Chocolate & vanilla marble loaf

My Mom owns an entire stack of recipe books with some truly great recipes buried within; I found one, it’s just glorious and really hits the spot for my ever increasing sweet tooth. This cake is perfect if you plan or even didn’t plan to have people over for tea and want something pretty to place on your table. Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients

225g Butter, softened

225g Caster sugar

275g Self raising flour

2 level tsp Baking powder

4 Large eggs

2 tbsp Milk

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

1 ½ level tbsp Cocoa powder

2 tbsp Hot water

Icing:

25g Butter

15g Cocoa powder, sifted

1-2 tbsp Milk

100g Icing Sugar, sifted

25g White chocolate, melted

Method

1.    Preheat the oven at 180. Lightly grease the tin and line with a wide strip of non- stick baking parchment to go up the wide sides and over the base of the tin.

2.    Measure the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat with a hand –held electric mixer for about minutes, until well blended. Spoon half the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

3.    In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder and hot water together until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, then add to one of the bowls of cake mixture, mixing well until evenly blended.

4.    Spoon the vanilla and chocolate cake mixtures randomly into the prepared tin until all the mixture is used up, gently level the surface. Bake for 50 minutes- 1 hour, until the cake is well risen, springy to the touch and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, peel the lining paper and leave to cool completely.

5.    To make the icing, melt the butter in a small pan, add the cocoa powder, stir to blend and cook gently for 1 minute. Stir in the milk and icing sugar, then remove from the heat and mix thoroughly, if necessary leave the icing on one side, stirring occasionally, to thicken. Spread the cold cake evenly with the icing, then drizzle the melted white chocolate over the top. Leave to set

Serves 10.

I really hope that you enjoy making this and more so, eating it! May this feature at many of your parties with many happy tummies

S

Xoxo

The do's & don'ts of matte lip products

Matte lip products in all their popularity and surrounding controversy begs the question; do I wear it? How do I wear it? What shade do I get? These questions present an endless list of uncertainties but fear not, keep reading and ill provide you with a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to these products. Best grab a pend and paper!

DO – Match your lip liner

This applies mainly to those who are opting for a bright, bold colour. Applying a lip liner prior to your matte lipstick is a good idea since this will prevent your lip colour from ‘bleeding’ (where your lipstick escapes the natural line of your lips). It’s also perhaps an even better idea to get a lip liner that matches the colour of your lipstick as best as possible, to avoid the dreaded 90’s inspired two toned look.

DON’T - Over apply it

Since matte lip products are not very moisturising (if at all), it kind of just sits and doesn’t really fade away as fast as what other lip products do. I know it’s tempting to keep reapplying your product in the hopes that it will bring some moisture to your lips but don’t, sit on those hands. Re-applying will just cause the product to pile up on top of your lips and the chance of it being even is pretty slim. If you really want to re-apply, first remove the remaining product on your lips with a wipe before applying a fresh coat.

DO – Keep your lips moisturised

This is probably my biggest fault when it comes to using matte lip products, I cannot stand when my lips aren’t moisturised so I make a point in applying lip ice before I apply my lip colour. This will avoid dehydration, flaking and will keep you lip colour looking fresh as can be. #Yay!

DO – Exfoliate

This goes hand in hand with keeping your lips moisturised, exfoliating will get rid of any dry flakiness and will help with a good application of you lip product. I like to use a ‘sugar lip scrub’ from “Beauty Treats”. I usually purchase this product at Dis-chem, it often comes in a variety of flavours and is very affordable.

DO – Pick the right shade

This is the most important, choosing a colour which is too light for your skin tone could make you look corpse like while choosing a colour too dark for your skin tone may stain your lips and wear badly. Opting for corals, reds and pinks is pretty much your safe zone. If that’s not your thing, then I say wear what feels right to you.

