Ageless Beauty

Well, here’s my first makeup post in awhile. It’s not going to be of me, as I have been recovering from a surgery and have not been doing too well, so I haven’t worn makeup in over a week. This post is of my beautiful mother. While I won’t disclose her actual age, I will give a slight hint that she just might possibly maybe be over the age of 50 (shh..don’t tell) However, I think that she looks much younger. When I discovered Bare Escentuals/Bare Minerals almost 5 years ago, I got my mom started on it as well, and while she has not become an addict like myself, she does use it exclusively, and she looks beautiful wearing it. She doesn’t wear as much as I do, so my look that I did on her was fairly simplistic. Here’s what she has on:

1. Well rested patted gently under the eyes with a maximum coverage concealer brush
2. Fairly light foundation swirled, tapped, and buffed onto her face with the full flawless face brush (my other fave brushes to use for foundation include the full coverage kabuki brush and the handi buki brush), making sure to buff thoroughly as well as blending in the well rested that I had already applied
3. Pure radiance swept lightly from the apple of the cheek and to the side of the face with the angled blush brush (any BE blush brush will do)
4. Clear radiance used as a blush on the apples of the cheeks only with the angled blush brush. – I love this radiance, as it has a pinkish pearl shimmer to it that is beautiful alone or over top another blush.
5. Just a hint of warmth placed on the apples of the cheeks for a bit of color
6. Original mineral veil swept all over with the full flawless face brush to blend everything together. (I made sure to go easy over the cheek area to avoid taking away too much color)
7. Dark blond/medium brown eyebrow shadow placed lightly over her brows to even them out
8. Clear radiance swept lightly on the lids (she usually doesn’t wear eye shadow) – any BE eye brush would work just fine
9. Nurture eyeshadow swiped lightly on the lower lash line with the heavenly liner blending brush (this is one of my favorite brushes for lining)
10. flawless definition mascara
11. Destiny buxom lip gloss on the lips
    I believe that Bare Escentuals looks beautiful on women of all ages. Just because you are older doesn’t mean that you can’t wear a loose mineral foundation. Plus, Bare Minerals actually can improve your skin over time. It’s all in the technique of the application, and as the old saying goes, less is more.

    - Joy

The Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Today for supper I made my favorite recipe for scrambled eggs. I am someone who does not like eggs. This is due mostly to the fact that a long time ago I went on a diet that involved eating a lot of eggs daily, and since then I hadn’t touched them for years. However, recently I started experimenting with my own techniques and flavors and I have come up with a basic recipe that I love. These eggs are fairly easy to make and they are amazing. Seriously. Coming from someone who doesn’t like eggs, I really really love these.

That to say, let’s get on with the recipe

Ingredients: (makes approximately 5-6 servings)

• 8 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of paprika, more to taste
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, more if desired (please freshly grate this – the taste is so much better than packaged cheese)
• 2 cloves of garlic (more if you like garlic) , finely minced or chopped
• 1 and 1/2 cups of onion, diced (more if desired)
• 6 slices of bacon, or however many you want
• 1 package of mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
• I didn’t have any on hand, but diced peppers make a great addition to this dish as well.

Directions:

1. First, start off by cooking the bacon in a large skillet (salt and pepper both sides lightly) on medium heat until crisp, remove and set aside on paper towels. I repeated this twice, and I ended up making 7 or 8 pieces of bacon, but you can make however many floats your boat.

2. Next, drain excess bacon grease, but reserve about 4-5 tablespoons in the skillet. Keep skillet on medium heat and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the reserved bacon grease. Add the sliced mushrooms, the diced onions, and the minced garlic to the skillet. Season with paprika. It’s going to smell amazing. Sauté  mixture until mushrooms and onions are brown and tender.

3. Crack 8 eggs into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon or more of paprika, and a dash or two of salt and pepper, whisk until thoroughly combined.

4. Add cheese into the egg mixture, mix until combined.

5. Pour egg and cheese mixture to the mushrooms and onions in the skillet. Keep on medium heat. Stir constantly for the first few minutes, making sure that it doesn’t burn. Make sure to flip and turn eggs every minute or so to avoid over cooking or burning.The eggs should be finished within 5-10 minutes. They don’t take long at all, just make sure not to overcook. Side note: even once cooked, the eggs will still appear shiny, this is a result of the bacon grease and butter.

6. Serve with crumbled bacon and additional cheese on top. Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Joy

Back for good

Hello Everyone!

I’m back! wow, it has been so long since I last posted. Almost 2 years. I honestly cannot even believe that, time flies so quickly. Well, let’s see..let me sum up what has been going on in my life.

First of all (and makeup related) is that I made myself throw away most of my lip products a few months back. I had fifty or more that were opened and were past the point of usage, but I just didn’t want to part with them. Well I finally did. I have come to grips with the fact that me and lip products will never work out. As much as I love the idea of them, between work and school and just basic every day stuff, I don’t want to spend the time reapplying. It’s fun to take pictures with, but my days of lipstick/gloss/liner/everything under the sun collecting are over. This to say, my love for all things Bare Escentuals/Bare Minerals has not diminished in the least. I still remain true to this brand and refuse to use another.

Between going to college full time and also working, I keep pretty busy, but I still find time for the things that I love. One things that has become a major part of my life in the last 2 years is cooking. I absolutely adore to cook. Like everyone else, I started out with failures and I thought that I would never get better. However, now I have tried many new things and definitely improved in my cooking techniques. I spend hours browsing for recipes as well as ogling new cookware (Rachael Ray line – be still my heart)…

Anyway…

I love blogging, and I’m so glad to be back

Love,
Joy

Smoky Vibrance

I did this look a few days ago and LOVED how it came out! It’s smoky, yet the bright blue liner really adds to the combo to make it lively.

