Quick Lemon Cupcake Recipe

                                       

Lemon Cupcakes

I have recently started to really enjoy baking and in years to come I hope to get Alfie to help with the fun too! So, here is a simple lemon cupcake recipe but you could remove the lemon ingredients and add different flavourings!

Ingredients:

175g Caster Sugar

175g Self Raising Flour

175g Butter (softened)

1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Peel of 2 lemons and juice of 1 lemon

Buttercream Icing:

350g Icing Sugar

175g Butter (softened)

Peel of 1 lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon 

How to:

Put all the ingredients for the sponge mix in one bowl and use an electric whisk to mix until smooth. Divide mixture into the 12 cupcake cases (usually 3/4 in each case)  and put in a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 20-25 mins or when they are firm and spongy to touch. 

To make the icing put the butter, icing sugar, lemon juice and half the lemon peel in a bowl and prepare to have an icing sugar cloud in your kitchen! Mix until smooth or to required consistency and put in an icing bag and ice away....use the remaining peel to decorate the cupcakes once finished. 

Leave your cupcakes to set and then enjoy! Hope you like them!

Katie xoxo

Return to blogging but with a baby in tow!

So..... It's been a while and my life has definitely changed! 

On Tuesday December 31st 2013 at 11.26am I gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy called Alfie. From that moment on I have never loved anyone or anything as much as I do for this little man. Don't get me wrong it has been the hardest thing I have ever done but I wouldn't it change for the world! 

I am due to go back to work in less than 5 days and I wanted to start documenting Alfie's life and my own via blogging again. I have also been inspired to blog all thing beauty, babies and beyond by Rebecca from www.percyandgrace.co.uk who does fantastic day in the life's on Youtube and blog posts that show very special moments of her gorgeous little family's life that will be memories captured forever as well as having informative and helpful blog posts along the way that help all mummies! Watching mummy videos on YouTube and reading endless blogs in the middle of the night whilst feeding Alfie has inspired me to write about my life - the good and the bad! I still love my makeup and beauty and there will be blog posts about them but I want to use my blog as a Dear Diary so in months and years to come I can look back and remember these memories.

So there's a quick summary of what's happened in the last year or so and what I hope to achieve via my blog. 

See you all soon

Katie and Alfie xoxo

Bella Bella Bella Bamba!!!!

Benefit Bella Bamba

This has to be one of my favourite blushes! This was released over two years ago so it is in no way a new product but for me it is a cult one. 

I received this for my birthday from a friend, but to be fair I was going to purchase it. I apologise now in advance, for the packaging - but then again at least you know its been definitely used!  It is a gorgeous coral/pink blush with hints of gold shimmer running through it. It appears very 'flush' like on the skin and the pigmentation of this is amazing. A light sweep of the brush is all you need and it certainly lasts you all through the day or night. It would compliment any skin time and because it has a slight shimmer to it I never have to out a highlight on top of the cheeks because the blush does this for me! I began using it every day for 6 months (seriously wouldn't budge from using it - so all my other blushes lay neglected) but I decided that I had to forgo using it every day incase I ran out of it. Benefits Bella Bamba retails for around £23 and although holds 8g of product, but the problem with Benefit blushes is the cost! I would repurchase but I could see other people shying away from it because of the money side to it!

This is such a gorgeous and versatile blush that you MUST try it - you won't look back!!

So so so Scandaleyes.....

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Colour Stick

Rimmel have come out with some amazing products over the last few months and so when these Chubby Stick-esque eyeshadow sticks came out I was excited!

I already have the Scandal Eyes eyeliners and was impressed with longevity and pigmentation so I was hoping these eyeshadow sticks would be the same......Sorry to disappoint but these were NOT!! 

