NOTD: Herro Kitty Swirls

 Hi everyone! This is a demo post using the Hello Kitty plate that I got from Born Pretty :) It was actually my first time doing nail stamping/Konad so I was very proud of what I have accomplished!

 You can really see the blue shimmers in the fuschia. I wish that it is more obvious and eye catching in real life.

 You can see that I messed up on the third toe XD

 I find that my nails are too small so I can only use the Hello Kitty stamp on my thumb and big toe.

Products used:

• Joe Fresh Nail Polish in Mint (2 coats)
• Born Pretty Hello Kitty Nail Art Plate
• Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Back to the Fuchsia (2 coats)
• Swirl Nail Art Plate from Hong Kong
• Essie To Dry For Top Coat (1 coat)
• Migi Nail Art in Gold and Indigo from the Gold Collection

Please Show some Love for Cookiies & Milk ^^

These 2 lovely ladies, Cookiie and Milk recently launched their Facebook page and twitter! Please show them some love by liking their page and following their twitter~ Cookiie and Milk are super sweet and I really admire their friendship ^^ It's always nice to know that there is someone who will support you no matter what. I know I've found my Cookiie equivalent. She always knows how to cheer me up~ Love you! <3

Also, Cookiie and Milk are hosting a small giveaway in celebration of their Facebook and twitter launch. For more info, visit this page. 

Spotted! Joe Fresh Snap On Palettes

The Joe Fresh snap on collection allows you to create your very own palette. There are eye quads, lip duos, and face duos that retail for $12CAD each.

I'm not sure about their exact names but this "snap on" or magnetic type of palette isn't a new idea. There is no information available yet on the website. You should be able to find these at your local Loblaw or Superstore. Pick. Click. Create. What will you do? The eyeshadows can be bright and vibrant or neutral and subdued.

Here is a closer look at the cream eyeshadows and cream blushes. The bright coral cream blush is called Melon and I think that it is quite stunning ^^

中秋節快樂! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Before baking. Is that Hello Kitty I see?

 September 12th marks the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, where the moon is at it's best: bright, round, and beaming ^^ In China, a lot of people, especially elders, still use the lunar calender. I believe Chuseok is also around this time of year so I hope everyone is having a great time with their families!

After baking. Scrumptious and golden~

 It is a tradition to eat a full meal and moon cakes(月餅) with the family and play around with lanterns. I have always celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival with my family including my parents, grandparents, uncles, cousins and such. It was great!

"Bing pei" moon cake

 I am so thankful to have such a fantastic mom~! The word "fantastic" doesn't even cut it :P She is also a wonderful cook and she was the one who made these moon cakes! The golden ones are filled with custard and salted duck egg. The white ones are "bing pei" moon cakes. The literal translation is frozen skin as these moon cakes are not baked, unlike the golden ones.

The filling is made of salted duck eggs (dark yellow) and green bean paste ^^ People in Taiwan as well as Vietnam celebrate 中秋節 too! 

Here is a lantern made out of skin of a Pomelo :) I can't even express how much I love playing with lanterns. Well, I upgraded from lanterns to glow sticks. I also have some rebellious cousins so we would play with candles and fire in metal tins from moon cakes. I haven't done it in a long time. I'm pretty sure that it is now illegal XD because a lot of kids are very careless and end up hurting themselves or setting things on fire LOL Don't try this at home kids! Ever!

The moon from my view. Not the best I've seen so far

I hope you all have a great one!

NOTD: Pass the Sprinkles + Giveaways

With flash

 [Click to enlarge :)]

Natural light

 I tried out the "sandwich" manicure. All I did was layer different sheer, glittery and sparkly nail polishes on top of each other and this is how it turned out.

Natural light

 Glitter nail polishes are really hard to remove so I suggest using a base coat. I usually use a clear top coat as the base. The down side to this type of manicure is that it peels easily due to the multiple coats.

Natural light

Products used (in order):

• Base coat
• Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Strobe Light (2 coats)
• Sephora Hello Kitty Liquid Nail Art in Purple Sprinkles (1 coat)
• Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Hidden Treasure (1 coat)
• Essie To Dry For Top Coat (1-2 coats)

Here are more opportunities to try out circle lenses without using a penny ^^

Jeeya's circle lenses giveaway can be found here. This ends September 30th, 2011.

If you absolutely LOVE pastels, this giveaway is for you :) Pastel Raindrops' giveaway ends October 31st, 2011 (National Unicef Day!! & Halloween). Those shoes are to DIE for!

If you've always wanted to look like a Gyaru, now's your chance ;) I believe these lenses are quite popular among Japanese gyarus. You can join Rakhshanda's giveaway here. This ends September 30th, 2011.

I hope you liked this NOTD post~! Have a lovely weekend everybody! <3

Yumeko's Rice Cooker Recipe! The Results + Giveaway

My first batch

The lovely Yumeko shared her second rice cooker recipe on her blog and her pictures made my mouth water...excessively :P So the very next day,after reading her blog post, I was determined to track down the ingredients and I actually made it~! It turned out waaay better than I hoped it to be. The food that I usually make doesn't taste great...unless they are instant noodles or anything you make in the microwave ;D

Second batch

This recipe is super easy as it only needs 6 ingredients! And you can find almost all of it in your pantry and fridge ^^ Another plus is that the cooking time is really quick (around 5-6 minutes). I just dump it all in the rice cooker, flip it once so both sides brown (crispy! Yum~!) and VOILA! Of course, it takes more time to make the dough and roll it but the final product is so good that you have to try it!

What it looks like on the inside :)

Yumeko gave us some tips which include making your own pancake mix so that the dough doesn't come out sweet and salty (a weird combination :P). I used this recipe from eHow but I modified it.  You'll need:

• 2 cups of sifted flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1teaspoon of salt (2 makes it very salty XD)

The dough turned out to be just like bread: it's rather fluffy =] So for all of you that can't get your hands on "Hotcake mix", don't worry, just substitute this instead. Another thing, if you have those smaller rice cookers that have a glass top (no button and the top doesn't connect to the body of the rice cooker), this recipe will still work! I hope you give it a try. It's super easy, quick, fun, but the outcome is huge!

On the other hand, Anna is holding another circle lens giveaway~ You can check it out here. It ends on September 30th, 2011 and this time, there are 3 winners! Woooo! I'm trying my luck again this time. Good luck to everyone ^^