Easy Pineapple Chicken

Photobucket First thing’s first, get a drink ready for yourself and your cooking buddy. Mmm, margaritas!

Happy Monday, Beauties!
I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are ready to start a new week. This isn’t makeup related, but I wanted to share an easy and delicious recipe for pineapple chicken that the bff made at her place a few weeks ago. I promise, even inexperienced cooks can throw this together without too much stress :).

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Ingredients:

  • Chicken, this was about 2 lbs. You can use whatever part of the chicken you like, we went with thin slicked breast fillets that were cut up into 1-1 1/2 inch pieces.
  • Pineapple (fresh or canned chunks); about a cup.
  • Onion, about 1/3 of one cut into 1 inch pieces.
  • 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper. Cut into one inch pieces.
  • 1 head of garlic.
  • 1 bottle of sweet and sour sauce; this is to taste as well.

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Start off with pouring some oil into a pan and throwing the head of garlic in. My mom taught me to do this whenever cooking with oil…she said it helps the oil not burn. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I always do it lol.

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Once the oil is warm, throw the chicken in and let it cook, covered. We didn’t use any seasoning, but you can if you like.

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YUM! Look at the pretty veggie colors :).

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Once the chicken turns white, throw the onion in and cook for a few minutes.

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Next, the bell peppers go in. Cook until they start to soften slightly, you don’t want mushy peppers.

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The pineapple goes in last, when the peppers are cooked, but still a little firm.

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And finally, the sauce goes in. We used about 3/4 of the bottle. Now let it simmer and finish cooking everything for about 5 minutes. Once it’s done, serve with veggies or rice; ours was paired with plain brown rice.

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For dessert, Shan served strawberries and the leftover pineapple with cream cheese frosting and wine. Paired with a Friends marathon, it was a perfect bff date :).

Let me know if you give this a try and how you like it.

<3V

Asencio Designs on Etsy

Photobucket Love this pic of my bff and I, the lighting is awesome :D.

Happy Friday Dolls!
I just wanted to share a really cute Etsy store that’s run by a lovely lady named Francine (my friend’s cousin). She makes awesome jewelry (check out earrings I purchased last year here)  and adorable hair clips and bows for your self or the little girls in your life. Keep in mind that most of the jewelry is one of a kind and everything sells pretty fast. Check out some of my favorite items on sale right now:

Leopard Cocktail Flower Veil Hat

Black Love Owls Hairbows

Pink Polka Dot Diva Skull Hair Bows

Turquoise Earrings

Yellow Rose Flower with leaf Earrings

Black and Gold Necklace

Happy shopping and have a great weekend :)!

<3V

A Sad Goodbye, Some NOTDs, and New Goodies

Photobucket A buttery nipple shot from Rock the Keys. Thank goodness my friend ordered this, I don’t know that I could have without giggling lol. If you’re wondering, my nail polish is Turned Up Turquoise from China Glaze.

Hi Dolls,
I’m feeling kinda random today, so here’s a post about everything!

A sad goodbye to my very first MAC lipstick, Viva Glam V. I went to use it and found it like this:
Photobucket No one is admitting to the heinous crime, so I’m left with a smashed lipstick. There was at least half of the tube left before. This means I have to buy a new one, right?

Picked up two new Finger Paints polishes at Sally’s the other night for $5 each.
PhotobucketPhotobucketHue Left a Message? IT’S SO SPARKLY!!

PhotobucketWine at the Gallery. I got this because it reminded me of my mom; burgundy is her favorite color :-).

Photobucket Another shot? OKAY!

New Goodies :-D:
Photobucket Striped, ruched sleeve, very flattering, super soft tee from Kirra at Pacsun. Picked it up for $10 in this color and black. I’ve only seen them at the one in the Ontario Mills Mall, they have a bunch of other colors too! Can’t wait to wear this with dark wash jeans and red or pink heels :-D.

Photobucket Mini wedge espadrilles from Alloy; click here for the link. They’re super comfy and cute with anything.