At the end of the day experimentation is always your best bet, I’d do it with lip products that are a little bit more on the affordable side before spending your hard earned cash on something expensive that you just might not like. Find out what works best for you and rock it! Happy shopping ;)

S

Xoxo

June Surprise :GIVEAWAY

So June has finally come around and we’re going to have a ball because we are celebrating Shez does life’s first anniversary! #HappyDance! In that I would like to thank you all SO much for your continued love and support, words cannot say how grateful I am to be able to do what I love and to have readers who stand by me. So to thank you in a proper manner I am hosting a giveaway!

With the help of the lovely Miss Luarynne Gouws from ‘Hey pretty S.A’ the giveaway will include the “Colourpop Ultra Matte” Liquid lipstick in the shade ‘Lumiere’ which I’m sure a number of you will know was created by youtuber Kathleen Lights in collaboration with ‘Colourpop’. That will be accompanied by a few other surprise goodies which I myself love so I’m pretty excited about this.

Let’s get the rules out of the way quickly. The giveaway will commence today, 6 June 2016 and will run through the course of two weeks closing at 6pm 20 June 2016. The winner will be announced at 11am on the 21(st) June 2016. To enter the giveaway you will have to

1. Like my Facebook Makeup page (Link below)

2. Tag your bestie/s in the comments section on Facebook

3. Share the post for an additional entry (Optional).  That’s it!

*You must be 18 years or older to enter (If you’re younger, please ask your parent’s consent first’.

*You must reside in South Africa to stand a chance to win

*After the winner has been announced you will have 48 hours to make contact with me to receive the giveaway, after 48 hours without contact I reserve the right to select another winner.

*Items in the giveaway may not be exchanged for a different colour/item or cash. 

That just about covers it! I’m really excited about this giveaway and I hope that you are too. I’d love to hear from you, let me know what you’d like to read about and whether you have any questions feel free to post a comment below. Thank you all again for all the love and support in the last year, may there be many more years filled with articles and giveaways. Let the excitement begin…

S

Xoxo

Facebook link -----> https://www.facebook.com/Sherina-Tavares-Make-Up-Artist-1560618330896446/?fref=ts

Colourpop Lippie Stix - First Impressions

I have drooled over makeup from the United States long before I became a makeup artist and I vowed that someday I’d get my hands on it, today is that day my friends! I have watched so many make up tutorials where they’ve used ‘Colourpop’ products and they are so appealing to the eye that my first ever purchase has been the ‘Colourpop’ Lippie stix in the shade “Tootsi”, here are my first impressions…

I caught wind of Muse.sa on Instagram some months back, they stock several kinds of makeup brands that we are yet to be blessed with here in South Africa, everything from ‘Anastasia Beverly Hills’ right through to ‘Morphe’. Luckily they stock ‘Colourpop’ which was much to my excitement. I made my special order with them at the end of April and received it approximately 4 weeks later (I was about as excited as a child on Christmas day when it arrived), needless to say - I am very impressed with the service that I received and will definitely be making purchases with them again in the not too distant future. *I’ll place a link down below for their Instagram page*

‘Tootsi’ is the name of the new lippie stix sitting in my vanity and let me tell you that I think I may be in love. This is a cool toned grey beige ‘greige’ as they call it, with a matte finish. The colour first of all, is stunning and so perfect for winter, I was at first both curious and nervous about whether or not the matte finish would dry out my lips but after wearing it for a few days I am happy to report that my lips are in fact in one piece and not dried out from this product.

The packaging is really pretty and initially the first thing I had noticed about it is that these lippie stix are all twist products so there really is no mess or fuss for us #HappyDance. Application of the product is pretty satisfactory; it applies evenly and fades the same way after hours of wear, through eating and drinking. It’s beautifully pigmented and just an all well rounded lip product.

All in all, I really cannot say a bad thing about this product. It’s still affordable and I’m really quite happy with it, before you know it I’ll be purchasing a few more and adding them to my ever expanding lip product collection. Any recommendations for my next purchase?

S

Xoxo

Muse.SA Link:

https://www.instagram.com/muse.sa/?hl=en