Black Bean Soup

I think this may be one of the last recipes I post on this blog. I got a suggestion from one of my followers (BeautybyKrystal) that I should start a food only blog. And to be honest, at first I thought I don't know how I could keep up with two blogs, because one is hard work! However, I was talking to some of my friends and mentioned to them that we should start a collaborative food blog because we each like to eat and stuff our little faces! LOL Anyway, they loved the idea and we are in the process of thinking of some names and what not. So thanks Krystal for the idea! I know it's going to end up being lots of fun, and will encourage me to cook more and try new things!

The weather has been crazy lately, one day its blazing hot and the next day its cool and the nights get chilly, so I was craving some delicious night time soup. So I got out of work early one day and decided to make this super easy recipe! I got this one from Real Simple. The only thing I did differently was make my own beans. I cooked a small bag of black beans, I think it was a little over 3 cups. Canned beans are okay, but I had some extra time, and I prefer fresh homemade beans (so much better!)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 pint store-bought fresh salsa (I bought some fresh Pico de Gallo from my local Hispanic/Mexican market) Don't buy Pace Picante or something similar, no bueno!
  
• 2 cups refried black beans (homemade)
  
• 1 & 3/4 cups of whole black beans (I used a slotted spoon to get them from the pot, because they are supposed to be rinsed if you're using them from a can)
• 1 & 3/4 cups chicken broth (a tiny bit extra if desired)
  
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 ½ cups of the salsa
and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes.

2. Add the refried beans, black beans, and broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Divide among bowls and top with the sour cream, cilantro, and remaining ½ cup salsa.
(And some Queso Fresco and fresh avocado!)

Sigma F80 Giveaway!! and Review :-)

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!!!

Every time I see a post about Sigma brushes I'm a bit skeptical, and I think maybe it's all hype. But I was wrong! I recently had the privilege of trying their F80 face brush (thanks to their Sigma Affiliate program) and I'm in love with it! The brush does an amazing job at blending in liquid foundation into the skin. It has become my go to foundation brush. It doesn't leave streaks like other brushes I've used, and the bristles are super soft! All I do is put a little foundation or tinted moisturizer on the back of my hand, dab the brush in it and apply the product in circular motion, easy peasy!!

Now I get to host my very first giveaway! I'll be giving away the Sigma F80 brush along with some Stila goodies that will be a surprise :-D I know that many of you probably already have the Sigma F80 brush, but two is always better than one right?!? I've been wanting to do this for a while as a way to thank all of my lovely followers. I know I don't have as many as other blogs, but I'm honestly surprised I've gotten over 100! (Thanks a million!)

Here are the rules:

1) You must be a follower of my blog via GFC (Google Friend Connect)
2) You must leave a comment for this post saying "Enter Me" and also the best way to contact you if you're a winner (email, twitter, FB fan page, etc.)
3) Giveaway is International

Ends August 15, 5 pm (California time :-)

**Here's more info on the Sigma Affiliate Program if you're interested.

TAG: Summer Favorites

I saw this tag over on DGS Beauty Blog, and I don't think I've ever done one of these so I thought it's about time I did :-) So I'm just going to cut to the chase and list my favorite top 10 summer products/items:

1. Lip Product: Chapstick is a must have, and for a bit of color tinted or neutral lipgloss.

2. Blush: MAC Bronzer in Golden, MAC Cheek Powder in My Paradise,

Too Faced Papa Don't Peach

3. Nail Polish/Product: I'm not a big nail polish person,

but I love this Essie color in Braziliant.

And the CA Mango Mend is great for dry cuticles!

4. Liquid Face Makeup: I've been rotating between these three right now -

Urban Decay Tinted Moisturizer in Bulletproof

Stila Tinted Moisturizer in Dark

Maybelline FitMe Fdn in 310

5. Powder Face Makeup: I don't really put powder over my foundation,

but I do love MUFE HD Powder just to set everything

6. Hair Product: I don't use a lot of hair product, which is probably why my hair is straight and flat all the time, but I do love this Moroccan Oil stuff, gives my hair extra shine :-)

7. Eye product: I gotta have Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Loreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black, or Sephora liner in Navy Black, and Sephora Matte Shadow in Creme Caramel

8. Tanning Product: I don't tan much because I'm already pretty brown (Mexican Brown, ha!) but my legs dont get much light so when I do tan (my legs) I use this!

9. Accessory: For summertime I usually grab something quick from

my little assortment of small stud earrings

Or my coral/gold/neutral necklaces

10. Favorite piece of clothing: For work I've been wearing more skirts and summer dresses,

and for the weekend I've been going for shorts and sleeveless tops, nothin' fancy :-)

What are your top 10 summer items??!!

Chicken Alfredo!!

