I Did My Boyfriend's Makeup, Pirate Style!

The other night my boyfriend, Nick, and I went to an event that was pirate themed. We both had pirate costumes from past Halloweens lying around so we decided to go all out! This included Nick letting me do his makeup to look like an evil pirate!!! I will post the look I wore myself soon, but for today, let's focus on his face.

He kept glaring at me like in the first picture all night, it was creepy!

Anyways, to do his makeup I put black eyeliner in his waterline, then drew a thick line on the top and bottom lashline and blended them out with a smudge brush. I then took a matte black eyeshadow and pulled the black under his eyes further down. With a fluffy blending brush I used a bright matte red to blend out the edges of the black eyeshadow. I also blended the red around the outer corners of his eyes just a tiny bit. To finish the look off and make it slightly more interesting than just a dark shadowy eye, I took a flat eyeliner brush dipped in the black eyeshadow and pulled black streaks out from the centre of his eyes, mostly on the bottom lashline.

And that was it! This was a really easy look, and it worked out great for the night. I hope you like it!

Another Impulse Cosmetics Review

I did it again, broke the spending ban. Impulse Cosmetics was having a sale and all of their glitters were half off. I had been eyeing a few of their glitters for a while so I just couldn't help myself! They are normally $4 but they were only $2 so I don't feel that bad. I picked out 2 that I have wanted for a while and I just couldn't help but throwing another lipstick into my order too.

The Glitters I picked were Half-Baked, a bronzey orange holographic glitter and Raven, a black and gold glitter mix. The lipstick I got is Pandora, a dark purple. Here are a couple shots of the glitters in different lighting:

I would have done proper swatches, but I can't find my dang glitter adhesive right now! Oh well...

Half Baked is such an amazing shade. This is definitely my favourite of the two. The holographic effect is much more pronounced in person. Orange is also one of my favourite colours, so it is great. Raven is a nice dark gold with some black glitter mixed in. It is clear to me that they put a lot of effort into making some really unique glitter mixes. If you check out their Etsy store you can see that they have a lot of really interesting glitters, not just these two. I already have my eye on a few more including one called Screamsicle.

As for the lipstick, here is a swatch:

Impulse Cosmetics calls Pandora as a black cherry colour and I think that is the perfect descriptor. I love this shade soooo much! It isn't really a spring colour, but who cares? This has the same creamy matte formula as their other lipsticks and seems to last a long time before needing touch-ups. I'll have a look using this soon.

Anyways, that's it for the review and little spending ban update. What is your favourite glitter?

No Knead Bread!

I was looking for a really easy loaf of bread to make a few weeks ago when I stumbled across something called no knead bread. I'm not sure how I haven't heard of this before, but I'm glad I have the recipe now! I read about a zillion similar recipes and methods before trying it myself, so I don't have a particular blog or anything to credit. I will link you to this version of the recipe though, where an adorable 4 year old shows you how to do it! I have tried this bread a few times now, so I will tell you what works best for me.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1-2 tsp salt (I used 2, I like salt)
- 1 1/2 cups water

Making this is really easy. Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Pour in the water and stir with a big spoon until you have a very rough dough. You really don't need to stir too much. Next put some saran wrap or a lid on the bowl and leave it in a relatively warm place for 8-18 hours.

When you next look at the dough it should have doubled in size and be bubbly. Wet your hands and pull the dough out. Form it into a ball and leave it on a lightly floured surface, or on a piece of parchment paper like I did. Let the dough rest like this for half an hour.

