Some Recent Food Love

If any of you follow me on Instagram at steph_peng, then you would see all my food posts.  And there are a lot of them.

First up is this green smoothie I made last week or so.  I don't remember the exact proportions I used, but the ingredients were  almond milk, spinach, mango, banana, half a cucumber, and hemp seeds with a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top.  It's wonderfully delicious and refreshing that satisfies my sweet cravings without being too sweet!

Keep reading to see a whole explosion of food posts!

More new pretties to love....

Does is always seem like when your life gets busy, everything happens at once, and nothing seems to be evenly spread out?  That's what happened recently - for the better part of this summer I've been feeling like nothing much has been happening, and recently, I've been so busy I haven't even been able to properly sit down and relax until today.

This haul is long overdue as I bought some of these things over a month ago, but..better late than never, right?

I was a bad girl and went shopping. again. As much as I tell myself that I don't need more makeup, I always fall for just one more lipstick..or eyeliner.  Since my lipstick collection is now pretty complete, I went into Sephora to fill any holes I had in my eyeliner collection..and walked out with this:

I've wanted to try the Stila eyeliners since they came out, and I just had to have this set.  I have never seen the Kat von D eyeliner, but once I swatched it, I was in complete love.  I've never really been interested in eyeliner, but something about that day just had me thinking I need more eyeliners.  No, I really don't.


Read on to see some swatches and more products I couldn't resist!

Food, food, food, and more food! And a BRIGHT FOTD! (for me, at least)

I seem to go in phases of cooking and not cooking, but a low stock of food in my fridge has had me back in the kitchen.  I know everyone says this, but there's something therapeutic about cooking and mixing ingredients together until you get that perfect flavor. I apologize for the blurry pictures, but I was trying to snap these quickly before they were devoured..

A quinoa, black bean, corn, and pepper salad with basil

Sauteed chicken with greed pepper and jalapenos

Keep reading to see how it all turned out, and how I pushed my comfort zone with some green shadow!

Another collection of FOTD's

I seem to be failing at putting up my faces of the day, but here they are from the past week!

Click for the products used and tons more looks!

The Shop Your Stash Project: July

I have to say, I'm really liking my Shop Your Stash Project idea.  It's encouraging me to not only use products that I either haven't used in awhile or products that haven't been used much at all, but it's also pushing me to be more experimental and creative with my makeup rather than just blindly reaching or the Naked palette or my other neutral shadows.

As a refresher, here's what the whole "Shop Your Stash Project" is all about:

• I pick 20 - 25 face, eye, and lip products that I want to use more often in the month
• I have to use each product at least two times in the month

That's it.  Pretty simple.  If you want to see  the products I chose for June, check it out here!  There were some products that made it into my everyday rotation and that I absolutely LOVE (holler at the ELF Giddy Gold Highlighter and the Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Gel Stain), and there were products that I really had make an effort to integrate into my routine, such as the Alverde Liquid Eyeliner, and MAC Orange Tempura lipgloss.  But all in all, I was happy about the "new" things I had to use from day to day.

This month, I have a whole new bunch of products to use, 22 items, to be exact.

Here they are in all their glory:

Keep reading to see exactly what these products are and swatches!

Faces of the Day: A Compilation of Looks

Once again, I have fallen behind on my postings.  I like keeping a collection of the looks I do just to see how my tastes change, the products I use, and for inspiration.

Without any babbling this time, here are the most recent faces I've done recently:

Keep reading to see breakdowns and more looks!

Product Favorites: June

I promise that eventually, I'll get these up on time and at the end of the actual month, but for now, my busy little life (aka applying for jobs) is pushing back the monthly posts that I want to do!

But, the monthly favorites are finally here, and although there aren't many products this month, these products were really loved this month.

Keep reading to find out why I liked these products so much! 

The Smoothies Continue! SOTD

 So I'm happy to report that my life is actually not over and I am making smoothies without a Vitamix.  Sure, I can't blend in ice or anything too crazy, but I'm making everything I need.

Here is the easiest and most basic smoothie possibly known to man while being so delicious at the same time...even though I forgot to take pictures of all the ingredients.

 Ingredients needed (aka ingredients found in almost everyone's fridge):

1/2 banana

1 c. original almond milk

1 1/2 c. spinach

1/4 c. 0% Greek yogurt

1 T. almond butter

1 T. hemp seeds

The result?  Sweet and perfectly creamy. The best possible refreshing smoothie after a trail run in 90 degree heat.

