Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Cake Pops Disaster Turned Good

In a previous post on my rushed & simple New Year's eve eye makeup look, I mentioned that I decided to try making cake pops for the first time.

Well, as you can tell from the title, the cake pops were a disaster! Most of the cake pops recipes that I read online listed frosting as one of the ingredients but I refused to buy frosting because a) I strongly dislike it, & b) I thought the cake pop would be way too sweet if I mixed frosting & chocolate cake & then dipped that in milk chocolate & topped it off with some more sweet decorations.


So leaving out the frosting, I decided to crumble some cake mix & make balls out of that. The balls weren't binding as well as I wanted them to & when I placed them on a lollipop stick & tried dipping them in  melted milk chocolate, they started falling apart. The process was so time consuming & messy that I was frustrated & was ready to throw away the cake mix, the balls, & the broken balls. My mum, dad, & uncle kept me going though & I decided I'd make cake balls instead of cake pops.


I used Betty Crocker's Super Moist Devil's Food cake mix & baked the whole cake, but ended up using only about half of the cake for these chocolate balls. While making the chocolate balls I mixed in some of the melted milk chocolate, which helped bind the balls. After I was done making all the balls, I dipped a few of them in chocolate all the way around & I dipped the rest only halfway. I put them in the fridge for the melted chocolate to set a bit so that the decorations/toppings wouldn't sink in to the chocolate. I took the balls out of the fridge after 15 minutes or so, decorated them with coloured round sprinkles & stars & put them back in the fridge till about half an hour before it was time to serve them.


I just thought I'd share my experience since I've been seeing pictures of cake pops pop up everywhere, but my first time trying them out wasn't good. I'm glad I was able to make it work though & if someone out there ends up having problems with cake pops, I hope you don't give up & make some cake balls instead because they're delicious!

Have you tried making cake pops? How was your experience?
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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Review: OPI DS (Designer Series) Exclusive

If I review a nailpolish you should know that I really like it because I don't review nailpolishes since I don't wear them enough. So let's get right to it...


Colour:
The OPI DS (Designer Series) Exclusive nailpolish is a berry/fuchsia/plum tone with rainbow holographic particles. The colour depends on which light you see it under, but the berry/fuchsia/plum tone isn't too dark or too light so I'd feel comfortable wearing it in any season. I usually don't like wearing nailpolish that has shimmer or glitter particles on all my nails but the rainbow coloured particles are so fine & look so beautiful under the sun that I would gladly wear this on my nails any day. Any other nailpolish that has rainbow coloured particles would look a bit childish or like something that would be suitable for someone in their early teens, but this nailpolish is a beauty!
My camera along with the lighting didn't capture the rainbow particles as nicely on my nails, but you can see them in the picture of the nailpolish bottle itself.

Wear:
In this picture I've only applied one thick coat since the nailpolish is opaque. The brush is great and it goes on smoothly, which I love because I hardly wear nailpolish & tend to get rather impatient while applying it. The only downside to this nailpolish is that it chips easily & it started chipping by the end of the 2nd day for me.

Aftermath:
The micro glitter particles come off easily unlike other glitter nailpolishes & it doesn't stain the nails even though it's a fairly deep shade & I didn't have a base coat on. To add to all that, this might hurt your pocket a little since OPI nailpolishes are a bit expensive, but if you wear nailpolishes a lot, then this is definitely one that you'll love!
P.S. I won this in a giveaway, so I don't know the exact price.


What's your favourite nailpolish?
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Friday, January 13, 2012

Rushed & Simple New Years Eve Eye Makeup

I got requested to post my New Years eve look, so I thought I would recreate it since it's very easy to do. I chose to do a simple look because I spent New Years eve with my family at home. I also did a very simple look since I was rushing & got out of the shower 3-5 minutes before my extended family arrived because I decided I would try making cake pops for New Years eve (for the first time) & didn't realize how time consuming the process was. More on the failed attempt at making cake pops in an upcoming post. Anyway, so I had to do something that wouldn't take me long & here's what I came up with.


Told you it was simple!
Products Used:
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - Original [all over my lid & crease]
  • MAC eyeshadow in Saddle [concentrated in the crease & blended upward toward the browbone]
  • MAC eyeshadow in Mylar [light placement in the tear duct area & on the lower lashline]
  • NYX Candy Glitter Liner in Lavender [upper lashline & winged]
  • L'Oreal Voluminous Original mascara in Black [upper & lower lashes]

Hope you had a good New Year celebration whether it was low-key or you went all out.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

[CLOSED] Giveaway: Win Too Faced Cosmetics worth $137

Happy New Year, beautiful!

To start off the new year I decided to host a giveaway. One lucky winner will receive all the items in the picture below.

The 2 palettes pictured above are my own & I have been reaching for the Natural Eye palette a lot recently. Both palettes come with a sample of the Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eye Shadow Primer. I got the brush set for my mum & these brushes are not only 100% cruelty free, but the bristles are SO soft that I'm tempted to get this brush set for myself as well. The brush set also comes with a spacious case in which you can store the brushes & additional makeup (I tried putting in one of the palettes above & there was room to fit in more makeup quite easily).
Even though the items pictured above are mine & my mums, don't worry.. you will be receiving brand new products. These products are great to have & they total up to $137 (without taxes)! YOU have the chance to win it all for FREE!

I've kept this post simple to reduce confusion. Follow the link below to go to the entry form & read the rules & info on mandatory entries & additional entries.

Deadline: 11:59 pm EST on February 07, 2012

If you have any questions, leave a comment or get in touch via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. Good luck!
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