The Weekly Edit | Life Update

My life seems to be a little crazy non-stop go go go at the moment what with working 5 days a week and trying to meet up with friends in between. I have found myself loosing track of not only what the day is and what I did yesterday but my blog and sleep pattern too. I've entered that tricky transition period between finishing A Levels and coming to a decision on what I actually want to do with my life and am finding myself even more confused than ever partly because I don't know whether I actually want to go to university or not. Sooooo what better than to take a "gap yah" (video) and do a ski season as a chalet host in Austria?! 5 months in the snow, skiing almost everyday and generally having an amazing time? I'm sold. 

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Milk | Review

Taking my makeup off is definitely a task for me. I hate it. It's as simple as that. Not only do I end up getting soap/face wash in my hair, but I have water running down my arms and usually onto the floor. Okay, I may have the technique a little wrong but recently I've been reaching for my simple face wipes when I really can't face going through all that trauma (just a tad dramatic hey?!). I know what you're going to say but seriously, they are a lifesaver when you want a quick fix and can't be bothered with all the faff and different products. Don't get my wrong, I do love a good face clean and mask every now and then but I really haven't found a product which does it for me and really removes all my makeup in one go - any recommendations anyone? 

Yummy Philadelphia Brownies | Recipe

Now when it comes to brownies, lets just say that I'm 'not a fan'. My idea of the perfect brownie, and how a brownie should always be, is for it to be gooey and uber chocolaty in the middle, but also chewy on the edges. However, I often find when eating a brownie that it doesn't satisfy most or indeed any of these areas and therefore leaves me constantly disappointed and in search of the 'perfect' brownie. So what's the secret i hear you shout...(/ask)? Well, in my opinion I'm pretty sure that it lies in the combination of cocoa powder and chocolate in the batter which really enhances the flavour once cooked, oh and of course the use of brown sugar instead of ordinary white. 

My Feel Good Summer Playlist

The summer is definitely my favourite time of the year for music by far. Driving with the windows down, the summery air spilling in the windows and the summery happy tunes blasting through the speakers - the perfect picture right?! Ohh the bliss. On my phone/iPod I always make sure I have a go-to, feel good, happy playlist on the go to listen to in those situations which demand a mood change or don't feel 'complete' and I tell ya, there's a real mixture of artists in this one.

Zoeva Lip Crayons | Nude Hero & Tender Rose Review

Exams are finally over *breaths sign of relief* which means I can get back to regular blogging again - hurray!

I am a little late to join the Zoeva band waggon I must admit, but better late than never hey?! As the summer is fast approaching I have been reaching for my summery, light-weight bases to create a natural, nude look and what better way to finish things off than with a nice nude or summery pink lipstick! I was torn between splurging out for a MAC lipstick or going for a dugstore nude option. In the end however I decided to go straight down the middle and opt for the Zoeva Lip Crayons in the shades Nude Hero and Tender Rose from 'love-makeup'(due to the postage working out cheaper) after hearing good things about them from Zoella! I was soo impressed with how fast they arrived (in under 24hours for standard 1st class delivery - mad!) from procrastinating around lunch time whilst revising on a Monday to getting them through the post on the Tuesday morning. Enough about that, lets get on with the review!

The Fail-Safe Chocolate Cupcake | Recipe

This chocolate cake/cupcake recipe is sure to go down a treat. It's quick, easy and an all-in-one method which produces light, squidgy, scrumptious and indulgent cakes which don't even require icing - bonus!! I came across this recipe through my mums friend and haven't looked back since. I used to use my usual Victoria sandwich cake recipe when i substituted the vanilla for the cocoa powder. However, it did sometimes produce quite a dense cake so this is a great alternative! Don't forget to check out the pictures which go along with the method just after step 3 - enjoy!

