Friday 24 February 2012

Stila In the Lights Eyeshadow Palette review and swatches


Close up of the Stila In the Lights Palette


Close up of the Smudge Stick Eyeliner in Damsel


Swatches without flash, no base
Damsel

Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone

Champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony


This is probably the most expensive makeup item I've ever bought. I never even looked at much Stila products before I saw this palette at Shopper's Drug Mart.

when I first swatched it, I knew instantly I needed this palette! The colors are great, ultra pigmented, and the texture is the smoothest I have ever seen in eyeshadow.

With this palette you get a selection of 10 eyeryday wearable colors and a smudge stick eyeliner in Damsel. The price is 50$ CAD. It's a lot pricier then what I usually spend on makeup, but after using it for the past few months, it is clear that it was a good investment.

The liner is amazing. It's creamy, and won't budge. It doesn't tug your eye when applied and it even if you rub on it, it will stay. Considering this is a full size and not a sample size and that the price for buying it on it's own is 18$ (I think), it's amazing that it is included in here.

I actually debated getting the Naked Palette instead of this one, but I decided against it, because I really wanted the liner. I also didn't want the brush that comes in with the Naked Palette now, so I thought I would spend my money more wisely, by getting this one. I don't regret my choice whatsoever!

My favorites are bare as a brow bone highlight, kitten their ever-so-famous supper shimmerly light beige color, bliss as a blending color and sunset because of it's beautiful metallic finish. I love every color though and I have to say they have quite a bit of fallout.

The black could be darker in my opinion as well.

Bottom line, this product is amazing and I'm glad I decided to shell out the cash for it. It's super versatile and great for everyday wear!


Wet n wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection Blue Had me At Hello swatches and review


This palette is great for blue looks and contains a fantastic matte black!

Close up of the left side of the palette

Swatches without flash, no base
The palette's left side brow bone, eyelid, crease and definer colors. Not a fan of the brow bone color, but I love all the other. That matte black is unbelievably dark and pigmented, I love it!


Close up of the right side of the palette. The definer shattered :( 

Swatches without flash, no base
The palette's right side brow bone, eyelid, crease and definer colors. 


Another great palette by Wet n wild!

As you can see, the bottom left shadow of my palette shattered and and is black glittery shadow all over my palette now :( I guess that color is more fragile than the others, it doesn't apply as well as the others. It feels dry and isn't as pigmented. It does give off a beautiful glittery look though.

I am also not a fan of the white shimmery color (left side brow bone). If you have no other white shimmery colors it would work in a pinch, but I have much better ones. It's relatively chalky and doesn't apply very evenly.

All the other colors are absolutely wonderful. Super pigmented and the texture is very buttery. The matte black in this palette is my favorite black shadow that I own, it's incredibly dark and pigmented and love it!

The palette is not as versatile as the neutral palette from the same collection, but it's great for pretty blue looks.

if you don't have many blue shadows (I personnally have a ton, but the blues in the palette seem quite unique to me, I had nothing similar), I definitely recommend this palette. It was only 4,54$ from Walmart :)

I am more and more impressed with Wet n Wild products, the quality of these shadows is out of this world especially for the price you pay!

Wet n wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection Comfort zone swatches and review

I got this Wet n wild Color Icon Eyeshadow palette at Walmart a while back. I had been looking for these palette for a while, so when I saw it there, I couldn't resist ( I also picked up the blue palette, I think I will go back for the purple one soon)! I think these palettes are really worth the price and everyone should pick them up! Here are some swatches
I love the colors, so versatile!

Close up of the left side of the palette

Swatches without flash, no base
The palette's left side brow bone, eyelid, crease and definer colors. The brow bone color is slightly chalky and doesn't apply as smoothly as the others, but it still has pretty good pigmentation. 


Close up of the right side of the palette. The definer color is really unique, it's a medium brown with turquoise shimmer, I've never seen anything like it! 

Swatches without flash, no base
The palette's right side brow bone, eyelid, crease and definer colors. I'm in love with the definer, it's so smooth and pretty!

 I have to say, I adore this palette. The shadows are soft and almost buttery. They apply evenly and are extremely pigmented.

The color selection is great for everyday looks, but you can also pull off a little more adventurous looks with the shimmery dark shades.

I paid 4,54$ at Walmart for this palette and I think it's an amazing deal! It's the best palette I own for the price, I'm very impressed!

Bottom line, I definitely recommend this product, it's a total steal and a great addition to anyone's makeup collection :)

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Oreo cheesecake cupcake recipe

I made an oreo cheesecake cupcake recipe for Valentine's day. I consulted many websites to give myself some ideas, but couldn't find an exact recipe for what I was looking for. So I decided to follow a couple recipes from different websites and I got my own, really yummy recipe.



