Coral Love

Just a random, steamy Texas day 'round these parts. School is coming to an end and I need a break from projects and schlepping children around. I felt like I needed a little freshness and brightness to cut through the thick looming mugginess. Last night was a storm of biblical proportions, its moisture still clinging fastly to the afternoon air.

I felt blah, so I chose a bright- almost neon coral lip by Maybelline called Shocking Coral. I can't tell you how flattering this shade is. It's quite the darling of the blogger world. It's super affordable- at 5 dollars, and it has a lovely creamy texture and soft sheen.  If you are looking for face pick me up, look no more-this color is so flattering! Try and keep the rest of the face clean and neutral as this is clearly a statement lip look.

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.