Birthday cake!
Posted: January 26, 2012 Filed under: Art, Recipes 1 Comment »Once again, a large lapse has befallen my posting. So what better way than to start the new year with my birthday post? Lol, this past weekend was my birthday (1/21) and also the ringing in of the Lunar New Year! Hehehe, it’s my year (and Kunku’s!) because we’re both dragons ^_^ Dede tried to plan a surprise party for me .. but failed to keep it a surprise <3
Friday, we started off at my place with Sangria and cake. There was Peach and Mint white, Citrus and Pear red, and Grapefruit and Mint white. For recipes check out my post on birthday sangria at my food blog.
Birthday Sangria!
It all started out with a new cupcake I was making for the holidays. I’ll be posting these recipes on my other blog, so if you want the recipes, check out http://shlieka.blogspot.com/2012/02/birthday-trifle.html
The Sugar Cookie Cupcake
This cupcake was kind of an accident. I was messing around with the measurements of the vanilla cupcake recipe and didn’t quite know what would turn out. The result was a sugar cookie cupcake. It taste and looks just like a fluffy, soft sugar cookie on top. I had so many cupcakes, and nobody to eat them. Fast forward a few days later, and I’m thinking ‘hey, I need to figure out what to do with these cupcakes without wasting food. ‘ The fantastic part is that I had just dug out 3 jars of Trader Joe’s Lemon Curd. I love this stuff, and it was getting close to it’s expiration date. I just knew that I had to make a trifle, to put a little moisture back into the cakes, they would soak this lemon curd right up. But when I opened it up … the consistency had thickened over time. I wasn’t sure how I was going to spread it over crumbled cakes. Thankfully, I also had a bag of Meyer Lemons in the fridge that I’d been meaning to turn into homemade Lemon Curd.
Mmmmm lemon curd ..
The left jar is the homemade lemon curd, and the right is the lemon curd from Trader Joe’s. I ended having having extra homemade lemon curd, which I whisked in a bowl with the Trader Joe’s lemon curd. The homemade curd was very thin, which helped thin the Trader Joe’s lemon curd to a perfect consistency. I used the rest of the heavy whipping cream and made whipped cream with a little lemon curd whipped into it.
The first trifle ^_^
The first trifle I made was so delicious. Layers of sugar cookie cake, lemon curd, blueberries and whipped cream. Dede went crazy over it which is why we decided to make it for my birthday. We used canned peaches, strawberries between the layers for my birthday cake and dotted the top with blackberries before decorating with piped chocolate.
Me making a wish! This was my first time piping chocolate ^_^. It was so much fun! I made hearts and shoes and swirls. We got the gold candles from Party City and the freaky thing is that when they melt, they’re still gold on the inside!
After cake and drinks, we headed to the The Smith for food, and ended the night at Santo’s Party House! I’ll be posting a birthday post 2 with pictures from the rest of the night/weekend as soon as I get them n_n.
Nail Tips for the New Year!
Posted: January 19, 2012 Filed under: Fashion, Nails 1 Comment »Yes, I know I’m doing that thing where I’m MIA for a long time again. But to make it up to everyone, here is a post I wrote a while back on some tips I follow for nailcare. Happy new year!
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Nail Polish Tips by Aileen
These are tips that I have gathered throughout the years from being a huge nail buff (haha, get it??). These are all rules and actions that I myself strictly follow for healthy, beautiful, just-out-of-the-salon-looking hands. Today, I’m going to share what I’ve learned. Give ‘em a try!
- REMOVING NAIL POLISH — Instead of rubbing polish off with cotton balls, use a cotton pad. Cut up the cotton pad into little squares and saturate with nail polish. Place over each nail and press down. Wait a minute. The pad should eventually stick to your nail, and you can do other things while you wait (check email, text on phone, etc). After a minute, press down hard to remove polish in one glide. Your nail should be completely clear! Saves time, energy, and leaves the nail infinitely cleaner!
- SEAL THE MANICURE – At the end of your manicure, swipe your top coat across the edge of the nail to “seal in” the nail polish. This prevents your nail from chipping at the edges.
- ALWAYS USE – ALWAYS use a base coat and (when applicable) top coat. The base coat protects your nail and prevents stains on your natural nail (especially from darker polish). The top coat seals your polish and provides a protective layer to keep your manicure looking better for longer (unless you are wearing matte nail polish, then obviously don’t use a glossy topcoat!)
- DRYING NAILS – When doing your own nails (or going to a salon), ALWAYS make sure you have ample time. It takes at least ten minutes for most nail polish to dry FULLY. Even though your polish may feel dry to the touch, you can tell if it is truly dry by lightly tapping one nail against the other. ONLY try this test when you are fairly certain they are dry (so they don’t stick together completely and ruin your manicure). If they are truly dry, your nails should tap against each other smoothly and feel hard. If not, they will stick slightly and feel wet.
- DON’T CUT YOUR CUTICLES – For the most professional looking home manicure, pay special attention to moisturizing your hands afterwards and fixing your cuticles before applying nail polish! I can NOT stress this one enough. Smooth hands with clean cuticles really make a huuuge difference. Instead of cutting your cuticle (they will grow back thicker), PUSH your cuticle back and use cuticle oil. If you do this enough, your cuticles will diminish on their own. I have been doing this for years (never cutting cuticle, always pushing) and my cuticles are barely there now.
- FILE NAILS, NOT CLIP – If you have the time, always try to file your nails instead of cutting them (with a nail clipper). Nail clippers place stress on your entire nail (when you clamp down to cut) and can break the nail and weakens it, especially the tip where the nail will be left jagged and thus will be more likely to peel and splinter. Filing will ensure a cleaner line (no breakage) and will leave the tip of your nail healthy.
- CLEAN YOUR NAILS — Wash your hands with soap and water if you’ve just used nail polish remover. Make sure there is no nail polish remover or moisturizer on your nails before applying your base coat and polish. A clean, dry nail provides for a smoother, longer-lasting manicure.
- MIX TEXTURES — Remember, nail art is ART! It’s not just color that matters, but texture is important too. Try mixing matte colors with glossy colors, thick glitter polishes, thin glitter polishes, and shatter polish, etc for amazing textures! A smooth nail is overrated!
japanese 3d nail art, uv gel, london 2010
japanese 3d nail art, calgel, new york city 2011
opi shatter and opi alpine snow (matte white)
newspaper nails, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet
