Friday 29 January 2016

Lady Marmalade

You know we've made jam before - well we'd never tried marmalade, so we thought it was about time we gave it a go.

After the Pickled Onion Incident I didn't fancy prepping the oranges as I thought it'd be a bit messy - so I saved myself some time, and got this kit from Lakeland

Prepared Thick Cut Seville Oranges
Pre-Prepared fruit £2.58 from www.lakeland.co.uk
It was perfect for me as you just add water and sugar. It didn't specify which kind of sugar, so I used a mix of granulated and caster, as that's what I had in the house. The instructions are really simple to follow too, so even if this is your first time jamming, you can't really go wrong. And minimum prep is alright by me.

So I slushed it all together into a pan, and brought it to the boil. At first it kinda looked a bit like cold soup, it was gross.


The tin says it yields up to 6lb of marmalade and I'll be honest - 6lb is way more than I thought it was! After a while it started to foam, which is perfectly normal, and it started to look like this - 


I think I need a bigger pan. So after about half an hour, I tested the marmalade to see if it had reached it's setting point. The easiest way to do this is put a saucer in the freezer. Drop a teaspoon of marmalade onto the frozen saucer and see if the surface of it wrinkles as you drag your finger through it. Since my marmalade wrinkled like a pro, I thought it was done.

I swooshed a few tablespoons of whisky into it (we like adding alcohol, here) et voila - here is the finished product!


Maybe not as much orange peel as I thought there would be, but it tastes lovely! And I got 6 of these large jars out of it too, so I think that was pretty impressive! The overall consensus is that I should make it again, so I probably will! What do you think - are you a marmalade fan? xox

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Swatch you gonna do?

The only thing that keeps us going through these dark mornings and loooooong nights is the feedback that we get from you guys.

It really means a lot to us – whether you review a product on our website, send us an email or drop us a tweet. But we also really love seeing your photos – especially if you’re getting super creative with your Fairypants goodies!

Check out Cara – she loves our nail varnishes, and this week she’s done an amazing tortoise manicure using our Chocolate Lime matte green polish as the base. How clever!

Nail art courtesy of @nailart_by_cara

 Of course you can just use our products as they’re intended, but if you’re getting a bit creative, then we want to see! So have you got some ace nail art to show us? Or is one of our Lip Paints centre stage on your profile picture?

Chocolate Lime Nail Varnish £3.99

 Either way, sharing is caring – and we can’t wait to see what you’re up to! xox

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Blue Monday?

So yesterday was supposed to be Blue Monday. How did you get through the day? Was it just any other Monday, or did you genuinely feel a bit down?

It’s a mathematical equation that’s to blame – someone has worked out that due to it being a Monday, in January, before pay day and long enough after Christmas for it to be just a distant memory.


But we say DOWN WITH JANUARY BLUES! Unless of course you’re talking about any of these bad boys. In this case – blue is cool.

Bluebell Nail Varnish £3.99
Our original and best nail varnish range - five gorgeous shades of pastel including this wonderful baby blue. Speckled with black glitter, it's perfect for spring.

Bleu Nail Varnish £3.99
Shockingly bright this is from our Paintbox collection and it's a gel finish - so a couple of coats and you get a high shine finish - and it's super long lasting, too!

Blueberry Muffin Lipbalm £3.99
One of our newest flavours, Blueberry Muffin tastes just as you'd expect - like tearing open a warm muffin, fresh from the oven. Yum yum!

Margaret Lip Paint £4.99
Our Lip Paints are buttery soft with a great colour payoff - this navy blue is fantastic, and a real talking point.

So hopefully you're feeling a little less down, and maybe we've given you some ideas to update your make up bag! xox

Friday 15 January 2016

Got the January Blues?

Statistically, January is the crappest month ever. We're all depressed because the holidays are over, we're fat because we ate too much chocolate during the holidays, and we've got no money because of the holidays.

Basically, December = Good, January = Bad.

Well, we're here to lift you out of those doldrums. We want to tell you firstly, that it's ok to be a little bit fat in January. Most people are. and if you're a little heavier than usual, don't beat yourself up about it. Once you've finished the last of the Roses and gone on a couple of bracing walks you'll have forgotten all about feeling bad.

Secondly, you might not have much money, but we've got you covered there, too.


We're giving away this little goody bag to one lucky filler-in of our short website survey. If you haven't told us your thoughts on our current website yet, then don't panic - you have until the 29th January to make your thoughts heard. Then we'll draw a winner at random, and send you this lovely freebie to cheer you up.

And lastly, we're hoping you're not feeling too down. The nights are getting lighter, you can plan your summer holidays, and we've got some new product launches to keep you on your toes over the next few months. So here's to having things to look forward to! xox

Friday 8 January 2016

New artwork - whaddya reckon?!

We teamed up a while ago with the wonderful Lana Loves Design to give our product labels a bit of a revamp. She started with a new banner for our Facebook page - we really like it!


Then she designed the labels for our AMAZING new Nail Varnish Remover, and we're absolutely in love with these!


We're loving how our original Fairy logo has been given a new lease of life!

Next we had brand spanking new business cards ordered - these are lovely and thick - and they come with a discount code for your next purchase, too!



Now we're attempting a larger project - new labels for our classic lipbalm! We've got approximately a squillion flavours, so it won't be the quickest job - but have a look at this first draft, do you like it?

We think it's nice and simple - and our Fairy is still centre stage1 We're hoping you'll see more of our lovely new artwork as our new website takes shape. So keep your eye out, cause things they are a changin! xox

Tuesday 5 January 2016

New Year... New Us!

We mentioned it in our semi-mushy last post - we've got some big plans for 2016, and they're underway already. The first (and biggest!) is a total revamp to our website. The whole shebang. We're gonna have some swish new features, and the site in general will be much easier to use.

But although we've got some ideas of what we want, we were hoping you'd help us out. We've got a questionnaire going, and we'll be doing a giveaway at the end of the month for all those who participated.

So you can stick your two pennys in, tell us what you think, shape the future of our website AND get some vegan and cruelty free goodies completely free of charge! What more could you ask for?

So if you have a few spare minutes, please do take the time to fill in our survey, it's only a few questions - and we'll be drawing the giveaway on Friday 29th January.

xox

Friday 1 January 2016

New Year, new you!

Thank you. No, seriously. We're a small business, and as such each £3.99 lipbalm sold means a lot to us. Each 'like' on our Facebook page, each <3 a="" href="http://www.instagram.com/fairypantsuk" on="">Instagram
,
We try not to get all mushy too often - it might put people off. But now is as good a time as any to say that YOU have made our 2015 the great success that it has been. You believed in us, you bought our stuff, you tested our new products, and you told us your opinions. All of which is super important to us.

We know more about some customers than others, but you're all important to us, you're all special. From the customers who buy from us every month, to those who have only just discovered us - we wanted to thank you.

Life is a rollercoaster, and some times you must take the good with the bad. 2015 has had it's ups and downs, but in the world of Fairypants there have only been ups. And some more ups. And that's down to you.



Here's hoping that in 2016 we continue to have some more ups, we've got big things planned, starting with a new, revamped website and some new products. We're also hoping to reach more stockists, and we'll be getting a long awaited Office Makeover too - hurrah!

We hope we've helped you enjoy your 2015, we'll be with you every step of the way making 2016 as magical as possible.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!

xox