비빔밥

Yesterday my boyfriend and I celebrated 3 years and ½ together. We thought of going out to a korean restaurant for some comforting bibimbap but after a while of thinking, I decided to try and make it myself. I had had it once before and it seemed pretty straight forward and not too hard to make. I decided to look up the recipe of the bulgogi (traditional Korean beef) which seemed to me to be the hardest part of the meal, and that was pretty simple, too! So we headed to the supermarket and got the necessary ingredients. I just wish I had thought of making it earlier so that I could stop by the Asian market and grab some "extra" things like kimchi to go along with it.

Most people don't know that I actually have a degree in Gastronomy (basically, cooking school). I did it mostly because I've always loved baking, and I even had a a little cookie business from home with a friend for a while during college.

I haven't properly cooked or baked anything in SUCH a long time. Mostly because I have a tiny kitchen, so I always feel discouraged when I think about the lack of counter space I have to work with. But yesterday I thought enough was enough and got cooking!

If you like Korean food, or would like to get to know it, I really recommend watching Maangchi's videos. She's adorable and really entertaining, while preparing delicious-looking food. I just wish I could get her to cook for me every day. Aaah...
Anyhow, I used her recipe for the bulgogi and got it marinating before I did anything else. For the bibimbap itself I used a mix of a few recipes I saw online and basically what I had access to (sadly I didn't have any Asian mushrooms so I had to go with just regular Paris mushrooms instead).

I also decided to try to make some Vietnamese rice paper rolls as a starter since I had the vermicelli noodles and the rice sheets lying around, but I think the rice paper sheets were past their due date, so they weren't sticking to themselves once softened, and took a long time to soften and didn't do it evenly. So they kinda sucked.

But after a few hours and a lot of chopped vegetables...

Ta-da!

Our bowls are really tiny so it all had to be kind of smushed together, but it came out quite nice, if I do say so myself. =]

As far as Asian cuisine goes, I know Japanese cuisine pretty well and udon is my favourite go-to comfort food, but I'd love to get to know Korean food better. Do you have any favourite Korean dishes or recipes?

Bisexuality and Big Lips

As you may or may not know, I write for a few websites, one of them being The-Arcade.ie. I write fortnightly for their Style Saturday. On the other weeks, the segment has varied writers and is dedicated to fashion and style. Today was my day and I decided to honour Catwoman (more specifically Selina Kyle) since DC took a step in the right direction towards sexual diversity!

Also, if you don't already read The Arcade, then subscribe, follow, do ALL THE THINGS to get your geek news fix. You won't regret it.

And for this special article, I filmed a video on a Catwoman makeup tutorial where I also talk about the new craze of lip enhancers/ plumpers and a DIY solution to not spending $25+ on a little plastic cup that will make your lips huge.

Here's a screen grab of the before & after the lip trick.

Pretty ridiculous, isn't it?!

The lip enhancer is kind of a bonus I added to the video because I thought it would be fun to show you guys. The results are strangely immediate and effective. Have you ever tried doing it? I can't help but laugh every time I do it.

To check out the story and watch the video, click here!

Pidgin Doll

I've admired the work of Joshua David McKenney for quite a while now, since I found his Pidgin Doll one day on Instagram. And I'm so glad I did. His work is so delicate and precise. All his pieces crafted with perfection.

photo property of www.pidgindoll.com

He makes everything from ball-jointed dolls, to paper dolls, to necklaces with his doll's face as a pendant. His illustrations are equally as beautiful and they can be found on things like pillows and dresses.

photo property of www.pidgindoll.com

I don't know if I wish to be a Pidgin Doll myself, or if I'd rather live in a Pidgin-themed house... Either way, today I finally tried to recreate a Pidgin's makeup. Every time I see a new Pidgin Doll, I feel like doing its makeup, but for some reason I never have :/

This is the first of many, probably. =]

Here I tried to recreate the original image, but here's another shot I quite liked but strayed a bit from the original:

Here my eyes are green because that's the original colour of the contacts. I changed their colour in photoshop in the previous pic to match the doll's

This was my first time using the Star Crushed Minerals foundations, too! Bizarrely enough, I loved Alabaster as a contour shade more than I liked Creamy Beige as a foundation (if that makes any sense).
I tried applying the Creamy Beige foundation with about 3 different brushes (that have different densities), next time I'll try a pad applicator to see if I like that better. I like the texture the foundation gives to the skin, super velvety soft. I'm not too keen on the coverage though, I prefer a bit more coverage to my foundations, but I'll try using it in different ways until I find a result I like. =]

For the full product details, check out my picture on Instagram.