To cook the dough there are two methods. The first uses an oven safe pot with a lid. The second uses any oven safe pan and a steam bath. I used the second method. First, put whatever container you chose into the oven and turn it on to 450 degrees. You want the pot to preheat with the oven and get hot too. Make sure your pot container is oven safe though, or you could not only ruin a pot, but also your oven. I used a 9x9 Pyrex baking dish for mine. I also slid a metal baking pan onto the bottom rack. Once the 30 minutes is up and your oven and pot are hot, quickly put the dough ball in the pan/pot (I just plunk the parchment paper right in it) and fill the metal pan in the bottom with water to create steam. I have found that about 3 cups of water is necessary. Be careful, steam can burn you! I like to wrap my hand in a towel so it can't burn. If you are using a pot with a lid you don't need the steam bath, steam will generate inside the pot while it cooks. Bake the bread for 30 minutes with the steam bath or lid, then bake it for another 15 minutes without.

And voila! Bread!

It is seriously that easy! This has a lovely crackly crust and soft insides. I enjoyed a few slices of this loaf dipped in some olive oils and balsamic vinegar!

I have a few notes to add after baking this multiple times. The first thing is that I like to let the steam bath go on a bit longer, sometimes an extra 5 minutes or more. This makes the crust a bit thicker and crunchier, which I like. Next is that the longer you leave the dough to rise, the bigger your loaf will be. It will also have slightly bigger air pockets inside. I left one loaf for only 8 hours and it was considerably smaller than the ones I left for 12 hours or more. This means a slice of the smaller loaf will be a bit denser and heavier to eat. I have also found that this is a great recipe to mix other ingredients into. You can mix herbs, nuts, raisins or basically anything into it and it will still work out fine!

I hope this inspired a few of you to go make some bread! This is a very easy recipe to start with, and it is really delicious!

Quick Look: Gold Digger

While looking through my loose pigments today I happened across Gold Digger by Glamour Doll Eyes and realized I have barely used it! I don't know why, it is a really great gold shade, so I decided to do a look with it.

I look super serious in that second one.

For my eyes I used Gold Digger all over the lid and up almost to my brow bone. Gold Digger is a gorgeous medium gold that isn't too sparkly or shimmery, but has a nice metallic sheen to it. I want to try it foiled next! I then used Madison Street Beauty's Golden olive lightly in the crease and on my bottom lid. I used Madison Street Beauty's Pear eyeshadow on my inner corner and right on the centre of my lid for some extra sparkle! I then used a tiny little bit of a matte black eyeshadow to smoke out my bottom lashline a bit more. I finished my eyes by putting black eyeliner in my waterline and tight-lining, as well as adding mascara.

For my lips today I used Agent X by Impulse Cosmetics! If you haven't heard of my love affair with this company yet, you should check them out! I blotted it down quite a bit for an extra matte finish.

That's it for the look! What is your favourite gold eyeshadow?

Quick Look: Shamrock Green

Happy late St. Patrick's Day Everyone! I hope you all had a good night last night! I know this look is a little late now, but this is what I wore out a couple of nights ago. I haven't had a chance to post it until now though, sorry!

I did my hair too! I took the front part and made it into a pouf type thing and pulled the sides back too. I did it by twisting the front section backwards and then pushing it forward a bit, then securing it with two bobby pins. I then pulled the side parts, by my ears, all the way to the back of my head and pinned that all with 3 bobby pins. I'm sorry for that ridiculous explanation, but I don't do hair, so I don't know how else to explain it!

I just did bright green eye with some really winged out eyeliner. I used the green shade from my Lunatick Labs AlieNEON stacker on the inner corner and my bottom lashline. I then used Glamour Doll Eye Shamrock all over the rest of the lid. In the crease I used a dark matte green from Madison Street Beauty, coincidentally also called Shamrock! I blended everything out with Madison Street Beauty's Pistachio and used that to highlight my brow bone and inner corner.

On my cheecks is the ELF blush and bronzer duo in St. Lucia. On my lips is a Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Mocha Rose. This is a brownish red/pink shade. It looks like a really classic almost red lip to me, which I love. I thought it went well with the hair and was a good not overdone colour to go with my bright eyes.

Well, that's it for the shamrock filled look. Sorry that it is coming late! What did you wear for St. Patrick's Day?

Quick Look: Tropical St. Patrick's Day

Today's look was somewhat inspired by St. Patrick's Day, but is done with what I think are more summery tropical shades.

