Happy holidays!

We had our first ever Christmas family photo & I love how it came out! :) I never liked having my pic taken on a studio so I used my Nikon D90, cam remote and tripod. No photoshop edit. I only used "Photo Shake" app on my ipad to make this collage. If you will notice, I wore 3 different l/s on these photos. On the 1st one, I wore NYX matte l/s in Shocking Pink, on the 3rd one I wore MAC Ruby Woo, and on the rest of the photos I wore MAC Lickable. :) Hope you all have a great holidays! Love, Katrina

In My Kitchen #1 - Middle Eastern Roast Chicken (own recipe)

I love middle eastern food! Not everyone can appreciate mid-eastern spices, and my husband is one of them. He doesn't like the smell and taste, according to him, it tastes "arabic". I love trying new dishes from different parts of the world and I embrace their unique taste! My hubby on the other hand isn't quite a food adventurer. I've been living in Saudi Arabia for 2 years now, and I have never tried to make arabic food. This is my first, and it turned out so good! :) This will definitely not be the last!

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken (medium size)

1 cup yogurt

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp ginger paste

1 tbsp vinegar

Directions:

1. Cut whole chicken in half, and wash with water

2. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, and all the dry ingredients

3. Put the chicken in the marinade, and coat well

4. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night

5. Pre-heat oven in 160 deg. I also turn on the top part of the oven in the lowest setting.

6. Place chicken skin side up on a baking dish, covering top with foil 

7. Cook for 45 mins.

8. Remove from pan and grill until crust forms

9. Serve on top of basmati rice

Taupe Nails & Colorful Eyes

It has been a while since I did a colorful look. As the years passed I became more uncomfortable wearing bright colors. I feel too much e/s colors are for the young ones and I being in my mid 20's, and a mom to a 3 year old, feel that neutrals are more suited for me. This is my first time to do this look and I really like it. :) I wouldn't be caught wearing it in public though... As soon as I was done taking pics, I immediately took the makeup off. =p

Products Used:

1. MAC "Soft Ochre" (base) 2. Skin Food "Cookie" (inner corners) 3. MAC "Aquadisiac" (middle lid) 4. YSL Ombre Solo Double Effect "2" (outer lid) 5. Sephora Color Play Palette "Plum" (crease) 6. MAC Honesty (above the crease) 7. Victoria Secret Mosaic E/S Knowing (champagne color on the brow bone) 8. Maybelline XXL Curl Power 9. Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner

NOTD

NYX "The Taupe"

I know, I know, my cuticles and hands are really dry. Winter just started a couple of days ago so my skin is currently dry all over. But I am loving this nail color so much! It's perfect for this season! :)

I really like the photos I took on this blog entry. What do you guys think? :) I will try to post nice photos from now on. I don't think people will want to read a blog with crappy pics especially a beauty blog, right? :)

Happy hump day to my international readers and happy weekend to my gulf readers. :)

Love, 

Katrina

FOTD - NARS bohemian gold

I haven't been wearing a lot of makeup lately cause i'm letting my skin breathe since i've been having lots of breakouts. I also realized that I have too much makeup and some of them I haven't even used yet. I feel guilty for buying and not using them so I decided to create a look using my NARS bohemian gold duo.

FACE

MAC strobe cream mixed with MAC studio fix NC25 liquid foundation

MAC studio fix concealer NW25

Too faced translucent powder

EYES

MAC soft ochre paint pot (primer)

NARS bohemian gold duo

NYX nude on nude palette (the brown color on the lower right for the crease)

Maybelline gel liner

Shiseido nourising base mascara

Maybelline colossal Volum' express

Mikyaji sabaya eyebrow pencil 02

Too faced totally toasted (only the champagne color for highlight on the brow bone and inner corners of the eye)

LIPS

MAC Faux l/s

MAC Virgin Kiss l/g

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams PART 2: Milan & Sao Paulo

continuation of my previous post.....

Swatches

Milan

Milan 

(excuse the hair, i didn't have time to dry 'em)

Sao Paolo

Sao Paolo

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams PART 1: Addis Ababa & Antwerp

"Goodbye glossy lips, hello matte lips!" NYX soft matte lip creams are my new fave lippies! I was excited when NYX released a budget friendly, matte lip colors. Ever since I got these in the mail, I've been wearing them everytime I go out. They come in a lip gloss-like tube with doe foot applicators which make them easier to apply than matte lipsticks which usually drag your lips when you apply straight from the lipstick tube.

