More Food: Vegetarian Chicken Wings (Among Other Things)!

A few days ago I went to my parents house to taste test a few things they are hoping to serve at their Superbowl party on the weekend! Now, no one in my family is actually that into football, but an excuse to have people over and cook food is always a good thing. I'm a CFL fan now thanks to my boyfriend anyways, but I'll be there on Sunday to eat more food!

We made piles of chicken wings and tested out a few different sauces, and we also made vegetarian chicken wings! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any chicken wing photos, since I kind of forgot about the camera and just started eating at that point but I'l give you a quick run down of what my parents did to them anyways, because these were honestly some of the best wings ever!

They started by brining the wings for a few hours in a saltwater brine that had some red pepper flakes and spices in it as well. After that they were rinsed and dried off, coated in oil and baked in the oven for about 40 minutes, flipping them once. The brining helps them from getting dry in the oven, so they came out moist and perfect!

We then made a buffalo sauce, which was 1 cup of Frank's Red Hot and a few tablespoons of butter melted together. This is sort of where the experimentation began. We coated some wings with just this sauce first and it was great. We also made a blue cheese sour cream dip and the buffalo wings are amazing in that! We also tried dipping them in ranch dip, which is good for people who don't like blue cheese (my dad). Finally, we mixed some buffalo sauce with a tiny bit of ranch dip and coated the rest of the wings with that. Those wings we also put under the broiler for a few minutes to make the sauce less runny. This was a good way of taking the spiciness out of the buffalo sauce, for those who don't like too much heat (my mom). Sorry about the lack of pictures for this part, but trust me they were good!

My parents also wanted to make a vegetarian version of the chicken wings, and I think what my dad came up with is pretty awesome!

Can you guess what they are? Cauliflowers!!!

We battered the cauliflower in a batter that had equal parts flour, cornstarch, cold water and vodka and then deep fried them until they were golden brown. The batter gave them an extra crispy outside, and when they were dipped in the buffalo sauce, I thought they were pretty convincing! You can't coat these in sauce beforehand like the wings or they will lose their crispiness, but they are great for dipping.

And, since we had the deep fryer out already, we decided to finish the night off with some deep fried bananas!

We dipped these in maple syrup!

Well, that's it for this crazy food post! I'm sorry there are no actual recipes, since my parents have all those. I am writing this from my place right now, but if you want any of them let me know and I can get them for you!

Quick Look: Jack's Nightmare #2

Sorry I have been gone for a few days. I normally try to post almost every day, but the week just got away from me. Anyways, this is my second look using the Jack's Nightmare palette by Lunatick Cosmetic Labs!

There is something weird going on with my inner corner highlight in these photos..... I swear it looks fine in person!

Once again I decided to just ignore my disgusting lips. A combination of the cold weather and a new medication that causes dry mouth is just ruining them!!! No amount of exfoliation or moisturization is helping, so all my pretty lipsticks will have to wait a little while....

Well that's it for today, I hope you liked it! I have a fun food post coming up tomorrow, so look out for that!

Quick Look: I Went Eyeliner Crazy!

I was trying to do a really simple look today, but I ended up going a little overboard on the eyeliner....

I was trying to make a thin line and messed it up and had to even them out and messed that up and so on until we reached this. Woops! The colours I used were Mint To Die For by Notoriously Morbid all over the lid and a tiny bit of Ertomania by Lunatick Labs in the outer crease! For the eyeliner I used the Hard Candy Walk The Line liner. I completely ignored my mouth today since it seems to be horribly chapped, so that just has a million layers of lip balm on it. I also used the ELF St. Lucia Blush and bronzer to contour slightly and as a blush.

That's all for today! Other than my zillion eyeliner mess ups it was pretty darn quick. At least I made it wearable in the end instead of having to start all over!

More Liebster Questions!

