Simple Micellar Products

I received these products as part of a ChickAdvisor review club. If you haven't heard of them before you should totally check them out here.

In my package I received the Simple Micellar Make Up Removing Wipes, the Micellar Water, and  the Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturizer.

Let's start with the make up removing wipes, I freaking love these things! They are my new favourite and dare I saw holy grail make up removing wipes. They are awesome at cleaning off my make up even my eye make up. They don't sting my eyes like other wipes do and they don't leave my face feeling dry or like I scraped my make up off. I often find that other wipes feel scratchy on the skin and my skin always feels stingy after. I usually end up washing my face with cleanser and using a heavy moisturizer after I use them. However, with these wipes I don't even feel the need to wash my face afterwards. 

The Micellar water, I love using this stuff if I am wearing very heavy eye make up, like a dark smoky eye, a lot of liquid liner, or waterproof mascara . Like the wipes this stuff doesn't sting my eyes like other micellar water's I have tried. It works amazingly and I also use it with my contacts in and it never seems to affect them like other make up removers have. I would recommend though to have good quality cotton pads. I have some cheap ones at the moment and they always seem to fall apart but this really has nothing to do with the micellar water... just me being cheap buying crappy cotton pads haha 

Now for the moisturizer... I love Nivea Face moisturizers, I use both the day time and night time Q10 stuff... However since I received this one in the mail I have been using it day and night and my face has had very minimal if any breakouts since I started to use it. My only complaint is that there isn't a SPF in it. I have VERY VERY pale skin and burn quite fast especially on my face even in only like 15 degrees celsius. 
Overall I am super impressed with these products and they are quite budget friendly as well as you can get them at your local drugstore or Wal-Mart. 

Let me know some new products you have tried out and what you are loving in the comments!

- M

Banana Hazelnut Crepes

We love going to Cora's for breakfast, I love the fresh fruit and decadent breakfast choices. There are only about 4 or 5 Cora's in the city of Calgary so on the weekends they can be very busy, very often we want to go but there is always a line up and when I am hungry the last thing I want to do is wait in a line to eat.

One of their recipes that I love to "re-create" is there banana blasts. If you have tried this before oh my goodness you need to! They are light crepes filled with Nutella and sliced banana with a bit of whipped cream on top! Sooo Yummy!

This is one of the easiest, tastiest breakfasts to make.

I have made these crepes for years, they are one of the easiest things to make pretty much fool proof. 

1/2 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Cup flour

2 tsp Sugar ( I sometimes omit this, out of forgetfulness) 

1tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

Melted Butter for pan

I put all the ingredients in a bowl in the order of the list and mix it with a fork or whisk. You can also mix these in a blender, it is much faster and gets the lumps out easier. 

Once all the lumps are out I put coconut oil in my pan and melt it, after it is melted I take a 1/3 Cup measuring cup and scoop the batter and pour it in my pan.

I tilt my pan in a circular motion to try and cover the entire bottom with the batter, once the bottom is covered with batter and it starts to bubble a bit I use a spatula and flip the crepe over, once it is slightly golden on both sides I take it out of the pan and repeat the process till all the batter is gone. 

Next the fun part: Adding the toppings! 

This time I used Laura Secord Hazelnut Spread, but you can use Nutella too. I spread a thin layer of it all over the crepe

Then I add sliced bananas ( I somehow forgot to take a picture of this step )

Lastly I just fold up the crepe like a burrito, I will use a little of the hazelnut spread to keep the crepe closed. Then I add a few dollops of whipped cream and a couple more slices of banana on top.

You can also add in other toppings like strawberries with the hazelnut spread, or a custard and other fruits or even a rhubarb! 

Voila! You have your very own version of the Cora's Banana Blast!

Empties / Mini Product Reviews

I know I know... Its been a long time since I wrote a post, between the winter slump and the lack of daylight I have been LAZY!