Rhubarb & Custard Cake | Recipe

Hi everyone, I'm back with a recipe *wooo*! Exams (A Levels) have made my life a little bit hectic at the moment, so have been finding it really hard to get posts written and photos taken. Today is Monday and I'm taking a little bit of time off from the books to make a well deserved healthy*ish* cake - what could be better?! The cake today is rhubarb & custard - sounds odd I know but trust me. Now when I was younger, I loved the rhubarb and custard hard boiled sweets (and still do for that matter) so when I came across this cake the other day at a fair in town, I have to give it a try and boy am I glad. It was very different from the usual cake I go for but was absolutely delicious! I knew I had to give making one a go so here I am. Now it's not perfect (I mean it isn't the most 'appealing' cake) but it's not bad for a first attempt - enjoy!

Real Techniques Brush Dupes (?) | eBay

Hi guys! I'm back again with another beauty post and this time it's brushes (don't worry, a cooking/baking post will be up next week!) Enjoy. 

About a month and a half ago I thought it was about time that I stocked up my almost non existent brush collection and spruce up my makeup routine. I didn't want to spend a bomb on them so, I thought I'd try scouring the Internet to find a decent set of face and eye brushes which were good quality and didn't break the bank  - that is when I came across these ones on eBay. 

The Skin Saviour Duo | Clean&Clear

A couple of weeks ago I had a bout of bad skin and I wasn't really sure where it came from. I've been a little (to say the least) stressed, yes (A Level trauma to blame) but I had been eating reasonably healthily, so I knew I had to do something by sprucing up my pretty much non-existent skin care regime. This is where the Clean and Clear range came back into my life.

Battle of The Drugstore Foundations

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently, I'm in the last year of my A Levels and the pressure is tacking it's toll to say the least! I love blogging but it seem as though I have hardly any time to take pictures and write up posts! I am however going to try and still post at least once a week to keep the flow going a little and will be back to in no time at all, writing as usual!

L'Oreal True Match, Bourjois 1,2,3 Perfect CC Cream, Rimmel Match Perfection

Aubergine Melts | Recipe

This is a delicious, easy and quick dish which is sure to go down a treat! 

Topshop False Lash Mascara - THE mascara?

Finding the perfect mascara can be a massive challenge and we've all been there. Before stumbling across this beauty, I was using the No7 Exception Definition Mascara which was good, but didn't provide a great deal of volume, so when I heard Lily Pebbles raving about the Topshop False Lash, I had to give it a go to see if it really did live up to its name - and at £10 (£9 with student discount) I couldn't turn it down!!

Cinnamon Swirl Rolls || Recipe/Review

I am a huge fan when it comes to cinnamon swirls (or any cake/pastry cinnamon delight for that matter) and thought it was about time I gave making them a go. After scouring the internet for a non-complicated delicious looking recipe, I came across the 'Easy Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch)' from Sally's Baking Addiction. Sally has hundreds of tasty looking recipes on her site and so many good reviews so I knew that this was going to be the recipe I chose. 

Tuesday's Top Picks // #1

I thought it was about time that I did a little feature on my blog, and after much consideration (nothing goes with 'Tuesday'!?) I have come up with 'Tuesday's Picks' - original I know! This is just going to be a little fort nightly accumulation of all the things I've been loving over the past few week, and things I've come across and just have to share with you guys.

Review || Una Brennan Superfacialist Tea Flower Pure Purifying Clay Face Mask

Gosh, that title is a mouthful!! With that aside, when it comes face masks I am really reallly picky and so is my skin. Up until about 2 months ago, I always went for the standard superdrug own brand masks and never had a problem with them. When I opted for the mud mask in a tube option however, Ifound that the 'purifying clay mask' reacted quite badly with my skin. Picture this... my whole face bright red with a destinctive line tracing where the outline of the mask had been - attractive indeed. It also took over an hour for my face to return to it's normal colour. Naturally this made me weary of buying other mud masks as that was the first I had really tried one. However, when my friend told me about the Una Brennan range, I had to give the 'Superfacialist Tea Flower Pure Purifying Clay Mask' a go. 

