Tip Tuesday - The good old sense of smell

Good morning,

So the is always that little dilemma of when to tell if a cake is done.......this can be tricky, opening the oven door to early is a big NO NO, you should not open an oven door until after at least 20 minutes of baking a standard cake otherwise you may end up with something that quite resembles a polo aka a cake that has sunk in the middle! 

Bringing me onto todays baking tip, you will know when a cake is nearly done when you can smell it! The good old sense of smell:)

Be sure to always do the toothpick test ( insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake if it comes out clean, you have yourself a fully baked cake). But once your kitchen is filled with a delicious smell you should be safe to open the oven door and check your cake! 

Happy baking

Xxx

Tip thursday - No more creases

Hey beauties,

So todays tip is all about how to stop your eye shadow from creasing.....

We all know how fabulous primer is, but they don't always prevent your eyeshadow from creasing!

So lets get scientific.......eye shadow creases because their is too much excess oil around the eyes!

To solve the problem we need to eliminate oils, and to do this you want to add some pressed powder onto your lids before applying your eyeshadow!

Happy pressing ;) 

Xxx

Tip Tuesday - home made non stick board

Hi guys 

So yes i know its not tuesday.....im a day late, was celebrating my mums birthday yesterday! Anyways......

When working with icing......it is crucial to have a non stick surface to roll out your fondant, make decorations and so on, using icing sugar to stop it sticking is great but it does dry out your fondant causing cracks.

So if you dont have a non stick board take a chopping board or a board of some kind and cover it with cling film / plastic wrap and you have yourself a non stick board! 

Obviously this only works for rolling out small amounts of fondant, fondant creations e.t.c 

Happy baking

Xxx

Avon BB cream

Hello hello hello,

So today im going to be talking a little about avons BB cream! Got to be honest i can not stand BB cream....not enough coverage for me! But the fact that avons has so many good properties about it, full of moisture and goodness i thought id give it a go!

And i am so very happy i did, as it says on the ad even when you take it off it leaves your skin looking and feeling amazing and it really does my skin has improved so so so so so much since i have used this.......i love it :)

Ok so pros and cons:

Pros:

•lightweight

•full of goodness

•great even when you take it off

•improves skin

•spf 15

Cons:

•coverage isn't great but better than any other BB cream I've tried, its build able! 

•size of bottle isn't great for the price 30ml for £12 but definitely worth it and you don't need that much so will last a while anyways!

So overall i love this and will definitely be repurchasing it!

Hope you guys enjoyed this!

Xxx

Top 10 avon products

Hello beauties

So today im going to share with you my top 10 avon products! I love avon for those of you who don't know avon is global beauty company and every couple of weeks i get a brochure through my door, make an order and its delivered! Avon products are very inexpensive and really good quality so here is what i am loving lately......

Firstly lets talk lips.......

1) Avon perfect kiss lipstick in pucker up pink, i adore this lipstick it makes my lips look instantly fuller, great colour and lasts all day :) 

2) Avon ultra colour rich lipstick in country rose, again love this been using everyday for about 2 weeks now, perfect summer colour and lasts all day!

3) Avon lipstick in pop up pink again perfect summer colour, great pigmentation and lasts all day! 

4) Avon lipstick in divine wine, this is great for a bold lip, lasts all day and great colour, i love this in autumn / winter but perfect for a night out in the summer!

5) last of the lip products now my go too lip liner.....avons glimmerstick lip liner in pink bouquet, i love this under all the pink lipsticks shown, i fill all my lips in with this and it makes my lips look fuller and keeps my lipstick in place all day long :) 

6) next up eyes, my go to everyday eye shadow is this fab little duo as you can see ive hit pan and will definitely be re-purchasing it very soon i love this, great colour, lasts all day and great concept, instead of rummaging through all my eyeshadows for matching colours i use this combo, lightest colour over the lid and darkest colour in the crease......simples good to go! 

 

7) Mascara..... Im loving avons super drama mascara lately, it doesn't give great volume but it gives a very natural look.......perfect for summer! 

8) And finally let talk face products, i am in love with avons new bb cream, its light, good coverage (build able) and like it says on the bottle even when you take it off it leaves your skin feeling amazing! See my separate review for this..... Love love love:) 

9) My all time everyday face powder avons smooth minerals.......i use this everyday and love it, i use it over my foundation, it gives a bit more colour and coverage and keeps my makeup matte and in place all day! 

10) Finally one of my favourite highlighters, this is a blush duo, great blush, great highlight, i even use it as eyeshadow, i use the lightest colour on the lid and the pink in the crease and outer corner, i love the lightest part of this duo to highlight my cheek bones, brow bones, inner corner of eyes, nose, cupids bow and chin......again a favourite of mine.

