The Makeup Case

While I was pregnant with my first baby, Gyvie, I discovered a thirst for baking. I have had a bit of a break but now I am back. I had a huge bunch of banana’s just sitting there begging to be made into banana bread. So…….I did.

I got my recipe from Kidspot a great website for all parents and parents to be. They have heaps of recipes that are quick and easy. I have used a few but this is my favourite.

All you need is;

• 2 cups plain flour (I use self raising flour instead of plains flour and baking powder)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup caster sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup (80mL) oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed

This is what you do;

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a loaf pan (mine is 11cm x 21cm).

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugars. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients with mashed banana and fold until just combined – do not overmix.

Place in the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and slice thickly.

You know how to eat it, so eat it. Delicious!

Did you see our sneak peek the other day? If you did then you must know that The Makeup Case were lucky enough to trial the new March Bare Faced Beauty goodies from Bellabox.

In case you don’t know what the amazing Bellabox is all about we will give you a quick run down. If you love trying out new products (you know how much we love to do that) then Bellabox is the perfect thing for you. The lovely ladies at Bellabox will put together a beautiful curated box full of 5 new luxury products each month for you to try. It is such  a great idea for anyone who easily gets bored with the usual day-to-day skin and makeup routine, the best part..it all arrives at your front door step once a month. No hassell of being bombarded by pesty shop assistants…plus ++!

This is what we were lucky enough to try out.

U Little Beauty, natural repair hair masque – A beautiful hair repair treatment that smells divine! If your hair is suffering from that dryness that comes hand in hand with the changing weather then this is the perfect product for you, U Little Beauty will nourish your hair and make it feel brand new! Ah-mazing! It is also so easy to use, clean your hair, apply the serum and let it penetrate the hair for about 15 min, then rinse off. Walla. Easy. RRP: $19.95 for 100mls, available from David Jones, Priceline and Terry White Chemists.

Yes To Carrots, C me blush lip tint - I have loved this brand for a long time and I was so excited to see that this month Bellabox included the famous Yes To Carrots Lip Tint, and in my fave colour – C Me Blush. What is so awesome about all of this brands products and especially the lip tints is that they are all 95% organic, containing a blend of fruits and veggies. Hey, why should your insides get all that good stuff? Now your lips and face can join in on the fun. RRP: $9.95 for 2.6 gms, available from David Jones and Priceline.

Pure Fiji Coconut Hydrating Body Lotion - The first thing I noticed about this product was the amazing smell, it takes you back to lying on a tropical beach somewhere soaking up the hot sun. No wonder this lotion smells so delicious. Pure Fiji Coconut Hydrating Lotion contains a blend of coconut milk and exotic nuts, each working together to hydrate the skin making it feel soft and fresh. I love applying the lotion after you get out of a hot shower, the smell really feels up the whole bathroom and makes your worries drift away and think of holidays. RRP: $29.95 for 100mls.

Bellamer Eye Balm - Oh Bellamer Botanical Skin Care, these guys are so amazing! All their products are natural and 100% plant derived, combined they promote the skins own ability to heal and make it smooth and fresh. Now that’s what we like to hear, all natural products that wont harm our skin and make us look great! I have only used this eye balm a couple of times so far and it seems to be working. The thing about this product is that it does leave a slight amount of excess, that is easily fix though with a quick wipe.  I recommend using the eye cream twice a day to get maximum benefits and fight away those wrinkles. RRP: $40 for 15gms.

Check out the amazing plans available from Bellabox here.

* These products were sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please view our disclosure policy.

Brace yourself for something amazing!  What, what, what, I hear you ask? Keep your mittens on, I am going to tell you! Well as I am sure you all know, we love perfume! Love it to bits and pieces, so much so I feel lost without it if I forget to spray before I leave the house. That’s why we have come up with the perfect idea, to confess our top 5 can not live without perfumes. Starting at number 1 (lust after, will die without perfume) to number 5 (I love it so much I want to marry you perfume).

And coming in at number 1, hands done has to be Escarda, Especially Escarda.

This is such a beautiful sophisticated fragrance.  Escarda say that Especially Ecarda is  ”inspired by the glistening scent of morning dew on a sparkling rose”, so it is no wonder that the fragrance is built around a rose accord. Especially Escarda really jumps out at you from the moment it hits your skin and really softens into a gentle feminine and modern fragrance that you will want to wear everyday.

Top Note:  My all time favorite smell of Pear, which then combines with the exotic and musky notes of Ambrette seeds. These two ingredients together create the fresh scent that bursts out at you.

Heart Note: The all important dewy and fresh rose and Ylang Ylang.

Base: Light musky notes complete the package and creat the fragrance that The Makeup Case cannot live without.

Now, you know how The Makeup Case loves pink, so maybe it is only natural that we have been drawn to the beautiful pink colour of the fragrance and its accompanying bright pink packaging. Not to mention the elegant and iconic double E logo gold-finish lid. Wow, see what a package, if only we could marry this perfume, we would have everything.

