swelledenise

Lace-piped cookies from the brilliant Sweet Sugarbelle Well, I needed look no further for beautiful Valentine cookies after I found these lace-piped pale pink ones, they are just gorgeous (as is her photography which is just as important as the cookie!). I usually feel I couldn't eat the prettiest treats, but I would have no trouble with these. Iced cookies have that nice crisp break when you bite into them and I have a drooly Pavlovian response when I see them. They wouldn't stand a chance... Read Full Story

This is a sponsored post. Please read to the end for a chance to win gift bags and tickets to the show! On the eve of New York Fashion Week, global online retailer Very.com announce they will be sponsoring the showcase of the Whitney Eve collection at the Lincoln Centre on 15 th February.     Designed by MTV reality star Whitney Port, the Whitney Eve label was launched to great acclaim in 2009, and the return to New York in time for fashion week has been highly anticipated, setting the... Read Full Story

Here we go again, where I get lost in decorating daydreams on Designers Guild UK. It's impossible not to when you go there. I wouldn't normally want to transport an entire room into my house - the first time I lived on my own someone told me my living room looked like an IKEA showroom and I didn't take that as a compliment - but the Designers Guild stylists have a way of making the polished, elegant beauty of their model rooms seem lived-in and homey. Well, I think so. I have a friend who I... Read Full Story

My first thought when I saw Alexis Mabille's monochromed models for Spring 2012 haute couture week was "The acid coloured faces - they're just like those in the Mannerist paintings!" Now I may not remember what I had for lunch yesterday (or today), but I vividly recall certain things I learned in high school art history, it was the only thing that truly interested me. As a fine art major in university I don't recall coming across this again and therefore re-confirming the information, but I... Read Full Story

Today's treat was meant to be the latest Café Gourmand at our local chocolatier Gareth James - he's always working on an irresistible new surprise and I was told this one has homemade strawberry marshmallows and a white chocolate parfait with passion fruit granita - but word must have got out because they had none left when we arrived! That's ok, we'll be back later this week. The topic of texture arose and Gareth pointed me to their new Valentine's confection which I'd been eyeing up. It... Read Full Story

Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, may have come out nearly three years ago but I've now finally got around to watching it (that's my usual timing), and I'm glad I did. Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's novel is absolutely gorgeous, and although it's a story worth following closely, it's one of those films you could later watch with the sound down. Especially if you love the mid-century modern aesthetic which personally I go mental for - I had dilated pupils throughout... Read Full Story

Maisie Fantaisie must have the most gorgeous collection of wedding cakes, they are so ridiculously pretty without being overdone, the epitome of edible loveliness. And I love that their photos are beautiful, accessorised with the pastel patterned wallpapers and charming cake stands. To quote an adorable, small and always smiling Italian man who used to do deliveries for us at the production studio I worked at in Canada years ago,  "'preciate." That's how he said "appreciate" which was his way... Read Full Story

Late last year I received a scrumptious surprise package containing two beautiful art prints from New York-based multi-media graphic artist Susan Canaday Henry . She knew just what to send - one was a lovely pastel-hued scene with a rendering in her own style of Marie Antoinette languishing on a chaise longue. I love the shades of blues, pinks and purples she used and would be happy to live forever in this room. (Especially if I had Ladies in Waiting as seen in the shadows. Oh wait, that... Read Full Story

A red velvet snow cake with snowman macarons! From Raspberri Cupcakes (I'm back up and running after my laptop was incapacitated - again - last week. A severed cable and now even keys are falling off.  If this continues, reading my posts is going to be like playing Wheel of Fortune without the fabulous prizes.) We haven't had any snow here at the coast this winter, unless you count one day in early December where it fell in huge, fluffy clusters and mostly all melted as soon as it hit the... Read Full Story

Cupcake Monday is back after an unscheduled hiatus (ie. I didn't realise it was Monday, I guess holidays easily confuse me). I wanted to kick off the new year with a Swelle favourite, Arthur & Aleksandra and their inventive and wicked cakes. Let's get right into it because this is torture! Above and below is the "moist orange & lemon sponge, drizzled with orange & lemon syrup. Topped with an indulgent cream cheese frosting and an almond wafer. Served with a pipette of Limoncello." I love... Read Full Story