This past weekend I had a good friend visit from Northern Cali. He brought some delicious wine from one of the vineyards around Napa to share, so my boyfriend signed me up to make some pasta so we can enjoy it with the wine.

I hadn't made this in a very long time, the sauce has a ton of butter! But its so delicious! Click HERE for recipe for sauce. It is supposed to be a copykat recipe for the alfredo sauce at Olive Garden. I know its not a fancy pants place, but they do have some really good alfredo! It's best to make this kind of sauce from scratch, because alfredo sauce in a jar just doesn't cut it. Sorry, I've said alfredo like twenty times already, ha!

So I cooked the fettucine pasta as directed, cut up some chicken breast into small pieces and put a little salt and cayenne pepper to season them. Once everything is all set you put some pasta on the plate, some chicken, pour over the sauce, sprinkle some shredded parmesan cheese and enjoy! The garlic bread was not from scratch, I was too lazy for that, but it was still good!

This is the delicious wine we enjoyed with the pasta! :-D

Sookie Stackhouse

There's a little show called True Blood that I LOVE. However, lately they've been making lots of changes to the books' content and I don't like it. It's okay to veer off a little from the books, but sometimes the show just adds a ton of filler stories and I don't like it!

Anyway, I decided to do this Sookie Stackhouse inspired look. Most of the time her character on the show is very natural looking, and she's either wearing her Merlotte's uniform which consists of a white t-shirt and some booty shorts, or a really cute summer dress.

I've been wanting to use my Tarte True Blood palette, but haven't had a chance to use the dark, fun colors :-( So yesterday I used the lighter colors since I wasn't going anywhere fancy.




Products Used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Paint Pot in Vintage Selection
From True Blood Palette:
The Light - Lid
Telepath - Crease
Fairy - Highlight

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation #310
MAC Bronzing Powder in Golden
MAC Surf Baby Cheek Powder in My Paradise
MAC Lipglass in Revenge is Sweet (VV collection)
Model in a Bottle Brow Sealer (no color)

I know I don't look anything like Anna Paquin, but her naturalness just served as my inspiration :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Mine

Today I did another look from I Am Nymphette's Challenge calendar. Today's theme was Disney. I didn't want to do a princess or a villain, so I decided to go with Dumbo, a classic. Plus, I cry every time I watch the scene wear Dumbo is being cradled by his mother who is locked up :-( The song playing in the background is called Baby Mine. And actually, my cousins and my sister always cry too! (something we all have in common) LOL! It's seriously the only Disney movie that has made me bawl like a baby....

Now on to the Makeup!! Here's the look I did inspired by sweet lil' Dumbo:

Products I used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk

Stila Pearl Palette (Darker Pink on Lid, and Lighter Pink inner corner)

Sephora Shadow in City Fog (outer corner)

MAC Yogurt for Highlight

Urban Decay Afterglow Cheek Tint in Quickie

MAC Lipglass in Boy Bait

And here's the scene that makes me cry every time I watch it!!

Siren

This is one of the FOTD (Face of the Day) Challenges that is on Nymphette's Challenge Calendar, which I think is a great idea to get people to use their makeup more often and have fun with it. At least in my case, I tend to just do neutrals 5 days a week, and I've been lazy on the weekends too!

So today was Greek Mythology day which I was excited to do because I used to be into Greek Mythology, and I took about three college classes years ago (so don't ask me questions, I've forgotten most of it!) Anyway, I didn't want to do a traditional Greek God, so I went with the mythical creatures called Sirens:

In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

Here's a pic I found on Google images that was true to the description on Wikipedia.

Here's what I came up with.

Products Used:

NYX Jumbo Pencils in Slate (Lid) and Milk Crease and Highlight

MeMeMe Shadows in Moody Blues [Crease and Highlight] and Pesto [Lid] (UK Brand, sent to me in my recent swap :-)

MAC Shroom in Inner Corner

NARS Blush/Bronzer Trio - Laguna Bronzer, Orgasm Blush, Albatross Highlighter

Can't wait to do more looks!

Thanks a Million!

Within the past few weeks I've received some new awards from some fellow bloggers and I want to thank you all so much (LOL it sounds like I'm about to give an Academy Award speech). I've had my blog for quite some time now, but wasn't very active until a few months ago and I love all the comments I receive from everyone. I know I'm not the bees knees compared to other bloggers, but every time I get one new follower it totally makes my day! And I feel like I've made some friends along the way so that's another plus :-)

Here are the awards I was given:

From Face:Paint

From ThisisAlx

From KittyVixen85

Each of these have slightly different rules where you award to other bloggers and list some fun facts about yourself. So what I'm going to do is list some newly discovered blogs because its nice to share the love with newbies, and I'll list a few fun facts :-)

Here are some cool blogs I recently discovered either through other bloggers or because some of them are new followers :-) And I'm going to copy Widdlesh and say, feel free to accept all of the awards or choose ones you haven't received yet :-)

2 Mates & a Blog
Pigments & Palettes
Billie's Beauty Blog
hair this, hair that
Next2Natural
Some Like it Hot
WitchHazel's Blogspot


Fun facts:

1. I make some pretty delicious beans. If its one thing I'm glad my mom taught me its how to make some delicious homemade beans!

