Bronzers: tips and tricks!

Who loves a bronzey glow? Yaas! Me too!

Bronzing the face up is an amazing way to add some color to the face, and make it look like you've spent the last 10 days with your face in the sun and toes in the sand.
For me, there's bronzing in the summer and bronzing in the winter. I think it looks more "natural" (who are we kidding?) if you take it easy on the bronzer when you are naturally a little more pale.

Where to bronze? I start with the hallows of my cheeks. I suck in and make that lovely fishy face that we all know and love. With a big fluffy brush I start off with a light hand and build up to the color I want. Always start light, if you add too much either you have to work for 6 years to blend it away, or you have to start over. And nobody has time for that. After my cheek bones are bronzey I go from temple to temple across my forehead. Use a much lighter hand for this part. You don't want to look like you just colored your hair brown and have stains left over. I use a super light hand on my chin area and down the top of my nose.

Remember I said there was two types of bronzing? For me, in the summer I like to use first a little bit of a darker bronzer... maybe 3 shades darker than my skin, and a warm color. Also, I like for it to have just a touch of shimmer or glow to it. NOT GLITTER. Because, we are not five.
In the winter I like to use a matte bronzer, that has a little more of a cooler color, and usually only 2 shades darker than my skin tone. My summer is divided like this: November - February is winter. Everything else is summer. ;)  I never like to rush the winter to get here, and I don't like for the summer to leave. Use your judgement.

Products I love:
Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer is a nice warm, satin finish bronzer. The texture of this is amazing, it's currently my fave! It smells AMAZING. Also blends into the skin like butter, and lasts all day! $14.99 on Ulta. But, I think you can find it cheaper from some drugstores.

Wet n' Wild has a color icon bronzer, that is in a HUGE pan, and it's only like $4! Seriously, you can't beat that. This one has a little more shimmer in it than the other, but like I said, in the summer I like that. Plus, this has SPF 15 in it! Protect that face as much as possible in the summer!

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer is the perfect matte bronzer. This product I have only swatched in stores, it looked and felt amazing, but I have never actually owned it. $30

So, there was a Smashbox bronzer that I LOVE for winter, and apparently they don't make it anymore. That just completely blew my mind looking on the website for the link.

Let me know in the comments if there are any bronzers that you absolutely cannot live without!

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!

Bobbi Cooks

Easy Peasy Chicken Pie

Ok, so just about every Wednesday my sister who lives an hour away brings my 2 nieces and also our mother over to visit. Almost every time we end up cooking something quick and easy to feed us all! We decided this Wednesday we would make a take on chicken pot pie. Instead of the traditional crust we used a nice, flaky puff pastry. This meal will definitely keep you full, and it can be a quick lunch or dinner! If you'd like to skip the long version, scroll down to the bottom for a quick recipe guide.

So, if you're ready for the line up...here it is:

What you see here is store bought puff pastry (in the freezer isle), frozen mixed vegetables, chicken broth, a rotisserie chicken (you can use any type of chicken you have on hand), onion, garlic, flour, and salt and pepper and any other spices that you prefer,  such as ccrushed pepper flakes to add spice.To give it a fresh taste, you could add some chopped fresh parsley.  You can really make this your own!

First off we started by prepping. By prepping I mean cutting up the veggies, herbs, and cubing up your chicken. Also, make sure you let your puff pastry thaw out. (Read your box for instructions on how to do it!)

Next we are going to add some olive oil to a pan, and add our onions and cook until translucent. You can then add your 2 cups of frozen veggies into the pan. Here is a picture of my beautiful hand, adding some salt :)

Once the veggies are warmed through you will start make a rue. What is a rue you ask? Well let me tell ya. A rue is what is going to thicken your sauce to make it more like a gravy. You will need flour for this. We added ¼ cup of flour to the veggies along with about a ¼ cup of butter. Once this gets nice and gooey, you will then start to add your liquid. What we are using is chicken broth to give it good chicken flavor. We are making a chicken pie after all ;-) You want to use a whisk for this part. Chunks of flour in your gravy will not be that appealing. Whisk your heart out until smooth. Let it reach a boil but don't stop whisking! This will be the most time consuming part of your dish.