'Healthy' Oat, Cinnamon and Peanut Butter Bars

Hi everyone - I'm back with another tasty recipe which is almost completely guilt free!  After seeing Niomi Smart's Healthy Cake Pop tutorial on YouTube using 'Agave Nectar', I had to give a recipe containing it a go. Agave Nectar is a naturally occurring organic sweetener which is low in Gl and is said to be a healthier substitute for sugar. It is also gluten and wheat free which makes it suitable for vegans and vegetarians. It has the consistency of honey but it much much sweeter which essentially means that you need less of it. It's a new find for me, so I can't wait to use it in baking other treats to see what results they produce. Now with this recipe, it was a bit of a trial and error. The original recipe comes from 'AverieCooks',  but I found that I needed to change quite a lot in order to give the based the right consistency. As you can see from the photos, I haven't completely mastered it as it's a little crumbly (too many oats) but I will give you the reduced oat/adapted version down below. 

March Favourites

Hi everyone! It's the beginning of April which means it's time for my favourites of the month - only a week late but hey, better late than never right..? My life has been quite hectic for the last couple of weeks and the changing of the month almost completely past me by. I just cannot believe it's nearly the second week of April already! Last month I discovered a few new products which I've completely fallen in love with and others which have resurfaced from my unorganised makeup stash (I cannot wait to order some Muji Acrylic draws). This post will be a mixture of favourites from beauty to TV, Food/drink to hair - so lets get started!

Liebster Award

I recently got nominated for a Liebster Award by Jenn from 'hello-dreamer' AND Rosemary from 'rosemaryofelephants' - Thank you guys!! I'm pretty new to this but after reading on other people's blogs, I found that the 'Liebster Award' is a recognition award from blogger to blogger, with less than 200 followers. It's such a lovely idea and I'm so grateful that these two people have nominated me and have taken the time to read and hopefully enjoy my blog!

Luck And Superstition

Source

Hi everyone! I can't believe that another week has gone by I'm back again for another wonder post - the name is incred I know (last weeks here)! Is it just me or is each week going by faster and faster?  My life feels as though its flashing before me eyes at the moment and my exams are going to be here in no time at all - scary!  As you can probably guess from the picture above, this weeks post is going to be on the topic of 'luck'.

Blog Name Change

Hi everyone! Sadly it came to my attention that there is already someone with the name 'Makeup and Macaroons' for their blog and now I feel so stupid for not checking to see if someone already had the same name. It took a while but I've finally come up with another name which I like and feel doesn't wander to far away from my old one which was 'Makeup and Macaroons. The new one however is - 'Makeup and Meringues'. 

I hope you guys still like it and will follow me over there as I've lost all my followers by changing. Thank you to all the people who already follow me - I really appreciate it - and I hope you can join me on my next blog. I will still be writing the same sort of posts - beauty, baking and lifestyle - I'll just have a different name!

You can follow me on bloglovin here and thank you!

Love,

Harriet xo

Pistachio and Vanilla Cake

Today is not only Mother’s Day but my Grandma’s birthday too, which of course meant cake – and an impressive one at that! After scouring the internet in search of the perfect recipe I found this one here from the BBC Good Food website which intrigued me for sure. Now when it comes to special occasions, I always like to push the boat out on the flavour and look of the cake and this one definitely ticked all the boxes - scrumptious, light and extremely inviting. The flavour of this is pistachio - as you can probably tell from the title ;) - and vanilla with a sweet cream cheese filling which is perfect for the warmer weather we've been having.

Beauty Buying Tips

As many of you know, there are beauty blogger chats every week on Twitter using the hashtag '#BBloggers'. There's a different topic every time and anyone can join in! It's so great as you can talk to other beauty lovers and bloggers about different products and exchange makeup tips and tricks - uber uber useful indeed! 

