Review: Illamasqua eye pencil in Exert

Hey guys!

So, I kind of wanted the last day of this week to be a video, seeing as more people watch them, but I have been uber busy today, so I thought I'd do a quick review instead! :)

So, I am reviewing a product I got at IMATS and it is this, the lovely grey pencil from Illamasqua.


Because I'm writing this quite late at night, my photos aren't very good, sorry!! but here are some swatches, the one on the top is not blended, and the one on the bottom is.

                                                                       with out flash.....

So, I think this pencil has reeaalllly good pigmentation, is there such a thing as a "true" grey? if so, that's the colour of this pencil! like I say, the photos are bad, but it blends really well, and isn't too waxy like some eye pencils.

Now, on the pencil it says "Medium pencil: for eyes, lips, face and body" so I guess you don't have to use this as an eye pencil, I just would.

It works really well applied  to the outer half of the eye, and then smudged out with an eye-liner brush. so it fades out, giving a subtle frame to the eyes.

It usually retails at £13 which I find a bit on the pricey side, but I got mine at IMATS, so they were having major deals, I got this for only £2!! I'm pretty pleased with that. :D

So, round up, if you have thirteen pounds to spend,  this pencil is really nice, high pigmentation, stays put but still blends. on the whole, love it! :D

I'll try and do a video tomorrow saying 'yay! I did an upload a day or whatever!' so stay tuned for that. ;)

see y'all later!

Gxx

Lovely chocolate icing

So, part two of the yummy chocolate cake recipe. I’m tempted to use an American-ism, and call this frosting because it turns out so stiff (I always imagine frosting stiffer than icing, I don’t know why).

Ingredients:

200g (7oz) icing sugar

50g (1 ¾ oz) cocoa powder

80g (2 ¾ oz) butter (or marg)

Half a table spoon (or a splash) of milk (NOT skimmed)

Method:

Whisk the icing sugar, cocoa and butter together on the very slowest setting of an electric whisk, or use a fork or wooden spoon, until the mixture is a sandy consistency.

Pour in the milk and increase the speed to medium and keep mixing until light and fluffy.

and that's it! 

A pallet knife would be ideal to spread the icing thickly across the top and sides of the cake, but a non-serrated knife (a.k.a. a butter knife) would work just as well.

If you wanted to, you could double the icing mixture and use it instead of jam, in-between the layers as well as on the outside of the cake.

not to blow my own trumpet, but doesn't that look yummy?!

Top tip!

Haha, cheesy I know, but I didn’t know how else to fit this tip in. when you use an electric whisk, especially with the first step of this recipe, loads of mixture can go everywhere, and get your kitchen really messy. So, take some cardboard, from a cereal packet or something, and cut a chunk out of the side so that the electric mixer can get in the bowl. The rest of the card will cover up the bowl so that when the whisk is turned on, the mixture doesn’t go everwhere.

Store the piece of card with the whisk and re-use it, instead of throughing it away.

So I hope you like this, and actually this icing can be used with loads of different recipes.

See you tomorrow!

Gxx

Chocolate layer cake

This is actually from a recipe for cupcakes, from one of my favourite baking books, the Hummingbird bakery cake days book. but I like it better as a big cake with jam between the layers and lots of yummy chocolate icing, mmmmm!

Ingredients:

80g (3oz) butter/Marg

280g (10oz) sugar

200g (7oz) plain flour

40g (1 ½ oz) cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

240ml (8 ½fl oz) milk (not skimmed)

2 eggs

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F and heavily grease three circular sandwich tins.

Use an electric mixer (or, if you don’t have one use a fork) and beat the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt (if using an electric mixer use the slowest setting and beware of the powder going everywhere) until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Pour the milk into a jug, add the eggs and whisk together with a fork.

Pour three-quarters of this mixture into the dry ingredients and beat/mix lightly until all the ingredients are combined and then increase the speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add in the rest of the milk mixture and keep mixing until everything is combined again, and the mixture is nice and smooth.

Use a spatula to pour the batter into the three tins, try to get an even amount in each. Bake for about 18 minutes, then check them, if they aren’t done, leave them in for a few more minutes and check again. To check if it’s done, put a butter knife into the middle of one of the sponges, and if it comes out clean, they’re done!