After making the gravy, go ahead and throw in your cubed up chicken. We used 2 breasts, and a thigh from a rotisserie chicken. Mix well and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Next comes getting your puff pastry prepped for your dish. We used a 9 inch pie dish so we needed it a little bigger. What we did was floured our board, and rolled the puff pastry sheets into a square.

Once your puff pastry is rolled out large enough, place it onto your pie dish. I decided to be fancy and roll the pastry around my rolling pin for easier application. Poke some holes using your fork on the bottom for air ventilation. Pour your chicken filling into the crust, and cover it with your second piece. Make sure to snap a picture of your niece making a mess while you're at it! (Hey, at least she was quiet :)) Once your top piece of pastry is on, you need to cut some slits on the top for ventilation. Then, cut off the excess pastry dough around the edges. To make it look even prettier than it already will be, you can brush the top of your pastry with an egg wash. Basically you just whisk an egg and brush it over the pastry.

To make sure the edges don’t burn before the pastry is fully cooked, spray your edges with cookie spray and line your edges with aluminum foil, you will remove them after about 25 minutes of cooking.

Place the pie in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, remove the foil, and cook for an additional 10 minutes. After 35 minutes in the oven you will open it up and see something beautiful.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes, if you can!!

Ingredient List:
1 1/2 lbs. of chicken cubed
2 pieces of puff pastry (thawed)
3 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of frozen vegetables
half a small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic minced
1/4 cups of flour
1/4 cups of butter
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Dice half of a small onion, mince 1 glove of garlic, and cube your chicken.
Start off by putting about 2 tbsp. of olive oil in pan, saute onions until translucent,add garlic for about 30 seconds, then add frozen vegetables. Once they are heated through you want to add your butter and flour. Stir together until it's all mixed (your flour needs to cook for a minute so your gravy doesn't taste like flour.) Slowly add chicken broth whisking until completely smooth. Bring to a boil to get the maximum thickness, then add chicken. Once it's mixed together, take off heat.
Follow package directions for puff pastry, roll out with a flour dusting to fit your pie pan. place the first pieces in bottom of pan, and make sure to poke with fork to allow steam to escape. Pour your filling into pie pan and top with 2nd puff pastry. Pinch the two together and cut off extras. Also, don't forget to cut slits in the top of your pie. Brush over an egg wash on top, and place foil around the crust of your pie. This will prevent your edges from burning.
Place in 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Take off foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, and enjoy!

Let your kids (or nieces) play with the extra dough you cut off for some fun! ;)

 

Let me know in the comments if you are going to make this or have any ideas on other recipes I should try!

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!

Concealing and Color Correcting: tips and tricks!

Concealers and color correctors can be confusing and overwhelming. I will tell you all the tips and tricks that my little brain holds!

First off, don't be discouraged! Everyone has to learn and start somewhere. I'm here to help jumpstart the want and need for you to do this. Whether you are just tired of seeing red marks, need to cover dark circles, or you want to learn how to brighten up your face.

I will start you off with some basic information about color correcting.

Let's start with the basic color wheel. --->
Red covers green.
Yellow covers purple.
Orange covers blue.
These are all vise versa. Pick the color you are wishing to hide, and go directly across from it, and that will be your camouflage color.
If you have redness from either a little pimple or even a bigger area to cover you would want to use a green colored concealer. Most every brand of makeup will carry these. Using your fingers you want to blend these very lightly onto the skin. The warmth from your body temp will help these blend easily and smooth.
If you have super dark circles under your eyes you want to use an orange or salmon colored concealer. Same concept, use your fingers to dab this on under your eyes. Be sure to only place the color on the dark areas! (And don't forget the inner corner on your eye, next to your nose!)
If you want to add a little brightness to any dull areas of your face, mainly forehead, chin, or nose, use a purple colored concealer. Again, same thing, use your fingers to apply a light layer.