Sorry for the not great pictures. I actually did this look twice last night because the first time I sneezed while finishing my eyeliner. It smeared all over my eyes and I had to start over..... By the time I had finished the second time over I was kind of tired and grumpy so the pictures aren't great. Oh well.

For this look I used MUFE matte eyeshadow in #18 Tangerine. I blended this out with Madison Street Beauty's Butterscotch eyeshadow. On the lips is Muy Linda Collection's Mula lipstick. This isn't my favourite shade of lipstick but I thought it would be perfect for this!

That is it for the look. I hope you like it!

Quick Look: Creme de Couture Pinks

Today's look was done entirely with the Sigma Creme de Couture palette. I used all of the pink and purple shades in the palette.

I went a bit overboard with the eyeliner, pulling it way out from my outer corner before curving it upwards. I blended some purple eyeshadow outwards on my bottom lashline too. I really like how it turned out, it became a fun cat eye!

On my lips is NYX Chloe lipstick and on my cheeks is my ELF blush and bronzer duo in St. Lucia. I don't really reach for pink very often, but I always really like how it ends up looking when I do!

That's it for today's look! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below!

Quick Look: Barely There Eyes

Today's look is very minimal. I honestly probably would have done more to my eyes if I had had more time, but this is what I came up with and I like the end result.

On my eyes is Notoriously Morbid's Tempest eyeshadow swept all over the lid and Madison Street Beauty's Olive Pink in the crease. I did no eyeliner and just applied mascara to the top lashes. I used NARS Mata Hari blush on my cheeks and on my lips is Revlon's Violet Frenzy lipstick.

That's it for this really simple look!

Quick Look: Fiery Red

Today's look was actually very simple, but it looks spectacular to me. I only used 2 eyeshadows. Notoriously Morbid's Tempest eyeshadow is on the inner 2/3 of my lid and the inner corner. The rest is done with Glamour Doll Eyes' Foxxie eyeshadow. I have to say, the name is very apt since I felt extremely foxy wearing this look out!

I think this is my new preferred way to do eyeliner! I line my waterline and tightline but then I only line a tiny bit of the outer edge of my top and bottom lashline. I do pull that outer edge out very slightly almost into a wing, but it just elongates my eye a bit without looking like a wing. I have gotten several compliments on my eyeliner when it is done like this as well.

As for the rest of my face it is pretty bare. I guess I got lazy after my eye makeup was done. I did put on a bit of my ELF St. Lucia blush, but I left my lips bare. I did a look similar to this recently that I paired with Impulse Cosmetics' Texas Tea lipstick, a coppery metallic shade, and I think that would have looked nice here as well. I will probably be redoing that look and posting it here soon anyways.

Well, that's it for the look, I hope you like it!

Review: Balea Exfoiating Face Mask

This past Christmas, my stocking was stuffed with some face masks and I am finally getting around to trying one of them out. My skin has been acting out a lot this week (I have had an acne flare up on my cheeks about once a month, sigh...) so I thought it could use a little extra pampering. The mask I picked was the Balea Exfoliating Face Mask. It has aloe and ginseng in it to help cleanse and calm the skin.

The product comes in a foil packet and looks like this:

Please excuse the grainy iPhone picture.

It is white, with a clay consistency and tiny black granules in it. It has a very light scent of aloe. I can barely notice the scent when applied to my face. I rubbed it into my skin with circular motions for 1 minute then left it on for 10 more minutes as directed by the package.

My beautiful mask coated face!

The little granules are not overly harsh on my skin, but I could still feel myself getting properly exfoliated. As I wore the mask my face got really cold for a few minutes, which I am not so sure I like. It is kind of weird.

I took a shower to wash this off because I knew I had also gotten some into my hair. I actually almost always wash these kinds of masks off in the shower, since I find them a bit annoying to remove.

