Sweet Tooth: Lolo's Cinnamon Spice Bars

It's been a while since I've created any Sweet Tooth posts, and my boyfriend recently lamented that I hadn't made my "Lolo's" in a very long time. It's a recipe I pulled off the internet years and years ago and modified to my liking. How'd they get their name? My friends occasionally call me Lolo, but how are these my namesake treat? Whenever my boyfriend's band, SSLYBY, goes out on tour I like to bake them something to take with them. I know how it sucks to just eat prepackaged gas station snacks on the road day after day, so something homemade is kind of a treat. Lolo's are a top request. They're kind of a cake, kind of a sweet bread, soft and sweet, and very cinnamon-y.

Lolo's Cinnamon Spice Bars 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Combine the following in a large bowl:
1 C sugar
¾ C butter, softened
¼ C honey 

In a separate, smaller bowl combine:
2 C flour
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt 

Add dry ingredients to the liquid mix, mixing well with a hand mixer.
Beat 2 eggs and add optional chopped pecans
Press into a 9x13" baking pan
Bake for 20-23 minutes 

Glaze:
Combine the following in a small bowl.
1 C powdered sugar
2 T milk
½ tsp vanilla

I hope you enjoy these little recipe posts as much as I do! Let me know if you give this one a go. Thanks for reading!

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection, Love Goddess Lipstick, Photos, Swatches, and Review

The MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection has an official in-store release date on October 6th. They were available on the MAC PRO website on September 25th, if not earlier, so I immediately rushed to add Love Goddess lipstick to my cart and checked out. They became available on the regular website yesterday, and every single lipstick is already sold out! I prepared myself for this to happen. Every time MAC releases a collection like this with special packaging, you can forget about waiting to purchase anything. It's buy it immediately or miss out. I thought that if I could only pick up only one item from this collection, it would have to be the Love Goddess lipstick.

Love Goddess is a pink red with a satin finish. It's smooth and non-drying.

The lipsticks for this collection are priced at $16.50.

MAC Marilyn Monroe Love Goddess Swatch

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter, Lollipop, photos, swatches, and review

I picked up one Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter last year when every beauty blogger was buzzing about how amazing the formula is. They fall somewhere between a lip balm and a lipstick. They were originally released in twenty shades. By the time I got to a drugstore, the offerings were paltry because everyone and their mother had to get their hands on them. I picked up just one in Lollipop. When I first applied it, it felt like having melted butter on my lips, similar to eating steamed artichoke with butter dipping sauce. I wiped it off. I'm a lipstick girl, and I never wear lip balm. I occasionally wear lipgloss. This was strange to me. The pigmentation was more than what I was expecting. Perhaps my dislike was due to my expectations of what I thought  it was supposed to be instead of just taking it for what it was. If I wear a pigmented lip product, it must stay within the lines of my lips. The slip and slide of this product combined with the rich pigmentation made me feel like I was going to have it smearing outside the lines ala Robert Smith. I feel like I must be in the lowly percentage of women who don't like this product. I've tried. I'm wearing it right now. A quote from Revlon about their Lip Butters is "94% of women felt lips were softer, smoother, and instantly hydrated." Instantly hydrated, yes, but thirty minutes later my lips feel dry again. I think I'll either stick to lipstick or a real lip balm. Perhaps someday I'll try again and choose the least pigmented offering.

Lollipop is a richly pigmented, bright pink shade with shimmer.

"Buttery balm with beautiful shiny color to give you baby soft, healthy glowing lips. Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%. Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth. Sheer to medium color with butter shine."

I purchased this at Walgreens for $7.99.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Lollipop 

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Lollipop Label

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Lollipop Swatch

My Budget Beauty series includes products you can find at reasonable prices at any drugstore.

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

Perfume: MAC Creations MV1

MAC Creations MV1

Scent is not always easy for me to describe. It takes time to get to know a scent, but perfumes change over the course of a day. With a lipstick or an eye shadow I know immediately upon swatching it whether or not it pleases me. With a perfume, however, I have to spend time with it. I have to apply it and smell it throughout the entire day, perhaps even for several days, before I can decide if I like it. Do the top notes disappear? What notes are lingering? It is a time consuming process.

Unfortunately MAC has discontinued this wonderful perfume. It's light, fresh, and not too sweet. What I smell when I spray it is mostly the combination of lilies and vanilla. The vanilla is creamy if that makes any sense! The sandalwood and musk are more faint.

Notes: bergamot, lilies, jasmine, vanilla, sandalwood, and musk

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

Zoya Collection: Gilty Pleasures 18K Gold Flake top coat, official product photos and promo info

Here's the new Zoya Gilty Pleasures 18K Gold flake top coat box set for Winter 2012. It comes with both and white and a black nail polish for layering. Available for purchase October 15th.

Zoya Collection: Ornate for Winter 2012, official product photos and promo info

The Zoya Ornate Collection is the newest release for Winter 2012/2013. Most of these are holographic colors, which is my personal favorite finish for nail polishes. Available October 15th.