Phewwww......that was a long blog......hope you guys enjoyed this and ill speak to yall soon:)

Xxx

Chocolate Ganache

Hello guys

So today im going to share with youthis  mouthwatering recipe........chocolate ganache!

Most amazing thing about ganache is it only has 2 ingredients dark chocolate and double cream and its simple however many grams of chocolate you have you use the same ml of cream.....

So e.g if you use 400g chocolate you will use 400ml cream and so on.... :)

So how do you make it?....well place your cream and chocolate in a saucepan and stir continuously until the chocolate has melted and your ganache has a glossy look! Be careful not to overheat the mix as it will ruin the ganache just heat it on a low heat gently until your chocolate has melted! 

Make sure your chocolate is good quality, dark and at least 70% cocoa! You can use white chocolate to make a white chocolate ganache too!

You can pour your ganache over your cake or you can leave it to cool at room temp and put it in the fridge to harden up this way you can use it to pipe on your cake too! 

Hope you guys enjoyed this recipe

Speak to yall soon

Xxx

Tip Thursday - Control your brows

Hi beauties

So todays tip is all about the brows.......Brows not behaving themselves or maybe you just want them to stay in place all day......simples add a little hair spray to your eyebrow comb, it will keep them brows in place all day!

Haven't got an eyebrow comb.......no worries buy a cheap toothbrush:)

Hope you guys enjoyed this tip

Stay tuned:)

Xxx 

Tip Tuesday - sifting

Hey guys

So i am starting a new series, tip tuesday for baking tips i already started a tip thursday for beauty tips so go check that out :) 

Todays tip:

If your not a fan of sifting your ingredients like me because they end up over the counter and not in the bowl:') use a whisk to whisk them together! This works exactly the same as sifting! It incorporates the ingredients together, gets out the lumps and most importantly incorporates air ( key to a light well risen cake )! Hope you guys liked this tip.

Check back next tuesday for a baking tip or thursday for a beauty tip:)

Toodles

Xxx  

Sally Hansen airbrush legs

Hello guys

Hope your all ok? Just thought i would do a quick review on Sally Hansen airbrush legs, with summer here and getting those legs out, we want them to look amazing right.....? So ive started using this product (i know its been out for agess but ive just never got round to trying it) i am so glad i got this, its really amazing, its just like a full coverage foundation for your legs! It can get a bit cakey so i just grab a clean dry cloth and buff over it and it works just fine! It can be a bit hard to blend so you have to work quite fast. Other than this its amazing and has given me the confidence to get my legs out! I got the medium colour at first and this was way to dark for my skin so i got the light and used it all up its amazing! Reasonable price and size! It isnt really meant to tan you like a fake tan but improve the appearance of your skin but it does give a bit of colour so if you want it to make you look tanned go for a shade darker! I couldn't rave about this product enough its fab:) in fact i don't just use it on my legs, ive used it on my arms too and again works great! 

Speak to yall soon

Xxx

Vanilla cupcakes

Hey guys,

So i thought i would share another recipe with you, my recipe for vanilla cupcakes! This makes a perfect, light and fluffy sponge, great for cupcakes, birthday cakes, cake pops and many more...... So for this scrumptious cake you will need:

•8oz self raising flour

•8oz butter or margarine

•8oz sugar

•4 eggs

•1tsp vanilla extract

•2-3tbsp milk

Firstly pre heat your oven to gas mark 4 and then cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in your eggs 2 at a time mixing well between each addition, add in your vanilla extract and mix well.

Secondly add you flour and gently fold in,.

Finally add in your milk a tbsp at a time, until you batter easily falls off the spoon. 

And bake in the oven for aprox 15mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

TIP

This can be made into two 8inch cakes and bakes for 25mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Happy baking

Xxx 

Tip Thursday - shaving your legs

Hi beauties,

Welcome to tip thursday, a new series! Every thursday i will be sharing a beauty tip with you guys!

Todays tip is all about shaving the legs! So here it goes.......ever run out of shaving cream and don't know what to use.....grab your conditioner, in my opinion it works even better than shaving cream, it leaves your skin feeling like silk and stays smoother for longer! Perfect for these summer days:)

Hope you enjoyed this tip speak to yall soon!

Xxx

Chocolate sponge cake

Hi guys,

So today i thought i would share with you my yummy recipe for a chocolate sponge cake:) this makes the perfect light, fluffy and moist chocolate cake and this is the only recipe i use so what do you need? Well.....

•6oz self raising flour

•8oz butter or margarine

•8oz sugar (granulated or caster is fine, i only ever use granulated)

•4 eggs

•2oz cocoa powder (i use cadburys bournville)

•1-2 tbsp warm water

firstly pre heat your oven to gas mark 4 and grease two 8inch baking tins, the. Add your butter and sugar into a bowl and cream together (mix for a good few mins, this step is crucial to creating a light and fluffy cake, by creaming well together you are incorporating a lot of air which helps your cake to rise and make it nice and light), then add your eggs 2 at a time mixing well between each addition.

