Simple icey blue winter nails :)

Instead of going for the more traditionally festive colours like plums, reds, deep greens etc. I opted for more of an icey blue colour, "blue moon" by Barry M to be precise. Since i never want to give removing glitter polish the time of day i simply added a few coats of Macs "unconditionally fabulous" to my ring finger to give it a little something extra. Unfortunatly i think this combo would seem more wintery if it had snowed (which it had this time last year!) as i think of snow and ice when i look at my nails with these varnishes on. Mabey if we all painted out nails snowy themed someone up there would hear us and give us the snow we want! I know it can be a nuisance sometimes but sledging and playing in it for an hour or two until you freeze is fun! :)




If you're thinking about buying this Barry M polish, be prepared to pile on quite a few coats, the first coat is pointless and terrible, the second is better but you can still see parts of your nail, the third coat onwards is much better. The Mac polish is just what you would expect from a glitter based varnish!

What are your favourite holiday looks? :)
Love, Hol xxx

November faves!

Well i know its about 2 or 3 days too early to be posting this but i thought what the hell, a couple of days isn't going to change products i've been using for 28 or so days now! Plus i'm going to be incredibly busy with cakes over the next week or two! So expect to be seeing a few cakes being uploaded by next week, I can't wait to share with you all. Without further chit chat, here are a few of this months favourites! Oh, and for any product i've ever swatched/posted about on my blog before, I've linked it next to the item description :).





St. Moriz instant tan mousse: The infamous alternative to St. Tropez! Being a total whitey all year round even in summer, having a tan in winter benefits me more because my freinds are less likely to have their lovely natural tans..and no im not jealous at all. Mabey a little.

Mac Bronzing powder in Solar Riche: The next best product which helps to acheive a healthy glow. Goes on lightly to begin with unlike some bronzers which leave a horrible orange streak, easily blended and buildable. One of my favourite bronzers. Link.

Barry M nail paint in Mushroom: My go to shade when i don't know what else to wear! Without a doubt one of the best polishes i have ever bought. I don't know why but i tend to be attracted to these ugly colours haha. I think its also perfect for this time of year!

Mac Lipstick in Hue: A gorgeous sheer pink nude. One of Macs most loved i think! Wearable for a pretty day time look, or pair with dramatic eyes. Link.

Nars Copacabana illuminator: One of the best highlighters/illuminators i've ever bought! I usually go for more gold based highlighters, but this is a really really light pink colour, which unfortunately doesn't show well on my camera, I think i need to collect all three of these from Nars! I'm going to do a separate post on this product.

Elf studio tickled pink blush: A lovely sheer pink blush. A must have if you want a suttle rosy glow. Link.

These were just a few products i've been using this month that i picked out to show you. Hope you have all had a lovely November and i guess my next favourites post will be in the new year! Extremely scary to think that.
Love, Hol xxx

Making the most of my Mac palettes

I've finally persuaded myself to destroy one of my precious little mac palettes (by destroy i mean take out the divider) to make the most of the space and fit all of my eyeshadows in to one. I've been fancying getting myself some of those Z palettes but since i bought my mac palettes for my mac eyeshadows i may aswell use them for the mac shadows since i spent money on them.

Some of the eyeshadows i bought from Mac a while back were in the pots before i fitted them in to my palettes so unfortunately they didn't have magents on the bottom of them, so i went out to Staples to get some. They're a little thick so some of my eyeshadows sit up higher than the other ones but until i can find some thin ones they'll do for now.

Also taking out the divider was more difficult than i thought, i was trying not to snap it at all incase i wanted to put it back in in the future but i managed to chip a little bit off it at the corner! Perhaps theres a more efficient way than hacking away with tweezers that i don't know about haha. Never mind, this is just so much more convenient now, i can fit all my eyeshadows i currently own from Mac in once palette.






To see my origional Mac palettes post and which colours i have, click here.

I would love to know what everyone thinks about this way of storing your Mac eyeshadows in the palettes, can you break away from your perfectly organised neutrals palette to mix em all up?!
Love, Hol xxx

My cupcake recipe!

Hi all! When i say my cupcake recipe, i mean the one i follow, not some super secret exciting recipe i've created myself (I wish!) After my last cupcake post i asked if anybody would be interested in me posting the recipe i follow for cupcakes, so here it is! Along with some other cupcakes i made the other day for a little girls 10th birthday. Since i make cakes and cupcakes for people as a small business, i use a large kenwood mixer, which not everyone is going to have because they're expensive and a waste for people who don't bake alot. I highly recommend investing in an electric whisk to get the best cakes. You can buy them at reasonable prices for about £15. Needless to say i've burned out about 3 lots of electric whisks so i had to get something better!