The NEW Zoya Ornate Collection is the perfect to decorate your nails with stunning jewel tone colors and special effect pigments this season. Featuring six stunning, glittering, crystal shades in our new Power Pigment Full Coverage Formula. Superior coverage and dynamic color in one. All in the long-wearing, toxin free (BIG5FREE) formula you love… Each one is as beautiful as the next. $8.00 each.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects. Find over 300 other Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. Each and every name has a color as unique as the women who inspired it.

Ziv - liquid metal (foil finish), gold nail polish with micro diamond particles.
Electra - micro fine diamond holographic glitter mixed with holographic bar tinsel
Storm - holiday black with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter makes Storm elegant, powerful and versatile.
Blaze - cool undertone plum with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter
Aurora - cool undertone plum with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter
Logan - green liquid metal (foil finish)! Pair it with a Zoya Ziv (gold) tip for an extra dash of holiday flare!

Urban Decay Vice Palette: 20 Totally New Shades, official product photos and promo info

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Official US Release Date: September 15th, 2012

Press Release:

Urban Decay launches the Vice Palette for fall—an insanely gorgeous new palette that’s ALL about eyeshadow. All twenty new shades (yes, twenty!) were created exclusively for the palette—you’ve never seen these colors before because they are BRAND-freaking new…and you can’t find them anywhere else. With a range of mattes, shimmers, satins, neutrals and brights, there’s something for everyone. Limited Edition.
From our makeup artist team to our makeup-obsessed staff, everybody’s flipping out over Junkie, a shimmery green; Black Market, a jet black-satin; Blitz, a breathtaking gold; and Chaos, a bright blue matte, a shade that Wende calls “…totally amazing. And there’s a velvety smoothness and depth of color that are never-before-seen qualities in a color-rich matte.”
It all comes housed in a sleek purple soft-touch case topped with a sparkling jeweled UD icon. The sophisticated case boasts a large mirror and a double-ended Good Karma Shadow and Crease Brush (a current customer favorite)! We even borrowed motion-control technology from the automotive industry–with the push of a button, the slow-opening lid dramatically unveils all 20 shades, seducing the eye with anticipation.
Every eyeshadow contains Urban Decay’s brand new Pigment Infusion System™, the proprietary blend of ingredients that gives every shade its velvety texture, rich color, serious staying power, and blendability.

Shades:

Desperation: Taupe brown with satin finish
Muse: Deep sepia brown with multi-dimensoinal sparkle finish
Jagged: Metallic black gold with shimmer finish
Blitz: Metallic yellow gold with shimmer finish
Penny Lane: Metallic peachy bronze pearl with golden shimmer finish
Junkie: Dark green/blue pearl with golden shimmer
Chaos: Bright blue matte
Occupy: Metallic steel grey with multidimensional sparkle and shimmer finish
Unhinged: Metallic electric turquoise with shimmer finish
Black Market: Jet black satin
Provocateur: Light metallic mauve with multi-dimensional sparkle and shimmer finish
Rapture: Dark greyish purple with multi-dimensional shimmer finish
Vice: Deep eggplant purple with shimmer finish
Noise: Electric punch pink with gold sparkle and shimmer finish
Armor: Metallic dove grey with silver micro-glitter shimmer finish
Nevermind: Metallic cork with shimmer finish
Echo Beach: Pale wheat with shimmer finish
Anonymous: Opaque almond with matte finish
Free Bird: Pink champagne with silver micro-sparkle shimmer finish
Laced: Opaque pinky taupe with matte finish

Double-ended Shadow and Crease Brush included

Availability: Urban Decay, ULTA, Sephora
Price: $59.00

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop, Photos, Swatches, and Review

Isn't this a pretty shade? It's Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop (180). I just picked this up from CVS for $6.49. It's supposed to be the best quality drug store lipgloss available, which is one I bought one! It's a richly pigmented, non-sticky, inexpensive gloss available at most drugstores. The consistency and texture is reminiscent of MAC's cremesheen lipglass. Pink pop is just that: a bright hot pink. It's semi-opaque  and lasts about four hours.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop

My Budget Beauty series includes products you can find at reasonable prices at any drugstore.

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

MAC Launch: Office Hours Collection, official product photos and promo info

MAC Office Hours Collection - Official US Release Date: September 13th, 2012

She's a glamorous go-getter with nothing temp about her! Full-time, overtime-her makeup, like her day, goes on and on. What she loves: the no-fade staying power of these M∙A∙C Pro Longwear formulas - including new M∙A∙C Pro Longwear Blush.

Press Release:

She’s a glamorous go-getter with a real head for business and beauty who loves MAC Pro longwear – advanced products that set the standard for enduring color. With a base of SPF 10 Foundation and Concealer, Pro longwear blush lasts for eight hours with a weightless, bright natural finish. Creamy-smooth Pro longwear eye shadow in new soft and dramatic colours brings superior depth and dimension, and Pro longwear lipglass shines from Persistent Peach to Everlasting Nude.

