February Favorites!

Thank goodness February is almost over!

What a month! I experienced 4 snowdays, 3 exams, 2 snowstorms, and 1 collapsed porch roof.

And February is a short month too...oy

Here are the monthly favorites that I can't wait to show you.

Makeup Favorites:

1) Cover girl lip perfection lipstick in Darling and Delight:

They are only $6 and simply perfect. Similar to the consistency of the new MAC Sheen Supremes. Huge selection of color and very moisturizing.

2) BareMinerals Eyeshadow:

L to R: Celestine, Drama, Pussycat, Queen Tiffany, and Twig. I love them all! Maybe Celestine a little bit more than others. Swatching them don't do them justice at all. You have to see them in real life. They look awesome and a bit more pigmented on my eyelids than in the pictures. I think I have enough colors for now to satisfy this addiction...but we'll see about next month ;)

L to R: Darling,Delight

T to B: Celestine, Drama, Pussycat, Twig

I forgot one! How could I? This is the beautiful and cult favorite Queen Tiffany.

Food Favorites:

1) Archer Farms (Target) Organic 2% milk: I never used to be a milk drinker but I have to say, this 2% is the best I've ever had.

2) IKEA Swedish Meatballs: They are soooo good! I bought a 2 lb frozen bag to keep in the freezer so I always have it in stock.

3) Teas: Stash Mangosteen Matcha and Yogi Skin Detox. I love drinking tea! Now more so than coffee. But I probably still have 2-3 cups of coffee and tea per day.

As a parting gift for February, I give you a peek inside my closet. This is a pic of it actually nice and organized. Right now, after 4 days, it is already a mess...

Have a great one!

Mmmm.. LUSH..

I never really got the hype about Lush products before now. Yea, I knew that their all-natural products smelled really good, some like food, and that they came in interesting shapes/sizes, but I only really knew of their soaps, which didn't interest me too much. I am a shower gel/body wash and liquid face wash type of gal. Also, the store is not at all convenient to get to from where I live, so I only owned some products through gifts that I had received (from which I discovered that I love their massage bars). Who knew that there were so many other things! Like BATH BOMBS. Now, I have never been too keen on taking baths because I live in Florida and I enjoy my 5-10 minutes showers. Baths are for people who have way more time on their hands, I thought. In my search for a birthday present for a friend of mine who is a frequent bath-taker, I started learning about these Bath Bombs and am now intrigued by them.

Here are the bath products I purchased, most of these were part of a birthday present:
From left to right: Lil Lush Pud (from the Holiday limited edition products), So White (also Holiday), Avobath, Sex Bomb, and the Magic Mushroom bubble bar. The first two are ones that I bought for myself.

Review: So I got these both on sale for 50% off after the holidays. These are both limited edition mini bath bombs.

Lil Lush Pud- Has lemon and aloe vera, haven't actually used this one yet. Since this is a mini bomb, I plan to use it as a foot soak.

So White- Apple scented bubbling bomb. It really has that "green apple" smell. It took about 10 minutes to fully dissolve. Feels like a moisturizing blanket on your skin, really. Very relaxing as well.

Sex Bomb- My friend that I sent this to told me that this was her favorite out of the ones I got her. Her bath turned a lovely pink color and interestingly, the flower stayed floating on the water the whole time until dissolving at the very end - how cute is that! She said that with these bath bombs, her bath times have doubled to last 1 hour long now. I think she is totally addicted.

I really love face masks, so I wanted to try one of theirs. This mask, called Love Lettuce, was recommended to me by the lady who was helping me pick things out at the store. She said it was for oily skin, which I have. These are made with all natural and perishable ingredients so you have to keep it in the refrigerator.
Review: Love Lettuce is supposed to moisturize and exfoliate, as you can see the tiny bumps (which are ground almonds) in the mask. It smells like lavendar. This is a pretty thick mask, so try to spread it as evenly around your face as you can. It tingles a little on, especially near the end of the 10 minutes when it dries and hardens. Washing this mask off takes a bit of effort - I probably should do it before taking a shower next time, because some of the ground almonds got in my hairline and it was pretty hard getting perfectly clean. This mask is definitely very moisturizing the exfoliation is pretty gentle on the skin; I had some areas of dry flaky skin on my face before using the mask and most of it got eliminated. I definitely noticed a more even skin tone after I used this.

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Quite recently, I discovered that Beard Papa's had finally made its way to Miami! I came upon this finding on a trip to Aventura Mall earlier this month. I don't go over there too often (it is a great mall, though) so I don't know how long this Beard Papa's has been open.. but it's there now and I am forever grateful. This is a really small stand-type establishment, so it doesn't carry everything you would normally find in a Beard Papa's shop, but they do sell the standard cream puff and cookie puff, as well as coffees and teas. For instance, they only have the vanilla, chocolate and green tea fillings here. No strawberries & cream!! Sadness, indeed.. but after having tried all of the four aforementioned fillings, I still prefer the vanilla filling in the regular cream puff. And now.. here is a little collage I put together of the process of my scarfing down 2 cream puffs (green tea & vanilla) today in less than 10 minutes. These delicious puffs are getting addicting... I can't get enough!

Yum. Yum. YUM!!!!

-J

¡¿Mi Caldo Verde está Rojo!?

Since today was the Superbowl, I decided to make some soup for dinner. Get it? "soup"erbowl?? lol okay so it's not that funny.

While I was browsing the magazine rack at Border's, I noticed that Jamie Oliver had a magazine called "Jamie" and decided that it was worth a look.

I was lucky enough to find this Portuguese soup involving Kale, since I'm trying to eat more of this superfood...haha"super"food...get it?

