Friday, January 30, 2015

Game Day Snacks | The In-Vince-ible Sub Sandwich + In-Vince-ible Pizza


This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PartyWithBigY #CollectiveBias

Party planning is something I'm still getting the hang of. Now that we have our own place and my fiancé has offered up our new home as the new "party place to be" with the big game day party being our kick off, I feel like I'll be doing a lot of it. The toughest part for me is figuring out how much food to get or make. For the big game day party, we have both my fiancé and I's families coming as well as all of our friends. That's a lot of people to feed! 

Cue: The Big Y!


Right now, they have the In-Vince-ible pizza and In-Vince-ible sub sandwich pre-made right at the pizza and sub shop! They're perfect for feeding large groups without spending a lot of money.
My Big Y's Sandwich Shop
Both the pizza and the sandwich are named after defensive lineman Vince Wilfork! If you're a football fan, I'm sure you know the name. He also recently made headlines for helping a woman out of her overturned vehicle. Talk about a true hero!

Vince has also teamed up with Big Y's Living Well Eating Smart Wellness Team (along with registered dietitians Carrie Taylor and Andrea Samson) to tackle diabetes. After watching his father battle the disease, Vince has devoted his foundation to finding a cure to diabetes.

As for the food...

The In-Vince-Ible Sub Sandwich starts off on a LaCrosta Italian Bread. Then they layer on a pound (yes, A POUND!) of meat (ham, pepperoni, hard salami and capicola hot ham), provolone cheese and then lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, onions, banana peppers, mayo and basil pesto. It's INSANELY HUGE and delicious! Feeds about six to ten depending on how you cut it.



The In-Vince-Ible Pizza is made on Big Y's fresh dough and is topped with their signature sauce, ham, pepperoni, hard salami, capicola hot ham and cheese. Then fresh tomatoes, green peppers, roasted red peppers, onions, banana peppers and basil pesto are layered on top. Available by the slice, large 18' or Big Y's huge party size pizza.

Both are delicious and definitely can feed a large party! 

Where would you bring an In-Vince-Ible pizza or sub?
Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Urban Decay LTD Palette - Swatches & Review


Hi baby dolls! There's nothing worse than falling in love with a palette just to find out that it's not even available, am I right? Not the case with this palette! Urban Decay just announced that they're re-releasing the Urban Decay LTD Palette again on January 25th, exclusively on Ulta.com.

Let's hop into this review by starting with the packaging. ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME? The case is a neon, acid green with a jeweled "UD" on top. My absolute favorite part of the packaging is the closure (see first picture). You have to push it in to have it pop open. Okay, so it might not wow a lot of people, but it tickles me, guys. I love it.

The palette itself is made up of 20 eyeshadows - 18 exclusive shades and two best sellers - ranging from wham-bam glitter bombs to neutrals. It also comes with a dual-sided brush like the Naked palettes.