The Key To Happiness

Lately, I've been thinking that I want to put a personal spin to my blog, so have come up with a new, weekly feature in the form of a mini series. I haven't really given it a specific name and it's basically going to be on all the little things I have thoughts on - or 'wonder' about - and want to share with the world - a little bit like last Friday's SprinkleofGlitter inspired motivational post - which doesn't necessarily relate to the theme of my blog. This is the first post and I hope to at least carry it on for a couple of months, so here we go. 

I'm in the last year of my A Levels and with under 3 months to go until my last exam, I am a little stressed to say the least. Even though I've been a model student *cough* this year and even started to revise around Christmas time, I'm finding it incredibly difficult to comprehend how little time I have left and the volume of revision I still have left to do - absolutely petrifying - and as a result I find myself wishing away the days until it's finally all over and behind me. The worst bit is, if I'm not careful I'm going to be old and grey before I know it without appreciating my life as it is now and all the people around me. 

Note: Appreciate everyday as it could be your last (deep but true)! 

Classic Victoria Sandwich

The Victoria Sandwich is a classic in cake land and is actually pretty easy-peasy to make. The ingredients are very similar to those which I used in my 'Mini Lemon Sponges' Recipe - which a lot of people seemed to enjoy (most viewed post and all that) - just in bigger quantities! I've made this version the real traditional way so haven't put any butter icing in the middle, just jam, which definitely makes for a lighter cake (and a little healthier)! The method I'm about to give, produces a wonderfully light cake as a result which is perfect with a hot cup of tea or a hot beverage of your choice! Make sure to check the photos below the method for clarification along the way - enjoy!

Motivation is Key

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE - It's nearly the weekend and that calls for a massive sigh of relief, *phew*!  I thought I'd try a different sort of post today on the topic of 'motivation'. It's something I can sometimes struggle with but once you know tips on how to spur yourself on, you're laughing. So here we go.

Source

No matter what task you set yourself upon, it will take will power and motivation to follow through and make something of it. It can be all too easy to give up and think 'I will do it tommorow' or 'that can wait' but with this, you'll never achieve your up most goals. Motivation is always key. As the quotation goes, 'Never leave that 'till tomorrow which you can do today'. 

The Spring Edit

In the UK it seems as though Spring has well and truely arrived, which can only mean two things - pastels and a lighter base (oh and Easter is just around the corner)! At this time of year I love to spice it up and opt for a different range of products to coat my face in to give me a more natural look. The products featured above are just some of my must-have products I include in my daily makeup routine at the moment and I love them.

The Healthy Pancake

I love pancakes - who doesn’t - and am always interested in new tasty recipes and giving them a whirl, so when I stumbled across this one on Bloglovin, I just had to give it a go. It's not your everyday pancake mix due to there being no flour but oatmeal instead (I just used standard porridge oats) and oh-my it's a good find.

Topshop Nails

I, like most, love my nails in pristine condition and cannot stand it when nail polishes don't live up to my expectations or standards. Now when I say 'standards', I mean that the polish has to feel nice on my nails, dry reasonably quickly, have good durability and not require a topcoat - too much phaf. Pretty simple really. I wrote a review on Tanya Burr's nail polish a couple of weeks ago and although I was in love with the colours, I wasn't quite so on how long they took to dry. This Topshop one however, seems to be perfect. 

Champagne Afternoon Tea || The Dorchester

Our trip to the Dorchester for Champagne Afternoon Tea had been long in the waiting as we booked it over 3 months ago now. My sister and I thought that it would be really nice to take my mum for afternoon tea as a late birthday present and a celebration of her getting a new job, and what better way to celebrate than at the Dorchester. We opted for the 'Balcony Vintage' option which was perfect. The sun was streaming through the windows and the waiter and waitress were incredibly lovely, all we needed was a glass of champagne *que le waiter*.

