Charcoal Face masks!

So I was hearing a lot about people trying charcoal face masks, so I decided to do a little research on my own.And though theres no scientific evidence to prove that charcoal really does anything for you, it does say that it is capable of absorbing 100-200 times its weight in toxins. And with all the stress these past few weeks, I could guarantee that I was overflowing with toxins. So I gave it a try, and liked the results! My face felt very exfoliated and clean. I could see the reduced black heads on my nose. And since I made mine a peel off wax, it even helped get rid of the little baby hairs on my face (which is good for flawless makeup application). It's a simple and easy mask to make, so give it a try. I didn't see any negatives about using charcoal on your skin, so even if you don't like the results, it won't do you any harm.

How I made my mask:

Well I can't say I used any exact measurements. (oops) I just kinda winged it until it was a consistency that I liked. I made a mask for 4 people. So I used 4 on the Natures Way activated charcoal capsules. I got mine from CVS (work) and they were about $18 for the bottle on 100. 

I opened the 4 capsules into a disposable cup (it does stain, so don't use anything you'd mind getting a stain on)

I added Elmer's non toxic white glue until the consistency was pasty and looked spreadable. 

I mixed with a plastic spoon, and applied with a foundation brush.

I let it sit until it dried completely.

Peeled it all off

Then washed my face with my routine Lush face wash. (Do y'all want details on my daily face routine? leave a comment below)

Don't wanna use the glue? Use water instead. This will make a wash off, instead of a peel off mask. Just add water until the consistency is what you desire. 

I took this charcoal a step further though. I mixed it with some coconut oil (which, if you swish in your mouth is good for eliminating bad breath and whiting teeth) and used it to brush my teeth. 1 capsule to one tablespoon of the oil. Brush brush brush, and rinse as normal. The taste isn't too bad, because the coconut oil masks the taste of the charcoal. But I felt like I had a fresher smile after.

You can even take the charcoal capsules as a detoxing supplement. Just make sure you do your own research on the benefits of using them.

Let me know if you guys try it and what you think! Can't wait to hear from y'all!  

Study tips and treats!

Long nights of studying require an open mind, good notes, a full belly, and a nosy monkey!

Personally, I can't study without having something to munch on. Those munchies can be as simple as fruits and nuts, or, in the case of the picture, something more hardy like pasta.

You want snacks that will nourish your brain and help you focus and retain the information you're learning.

I can't drink coffee to help me stay up. It makes me very anxious, and my heart beat too fast. I prefer to go with green tea. Green tea has about 24-45mg of caffeine without the jitters. STAY AWAY FROM HERBEL TEAS! Those will put you to sleep.

My first go-to study snack is nuts. They're easy to munch on and mess free. Here are some benefits of nuts.

Walnuts:Walnuts contain a number of neuroprotective compounds, such as, vitamin E, folate, and omega 3. These help with brain health and function.

Almonds: Almonds are loaded with nutrients and antioxidents. They lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, and are good for eye health. 

Cashews: Cashews help with heart health and high blood pressure to keep you calm during stressful exam week.

So those are my preferred nuts of choice, but theres plenty more to choose from. I like to add some golden raisons to my mix for a bit of sweetness.

My go-to fruit while studying is apples. Though the myth that apples have as much caffeine as coffee is...a myth, the natural sugars in apples help keep you up.

But sometimes, small snacks don't cut it, and you need something more substantial to keep you going. That's when quick easy recipes come into play.

In the picture above, I made a quick egg noodles with pesto. All the healthy calories from the pesto and olive oil kept my energy level high while I slaved the night away over my notes.

The recipe:

Boil the egg noodles for 9 mins or until tender.

Strain

Put the strained egg noodles back in your pot

Add about 2 tablespoons of basil pesto, olive oil, chilli flakes, and some parmesan cheese

It doesn't get any simpler than that! 15 mins tops! Quick, simple, yummy, and gives you enough energy to study the night away. 

Some quick study tips:

Don't study on your bed! Your body knows that bed=sleep. So you'll become sleepy while studying

Study on a desk. Good posture=wakefulness and focus.

Have a good light source. Week light leads to strain on your eyes, and when your eyes are tired, your body thinks it's time for bed.