You will need :

• 4 ounces margarine (I swear by Stork!)
• 4 ounces caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 4 ounces self raising flour
• Flavouring of your choice (vanilla/lemon/peppermint essence)

1. First of all, you want to start by softening your margarine a little, so give it a little whiz round with your whisk, or if you're totally game and want a dead arm afterwards, then give it a good old beating with your wooden spoon.

2. Add the caster sugar to the margerine. Cream together until light and fluffy.

3. Crack open your eggs in to a seperate jug, and beat in a little bit of the egg at a time to prevent your mix from curdling.

4. Fold in your flour using a large metal spoon. Using a metal spoon allows you to fold easier, it has a sharper edge than a chunky wooden spoon, allowing you to cut straight down to the bottom of your mix and bring it up to the top to fold.

5. Add flavouring of your choice, and beat/electric whisk one last time before putting in the cupcake cases.

6. Place in the middle shelf of your oven at 150 degrees for between 24 and 27 (ish) minutes. I bake my cupcakes for a longer amount of time on a lower heat because i find if baked at the usual 180 degrees, my cupcakes end up with a a massive bump/eruption in the middle of them, this is because the cupcakes are baking on the outside before the mixture has had a chance to rise properly! Please note my oven is fan assisted, they're usually roughly 10 degrees hotter than what you set the temperature to (or so i'm told) So in theory in a normal oven i would bake them at 160 degrees.

You can usually tell if you're cupcakes are ready by inserting a cocktail stick in the center of them, if it comes out clean then you're done! Leave the cupcakes in the baking tray to set for 10 minutes before placing them on a wire rack for the rest of the cooling time. Cupcakes are still very easily squashed when they're fresh out the oven so definetely avoid picking them up for at least 10 minutes.

When they are cool icing and decoration is really up to you! I more or less stick to piping swirls on them and adding springles and other shapes i've cut out. Here are a few i've done to give you some ideas.






I really hope this has been helpful to everyone, and that i have explained the steps i take as clearly as i can! I look forward to posting some more recipes for you all soon.
Love, Hol xxx

Things i've bought from Mac lately..

Just a typical shopping post to show a couple of things i've bought from Mac over the weeks, nothing too special, but you never know you may just see something you really love that you would like to buy for yourself!

Firstly Baby Sparks dazzleglass, a beautiful bubblegummy pink with flecks of glitter that the majority of the time look a gorgeous blue colour I always lean more to lipstick than lipgloss and shockingly this is my first dazzleglass! But i picked wisely because its absoloutly lovely.






Even though its winter now, i'm getting more and more in to bronzers as i go along! Now, i don't think Mac are too famous for their bronzers, infact im waiting for Nars Laguna to arrive which i feel like i've been waiting for forever, but since im on an adventure to find the perfect bronzer for me, i didn't think a Mac one would hurt. I got Mac bronzing powder in Solar Riche, it's a pretty golden brown with a slight hint of shimmer in it and it looks GORGEOUS on. I found that this teamed with a creamy golden highlighter (I used Topshops) gives a healthy golden glow, it makes you look really radiant, and this is coming from someone who is as white as a sheet!





Last of all, another one of my favourite Mac products, their lipsticks! I got Shy Girl, a peachy orange nude (Somewhere in that category hehe!) with a cremesheen finish! I wish i could say that there was a little more to this lipstick, don't get me wrong it is beautiful on but i'm still sort of a bit meh over it. It's not going to be a one that i take much pride in wearing (unlike my beautiful Myth!) Just something ill put in my bag and go with, depending on what colour makeup im wearing! I'm really sorry about the pictures of the lipstick too, my house is extremely poor for light and i'm not so sure that the pictures are true to its colour.





Thats it for now! I hope you enjoyed my little shopping post! For some reason i've really decided i don't like to use the word haul, i'm not sure why i just find it a little bit annoying and sort of..american?! I would love to you what everyone else has been buying lately, it takes me a couple of pictures or a video on an item for me to feel the need to rush out and get it myself!
Love, Hol xxx

Rainbow connection accent nail

I've been looking for any excuse to wear Rainbow Connection ever since i got it the other week, and just today as i was admiring my Nails Inc. Bastil street varnish when i thought i could maybe just do an accent nail on my ring finger! Partly because I'm getting my nails done on thursday and removing a lot of glitter polish is a pain (Even though i have a simple but sort of time consuming way to do it, which i might be posting about soon!) and because i always regret putting way too much glitter and way too many gems on my nails when i already have on a polish i really like in the first place! I wasn't so sure that Basil street would look so good with Rainbow Connection but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Simple but with a little something something!






