Maybelline Baby Lips

As soon as I heard Baby Lips were in available to buy in the UK I was desperate to get my hands on some. They are so hyped up by everyone, they have been available in America for around 2 years so I have been long awaiting them to arrive here. Basically they are tinted lip balms. After looking in 2 Boots' and not being able to find the tinted ones I finally found them about a month ago. I know every blogger has written about these but I thought I would put my input in as well.

The 2 Baby Lips I chose to pick up were Cherry Me and Pink Punch. Cherry Me is a gorgeous red shade in the tube and it translates to a sort of raspberry colour on the lips and is also quite glossy. The scent of it is lovely too, its smells like those cherry jelly sweets and is a very artificial cherry smell. Once it's on the lips I personally can't smell it. I find this to be very nourishing and moisturising and now its one of my favourite lip products I own.

Pink Punch is a barbie pink shade in the tube and surprisingly it translates like this onto the lips. I wasn't expecting it to be that pigmented at all and it is the only lip product I have in this shade of pink as I don't tend to go for the light pinks. Although I am impressed with the pigmentation of Pink Punch I do find it a bit difficult to work with because it really highlights dry patches. The scent of this one is very sweet and fruity and I definitely prefer this scent of the two.

The tinted lip balms don't contain SPF like the non tinted ones do but I don't see it as a massive problem although it would be nice if they did. The only thing I really dislike about the Baby Lips is that the packaging is so cheap feeling and really flimsy. Overall though I do think that these are worth the hype and I would definitely buy more tinted ones if they bring them out in different colours. I don't think that these would be ideal if you wanted a lip balm to repair lips but as an everyday lip balm these are amazing especially as you get the colour pay off too. At only £2.99 I would definitely recommend these especially as they have replaced my nivea lip balm that I used to use on a daily basis. 

Have you tried the Baby Lips?

Megan xx

Sunday Bakes #2 Chocolate Cupcakes

Today I have been busy doing my English coursework so wanted to bake something quick and easy. I'm sorry that last week was cupcakes as well but I promise next week will be something different. Anyway I figured that people like basic and easy recipes so didn't think you'd mind to much.

The recipe is practically the same as last weeks, sorry!

You will need 
4oz of butter (I use stork)
4oz of caster sugar
2 medium sized eggs (free range are best)
Just under 4oz of self raising flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (the unsweetened type)

1. First line a muffin tray with 12 paper or silicone cases.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter until it's a very pale colour and has a fluffy consistency
3. Add the eggs and mix again until combined.
4. Take 3 tablespoons of flour out of the 4oz and add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder.
5. Fold the flour and cocoa powder into the mixture.
6. Dollop the mixture evenly into the 12 cases.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at around 180 degrees.

As I've already mentioned I have been busy doing coursework today so didn't have time to decorate them but they were delicious as they are.

What are your favourite types of cupcakes? Also if you have any ideas of what I could bake in the future please let me know in the comments.

Megan xx 

Sunday Bakes #1 Cupcakes

Baking is something I love to do and end up baking something most weekends. I have decided to start a new series called Sunday Bakes (sorry deciding on names isn't my strong point!). Anyway in the past when I have done baking posts they have gone down quite well so thought this series would quite nice to have on my blog. Hopefully there will be a post every Sunday but some weekends I do just bake the same things as before so there is obviously no point in posting the same recipe twice!

This weekend I made some cupcakes, very basic and very yummy! I also used the duo piping bag from Lakeland for the first time and think it went quite well. Anyway onto the foody bit.

To make 12 cupcakes you will need.......
4oz of caster/granulated sugar
4oz of margarine/butter (I use Stork)
4oz of self raising flour
2 medium eggs
Vanilla essence

1. Pre-heat your oven to around 180 degrees and sort your cupcake cases out into the muffin tin (or not if your using a silicone muffin tin). 
2. Mix the margarine and sugar together until it becomes very pale and fluffy. (I use a hand whisk) 
3. Add the vanilla essence and eggs and mix again until everything is combined.
4. Fold the flour into the mixture until it is combined but don't over work it.
5. Separate into the cupcake cases and bake for around 20 minutes or until they are golden and the sponge springs back when you touch them. I always skewer them to check if they are done as well, just to make sure.

See, making the cakes is so simple and doesn't take long at all.

I love to pipe buttercream onto my cupcakes. I normally just use a plastic piping tube thing but today I tried the Lakeland duo piping bag. To make my buttercream I use 6oz of icing sugar and 3oz of stork. This amount just about covers 12 cakes however make as much as you need using the 2:1 ratio. I also used red food colouring to colour half of the butter cream pink so that I could use the duo piping bag.

Will you be trying these out? Don't forget to let me know what you think of baking posts.

Megan xx