(This picture was taken when I had applied a lot of product and was not blended out)

Although they were creamy in texture, I found them streaky when applied, with or without a primer. I found they did't last very long and once blended out they lost their pigmentation. The bronze one was ideal for a smokey eye but I just could not get the colour intensity I was after. The only plus point is that the champagne coloured one I can use in my tear duct but even now I have to be careful not to use too much otherwise you get that clogged up,gunky just woke up in the morning eye look  and ladies and gentleman that is not attractive! 

So, for me they aren't Rimmel's best invention....

Balmy...

Korres Lip Butter

As an avid beauty and makeup blog reader these Korres Lip Butters were all the rage months back if not years back and I hadn't really wanted to delve in and buy any. However, as I was browsing Amazon these came up on my Recommended for You part so I thought why not??

They cost me £6.99 and they are creamy in texture hence the name, are tinted in colour which is an added bonus and taste gorgeous! They are on the pricey side for a lip balm but unlike most lip balms where they only coat your lips, the Korres ones actually sink into your lips, make them feel alot more softer and smoother and you rest feel they make a lasting impression! Even on chapped, sore lips (to which I currently have both, thanks to a dose of a cold) they ease the pain and definitely repair them. 

So, give them a go you will be pleasantly surprised....

Eye-ing you up....

Origins GinZing Eye Cream

As I have spoken about previously I have wanted to really take the time to look after my skin now that I am not in my twenties....arghhhh!!!!! Eye cream to me was the unknown world and I was literally baffled about what does what and how etc. Even walking into a department store and asking questions filled me with fear - strange I know!

So I took to the good old tinterweb and googled EVERYTHING, read SO many blog posts and one particular brand kept coming up - Origins. Now I had seen this brand in Boots and likewise stores and had never tried anything from them so was unsure of whether I would like them or not. I had seen many successful and lovely bloggers mention the GinZing eye cream that they do and talk about how amazing it was but for me the one draw back was the £21 price point. Could I justify spending that amount of money on one small pot of cream and would it work???

I succumbed and reluctantly handed over my pennies praying it would work otherwise I would get that sickly guilty feeling I had wasted my money AGAIN. It claims to reduce the puffiness around your eyes and reduce dark circles - both of which I suffer from badly. No matter how much sleep I get, even from a very young age, my dark circles have never lightened so I was slightly skeptical about their claims and how it would work on me. I have used it for 2 months now and I have to say my dark circles after around the 4 week mark have become lighter and I doubt they will ever go but I do feel they have remarkably reduced. The cream is light in consistency and you don't need much at all (so the small pot will last you ages), sinks into the skin very quickly and I even feel that it has reduced some lines I had around the corners of my eyes. Plus it has reduced any puffiness around my eyes in a morning. It is a refreshingly cool product and I can now confidently say it IS worth the hype and even the money!

Skin Miracle in a tube....

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo

As I have mentioned in the past I have not been one for looking after my skin and treating it very well. In January once the big 30 hit me with full force, I decided I needed to really research skincare. 

I had read lots and lots and lots of reviews about the La Roche-Posay Effacular Duo so decided to jump on the band wagon and try this 'miracle' product- they were all right! This product has totally transformed my skin and now I even bare to go out the house without makeup without feeling self-conscious. 

How has it happened, I hear you ask? Well don't get me wrong as much as I rave on about this 'miracle' cream we did have our problems at first! And that ladies and gentleman is a shock to all - when I started using it whether it was my skin clearing out all the badness in my skin I don't know, but the cream broke me out and severely! I was about to have a temper tantrum but I stuck with it and after a week my skin became super soft and yes my pores had reduced (note - not that I ever looked at the size of my pores until this moment really???). The product is of a gel/cream like formula and sinks into your skin in super quick time and for me that is one of its best selling points as I hate nothing less than having to sit and wait for an age for anything to sink in! It doesn't leave any residue on your skin and bonus points to it once again, it smells fruity too. It cost around £13 but Boots do offers on skin care all the time so keep your eyes peeled - this product IS as good as EVERYONE and their granny says it is.