These cupcakes are creamy, sweet and decadent. I am actually in shock of how great these turned out! My boyfriend who loves oreo cheesecake and anything cookies and cream devored these! Since it was such a success and since there isn't a recipe quite like this anywhere on the Internet, I thought I would share it so you all can try them if you want :D

Difficulty level : Easy

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes

Crust :

- 20 oreos
- ¼ cup of melted unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp of sugar

Filling :

- 6 oreos
- 2 large eggs
- 500g of cream cheese (2 bricks)
- ½ cup of sugar
- ½ tsp of vanilla extract

How to make it :

Make sure to soften your cream cheese before starting by letting it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.

Also preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Preparing the crust :

First, crush the 20 oreos finely. You can do this using a wooden spoon in a bowl, or do it in a ziplock bag. I would suggest you chop them up first to make your life easier. It does take a bit of work to get the texture though, if you have a food processor (which I don't), use that instead, it will be much quicker!

Add in the sugar and evenly distribute it throughout the cookie crumbs. Then, add in the melted butter and mix to coat everthing. The texture should be something like wet sand. Now, line your muffin pan with paper liners and add 1 tbsp of the mixture into each liner. Press the crust firmly at the bottom of the liner using your fingers until you get a pretty smooth and even crust at the bottom. Once this is done, the crust is ready.





Preparing the filling :

In a bowl, add the softened cream cheese, the sugar and the vanilla extract. Using an electric beater, mix until you get a smooth paste. Then, add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing with a spatula just enough to combine. If you mix too much at this point, the cheesecakes will crack when cooked, so be careful not to overmix. Fold in the six oreos which you have chopped coarsely beforehand. That's it! Pour the filling evenly in the muffin pan and you're ready to bake it.



Bake the cupacakes for 30 minutes at 275 degrees. Once they are done, remove them from the oven and let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. At this point, the filling will be almost set, but it will still be somewhat jiggly, that's what we want. After this, remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan, but leave them in their paper liners. Place them on a plate and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours so that the cupcakes have time to set.




That's all! Enjoy the recipe! Tell me in the comments if you try it :)



EDIT : In case anyone was curious, according to my calculation these cupcakes are about 300 calories each.

Friday 3 February 2012

Updated : What's in my purse?

I did this tag about a year ago now and I just got a new purse so now is a good time to do an updated version! This is what I usually keep in my purse when I'm not in school. Enjoy :)

First here is the purse I am currently using :

Yep, another Hello Kitty handbag :P
Now let's see what's inside!

1- Flash light 
2- Gum
3- Nintendo DS Lite (pink :D) in it's carrying case
4- Hair clips
5- Cold Medicine
6- Tissues
7- Keys
8- Pen
9- Wallet
10- Oil Absorbing sheets

11- Sunglasses in their case
12- Camera case (camera is currently in use :P)
13- Kindle with it's cover
14- Eye glasses in their case
15- Card Holder

16- Antibacterial gel
17- Coin purse
18- EOS Lip Balm
19- Ibuprofen
20- Travel miror
21- Hello Kitty Stickers
22- Hair ties
23- Travel hair brush
This purse contains a lot! I love it :) Tell me what you keep in your purse in the comments :D

Sinful Colors polish swatches - Daddy's Girl

Daddy's girl is a beautiful dark red toned purple with tons of gold glitter.



This was my first time experimenting with the Sinful Colors brand, and so far I'm quite pleased with the products! This is three coats with a top coat.

Daddy's girl is easy to apply and dries quickly. The formula is just right, not too runny of gloopy. The polish also lasts a long time.

New Makeup storage solution :)

Since I don't have a closet in my room in our new apartment and since there isn't any storage available in the bathroom for beauty and hair products, I have to keep it all in my room. Therefore I need good storage options to organize it all and not spend tons of times looking for everything when I'm getting ready. I already had a 6 drawer plastic white drawer tower, but it was getting so full I couldn't fit everything in anymore.

When I saw this piece of furniture at Costco I just had to have it! It so pretty and it was quite cheap (35$ CAD if I remember correctly). It's perfect for storing all my makeup, nail products, hair tools and hair products. It has 10 drawers in 5 pastel colors (i just love the design). Each drawer is about 3-4 inches deep, so shallow enough that you can only fill it with a couple layers of makeup, so that you don't end up having to dig through a pile of products before you find what you are looking for.

I'm really happy with it :D it fits almost everything!

You can see my angry toast plushy right next to my makeup :P I love it! Present from my brother a couple years ago :D


Best of 2011

So I saw Macbarbie07 on Youtube launching this tag and I thought I would do it myself since I haven't made a favorites post in forever! These are my fave products of 2011.