L-R: Antwerp, Addis Ababa, Milan, Sao Paolo ($4.99 each at Beauty Joint)

Antwerp

Antwerp

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

These 2 are my most fav colors among the lip creams. The only thing I don't like about these lip creams, is that it is a bit drying. You should always wear lip balm first, wait for at least 5 mins, and blot the excess, then apply the lip color. If you just wear them without exfoliating or moisturizing, the cracks and dryness will become very noticeable and it doesn't look pretty! Another bad thing about this product is the staying power. I don't mind having more touch ups tho and for the price, I think it's pretty worth it!

NOTD - OPI "From A to Zurich"

From A to Zurich (395php at Rustan's)

This is my new fav red polish! It's a dark berry color with no shimmer. I only used 1 coat since it is pretty opaque. I love how reds make your hand look whiter. :)

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Beautyjoint.com

It was my first time to purchase at beautyjoint. I was looking for NYX products online since we don't have it here in p.i., and i came across this website www.beautyjoint.com and all of their products are cheaper than the original price! I bought the matte lip cream which was $6 on the NYX website, for only $4.50. They ship anywhere in the world & shipping was fast too! I got my order after 10 days!


Everytime i receive packages i feel like a kid unwrapping presents on xmas day even if i know what's inside the package since i ordered it online. Lol!

I bought the matte lip creams, and 1 matte lipstick which was originally $6 but i got for $4.99. I also bought these OPI shatter dupe, the brand is called Cherimoya. I've never heard of Cherimoya polishes before but they are pretty good dupe of the shatter ones! And they're so cheap for only $2.99! i will do swatches of these products soon. :)

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MAC Sheen Supreme "Impressive", EOTD & Extensions

I wanted to get 4 l/s when the sheen supreme collection came out. I even visited 3 MAC counters in Saudi, Bahrain, and Philippines but the colors I wanted were all sold out! "impressive" wasn't originally on my list but when I swatched it on my hand, I kinda liked how it felt and the color is very wearable.




It's a rosy/nude color and it goes on very smoothly.




I haven't been wearing too much makeup since i got back home but I wanted to try this l/s cause i havent worn it since i got it. I paired it up with a subtle smokey e/s using my NARS palette from my previous post.










As you can see I recently had eyelash extensions. It's been 4 days since I had it done and most of the lashes have already fallen out. :( I will prolly stick to falsies and mascara if I want fuller lashes. These extensions are just hard to maintain!
[X] liquid eye liner
[X] mascara
[X] eye lash curler
[X] rubbing
[X] must keep dry within the 1st 24 hrs of application

For the 1st 2 days it was really pretty! It was curled up and fuller! But now it's starting to hang down together with my regular lashes and I can't curl it with a curler cause it will leave a mark on the fake lashes! :(

Oh and I also got my bottom braces 2 days ago. My teeth are sore and they feel loose, but inspite of that I still eat a lot and even gained more lbs since I had my braces on. LOL.






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OPI Black Shatter

I was so excited to receive my black shatter yesterday! I ordered it online cause I couldnt find a shop that sells OPI here. I've been wanting to have this nail polish since it came out and I finally have it! :)

I bought this for P490 that's $11! As soon as I received the package I tried applying it on different base colors to see which looked best.

I like how it looked against the middle finger. The base is Etude PK005. The shatter actually depends on how you apply the polish. If you apply too thick, you will get bigger cracks. I actually tried putting on a thick coat and I got a huge crack at the middle.

Final nails taken with my phone. I used the Etude polish on this but it looks pink in this photo. You can see the real color from the photo above.

I showed mama my nails and she said, I should've just chipped my nail polish on purpose to get the same effect LOL.

Bad skin & Bad teeth!

Last month I took a visit to my dentist. She noticed that I had a slight over bite and my teeth were too close to each other. She had me take an x-ray and this is what we saw..

2 of my wisdom teeth are impacted and pushing all my teeth forward! >_< so last week, I had my right wisdom tooth out. It was painful than a c-section in my opinion. I wasn't put to sleep and I was so nervous cause I can hear everything! Doctor: "pass me this and that... we need to break the tooth..." Machine: Zzzzz.......Bzzzzz..... Ughh it was so scary!!! Next week I'm scheduled to have the left one taken out. The dentist also told me that I needed braces so she will have to pull out my 2 upper third molars.

Brace face! x_x I had my upper braces 2 days ago.. I might have the lower ones next week. I feel so ugly now! Plus my skin is becoming worse!