I was nominated again the other day for a Liebster Award by Tracey from Tracey's Beauty. Since I just did one of these posts the other day I don't plan on doing the whole thing again, but I think answering the questions is fun, so I will still do that part! Here are the questions that Tracey wrote"

if you could live anywhere where would it be?
I would move to New Zealand. I hate the winter, but I also hate the summer and it seems like a nice in between there.

name one makeup item you have been lusting over but havent bitten the bullet yet?
There are a couple of things. The first being Sugarpill products. I have known about Sugarpill and wanted their eyeshadows since before it was even a company, and somehow I still haven't bought anything from them.... The other is an Hourglass Ambient Light Powder. They are just so darn expensive!

do you have a middle name, if so what is it?
I have two actually Elizabeth Whytock. The first is my grama's name and the second is an old family name. With my hyphenated last name, that leaves me with 5 names in total!

if you had paid everything you needed to and had a 20 dollars/pounds left what would you buy?
Lipstick or ice cream. Wait.... I could totally get both for 20 bucks!!!

what do you find your self looking for most on youtube since starting your blog?
There are things on youtube that aren't makeup related?

how long do you spend (hours) on your blog a week?
Oh no I don't even want to think about that. Too many? I do count all the time I spend reading everyone else's blogs though.

what would you say your best bargain was?
I rarely buy things unless they are on sale, except for makeup. Regardless, I honestly don't keep track of good bargains either. I did get some great things at H&M a little while ago that were all between 2 and 7 bucks!

how often do you find your self looking at makeup online and in store?
Online? Basically hour I have a computer in my face..... In stores though I rarely look for makeup anymore. I really have become an online shopper lately.

if you was sent to a island name 4 things (not people) you would take(no internet or phone allowed)?
Any items or makeup items? Because if it was anything I think I would pick a knife, a fishing rod, a piece of flint and a jacket. If we are not planning to survive, but want to look pretty while we starve to death though? Then I would pick foundation, mascara, chapstick and blush.

how many lipsticks do you own?
Too damn many! Since the last time I answered that question I seem to have bought quite a few. I don't really want to wrangle them all for counting right now so I am going to guess between 30 and 40.

if you had to be ready for 7:00 am what time would you get up?
6:30am probably. I normally like to give myself a bit longer than that to get ready, but damn that's early!

Well that's it for the questions! Thanks again for nominating me Tracey! I suggest everyone pop by her blog and take a look.

Quick Look: Diamonds and Gold

Today's look is done with all Glamour Doll Eyes shadows. I am calling it Diamonds and Gold because the shadow on my top lid is called Smoked Diamonds and on my bottom lid is Gold Digger, which I winged out quite a bit. I also used the shades Mushroom and Cloud Coverage to blend things out.

Sorry the pictures aren't so great. I was on my way out when I took them and really rushed it.

I used Revlon's violet frenzy to finish off the look! I hope you like it!

The Hair Chronicles: No 'Poo Dandruff Treatments

I have been without shampoo for a few months now, and while my hair is shinier and softer than ever, I am noticing one problem. I don't plan on posting any photos of my gross flaky scalp here, but just trust that I have dandruff right now. This really only became noticeable over the last week or so. It could partially be due to the dry winter air, but I think the baking soda cleanses aren't helping either.

I am not willing to give up my gorgeous no 'poo locks, so I will be exploring some natural dandruff treatments and writing about them on my blog over the next little while. I will also be exploring some natural hair masks and different things to condition with. I am getting a tiny bit sick of the smell of apple cider vinegar in my shower every day. I'm starting to feel like a salad.

Here are the first few ideas I have:

Tea tree oil dandruff treatment - I have heard from reading a few no shampoo blogs that rubbing this into your scalp can help with dandruff! Unfortunately the reviews are mixed about whether or not I should to this before or after washing my hair. I will be trying this both ways and let you know how it works.

Honey hair mask - I got this idea from Giedre's post about a honey hair mask! I really liked the sound of this one and can't wait to try it out.

Brown sugar scalp scrub - Apparently if you make a scrub with some brown sugar and work it into your scalp it helps with dandruff. I can't lie, this one seems a bit scary to me! Somehow I feel like I am going to end up pulling some hair out. I will try it anyways.... For science!!!

Those are the only ideas I have so far. If anyone else has any thoughts about natural dandruff treatments or hair masks, please let me know! I need some help on this one guys!

Review: Annabelle CC Cream Instant Perfecting Base

The last time I purchased my favourite Annabelle foundation it came with a mini bottle of their CC cream. I finally decided to try it out so that I could do a review!

(I got lazy and reused the photo from my haul post before.)