Don't cram last minute. Space the study material out. Study over the chapters as they are presented by the professor. It's easier to review multiple chapters as once than to learn them from scratch. 

Don't stress! Stay calm and positive. Keep telling yourself "you can do it!" because you are your biggest cheerleader.

Lean, mean, and green!

So I know I haven't posted the recipes I promised (I'm sorry!)but I've had a very busy week.  So to make up for it, here are two recipes!

Soo, confession...I've been getting...CHUNKY! And I'll admit, it's because of all the soda I've been drinking! So I'm going back on the healthy! 

The pressure of school and work really got to me the past few weeks. I became very stressed out, and when I'm stressed out I eat! And my go to comfort food is usually cheesy, or sugary, or creamy, or cake! So soda was my go to while studying on campus. But now, I'm cutting out the soda and going for the healthier alternative, water! and cutting out the junk food for some delicious homemade healthy meals.

So the first recipe for y'all is my avocado pesto pasta, and green and bean salad.

Well first things first, boil a big pot of pasta water (don't forget to salt the water) 

I used thin spaghetti for my dinner, but y'all can use whatever kind if pasta you prefer.

To make the pesto:

2 big ripe avocados

Handful of fresh basil

A couple stalks of the green of green onions

3-4 cloves of garlic

Half a lime

A handful of pine nuts

And a handful of feta cheese

And of course, olive oil. I use garlic infused olive oil, because I'm a garlic fanatic!

Salt

Black pepper

Oregano

Blend all that in your blender

Mix it in with your hot pasta

Toss in some parmesan cheese shred and red chili flakes

And Wah-La!

Pair that with a quick spinach, lettuce black bean, and corn salad. I added feta cheese, and Santa Fe wonton strips on top for an extra crunch, and there ya have it! A quick, yummy, and pretty healthy dinner.

And for those of y'all who are going carb free, we have ZOODLES!! aka Zucchini noodles

I used my handy dandy vagetti/vagoodler to noodlize half a zucchini.  (I got my vagetti from CVS, aka work, in the as seen on TV aisle) 

I tossed my beautiful green noodles into a pan with a little bit of that garlic infused oil. Added come chopped spinach.

Salt

Coarse black pepper

White pepper

A little bit of paprika

Added some chunks of Roma tomato on top

Finished off with some feta and Parmesan cheese

Serves with some grilled shrimp

Rubbed the shrimp with sea salt, balk pepper, paprika, and Italian seasoning before grilling till they're nice and pink

And there you have it! Two quick simple, healthy, and delicious meals! 

Meri yaar ki shaadi hai! (my friends wedding!)

So last week, spring break weekend, was one of my oldest and dearest friend's wedding! So I've known this girl since I was in diapers, so it was so surreal watching her walk down the aisle to her HUSBAND!  So believe me when I say it was an emotional week (and not just week, I almost cried when she sent me pictures of her trying on her wedding dresses). And you all are probably thinking "week?!"...yes, our weddings are about a week long, comprised of different events and ceremonies, in her case, 4 events that I got to get all dressed up for!
When you practically live in slacks, leggings, and lab coats, with the only makeup being lip balm, being able to dress up is exciting! I love putting on fancy Pakistani clothes, doing up my hair (hijab for 3 out of the 4 events) and makeup and looking and feeling good!

So day 1! We call it the mayoon, which is a girls only ceremony where we get to shower attention on the bride. So, since this was a girls only event, I got to leave my hair down! (which is also the reason I don't have any pictures with the bride, since she also wears hijab).
So my day 1 look was simple and light with an emphasis on the lips.
products used:
Smash box photo finish and NARS radiance enhancing primers, applied with my Elf stifle brush (which I got from work, with my employee discount for $2.60)
Clinique stay-matte foundation, also applied with the same brush
Benefits Watts up highlighter
NYX matte cream cream lippie in the shade Amsterdam
Light lined and water lined sephora liner
And LOTS of benefits They're real mascara

Day 3! The mehndi! (the henna ceremony) 

I opted for a dewey, shimmery, very pinky look. 

For the products used for this look check out my "Day off glow" post.