Originally this blog was just going to be posts on things I crafted and recipes I made, but then I realized those aren't the only things in life that I love and am passionate about. I looove trying new products and giving reviews of all the new things I try to my friends, either through social media or face to face... always willing to tell them all the new products I am loving or hating... Which brings us to this post.

Here is a few of the products I have used up over the last two months.

top: Huggies Wipes left: Life brand Hydrating Face Sheet Mask, Bottom Left: Neutrogena Make up Remover, Bottom Right: Equate Make Up Remover Wipes

Make up removing wipes can be so expensive, I have been trying to find a brand that I really like and do a really good job at removing the make up, leaving my skin feeling clean and also ones that don't sting my eyes or skin. I have very sensitive and dry skin so a lot of these wipes can irritate my skin. I bought some of the Huggies Wipes knowing they would be good for sensitive skin, I liked them for days when I wasn't wearing a lot of make up, as I found they weren't great a removing the make up or very wet feeling. They were very gentle on my skin though. I would repurchase these though in like a travel kit to just keep as a wet cloth in my bag. The Equate wipes worked really well and are probably the best value for your money, they are cheaper then most make up wipes and do just as good of a job as the others. I buy these in a double pack all the time no matter how many other wipes I have tried I always go back to these ones. Sheet masks aren't really my thing... I find them uncomfortable and awkward to wear( I learned this trying out this mask) while this mask smelled great and felt very hydrating while it was on. I don't think it made a difference to my face afterwards. I feel like slathering some vitamin E cream on at night will work just as good if not better to hydrate my face. Neutrogena Eye Make Up Remover it took me forever to get through a bottle of this. I didn't really like how oily it made my skin feel so I only used it if I wore waterproof mascara which I rarely do, I have easily had this bottle for well over a year and now with micellar waters I definitely will not repurchase this stuff.

Left: Rimmel Lasting Finish 25hrs Foundation Right: L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara , Cover Girl Full Lash Bloom Mascara  Bottom: Maybelline Fit Me Hydrate & Smooth Foundation

I love this Rimmel Foundation, it lasts all day long, it is comfortable to wear and a medium to full coverage, I have very pale skin so any type of spot or scarring shows very easy on my skin and I find this foundation covers it up great to the point that I don't even need to wear concealer. I have tried it in two different shades the very lightest and second lightest one the second lightest shade works for me but I found it slightly too dark for the winter so since I have repurchased this I went back to the lightest shade. I had never tested this foundation out for the full 25 hrs until recently. I put it on one morning before work that night I went to the emergency room and ended up staying in the hospital when my husband brought me make up wipes well over 25 hrs later I still wiped off my foundation. This Miss Manga mascara is amazing... it makes my lashes full and curls them I really love the flexible brush. The formula is great not clumpy or flaky. The Cover Girl Full Lash Bloom is a really great mascara for simple make up days the formula is a bit dryer which makes my lashes look full but also like I'm not wearing make up at all. The Maybelline Fit me foundation, while I really like the formula of this foundation and how light it feels on the skin, its just not a great match for my skin, even the lightest colour is still too dark for me. Even looking at it in the picture and comparing it to the Rimmel ones you can see the significant difference. I also found that it would break me out the couple times I did wear it, But I do love the finish of it!

I actually had a few more products but after seeing how long and wordy this post is I think I will hold off and save those for a new post. 

Let me know if you've ever used any of these products or similar ones that you would recommend!

Resolutions- Life Changes

So often we set New Year's resolutions for ourselves, most often these are around being healthier including things such as, working out more, eating healthier, giving up bad habits etc... I haven't set any resolutions in years, and I am pretty sure one of my last resolutions was to wear more colour and less black. Any one who knows me knows this definitely did not happen, as about 95% of my closet is black and the rest grey.

This year I decided I didn't just want to set resolutions I wanted to change the way I live my daily life. I want to build better routines around my daily tasks. I am a person that works better with lists, its easier for me to remember what needs to be done. I found this weekly schedule of house cleaning tasks and decided to incorporate it in to my day.

