Pink Lemonade Cakes

Hello lovelies :) today I bring to you a scrum-diddly-umptious recipe for pink lemonade cakes :) of course you can make them in any form you choose; cake, cupcake, etc!

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 & 3/4 cups of flour
• 2 & 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 3/4 tsp of salt
• 1 cup of frozen pink lemonade
• 1 tbsp of lemon zest
• pink food colouring
• frosting
• sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Sift the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking powder, salt) together, set aside
• Beat the butter for 3 minutes
• Add sugar and beat for another 3 minutes
• Add eggs one at a time, continue beating
• Add one cup of dry ingredient mix, beat together
• Add one cup of lemonade mix, beat together
• Continue alternating between dry mix and lemonade
• Add lemon zest and food colouring, mix well
• Pour into pans of your choice
• Bake for 25-30 minutes

One of my new favourite spring-y recipes, so nice and refreshing :) if you have any questions let me know, and I'd love to know how you made it with it if you've made it :)

xLB

Ipsy Bag -- May 2013

Ipsy is wonderful with shipping, before I even had received my tracking information my bag was in my hands being played with! I have to say this is quite possibly my favourite Ipsy bag to date - the products were amazing and the chevron bag was too cute!

This month's theme was 'Spring Fling' - adorable!

This months contents: 

1. Yaby Concealer - I quite liked the formula of this concealer, it goes on smooth and has great coverage, but the colour I received was a bit too orange toned for me to wear to conceal blemishes, but it works great for under eyes I've found! Ps, I have the shade 'honey'!
2. Zoya Nail Polish - Zoya is a great brand for nail polish, great range, great prices, great staying power. I love when Ipsy includes it, but unfortunately this shade makes me hands look a little sickly.. So I graciously passed this one along to my sister who loves all of my beauty rejects :~) I love that the brand is vegan and 5free, and also while being a pastel shade it goes on very opaque which is rare! Love Zoya. Shade is Blue.
3. Nume Finishing Serum - Immediately after receiving my bag I decided to pair this serum with my trusty Josie Maran Argan Oil (received initially from a prior Ipsy bag, ps!) and WOW, the results were amazing! My hair was so soft and shiny, I've never received so many compliments on my hair! Not sure if its just due to the two of them together, but I'll definitely have to try it solo to see if I get the same results. So far, in love! Very lightweight and non-greasy, and effective. 
4. Mirabella Colour Sheers Lipstick - I haven't gotten too much wear out of the lipstick yet as I've really just been working a lot and haven't had the chance yet to swap out work-friendly lipsticks . but that doesn't mean I love it any less! The colour appears exactly as it says - sheer. Which I quite like. The formula is very light and balm like, with a bit of gloss to it. I received the darkest colour, Posy, so I'm not sure how the lighter colours work out but I love the effect this one has. Colour appears almost like a 'your lips but better' shade as the lipstick is a sheer. So far, love! I couldn't help but notice online that they offer a shade called Peony.. *grabs credit card*
5. Pacifica Roll-On Perfume - I wish I had gotten the other scent, Tahitian Gardenia, instead of Island Vanilla as I'm not a fan of the scent of vanilla for perfumes (I'm a floral kinda girl) but I do love the Pacifica brand and if I did like vanilla I'd love this perfume. The scent has great staying power and rolls on with ease. 
6. BONUS: Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow - I also received a bonus for being me (if you're an active member of the Ipsy community they'll occassionally throw in a little somethin' somethin' extra as a thank you) so I was quite pleased! While I'm not much a fun of anything cool toned this is still a gorgeous shadow that I'll definitely use for inner corners or a dramatic look, or accents.. I'll figure it out! I would have preferred one of the more bronze-y shades, but I received Moonspoon and feel like I will like it once I find more a use for it since it's not an everyday shadow for my complexion. Very happy to have received this however!

And a little price breakdown:

1. Yaby Concealer - retails 5.23$ (5.23$)
2. Zoya Nail Polish - retails 8$ (8$)
3. Nume Finishing Serum - retails 29$ (5$)
4. Mirabella Colour Sheer Lipstick - retails 22$ (22$) 
5. Pacifica Roll-On Perfume - retails 12$ (12$)
6. Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow - retails 20$ (20$)

Bringing the grand total to 53.23$ + 20$ bonus = 72.23$/10$ as always, a great value :~)

xLB

Style: SS13 #1

Lately I've been ridiculously infatuated with maxi dresses/skirts as well as high-low skirts. A massive problem I face (pun intended) is that I'm practically a giant and I can't find a maxi dress to fit me in length for the life of me. That being said, my obsession has gone full on to skirts. Which leads us to this post: how I style maxi skirts for spring/summer! (Featuring a sneaky high low skirt because I couldn't resist!)

LOOK #1: 

Sunglasses | Bag | Earrings | Shoes | Top | Skirt | Floral Crown | Bangles | Bracelet

LOOK #2:

Skirt | Bag | Top | Shoes

LOOK #3:

Shoes #1 | Bag #1 | Top | Skirt | Bag #2 | Shoes #2

xLB

New Haul!

Hey all :) so yesterday I did a little damage at the mall... OOPS.

Thought I'd show you guys what I picked up, it's been awhile since I've done a haul! Just picked up a few odds and ends for summer and stocked up on some necessities! 

LUSH 

• Bath Bomb in Dragons Egg 6.25$
• Bath Bomb in The Enchanter 6.25$
• Bubble Bar in Madame Butterfly 8.95$
• Lip Scrub in Bubblegum 9.95$

SEPHORA

• L'Occitane Hand Cream in Pivoine Flora 12$ (repurchase) 
• Rosebud Salve 7.50$ (repurchase) 
• Stila After Glow Lip Colour in Festive Fuchsia 23$ (Can't wait to try - glows in UV light!)
• Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash Mascara in Extra Black 27$ (repurchase)
• Fresh Rollerballs in Hesperides Grapefruit 23$ (exchanged)
• YSL Rollerballs in Manifesto 28$
• Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar Top Coat 12$ (repurchased)
• Sephora Blasted Nail Polish in Black 3$
• Samples, gratis

FOREVER 21

• Silver Spike Bracelet 5.80$
• Headbands 4.80$ each
• Earrings 1.80$
• Necklace 5.80$
• Sunglasses 6.80$
• Black High Waisted Shorts 17.80$ (These fit me so well, I'm so excited for them!)
• Green High Waisted Shorts 16.80$ (Not loving the fit on these, the fabric is just eh on)
• Sheer Pink Blouse 21.80$
• Star Print Jumper 27.80$ (I actually wanted a similar from Wildfox so was so happy for this!)

H&M

• Gold Spike Bracelet 6.95$
• Coloured Skulls Bracelet 5.95$
• Blue Circle Skirt 14.95$
• Grey & Pink Striped Tank Top 6.95$
• White Lace Top 10$

HOLLISTER

• Orange & Pink Racerback Tank 11$
• Black Cropped Racerback Tank 11$
• White Gilly Hick Bandeau 13$

Sorry the picture quality is a little grainy, I'm not sure what happened with them.. :/ if there's anything you'd like to see more in detail or a review on, let me know :)

xLB