Friday 26 February 2016

Red Velvet Cupcakes

As you may know, my other passion is baking. So I decided to post a recipe today for Red Velvet cupcakes that I made earlier. Most recipes online are for 24 cupcakes, but honestly who's going to eat that many cupcakes unless you're making it for a party or whatnot.

So this is a mix of different recipes I found online and slightly adjusted to make it suitable for me and my little convection oven (which I actually bought recently, best purchase along with my Kenwood Stand Mixer :D)





Okay, so this recipe makes 12 standard sized cupcakes
For those 12 little delightful mouthfuls (or two) you will need:

  • 117g Self Raising Flour
  • 7g Cocoa Powder
  • 125g Caster Sugar
  • 1/4tsp Salt
  • 135g Soft Unsalted Butter chopped into cubes (I use Stork for all my baking)
  • 2 Large Free Range Eggs
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Buttermilk (or 6ml Milk & 19ml Yogurt)
  • 1/2 tsp Red food paste
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
  • 4g Bicarbonate of Soda
  • 3/4 tsp Lemon Juice

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 37g Soft Unsalted Butter (or Stork)
  • 60g Cream Cheese
  • 210g sifted Icing Sugar
To start off with I set my brand spanking new convection oven on 180 degrees.

Next I sifted all my dry ingredients; that would be flour, sugar, cocoa & salt into my mixing bowl and attached it onto the mixer. Then I added in my Stork(butter) and eggs and mixed that at a low to medium speed for a couple minutes, until it was all smooth.
If you don't have a mixer you can use a hand mix or use the classic bowl and wooden spoon.

While I left that to mix, as I didn't have buttermilk, I mixed together milk and natural yogurt in a small bowl and added in the red food paste with the vanilla bean paste and mixed that together until I got a very bloody looking mixture. I added the blood mix into the cake mixture and that got whizzed for a couple of minutes on medium speed.

The last thing I did was mix the lemon juice and bicarb, which become frothy and added that into the batter and gave it one last mix.

I then put some cases into 2 muffin trays. I equally shared my mixture between the cases using an ice-cream scoop and put them into bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, swapping the trays over half way so they'd cook evenly.

Once they finished cooking, I took them out and left them to cool, during this time I made the frosting.

For the frosting I mixed the butter and cream cheese until they became fluffy and then added in half the icing sugar and mixed that, I then added in the remainder of the icing sugar and mixed it all together until it became light and fluffy.

After the cakes had cooled down completely, I piped on the frosting with a large circle nozzled piping bag and topped mine with some wafer flowers, malteasers and micro edible pearls that I had lying around... and VOILA!





















P.s sorry this post is so wordy, next time I do a bake, I'll try and take more pictures whilst I'm baking so you guys can see exactly what I'm doing at each stage.


Saturday 20 February 2016

Review: NYX Liquid Suede

 I promised you guys a review on how I felt about the NYX Liquid Suede's. I bought a couple of shades on the Boots website a few weeks ago and have been using them. NYX describes them as  velvety soft with a matte finish. I totally agree!

Compared to most high street (cheaper) matte liquid lipsticks these last longer and for me personally they didn't dry my lips out.
The down side of these are they transfer onto whatever you touch, as they don't completely dry but at the same time this stops your lips from becoming flaky.



So I bought three colours to test, before I fully invested in the collection.

The first shade I got was Stone Fox

I'd been looking for a grey lipstick for agesssss now and when I found out that NYX were coming to Boots I had to buy this shade. It's a dark grey with a blue undertone.


The next shade is Vintage.

I see why this is called Vintage, it's a classy vintage rose tone with undertones of plum. The actual tubes for these make the shades seem a lot darker than they actually are, so for anyone that wants to buy these I would consider that.


Finally I have Soft-Spoken.

This is a very soft nude rose. I personally think this is a very universal nude shade, as I usually steer away from nude tones as they don't suit me but this shade is currently one of my favourite lipsticks to wear.


Final thoughts:  I think these are a great alternative to the usual matte liquid lipsticks as they keep your lips hydrated and they have a decent selection of colours. 

Next stop! to buy some more shades :D
Check out Boots online to get your hands on these beauties.
Thanks guys


Wednesday 10 February 2016

Update & The Body Shop Haul

So... Hey guys! It's been a loooooooooong time, I know. Guess what I've finally started University. So I'm studying Media & Communication at BCU. It's pretty awesome apart from the theory (ESSAYS and what not). So far things are going well. 

Anyway, apologies for the mahoooooosive break, I'm going to try and keep up with this blog thing now.

So during this hiatus I've accumulated a lot of 'useless junk' in me mama's eyes; makeup, clothes, more makeup, more clothes... I think you know what I'n getting at. Anyway, recently I've really gone into skincare and love healthy, glowy, natural skin.

Which happens to lead onto my post; which is in fact a mini Body Shop Haul.
I'll be reviewing these products in a couple of weeks, after I've had the chance to use them all properly.

(Btw I actually had a gift card attached to myself, cause it was free :)

[Starting clock-wise]

That's that, I shall be back in a couple of days with a review of NYX's Liquid Suede's (hopefully).