  • Nameless - a medium taupe satin. Mmm, talk about applying like butter. Awesome color pay off. This is basically Deeper's cooler-toned cousin. I also noticed a little bit of frostiness in this shade.
  • Backdoor - a cool dark matte brown. To the touch, this shade is smoooooth but unfortunately, applied is a little on the dry side. It's not a total loss though and can be helped by wearing a primer underneath.
  • Deeper - a medium metallic bronze. Sa-woon! Urban Decay knows their way around a metallic. Smooth application and blended so well. Pigmentation was on point!
  • Disco - a pale metallic gold with with iridescent glitter. Okay. The picture does no justice to this color. It's definitely a bit more gold in real life. Unfortunately, the little glitters catch up in the brush and never make it onto your lid. Sadface. The base color itself though is beautiful. Glitter fall out but pigmentation for the base shade was nice.
  • Heat - a bright metallic copper. This baby is the closest thing to a metallic orange without actually being orange. It is so, so beautiful. Pigmentation is A+. Application was smooth as was blending.
  • Crystal - an icy metallic blue shimmer. This shade is all-around light. Light pigmentation and almost thin to the touch. It's workable but a little disappointing. I would've loved to have seen this a bit more pigmented. 
  • Goddess - a deep smokey blue with micro-glitter. I would describe this with more of a blackened navy base and lighter blue shimmer and micro-glitter. Unfortunately, this was a little dry and patchy application-wise. 
  • Vaporize - a medium metallic grey-taupe. This shade is ah-mazing and makes my top five faves from this palette. Super buttery soft, easy to blend and wear time was great at about 8 hours. Love, love, love it!
  • Floss - a deep metallic emerald with micro-glitter. I'd describe it as a blackened base with an emerald shimmer/micro-glitter. A little dry but totally workable and pretty pigmented nonetheless. Blending does fade it a bit so I recommend patting it on, blending, patting, etc. to build opacity.
  • Perversion - a soft matte black. While it was definitely more opaque and pigmented than I thought it would be with one swipe, it still falls a little flat. It fades when blended and is a little on the dry side. You can definitely gain some opacity by building it up but it kind of just falls into that "every other matte black" category.
  • Provocateur - an icy metallic pink with micro-glitter. Unfortunately, the base color outlasts the glitter. There's a lot of glitter that doesn't even make it to the lid due to fall out. If you really want to make this color work, spray some MAC Fix+ on your brush and then apply by patting it on your lid.
  • Hoodoo - a medium metallic violet with pink shift. Hoodoo that voodoo you do? Hahaha, sorry. Super smooth application but a tiny bit on the powdery side. No fall out to report. 
  • Freakshow - a bright purple satin. Now this is what I'm talkin' about! A nice, buttery-soft, bright purple. Pigmentation was on point and lasted about six hours.
  • Junkshow - a bright pink satin. Swatch-wise this was a dream but as soon as it got to the lid, it fell short and wasn't as pigmented. I definitely recommend using a base/primer/white underneath this to really make it pop.
  • Blitz - a bright metallic gold. Urban Decay is KILLIN' IT with the metallics in this palette. The color payoff from this baby is INSANE. I can't say enough good things about this shade.
  • Chase - a soft metallic bronze. Ugh, just amazing! One swipe had me dying over how pigmented it was without a primer underneath. Smooth, pigmented and wear time was over eight hours.
  • Last Sin - a pale champagne shimmer. I love when they include a great highlighter shade!  It's a bit lighter in person that what is swatched above. Teensy bit of fall out but otherwise great shade.
  • Roadstripe - an iridescent white with blue-violet shift. I wanted to love this so bad. The iridescence is there, the picture just doesn't show it. What kind of ruins it for me is that it just falls short opacity-wise. It's a little dry and found it hard to apply on my lid. It did, however, look awesome in the inner corner. So there's that :)
  • Anonymous - a pale peachy cream matte. YAAAAAAS! Velvety, smooth shade with amazing color pay off. A great neutral shade in a sea of brights in this palette.
  • Laced - a soft pink-nude matte. A teensy bit dry but otherwise great crease shade. Fab pigmentation, smooth and application was easy-peasy. 
Lid: Anonymous as a base and then Deeper on top | Crease: Laced | Outer V: Nameless | Inner corner: Chase | Bottom: Junkshow

So what do you think? Will you be buying this palette? Which is your favorite shade?

Available at Ulta on January  25th - $58
Friday, January 16, 2015

DiorShow Iconic OverCurl Mascara - Review


I love mascara! I'll just come right out and say it. It's up there with my insane love for eyeshadow palettes and basically anything limited edition (it's a sickness, guys). Mascara to me is like orange soda to Kel. Who loves mascara? I do, I do, I dooo-ooo.

The lovely people at WeMakeBeauty.com were nice enough to send me the DiorShow Iconic OverCurl Mascara to review - my first ever, super high-end mascara! WeMakeBeauty.com sells brand name beauty products at discounted prices ranging from Dior to Sisley to Guerlain and everything in between. Make sure to check out the end of the review for an exclusive promo code for 15% for my readers only! xx

The DiorShow Iconic OverCurl Mascara is a revolutionary mascara with a K-Polymer Formula to combine lengthening, lifting, coating and fixing polymers for some serious va-va-voom on your lashes. The special "c" shaped wand is inspired by a curling iron to create instant volume and curl that lasts. A research study concluded that 111% found increased curl upon makeup application in lash-measurement. That's pretty impressive! So does this mascara withstand the awesome hype? Let's check it out.

The special "c" shaped wand is inspired by a curling iron to create instant volume and curl that lasts.

My first thought when I opened this mascara was that the formula was THICK, guys. I automatically scraped about 1/2 of the product on the wand back into the tube. That being said, the consistency was bit on the drier side and not thin at all. One swipe gave me about all that I was going to get from this. 

A few days ago, I tried to push the limits with how many layers of mascara I could get away with without any funny looks from the fiance and surprisingly, only one layer of this mascara looked the best. Two layers bought me a one-way ticket to Clump City. Three layers made my lashes rival the best spider legs out there. I couldn't even get the wand through my lashes for a successful fourth try. 



It did, however, deliver on what it said it would do. It lifted, it lengthened, it curled. It lasted about eight hours without any significant loss of curl or flaking. Overall, I'm okay with it. I don't think it necessarily wow'd me but it didn't disappoint at the same time. 

