Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sweet potato cake with marshmallow topping

So I've haven't really been posting or when I do, I don't post about beauty. Why? Because I'm a lazy ass hoe. Seriously, minus the hoe part, I am. I haven't really been in the mood to post about beauty stuff so yeah. Yesterday, my dear bf came over and we made a sweet potato cake and roasted giant marshmallows to go on top. Usually people use the orange sweet potatoes, or American yams. I used Korean sweet potatoes. They're white inside. I used the recipe here from Better Homes and Gardens
except instead of canned sweets, I used 1 sweet potato, chopped, boiled until tender, pureed in blender. Also, I cut the recipe in half. You need 2 cups of sweet potato to match 17.9 oz of canned stuff. Finally, I thought my dearest would buy the REGULAR sized marshmallows. I got giants. I roasted them for 5 minutes until they became brown and started flattening out themselves. 
The creepy hand in the corner is my mommy.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cooking: Lemon-Mint cake with Mango Creamcheese frosting

Today, I made a lemon-mint cake with mango cream cheese frosting. The cake is nice and light but I think that the frosting could have used some more sugar. The mint is more prominent but the lemon still comes through and nice and tangy. 

I basically glopped the "frosting" on. It was pretty thin. I put the cake in the fridge and the frosting hardened up a little. But the cake is cold. It's actually nice when its cold. 
I used the recipe from Sunshine and Smiles 
but I substituted olive oil for butter and used baking powder. It's nice and rich from the eggs. 
Mango Cream Cheese Frosting: Basically mango puree, cream cheese and some sugar. I didn't have an electric beater so I had to use a spoon. UGH. I didn't even have a spatula. 






Friday, June 17, 2011

Guest Review: Almay One Coat Dial Up Mascara

Sorry for not posting, but I've been busy! I just got accepted as an author on The Nail Polish Addict
and also I've been asked to write a blog post for Opal Steven's Blog!



That's so exciting! A shoutout to you lovely ladies! So, since I've been kinda busy, I asked my sister to write a blog post for me. Here she is. You may address her as Y's sister. 



For those of you who will not bother to read the rest of this review: it sucks.

And now for the details...

What they say:
adjustable dial allows you to take your lashes from full to fuller to fullest, providing the customized look you want in just one coat of mascara. Molded brush separates and defines every lash while quick building volumizing formula applies evenly and easily. Clump free.

What I say:
what a load of bull. I have never been more disappointed with a mascara. I'm not joking. I bought the mascara for 2 dollars (it was 75% off, originally 8 buckaroos) at CVS, thinking it'd be a good buy and an quick-y mascara for the last month of school. It is surprising how much of a let-down it was. For a higher-end drugstore brand, you'd expect a flake-free, non-smudging mascara that at least lengthened your lashes. Uhhhh yeah......


For an asian, my lashes are not incredibly short nor sparse but they are very (and I mean very) straight. This requires mascara that can hold the curl of an eyelash curler. THIS DID NOT EVEN HOLD THE CURL LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO FINISH PUTTING ON THE FIRST COAT OF MASCARA. NO JOKE. If you need an illustration, my face went from this :o (you gotta keep the mouth open when you're applying mascara. Doesn't it keep your eyes wider?) to this -___- (my whaddafu* face when I realize how stupid this mascara is) to this >:( (angry. Very angry. Now I have to go to school-type angry.)

Now I don't know what the other colors looked like, but at least it's promise of “blackest black” was black. That is about as good as the pros get. I don't understand what the dial on the mascara was for. Apparently if you turn the dial to a higher number you get a more dramatic look yada-yada. It did nothing at all; when I actually compared them, the one with the “3” dial appeared to do less than the “1”. Again -_____-' . It was clump-free, but then again it didn't apply very much mascara... 

Dial 1

Dial 3

Naked lashes
 

Wearability: NO-NO. I wore it for about a week until I was able to purchase the L'oreal Voluminous mascara that was also on sale (hehe, waitin' on the bargains) and every day I had to pat a bit of powder/makeup remover under my eyes waiting for the time (around 1 pm every day) when it started to flake and run and leave black smudges under my eyes. Occasionally I'd see a few black dots which I later learned was the flaking of the mascara. The theory I follow: WHY PUT IT ON IF IT'S GONNA COME OFF BY ITSELF

Recommended: need I say more?

Toodles! 

Yay! Thanks love :) 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Quick cooking expedition: Honey carrot cake with Nutella Icing

Today, I decided to meander through the world of baking! You know what inspired me? Literally, I had a dream that I made vegan cupcakes with zucchini. NO JOKE. I woke up and I was like "I have to do it". I mean I didn't really make vegan zucchini cupcakes because I didn't have zucchini... But here is the cake I made! Recipe after picture. 


 It looks like I used wheat! But its not! Yay!