Thursday 29 January 2015

Red Smoke


So after what seems like years, I have finally done another look. I decided on a soft wearable smokey eye inspired by one of my favourite MUA's Linda Hallberg. Her work is beautiful you should definitely check it out. 
Here is a link: http://lindahallberg.se/ 





Skin 

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 12
Sleek Contour Kit in Medium
MAC Studio Fix powder in NC40



Eyes

Sleek i-Divine in Vintage Romance shades:
-Marry in Monte Carlo
-Honeymoon in Hollywood (blending shade)
-Pretty in Paris (middle of eyelid)
(I used very little amounts of each product as I wanted a soft look rather than intense)
Sleek Ink Pot Eyeliner and blended out to create a softer line
Sleek Eau La La Liner in Noir (waterline)




Lips

Barry M Lip Liner in shade 7
Collection Gothic Glam Lipstick in Revenge



Sunday 14 December 2014

Pink Denim Party Eyes

As it is party season, I decided to do another bold eye look, this time using the idea of a Night Out as my theme. I chose these two colours as I feel they work well together. This look can also be worn with a softer lip colour, if you find the pink too daring. Whether it's a night out or a Christmas party this statement eye will jazz up any outfit.

All product prices are from Boots unless stated

Foundation 

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 12 - £32.00 (Selfridges)
Sleek Face Contour Kit in Medium - £6.49
bareMinerals Mineral Veil - £20

Eyes

I used the contour colour from the Sleek Face Contour Kit and blended that into the socket of my eyes
Blended in Dark Navy shade from MUA Poptastic Palette (bottom right) into the socket- £4 MUAStore

Applied BARRY M FINE GLITTER DUST in shade 20 all over eyelid and under the eyes - £4
In the inner corners of my eyes I used the hot pink shade from my POPTASTIC palette by COLLECTION (i think Amazon still sells this palette - Boots and Barry M have discontinued the palette)
Collection Black Gel Liner - £4
Pixi by Petra Large Lash Mascara - £9.90 BeautyBay
I used my Katy Perry Eylure Lashes again for this look in Ka-Ching - £6.45

Brows

Anastacia Beverly Hills DipBrow Pomade in Dark Brown - £15 BeautyBay

Lips

Barry M Lip Liner in Fuchsia shade 12 - £2.99 BarryM
On top of that 17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in Pink Power (the Lasting Fix range is discontinued) but BarryM Stain Paint in Infinite Pink is a good alternative - £4.49



Sunday 7 December 2014

Pop of Festivity

I wanted to do a wearable but bold eye look this week, so I asked the mother to pick a colour and she said green and here we are. As it is December I thought Hey! lets spread some festive cheer and decided on this metallic shimmer of green with a pop of vibrancy with the yellow.


Like my previous post all products are from Boots unless stated 
All Brushes used are Real Techniques

Foundation

Maybelline FIT me! in SOFT HONEY shade 315 - £7.99
I used the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to apply and blend - £5.99
To Contour as my previous post Sleek Contour Kit in Medium
bareMinerals Mineral Veil to set

Eyes

L'Oreal Nude Magique Blur Cream to prime the eyes - £9.99
Same contour colour for the cut crease, and on top of that I blended in a slightly darker shade
I applied Milani's eyeshadow in the shade CLOVER 05 all over the lid
In the outer corners I blended in SHADE 19 from the MUA IMMACULATE COLLECTION palette £8.00 MUA Store
The inner corners have the BRIGHT YELLOW shadow from the POPTASTIC palette by COLLECTION (not sure if they do the palette anymore, any brand will do)
Under the eyes I applied the lime shade from the POPTASTIC palette (again any brand will do)
On top of that I used the lime glitter from the NYX Glitterati Glitter Cream Palette  - £14.00
Collection Black Gel Liner £4.99
Pixi by Petra Large Lash Mascara BeautyBay NOW!***£9.90*** (brilliant mascara I would recommend you guys give it a go)
Eylure Katy Perry Lashes KaChing - £6.45

Brows

Same as previous post

Lips

I lined my lips with Barry M's Mulberry Shade 9 Lip Liner £2.99 (Superdrug)
Then filled in my entire lips with Maybelline's COLOUR drama in Nude Perfection - £4.99
Fianlly on top of that I applied SEVENTEEN Stay Pout Lipstick in Fond Farewell - £4.49






Thursday 27 November 2014

Brown/Gold Cut Crease


All products are from Boots unless stated

Foundation

Bourjois Healthy Mix 58 Hale Fonce/Dark Bronze £9.99
To contour Sleek Face Contour Kit in Medium £6.49
bareMinerals Mineral Veil to set everything £20

Eyes

For the cut crease I used the contour colour from my Sleek Face Contour Kit
On top of that I blended in the 2nd to last shade on the bottom row of the BeautyBay Eyeshadow palette £9.95 (BeautyBay.com)

I used the dark brown eye shadow from the Collection Work The Colour Nude Eye Palette on the corners of the cut crease as well as under the eyes, this is the only matte shade in the palette, as the others are all shimmery. £3.99


Barry M Dazzle Dust 104 all over the lid £4.59
Collection black gel liner £4.99
Pixi by Petra LARGE LASH MASCARA £10.78 (BeautyBay.com)
Eylure VOLUME lashes no.100 £5.39

Eye brows

Anastasia Beverly Hills DIPBROW in shade DARK BROWN £15 (BeautyBay.com)
Standard matte dark  brown shadow on top
Sleek Contour Kit Higlighter on brow bone

Lips

MUA Brooding Plum lip liner on the inside blended out £1 (Superdrug)
Barry M lip liner shade 7 Wine around the outer lips £2.99 (Superdrug)