I went with a floral Agha Noor kurthi. Baby pink Hijab from House of Haya. And head piece was a necklace from The Loft.

Didn't the bride look absolutely stunning?! Her veil was the same veil her mom wore at her own wedding.  

Day 3! The baraath! (wedding reception #1)

Just take a minute...take a minute and look at the bride! Just look at her! As I was walking into the hall, they were making the announcement that it was time for her Nikkah (our equivalent to "I do" except this isn't necessarily done in front of the groom, the groom gets to see her after). As I was running upstairs I kept remembering the days where I'd run to her apartment with a towel over my head in the rain to play light bride. Or when we'd sit in the back of her closet telling scary stories. walking into the room, seeing her dressed like a bride definitely brought on the water works! Thank God for setting spray and waterproof mascara! 

I went for a heavier matte foundation, with cat eyes, red lips, and HIGHLIGHT!

Products used:

Smash box photo finish primer

Tarte clay foundation in the shade Tan Sand

Anastasia Beverly Hill cream and powder contour kit

All blended out with my Elf stifle brush and beauty blender

Anastasia Beverly Hill Highlighter is So Hollywood

Tarte Amazonian clay blush in Embellish

Eyes:

Used my Naked 1 eyeshadow palette 

Naked swept into the crease

Virgin on the brow bone 

Darkened the crease and the outer corner of the eye with buck

Half baked across the lid

A maroon tone from an eyeshadow palette I have that I don't even know the name of lol

And then dark horse to blend and smoke out the outer corner and crease.

Winged eyeliner with the MAC eyeliner pen

NYX glitter roller in nude

and MAC's 32 lash, which I'll admit, I had to go to the Mac counter at the mall (fully dressed in my wedding clothes) to get put on!

Lips:

NYX Monte Carlo

Mac D for Danger

Outfit was custom designed by me from Pakistan

Hijab- House of Haya's sparkle raspberry maxi scarf

Day 4 and final! The Valima (reception #2)
So as the wedding festivities came to a close, I took my final selfie with the bride.
As per brides request, I wore my blue gown thats like 5 feet long, trails behind me, and gets stepped on, but makes me look soooo good!
I opted for a sparkly turban hijab this time, with a headband I got from Charming Charlie's.
As for makeup, I went with a heavy eye, and muted lip.
Face:
Anastasia Beverly Hill cream and powder contour kits
Blended the cream contour out with NARS radiant foundation and my Elf stifle brush.
NARS Copacabana highlighter
Tarte clay foundation in the shade epic
Eyes:
Naked 3 eyeshadow, the shade Strange in the crease
MAC cream shadows in silver across the lid
Sephora shadow in silver to blend out the cream shadow
Naked 1 shade gunmetal in the outer corner, blended out with the shade creep
Black winged liner and water line
Followed the outer wing with Sephora liner in silver, and the silver in the inner corner
Lips:
NYX soft matte lip cream in the shade Tokyo

So that wraps up the looks for the wedding festivities. 4 days 4 looks. 

And now back into my lab coats and whatever I have the energy to put on in the morning (usually consisting of a long shirt and leggings, and of course, my House of Haya viscose hijab). 

But this was a great break from a hectic and busy lifestyle. Seeing one of my dearest friends walk down the aisle to her future. Couldn't ask for a better way to spend my spring break.

That day-off glow!

Yesterday was my day off from work! Thank God! So I got to spend some quality time with the girls!And you know what that means, coffee shop and shopping! 

Well the day started off a bit rough. My car battery died while in the parking garage at school. Ans while I'm always someone who keeps her jumper cables in her car, that day they just happened to not be there! Some luck, huh? But after making a few phone calls, we decided on calling school security to come give us a jump. After the very helpful security men of the University of Houston left, we got our fun day started. 

We started off at this cute little coffee shop, Common Bond, in downtown Houston. I had already got my coffee fix for the day, from my usual Minuti, so I opted for the iced pearl jasmine tea with a touch of honey. Paired that with a fresh butter croissant, and that irresistible looking chocolate pudding. Hey, the tea was healthy, so I was allowed to indulge a bit. And Indulge I did.