For "Caldo Verde" or Green Soup you need:

1 bunch of kale, chiffonade (which ever kind of kale you prefer)

4 redskinned potatoes, chopped (you can use 2 medium sized bakers if you prefer)

1 large onion, chopped

1 link of chorizo (I used fresh in this case, cuz it was all I could find)

garlic to your taste

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

water

salt and pepper

Step 1: Chiffonade your Kale, rolling them up makes it easier to cut

Step 2: Cube your potatoes and onions (not pictured)

Step 3: Sautee onions and garlic in some EVOO until translucent

Step 4: Add the potatoes and lightly season with salt & pepper

(remember that chorizo is heavily seasoned so be cautious to not overly salt it)

Step 5: Add water to fill the potatoes and simmer for 20 min or until potatoes are tender

Step 6: Meanwhile, fry up some chorizo, if you have the cured kind, just slice it and fry it. In my case I had fresh chorizo so I just took it out of the casing. This should take about 3 min.

Step 7: When potatoes are cooked, mash up the potatoes to create some creaminess to the soup

This is what your soup should look like if you like it chunky like me. You can use a blender if you want a smoother consistency

Step 8: Add the kale to the pot and simmer for about 5 min

mmm...a hot pot of calde verde!

but wait!

Step 9: Add the chorizo into the pot, you can also opt to add it on top of the soup when serving it in a bowl. Because I was also making soup for the rest of the week, I just added all the chorizo to the pot. AND it turned my soup RED!! ROJO!!

(make sure to taste the soup and adjust seasoning if needed)

Step 10: Pack up your delicious soup for a comforting meal throughout the week!

Wasn't that simple? It's delicious and roommate approved!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Back to the daily grind.

Nutella = ♥

"Just a spoonful of Nutella helps the strawberries go down..."

I was glad to find out that February 5th is World Nutella Day. Considering I don't have the time to bake something delicious with Nutella right now, I decided that the following snack would be appropriate and sufficient. And yes, I ate an entire package of strawberries in about 30 minutes.... J

Like my set up? Haha..

The aftermath:

With that leftover Nutella, I tried this hot chocolate for the first time and man was this DELICIOUS! I skipped the whipped cream and cinnamon and instead added a spoonful of Nutella and a pinch of sea salt. Never gonna go back to that powdered hot cocoa mix again.. You know what, I bet this would taste pretty good with a shot of espresso in it too.

Next year, I plan to be more prepared and actually create something. Here are some ideas for you guys: Nutella banana bread, Nutella brownies, Nutella cookie sandwiches, Nutella pumpkin bread, apple & Nutella sandwiches and mini Nutella cakes. Another snack that I frequent is a toasted challah bread sandwich with Nutella and bananas - SO GOOD. Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches are pretty good too. Really, I don't know what I'd do without Nutella in my life.

~~~

Currently wearing: Brunette on the Internet, Sephora by OPI

♥-J

January Favorites

I can't believe it's February already! Wow, I felt like January went by so fast.

Since I am stuck inside because of a snow storm, I've decided to share with everyone my favorites for the month of January.

Make-upwise, January, has been a great month of new discoveries.

Favorites:

Urban Decay Naked Palette: This is worth all the hype, I can seriously use this palette everyday and not use anything else. I love UD eyeshadows the best, it's even better than NARS and all of kinds of high end eyeshadows. Once you go UD, you can't go back!

Ojon Hydrating Styling Gel: Got this deluxe sample from Sephora and boy did I need it. My hair has gotten dry and frizzy from the winter weather. And a weird thing about my hair is that I have to wash it everyday, if I don't, it'll get oily and I'll feel nasty. So I have to give it a lot of conditioning because I wash it everyday. I also love the smell, it smells like nuts!

Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter: At first I thought this was overrated and I didn't see any results. But now that I've used it for 2 weeks, my hands as so much softer! A tip: make sure to scrub away the dead skin because putting on this thick cream, it'll work a lot better. I put this on every night before I go to sleep and everytime I wash my hands (which is a lot!). This has kept my knuckles from bleeding (yep, they bleed).

MAC Prim & Proper Blush (similar one): This is was a limited edition blush but MAC has a lot of similar colors in their permanent line. It's a neutral blush with a bit of pink, gives me sculpted cheeks without looking too harsh. This is the blush I put on every day this month and I know I'll continue to use it until it is officially summer! (Summer is for corals!)

NARS Rajasthan Eyeshadow Duo: This came out for fall 2010 collection and immediately feel in love as the Nordstrom's SA swatched it on my hand. I love love love the golden taupe. And guess what? It looks fantastic with the darken teal...NARS is genius. I've actually seen a few at my Nordstrom's recently, so those wanting to get it, grab it ASAP.

Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer: This is the best $6 I've spent this month. Because my goal this year was to wear less foundation, I needed a great concealer. This covers all the blemishes and redness that I have.

Clinique Gel Liner in Black: This was a new purchase. I've always used pencil and liquid liners but I decided to try out a gel. It works so unbelievably well! So smooth and so dark. Still trying to find the right brush to use this with but so far so good.

Strawberry Carmex with spf15: Carmex is essential for winter in order to avoid coldsores (eww). I have yet to get one this winter (knock on wood...). I especially love this one because it smells like strawberry, leaves a glossy finish, and has spf! Magic.

Fresh Supernova Mascara: I bought this for $10 for two at Sephora. This is love! Makes my lashes look so flirty and long. I must buy the full size when I'm done. But oy, it's expensive!

MAC Kissable Lipcolor in Scandalicious: I don't wear lipstick most of the time but I am in love with this liquid lipstick. I got the color because it reminded me of a limited edition NARS lipgloss in Strawberry Fields. It's moisturizing but not sticky and a perfect shade for winter.

Hope Everyone's staying warm and cozy!