Bumbles wants to dish on L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2

Apparently, everyone at my home is wanting to get in on this blogging thing. Taking pictures of this palette today proved to be a bit of a challenge as my kitty Bumbles was feeling very curious. Let's start by discussing the name of this palette...Hmmmm. Nude? Well, maybe if your skin is covered in plummy ecchymoses. This palette is decidedly purple-y mauve not nude like its name. There are some rosy shades as well as a few mid-tone browns. Overall, a very pretty array of shades and the quality appears to be better than it's sister La Palette Nude 1. The formula of the shadow is fairly smooth and decently pigmented. I rate this palette 8/10.

I used the 3 plum shades on the right side of the palette and lined softly with the darkest shade. I used no pencil or gel liner as I think that may have made the look quite dramatic. I did, however, go a bit heavy on the mascara to create balance and fullness at the lash line.

Confetti Macaroni

I'm all about quick meals on weeknights. This is a simple and delicious pasta dish which really gets the kids to eat their vegetables. It's quite easy to make with pasta with items you may have in the pantry and freezer. A great time saver for this recipe is to brown your ground meat ahead of time and keep it frozen in portion packed freezer storage bags. I personally like to use macaroni because it's shape is easy for little ones to manage.  I used lean ground beef, but you can easily substitute turkey. Serve with a bagged salad and garlic bread and everyone will be seventh heaven.

Ingredients;
1 lb Macaroni pasta cooked al dente and drained reserving some of the salted pasta water
3/4 lb lean ground beef seasoned and browned
1 small white onion chopped
2 ribs of celery chopped finely
garlic salt and pepper to taste
4 cups of California Blend vegetables. I used fresh but you can easily use the frozen kind.
1 16 oz jar of Bertoli Alfredo sauce
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Direction;
Saute celery and onions in grape seed oil and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook until translucent and add pre-browned ground beef along with a 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water. Alternatively you can start your celery and onions and add raw ground meat and cook until browned. Toss vegetables in the pan with ground meat and cover allowing vegetable to steam. Once the vegetables are tender combine meat and vegetables with cooked macaroni and add Alfredo sauce. Serve hot with plenty of Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

Flirty and Fabulous

Next shade in the Elf lineup is a bright creme pink shade called Flirty and Fabulous. It's the second from the right in the picture below. The stand out quality of this lipstick is that this fabulous clear blue based pink is just right...not too neon, glossy, or purple. I realize that Barbie pink is not everyone's cup of tea, myself included. I would, however, dare to wear this shade to a spring wedding or while on vacation. Something tells me I might not be taken too seriously if I wore this one to work. The formula on this one is a wee bit thicker, and that might be to help tone down the shine some of the other shades have. Overall, I give this shade an 8/10 because this shade is just so well done and looks as expensive as any creamy vibrant pink possibly can. In sum, save your money at Sephora and buy this fun shade for just a few bucks.

Picture taken in natural light

                                                           Picture taken with flash

ELF Moisturizing Lipsticks they're cheap but are they any good?

I've watched people purchase and review these lipsticks for several years, so I finally broke down and bought a few. I'll be honest, it was more for the curiosity than anything else. You know what? These are actually quite decent and for their 3 Dollar price tag pretty darn awesome. These lippies are creamy, and have a nice emollient formulation with shea butter and vitamin E. The colors are lovely, modern and well edited. I will start with my favorite shade of the line up called Ravishing Rose. It's a gorgeous mid-tone berry rose tone very befitting of it's name. It has no shimmer and is quite shiny when applied directly from the bullet and left unblotted. This shade is very neutral and would go well with most makeup tones and clothing. It can be blotted down for a soft bitten Victorian rose petal mouth or applied heavily for creamy rose wine pout. The scent is a mild, synthetic vanilla fragrance. Luckily, it's not unpleasant or strong and doesn't linger on the lips. One more thing I did notice is that there seems to be a bit of inconsistency in the texture of some of the shades. Ravishing Rose felt very creamy and almost melted onto the lips during application. Some of the other shades tended to feel a teensy bit thicker and waxier, but not in a deal breaker way. My overall score for these is a 7/10. I would repurchase for a gym bag, or travel makeup bag and would recommend these to anyone who just doesn't want to spend a bundle on lipstick. I will continue to review all of the individual shades in the next few days to come.

