Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A Baking Lesson with Yours Truly

Hey pretty girls! 
This past weekend was spent celebrating my amazing boyfriend's birthday. I feel like sometimes our day to day life can get so superficial and materialistic that I wanted to add to his special day by baking him this delish cake! Now let me add that I am not the best baker in the bake house, actually I'm quite terrible. I did use a packet sponge for this cake; not only because i tend to suck at baking from scratch but because i was rather time poor when baking the sponge. You can use whatever sponge you want with this baby and it will taste amaze!

Ingredients: 

Betty crocker strawberries & cream sponge mix 
Three eggs 
Vegetable Oil 
Three packets of family block kit kat (either milk chocolate or white) 
Two packets of mnm's in whichever flavor you want (I used coconut flavor)
Philadelphia frosting 
 A thick ribbon 







Method

Grease cake tin.
Combine cake mix, eggs and oil together in a bowl blend on high for two minutes and blend on low for a further one minute pour into cake tin and bake for recommended time stopping to check on the sponge with a skewer to ensure it doesn't dry out while in the oven. 
Let sponge cool for around twenty to thirty minutes. 

Take refrigerated Philadelphia frosting and spread evenly over the cake.




Chop kit kat block in half and assemble using two fingers at a time, surround the cake with pieces of the kit kat chocolate.    



And finally! Cover the top with MnM's & wrap the cake up with your beautiful ribbon!  

I was really happy with the way this cake turned out, It was something completely different, fun and I feel that the flavors complimented each other perfectly and gave off a beautiful summery taste! 

What are your favorite cakes? 

Until next time 
- Jacqueline xx
 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Favourite Pins Friday

Who else out there has a crazy addiction to Pinterest?
 I know I do!! I thought I would bring to you all a Favourite Pins Friday post and will endeavor to post these as often as I can

If you want to keep up with my pins on a more personal basis feel free to follow me via Pinterest. 
Username: jacquelinejoyc1
 
Here are my favorites of the week <3 
 

 


until next time..
 
- Jacqueline xx 

 
 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Put Your Best Smile Forward

When you walk into a room a healthy, beautiful smile is important and unforgettable in every instance.
I am  (now) a confessed lipstick addict and wanted to share my top three lipsticks with you!

I also wanted to let you know that generally I take snaps to upload with my Apple Iphone however am wanting to get you guys some better quality pictures so have dug my camera out and have been playing with the effects/shutter and hopefully this improves the image quality. Today I have used my camera so please let me know if you have any pro tips for me!






 I have swatched each of the colours so that you have a better idea of what they look like on as some colours can be really deceiving just on the lipstick itself. 
Going from left to right - 
Napoleon Perdis Devine Goddess in Calypso LINK / MAC Viva Glam Nicki (by Nicki Minaj) LINK / Maybelline Colour Sensational in Pink Sand LINK

What are your favorite lip colours? Are you a lipstick kind of girl or a glossy girl?

Until next time, 

- Jacqueline xx 




 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

A Delicious Summer Treat

I recently went to a 'bring a plate' event and here in Australia it is summer and we have honestly been having the worst blistering heat I feel I have ever experienced! (I possibly say this annually haha) and thought I would make a simple, healthy refreshing treat. 

For those of you who follow me on Instagram you would have seen me post a photo of this dish and for those of you who don't you should! 
My user name is @jacquelinej1 

I really love to motivate people through my pictures and tend to post images of things that make me happy, these things do include healthy recipes quite often! 

So here is a nice refreshing treat for you to all try! 

Watermelon Sandwiches


What you need : 
1/2 Watermelon
1 Cup Fresh Ricotta
1 Lime 
A Bunch of Watercress 
Two Teaspoons of Finely Chopped Mint 

Mix the ricotta, mint an lime juice together in a bowl.Cut the watermelon into sandwich like slices be sure to cut them about 1cm thick, I cut them a little too thick and as you can see here I had to hold them together with tooth picks. Lay the watercress on top, spread your mixture out and place further watercress on top. Assemble sandwich with the other slice of watermelon. Enjoy these yummy treats chilled. 

I hope you all enjoy this cute entertaining idea! 

- Jacqueline xx

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Get The 411 on Foundations

My previous what's in my makeup bag post seemed to have hit it off with all of you so I decided to take to the department stores for some trial and error on base foundation products for you all.
Now for those of you who are new to my blog I have extremely bad skin, and for those of you who don't have bad skin it's a curse! 
My skin is extremely sensitive to break outs and I do have some hyper pigmentation and acne scarring. I have tried to detail these reviews as much as possible so you can get the most out of my interesting couple of weeks trying these different products!

I hope you all enjoy :)





Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua - 30 Beige

Chanel calls this product ultra-light skin perfecting makeup and that is exactly what it is, ultra light! 
This foundation is more like a high end BB cream it's really good for oily skin as it doesn't seem t cause your skin to produce more oil throughout the day unlike other BB creams I have tried. 
It contains SPF 15 which I find useful as my skin doesn't seem to like sunscreens plus it's always good to have extra protection. This foundation was long lasting and I got over 12 hours of good wear out of it. 

Chanel Perfection Lumiere - 30 Beige

This foundation is VERY  thick and the sample I got wasn't correctly color matched.
 I found it similar to Estee Lauder double wear however the color was more of a yellow base. Chanel has also added an SPF 10 to the ingredients. I personally wouldn't mind trying this product again however this time correctly color matched. 

Bobbi Brown Long Wear - Color Unknown 

Bobbie brown long wear even finish includes an SPF 15 however feels slightly cakey when you put it on your skin but doesn't seem to give problem skin a full coverage however once it sets seems to give a fuller coverage. I didn't necessarily like the way my powder and bronzer set over this product and for the price tag that comes along with it wouldn't really say that it's worth the money. I would not buy this product after testing it. 

Lancome Ultra 24 Hour - Color Unknown

When you apply this product it gives a really nice smell therefore I find it pleasant to apply however wouldn't recommend if perfumes cause your skin to react. This was recommended by the Cosmetics bar manager at Myer and she said that it has helped her through all of her skin problems. 
I like this is an alternative lighter foundation and my Estee Lauder powder settled over this product quite well.

I really hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it for you all. 
Please let me know if you have tried any of these products or if there are any other products you think I should try that would be good for my skin type and you have had good experiences with. 

I also wanted to apologize for not being able to post as often lately. My internet is finally fixed and I am up and running so will endeavor to post as often as I can :) 

- Jacqueline xx 

 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A Summers Novel


This Summer I was inspired to read The Medici Secret by Michael White with the recent planning of my European adventures. The book itself is in fact a work of fiction however many parts of the story are actually based on facts. This book was thrilling, gripping and gives an insight on the blossoming of civilization that we call the great European renaissance. I particularly enjoyed how the author has written the story and then at the end of the novel has stated all facts along with some references, also with added recommended readings that relate to the facts stated. I have learned a few historical things and would recommend anyone to read this that has interests in travel and history. 



Contrary to my current read I don't return to University for a few months yet and I would like to share with you my bed side table reading list. These books were gifted to me for Christmas by the lovely Rachel Michelle (head over and check out her blog I will link below) and couldn't have come at a better time. I really enjoy a good novel and unfortunately once Uni is back I don't have the time to read. 



These two books The Passage & The Twelve by Justin Cronin are part of a series and the third is awaiting to be written. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post. I particularly enjoy book reviews as being time restricted I don't like to waste time on a poorly written piece of literature. I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve wherever in the world you are and look forward to networking with you all a lot more in the New Year! 
 Rachel Michelle's Blog

- Jacqueline xx