I feel like it will help to not only not leave all the house cleaning to one day on the weekend. But if I do a little bit each day I will have less to do on my days off and be able to enjoy more time at home relaxing.

Second change is making time to do things for me; whether its crafting, crocheting, baking or blogging. I love to create and make things and so often I find myself not doing them because I feel like with just my Husband and I in our house I have no one to show my creations off to; however now that I have started this blog I now have a platform to share them on!

These are the only two things I want to accomplish this year, every thing else I feel will fall into place.

What resolutions or life changes have you decided to make for 2016?

-M

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We hope you all have a great time spending it with the ones you love!

Pretzel Caramel Bites

Since its Christmas I think A LOT of us are eating more than usual... (maybe even a little too much). I've decided to share a quick and easy Christmas snack that would be perfect to have out in a little dish while you have visitors coming and going over the holidays.

I made this up one evening and it probably took all of 25 minutes... maybe a bit longer because peeling the wrappers off caramel squares are one heck of a tedious task!

Originally I wanted to add pecans on top of these kind of like a turtles themed treat. however, the price of pecans is crazy! When I loaded some into a bag at the bulk barn they rang in as $25, I decided that was a little pricey for a small little snack and that if I went without the pecans it wouldn't even cost half of that to make them. 

So I just went with the pretzels, caramel, and chocolate drizzled over them. 

making these was extremely easy! you can always enlist a child or two to help ;) 

I covered my cookie sheets with parchment, laid out the  pretzels and then unwrapped all the caramel squares and placed one on each pretzel, I then baked them in the oven on 325 for about 6 mins.

Once all the caramels were melted/soft, I took them out and placed another pretzel on top to make like little sandwiches.

I then took my chocolate chips and melted them in a bowl in the microwave once it was all melted I poured it in a ziploc bag to use like a piping bag and drizzled my chocolate all on top. 

I love these. I love the mix of the chocolate, caramel and the salt from the pretzels. perfect quick and easy snack to have out if you know company is coming. 

You could also do some up in cute cello bags tied with ribbon as a little gift if you visit someone over the holidays. 

Cookies!

I'm a bit of a cookie snob. I only like homemade cookies. I hate hate hate store bought cookies. The ones from the grocery store bakery aren't too bad and will do in a pinch but never do I buy packaged cookies. Cookies have always been my go to item when I bake.  I just love how simple they can be, mix them, drop them on the pan and bake. Can't get much easier than that. 

This past weekend a friend and I decided we wanted to get together and do some Christmas baking. We knew we wanted to do sugar cookies and gingerbread, classic Christmas cookies. I actually had never made sugar cookies before I was always so intimidated by them... why I have no idea but for some reason I thought they would be difficult. However I scoured the internet and by internet I mean Pinterest... and found this recipe and decided to give it a try. 

It was sooo easy, and they are delicious! 

I also found a new gingerbread recipe which will definitely now be my go to recipe. Again it was another Pinterest, I loved how the cookies were crisp to the touch but almost melted in your mouth. You can find the recipe here. 

We also made some macaroons which is the recipe I am going to share here with you, as it is my own, or at least a recipe that has been in my book for years and has now become my own.

Disclaimer... I am still getting used to this blogging thing and totally forgot to take pics of the process so I am including a group picture of all the cookies we made. 

Chocolate Macaroons

6TBS of cocoa 

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of Milk

1 1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut

Mix first 4 ingredients together in a pot. 
Boil for 2 minutes
remove from heat add vanilla, mix in coconut and oatmeal*.
Drop spoonfuls on wax or parchment paper while still warm, wait until dry and peel off and store in air tight container. 

* I usually pre-mix my coconut and oatmeal in a bowl and mix together all at once

What are your favourite Holiday cookies? Let me know in the comments below! I am always looking for more cookie ideas!