I've been having breakouts and the marks won't fade off! And I keep having pimples on that exact same spot! It's soooo annoying! Ladies, if you know a good product for this type of skin problem PLEASE share it with me. :)

Mama's makeup

My mama wanted me to do a smokey look on her. It was my first time to do her full makeup, usually I would just retouch what she had on. I didn't want the look to be too harsh so I used dark browns and not black. I wanted the smokiness to compliment and not over power her natural beauty & I wanted the look to suit her age. My mom is in her 40's and she has wrinkles, so I used mostly matte makeup since glitter or shimmer will only emphasize the lines. I only applied a bit of shimmer to the brow bone and in the inner corners of her eyes.

FACE:

MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation NC25

MAC Studio Fix Concealer NW25

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer

Rimmel blush in Santa Rose

MAC Studio Fix powder foundation in NC30

EYES:

NARS Cordura duo (darkest brown on the lid not passing the crease & in the lower lash line)

MAC Soft Brown (crease)

MAC Brule (above the crease up to the brow bone)

Too Faced Totally Toasted duo (the shimmery beige on the crease and inner corners)

Rimmel waterproof black eyeliner (upper and lower lashline & waterline)

Loreal Voluminous mascara

MAC Beguile (brows)

LIPS:

MAC Angel l/s

NARS Foul Play l/g

MIA

Hey guys sorry i've been MIA. I'm currently enjoying my vacation back home. I will try to update soon. :)

Love,
Katrina


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Shiseido Nourising Mascara Base

If you have been reading my previous posts, I am in search for my HG mascara that will give me volume, and hold a curl since my lashes are naturally droopy. I've been searching on youtube on mascara reviews and I stumbled upon a video review of this base. I haven't heard a bad review of it so I decided to buy one at Sephora. I got it at SR135 thats $35. I know Sephora in the US sells it for only $23. :( I hate everything is way overpriced here in Saudi.  

What it claims: (from the website)

･Intensifies Volume, Length and Curl.

･Conditions and Make Lashes More Supple.

･Provides Elegant Glossy Finish When Worn Alone.

･DERMATOLOGIST AND OPHTHALMOLOGIST-TESTED.

The product has a gel-like consistency. I love how the brush is small and is stiff enough to comb through & separate my lashes.

Here is a photo of my bare lashes curled with an eyelash curler

Here is a photo of my lashes WITHOUT the primer but with SEPHORA LASH PLUMPER MASCARA. (review of this product here.)

And here is a photo of my lashes WITH Shiseido Nourising Mascara Base AND Sephora Lash Plumper.

See how much of a difference it makes?  It held my curl and separated my lashes really well. It was a lil "spider legs" looking in this photo cause the sephora mascara was so bad at separating the lashes.


PROS:

• It's awesome at holding the curl even on humid days.
• It isn't the usual white primers that when you missed a spot when applying your black mascara, you can see the white stuff.
• The wand is small so it's easy to apply.
• The brush isn't too soft so it separates the lashes.
• I noticed that it helped my mascara stay in place and didn't experience any smudging. 

CONS:

• When worn alone, it didn't provide a glossy finish like the product description claimed cause it didn't really apply transparent. It is better though than the usual primers with white finish. 
• I got it for $35! Most expensive mascara primer I've ever tried!

 I can't believe it took me this long to discover this primer, this will definitely be one of my HG products! Now I can use washable mascaras and not worry about my lashes not holding the curl since ALL the washable mascaras I've tried weight down my lashes. I will definitely repurchase this product! :)

Have you tried any mascara primers lately? What are your favorites? Please share. :)

XoXo,

Katrina

FOTD - Navy blue & copper *updated*

I was bored and thought of doing a combination of navy blue and rustic brown. It was my first time doing this look and i was really happy on how it turned out. I will be posting the products i used on my next post cause i gotta do some errands today i just wanted to do this quick post and share to u guys my fotd. :) ciao!

Here are the products I used for this look: 

Face:

Clinique skin glow foundation G08

MAC stereo rose (blush)

Too faced bronzer chocolate soleil (contour)

Eyes:

Nyx jumpo pencil electric blue (base for the blue e/s)

Lancome the new blue (navy blue)

The body shop haute chocolate (crease)

The body shop vintage apricot (outer crease)

The body shop new nude (brow bone)

Nyx chrome e/s in oatmeal (inner corners)

Rimmel exaggerate waterproof eye definer in noir

Maybelline turbo boost volum express waterproof mascara

Lips:

MAC Faux

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