Food: chocolate cheesecake brownies!

One of my favourite things to bake is brownies, so when I saw this recipe online I decided to adapt it sightly to make it more to my taste and bake it for myself! If you would like to see the original recipe follow this link or for my version keep reading!

Ingredients:
1 tub (180g) Philadelphia cream cheese; 100g (+4 tbsp) caster sugar; 3 eggs, 1 large (200g) bar Dairy Milk chocolate broken up, 50g butter, 85g plain flour, 1/2tsp baking powder & 1/4 tsp salt. 

Method:
1. preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. 
2. line an 18cm squared tin with grease-proof paper 
3. mix the cream cheese and 4 tbsp of sugar in a bowl. Add one of the eggs and half the chocolate and put it to one side. 
4. In a second bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and stir in the other half the chocolate until it is melted together. 
5. Add the flour, sugar, remaining two eggs, salt and baking powder to the melted egg and sugar. Mix until smooth. 
6. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the lined tin and smooth out.
7. Pour the cheesecake mixture on top and swirl in with the chocolate.
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.
9.Let cool in the tin for 10-20 minutes before removing from tin and cutting into squares.
10. serve hot with double cream or ice cream or cold as a snack!

If you have any baking recipes you would like to see me try then post the links in the comments or send them to me on twitter (@scdjess) or Instagram (@jessicaellenblogs)!

"Find something you're 

passionate about & keep 

tremendously interested in it!"

- Julia Child 

Beauty: Simple but beautiful prom makeup look!

On Friday I was extremely excited to be able to do my little sister Gemma's makeup for her year 11 leavers prom! As she does not normally wear makeup, but wanted to for this special occasion so I created this look which complemented her dress, but wasn't too much - and as I loved it so much I thought I would share it on here!

For the base I kept it simple with primer (Maybelline baby skin pore eraser primer, £7.99 at superdrug) and powder (Rosie for Autograph translucent finishing powder, £18 at M&S). I then added a bit of colour with the Nars blush duo in Olympia (£32 on ASOS) and the shade helia from the Anastasia moonchild glow kit (£39 on Beautybay).

On the eyes I used colours to complement her blue dress with silver accents. I chose to go with the shades eskimo kiss, crystallised and blue moon from the Sleek Nordic Skies palette (2016 Limited Edition) and I added a little silver in the inner corner for a finishing touch with the Barry M fine glitter dust in silver (£4.59 at Superdrug). To finish of the eyes I used the blue collection 24hr eyeliner felt tip pen (£2.99 at Superdrug) and Benefit's roller lash mascara (£20.50 on FeelUnique).

Finally, I chose to go for a darker nude lip with Kylie's Moon lip kit ($29 at Kylie Cosmetics). This finished the look without overpowering it too much, but still complementing Gemma's hair and skin tone. To make sure it lasted all night I used the Makeup Revolution pro fix spray (£5 at Superdrug) to seal the finished makeup look.

My sister looked amazing at her prom and I am really glad I am able to share how incredible she looked with you guys! If you have recreated this look of have done your own prom makeup looks please share them with me in the comments or on social media via Twitter and Instagram (links at the right of this page if you are on desktop!). 

"Sometimes you will never 

know the true 

value of a moment until it 

becomes a memory"

- Anonymous. 

Lifestyle: Trying something new - Romeo & Juliet at The Globe

Recently my sister and I decided to take the train up to London from Brighton and experience something different and visit Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see Romeo and Juliet.

I will admit I wasn't sure about the idea of standing on the same spot in a huge crowd for basically 3 hours; and as a musical theatre lover I wasn't too sure about a stage show with no music - but the second the show started I knew it would be more than worth it! Not only was the setting of the globe theatre incredible by itself but the whole production was nothing like what I was expecting at all - and I loved it! 

The show was a completely different take on Romeo and Juliet to anything I've ever seen before and the artistic combination of monochromatic clown makeup and modern music and costumes, as well as the incredible acting and dancing from the whole cast! Some stand out moments however were the incredible emotive performance from lead actress Kirsty Bushell who stunned me throughout the show and in her final scenes gave me chills with how stunningly she portrayed Juliet. Whilst the whole cast were incredible a couple of other performances stood out for me. One was Mercutio actress Golda Rosheuvel who managed to master both the serious and humorous aspects of her character; making me laugh and cry multiple times (as well as leaving me in awe with her incredible singing talents). The other came from two people who were not in the lead cast but still made the mark on the whole production. Dancers Jac Adu-Sarkodie and Siobhan Athwal demonstrated the varied talent as actresses and dancers as the tackled different characters, dance styles and emotions with incredible conviction - they really helped to weave together different aspects of the show in a role that sometimes gets overlooked by reviewers despite the recognition they deserve. 

Whilst the show was incredible and I loved it - I don't want to say too much more and spoil it as there are a lot of twists and differences in production from the original play (and you should definitely see it before July 9th if you can!)! I would highly recommend seeing any play at the Globe if you can so you too cn try something new!

If you would like to buy tickets for Romeo and Juliet there are only tickets left for one show (at the time of writing) and you can purchase them here http://bit.ly/2tHGUpM
To see what else is on at the Globe visit their website: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on

"When I saw you I 

fell in love and you smiled 

because you knew".

- William Shakespeare