You may also recognize the famous face that is promoting this beautiful perfume, Israeli born supermodel Bar Refaeli, she dated Leo DiCaprio don’t you know! Now, if she isn’t the epitome of female elegance, who is?

RRP: Eau de Parfum 50ml, $ 99.00. Eau de Parfum 75ml, $129.00. Available from Myer, David Jones and The Perfume Connection.

Check out the Escarda website, they have so many pretty pictures and heaps of more yummy fragrances.

* This product was sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please see our disclosure policy.

Just a little something we have coming up that we thought we would let you know about. It isn’t makeup or beauty related but it is great exercise and it will make us get outside in the fresh air. So, in a couple of weeks, we will be having a lesson or 2 to learn how to stand up paddle.

You have probably seen it going on in Hawaii 5-0 (its is massively popular in Hawaii) and is pretty popular around the Gold Coast and Northern Beaches in NSW. We are going with the local school, Sutherland Shire Stand Up Paddle School, and the lessons will be on the nice calm (hopefully) Woronora River at Woronora. So stay tuned for our up and coming adventure on the river.

[...]

 Coming soon….Some amazing goodies from our friends at Bellabox

Love and lollies, Amy and Bec xx

I know the trend has probably passed, but when Bec cleaned out her nail polish collection and asked if I wanted any………stupid question…….I jumped at the offer. Heaps of different colours that I didn’t have already. I thought I would try a pop of colour, but which one? Couldn’t decide, so I
used all 4.

The colours I used; NYC Jelly Bean, Napoleon Perdis (cant read the colour), Rimmel Sunshine and Orly Lucky Duck.

The results. It was a bit tricky because they were all different brands so some took forever to dry and some were really quick. But I think it turned out pretty good.

I must say I am a bit of a fan of multi coloured nails. So keep an eye out for more to come.

I mentioned in our previous post how we love baking. We know that it is not very makeup related but it sure is fun and most of the time it has a yummy result.

On one of our recent ventures to Woolworths we discovered Woopie Pie Mix, Amy said she wanted to try these for a while and when we noticed they were on sale (rad, we love a good bargin), we snapped up a couple of boxes. And the results were mouthwatering, I have to admit, I may have eaten more them my fair share.

So, here it goes, our first baking post! Firstly we got all our stuff together, you really dont need much at all.

Mix all the ingredients together – 1 egg, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil.

Place about 1tbsp on a baking tray and leave about 5cm between each drop. This is what they looked liked when they came out of the oven, mmmmm, they smelt delicious!

Next step is to whip up the cream (add the mixture to 1/4 cup of milk) and sprinkle over the 100′s and 1000′s.

The last step…EAT THEM ALLLL!!!

RRP: Around the $4.00 mark. Avaliable from all supermarkets.

We know, we know, we know! It sure has been a long time between reviews and we are very sorry! In fact we are so very sorry that we hand-picked these pretty flowers just for you as an apology..

We hope you accept our apology and we promise we are going to try our hardest to be better. I know it must seem like we have been pretty slack but we have actually been very busy little bees.

Amy is still very much pregnant and in need of a good pregnancy massage, if you know anyone give us a holla. She will love you forever (that’s not to say that we don’t love you all already because, we really do). I, on the other hand would love a massage myself which is probably why I have booked myself in for a very relaxing Hot Stone Massage at Inspa Wellness Retreat in good ole Sans Souci. The total massage goes for 1hr and 30min and I just know I am going to be in heaven the whole time, I mean come on, as if I wont be, right? I will be reporting more on this one later.

We have been trialing and testing lots of great and amazing products, seriously guys, we have a backlog so be prepared for lots more reviews coming your way. We only wish that sometimes there could be more hours in the day! And another thing I am loving right now…baking! I know that it is not very beauty related but they look beautiful at the end and they taste yummy, so a recipe or two might sneak its way onto our blog (maybe tomorrow?).

xx

The High Tea Party is a popular event inviting women to immerse themselves in a weekend of indulgence, pampering and style. Relaxing with a classic high tea of delightful sandwiches, delicate chocolates & cakes, scones with jam & cream, exquisite tea and a piccolo of sparkling wine.

We got tickets to the Sydney event on 27th October 2012 so we have a bit of time to pick out a dress and shoes, but it gives us something to look forward to. There are also events in Brisbane and Melbourne, so go check it out.

Not only will it be a fabulous day to get dressed up, eat fine food and drink fancy tea but it will also help to raise vital funds for breast cancer research. National Breast Cancer Foundation are proud to partner with Million Dollar Woman in helping raise money for research and promote Register4. Register4 is Australia’s first online community for volunteer breast cancer research participants.

And if thats not enough this all day event also includes complimentary pamper stations, tastings, workshops, parades, and boutique market stall shopping plus a gorgeous gift bag for each guest. So what are you waiting for. Get your besties together and get tickets.

Thanks to the gang at The High Tea Party, we can’t wait!

Buy tickets here