Thankfully, with such a big discount off prices, you can buy a whole bunch of mascaras from WeMakeBeauty.com and see which one works for you!

What do you think of the DiorShow Iconic OverCurl Mascara? What's your holy grail mascara?

WeMakeBeautyShop | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Use the exclusive code: Noelle2015 for 15% off your order!

*Sent to me from WeMakeBeauty.com but opinions are allllll mine! :)

Friday, January 09, 2015

Game Day Snacks | The BEST Buffalo Chicken Dip EVER!


This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PartyWithBigY #CollectiveBias

Ladies and gentlemen, the super party (AKA the big game day!) is almost upon us! But let's get a few things straight. I don't really care about who's playing. Even though I was a cheerleader for part of my life, I know absolutely nothing about the sport. I may be there "watching" and maybe even throwing in a few, "Go team, go!"'s but let's be honest, I'm there solely for the food.

One of my favorite things to make for parties (when I have to cook and not just consume) is my buffalo chicken dip which is basically The Best Buffalo Chicken Dip EVER! It combines all the best things awesome about game day: chicken, buffalo sauce, cheese. I mean, it's all there really. The best thing about it is that start to finish is about an hour, if that and it pretty foolproof (which is always A+ in my book)! 

The Best Buffalo Chicken Dip EVER!
(Serves as many as can fit their chip in there!)
Ingredients:
  • 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
  • 1/2 the bottle of hot sauce
  • 1 cup of cream cheese
  • 1 cup of cheddar cheese
  • bagel chips/chips/whatever you feel like dippin' in this dip (my Big Y let me buy bagels and cut them into chips for me!)
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Take the shredded chicken and mix the hot sauce in a bowl. Hot sauce is a tricky measurement because it's really up to you how hot you want it. Half the bottle (like my form of measurements?) is perfect hotness for us without burning our mouths off.
3. Grab an 8x8 baking dish and and thickly coat the bottom with a layer of cream cheese. Mmmm, cream cheese. Again, it's kind of up to you how much you want. You can't really do this wrong.
4. The next layer is that yummy, spicy buffalo chicken. 
5. Last layer is cheddar cheese! You guessed it, add as much or little as you want!
6. Cover with tin foil and pop this baby in the oven for 30 minutes. The last few minutes, you can take the tin foil off to get the cheese all nice and toasty. 
7. Serve with some bagel chips and get your dip on! :)


This year, fortunately (or maybe unfortunately?) we have our own house to host the big game at so I'm actually in charge of the food instead of just consuming it. My go-to store for all thing party-sized (or y'know, just to pick up normal-sized groceries) is Big Y! Not only is it right down the street from our new house but the prices are fantastic and the gold coins makes me feel like a pirate. So it's a win/win/win really!

For your Big Game Parties, Big Y is offering the following specials:
  • Party Power Pack: two 30 inch super subs (roast beef, ham or turkey), party size pizza (one topping), 4 pounds of super tenders, InVinceIble Pizza, InVinceible Sandwich (They start with a loaf of our famous LaCrosta Italian Bread, layer in a pound of meat (Ham, Pepperoni, Hard Salami and Capicola Hot Ham), add Provolone Cheese and top it with Lettuce, Tomatoes, Roasted Red Peppers, Onions, Banana Peppers, Mayonnaise and Basil Pesto.) Game Day Seasoned Wings: in the butcher shop – Buffalo, Teriyaki, Beer Can and honey BBQ.
  • Party Special: party size cheese pizza, 12 super tenders, one liter bottle of coke. ($24.98 with silver coin)

  • Smaller Party Special: large cheese, 6 super tenders, one liter bottle coke. ($12.98 with silver coin)
Do you shop at Big Y? What are your favorite big game party snacks?
Tuesday, January 06, 2015

The Bathory Lemon/Sandalwood/Ylang Ylang Soak - Review


Hey dolls! A little while ago, I was given the chance to make my own bath soak from the folks at The Bathory!

At this site, you can choose what kind of bath you want from three options: bask, soothe or detox. Bask is packed with three luxurious salts, soothe is made with honey, buttermilk and oatmeal and detox is made with pure epsom salt and Rhassoul clay to draw out toxins. Your girl went with "soothe" because my skin always tends to be a little on the dry side so I'm always looking for hydrating stuff to use on my body. 

Once you've chosen what type of bath you want, you get to choose three oils to add to your bath. I love that when you click to find out more info on the oil, it shows you what it smells like, what other oils it goes with and how it makes you feel. How cool is that? I chose lemon, sandalwood and ylang ylang. 