Beauty/Fashion Wishlist

(Left - right, Top: NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in 'Mount Blanc', 'Honey' by Marc Jacobs Perfume, SEPHORA Hourlass Ambient Lighting Blush in 'Ethereal Glow', Escentric Molecules 'Molecule 01'. Bottom: Nike Free Run Trainers, IPhone 5s, ZOEVA Rose Golden Luxury Set)

I always find myself with a huge list of beauty products and fashion items that I so desperately desire and therefore am always on the countdown to payday. At the moment, the picture above shows what's at the very top of that extensive list, with the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in prime position.

What's In My Makeup Bag

I always love having a nosey at what others have in their makeup bags and thought that I'd share the contence (hardly) of mine - well my essentials at least! I think it's interesting to see what people are loving and opens a whole aray of new products to me that I really should be giving a try. Some of these products here are featured in my most recent'Beauty Haul Post' which I posted at the weekend and have so far been really impressed by. So where to start? Lets go straight in at the deep end and chat about foundation.

Shrove Tuesday || Pancake Tower Galore

IT'S PANCAKE DAY - only one of the best days of the year. I mean, who doesn't love an excuse to stuff their faces full of pancakes dripping with maple syrup? Not me that's for sure! As a family we always used to make the crepe pancakes (really thin) from scratch (of course) but a couple of months ago that all changed when I came across an American pancake recipe. Now when it comes to American pancakes, I'm not really that big of a fan but these homemade ones are incredible - especially after being doused in lashings of maple syrup and banana - it creates a mouth sensation! 

Beauty Haul

As many of you may know, Boots have been offering a mix 'n' match 3 for 2 on most of their products recently and I just had to take advantage of this (naturally)! This offer came just at the right time as I have been wanting to purchase a large number of products for weeks, even months now and this was the perfect opportunity to get what I wanted and save some pennies in the process. Some of the products featured in this haul, although new/recent discoveries, have already made it into my makeup bag, beauty must haves (expect a post on this in a few days time - yay) and beauty routine - a real win! This haul features all the products that I've bought over the last couple of weeks and I hope to do an in-depth review of my favourites sometime soon! On with the haul then.

My Top 4 Moisturisers

When it comes to moisturisers, I'm quite the picky one. I'm forever striving to get the perfect concoction which makes my skin feel silky smooth and leaves me feeling slightly pampered as a result. I cannot (like most) stand dry hands and find that, especially in the winter, my hands (and face for that matter) get so dry from the cold weather and cool air. So, this year I finally came to my senses and made an extra effort to get my act together, give my hands some love and purchase a tube that I could carry around with me in my handbag/school bag.

Mini Lemon Sponges

I've been wanting to write a baking blog post for ages, so today I thought I'd give it a go and what better place to start than with these cute little lemon sponges. The recipe is pretty simple, and produces wonderfully lushes light cakes, so I'll do my best to take you through it step by step and make sure to check out the photos below the method for clarification! Enjoy!

Tanya Burr: Nail polish review

(Tanya Burr nail polish in the colour 'Mini Marshmallows', 12ml)

As soon as I heard that YouTuber and beauty, fashion and lifestyle blogger Tanya Burr (one of my favourites ever) was going to release a line of nail polishes and lip glosses, I couldn't wait to get my hands on them and give them a whirl. On the day they came out I rushed online to feelunique to get choosing a product. In the end I went for the oh-so-gorgeous nail polish range, settling on the pink one of the bunch named 'Mini Marshmallows' (completely adorable or what!), priced at only £5.99 each! (pictured above). Due to the overwhelming popularity of the products, I had to wait around a week until I had it.

Creating my blog

'I want to start a blog'. I've been thinking this very thought for little over two months now and decided yesterday that today would be the day I would enter the blogging world. I couldn't wait to get started and present my views and recipes to the world! But little did I realise just how hard creating the perfect blog I had pictured in my head would be. The templates were there, all I had to do was choose the colour scheme, add some info about me and generally make it look pretty and appealing. I mean, how hard could it be? How wrong I was.