Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wholegrain Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins!

So I was browsing through Youtube videos the other night when I stumbled upon this recipe.  I love raspberry and chocolate so I just had to try these.  Plus, they're made with whole-wheat flour and flax seed so they're healthy too!  I saw this video on RachhFit (who also does some awesome beauty videos as well!) and I had most of the ingredients on hand.  The only thing that was hard to find was the oat bran, which I was only able to get at Whole Foods in Kahala.  These came out great!  They're really delicious, and the whole batch made about 24 muffins.  These would make a quick breakfast or a good healthy snack. 
I got the recipe from her blog which also includes nutritional facts.  She has a lot of other healthy recipe ideas there too, so definitely check it out!

Wedding Planning

So now that we have our civil union license, we have been starting to plan our ceremony and reception.  We're shooting for May of next year, sometime around our anniversary.  It's a little overwhelming that there's SO much we need to think about.  We haven't even set a firm budget yet, but we get free catering (our wedding present), so that's one less thing to worry about.
We actually ended up buying our wedding bands yesterday.  We originally went just to look, because I saw a few that I liked online.  I had intended to keep the purchase under $500, but quickly realized that might not be reasonable.  After seeing them in person, I decided to go with something a little more expensive.  The ring above is the one I chose and I really love it.  we had to special order a ring in my size (3.5 -_-) so it will take a couple of weeks to get it in.  I also bought her wedding band as well, which was a lot cheaper than mine, but still looks really nice.  I'm so excited we finally have one thing done, and I can't wait to get the rings!
Has anyone else ever been through planning a wedding on a budget?  Any tips on how to save money?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Btw does anyone else use Pinterest?  Here's my profile: http://pinterest.com/akira53/

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Chocomize Review!

So I really needed a last-minute gift idea for Valentines day.  I watched a video from sccastaneda last week for a cheap Valentines day gift idea.  It was for custom made chocolate bars, which I thought would be the perfect idea!  The site is called Chocomize and they specialize in make-your-own chocolate bars.  You can chose from dark, milk or white Belgian chocolate and a huge selection of toppings.  They have everything from dried fruits and candy, to spices and even bacon.  The prices are reasonable as well.  I chose a dark chocolate bar which starts at $4.50, and each topping is an additional charge.  I chose dried cranberries ($0.85) and dried raspberries ($1.20).  I also added a "My Valentine" plaque as well, and the total cost came to $8.15.  You can even name your chocolate bar, which they print on a label.  Shipping was $4.95.  Apparently the shipping is a flat-rate no matter how many bars you get.  
Shipping was super fast.  I was worried I wasn't going to get it in time for Valentines day, but I got my shipping email on Thursday and it was delivered by Saturday.  They used USPS first-class mail, so I don't know if it was just me, but the shipping was incredibly fast.  Chocolate arrived just fine and didn't melt in the mailbox, which I was really worried about.  I thought the packaging was really cute too.  
Regarding taste, I was a bit skeptical at first as to how good it would be.  I love dark chocolate, and I have to say I was very impressed with the quality.  It's 70% dark chocolate and very smooth and creamy.  It pairs very nicely with the fruits!
I highly recommend this site!  If you ever need a quick gift idea and know someone who loves chocolate, this is definitely a unique option. 

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Myglam January Bag Review

So I know this is a little late, but here is my review of my first Glam Bag from Myglam.  For those not familiar with Myglam, it's similar to Birchbox, a subscription service where you receive sample sized products each month to try out.  It costs $10 a month (same as Birchbox) and you get a cute makeup bag with each months samples.  Unlike Birchbox, everyone gets the same products, and sometimes they will announce the products in the bag so you know what you're getting.
Here's what I got this month:
Sheer Cover Duo Concealer in Light/Medium, 3g
Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner, 2oz
Freeman Cucumber Facial Peel Off Masque, 6oz (this one is a full sized product)
theBalm Hot Ticket Nail Polish in Sky Blue Right Past You (also a full sized product)

As you can see, with two full sized products and two very good sample sizes, this bag is an excellent value!  Also included are coupons exclusively for Myglam subscribers:
16% off Freeman Brauty Feeling Beautiful Trio
$19.95 + s/h for $100 in makeup and gifts from Sheercover
$20 off WEN Healthy Hair Care System
For $10 this bag is totally worth the money.  Although it's a good value, I have mixed feelings about the products I received.  I am definitely planning to try out the Wen treatment, and perhaps the cucumber masque, but I don't think I will be using the other two samples.  I don't use concealer so this is going up for swap on MUA.  I'm quite surprised they included concealer considering everyone got the same light/medium shade.  I feel bad for people with darker skin tones because its definitely too light.  Another thing I wasn't too happy about was the nail polish.  Don't get me wrong, I like nail polish, but the color is hideous and I would never wear it.  Secondly, the bag was supposed to have either the nail polish or an eye shadow.  I thought I was going to be getting the eye shadow since you technically can't ship nail polish outside of the continental USA, but perhaps they didn't take that into consideration for HI and AK subscribers.
Overall, a great value for $10.  I hope February's bag will not disappoint!  Anyone else a Myglam subscriber?  What are your thoughts?

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stila Smuge Stick Review

I received a sample sized Stila Smudge Stick in Peacock in my January Birchbox.  I've been wanting to try this out for such a long time after hearing good reviews about it, and I've been using it for the past week or so.  I really love the color.  It's a really pretty teal-blue color that looks amazing as a pop of color on the upper lashline, or even on the lower lash line. 
The application is amazingly smooth, and the product is very pigmented.  This claims to be long-lasting, and I must say when I wear this on my upper lash line, it does last all day.  It may be smudged a little at the end of a long day, but the color is still vibrant and it holds up well on my oily lids.  On my lower lashline however, it smudged really badly even with a primer.  I only wore it that way once, and while it looked good at first, within a few hours it had smudged and looked like a mess.  
A couple cons to note: removing this eyeliner is tough.  It really is long lasting!  It took me at least 3 cotton pads of makeup remover to completely remove the eyeliner.  I'm not sure if it was just my makeup remover, but it smudged it all over my eyes and it took forever to take it all off.  Even after a shower I still had a blue ring around my eyes.  Also, I'm not sure if it's just because it's a sample size, but it takes forever for the product to come out of the tube.  I thought it was broken at first because after twisting the bottom for so long, nothing was happening.  But after some some research on Google, apparently this is a common problem with the smudge sticks, so you just have to be patient.  Eventually the product did come up, it just took a while.
Overall I really do like this eyeliner and I'm glad I got to try a sample of it.  I'm definitely thinking about getting a full sized one in black too.  Anyone else a fan of these?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

China Glaze The Capitol Colors: Swatches!

Courtesy of All Lacquered Up's blog post: China Glaze Capitol Colours – The Hunger Games Nail Polish Collection Swatches & Review

After seeing swatches, I'm even more excited for this collection to come out!  I'm really loving:
Agro
Dress Me Up
Fast Track
Foie Gras
Hook and Line
Stone Cold. 
There's a good mix of finishes in this collection including a matte, flakies and metalics.  This collection is set to release Mid-March, and I'm so happy to see that it will be released at Sally Beauty which we actually have here now! 
Who else is excited for this collection??  Can't wait for the movie to come out too!