My friend got a caramel latte, and cauliflower soup, and the other a chicken torta and a fresh lemonade. And we split a warm, ooey-gooey chocolate walnut cookie at the end. 

After we got done taking all our pictures, we dug in! And boy, was the food delicious! 

The warm, fresh, buttery croissant (that I kept dipping into my friend's cauliflower soup) was delicious! The tea was a perfect, refreshing pairing to the butter and cream. The coffee shop itself was very cute, though seating was limited. The staff was very sweet and helpful. It was overall a great experience!

Next, we headed to the Houston Galleria! We needed to shop for some outfits for the upcoming birthday party. We headed into the Nordstroms and got distracted by the Joe Malone perfume specialist. (Ugh! So in love with those scents!) I ended up buying my mommy a set of hermes perfumes, because why not?(plus the guy at the counter was super helpful and convincing)  I couldn't decide on a single scent, so I went with the small set of 4 different perfumes (so whichever ones she doesn't like, I'll keep ;))

I stopped at the makeup counter to ask for some suggestions for dewey products (since my usual is pretty matte). The beauty specialist there decided on showing me some of the NARS products. And I was lucky enough to have the NARS specialist ask to do my makeup! He gave me the exact look I wanted! A beautiful dewy glow, and no heavy, cakey look. Best makeup experience ever!

Products used (all NARS btw):

Prepped the face with Multi-Action Hydrating Toner and Aqua Gel Luminous Oil-free Moisturizer

Sheer glow foundation 

Radiant creamy concealer under the eyes

Highlighted the cheekbones and T-zone with Copacabana highlighter, and Albatross Blush

Touched the apples of the cheeks with Blush in color Orgasm.

A little bit of brown wing liner using a gel pot.

Lips in Tom Ford's Pussycat lipstick

So besides the minor set back in the beginning, and the terrible 6pm Houston traffic heading home, it was a pretty great day! Got to spend a day with some great food, fun, and beautiful people. Back to school and work today, but I look forward to these days, where I just get to close the books and take off the lab coat, and just enjoy my day.

Late night Lo Mein!

                                

So I came home from work at 9:30pm Wednesday night with an arm full of grocery and an empty stomach. I fired up my wok and made some quick late night lo mein! A quick, simple, but super flavorful meal, and easy to pack for lunch the next day!

You'll need:
Chicken
Veggies of your choice. I used broccoli, green beans, corn, and water chestnuts
Egg noodles
And for the sauce, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chill garlic paste, oyster sauce, and Sriracha.
Chicken broth and corn starch to thicken the sauce.
And sesame oil to cook it all in.

Now you're ready to get cooking!
Coat the chicken in the mixture of the sauces. Let it sit while you chop up your veggies.
In your wok add about a teaspoon of sesame oil, be cautious because sesame oil heats up quickly.
Add your chicken to the wok, but save your sauce.
While the chicken is cooking, mix about half a table spoon of corn starch with chicken broth and add it to the left over sauce that the chicken was marinading in. You can add a bit more of which ever sauce you want. This mixture will go over the noodles at the end.
Once your chicken is done (takes 5-7 mins) add your veggies. The veggies only need a quick sauté so they stay fresh and crispy.
Take this opportunity to put your noodles in your boiling water.
Dont do what I did! I forgot to boil the water before I started on my chicken and veggies, and had to turn the stove off and wait while that came to a boil. Caused my veggies to soften a bit more than I wanted, and also added like 20 mins to my cooking time! Start boiling your water right from the start.
The noodles only take about 4 mins to cook.
Add the noodles to your chicken and veggies.
Mix in the sauce with corn starch.
Toss together
and Wa-Lah!
A quick and simple lo mien!
Enjoy!

Worst week ever!

I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks! I've honestly had the worst week ever! My laptop got stolen at the gas station! Took them less than 2 seconds to open my door and grab my bag with my laptop, textbooks, and my sketchbooks! My sketchbook with years of my drawings in it!

And then on top of that I shattered my phone screen!

so it's just been a bad week.

But I'm back on the line with a new phone and new laptop (with a awesome decal, might I add).

So hopefully I'll be back on the blog soon!

Have a great day! Enjoy every second you get!