Photobucket Alright, one more.

Hope you’re all having a lovely week! What are you up to?

<3V

Taking a Few Days

Hi Babes,
I just wanted to let you all know that I’m taking a few days away from blogging to deal with some tough stuff going on at home. I’ll try to post again this coming weekend, hopefully things have settled a bit by then.

Love you guys!
<3V

Tell Me About Your Fabulous Self!

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Happy Thursday Beautiful Ladies!

This week isn’t going by fast enough, it needs to be Friday so I can go out with friends and get a drink or…four lol. Anyway, I would love to get to know all of you better so help me out by filling out the questionnaire below please :-):

1. Where are you from and how’s the weather there right now?

I live in beautiful Southern California. It’s sunny and warm-ish outside right now. People are in shorts and flip flops! Oh, what brutal winters we face haha.

2. Favorite color?

I don’t have one, it changes all the time. Today’s color is soft ballet pink!

3. Favorite places to shop?

Nordstrom, Sephora, AE, Express, and online.

4. What do you want to be when you grow up?

A fashion buyer or working somewhere in the beauty industry.

5. Tell me five things you like about yourself:

My hair is semi-obedient most of the time, I have good feet for open toed shoes, my eyebrows are pretty good on their own, I’m a good listener, and I’m pretty dang smart :-).

6. How tall are you?

5’8″. I’m still working on embracing that.

7. What’s your style?

Mostly classic with a bit of trendy. I love clean lines, good fabrics, and great fit.

8. Favorite trend right now:

Soft pink and nude colored tops and shoes, they’re so feminine and pretty!

9. Least favorite trend right now:

Hm. It’s not a trend necessarily, but I’m really not liking when girls wear sheer leggings and tops that aren’t long enough. TMI!

10. What are 4 makeup items you can’t live without?

Mac’s MSFN, Covergirl Lashblast, TimeBalm concealer, Well Dressed blush, and Korres lip butter.

11. What beauty product/service do you splurge on?

My foundation/powders. My skin is picky and will flip the f out on me if I use any random products.

12. What beauty product/service do you skimp on?

Mascara. I’ve used expensive mascaras before and they don’t really do anything different than my Lashblast.

13. Favorite show?

True Blood. Hands down. I used to make so much fun of people that were into the Vampire thing too…

14. Favorite songs right now?

Pretty much anything by Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Sara Bareilles.

15. Best restaurant you’ve ever been to?

Cafe Allegro in Upland, California…best Italian ever!

16. How old are you? (or feel :-))

I’m 23 and feel 23.

17. Best part of this week?

Running every other day. I’m sticking with this!

18. Random beauty related story?

I asked for a sample of Origins VitaZing so I could try it before buying it because of my sensitive skin and the woman at the counter asked if I was allergic to Zing. Hahahahaha…I don’t think that’s an ingredient. Oh, special people.

19. What color nail polish are you wearing?

Not Just a Pretty Face by Essie with a glitter topcoat.

20. Weekend plans?

I’m celebrating my friend Dan’s 26th birthday tomorrow night with a big group of people, mattress shopping on Saturday, and errands allllll of Sunday. Blogging will have to be fit in there somewhere too!

Okay, now it’s your turn!

1. Where are you from and how’s the weather there right now?

2. Favorite color?

3. Favorite places to shop?

4. What do you want to be when you grow up?

5. Tell me five things you like about yourself:

6. How tall are you?

7. What’s your style?

8. Favorite trend right now:

9. Least favorite trend right now:

10. What are 4 makeup items you can’t live without?

11. What beauty product/service do you splurge on?

12. What beauty product/service do you skimp on?

13. Favorite show?

14. Favorite songs right now?

15. Best restaurant you’ve ever been to?

16. How old are you? (or feel :-))

17. Best part of this week?

18. Random beauty related story?

19. What color nail polish are you wearing?

20. Weekend plans?

Can’t wait to read your replies!

<3V

Amazing $3 Makeup Brushes!