This CC cream is supposed to control redness, correct appearance of pores and fine lines and prime the skin. It does have a tint to it that is slightly darker than my skin, but it didn't really seem to matter once I blended it all out. According to the Annabelle website, the full size of this product is $16.95 for 1 fluid ounce. This is the natural finish, and it also comes in a luminous finish, which is a white cream.

When applying this, it really feels similar to applying foundation. It definitely doesn't have the same coverage as a foundation though.

Get ready for another horrifying photo of my bare face!

As you can see, I have some redness and some sallowness around my mouth, as well as horrible dark circles. Here is my face after application of the Annabelle CC cream:

As you can see, my face looks basically the same. There is slightly less redness and my skin looks a bit more even, but there isn't really any coverage. This does however leave my face feeling nice and smooth before I apply my foundation!

Here is my full face of foundation and powder and whatnot over the CC cream. It did make my foundation application a bit smoother and my makeup does last longer when I use this.

Overall, I think this is a fairly good face primer. I don't really notice it corrects any colour that my foundation wouldn't have already, but it does fill in pores and fine lines nicely. I think this is a good option for people who aren't a fan of silicon-y face primers.

I am currently switching between this primer and the ELF primer daily to see if I prefer a silicon formula or cream formula like this one. I am considering buying a full size of this when I run out of primer.

What is your favourite face primer?

Not So Quick Look: Iris/Pistachio

One of my latest makeup goals is to play with shapes more. I mean that in two ways; carving out new contours on my face, and also incorporating more interesting shapes into makeup looks. This look, I think, has accomplished both of these things!

This look was done with Madison Street Beauty's Iris and Pistachio eyeshadows and was blended out with Blue Chocolat from the Creme de Couture palette. I used the Iris shade to create first one really exaggerated crease that went almost straight up. I then pulled a second crease in from the middle of the first. I think this gave my face some interesting shapes.

On my lips I used Impulse Cosmetics Psychedelic lipstick.

Somehow I think this makes me look like a sad alien or something. What do you think of it?

Madison Street Beauty Update

A little while ago I did an unboxing post about my Madison Street Beauty haul. Unfortunately, the package had been damaged in the mail and some items were missing. One item was also not what I had asked for. This is just a little update to say everything was resolved!

I contacted the shop owner about my issue and she got back to me within the hour. After a short conversation, she offered to send me everything that I was missing! That was Jan 8th and she said she would immediately send it out. She must have, because the package got here Jan 17th, and shipping here takes about that long. My replacement items were sent in a bubble mailer instead of the flimsier plastic kind like the last one too.

This really impressed me. Not only did she send me free replacements, even though the missing items were possibly at the fault of the post office. On top of that, it seems like she changed the packaging in an attempt to keep what happened before from happening again.

Here are my 3 replacement shades:

The colours from left to right are Iris, Pear and Pistachio.

All of these are really gorgeous. I got a nice mix of mattes and shimmers and their matte formulas are really impressing me! I will have a swatch post for the full haul up soon! I'm glad everything got resolved because the shadows are really nice, and I didn't want to give them a crappy review just because I'm feeling bitter. :P

Unboxing/Review: Notoriously Morbid Cosmetics

I got another package the other day!!! I am almost at the end of things I will be getting in the mail but it has been a pretty good run. This one is from Notoriously Morbid Cosmetics. They were having a holiday sale so I decided to try out a few eyeshadows. It came well packaged in a bubble mailer.

Inside that was this adorable little bag.

The bag had a cute glittery bat sticker on it that I stuck on my Lunatick coffin case! So here are the colours I received.

The colours I got were Mint To Die For, The Doctor's Wife and Kompanion No. 9. I also got samples of Shadow of Things and Neno. Here is a swatch on my arm with no base:

I will list them from top to bottom.

Mint To Die For: This is a gorgeous soft minty green. It is a matte base with some lovely green glitter in it.

The Doctor's Wife: This is a Doctor Who themed colour and it really does remind me of the Tardis. It is slightly bright in person that this photograph shows. It has a low sheen and sparkle to it, but seems pretty matte. This is also an amazing match for my Impulse Cosmetics Smoking Gun lipstick. I'm kind of excited to try a look where my eyes match my lips soon. This shade a a serious tendency to stain, which is the only problem.

