Barry M gelly hi shine nail paint

Hello lovelies, now I'll let you in on a secret - I absolutely adore nail varnishes but I am rubbish when it comes to painting my nails, so much so that it reached the point where I would ask anyone to paint them for me, my friends, my mum, even my brother. I have to say I'm getting better with practice but I still manage to get varnish all round my cuticles and miss half my nail at the same time... how?

Anyway my collection of nail varnishes now stands at nearly 50 bottles! I think the bottles all look so beautiful but at the moment I keep them in a giant box from paperchase as it's less hassle than keeping them all out on display

My "small" collection of nail varnishes including ones from Rimmel, Revlon, Barry M,
H&M, M&S, Maybelline, Bobby Pin and Accesorize!

My latest purchase was from Barry M, it was buy 2 and save £1 and that was all the encouragement I needed. I have to admit I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Barry M, they do such a huge range of colours, everything a girl could want or need - pastels, brights, dark, glitter, e.t.c. - but their polishes seem to take an age to dry! I don't know whether I'm just impatient, but I seem sit still for ages and then I make a tiny movement and then BOOM, smudged, all my hard work ruined.

Now Gel manicures are incredibly popular at the moment but they also happen to be incredibly bad for your nails, ruining the nail bed and making them weak if you have them on a regular basis. It's also quite an expensive habit to upkeep to if you're looking for an alternative or just want to try a gel effect then this is the perfect nail varnish for you. Like all Barry M products, this gel effects nail varnish is very reaonably priced at £3.99 and comes in a range of shades - which I think is great considering this range is pretty recent.

I went for this lovely pastel purple colour called "Prickly Pear". I absolutely adore pastel shades, it's one of my favourite trends and I am so pleased to see it is back again for S/S13. The only problem with pale shades, and this is synonomous with any brand, is that you have to really layer up the coats to get a good even colour and hide the whites of your nails. I'm happy to report that after 3 coats of Barry M I achieved a colour that matched the bottle, the nail paint went on very smoothly and created a lovely glossy, smooth coat. I found myself glancing at my nails all day long and admiring the colour. 

So what do you think? Have you tried the Gelly Effects range yet and, if so, what's your favourite shade?

Beth xx

Cake Pops

 I love cooking, but especially baking so when my friend Sophie, who blogs over at SophieSays suggested spending an afternoon making cake pops there was no way I could say no.

If you have no idea what cake pops are they are basically small round sponges on sticks dipped in candy melts or icing and then decorated. This American trend has really started to spread in the last couple of years and cake pops and baking sets are just appearing everywhere. I've watched TV programmes where chefs have made cake pops and I always thought they were too difficult to make at home but I was proved wrong.

What you'll need

• Cake pop molds - these are available in most cooking shops or you can buy them online
• Cake pop sticks

Ingredients (enough for 16 cake pops)

Sponge Mix

• 70g margarine/butter
• 70g self-raising flour
• 70g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp milk

Coating

• 1/2 bag of candy melts
• A variety of sprinkles and toppings (we used chocolate ones)

Recipe

• Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth
• Beat in the egg and then add the flour and vanilla extract. Combine all the ingredients together until you have a smooth batter, if the mix is too thick then add the milk to make a dropable batter
• Spoon the mixture into one half of the cake pop molds,  place the other half of the mold on top and bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-18 minutes
• When the cake pops are completely cool, gently melt the candy melts in the microwave until liquid. Take a cake pop stick, dip into the candy melts and stick into the bottom of the cake pop. Stand them unpside down until the candy melt is dry

When the cake pops are completely cool, dip a stick into the candy melts and insert into the cake pop. Leave stood upside down to dry
Photograph: SophieSays

• Take the cake pop and coat it in candy melt and decorate with sprinkles, leave stood up to dry (this will take up to 5 minutes)

Our finished and decorated cake pops - delicious
Photograph: SophieSays

Of course, you can get really artistic with your cake pops and buy different molds, use food dye to colour the sponge, use different flavourings and decorations. It's all up to you.

 

So what do you think? Will you be making cake pops any time soon or have you already made some?

Beth & Sophie xx 

Benefit the Porefessional

Hi guys can you believe it's March already? Where is the year going? Sorry I've kinda been MIA vis a vis blogging for the last week. I've had a super busy week at uni and I've been doing overtime at work so blogging has fallen to the bottom of the to-do-list. It's a shame because I love blogging but it's just what happens sometimes.

Anyway, as I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I had a free mini makeover at my local Benefit boutique after having my brows shaped - you can read about that here . They let me road test some of their everyday products and needless to say I was hooked, on all of them! Unfortunately I couldn't buy them all then and there, it would've been over £100, but I couldn't leave the store without at least one of them so I picked the POREfessional and I am so glad I did.

The POREfessional by Benefit -£23.50

I think every girl needs a decent primer in their make up bag and this is my go to one. Before I bought the porefessional I was using one from Rimmel, which was great considering it was under a tenner but it just can't compete with the Benefit one, not surprising when it's the UK's best selling primer. Although it comes in a nude shade (sorry I couldn't take a picture, the flash on my camera just kept draining the colour out of it) it blends easily with any skin tone. I've also found the oil free balm to be incredibly long lasting, I work part time in a kitchen which as you can image is busy, stressful and hot, so I often find my make up starting to slip off my face but the Porefessional helps keep it in place just that little bit longer. You can actually apply this one over your make up as well, which is really useful if you just need a quick touch up on your way out.

You can buy the Porefessional at your local benefit counter or online here for £23.50  

What is your favourite Benefit product?

Beth xx