Beauty
Foundation: Maybelline Pure Makeup
Concealer: Don't have one
Powder: N.Y.C. bronzer in Sunny
Blush: Rimmel blush in Pink Sugar
Eyeshadow: Stila in the lights Palette
Eyeliner/Mascara: Stila Smudge stick in Damsel/Maybelline The Falsies mascara
Lip product: Hard Candy Glossaholic - Tipsy
Skincare product: Clean n Clear Persa Gel-5
Nail polish: ACO Polish - Neon Pink

Hair
Shampoo: Aussie Moist Shampoo (not pictured, I ran out X_X)
Conditioner: Aussie 3 minute miracle
Hairspray: Don't use any
Shine serum: Chi Silk Infusion

Fashion
Favorite Clothing piece: Dark wash jeggins with zippers on the sides
Jewelry piece: Arwen Evenstar pendant
Shoes: Grey flat booties
Bag: Grey Hello Kitty tote





Random
Movie/TV Show: How to train your dragon/The big bang theory, New Girl, How I met your mother, Modern Family
Song: Guitar Hero - Dougal & Gammer (link)
Book: The lost Symbol - Dan Brown
Food: Temakizushi, Hello Panda and YanYan cookies
Beverage: Nestea Zero

Thursday 2 February 2012

Samsung PL121 camera thoughts and Review

Now that I have owned this camera for a while, I think I have experimented with it enough so that I can review it properly. Obviously, I'm not very knowledgable about photography in itself, so this review won't be very technical. I will mostly be telling you about my impression on the camera's image quality in different circumstances, ease of use, design, etc.

Anyway I hope it helps some of you that might be thinking about getting this camera :)


I can say both great and not so good things about this camera, so let's begin!

I'll start with the good :

Front Display : The front display is great. I love it just as much as I though I would. It's very practical for self portraits and for pictures of me and friends when everyone wants to be in the picture! It's also a nice option if you are filming yourself up close (the screen is not that big, so if you are not close to the camera it will be useless because you won't be able to see anything) because you can see straight away what it looks like while you are filming.



Design : In terms on design, I think the camera is the perfect size. It very lightweight, just like any point and shoot should be in my opinion. That way, you can bring it around with no problems. The screen at the back is also quite big, another important feature in my opinion.




Picture Quality : As far as the actual shooting with this camera, the picture quality is very nice, the different mods are easy to use, just like any function in the camera really. The colors when taking pictures with the PL121 are also very vibrant (in comparison to other cameras I've had in the past) a definite bonus!

Camera modes : The modes are quite useful for what I do, so I enjoy them. I like the beauty shot (which makes your skin look smoother) and the image highlight (for closeups of products), the most. Another great one is dawn, which we used a lot while traveling during time when there was a lot of sun and it would wash out the colors in the picture.

Program mode : It let's you control of a wide variety of shooting options, is very easy to understand and use. I love that you can choose a macro mode for closeups and that it is possible to specify the type of lighting in which you are shooting. I won't details all the options, but even I, with absolutely no knowledge about photography, was able to understand most options and use them to make my pictures a little better.

Price : Another obvious plus with this camera is the price, it's very affordable. Right now, where I live it retails at 140$ CAD which is a very reasonable price for a good quality point and shoot. Since newer, better models are always coming out in the camera industry, it's easy to see why you can feel like your camera is outdated quite quickly. Because of that, I think it's a better choice, if you are not getting pro equipment, to go with something not too expensive since most likely the price of what you purchase will drop quite a bit in the few months following, and you will be able to get better quality at the same price. Anyway that how I see it and that's why I'm glad I chose a camera that isn't too expensive :D

The not so good:

I don't have a lot of complaints about this camera, but there a couple things that need to be mentionned.

Video mode : First, the video quality, while HD, is not great. It's quite grainy and the colors are a bit dull when filming. It cannot withstand poor lighting conditions whatsoever. In other words, it's not great for making high quality videos, it's fine for little clips, but nothing fancy.

Low Light Shooting : Second, in low light, you have got to be absolutely still to take a picture without flash, which means you have to use a tripod. I'm pretty sure it's normal since I've had this issue at different degrees with every camera I've owned, but it's quite restrictive in terms of party pictures, dawn, sunset, etc.

Missing Options : Third, again for night shooting, the camera's Night Portrait mode often doesn't cut it for me. I like to use Program mode to set the aperture, shutter speed and ISO values myself to get the best results possible. However, with this camera, you don't have access to all of these values. You can change the ISO and Shutter Speed, but you cannot modify the Aperture value which is a bummer.

Shiny Finish : Last, and this is probably the issue which is the most unimportant the shiny finish. While I love the looks of the shiny exterior and the front screen that appears within it, it does get a little bit dirty in comparison to matte finish models. You can always see finger marks on my camera which makes it more dull and old looking. Not very difficult to fix, but I'm not about to start wipping my camera everytime I use it to make it shiny XD Now I'm complainning about this, but it's quite minimal marking in comparison to a black or darker color since mine is pink, so it's not that bad.


My overall thoughts :

If you are looking to make lots of videos or shoot a lot in low lighting conditions, this camera would not be the best choice for you. However if you are looking for a point and shoot that is easy to use, that gives decent image quality and offer a couple cool functionnalities, then I would definitely recommend it. I enjoy this camera and I carry it around all the time!


Don't forget to follow me and like my Facebook page for more posts like this ♥

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...