China Glaze nail polish

Date: 2010.06.28 | Category: All Entries, Beauty | Response: 2

For about a month I was on the search for the perfect shade of a tealish blue nail polish to match my dress that I’m wearing to my older brother’s wedding at the end of July. Whenever I was out at the store I’d check the displays but had no luck. I heard from someone online that China Glaze made a “Tiffany Blue” colour and I knew it would match my dress perfect! Sally’s Beauty Supply carries China Glaze so I went soon after to check it out. And there it was! It’s called “For Audrey”, so suitingly named!

This little gem is priced at $5.99 a bottle, but I think it’s worth it for the quality of the polish. Before polishing I used Orly’s Bonder ($10), which is a rubberized basecoat. Truly, I use the Orly basecoat any time that I use nail polish. I think it’s the trick to even getting the $1 nail polish to stay on!) After applying 2 coats of the China Glaze polish, I just used a simple Revlon topcoat. The combination really works for me – I’ve now had the polish on for 9 days and it just started chipping within the last 2. I work in a job where I’m constantly using my hands and adding strain onto my nails so I need something that’s going to stay on and this stuff really did the trick!

Not only do I like this polish, but China Glaze offers so many colours! Want to see them all and get some more info? Check out their website at www.chinaglaze.com!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Date: 2010.06.20 | Category: All Entries, Recipes | Response: 1

I feel so bad for not posting here in such a long time! I had so many ideas for posts and it all just seemed to dwindle off as I got another job and got busy with “life”, I guess you could say. However, I haven’t forgotten about my dear blog so hopefully with this post I’ll be updating more often. I’ll start it off with a favourite recipe of my little sister. She’s the master of her very own BBQ chicken pizza and I love when she makes it!

RECPIE: BBQ Chicken Pizza

What you’ll need:
- pre-made pizza crust
- 1 cup of bbq sauce
- 1 spoonfull of peanut butter
- 1 can of pre-cooked chicken
- 1 cup of (mixed) cheddar and mozzerella cheese
- onion powder

Direction:
01. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
02. In a microwave safe bowl, add bbq sauce and peanut butter. Heat in the microwave until the peanut butter is melted. Stir it up good, as well. (This sounds so weird but it’s so very good! Puts a “creamy” feel to the bbq sauce and you can’t even taste the peanut butter!)
03. Put your pre-made crust onto a pizza pan and spread the sauce over it. Add a few sprinkles of onion powder over the sauce.
04. Drain the can of pre-cooked chicken, then spread the chicken evenly overtop of the sauce.
05. Top with cheese.
06. Bake your pizza in the oven until the cheese is melted and the bottom is golden brown. Since everything you are using is pre-cooked, it shouldn’t take too long!
07. Enjoy!

Fast Sweet & Sour Chicken

Date: 2010.04.17 | Category: All Entries, Recipes | Response: 1

I just love this recipe and wanted to share it! It’s such a quick and easy meal with a good serving of several food groups. Not only that but it certain heats up well if there happens to be leftovers.

RECPIE: Fast Sweet & Sour Chicken

What you’ll need:
- white minute rice
- 1 bag of your favourite stirfry veggies
- pre-cooked grilled chicken
- sweet & sour sauce

Directions:
01. Cook as much white minute rice as desired as according to the box.
02. In an electric or stove-top skillet, fry the frozen veggies until desired tenderness. (I use the variety with lots of sugar snap peas – they’re the best!)
03. Cut up the pre-cooked grilled chicken into small pieces and throw into the pan with the veggies. Cook till warm.
04. You can plate as you desire but I prefer rice on the bottom, topped with the veggie/chicken mixture. Top your meal with sweet and sour sauce.
05. Enjoy!

Harajuku Lovers summer fragrances!

Date: 2010.04.11 | Category: All Entries, Beauty | Response: 0

I’m very excited about the release of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers line of summer fragrances! With this new limited edition Sunshine Cuties edition line, all 5 Harajuku Lovers fragrances have been revamped not only featuring the Harajuku Girls in their summer wardrobe but also in scent!

