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This blog will no longer be updated, but will stay online for the next few months in case you are interested in viewing past posts.


Thanks to everyone who has followed me,

Emma xo

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Chanel Rouge Noirr-arrrrgh!

The problems I have with makeup are;

1. I wear a lot of it
2. I buy a lot of it
3. I am one of those label whores who thinks that Chanel = the dogs testicalia

If I've learnt one thing over the past 16 years of being a makeup hoarder, it's that having a designer label does not a good mascara make. Nor does spending £20 on a nail varnish mean it's not going to chip after 2 hours. More on this later.

Here's Part One my pick of the best (and worst) makeup I've bought over the past month.

Chanel Rouge Noir 18

Chanel makeup is one of those brands that makes you stare like a nutter at the packaging for ages, feeling like you've just bought the most beautiful thing in the world and would probably poison your boyfriend just to have a nice line of them on your dressing table. Chanel packaging is lush, classic, chic and beautiful and the label has a real aura of class about it which straight away gives you the impression that you're buying something timeless. In some ways, this nail varnish really is timeless. Rouge Noir is really special in a femme fatale way, and gives you that sexy brooding element to your look without being 'too much'. The colour never goes out of style. However, that is the only timeless element to this nail polish. Longevity and endurance is not it's strong point. Honestly, Chanel nail varnish has the lifespan of a terminally ill daddy long legs.

After one hour of applying two coats, including base-coat and top-coat, the polish started to chip rather seriously on the ends, and after two hours and lots of cursing, one nail had lost 90% of the polish. After three hours, I was 70% down.

After a few choice four letter words of the 'C' and 'F' variety, I admitted defeat and went to the bathroom to remove the remaining scraps of Disgustingly Expensive Polish, only to end up smearing all my fingers with the colour so it looked like I was part of some beetroot mashing festival. I swear, nitric acid wouldn't be able to get rid of this nail varnish from your fingers. In the end I resorted to scraping the colour off my nails and skin with a nail file. Not ideal at all. Especially considering I used a really good base coat. I'm all for a highly pigmented colour, but not one who leaves me no option but to file violently at my fingers and stains so badly that even a base coat doesn't help.

In all honesty, Chanel Rouge Noir is a great colour but a horrendous formulation. If you shop around a little bit, you can find very similar colours in your local chemists or department store - D&G Dahlia for one - if you fancy virtually the same effect but without the hassle. The real shame is that this experience has out me off buying any further Chanel nail varnishes. Bang goes my wonderful line of Chanel polishes on the dressing table, then...
 

Brand New! Party invitations

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days, but I've been working on some fantastic new designs, as well as churning out some party invitations which are now up for sale in the shop. What can I say, any excuse to mess about on Photoshop...

So basically, what you do is purchase your chosen design and in the 'notes to seller' box at the checkout, specify what elements of the design you want customized - the address, phone number, name, RSVP details, typeface and colours... Then I'll set to work on changing everything for you. The next step is for you to check the proof, and if everything is fine, there you have it. One fabulous, customized invitation especially for you!


The price includes two revisions of the design, but after that each further revision is charged at €10 a piece.

As you can see, the first design (Paint the Town Red) is very Bauhaus/Franz Ferdinand/gig poster style which is very eye-catching and has a sexy shoe wheras the second is more hipster-style with it's pastel colours, tribal background and skulls. All that's missing in the massive beard and big glasses.

If you fancy making your next get-together a million times cooler, pop on over to the shop and nab yourself one of these designs. There are more to come next week so stay tuned!

Recipe: Lime & Mint Iced Tea

I don't know about where you live, but it's pretty hot here in Spain right now. One great drink to keep you hydrated when it's scorching outside is iced tea (water is boring, admit it) which is easy to find in the shops but unfortunately it's usually really over-sweetened and full of additives. That's why I decided to make my own! This homemade iced tea is delicious and best of all it's extremely easy to make. It's nice to experiment with different flavour teas and even add jazzy stuff like fruit. I used Hornimans (*snigger*) mint tea bags and added a couple of 'sleep well' teabags for a different combination (passionflower, lavender and honey), but that's just optional. You can use any brand you want!

You will need:

One lime

Three mint teabags

Three teaspoons of sugar (optional)

Large pouring jug

Glass or plastic bottle (1 litre) 

Method:

Put the kettle on, and while it boils roughly chop the lime into small chunks. Set them aside and pour the boiled water into the jug. Add the teabags and let them brew for five minutes, until the water has darkened. At this point you can add the sugar (depending on your taste) and limes to the storage bottle. Don't remove the limes from the bottle, as they add flavour. Once the tea has brewed well, pour it into the bottle. If you don't have enough tea to fill the bottle, repeat the process until you have enough. Simple! Unless you fancy a broken fridge, don't forget to let the tea cool down before you store it.

 
If you liked this combination, you might like to try:

English Breakfast with lemon
Earl Grey with strawberries
Green Tea with slices of ginger
Rooibos with coconut pieces
Green Tea with lime and blueberries...

You can also, of course, add alcohol for a cocktail version. Some nice spirits to try are vodka, Cointreau and Pimms - avoid anything milky like Bailey's for obvious reasons. You don't want a curdled cocktail, do you?


Enjoy!

Bloglovin' and getting 'out there'

Hi everyone!

Lambcake is back after a very long break, and now I myself am on a very long break of two months - one of the perks of being a teacher- I couldn't think of a better time to get the shop and blog up and running again. I've also had heaps of time to re-design the entire branding of Lambcake, too. Thank God for Photoshop! I'd love to hear what you think the new look!

Part of this revamp also involves getting known around Etsy and the web, so I've been signing up for a lot of blog listing sites such as Bloglovin' - let's see how it goes and if it increases traffic...
In other news, Mr. Lambcake and I are looking after a very sweet dog for a friend at the moment which is fantastic. He's an lovely, small, mixed breed boy. Check out the Instagram photos to the right to see him! It's good practice for us given that we're getting a dog of our own next Summer (we were going to do it this Summer but we need a break - puppies are very hard work...) even though ours will be a lot bigger as we're going to have a chocolate Lab, it's good to get into the swing of walks, playing and picking up poo.

That's all for now! Don't forget to like the Lambcake page on Facebook and Pinterest and also Twitter, and don't forget Bloglovin' too.

Have a great week!