Lemon is powerfully antibacterial, stimulating and focusing and Lord knows I need that. I feel like when I gave birth to Hunter, I also gave birth to about half of my brain cells and can't focus for crap. I also chose Sandalwood which is supposed to be calming and is an aphrodisiac (HA HA HA HA. I'm dying.) Lastly, I picked Ylang Ylang which is another aphrodisiac (I swear, I didn't pick it for this purpose!) and is supposed to make you feel happy. 

Guys, can I just start off by saying don't pick these three together. The scent was just NOT working for me at all. But that's my fault. Total blogger error. So keep that in the back of your head. It wasn't horrible but I'm sure they were better options to combine. 
This is too cute!

I used about 1/3 with my bath and felt that was enough. The consistency of the soak is that of a thick, gritty powder. After I sprinkled it into the tub, I swished the water around to dissolve it all. Once I got out and dried off, I noticed that my skin felt nice and soft. The scent was there but wasn't too overpowering (thank God!).

Overall: I love the idea of making your own bath soak but just be aware of scents/oils you put together. The packing is super adorbs and I think you could get about three-four baths out of this (depending how much you use each time)! I definitely recommend trying this out! 

What oils would you put together?

The Bathory || Shop 
(currently closed but will be opening some time this month!)
Monday, January 05, 2015

ColourPop Lippie Stix in Lumiere, Bichette, I ♥ This & Rocket - Swatches & Review


Happy New Year, my baby dolls! 2014 flew by. Like, way too fast! This time last year, I was just announcing to my family that I was announcing pregnant and now we have a sweet four month old. And let me tell you, having a child gives you the most warped measures of time. In the beginning, sometimes the nights can feel so long and you're wondering if you'll ever get any sleep and then you wake up and a month has gone by. It's insane! I'm excited to see what 2015 brings! I'm sure it'll be an amazing year :)

Anywho, onto this post. What better way to start the year than with something I was SO obsessed with last year and will surely carry that addiction into this year: ColourPop Lippie Stix! I've already reviewed Bound, Clique, Creature and Skimpy here as well as three of their Super Shock eyeshadows in Animal, I Heart This and Hustle. I've also reviewed their holiday collection "Forget The Fruitcake" here.

So for those new to ColourPop, you will absolutely drool over their packaging! At $5 a pop for the lippie stix, liners and shadows, you'd think their packaging would be lacking but it's actually one of the cutest I've ever seen from the shipping box to the lippies and shadows themselves. Aside from the cute packaging, every Lippie Stix smells like vanilla a la MAC but better.

  • Bichette (matte) - a deep red wine. Totally thought this was pronounced BITCH-ETTE but it's not :( Even though the name isn't as bad ass as I thought it was, the color is! It's a gorgeous merlot that just applies to your lips like butter. My favorite thing about ColourPop's matte lippies are that they're super hydrating and smooth unlike many others. Bichette is also lippie that stains so wear time is about six hours.
  • Rocket (satin) - a soft, bright, pinky coral. I would describe this as more of a bright melon. It's pretty damn neon. Once again, formula is A+ and super smooth to apply. Wear time is a four hours and leaves a light stain. It also has a slight sheen from the satin formula.
  • Lumière (matte) - a dusty mauve pink created by YouTube Beauty Guru KathleenLights. She "wanted a color that both bold and shy people could wear. It's not a nude...it would look great on EVERYONE!" Kylie Jenner lip anyone? As soon as I saw this on Kathleen's channel, I knew I had to have it. It's just one of those lipsticks that look killer on everyone. Formula was the bomb.com with it's smoothness and intense pigmentation.
  • ♥ This (matte) - a red-based fuchsia. UGH. How gorgeous is this? It rides the line between red and fuchsia so well. As I've said before with ColourPop's matte formulas, it's very smooth without drying out your lips. Like, legit, you can wear this for six hours and it never gathers into your lip lines or suck out the moisture in your lips. It's amazing. Wear time is about five hours but leaves a nice stain. 

L-R: Bichette, Rocket, Lumière and I ♥ This

Lumière

 This

Rocket

Bichette

Overall: I think it's safe to say y'all know how I feel about ColourPop's Lippie Stix. I'm so in love with them, guys. This is definitely a beauty lover's favorite secret. You're getting super, high quality lipsticks (vanilla scent, gorgeous packaging, intense pigmentation, etc.) all for $5. Each Lippie Stix comes with a coordinating lip pencil that either matches the color or compliments the color for an additional $5.  

ColourPop || Buy


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