Pro Longwear Lipglass ($19.50 USD / $22.50 CAD)

Next Fad: mid-tone cool pink (frost finish)
Everlasting Nude: mid-tone warm nude (cream finish)
Forever Rose: mid-tone neutral rose (cream finish)
Persistent Peach: light warm peach (cream finish)
Boundlessly Beige: light warm beige with pearlized pigments (frost finish)
Love Love Love: light cool pink (cream finish)
Driven By Love: red-blue with light pearl (cream finish)
Patience Please: light pink-blue (cream finish)

Pro Longwear Eye Shadow ($21.00 USD / $25.00 CAD)
Ever Ivory: pale ivory
Bloom On: light burnt rose
Always Sunny: light yellow brown
Uninterrupted: dark caramel
Fashion Fix: dark cool slate grey
Linger Softly: light grey blue
Endless Passion: mid-tone rose
Mauveless: dark mid-tone mauve
More Amour: mid-tone red

Pro Longwear Blush ($23.50 USD / $28.00 CAD)
Baby Don’t Cry: light cool beige
Stay By Me: light peach coral
Blush All Day: light mid-tone rose beige
Stubborn: mid-tone rose plum
Rosy Outlook: light yellow pink
Stay Pretty: light bright blue-pink
Eternal Sun: warm brown
Whole Lotta Love: light blue-pink

Please click through for more photos from the collection.
♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus

How to Disinfect or Sanitize Makeup with Alcohol

Knowing how to keep all of your makeup clean and sanitary is something that professional makeup artists, estheticians, and industry professionals address every day, but the average consumer might not think about. There are a lot of makeup swaps and blog sales out there that offer products or brands that might not be available in your area, and you can find a lot of limited edition or discontinued products through them as well. If you're getting a used product, you absolutely need to make sure you disinfect it before use. Some products can't be disinfected, such as mascaras, lipglosses, or creams in tubes and it's use at your own risk. A few things you can disinfect are eyeshadows, blushes, and lipsticks because they have a single surface area.

You need either 70% ethyl alcohol or 99% isopropyl alcohol. To be effective, the strength of of ethyl alcohol must be no less than 70%. Isopropyl alcohol's strength must be 99% or it isn't ineffective. I've seen people use it in different ways, but what seems to be the easiest without wasting the alcohol is using it in a small spray bottle and lightly spraying about 8 to 10 inches away from the product. Spray a lipstick on both sides or spray a whole palette all at once. Some people fill a small dish with alcohol and dip a tube of lipstick for a few seconds and let it air dry. Some people spray a tissue with alcohol and wipe the surface of an eyeshadow. It's up to you.

The official MAC Cosmetics technique, in case you were wondering, is to wipe the lipstick with a clean tissue after it's been dipped in 70% isopropyl alcohol and leave it upside down so any remaining alcohol will evaporate. 

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus 

MAC Cosmetics Limited Edition Lipstick Sale

BLOG SALE!!! I'm cleaning out my lipstick collection. I picked out some of the limited edition shades I either don't wear or that don't suite my skin-tone, thinking someone else might like to get use out of them instead. Each of these nine MAC lipsticks have been swatched and worn at least once or twice. The tips are mostly in tact, with the most wear shown on Musky Amethyst. Unfortunately, none have original cardboard box they came in as I never thought to save them.

Limited Edition MAC Lipstick Shades (left to right in photo):
Soft Sable - (frost finish) - MAC Glitter and Ice Collection, 2011
(SOLD) Eloquent Air - (glaze finish) - MAC Glitter and Ice Collection, 2011
Secret Lover - (lustre finish) - MAC Me Over Collection, 2011
(SOLD) Quite Cute - (cremesheen finish) - MAC Quite Cute Collection, 2010
(SOLD) Reel Sexy - (amplified finish) - MAC Reel Sexy Collection, 2012
One Of A Kind - (lustre finish) - MAC Semi-Precious Collection, 2011
Musky Amethyst - (frost finish) - MAC Semi-Precious Collection, 2011
(SOLD) Prince Noir - (matte finish) - MAC Me Over Collection, 2011
Smoked Purple - (matte finish) - MAC Me Over Collection, 2011


How to purchase:
MAC lipsticks retail for $15.00 USD, so that's the price I'm asking since they're all limited edition. Serious inquiries only. Same day payment. PayPal only. United States only. No returns. I will ship priority mail (3-5 business days) for $5.15 a package. Email me at:  asoftblackstar@gmail.com

If you have questions about swatches, all of these have been swatched on my blog as well as on other blogs, such as Temptalia or MakeupAndBeautyBlog.

Read my post on How to Disinfect or Sanitize Makeup.

♥ ♥ ♥
Lotus