below lipstick blotted

Hot, Hot, Hot

Nothing quite like the tart, juicy, heat of a homemade pickled pepper. chiles en escabeche as they are called in Spanish are surprisingly easy to produce at home provided you have a few Ball jars and lids on hand. I vary the vegetables I include in these pickles depending on what strikes my fancy at the market. Today's peppers are crimson Fresno chilies with carrot and white onion slivers. You could also add cauliflower or zucchini. I kept the peppers whole, but you may also slice them into rings. Keep in mind that the more surface area you create with the peppers the hotter the pickles. I love these on Mexican Torta-style sandwiches, tacos, or chopped into egg salad or tuna. The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients;
1.5 lbs hot peppers of choice
3 cloves of garlic
1 large white onion
15 black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each of marjoram and thyme
1 lb carrots sliced thinly on the bias
10 Oz of apple cider vinegar diluted with 30 Oz of water
2 Tbsp of kosher salt
2 Tbsp Olive/Grapeseed/Avocado oil

Sanitize your jars according to canning instructions. Wash and prepare all of your vegetables. Bring your pickling solution with salt up to a boil. In a large skillet set to medium heat with 2 Tbps of oil briefly saute all of your peppers and vegetables. Pack your sauteed peppers and carrots into your jars with 5 peppercorns, one bay leaf and a clove of garlic each. Pour hot pickling solution over contents and apply lids. Let rest quietly at room temperature to allow to cool and seal.

Sunshine for the lips

Rimmel keeps amazing me with the quality of its products. Also, of note is that their products are manufactured in Europe, this particular one in Italy....just sayin'. I'm always a little leery about some of the more affordable products that are made in China or PRC- if you're fancy. This chubby pencil format is all the rage at the drugstore and seems to have been started by smarty pants Clinique. This shade of Rimmel's Long Lasting Intense Color Balm is called Lady Marmalade 620 and the name speaks for itself. The texture is creamy and emollient if a little bit sticky, but provides a gorgeous almost retro 80's shiny finish- think Linda Carter in her old Moisture Whip commercials. I know I'm dating myself, but I was a little girl mesmerized by Wonder Woman's ravishing beauty as she purred about the lipstick on TV. Anyway, below are a couple of pictures for your consideration.These lip products come in about 10 beautiful mostly bright shades and retail for around 5 Dollars. I give these an 8/10 only because I don't know the wear time or the lip staining qualities on these yet... review

score may improve.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Kebabs are Unforgettably Delicious.

These kebabs are from a Food and Wine recipe for Nigerian spicy chicken kebabs. I slightly modified the recipe by replacing the bouillon cube with Knorr chicken tomato soup base. I also shallow fried these in peanut oil versus canola oil as in the original recipe. The Food and Wine recipe states to use a grill pan, but I used a large frying pan with about a 1.5 inches of oil. I may try to use a grill pan next time in hopes that I lose less of the yummy nutty crust in the oil. In any case, these are fantastic and were a huge hit with the family. I served with red leaf lettuce and a cool cucumber garlic yogurt sauce.

Ingredients;
2 lbs chicken breast sliced into 1/4 inch strips
2 cups of crushed peanuts...I used Kirkland's premium peanuts because only the best will do!
2 scant Tbsp of Knorr tomato chicken bouillon
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger...please use only fresh.
1/2 Tsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tsp Paprika
3 Tsp Onion powder
Salt and pepper

     

Directions; Combine the crushed peanuts with the spices and set aside. Soak your skewers for 30 minutes if using a grill pan. Prep your chicken and season with salt and pepper. Place peanut coating on a cookie sheet and begin to roll and press skewered chicken in the mixture. Set prepared kebabs on a tray while completing all of the skewered chicken. Fry in hot oil for about 5 minutes and drain on paper towels. WARNING these are addictive so proceed with caution.

Colored eyeliner is your friend.

Traditional black and brown eyeliner will always have their place as a beauty essential, but colored eyeliner can really add a little je ne sais quois to your gaze. Purple, particularly in a jewel- toned shade, is a very flattering color for almost all eye colors. It does wonders for brown eyes highlighting any syrupy warmth they may have in them. Purple also renders green eyes more intense, and blue eyes much brighter.