Let them cool in the tins, and then loosen them with a knife to get them out. Leave to cool for a further 10 minutes or so on a cooling rack.

If you need to, level off the tops of two of the cakes with a bread knife to make the cake more even. Sandwich the cakes with any jam you like (I prefer red jam) in-between the layers and ice the cake on top and the sides with chocolate icing which will be in tomorrow’s blog post!

Yup, it’s a two part-er.

See you tomorrow! Let me know if you try the cake, and if you like it. Personally, it’s my favourite. J

Gxx

Nails of the (other) day

So, I’m going to be honest, this isn’t my current nail look, I did my nails this way just before valentines, which I guess it was kind of inspired by, but as I haven’t uploaded anything today, and I’m really tired, this is just easier… so sorry it isn’t more current!

This is actually amazingly simple. Just do your nails normally in the creamy pink, and after it’s dried use a toothpick to draw the heart. The heart could be on any finger, I just like the look of it on the ring finger. :o)

On one hand I did a larger (I must admit, slightly London lip-glossesque) heart, and on the other a smaller filled in heart. I personally prefer the outlined one, but it is harder to be precise on the right hand.

After doing the heart, just use a top coat to seal it all in, and you’re done! Simple as that. :D I must admit, I always imagine this nail design with the fingers around a massive drink of hot chocolate… perfect for the winter months ;)

The colours I used are unnamed ones from beauty UK and my trusty barryM top coat, base coat and nail hardener. However, you could substitute these for any other brands.

I will definitely repeat this look, let me know in the comments what you think, and if you try it out! See you tomorrow!

Gxx

Review: OCC Lip tar

So I got one of the Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics lip tars in Memento, which is fairly similar to my natural lip colour. I could have opted for a crazy colour, like blue, or black, or orange, but I eventually decided to go with one I would actually wear.

                                            Please ignore the grossness of this photo xD

So let's look at the product quality. I was out all day when I tried this, and in the evening had two hours of dancing, so it was really put to the test. It looked almost exactly the same as when I had put it on that morning at four, maybe five in the afternoon, but by the time I got home from dancing it had come off slightly. However, the colour was still there, and I had just been dancing for two hours!

You literally need the tiniest bit of this product when you're applying. if you didn't need so little the size of the tube might be a problem (It's pretty small, with any other lip product it wouldn't last at all).

The pigmentation is great, and very true to the colour in the bottle I also really like the matte finish, as I find it nicer than gloss or glitter.

Now, the packaging. As I mentioned before, the tube is rather small. However, you need such a teeny amount this doesn't really matter. If you unscrew the lid, it has a deceptive top, like that of a lip gloss tube, which you would put straight onto your lips. Don't. With this you need a lip brush, otherwise you'll use way too much product and will end up with a gloopy mess.

The Lip tar Retails for £8.99 on line.

On top of all this, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics are a vegan brand!

I like the overall look of this product, and I can understand all the hype. Bravo OCC!

Have you tried OCC lip tars? If so what do you think of them? And if not, do think you might in the future?

Gxx

Today’s manicure, Pink French zebra

Hey,

So I haven’t exactly been active on my blog lately… (woops) but I’m trying to get back into it.

I thought I’d start off with some easy posts like LOTDs and Nails. Obviously there will be non beauty as well, but that’s usually cooking, which takes more time. :P

Right, let’s get down to it. Last night I played around with nail varnish and ended up with this:

With practice I will hopefully be able to master the zebra print, this was a first try so it’s quite shaky.

But, with a steady hand I think this looks quite effective, without being too over the top.

I always like French tips when I want to paint my nails, but have recently had a strong colour and my nails need a rest as you only paint the very tips. Of course you could do a pink, nude or peach tone base coat, but I prefer natural (much easier :P).

(bit shaky, sorry) I used this bright baby pink from a set I got for Christmas (it doesn’t have a name).

And this 17 black nail varnish in nightshade.

Just use the tape trick, a coat or two of the pink on the tips, leave to dry and I just free styled the black over the top with a toothpick. You could do any pattern you like really, even black crackle. But I find zebra print quite cool. J

I then just finished off with my trusty barrym base coat, top coat and nail hardener.

Let me know in the comments if you try this mani out, and if you like it or not.

Gxx