Once it was all cleaned off my skin my face did feel extra soft, but that was the only thing I noticed. The soft skin effect lasted for about 2 days afterwards though!

Overall I think this is pretty run of the mill. It did what it said it would, which was soften and cleanse my skin, but it wasn't spectacular. I probably won't repurchase this one, but if I get it as a gift again I won't say no!

What is your favourite face mask?

Quick Look: Schizophrenic Mermaid

Today's look was done at the very end of the day, so please excuse my tired looking skin and face. I had done almost nothing before going out except for foundation and blush. When I got home I decided to play with some colours, but didn't bother to redo my face makeup first.

The eyeshadows I used today were Annabelle's Studio Pigment in Greed and three shades from Glamour Doll Eyes: Electric Lemonade, Schizophrenic and Fiji Mermaid. Every time I looked at the shade names I thought Schizophrenic Mermaid, so that is what I called it! I also wore Impulse Cosmetics' Agent X lipstick. I really like how it went with the eye makeup. Anyone who says if you go bright on the eyes you should keep everything else neutral is just wrong in my books! Anyways, on to some photos.

Man, I get shiny by the end of the day....

That's it for this look. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!

The Unrefined Olive

A few days ago my mom took me to an amazing place called The Unrefined Olive. It is an olive oil and balsamic tasting bar, and it was so much fun! It is located just off Bank Street on Second Avenue, in Ottawa. If anyone reading this happens to live around here, you should go!

The tasting bar has long rows of keg type things filled with oils and vinegars. The first row is plain olive oils ranging from very light to strong intensity. Apparently I like the stronger, more bitter olive oils. One of the strongest ones had a really peppery bite to it that was awesome! The 2 rows are the infused olive oils, which were all delicious. Some of the most interesting ones to me were the lime infused oil, the ones with various peppers in them and the butter olive oil (it tastes exactly like butter, but it is just oil! So cool!!!).

The final row is lined with their balsamic vinegars. This was definitely my favourite part of the tasting, and I found it refreshing (that sounds weird, it's vinegar...) after tasting so many oils. I couldn't even tell you which were the most interesting of these, because they were all so good. There were also a few different oils and vinegars to try as well. At the end of one row there was honey vinegar. This is made from fermented honey, and it was really tasty! At the very back there was also a row of different types of oils such as sunflower oil and almond oil. These oils weren't for tasting though, so I can't comment on them.

When you are ready to buy something, you can pick out a bottle size (s,m,l) and they will fill it up for you from the keg. My Mom was nice enough to buy me a few small bottles of the ones I liked. Thank you Mom (I know you're reading this)!!! Here are the ones I picked out:

I picked one balsamic and two olive oils. The vinegar I chose is Blackberry Ginger Balsamic. It is very sweet with a tiny bit of gingery bite to it. Blackberries are my favourite, so I couldn't resist. I have already had with with a little plain olive oil and some bread and it was fantastic. I can't wait to try this with a salad next!

The olive oils I picked were the garlic olive oil and the chipotle olive oil. The garlic is just classic and was calling to me, even though there were so many more interesting ones. I have a garlic addiction (vampires beware!) and just couldn't resist. This one will be great for cooking so many different things. The chipotle olive oil is one of the pepper infused oils I said was so interesting. This was the least spicy of the bunch, but I love the smokiness of chipotle and that really comes through in the oil. I don't have a ton of ideas for what to do with this one yet, but I'm thinking my next grilled cheese will be fried in this instead of butter for starters! The girl who was helping us with our tasting said that she uses this oil to fry eggs in and that sounds delicious too.

My mom also got herself a few bottles. She got the 18 year aged balsamic, the lime infused oil I mentioned earlier and the blackberry ginger balsamic. We both loved that one so much! Once again, thank you Mom!

Going to The Unrefined Olive was a great experience. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The girl who helped us was especially good, and knew when to explain things to us as well as when to leave us be to try things. To anyone in the area or who will someday visit Ottawa, add this to your list of places to go!