After you have color corrected anything you may want to hide, then apply your foundation.
Check out my last blog dedicated to foundation tips and tricks!

Your foundation should cover most of the colored concealers, and don't worry if it doesn't. We can use a flesh toned concealer to finish the job!

When choosing concealers to just hide blemishes you should choose something that is your skin tone. I suggest to put a little tiny bit on the back of your hand and either use your fingers or a small concealer brush to apply.
Dab a little under the eyes in a small upside down triangle shape. Also, if you have any of your colored concealers showing, dot a little on those to blend away. After you have concealed use some loose setting powder (or pressed powder if you prefer) to set those areas. Since concealer is so creamy it tends to crease more on most people. Especially under the eyes!

Now, this is the most basic form of concealing and color correcting. Very soon, I will have a post up about highlighting and contouring with different concealers. These methods don't help much with hiding imperfections, but will get you into full glam mode! Stay tuned! ;)

Below I have listed a few products that I felt worth mentioning...

• This Makeup Forever Camouflage Cream Palette is well worth the price tag in my opinion. It costs $40, but I feel it is a staple in my makeup collection.
• Smashbox makes a high definition HD concealer that is basically magic in a bottle. It will put you back $23 bucks, but will literally last you a year.

If you are wondering, where the more affordable products are, don't worry, I have plenty.

• Maybelline Fit Me! Concealer is one of my favorites at the moment. It has a medium coverage, but is so smooth, blends away perfectly, and is very budget friendly. The Maybelline website sells it for $6 and some change, but I'm pretty sure the drugstore is cheaper. (I think I paid $4.50 for my last tube.)
• Another Maybelline product that I love is the Instant Age Rewind Eraser. It's coverage is light but buildable. It's so thin that I don't mind adding a second layer where needed! Again, the price on Maybelline's website is $9.99 but drugstores will save you some pennies. (Esp. if you are a couponer. Shout out to anyone who is! I could never do it!)
• Wet n' Wild has heavy duty concealer that I'm almost positive would cover a tattoo. It's called the Come Correct Celebrity Concealer. I have heard that this stuff is comparable to the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye Concealer. The price tags are way different, Wet n' Wild is about $4.50, It Cosmetics is $24. Choose wisely.
• Lastly, for an affordable color correcting palette, NYX makes one that has 6 colors, and is about $12. Plus side to NYx is: you now have an excuse to go to Target!

Here is a picture step by step. Start with a clean, moisturized face. Get your favorite color corrector concealer palette. Use the orange under the eyes, green on any redness, blemishes and around the nostrils, and purple to brighten up (I used it on cheek bones, chin and forehead.) Use a brush to blend everything in lightly. Dot your favorite foundation on your face then blend in. **extra tip: don't use a lot of foundation under the eyes, because we are going to use concealer and you don't want to have any extra layers of products that will just cake up. I used two concealers and added them under the eyes, between the brows, and chin. Blend that in with damp beauty sponge. Set you face with powder, then get glam! Add the rest of your makeup and you have a flawless face!

Final thoughts: If you are new to makeup and need help figuring out where to start, this should be a great place. If you are looking to just add some information to your head, and keep on learning then this will be the place. And lastly, if you are feeling insecure about something, I hope that I can help. I know that makeup is just a "mask" and that it washes away at the end of the day. But, if only for 8 hours of the day, if I can feel better about myself, then I will do it. And, I hope that if you are WANTING to do this for yourself, but you are scared, I hope that I can help you. I am here for anyone that needs to talk. Please contact me if you need a helping hand, for any reason.

Please leave any comments down below if there is something you would like to see me talk about. If there is any beauty trick you need help with, or something new you want to try, I want to hear about it!

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!