I picked up this Jordana Cat Eye Liner on sale at 2 for 5 Dollars at my local Walgreens. I left the eyelid very simple with a tiny bit of Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hr cream shadow in shade Leather-this product is phenomenal, both in color and formulation. I blended the cream shadow up into the crease with my finger. I softly traced a template for a cat eye with my favorite Almay Intense Eyecolor automatic eyeliner in Purple Amethyst. These Almay liners are a real workhorse in my collection, and I have mentioned the gorgeous Brown Topaz shade in an earlier post. I then used the liquid liner over the pencil template to deepen and extend the eyeliner. The result is a rich slightly reflective liner. I lightly defined the lower lash line with a charcoal brown powder eyeshadow  and rimmed the waterline with a nude beige pencil. This is a clean makeup look that is all about the eyeliner. Add any shimmer or color to the lid or browbone and it can quickly become over the top. I kept the rest of the face very neutral and added a very soft sheer lilac-pink to the lips.

Try this out and experiment with other colors like cobalt blue or emerald green. The quality on these Jordana Cat Eye liquid liners is quite nice as is the tiny precise brush that comes with the product. I encourage you to try them out. At 3 or 4 Dollars each they are also friendly on your wallet. Just in case you were wondering what foundation I have on, it's the Maybelline Dream Wonder fluid touch. I really like this product, and an in depth discussion on this foundation is soon to follow.

Don't fear the purple.

A sneak peak on a simple eye look, created with drugstore products, that looks flattering on almost any eye color. Tune in tonight for the details...because we all need a little color in our lives.

Tinga can do more than tango.

You say left overs are boring? They don't have to be if you learn to perform a culinary mix and match. You can switch up the starch with a dish like tinga...recipe in an earlier blog post. In this case I cooked a pound of spaghetti in salted water until al dente. I drained the pasta reserving a little bit of the pasta water. I added about 3 cups of leftover tinga and brought it up to a simmer. I popped in a couple of tablespoons of butter to thicken the sauce and topped

with sour cream, grated cotija cheese, chopped cilantro. I also drizzled a little bit of the adobo sauce from the canned chipotles for a little sizzle. You can even put some chipotle chilies on the side if you like it hot!

Favorite Foundation Series episode 2

Let me start this post with the good and move on to the supremely awesome. Revlon's Colorstay line has been around for a long while and for very good reason. It's an excellent choice from the drugstore for those who want a longwearing makeup at a reasonable price point. I believe this foundation retails for about 11 Dollars and is often on sale or available with a coupon. This foundation wears like iron and comes in two formulations; normal to dry, normal to oily. It also has very decent color range with 20 shades. I am wearing the normal to dry formulation in Buff 150. A couple of caveats with this product, first you must blend quickly, as it will not budge once it sets. The other piece of advice I will mention is that it is full coverage so a little goes a long way. Please don't expect a no-makeup look or feel with this product. That said, this foundation leaves you with a classic makeup-y done look, which I quite like for certain occasions. Overall rating 9/10.

Below picture taken with flash

   

The next product is in a class by itself. I can't tell you how long I held out from purchasing the Armani Luminous Silk foundation due to it's hefty 62 Dollar price tag. I can honestly say I have no regrets. It's simply just that good. I personally prefer for my skin to look like skin. Even if it means that my imperfections are still a little bit visible. I wonder just how they manage to get a foundation that feels this lightweight to last so well. Honestly, in the photographs shown the foundation is freshly applied, but the amazing part is that this product actually looks better when you've had it on your face for a couple of hours. It will not break or separate or oxidize and turn orangey, even in 90 degree jungle-like weather. I swear it must contain powdered unicorn horn extract. I did not powder or apply any concealer in this photos. I would, however, recommend using a thicker concealer such as Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage on a tiny pin point brush to  precisely tackle blemishes or redness. The reason is twofold, one you will use less of this ridiculously expensive magic potion/foundation, and two you will preserve the sheer luminosity by not caking on excessive concealers or heavy powder. I rate this 10/10. That is all.

Below first two pics taken with flash. 

No flash

hygienic pump

shade 2