Love is now a fruity floral, Lil’ Angel is now a citrus vanilla, G is a creamy musk, Music is a sensuous floral, and Baby is a dewey floral. You can find these at your favourite upscale department store like Macy’s and Dillard’s for around $30 each. By the way – be on the look out for exclusive offers from your favourite stores as well! Right now Macy’s has a free Harajuku Lovers gift with the purchase of $45 in HL fragrance!

Hurry and get these girls while you can – they’re only around for the summer!

Love that just dyed, soft hair feel?

Date: 2010.04.08 | Category: All Entries, Beauty | Response: 1

If you’re like me and have pretty dry hair, you know that it feels so good up to about a week after dying your hair. (Well, that is, if you do dye your hair.) Store bought hair dyes these days have a ton of awesome conditioning properties to make sure that your hair is kept healthy. Not only that, but they even come with a conditioner to use afterwards. However, that conditioner doesn’t last very long and before you know it, your hair isn’t feeling the same as it did when you first dyed it. That’s when one of my favourite conditioners come in.

Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Fortifying Deep Conditioner isn’t your average conditioner. It’s super quick and easy to use and leaves your hair absolutely soft and managable. It’s honestly incredible. After shampooing, all you need to do is apply a decent amount to your entire head, leave in for 3 minutes, and wash out! Not only does this stuff leave your hair incredibly soft but it’s made to make your hair less frizzy and give it a nice shine!

Not only is this an awesome product, but it’s pretty affordable compared to salon products that are supposed to do the same thing. You can find this product at your local department store from anywhere between $5-$8, depending on the store’s independent pricing.

Cheesy Hamburger Hashbrowns

Date: 2010.04.02 | Category: All Entries, Recipes | Response: 0

If it’s one thing having to do with food that I love, it’s gotta be cheese. There’s so much that you can do with it, including this awesome recipe! This is something that I threw together myself after the Hamburger Helper version of it wasn’t available in stores near me anymore. I adored it, so I tried my hand at doing it myself, which turned out pretty good!

RECIPE: Cheesy Hamburger Hashbrowns

What you’ll need:
- a pound of whatever type of ground beef you like (I use 99% lean ground beef)
- a half bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns
- your favourite cheese sauce (I use Ragu)

Directions:
01. In an electric or stove-top skillet, chop and brown the pound of ground beef.
02. Once it’s nice and cooked, add half of a bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns. Mix together with a spatula and flatten to skillet. (As pictured.)
03. Turn hamburger/hashbrown mixture over until the hashbrowns are browned and cooked to your liking.
04. Top with cheese sauce and enjoy!

The cool thing about this recipe is that you can add things to make it your own! You might like to add a bit of fresh chopped onion or add onion or garlic powder to the hamburger before cooking. Or maybe you like a different sort of cheese. This is widely open for customization! Not only that, but it’s super fast and easy to make!

Hope you enjoy!

Friday Theater Releases!

Date: 2010.04.01 | Category: All Entries, Entertainment | Response: 2

I think this weekend is going to a great one for new movies. Not to mention that even though the weather is going to be beautiful, it’ll be great to get out of the heat and into a cool theater for a few hours. Here’s a few movies that you can expect this weekend.

Clash Of The Titans looks visually amazing! This one’s a remate of the 1980’s movie of the same title. In this movie, Perseus (yes, of Greek mythology), is raised as a man. He must combat Hades before he can get to Zeus to steal his power!

If you’re looking for a chick flick, The Last Song is probably for you! This movie is another from Nicolas Sparks, the writer of The Notebook. This one’s about a girl who is forced to spend the summer with her father, who had abandoned her family in the past. Girl finds boy and the rest is history!

Or maybe you need a laugh this weekend? Tyler Perry has another out titled Why Did I Get Married Too? In this movie, 4 couples get together for an annual vacation where they discuss their marriages.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Have oily skin? I’ve got a sweet solution!