Photobucket Ahhh…just a reminder of the warmth that will be here soon enough!

Hi Lovelies,

How are all of you doing today? I’m at work on my lunch break trying to get some blogging in. I was so excited about the brushes below, I couldn’t wait to tell you all about them! Back in December, e.l.f. had a sale for 50% off of their studio items and I picked up some brushes to give them a try. My expectations weren’t that high, because I didn’t think $3 would be getting me much. I was so wrong! Their studio brushes are really good quality and I can’t wait to get more as backups. Check out the reviews below:

The Stippling/Duo Fiber Brush:

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I know a lot of bloggers and makeup artists have used stippling/duo fiber brushes to apply foundation, but I didn’t really want to use my MAC brush on a liquid…I was worried about ruining it (it was the first quality makeup brush I bought and I have an attachment to it lol). I figured I could finally give the technique a try with my new e.l.f. brush this past weekend. OMG, I don’t think I can ever go back to applying foundation with a sponge or my fingers. The brush was so soft and it picked up just the right amount of foundation and applied the liquid perfectly; I had no blotchiness or caking, it felt like the foundation had been melted perfectly into my skin (I’ve tried it with the MUFE Matt Velvet + and Revlon’s Colorstay foundation). The brush didn’t lose any of it’s bristles and it cleaned up with no problem The brush is currently sold out on e.l.f.’s website, but you can find them at Target too. A+ rating for this one!

The Powder Brush:

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The powder brush really impressed me as well! I used this to buff in my Mineralize Skinfinish Natural from MAC and loooooooved the finish. The powder was buffed in so well that there was no powdery look to my skin, it just looked flawless and airbrushed. The results are amazing over foundation or just my skin after moisturizer. The brush also works with blush, it blended the color so there was no harsh line or powdery finish. The bristles on this are very soft, but packed together really well so there wasn’t fallout. It is currently available online and at Target. A++ rating for this brush because it’s really versatile and made my skin look absolutely flawless.

I’m so excited about these brushes, I hope all of you get to try them (for $3 each, how could you not?!). I’ll be ordering a couple of backups for each for myself and for client makeup.

Have you tried the e.l.f. studio brushes? What did you think of them?

Have a great day dolls, we’ve almost reached Friday!

<3V

Chocolate Eyes

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Happy Tuesday, Dolls!
How are all of you today? How was your Christmas? I spent time with my family and my bf’s family and had wayyyy too many tamales. I’m off from work this whole week so my pj’s have been getting a lot of work :-). Currently watching documentaries with my sister and drinking coffee in my pj’s. I’m almost weirded out by the amount of relaxing going on here!
I’ve been obsessed with browns and olive greens since summer, but browns have been my favorite over the last few weeks. The color is so rich and it reminds me of one of the best things in the world: chocolate :-D.
I used my Coastal Scents palette this weekend to create the look below:

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Products Used:
-UDPP in Sin all over the lid and along lower lashes.
-Shade one from the CS palette packed onto the lid and blended along lower lashes. This is a deep true brown.
-Shade two from the CS palette blended into the crease and on top shade one along lower lashes. This is brown with a hint of copper in it.
-Shade three from the CS palette blended along all edges of the two other colors to soften the lines. This is a matte nude color near my own skin tone.
-MAC Dazzlelight along brow and in inner corners.
-Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner in black along upper lashes.
-Stila Eye Kajal in Onyx on waterline and blended at the lower lashes slightly.
-Covergirl LashBlast in Blackest Black.

What are your favorite colors right now?

<3V

Happy Holidays!

Hello Lovelies!

I’m stepping away from family time to wish you all the happiest of holidays, no matter what you celebrate. I hope you’re having great times with your family, friends, loved ones, and pets :-).

Sorry that I haven’t posted in about three weeks, I was tied up with school finals, xmas shopping, and December in itself is always crazy for me. I’ll be off of work for a whole week so I’m going to blog my heart out.

Anyway, I hope you’re having a great time. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, I appreciate all of you :-).

<3V