Vine is a great light green color to use when you don’t want a lot of sparkle as a base. It is pretty matte, with only a little shimmer.

I absolutely adore Wicked!! I got it in the Simply Seductive eye color collection available from Qvc. It is so gorgeous, I am in love.

Denim is actually an eye color, but is great as a liner too. It is so beautiful to look at and so vibrantly gorgeous. It really can brighten up an eye look. It looks really scary/bright in the jar, but it is gorgeous on!

Here’s how I applied the colors:

1. Prime Time for Eyes (to make the shadows last)
2. Vine lash to crease
3. Wicked in the crease
4. Denim in the outer crease and outer part of lid
5. Intense Black mineral liner pencil on lower water line
6. Denim dry lined over pencil
7. Denim wet lined with water on upper lash line
8. Flawless Definition Mascara

I hadn’t planned on posting another whole eye look for awhile, but I did this look yesterday and really liked the way that it came out. Sorry the pics are a little blurry and my mascara smeared, but I was in a hurry and the pictures weren’t turning out right.

I wanted to post a pic of my kitty Willy (Nilly). He’s such a cutie. He is definitely not a kitten (weighs 16 pounds!) but I think of him as my baby. I found him as a stray about 10 months ago and he is my only indoor kitty. We thought for awhile that he was a she, until we took him to the vet and found out that Lily was really a boy, thus the slightly corny name Willy Nilly. It fits him.  This is an older picture of him that I edited. I liked the way that it came out.

Yesterday I only used three colors in my look but I loved the outcome.

Ice Queen is a gorgeous shimmery white color that is hands down my favorite sparkly highlight. I reach for it often. Rose Pearl is such a gorgeous mauve rose color. Wild Ruby I got in the Ruby collection from Sephora awhile ago. It’s a gorgeous plummy sparkly liner that looks amazing on.

Here’s how I applied it:

1. Ice Queen lash to crease
2. Rose Pearl on the outer half
3. Mineral pencil in Intense Black on lower waterline
4. Wild Ruby dry lined over Intense Black
5. Wild Ruby damply lined on upper lash line (it wasn’t finished in the pic, but I decided to line the entire upper lash line too)
6. Flawless Definition mascara

Today I felt like using a lot of colors, and some of these I hadn’t used in a while, so here is what I came up with. It is a pretty neutral combo but the liner really adds the pop of color. I have found that when I wear all brown based shadows that it makes me appear washed out, so I usually add some blue to the mix.

Purist is a great hilight color that is a matte creamy beige tone, very similar to soul eye shadow. Purist was exclusive to the Purist 1 kit from Qvc.

Treasured Terri is one of my favorite green liners that I have.  It is a beautiful sparkly deep green color. I love the way that it looks on.

TLC is a liner that I have had for awhile, but not used lately. I don’t know why! It is gorgeous! It is a sparkly medium blue that has gold bits in it and looks amazing as an eye color or a liner.

RVC stands for Red Velvet Cake. It is one of the few eye colors that I have that could be defined as red or maroon. A good duplicate color for this is Beautiful Lisa. I used to be afraid to wear these colors but they really are beautiful on.

Happiness is a shimmery brown color that I got in the Happiness collection from Sephora. I love the lids to this collection, which are all pink! A good dupe for this if you don’t have it is drama. They look similar to each other.

Ginger Peach Smoothie I got in a kit from the outlets back in the days when they took phone orders. It is available now in a kit from bareescentuals.com called the Fruit Smoothie Collection which is on sale for $9.50 which is a great deal since it comes with three full sized eye colors (retail 39$)

Here is how I applied the colors:

• Purist from Crease to  brow and on the inner tear duct area to brighten
• Ginger Peach Smoothie on the inner 1/3 of the lid
• Happiness patted on the center of the lid
• RVC on the outer 1/3
• Treasured Terri and TLC over RVC on the outer corner
• Sapphire Buxom Insider Eye Liner (from Sephora) on the lower water line
• Treasured Terri dry lined on the inner half of the lower lash line
• TLC dry lined on the outer half of the lower lash line
• Flawless Definition Mascara
• Buxom Mascara

Summer Dreaming

With all the cold weather lately, I have definitely been wishing for the warmer seasons. This look was inspired by summer. The three colors used are Sun Goddess, Spright, and Ocean.

Sun Goddess is an eye quickie. Eye Quickies are eye colors that can be worn alone or under/over other colors to create different effects. I got this color in the Eye Quickie set Cool/Warm  available from bareescentuals.com which also has Ice Queen eye quickie in it. It is on sale now for a discounted price ($9.50) so grab it before it’s gone if you wanted these. Sun Goddess looks white in the jar but goes on as a stunning gold sheen.

Spright is actually an eye liner, but I like to use it as an eye color too. It is a shimmery medium gold green that looks beautiful on. It is open stock (not exclusive to a kit) so it is still available.

Ocean is also a liner that I use as an eye shadow. It is a really gorgeous matte smoky blue color. I actually got this shadow in the Destination: Key West Collection, but it is available separately.

I love these three colors together and I will definitely try this combo again. I love how bright and summery it appears. Here is how I applied it:

• Sun Goddess lash to crease
• Spright on the outer half of the lid and slightly into crease
• Ocean on the outer corner
• Big & Bright Eye Liner Pencil in Intense Black on the lower water line
• Spright dry lined on the inner half of the lower lash line
• Ocean dry lined on the outer half of the lower lash line
• Flawless Definition Mascara on the top lashes only