A Few New Fashion Items to Love

Despite being obsessed with fashion and beauty, most of my shopping consists of makeup items, not fashion items.  When I go shopping I may pick up one or two things, but there are only a few times a year when I actually buy multiple things from multiple stores.  This is one of those times.

I have been really impressed with Forever 21's activewear line recently, and I could not resist these two items.  I loved the strapping on the sports bra, and I have been looking for a new pair of workout pants for the longest time.  I have worn these two already and love how they performed.  I'm also obsessed with this chartreuse green color! I can't remember how much they were but they were both between $12.50 and $15.50.

I then wandered into Cotton On, which I had seen a lot of while I was in Europe, but never actually shopped at.  I was completely surprised by its low prices and basic, but still trendy items (aka totally up my alley).  The two floral shorts were on sale for $10 each, and the skirts were 2 for $15, even though the black skirt alone was $14.50.   

Now about these black pants...these are pants I saw on people all the time in Europe, and not very often on people here.  They're a loose baggy pant that has thinner material than sweatpants (but just as comfy) and have a band by the ankle.  They're on the border of looking like pajamas.  But they're not.  I did curse myself on having huge thighs and ankles because these pants are in XL, while the skirts are size S.  Go figure...

Once I got back to DC, it only seemed fitting that I start everything off with some shopping.  But with a bank account being dangerously low, I had to limit myself.  Enter Buffalo Exchange.  I could easily spend hours in there going through racks of trendy, but second hand items, yet I only managed to leave with two items - the blue button down shirt from Gap, and the cropped pyramid cropped T-shirt from Forever 21.

I also obviously am attracted to neon pink, evidenced by the pink v-neck from GAP, and my new neon pink belt from H&M, which I managed to snag for $1.50 on clearance.  Score!   I blame my neon pink obsession on the fact that I've mostly exhausted my neon coral obsession...

This next item.  Oh my gosh.  I'm in love.  It is a beautiful 3/4 lengths shirt from H&M with the most beautiful embroidered detailing and a scalloped hem.  There are no words to describe this.

I was breathless when I saw this, and for $10, there was no way that this wasn't coming home with me.

Well, who knows how long it'll be before I buy more clothing items.  In the meantime, I'll be occupying myself with new makeup pretties, as usual ;)

Review: Vincent Longo Water Canvas Foundation

I used to never wear foundation, but it seems that this year I have been on quite a foundation kick. Introducing, the Vincent Longo Water Canvas Foundation ($57).

Cost: $57
Availability: vincentlongo.com and nordstrom.com

Keep reading to see my thoughts and how it applies on my face!

A Haul Long Forgotten

Back when I was in Germany, I did some European makeup hauling that somehow never made it onto my blog.  I tried not to spend too much money on makeup, but I couldn't resist picking up a few things, mainly from Kiko and Art Deco.  I've already used and shown quite a few of these products, but never got around to reviewing them.  This month, I will definitely be taking these products out to get reviews up!

Here is all the damage!  I'm happy to say I've been loving ALL of these!

Read on to see more detailed pictures, swatches and more!

Empties Post #2

Do you ever have those days when nothing seems to go right?  You wake up and everything just feels wrong, your plans don't go right, you don't get things done when you want to, and everything seems to go wrong at the same time?  

I think I can safely say that I had the worst start to the week ever.  I moved back to DC all excited to start looking for jobs and doing my own thing, until I left my wallet on a bus.  THANK GOD I found it, but it was the most stressful two hours of waiting for the bus to come back to the same stop. Can you believe that there is no way for the people working at the metro center to communicate with the bus drivers, meaning I had to hope for the best that someone turned in my wallet.  Needless to say, I have a little more hope for humanity when my wallet was indeed, turned in with all my cards and cash intact!

On top of that, my phone somehow completely died yesterday.  Although I had planned to get a new phone soon anyway, I had wanted to keep this phone intact for when I went back abroad since it's unlocked.

This all contributed to my inability to get things done (i.e. my online classes and much needed grocery shopping) and messing up some serious plans.  This morning, I woke up determined to start getting into a normal routine and get things done.  I'm happy to say I got a new phone (and resisted against the iPhone again and got the new Samsung Galaxy S4), got my groceries, and got some job applications....with a little bit of retail therapy to get over the stress of the past few days (but that's for another post!).  

The past couple months I've been working on finishing more products - I have a good amount to show, but I'm near the end of many products right now so my next post will be much more exciting!

 Keep reading to see what I thought of these products and if I would buy them again!