Halloween Makeup : Face of the Day October 31, 2015

Face:

Lush Tea Tree Toner

Astrida Naturals Carrot Seed & Geranium Moisturizer

Covergirl Outlast Primer

Loreal Infallible Pro Matte Foundation - 101 Classic Ivory

Maybelline Super Stay Better Skin Foundation - 20 Classic Ivory

Maybelline Super Stay Better Skin Concealer - 10 Ivory

ELF Mineral Concealer - Fair

Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Face Powder

Physicians Formula Powder Palette Multi Colored Blush Blushing Mocha

Tarte Be Mattenificent Palette Blush

The Balm Mary Lou-Manizer Highlighter

Milani Felt Tip Brow Pen Dark Brown

Brows:

 Maybelline Clear Brow Gel Mascara

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade Dark Brown

NYX Tinted Brow Gel Espresso

Eyes: ColourPop Creme Gel Colour Zulu

Sally Girl Single Eyeshadow Mint

Sally Girl Single Eyeshadow Wine

Be a Bombshell Eyeshadow Quad Bora Bora 

Kat Von D Metal Crush Eyeshadow - Thunderstruck 

Kat Von D Chrysallis Eyeshadow Palette

ColourPop Creme Gel Liner Zulu

Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil - Desperation

Kat Von D Eyeliner Trooper

Maybelline Lash Discovery Waterproof Mascara

Maybelline Chaotic Lash Waterproof Mascara

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

Lips:

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip - Trap & Vice 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alaina

My Life Lately & An Apology for Not Blogging in Forever...

I'm so sorry I've been pretty absent here on my blog! I've been working so hard trying to keep up on my YouTube beauty channel lately. I've also been thinking about trying to get back into my personal vlog channel too. There have been a couple of weeks where I didn't think I would have the time or energy to get my two weekly videos up on my main channel, much less work on this blog. Life has been somewhat crazy lately for me and my sweet husband Justin. We've had things to do every weekend since early September, which puts a strain on filming because the weekends are really the only days I get any time to film and work on YouTube (not to mention the only time I get to spend quality time with family too).

Now in the case of blogging, I usually like to get new product reviews done here, but I honestly haven't really been up to date on any new stuff lately. I haven't bought any new makeup in awhile, where usually I try to stop by Walgreens or CVS once a week to see what's new, I just haven't felt the urge to do so lately. And it might also be influenced by the fact that Justin and I are trying to save money more regularly to try and get a little ahead of the bills as well. We're moving into the slow season at my day job though and hopefully I will have more time on my hands (but also less money in my pocket). We'll see how it goes. This is my first year for a lot of things. My first year living with Justin, married, in our own house, out of school, working full time, etc. And I think it's finally started to catch up with me now.  

As you probably saw, I posted a couple little recipes here on my blog (not something that I've really done in the past). I've just been focusing more on home life than the beauty world. I'm considering re-doing my banner here on the blog to say "beauty & fashion & more" and hopefully being able to post a big variety of things.

So that's my life right now and I hope to start back up on her for you guys! Of course I miss blogging and I hope to start back up shortly!

Love,
Alaina

Crockpot Chicken & Corn Chili

Hey beauties!

Here's another fall appropriate crock-pot meal that is ready when you get home from a long day at work! As you can probably tell from the couple of posts I've made lately, I love to use the crock-pot, and as the weather has finally started to break, creating an almost fall-like atmosphere for now, chili is a great seasonal meal. I love traditional chili, but I also like to try new recipes, so I thought I'd give this one a go. Once again, I just pulled a bunch of info from Pinterest and threw together what I thought sounded good. If you want to see any other recipes, just check out my random recipe blog posts here. I'm just getting started with the whole recipes thing here on my blog, so please bear with me and my short list for now. I try to make a real meal most nights and it usually ends up being 2-3 meals in the crock-pot weekly. And some days I get really tired of having what seems to be the same thing all the time, so here's a chili that's a little bit different.

This recipe is pretty similar to my Taco Chili Crockpot recipe, not gonna lie, but I do think the cream of chicken soup and the chicken itself gives it a distinct flavor compared to regular ground beef chili.

As for the chicken chili, let's get started here...

Ingredients:
1 frozen chicken breast
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans of water (I just refill the cream of chicken soup can)
1 cup dry pinto beans
1/4 cup dry black beans (both beans soaked overnight)
1 small can green chilies
1 large jalapeno chopped (I only used half for fear of it being too hot, but looking back, I think a full one would be just fine)
1 large clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne 1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 can corn (added about 15 minutes before serving, so it stays crisp, but has enough time to warm up)

Shred up the chicken before serving. After 10+ hours in the crock-pot, it shouldn't take much effort. I just grabbed the chicken out with some tongs, shredded it up with two forks, and put it right back in the chili.

Cook in crock-pot on low 11 hours.
You probably don't need to let it cook that long, that's just how long we're out of the house during the day and so we are always looking for recipes that can be in the crock-pot for a long time. I find that simple chilies and soups are really easy to do in the crock-pot. My struggle lies in trying to find recipes that won't just turn to mush in 10+ hours on low. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Last Breath of Summer : Makeup of the Day : FOTD

While thinking about doing my makeup this morning as I paged through Pinterest for inspiration, I kept coming across tons of dark, smoky, vampy looks that I wanted to play around with. I wanted so badly to just throw on my darkest lipstick and create the perfect deep brown smoky eye. However, once I sat down at my vanity, I decided to give summer one last hurrah, to go out with a bang and do something very colorful and fun. It's Labor Day here in the US, the symbolic end of summer, so here is the "Last Breath of Summer" just for the occasion!

Products Used:

Face:

Bobby Brown Extra Face Oil

Covergirl Outlast All Day Primer

Revlon Colorstay Oily Skin Foundation - 150 Buff

Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation - 20 Classic Ivory

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer - Light

ELF Mineral Concealer - Fair

Physicians Formula Multi Color Pressed Powder - Creamy Natural

Loreal True Match Lum Powder Glow Illuminator

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush - Pampered (limited edition holiday 2014)

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

Milani Felt Tip Brow Tint Pen - Dark Brown

Eyes:

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown

Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer

Sleek Makeup I-Divine Eyeshadow Palette - Acid

Kat Von D Chrysallis Eyeshadow Palette

Rimmel ScandalEyes Eye Pencil - Nude

Maybelline Lash Discovery Waterproof Mascara

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

ELF Studio Waterproof Mascara Top Coat

The eyes are totally matte, but so colorful. I originally wanted to make the main lid color a deep purple, but opted for white instead once it came down to it. The white makes the look even brighter, I think. 

Lips:

NYX Wonder Pencil - Light

Flower Beauty Luxury Lip Color - LS11 Morning Glory

Loreal True Match Lum Powder Glow Illuminator

It was impossible to get a good shot of the lips. They look so much cooler in person than I could possible get myself to capture on camera. They're super nude and washed out, but the center of my bottom lip and the cupid's bow on my top lip are highlighted with my face highlighter of the day. 

Thanks so much for reading!

Love,

Alaina