Mani Monday: Nemo in the Nude

Hello lovelies!

Thanks for stopping by for another glorious Manicure Monday :)

So before you think OMG ‘X-rated ohh la la-esque’ nails…get your minds out the gutter! :P This Mani reminds me of the great Disney/Pixar under the sea adventure of Finding Nemo! The bright colours on the accent finger just screams of the coral under the sea!

I used Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, Essence Nude Glam in Hazelnut Cream Pie, Essence Colour & Go in Wake up, Colours Nail Enamel in Creammoss and Essence Gel-Look Topcoat.

If you have brittle / weak / peeling nails…do yourself a favour and buy some Sally Hansen Instant Strength polish, it’s amazing!

If you haven’t noticed by now I am obsessed with Essence nail polishes, great selection of colours, great opacity, chip resistant and quick drying time! 

I also love Colours nail enamel…I’m not sure if these are available internationally but they are sold in Foschini (clothing department store) here in South Africa. Nail obsessed junkies please get yourself some Colours nail enamel asap, I love them as much as Essence and the specs on them are equally impressive and at R15 a pop…BARGAIN is not the word! Slap on a good top coat and no-one will know you had used a supposedly cheapie nail polish! I love them!

Ok, ok so I know you all wanna know how you to can get some Nemo in the Nude nails! Read on my lovelies, read on!

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands
• Base Coat
• Three colour nail polishes. I used nude, turquoise and orange.
• Top coat
• Sticky tape

Method:

1) Paint on the base coat and wait for it to dry completely

2) Paint on 2-3 coats of your chosen base colour, wait for it to dry completely

3) Get your sticky tape ready, cut 4 pieces of sticky tape

4) Decide on how you want your stripes to be placed on your accent finger…I wanted the base colour (nude) to be on the edge of my nails…so I placed the sticky tape as follows

5) Take a piece of sticky tape and place it 3/4 of the way down on your nail so that the sticky tape is leaving over half the nail exposed and the tip of the nail is covered in sticky tape, do this on both accent fingers

6) Make sure the sticky tape is stuck down properly onto the nail…if there are any air bubbles the nail polish will seep through and destroy the stripes you are trying to achieve…if air bubbles do appear…try rolling them out of the sticky tape with either a tooth pick or an orangewood stick

7) Now paint on the orange nail polish onto the accent finger nails, the orange nail polish will in essence be covering the nude polish underneath so that you can achieve the middle orange stripe. However never fear, your nude stripe by the edge of your nail is protected by the sticky tape

8) Wait for the orange nail polish to dry completely

My whole nail looks like its been painted in orange nail polish…don’t let pictures deceive you…the sticky tape has been painted and underneath the nude nail polish is still in tact!

9) Carefully pull off the sticky tape revealing a perfectly straight orange stripe in the middle of your nails

10) Now place sticky tape just above halfway on your nail…so that the sticky tape will be covering the stripe of orange nail polish that you want to show on your nail…a portion of your nail nearest to your nail bed will be exposed…this is where you will be painting on your final stripe

11) Paint on the turquoise nail polish…if you paint over onto the sticky tape, don’t worry you will pull it off later, it’s there to catch the mess! Wait for the turquoise nail polish to dry completely

12) Gently pull off the sticky tape revealing three perfect under the sea themed stripes

13) Run around singing like the cute Dory from Finding Nemo…Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming…

So let’s be honest, how many of you run around pretending to speak in WHALE after watching Finding Nemo ?

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

 

Craving for Cobbler

So if like me, you had always heard of grandma’s peach/plum/cherry cobbler on tv growing up but had never actually tasted cobbler…please do yourself a favour and get in the kitchen right this MINUTE (ok well when you finish reading this recipe) and make this for yourself, your family, your friends, your neighbours, your co-workers…dang you gonna want to make it again and again…it’s so freaking delicious!

If you’ve been searching for that ‘cakey-fruity-doughy-warming-sticky-sweet-totally-scrumptious- omg-heaven-in-my-mouth’ dessert…well this is it kids!

It’s also probably one of the easiest and quickest baked desserts I’ve made!

So it starts with you having some leftover plums (or peaches, cherries, blueberries…insert whatever fruit your ‘lil heart desires!)