The great thing about this glitter polish is it doesn't feel gritty at all on my nails, and when you look at your nail from the side its completely smooth, no lumps and bumps, i did put over a Barry M top coat that i have just to protect it and to try and even it out, but you wouldnt even think you had glitter on your nails if you ran your finger over it! I'm such a fan of glitzy sparkly nails but i cannot for the life of me stand taking off glitter polish so i avoid it most of the time!
Love, Hol xxx

Product fail: Ebay 24 nail art pens

A month or two ago i was getting dead in to nail art and fancied myself some nail art pens, i had seen a load of them on ebay, 24 for around £10 which i thought was really good. Obviously i was a bit skeptical as to wether they would be any good since they were so cheap but either way i bought them anyway.

I was pleased when i first saw them, nice range of colours, a few glitters, neons, and one or two with a pearl sort of effect. They have the typical fine brush at the end that you would expect from a nail art pen/brush, i'm not sure if it was just me not being able to use them very well or if they were just poor in general but i thought some of the brushes were a little too bulky for doing fine lines?! Anyway, the part of the product that i thought would be really handly for me personally was the part that let me down the most! These pens can be used two ways, if you unscrew the lid then its a brush, but if you just pull the lid, its like a metal point for sqeezing out tiny amounts of product! I thought this would be good for polka dots or something. I found that out of 24 pens, the whole of 2 of the metal ends work! The rest of them i squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until i began to worry it was going to explode on me so i gave in. Oh! and some of them seem to leak a little bit within their lids!







When i first purchased them from Ebay i thought that it would be like, one or two of them that didnt work, not one or two of them that didn't work! The thing is, i've seen my freinds with these exact ones before and im thinking maybe i got a shoddy batch of them or something. Don't get me wrong i still use the brush ends occasionally but i think it's unacceptable that barely any of them work the way they're supposed. I've even thought about buying them again to see if i did just unluckily get a bad batch of them, but i would be so mad if i wasted another £10 on something i should've learned my lesson with first time round!

I would love to hear if anybody else has bought these, and if the ones they received work okay! I would love a nice range of nail art pens but without breaking the bank, unfortunatly i would be reluctant to buy these ones again but i'm not sure where i would get them as cheap! So i am reaching out to you lot, my lovely readers to tell me where i can find some!
Love, Hol xxx

Tilly Glitter kitchen edition : Doggy cake!

Hello my lovely readers! I've been pulling my hair out all day. My mam rang me from work as a freind had asked if i would bake her a cake for 9am tomorrow, ( LESS THAN 24 HOURS. ) and me stupidly being such a yes man said OKAY. Nutter. I even had to rearrange our manicure at glamour! Anyhoo heres my first of quite a few baking adventures to come in the following weeks, i have the odd order but i dread to look at my cake calender for December, i'll deal with that when i have to!

This cake was a 50th birthday for a lady who apparently likes the good things in life! Oh, and had a erm..Lhasa apso dog?! I think thats how you spell it! My model of him is POOR! I usually dont do too bad but better luck next time holz..! I hate having no time to plan a cake so i rustled up a simple black and white theme with some stick on diamonds (Non-edible i'm afraid!) one or two mini champagne bottles complete with glasses, hearts, stars, glitter, and the poor little dog! Who i tried to make fluffy, but we'll see, maybe im just too critical of my own cakes!

Go on have a laugh at my little Lhasa Apso i dare you!

I hope you enjoy my little baking adventures and my crazy little models so far, i think the angry birds models beat my poor little dog! I personally think it looks like a bear but im sure she will love it (hopefully). Hope you are all well and i will be back with another post soon!

Love, Hol xxx

Mac Angel lipstick

Angel is something i have been wanting for a long long time! Obviously knowing that its part of what makes Kim K so gorgeous has probably played a major part in me wanting this in the first place, but it's always in peoples must have Mac lipsticks or they're favourites at least. Kim is known to pair it with Nars turkish delight, which looks so gorgeous every time i've seen it on blogs or the internet, i would love to get my hands on it one day!

Usually when you're searching for Mac nude lipsticks, Angel is definetely one of them to come up, personally, i prefer my nudes a little lighter ( A touch of Myth without being too concealer like is my favourite! ) but this for me is definetely one of those colours where it makes your natural lips better?! It is definetely an extremely easy to wear lipstick that you could probably just apply without a mirror, a good one to just throw in your handbag and go with. Even if its not the exact colour i was expecting since i thought it would be a little lighter, i can see me getting a ton of wear out of this, a very sensible lipstick to own :).







I just can't get enough of these famous Mac lipsticks!
Love, Hol xxx

Mac Glitter & Ice!

When i first had a look through the Glitter and Ice collection on Mac, i wasn't really too impressed! First of all, i know usually the little boxes of colour that represent the colour of the product on Mac are usually a little off, but this time i was shocked at how bad they were! I went on Temptalia to check her swatches ( I just KNEW she would have them ;) ) and one of the paint pots "for effect" was literally black, compared to the very light brown shade shown on the Mac website! Annoying!