Recipe:
  • 2 cup flour
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup honey
  • 1 large spoonful nutella
  • a scraping of ginger (err not sure if you can taste it lol. Probably not)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  1. Peel the carrot. Then, using the peeler, make thin sheets of carrot. Chop the sheets of carrot. I did this because I felt like you don't get the fiber-ey texture of shredded carrot. In fact, you can barely feel the carrot! Good for getting kids to eat veggies :)
  2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder together. I used a whisk to get the lumps out lol. 
  3. Mix vanilla, egg (lightly beaten), honey, nutella, carrot together. It looks pretty nasty right now, but its okay! It should be really watery. 
  4. Add flour and such into the egg stuff and combine until smooth. 
  5. Bake for approx 20 min. Top with nutella when cool. 
Thats it! If you don't have nutella, just use choco chips and idk! Go crazy! I mean, I didn't have a lot of stuff in my house.. so I basically just improved LOL. 
 

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Review: Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick

FINALLY i have internet. What happened was that outside, the internet box on the wooden post thingie broke. We had a storm and a tree branch fell. Well, with new internet, comes a new blog layout. Yes, the picture of the little girl is me. I didn't just type in "asian baby" in google images and stole a picture. But anyway, here is a new review for you to feast upon. 

BTW, thank you Red for telling me how to take a picture of my lips without getting the fish-eye effect! 

What they say:

Product Details

Why You'll Love It

Fall in love with color, all over again:
 • Crisper color from pure pigments
 • Creamier feel from nourishing honey nectar
 • Lipcolor so rich, so stunning…it’s sensational
 • 48 captivating shades 


What I say:

Woop Woop, lets get to the nitty gritty. 

Swatch: A pinky nude. Basically, MLBB (my lips but better). Was I hoping for this? No. I was hoping for a more concealer color. I think that I'm going to have to go to MAC for this. 



 Just in case you didn't know, I put it on my bottom lip. It's quite nice. I wanted a beige color. Suggestions? I'm going to have to hit up a MAC store or Sephora sometime soon. 

Texture/Smell: For the record, I freaking hate glittery lipsticks. This is not the same for glitter in eyeshadow. I like my lips for be satin or matte finish. I don't like the real "glossy/glitter/I work at a Las Vegas showgirl" look. I think that my lips are kinda huge for an asian person and I don't like to emphasize it. That being said, I think that this is a little glossy for me. It is "moisturizing" as stated in the claims. Err, I don't know if there's "honey nectar" but I'll go with it. If you pat off the oily/glossyness of it with a tissue, it's quite nice. 

It goes on smoothly and doesn't emphasize my lip lines. Excellent. 


The smell= vanilla+ chemicals= nasty. I hate it when my makeup smells like something. I would prefer a very neutral smell. Like air. 


Wearability: It comes off easily with food. When it wears off, it kinda clings to flakes on your lips, so you can peel it off. It's gross actually. 


Price: Dumb CVS made it 10.49. Absolutely not worth that. I bought it with a 5$ ECB and a 2$ off coupon. 


Recommended: Yes. It is expensive, but with the right coupons, it can be whittled down to size. It's an excellent drugstore lipstick and I like it.
 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Brief Hiatus: I Have no internet

The interwebs has left my house. I am in the library using the internet for a total of 30 minutes. Obviously I am unable to really post. However, the technician will come to my haus soon. :(

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

DIY: Making a Bandeau top out of a halter top

Hey ladies! Recently, my sister found an old halter top that didn't fit her anymore. It was too short on the bottom. So, she asked me to change it into a bandeau top for her. I also took pictures so you ladies can do the same. 

What you need: 
  • Old halter top
  • Scissors
  • Elastic (measure above or below boob- 2 inches)
  • Sewing stuff
Instructions:

First off, cut the "halter" part of it off so it's like a tube top. 
 Great! Now, you want to measure and cut off the excess bottom part. Basically, what you want to do is to measure from right above your boob to right below it. Then, add an inch for hem/elastic. Add more if you have a really thick piece of elastic and less if you have less. That is is your height. For your width, measure around your chest (tip of boob to all the way around your back) and measure it in half. You want the part at the boob to be taut and for it to fit well. Then, fold down a hem a little larger than your piece of elastic and pin. 


Great, now sew the hem down. You want to make sure to leave around 2 inches of unsewn hem so you can insert your elastic. Insert said elastic. Then, you want to tie off the elastic. Or you can sew it. Whatever floats your boat. I just tied it off. Then, you want to sew down the remaining hem. 


Now, since you aren't supposed to wear a bra you might want some nipple coverage. I mean, by all means, still wear pasties if you want. Noone's stopping you. Basically, cut out two strips and sew them in. When you sew them in, make sure to sew under the elastic. You want to leave the elastic alone!


Lovely. This is the finished product
I would show it on a model (aka my sister) but it would be indecent and this is not a website for soft porn (I mean you guys already know this but just in case). I also don't have a mannequin. 


(hopefully) Helpful tips:
  1. I actually needed to take the bandeau in by 1/2 inch. If you need to adjust a little for size, remember to sew in the space between the elastics. It is actually a problem when you sew the elastic because then it doesn't stretch properly. 
  2. Before you insert the elastic, make sure to try it on to make sure that the bandeau actually covers. Please remember that your boobs are 3D, not 2D. Unless you have none, you need to have more fabric allotted for said boobs. 
  3. When inserting your elastic, use a large safety pin. Attach the safety pin to the end of the elastic and insert. It makes life a hell of a lot easier. 
I hope that you try this out and you have fun ladies!