Kompanion No. 9: This is a gorgeous colour. It is a blue-toned grey that has a red duochrome to it. This is one of the most interesting colours I have seen in a while, and the picture really doesn't do it justice! It has become one of my favourite shades lately because it is so unusual.

Shadow of Things (Sample): This is a beautiful blackened base filled with aqua blue sparkles and shimmer. I really like this, but I have a lot of similar shades.

Neno: This colour is fantastic! It is a taupe shade that is just packed with sparkles. I am planning on buying a full size of this one as soon as I can!

That is it for my little mini haul! I really like this company so far. They have a lot of interesting, unique shades. I will definitely buy from them again!

Have you ever tried Notoriously Morbid Cosmetics? What did you think?

The Liebster Award!

The other day I was nominated by Rebecca at MoreRebe to receive the Liebster award! Then the next day I was nominated again by Karen from Unpack The Box! For those of you who don't know, the Liebster award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 (or 2000 I have read both so I'm not sure) followers, by other bloggers. It is sort of like a tag. You answer the 10 questions given to you by whoever nominated you, then make 10 of your own questions. After that you nominate more blogs and they have to answer your questions. I have decided to mix both into one post, so I will be answering 20 questions today instead of 10! Get ready for a long post.

I just want to kick this off by saying I am really honoured to be nominated for this by not one, but two amazing bloggers. I suggest you check out both of their blogs! I will start out with Rebecca's questions.

1. Why did you begin your blog? And how has your experience been so far?
I honestly just started my blog because I wanted to show off my makeup looks. Think of it like a little kid waving their finger painting in the air screaming "Look what I did!!!", but as I started blogging I sort of stumbled into an community of really awesome bloggers and makeup enthusiasts. Now I really enjoy writing up posts and swatching things. I have also been learning a bit (not much) about photography for my blog, which is interesting.
2. What kind of content do you most enjoy on other blogs?
I mostly read beauty and fashion related blogs. I have really been enjoying outfits of the day lately.
3. How would you describe your personal style?
A bit messy? Grunge hippy from the 90's who sometimes wears 50s attire.
4. What is your holy grail beauty product (haircare, bodycare, skincare OR makeup)?
This is a tough one.... I think my only reay holy grail product is the Annabelle Skin True foundation. This is the best foundation I have ever used and I keep going back to it. I am hoping to get a review of it up soon.
5. What are some of your favourite songs of the moment?
Coffins by Pegboard Nerds, Solace One by Foreign Beggars ft. Black Sun Empire, this awesome remix of Royals by Lorde that my boyfriend made! He goes by DJ Nick Tesla on soundcloud.
6. What is one New Years Resolution you haven't broken?
Well, my spending ban hasn't been broken yet!
7. What is your favourite book?
This is another really tough one! J Pod by Douglas Coupland was really good. I read a ton of Tamora Pierce when I was a kid and even though I outgrew those they still remain some of my favourites. If any of you have any younger sisters out there into fantasy, I would get her a Tamora Pierce book!
8. What is one thing that you are looking forward to in 2014?
Hopefully I will be visiting my friend who just moved to the UK some time this year!!!
9. What are 3 things that you always carry in your makeup bag?
Lip balm, mascara and lipstick. The easiest blam face in the world!
10. What is the best concert you have ever been to, and what made it stand out for you?
Bad Religion when I was 16. The Dropkick Murphys opened for them a long with Comeback Kid and it was just amazing!!! I will never forget that night. I love Bad Religion!

Now, for Karen's questions!