But anyway, having a new love for paint pots from Mac, i can forgive them for bad swatches since the paint pots from this collection are SO gorgeous. I got two of them, "For Effect" and "Lets skate!". I wasn't a major fan of the colours of glosses or lipsticks in the collection judging by temptalias swatches, and i almost never even consider buying nail varnish from Mac, but "Unconditionally Fabulous" is right up my street! It fits the whole christmas theme perfectly since the varnish itself looks like the inside of a snowglobe after you've shaked it up! So pretty! If you're not a fan of glitter than i'm afraid this one just isn't for you.





Look how gorgeous it is though! It's really difficult to take a good picture of this because every time i look at it in a different room or a different light i see a different colour glitter in it. You do have to apply a couple of coats of it on your nails as it's typically a glitter varnish that spreads the holograms very sparesly on your nails, or even better pick a lovely baby pink/white/whatever takes your fancy and throw a few coats of this on top for a very wintery feel!

Now the paint pots are by far the most gorgeous things i have seen! Againt they are difficult to get a good picture of because whenever you move them you see a different shimmer to what you saw before. "Lets Skate!" is a lovely baby pink with flecks of what i want to say are gold! I can just imagine this would look so pretty by itself on your eye with a little bit of mascara, or i think as a highlighter as it is very similar to my dior pro cheeks that i have! Whatever you want to use it for, its perfect for winter.









"For Effect" is another gorgeous paint pot, a lovely black with silvery running through it. In all honesty, i would love to know people opinions on what colour this actually is, somes it looks black, but as i'm writing this it looks like a very deep navy. Again this would be lovely just put on to your eye by itself, either blended out for a more subtle look, or piled on for intense party eyes (Hey it is party time over the holidays right?). The great thing about this shade is that it is very easily buildable to get a more deeper colour, unlike the the pink shade which doesn't really change at all if you put alot on (But the shimmer it gives is amazing!).

What does everybody think about this collection in general?! Will you be buying anything? Being a glitter lover i was hoping they would maybe include some glitter in this collection, especially with it being called "Glitter and Ice" never mind!
Love, Hol xxx

Firework Inspired Cupcakes!

We were off to a family freinds for some firworks and tea tonight so mam asked me to make some bonfire/firework themed cupcakes! I googled them to see what other people had done and unfornately only being limited to about 2 hours i couldnt do exactly what i wanted to do! Theres nothing too special about these cakes, and my poor camera didnt pick up the pink and purple icing as well as i would've liked it to but never mind!

I mixed in a few different colours of icing around in the piping bag since there are usually lots of different colours flying around, and packed as much glitter and sparkle on them as i could get! I added a little sugar star on the middle of the cupcakes, when you look at them from directly above it looks as though a star firework has a swirly sparkly tail on it!

I know cupcakes aren't exactly rocket science to make but if anybody would like to know exactly what i do to make these then i would more than happy to post a recipe and some instructions for you! I think the most difficult thing with cupcakes is how long to bake them for, and at what temperature, the wrong combination can result in your cupcakes having a little eruption/mountain in the center, making them very difficult to decorate!

Love, Hol xxx

October Favourites!

Ebay Rhinestone Wheels: If you're in to nail art (or likes to have a go at nail art) like me, and you havn't already picked up some of these, then DO! Ebay sell these little babies at around 99p a pop, you do have to wait a little while for them to come since they are mainly sent over from China (Everythings cheaper in China! YAY!) From stars, butterflies, sparkly rhinestones and even funky little fruit shapes these are awesome little bargain buys for nail art! I think i was changing my nails everyday at one point with these! So many options!





MAC Bare Study Paint Pot: This doesn't even need a description! Gorgeous colour, amazing base, over an eye primer this little beauty has kept my eyeshadow in tip top condition for hours at a time all month, MAC Paint Pots are my new love, Cant wait for my Glitter and Ice paint pots to arrive!




Clinique Moisturiser: I have problems with dry skin every month of the year, so it is really compulsary for me personally that i use a moisturiser always. I get it mainly above my cheeks/under my eyes (where i would usually apply highlighter!) to the point of it really stinging if i dont use a moisturiser. Clinique is my favourite because my skin doesnt feel greasy after i use it and a little goes a long way.



VO5 Volumising Spritz: Having incredibly long, thick hair, i have major trouble in getting my hair to sit up at the roots, i know even after using rollers everybodys hair will drop at some point, but my rollers dont even seem to create much volume in the first place! I noticed an instant difference after spritzing my damp hair with these after drying it! Obviously, it doesn't last forever, especially with thick hair like mine, but mainly above all...i can't get enough of the gorgeous smell of this stuff!

Hope you all had a lovely October and a happy Haloween!
Love, Hol xxx