Material Memorie & Star Crushed Minerals

This week I came home to two awesome things that arrived in the mail for me while I was away.

1) Material Memorie Stickers

I wanna stick them on E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G but there aren't enough. All I know is my palettes are gonna look fiiiine. (Star Wars background for added coolness)

And one day I'll have a pair of Material Memorie sunglasses... One day! i_i
Material Memorie are actually so awesome that hey give you these stickers if you send them your address via e-mail! All they want is for you to stick em' on things and make them that bit cooler. <3

2) Star Crushed Minerals Products

Their packages come to my delight and to my boyfriend's horror with star confetti. Being the clumsy person that I am, it always gets all over the house. <3

This is my second purchase of SCM stuff, and this time I went for some foundations as well. I kind of had to trust them on this one, since I couldn't find reviews or swatches of their foundations anywhere online.
I got 10 shadows and 2 foundations.

1.Golden Peach 2.Coral Pink 3.Larkspur 4.Magenta 5.Raspberry 6.Electric Blue 7.Matte Teal 8.Sea Green 9.Moss Green 10.Forest Green 11.Alabaster 12.Creamy Beige

I went for 2 really light shades of foundation (the two that seemed to be the lightest) so I could stop using white eye shadow as a powder when I want to achieve really pale skin. Well, I got what I THOUGHT were the 2 lightest anyway...
I bought Alabaster thinking it would be well... you know... alabaster! But it's actually pretty dark (as you can tell from swatch #11). Now... I don't know if I was given a product with the wrong label on it, but I don't think that's the case. And if that's really not the case, SCM you should consider re-naming this shade! It is very misleading, since Alabaster is usually one of the lightest colours in foundation shades.
(Something that would also be helpful is displaying them on the website in order of lightness/ darkness. Just sayin'.)
I guess I'll have to use Alabaster for some light contouring now or something...

And one weird thing I noticed while swatching is a darker "halo" that appeared around the Creamy Beige foundation. I don't know what that's all about... But I have yet to test the foundations on my skin to see coverage, etc. I'll do a post just for that another day ;)

Despite my disappointment with one of the foundation shades, I'm absolutely in love with all of the eye shadows I bought.
Electric Blue really lives up to its name and is a must-have if you like insanely bright colours. You can't really tell in the picture, but Sea Green has a BEAUTIFUL iridescence to it. So does Golden Peach.

If you want to see the shimmers and glitters properly, I put up a video of the swatches on my Instagram. =]

And to finish off this post, here's the makeup I did the other day for my AMA with the League of Legends Cosplay group using my new SCM shadows!

Here I used Golden Peach in the inner corner & lid, Coral Pink & Raspberry in the socket. Contacts are Super Pinky Violet. Use my Pinky Paradise code (in banner to the right) for a free gift with every contact lens.

OMG I GOT A NEW 3DS!

So I came back to Ireland yesterday after a long trip to Brazil and was surprised with an amazing group birthday present. I'm still speechless and can't believe it. I want to thank everyone that was a part of this <3
I've never had a surprise like this and I don't think I've ever had a console this close to its release date. :O

Add me everyone!!!
4656-9052-6039

There goes my productivity for the next few weeks... 8'D

Hello and welcome!

So I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now and, after putting it up to vote, I decided I finally should.
I chose to create a space where I can publish my in depth thoughts about everything I do. I'm kind of "all over the place" creatively. I'm constantly making things and they don't necessarily "fit" in my Facebook pages or Instagram. Or sometimes they do, but I'm not sure on which one to post, because I hate the whole "copy + paste" the same content onto every social media page.
I used to love writing as a kid, and never understood why I stopped. I only got back to it when I was fortunate enough to have been invited to write for 3 websites I am a fan of. They are: ComicBuzz.com - Where I write video game and convention reviews, Superela.com - A Brazilian website I write beauty articles for, and The-Arcade.ie - Where I combine 2 of my passions and write beauty articles inspired by different fandoms of geek culture.
Even though I write for these sites and have my Facebook pages (a cosplay one and a makeup one), I still felt like a place was missing where I could reunite all my passions, all my ventures, and share them with you.
I like to think I have something to share with the world, and while I keep making art (in any shape or form), I will keep sharing it with the world in hopes that it can add something to your day and your experience.

And here's a really old photo of me rocking my pink eyebrows. Just 'cuz.