2. My favorite color is Purple (sorry that was a boring fact)

3. Not sure if I've mentioned in a past award tag, but I don't eat pig, unless its bacon! I don't like
pork chops, Christmas ham, ham sandwich meat, chicharrones (I believe its fried pig skin),
carnitas, or other pig parts, just bacon!

4. I'm a nerd and I love Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, X-Men, etc (especially all of the English
accents in these movies).

5. I think deep down inside I wish I was British, Irish, or Scottish :-D

6. I have one older sister, she is almost two years older. People always go on and on about how
we look like twins, but I don't think we do, do we? (Left=boyfriend & Me, Right=My Sistah & her husband).


7. One time in Elementary School I got second place in the Spelling Bee and I cried like a dork ... but then the following year I got first place, yay!

8. I hate my big toe, its chubby!

9. I <3 Bellinis (Champagne with Peach juice, soooo good!)

10. I know a lot of useless information. Movie lines, disney songs, actor names, etc. My cousins and I love to play the 'movie line game'. Here's a quick one for you guys, who says "You look good wearing my future" ???? (Hint: Its an 80's movie)

Sample Sigma Shadows :-D

The other day I busted out my free sample from Sigma that I got at IMATS. They have really nice pigmentation but they do have a bit of fallout when applying, but that can always be cleaned up. I used Reveal on my lid and Act in the crease (I plan to use Oversee in the future). I used my Sephora Matte Shadow in Creme Caramel for highlight. It turned out to be a very simple look. I should have added more Reveal but I wanted it to be more of a soft look.

For the rest of my face I used the following:

Urban Decay Tinted Moisturizer in Bulletproof
MAC Golden Bronzing Powder
Inglot AMC Multicolor System Highlighter in #83
Lips: NYX Mega Shine Gloss in Juicy Red

Please ignore my untamed brows :-/

I think the Sigma palettes will be good sellers. Personally, it will be a while before I purchase one because I plan to enforce on myself a 'no makeup buying' time frame. I'm thinking for 4 months or more (unless its a gift for someone). I just have so much makeup products that get ignored and I just need to save money for other things at the moment. Lets see how long I last :-O

My Glasgow, Scotland Swap :-D

I've seen other bloggers do swaps with people from the US & UK and I thought that was so cool! I was super excited when Adrienne from Adrienne Adore's asked if I would be interested in doing a swap. I got some awesome things that I can't wait to use!

These shadows are really smooth and pretty!

My favorites so far, pretty similar to NYX Jumbo Pencils

Pretty blushes!

Gloss, Lipstick, Tint :-D

Nail Polishes perfect for summer

Can't wait to try this eye gel :-)

Be sure to check out her blog! Thanks again Adrienne! :-D

TRU BLOOD

From Sookie Stackhouse novels, to True Blood on HBO and now a makeup palette by Tarte Cosmetics! I Love it!



My friend kept telling me to read the books but I refused because I was such a Twi-tard (Twilight nerd). Anyway, I finally gave in and now I think I have to admit that it is much better than Twilight (there I said it). Twilight is more of a sweet, over the top love story, and the Sookie Stackhouse novels are more R rated and have a lot more going on. If you're a nerd like me and like vampire novels I definitely recommend the series, I'm only up to the fourth book, and there about 10! I have yet to read Anne Rice's novels on Vampire Lestat (AKA Interview with the Vampire).


Moving on, the first season of True Blood was really good, I loved how they stuck to most of the book details. However, the second season got a little lame and they made some big changes to the story, but I still watched of course. Up until now I think its gotten better, but there are still some changes that I don't like. However, they make up for it with all the hot actors! :-D




And last but not least, there's a makeup palette inspired by the show! When I heard about this I was so excited, I'm such a sucker for stuff like this. Although I must say that the make-up they tried to sell for the Twilight series seemed to be a big dud, and didn't catch my attention, it was pretty but not worth it. This however is 17 pretty big shadows, a mini primer, mascara, and liner for about 57 bucks with tax, I think that's a great deal! Am I crazy? I couldn't bring myself to spend 50 bucks on the Urban Decay Naked palette, but this palette is a must for any real True Blood fan :-)

I know there's already been quite a few posts on this so I'll just attach some links to other bloggers' post about it, here are some good ones:


Makeup Monster

My Pinktastic Life

Unnaturally Beautiful

I'll be using it this weekend so I'll be posting some looks next week. Stay Tuned! And have a great long 4th of July weekend!