I had some of these beauties lying around:

You will need:

• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp of white sugar (you could use brown sugar if you prefer and depending on the tartness of your chosen fruit you could greatly lessen the amount of sugar used)
• 5 large plums seeded and sliced into quarters (or double the quantity if the plums are quite small)
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup  all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup baking margerine (or butter)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method:

1) Mix in a bowl: the plums, cornstach, cinnamon and 3/4 cup of sugar, make sure the plums are coated evenly with the powdery mixture

 

2) You will leave the above mixture aside while you work on the scone like topping for the cobbler…the plum mixture will start to macerate in it’s own juices while sitting in the powdery mixture

3) In another bowl combine the rest of the sugar (2 tablespoons), flour, baking powder and salt. Now add the baking margerine (it must be cold when added)

4) Now start to break up the margerine into the flour mixture either by rubbing the margerine between your fingers within the flour mixture or cutting it up with knife…I prefer using my hands…the warmth from your fingers makes the margerine soften quite quickly and I find it lends to a better crumb

5) Keep working this mixture till you have a bowl of rough crumbs

6) Once your mixture looks like the above, you can now add in the lightly beaten egg and milk and stir

7) Now, arrange your plums in a pie dish (pour all the juices into the pie dish as well)

8) You will now cover these ruby beauties with the doughy mixture

9) Pop it into a 180° Celsius oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes

10) Poke a toothpick or knife into the cobbler at around the 30 minute mark to check if it’s done…the toothpick/knife should come out clean (no dough mixture)…you will get some residual plum juices mixture on it though…that will be normal

11) Take your piece of baking handiwork out the oven, and stop drooling

12) Serve alone, as done in the first delicious picture above…the 'lite' version as compared with the more decadent indulgence below served with vanilla ice cream

13) Take a bite and swoon

What’s your favourite dessert or new dessert recipe that you’ve tried that has blown your socks off ?

Mani Monday: The White (& Red) Stripes aka Zebra Mani

A Nail Tutorial in pictures:

 

Excuse me while I go jam to The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army and Another way to Die.

P.S - Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

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Always Daddy’s little girl…

So today was that heart warmingly special day where we all give thanks and show the deepest love in our hearts for our Dad’s, the man that has been your guiding light from the day you set foot on this wonderful earth! I’m sure many of you as well no matter your age, will always be Daddy’s little girl!

On this Fathers Day, my sister Nicole and I spoilt our Dad with some gifts & edible love (see below) and we will both always be Daddy’s little girls :)

‘There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself. 

 My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.’

 - John Gregory Brown & Jim Valvano

How did you guys spoil your Dad’s this Fathers Day ?

Mani Monday: We're jammin', jammin'

And I hope you like these jammin' nails, too ! 

I like to call this the, Undercover Rasta Mani: 

So loving these nails, they totally put me in a Bob Marley mood!

So here’s how to get some jammin’ nails:

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands
• Base coat nail polish
• Three base colour nail polishes (I used orange – sub in red for the original rasta colours, yellow and green)
• Top colour nail polish (I used black)
• Top coat nail polish
• Striping tape kit (if you don’t have this, you can try and cut very thin uniform pieces of sticky tape, you will be able to achieve the same look)
• A pair of scissors

Method:

1) Paint your nails with the base coat nail polish, wait for it to dry completely

2) Then paint on each nail, 3 even stripes each of the different colours you have have chosen as the three base colour nail polishes, wait for it to dry completely (if the first coat is too streaky and transparent- apply a second coat of the colour nail polishes)

3) Now have your pieces of the striping tape kit cut & ready to go or thin pieces of sticky tape (you will get best results with striping tape, try and track some down all beauty retail stores should stock them if in SA check Clicks or Dischem, you can also check online! )

4) Place the striping tape in the desired patterns you want on your nails, go crazy!

5) Now paint on your chosen top colour nail polish (I chose black), wait for it to dry completely 

6) Once the top colour nail polish is completely dry, gently peel off the striping tape or sticky tape to reveal your cool designs and rasta colours peeking through!

7) Paint on the top coat nail polish to keep your jammin’ nails in tact

8) Check out your undercover rasta mani and think to yourself ohmigosh, I kick ass :)

9) Totally start singing & jammin’ to the legendary Bob Marley, Ooh, yeah! All right! ... We're jammin', jammin' … And I hope you like jammin', too

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)

Solo Spicy Spaghetti

Ok so I know my blog has been looking specifically like a nail blog of late but that’s really not my intention…there are loads more variety of posts to come…life happens and things have been uber crazy around here but thankfully it’s starting to calm down a little now!

So I don’t know about you but I more than a little LOVE spicy food and hey it’s good for weight loss it speeds up the metabolism! Score!

Craving some pasta at lunch time, done and done! Who says you can’t spoil yourself and make pasta for one! Exactly what I did and I loved every last bite of it! Home alone doesn’t always have to mean cereal and toast, savour the solo time!