1. Why did you start blogging?
Like I said in the first set of questions, I'm an immature attention seeker. :P No I do really love makeup and want to share that with people, but I also enjoy the showing off.
2. What's the most awesome thing you've ever received in the mail?
Either the AlieNEON supercharged stacker from Lunatick Cosmetics Labs, or a dress I got off of Modcloth a few years ago that is covered in cupcakes. Weirdly enough, last year at Ikea I found tea towels with the exact same cupcake pattern on them, but on a different kind of fabric. I now have tea towels and a matching dress!
3. You have to move to a country where you don't speak the native language. Where do you go and why?
I would go to Thailand or Spain probably. It's really all about the food for me regardless of what language they speak. I want to try traditional Spanish street foods really badly and Thai food is my favourite food.
4. What was the last book you fell in love with?
Medalon by Jennifer Fallon
5. What is your favorite quote?
"Life is Change. Have some fun." It's from a book I read a really long time ago called Sweetblood by Pete Hautman. That line always stuck with me and I think they are words to live by.
6. What makes you laugh out loud?
Getting tickled.
7. If you could be any Bond Girl, which one would you play?
I honestly don't really know any bond girls. I have seen all the Bond films a few times, but I hardly even notice the girls, they are basically props in those movies. I'm not a huge fan of damsels in distress.
8. What is one thing you carry with you and can't live without?
My phone. Which actually doesn't even go on the internet or anything it really is just a phone, but not being able to text people would kill me. I actually cracked the screen today and am freaking out a bit.
9. If you could choose to live in any fictional setting, television show or movie - which one would you choose and why?
Ummmmm, Willy Wonka's candy factory! Duh! Do I even need to explain my reasons?
10. What are three random facts about yourself?
Alright, well, I'm left handed, I have an unhealthy affinity for cheese and my favourite colours are green and orange.

Alright, I'm done all the questions! Some of those were actually really tough to answer. Now I get to make my own!

1. What is the most rewarding thing you have gotten from blogging so far?
2. What book(s) are you currently reading?
3. If you could change your eye colour, what would you change it to, and why?
4. What is your favourite kind of food?
5. If you had to pick just 3 makeup products to live with for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
6. What was the last movie you saw and who were you with?
7. If you could move anywhere, where would it be and why?
8. What is your current beauty obsession?
9. What is the best costume you have ever put together? (I do mean for Halloween or a costume party or such, not just an outfit.)
10. Who is your favourite artist (any kind)?

And the people I am nominating are:

Emma from Canvas of A Face
Jolie from Etherealize Me
Giedre from Giedre Grey
Aaliyah from Shadow Liner Girl
Sonya from Fashion Fragile

Well that's it for the post. Once again thank you to the lovely ladies who nominated me! I also encourage everyone reading this to check out every single blog I mentioned in this post! :)

Valentine's Look #1

It may be a little early to start doing V-day looks, but I wanted to do it anyways. So, here is my first look! This one is pink and purple and a bit more wearable than the last few things I have posted. I plan on doing a mix of dramatic and wearable Valentine's day looks over the next few weeks. So here is the look:

This look was done with the Sigma Creme de Couture palette and my Lunatick Cosmetics Labs Jack's Nightmare palette. From the Sigma palette I used Lavender Honey on the lid, Cassis to blend things out and Cherry Blossom on my brow bone and inner corner. From the Lunatick palette I used Halloween Town on the outer V. I skipped eyeliner because the dark purple worked well on it's own. I pulled it inwards along the lashline to help mimic eyeliner. I then used 3 coats of mascara to make my lashes extra big.

For my cheeks I used the ELF Blush & Bronzer Duo in St. Lucia. I also contoured my face with this. On my lips is a NYX lipliner in Pinky with a Hard Candy Gloss on top.

That's it for my first V-day look. I hope you like it!

Quick Look: Lunatick Labs Asylum City Look #1

This is the makeup I wore out last night! I was kind of still inspired by that Tropical Fish look that I did a few days ago. I wanted to do a more wearable version of it. I used my new Lunatick Cosmetics Labs Asylum City palette. The colours I used were The Yellow Pill and Hydrotherapy, a yellow and a blue. These are really gorgeous matte shades! I then blended everything out with Sister Mary.

That's it for the look! It held up through some dancing and sweating pretty darn well too. I hope you like it!

Quick Look: The Joker

I started doing this eye makeup today and it really reminds me of The Joker! What do you think?

Sorry there were so many pictures, but I really like how this one turned out!

The products I used were mostly eyeshadows from my new Lunatick Cosmetics Labs palettes, but the inner corner highlight is Electric Chair by Glamour Doll Eyes. I think that might be my new favourite highlight shade! On my cheeks I have the ELF Contouring Blush & Bronzer in St. Lucia and on my lips I have Revlon's Violet Frenzy very lightly applied.