Date: 2010.03.29 | Category: All Entries, Beauty | Response: 2

In the morning after I put the finishing touches on my face, my skin always feels so incredibly awesome. After a few hours at work, my skin just gets so oily! I never knew what to do about it other than washing my entire face but while at work, it would be such a pain to have to bring face washing things with me every day. Then I discovered Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets.

These things are just awesome! They’re designed to blot away oil and take the shine away from your face without smudging your make-up. Even though this product has been around for awhile, I was never inclined to try them. Now, however, I’m glad that I did. The sheets really do keep your concealer/cover-up on while you blot away the oil that’s on your face. After I use one of the sheets, I’ll apply some pressed powder to take away what may be left of my oily face. Another cool thing about these sheets is that once the oil is absorbed away, the sheet changes colour. I love this because you can see just how much oil it’s taken out of your skin! I also have to add that these sheets are fragrance free, which is great for people like me who have super sensitive skin! However, they are also available in what Clean & Clear calls “Morning Burst”, which have a citrus scent to them.

These something that I use on a regular basis because they really do work. The package is small enough to stick in your car, purse, or even in your pocket. You can find these sheets in packs of 50 which will cost you around $5.50 at your favourite store. Look for them near the acne and skin products! Can seem to find them at your local store? You can also buy them in the Clean & Clear online store!

Friday Theater Releases!

Date: 2010.03.26 | Category: All Entries, Entertainment | Response: 0

Looking for something to see in theaters this weekend but aren’t sure what’s coming out? Well you’ve come to the right place! Let me give you a little run down of 2 movies you can expect to see this weekend!

Looking for a few laughs to have with your adult friends? I’d go see Hot Tub Time Machine. This movie is about 4 bored adult guy friends who travel back to their lives in the 80s.

Or maybe you’re looking for something that’s cute and more family oriented? Try How to Train Your Dragon. It’s a computer animated movie by Dreamworks. The story tells of a teenaged Viking (Hiccup) who is supposed to hunt dragons, but finds himself wanting to befriend a young dragon instead. The dragon friendship shows Hiccup and his fellow Vikings a different point of view.

Greenburg and Chloe are also expected into theater today but will only be able to be found in select theaters.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends!

Welcome & Cheesy Ranch Potatoes Recipe

Date: 2010.03.25 | Category: All Entries, Recipes | Response: 3

Would you look at that – it’s my very first entry here at Sweet & Sinister! I’ve been wanting to start this blog up for such a long time. WordPress had me at a loss. After messing around with it for about 2 hours tonight, I think I’ve got the hang of it enough to finally get this started!

I wanted to make Sweet & Sinister a place that’s “girl driven”. Thus meaning, you will be able to find things such as product reviews, beauty tips, movie reviews, and recipes. Of course there will be more to come in the future but right now I feel it important to focus on those things.

Enough about the blog – let’s get this started! This very first entry will feature a recipe!

RECIPE: Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

I’ve been wanting to make these for awhile now, but just got around to doing it the other day. Mine turned out pretty good, I must say! Here’s the basic recipe that I used:

What you’ll need:
- your favourite potatoes, peeled & cubed
- a bit of chopped onion, for taste
- ranch dressing
- cheddar cheese

Directions:
01. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
02. Peel & cube your potatoes. (Or leave the peeling on – it’s your call!) There’s no limit to the potatoes – I used about 4 mid-sized, which was enough for the people I was serving.
03. Chop your onion and add it to the cubed potatoes.
04. In a pot, add water and boil the potatoes and onions on your stove top until potatoes are a bit tender.
05. After potatoes are tender, drain the water and put into greased baking dish.
06. Add ranch dressing (use as much as you think you’d like) and fold potatoes over until completely covered.
07. Top with cheddar cheese and bake for 15 minutes.

This makes such a great side dish for just about anything. Of course you can take this recipe and make it according to your own tastes – adding different ingredients. If I had bacon handy, I would of added a bit as well!

Hope you find this recipe of use and don’t forget to check back for more!