Amuro Namie Inspired Look

I was watching Amuro Namie's latest music video with the Korean girl group After School. I really like the simple look with subtle smokey eyes and smudgy and slightly winged eye liner.

Here's a slightly more detailed view some of the colors used on her lids.

I think my look is a slightly toned down version of her look. This is my first "inspired" makeup look I've done and I'm pleased with the results. I could've probably executed it better... so maybe I'll try this one again another time.

Face

Sana Pore Putty in Clear

Maybelline Superstay 24HR Foundation in Classic Beige

NYX Concealer in a Jar in Beige

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in 2-2.5

Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Vintage Lace (as a highlight)

NYX Bush in Taupe (as a contour)

Milani Powder Blush in Luminous

Eyes

120 Eyeshadow Palette (shimmery light gold, shimmery light/medium brown, shimmery charcoal, matte black)

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean

Prestige My Biggest Lashes in Black

Lips

Lancome Juicy Tubes Smoothie Lipgloss in Hallucination

Baking up some lovely scones!

Yesterday, I baked some strawberry scones since I had some strawberries that I needed to use up. I got the recipe from a blog called Confessions of a Tart. I followed the recipe as close as I could, but  I didn't have cream or buttermilk on hand, so I used whatever milk I had in the fridge. I also added a little bit more strawberries since I needed to use them up. The result? It tasted pretty good, but it could've used the extra fat from cream or richness from buttermilk and just a little more sugar. Overall, it's a very good and easy recipe.

Here's the recipe from Confessions of a Tart:

Strawberry Scones
(makes 6 large scones or 12 minis)


1 cup strawberries (or other fruit)
3 tablespoons sugar (granulated)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, in cubes, slightly softened
2/3 cup half-and-half or cream or cold buttermilk


Topping:
1 tablespoon sugar


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.


If using larger fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle fruit with 1/2 tablespoon sugar; set aside. Be sure to make the pieces small, or they tend to fall out of the dough. They'll still be plenty prominent in your finished scones.


Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in butter (you may want to use your fingers to be sure butter is evenly mixed into flour). Stir in fruit; then add cream/half-and-half/buttermilk all at once. Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.


Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Be gentle so you don't break up the berries and don't overwork the dough. Sprinkle dough with flour if it gets sticky.


Press (pat) the dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick. If any berries peek out, push them into dough. Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space between them. Bake 15 minutes.


Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 more minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them (this took another 15-20 minutes in my oven, but keep a careful watch and check every 5 minutes - you do not want dry scones!). (The sprinkling of sugar over the top for the last few minutes of baking creates a simple, sparkly topping.)

I think the next time I attempt these, I'll follow it more closely plus add a little bit more sugar.

Shopping with my Sister and my Dad

Today, I went all the way out to Paramus, NJ to go shopping with my dad and my sister. He wanted to buy some ski gear for him and snowboarding gear my sister. Why nothing for me? There's one simple answer: I don't really like skiing. Ever since I was little, I hated it. It was always really frustrating for me, so my parents never really went skiing too often when I was younger. Now that my sister likes to snowboard, they've gone about three times within the past few months. My dad thought it would be better to invest in his own gear rather than renting each time (plus... the rental place at the place we go to REEKS of feet and sweat... so anything to avoid that would save our stomachs). My sister already has gear that she's borrowing from a family friend, but the board is too small and the boots are small as well. My dad ended up buying a pair of boots and skis and my sister got a nice Burton vest and a board that was about 35% off of the sale price (it was the display model and it was scratched up a bit, so the guy at the cashier took an extra 10% off plus the original 25% off that was given to all of the winter sport gear).

Of course, I had to buy a few things myself. We stopped by at a mall in the area, Westfield Garden State Plaza, and I picked up a scented candle from Bath & Body Works, two cookbooks from Borders (there was a giant clearance sale on everything in the store, so I couldn't pass this up), and some foundation from Bed, Bath and Beyond. This mall was really nice and really big; I'm not even sure if we walked through out the whole place and we were there for a good four to five hours. It had all your basic stores plus some stores that I rarely see in malls that I've been to, such as Superdry (Japanese company a company from the UK), amanzi tea, 16 Handles too (it's 16 Handles... without the 16 flavors.. bummer), and Garage. I would go there again since it's not too far and there are a good amount of stores and things to do there (they had an AMC theater and a bunch of restaurants, such as CPK, Napa Valley Grille, Grand Luxe Cafe, and Johnny Rocket's).

This is one of the cook books I bought. I've been really into making Indian food lately, so I thought this would be a good resource to cooking Indian cuisine. Plus... I like how this book came with a bag and how it says that it weighs 1.5 kg (a little over three pounds).

This is the scented candle I bought on sale. For some reason, I'm attracted to autumn scents, especially the smell of spiced apples or anything spicy and autumn-y. It reminds me of a delicious spiced apple cider I bought from Whole Foods.

