to Phoenix to sell at a reduced cost six months later. Brilliant idea.

The team at Phoenix were lovely. A bubbly, friendly group of women run the shop and they were all so welcoming. Nicola is doing a great job with the social media and after three weeks has considerably increased their Facebook and Twitter traffic.

After a mooch around the two floors of rails ranging from Alexander McQueen gowns to Mulberry handbags, I tried on a pair of nude lace Sportmax shorts (image below), a blue striped Joseph kaftan and a blush pink with navy sequins Tory Burch kaftan (image below). The Tory kaftan was lovely, £80, but sadly gone by the time we got back from lunch. I was desperate for the Joseph kaftan, £60, but decided that it was perhaps too much to spend on something to wear to the beach (says her who just bought a Missoni bikini). The Sportmax shorts were also great on and would be a wonderful addition to my wardrobe but just not a necessity at the moment. Maybe next time.

If, like me, your budget might not always stretch to the shop fresh article but you still have a penchant for designer, pop into Phoenix, I guarantee you won't leave empty handed. I didn't... PS. Have a look at this beautiful Balenciaga that just arrived this morning.

Tory Burch kaftan, £80 (sold) 

Anya Hindmarch clutches

Sportmax nude lace shorts, £60 

 I love the detail on this Christian Louboutin heel

...I couldn't resist. Nude, patent Rupert Sanderson sandals - my heel of the season.

Visit: http://www.phoenixcobham.co.uk/ 

Intern at Vogue

I'm starting my second week at Vogue today and have been meaning to update you all on the last week's antics. The office is great, everyone is friendly and are happy to answer any questions you have. They all make you feel very comfortable and welcome. The week started off fairly slow, I'm a fashion features intern so most of my work on the most basic level includes scanning newspapers, doing research for the features team, ordering look books for the upcoming issue and general admin. Towards the end of the week, as call-ins for shoots started to arrive, it got a little more exciting. Gucci, Louis, Fendi - it all feels so much more luxurious in real life and I have to stop myself trying on all the fabulous shoes (especially when fortunately, or unfortunately, I am a sample size 39/40). I wish wish wish I could show you photos but my hands are tied (rather bound) by an intimidating looking confidentiality agreement in which I cannot divulge any upcoming story/feature/shoot ideas or content. Booooo, but of course it's understandable. Anyway, apart from the 20-minute panic in the morning over what I'm going to wear, I'm loving it. This week we're receiving more call-ins and preparing for a handful of shoots coming up in the next week. It's all hands on deck but luckily we have an extra intern to help out. I'll keep you posted. X

PocketSize

Finally I can show you all something I (and six others) have been working tirelessly on for the last couple of months.

This is PocketSize magazine. You can click Full Screen to read the articles.

Birthday Cake

I've been dying to show you this recipe and photos for over a month now but getting my hands on them (from my elusive sister) proved harder than I initially thought.

But I got them today so I can finally share the recipes, tricks and tips on how I made my sister's eighteenth birthday cake.

Although I've made tons of cakes over the years - some for occasions, others just for fun - this was the first time I'd tackled royal icing. My Mum had asked for a similar version of my own eighteenth birthday cake (below) which was made by the glorious Paula at Costa Cakes so I embarked on some royal icing research. I also wanted to make a superbly moist yet crumbly vanilla sponge and fill it with jam and butter cream. My first port of call was Smitten Kitchen and all the information I could ever need was there. I'd recommend reading this post before starting on any layer cake and from there I used this recipe for the sponge layers and this recipe for the butter cream. I would recommend both recipes, they were both fairly simple and turned out brilliantly, even for a novice like me.

I bought two colours of royal icing, white for the base cover and fuchsia for the decoration. Rolling it out wasn't the easiest task with the tiny work space I have in my kitchen (think Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen and you're about there) and placing it over the cake was also a bit of a juggle. I made a couple of holes but the beauty of the decoration is that you can hide any mistakes. The decoration was simple, using these alphabet cutters for the letters and pink glitter to top it all off. I used a length of pink ribbon to hide the icing join.

The reason I even took on the challenge is because the quotes my Mum was getting for making a simple birthday cake were astronomical. I told her that my amateur attempt may look less professional but it's the thought and love that goes into it, right? Plus it'd be considerably cheaper - barely £15 to be precise. I even managed to pack it with me in hand luggage when I flew to Spain but that's a whole other story...

Anyway, it turned out not too bad for my first attempt. The white icing wasn't as smooth as I'd have liked but I was pleased with just about every other element. And I'm not even too scarred not to try it again.

To buy or not to buy?

Perfect for summer events...

£40, Zara

Cake

It's a friend's birthday today so we decided to have some tea and birthday cake at mine yesterday. Of course, any opportunity to bake and I'm there so this was the perfect time to try a new chocolate cake recipe.

My new favourite recipe site - Smitten Kitchen - had the perfect recipe for a chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting. I've tried a few recipes from the site now and have found they all work out well providing you follow the precise instructions and advice so it's come to be my go-to site when I need something special.

I used this recipe and made half the frosting (just enough to cover the cake) and used strawberry jam for the filling. The only downside is that the recipes are American so include ingredients you may not be able to buy in the UK. For example, the frosting asked for two tablespoons of corn syrup. I searched high and low for it but couldn't find it in the regular supermarkets. I know you can buy it from Amazon for about £4 but I didn't have the time nor the inclination to spend £4 on a bottle of something I didn't 100% need. I looked for substitute recommendations online but none were a great match although many people advised to use golden syrup. However, I thought this might make the frosting super sweet which is not what I was going for. In the end I decided to use about spoonful of honey purely for the consistency. It did make the mix sweet but I added about 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder which balanced it right out again. Next time though I might just skip the whole process because I'm not totally convinced it's necessary.

Anyway I simply decorated the cake with some basic icing sugar and water mix icing and piped "Happy Birthday Harriet" on top and piped icing balls a long the base of the cake. And I was fairly pleased with the overall result!

Making the frosting

Yes, there is a naked Barbie sat next to the cake.