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!

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

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)! 

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. 

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.

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.