I haven't touched makeup in two months

So this is my first makeup look after taking a break from the stuff since I graduated. I mean, I've used some here and there, but nothing that was a pretty full blown makeup look. This is a neutral look that uses gold and browns on the eyes, peachy pink cheeks, and finishes off with a pinky/reddish lipgloss.

It's my faceeeee X_X

Face
Sana Pore Putty in Clear
Maybelline Superstay 24HR Foundation in Classic Beige
NYX Concealer in a Jar in Beige
Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in 2-2.5
NYX Powder Blush in Taupe (as a contour)
Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Vintage Lace (as a highlight)
Milani Powder Blush in Luminous

Eyes
E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow Primer
Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Vintage Lace (as brow highlight)
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Pure Gold and French Fries (as a base) and Black Bean (as eyeliner)
120 Palette Eyeshadows (a shimmery yellow gold, a matte medium brown, and a matte black)
Wet 'n' Wild Eye Brow Pencil in Taupe

Lips
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Raisin Glaze

I had some fun with my web cam XD

It's weird how the colors come out so differently... especially the lips.... they're really not that red!! X(

It's been a month since New Year's? I'm so behind with the updates

So I haven't posted since... November? I guess alot has happened since then, so here's a quick recap of what I've been up to since November.

December

I graduated from Hofstra! My three and a half years at Hofstra has finally come to an end. It felt great, albeit a tad bittersweet. I won't be able to see all of the lovely friends I've made at Hofstra everyday like I used to. Also, adjusting to living back at home might take some time getting used to. At graduation, I saw a couple of familiar faces, but no one that I was really close to. The ceremony lasted about two and a half hours. I can't imagine how long the graduation ceremony in Spring will end up being.... it'll probably be twice as long... or longer!!


January

I spent New Years in Walt Disney World in Florida. We stayed in Port Orleans French Quarter and went to each and every one of the theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot (twice), Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom was the first stop since Splash Mountain was going to be closed the next day for refurbishment. I remember last year when we went to Disney World, Splash Mountain was closed, to our dismay, so we vowed to make sure we went on it the next time we're at Disney. We definitely accomplished our goal this year. We went to Epcot twice in order to do as much as possible. On the first day, we spent all of our time in Future World and then the day after, we spent all of our time in the World Showcase. We also went to DisneyQuest, which has changed so much since the first time we've been there. 

We also managed to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was really funny. We got to Universal Studios about an hour or so before it opened. Guests staying at hotels In Universal were able to enter the park early and many of them were heading to the Harry Potter area. Once we were able to get into the park, you see all of these people sprinting towards Harry Potter land. To make matters worse, the short route to that particular area was closed off and only hotel guests were able to enter through the shorter route. Let me tell you... it took a good amount of time walking to Harry Potter. My family and I were speed walking and everyone else was doing pretty much the same thing. It was like a race. People were cutting corners and strategically speeding up and trying to find any possible way to make it before anyone else could. Once there, it was like we were transported to Hogsmede. 

All of the shops and the structures were amazingly detailed, much like the ones from the movies. The main sight to see was the castle, which doubles as a ride and a shop. The queue for the ride was just simply amazing. As you walk through the queue for the ride, you get to see many of the rooms in the castle... Words can't describe how stunning all of the visuals are, so you should go and see it for yourself.

The ride was also pretty amazing as well. It's a simulation ride in which you sit on "bewitched benches" and travel through some memorable moments form the Harry Potter Movies. Scene switching and changing was incredibly seamless, so it's as if you're just going through each scene when you're actually just spinning around. We would've gone on the ride again, but the wait was about two hours. While I'm on the topic about waiting times... let's just say it was a bit ridiculous at times. I had to wait 30 minutes to get into a shop just to buy something. At each exit, there were staff making sure that people weren't sneaking into the stores. Yes... it was that ridiculous. I did manage to get a few things though: a Ravenclaw scarf, a Ravenclaw patch, and a Ministry of Magic key chain.

Another thing that was worth noting is the Butter Beer. Tell to you the truth... it was all right. I don't know why so many people were raving about how wonderful it tastes. To me, it wasn't anything spectacular. It just tasted like cream soda... and I don't really enjoy the taste of cream soda. But I guess no trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would be complete with trying some Butter Beer. Though... I must say... the refillable mug that we got with it was kind of cute and useful....


Then we fast forward it to today... February 17th. Lately, I've been tutoring my sister and helping her with her homework, and applying for jobs. I've also visited Hofstra a few times to see my friends and the boyfriend and took a trip down to DC to watch a rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which my cousin had a part in (the show was pretty amazing).

And that's pretty much it. I guess I'll try to update more often about my life's trials and tribulations... and maybe a few other things.

Bye for now!