You’ll need some of this

and this

Ok the official list goes a little like this:

• 1/4 white onion (more less or depending on your preference)
• 2 green chillies (less or more depending on your preference again and a little tip – you should freeze chillies, they will keep for ages that way!)
• 4 small mushrooms
• 1 serving of wholewheat spaghetti
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of peri-peri oil ( not essential, can omit if you don’t have any)
• 1/2 teaspoon of margerine
• 2 teaspoons garlic paste (I’m a fan!)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli garlic seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic powder ( I told you I was a fan!)
  
  

I really do like my food pretty spicy so feel free to omit the cayenne pepper and chillies if need be, this will be just as yummy without the fiery kick! You can easily double or triple the quantities to make this for more people!

 

Method:

1) Chop and prep all your veg before you start, and please de-seed the chillies or omit them completely if you are not a fan of heat! 

2) Put a small pot of water on to boil, once it is boiling throw in a small splash of oil and a pinch of salt and put in your spaghetti to cook, it will take about 15 minutes to be al dente, to taste test whether the pasta is ready it should still have a bit of a bite to it 

3) Heat vegetable oil and peri-peri oil in a frying pan, the oil should shimmer then you know it’s at the correct heat to start frying the onions

4) Throw in your chopped onions and let it sweat for about 2-3 minutes

5) Next add the chillies and garlic paste and let it fry for about 1 minute

6) Now add the 1/2 teaspoon of margerine, it should thicken up quite a bit…add a little less or more margerine if you prefer

7) Now add the chopped mushrooms and spices and fry for about 10 minutes, if it starts getting too dry add small splash of water

8) Check your pasta it should be about ready now, drain and keep the spaghetti aside and reserve a little of the pasta water

9) Your mushroom mixture should look like below then you know it’s ready, the mixture should be fairly dry with not much liquid left behind. Season with a sprinkle of salt

10) Now dunk in the spaghetti into the pan and stir it all together, if it needs a little loosening up so the mushroom mixture sticks to the pasta better just tip in a little of the reserved pasta water

11) To keep this meal fairly lite I omitted cheese but to make it even more calorie friendly you can cut the oil down to half the said portion and omit the margerine as well

12) Grab yourself a cosy spot in the sun and savour every last bite of your scrummy pasta for one!

What’s your favourite meal for one ?

Mani Monday: Grey and Yellow, Grey and Yellow

Rocking some retro kicks this Mani Monday:

Channelling some Wiz Khalifa…but in the form of grey and yellow! >insert little Black & Yellow dance here< 

Ok back to the gorge retro-ness that is todays Mani Monday! 

You will need:

• Your pretty set of hands
• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish
• Diagonal colour nail polish
• Top coat nail polish
• Dotting tool / orangewood stick
• Sticky/ Scotch Tape

Method:

1) Paint your nails with the base coat, wait for base coat to dry completely

2) Paint nails with your chosen base colour nail polish (I chose grey), wait for the base colour nail polish to dry completely and apply a second coat of the base colour nail polish and wait for it to dry completely

3) To achieve the sunny yellow diagonals across my nails, I used my favourite sticky tape to achieve this look! Cut 10 pieces of sticky tape and carefully place each piece of sticky tape on your nail at a diagonal…with the one piece of sticky tape reaching from the corner of the one end of the tip of your nail to about just under halfway on the opposite side of your nail

4) Make sure all the sticky tape is stuck down properly, otherwise the nail polish you paint on for the diagonal will seep through under the sticky tape and it will look horrible!

5) Now you are ready to paint the diagonal colour nail polish, take your chosen colour (I chose yellow) and paint on the first coat of colour…paint on a thin coat of nail polish on top of the sticky tape and onto the nail which is exposed to you

6) Don’t worry about being messy, when you lift off the sticky tape it will be perfect underneath

7) Wait for the thin coat of the diagonal nail polish colour to dry completely then apply a second coat of the diagonal nail polish colour

8) Once the second coat of the diagonal nail polish colour is dry completely, gently remove the sticky tape from all your fingers

 

9) Get your tools and base colour nail polish ready to do the dotting on your nails, pour a bit of the base colour nail polish onto a piece of paper

 

10) If you have a dotting tool, you will use it now to make the dots on your nails if you don’t have a dotting tool, do not fear! You can just as easily use an orangewood stick…I have both and found better results with an orangewood stick

11) Now dip the sharp end of the orangewood stick into the little pool of nail polish and gently make dots on the yellow diagonal of nail polish

12) Make as few or as many dots as you like and try and vary them in size

 

13) Wait for the dots to dry completely, then apply a top coat and you’re ready to go!

14) Look down at your nails and be stunned by your mad skills :) 

15) Put your iPod on and jam to some retro tunes or some Wiz Khalifa…Yeah, uh huh, you know what is Grey and Yellow, Grey and Yellow…

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Mondays below :)