I will be wearing this out tonight for my boyfriend's birthday. I know he doesn't read this, but just in case Happy Birthday!!! <3

Woooo! I Won Something!

I recently entered a little giveaway on Deareaux. It's a great blog, and the awesome lady who runs it, Dominic, sent me this really fun package of stuff when I correctly guessed what product she had recently ordered for herself. Anyways, look at all my goodies!

It all came packed in this cute little bag and she sent a gorgeous card with it!

Here is a list of everything I got:
Kate Somerville Anti-Aging Daily Deflector Moisturizer sample
L'Occitane Dry Skin Hand Cream sample
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer sample
Benefit Stay Flawless Primer sample
Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil sample
Too Face Tinted Beauty Balm Sample
Annick Goutal Paris Eau D'Hadrien sample (I am so excited to try this is smells amazing!)
Bobbi Brown Everything Marscara sample
Bumble and Bumble Straight Blow Dry sample
Sarah McNamara Miracle Skin Transformer sample
NARS Nail Polish in Disco Inferno, full size!

I will post reviews of all of these things as I test them out, but I just wanted to show off my little prize haul! I'm really pleased with everything I got. The perfume has a strong citrus scent which is my favourite smell on myself, and I plan on testing it out tonight. The NARS nail polish makes me want to start wearing nail polish too. It looks so cool! I'm also excited to try the mascara out.

That's all for today, I'm going to go attempt to put nail polish on now!

Review: Lunatick Cosmetics Labs Palettes

I already did an unboxing about these, because I just had to show them off immediately, but now it's time for the review! These are 6 pan eyeshadow palettes from Lunatick Cosmetics Labs. This is the same company that made the AlieNEON dust stacker that I reviewed a while ago.

Each palette costs $25 and you get 6g of product. They also have an option of a stackable sifter set of loose pigments in the same colours. It costs the same amount of money but you get double the product. I opted for palettes though, because I hate dust stackers.

The packaging of these is really cute. It is a sturdy cardboard palette that has a mirror inside and magnets to keep it shut. This is what it looks like:

Each palette comes with six little acrylic rectangles that fit over each colour. This is because the eyeshadows are so soft they can easily get gouged or turn to dust, but with these you can press them back into form!

I don't think I will be leaving these in the palettes though, since they have a tendency to fall out. I will be saving them in the coffin box until I need them.

The two palettes I got were the Asylum City palette and the Jack's Nightmare palette. I'll start with Asylum City!

Sorry for the blurry picture but this one really showed the colours well. The colours from left to right are Chronically Red, Ertomania, Hydrotherapy, The Yellow Pill, Sister Mary and Confinement. All the colours in this palette are matte or semi-matte. The first thing I noticed while testing out these eyeshadows is how incredibly soft they are. I have honestly never felt a softer eyeshadow in my life before! This stuff must be so finely milled, it is almost hard to believe. Because of this they blend beautifully. Here is a swatch of them on my arm:

These swatches were done with a finger over no base. Chronically Red is a completely matte, bright yellow based red. Ertomania is a bright grass green that is semi-matte. Hydrotherapy is a semi-matte blue. The yellow pill is a matte lemony yellow. Sister Mary is a matte white and Confinement is a semi-matte black. I picked this palette because it had great primary colours and other basic shades and I am not disappointed.

The other palette I got was the Jack's Nightmare palette!

This is their Holiday palette and if you didn't guess already it is Nightmare Before Christmas themed!!! I could not pass this up, since that is one of my favourite movies ever! This palette's shades are just as soft as the first, but this is a mix of mattes and shimmers.

These are also swatched without a base. The colours in this palette are Obsession, a matte cloud grey, Mischievous, a shimmery pale blue, Doctor Finklestein, a bright matte purple, Terrorway, a rose gold, Halloween Town, a dark matte purple and Nabbed, a dark brownish purple with some red tones to it.

These are the first regular eyeshadows I have tried from Lunatick Cosmetics Labs and I am hooked! I already mentioned it before, but these eyeshadows are all so incredibly soft! They are also cruelty and talc free as well as vegan, which is a big bonus! Their makeup is also good for people with sensitive skin. I suggest you check out this company if you haven't already because these are amazing!

Have you ever tried Lunatick Cosmetics Labs products before? Let me know in the comments!