Now add in your flour and cocoa powder and gently fold in (you have spent time incorporating air into your mix, if you mix too harshly or too much at this stage you will knock that air back out which will cause your cake to be stogy) either whisk in or you can use a spatula and gently mix using a figure 8 motion this helps keep the air in the cake!

Finally add your water 1tbsp at a time, you want your batter to be easily dropping off the spatular if its too thick add more water a little at a time ( you can always add but you cant take away ), then separate the mix into your two cake tins and bake for aprox 25mins or until a skewer comes out clean! 

TIP

You can use this batter to make cupcakes too, they only take around 15mins to cook or until a skewer comes out clean!

Happy baking

Xxx

Gingerbread cupcakes

Hello again,

Thought i would share a scrumptious recipe with you guys......Gingerbread cupcakes yes i know its summer but these wintery cupcakes are good enough to eat all year round so you will need:

•255g self raising flour

•5tsp ground ginger (4 if you don't like a strong taste of ginger)

•pinch of salt

•225g golden syrup

•125g butter or margarine 

•125g dark brown sugar

•240ml milk

•2 eggs

Firstly you want to pre heat your oven to gas mark 3 combine your flour, ginger and salt into a bowl and mix together (TIP instead of sifting and creating a mess use a whisk to combine your ingredients it works just the same as and is much quicker). 

Next in a saucepan add your golden syrup and butter and heat over stove until butter has melted, then add your sugar and let it bubble gently for one minute, remove it from the stove and let it cool. 

Then add your syrup, butter and sugar mixture to your flour, ginger and salt, combine well and then add your milk and eggs again combing well. You are then ready to fill up your cupcake cases or 8inch cake tin and bake in the oven for about 20mins for the cupcakes or if your making a cake about 35mins or until a skewer come out of the cakes clean! 

Let me know if you try it :) 

Happy baking

Xxx

Maybelline the rocket mascara

Howdy beauties,

So this has been quite the topic of conversation in the beauty world..... Sorry bit late on the band wagon! This mascara claims to give upto 8x more volume.....and it succeeds, not only does it give my lashes extra volume but it also lengthens them! It also claims to be clump free and again it is! Everything this mascara claims to do it does! My only con is i find the applicator a bit harsh, especially when you accidentally poke yourself in the eye ( little tip don't do that) ouuchh, other than the harsh brush this is a really goos mascara! Great price too it retails at £7.99 or there abouts! That about sums up my review! Hope you guys liked it and i will speak to yall soon:)

Xxx

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Hey beauties,

Where to begin........one word for this foundation AMAZING! Simple as that! This is a medium / full coverage foundation that still gives a natural finish ( not cakey ). The formulation is very thick.....now the bottle is only 35ml which    made me wonder....is this product going to last or will i need to repurchase every couple of weeks? Well.......a little really does go a long way with this foundation which for me is a major pro for this product! You literally only need a small pea sized amount for your face and neck!   Again the thickness concerned me a little as i thought that it would be hard to blend.....i couldn't have been more wrong, this foundation blends perfectly, and you don't have to work quickly in order for a perfect blend:) this product has amazing lasting perfection.....for me it lasts all day no primer, no problem! Now for the few cons...... The price, it retails for around £34 for 34ml which to me is a lot of money for a small tube of foundation, but after using this foundation for a while i have realised it is worth every penny, it lasts ages! Usually i would have to repurchase a drug store foundation every few weeks but thats not the case with this at all! Its lasting luminous coverage and great formulation make it all worth the price! The only other con i can think of is the colour spectrum! It is very limited.....i think their are around 9 shades which compared to the colour spectrum of a drug store foundation is quite poor! But other than that this us a great foundation and worth the splurge! Hope you guys enjoyed this review....if you've tried this foundation or have any recommendations or requests please let me know! Thanks guys!

Mwahh xxx 

About my Blog....

Hi Guys and Gals,
Hope all is well! So i have decided to create a blog...... Im new to this so be nice;), i thought i would begin by telling you all a little bit about what to expect from my blog.....i have two passions in life, one being beauty and fashion and the other baking! I love all things makeup, and i love to bake...... Weird combo i do not know, but these are my main interests and thought i would share them with the world! Here you will find beauty reviews, tips, recipes, cake decorating tips, baking tips and much more! So please stay tuned:)! So a little about me, my name is Chelsea im 23 and live in the UK, i am a law student and aim to one day be a lawyer:) yes thats right i love beauty, baking and law, as i said weird combo but never mind. So thank you for reading and please stay tuned!:)
Thanks guys!
Chelsea<3 xxx