SLIDER

Summer Makeup Shopping!

6.22.2016




It has been quite a while since my last makeup haul - two reasons for that, saving and more saving lol. I feel like that's all I do these days! Even with me graduating, and earning more than I was earlier - instead of spending more (as I thought I would have lol) I'm just saving even more. This shift in my saving-our-spending ideology definitely started last year when I went on a 2-month self-funded trip to the US - I've been on a less buying-more flying thing since then lol. Anyways, coming back to the shopping - check out some of the things I've bought recently - what would you like me to review first? Let me know! :) 



Hair Masterclass!

6.18.2016




Pantene, the world’s no. 1 hair care brand, announces its new innovation for superior hair health, Pantene Shampoo with Pro-V and Conditioners with Histidine. Pantene’s newest formulation is created to restore and maintain hair health from the core. This breakthrough – which is the world’s first to work at the core for stronger, shinier hair – will give women the hair they have always desired.


Unlike many other hair care products that addresses only the outer 5% of the hair fiber, the new Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner goes deep inside the hair shaft – to the cellular level – to work on the remaining 95% where damaging impurities exist. As these impurities build up over time, hair starts to weaken and feels rough and becomes less manageable. It’s also visibly loses its depth of colour and natural shine. The New Pantene is the perfect solution for today’s women.



These women today are experimentative with their hair. Workign from withing to remove impurities, the New Pantene Shampoo with Pro-V and Conditioners with Histidine.will erase the damage of 100 blow-dries, allowing you to try 30 styles in just as many days, and stand up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit heat. After using Pantene, even after the harshest torture tests, hair will be less likely to break, fall and split, and will hold colour for longer with a healthy-looking shine.

Histidine is being added across Pantene’s conditioner range. When used in conjunction with Pantene’s shampoos with PRO-V and Keratin Damage-Blocking technology, the system works on different parts of the hair shaft to prevent and repair damage on the surface and at the core of hair.


Pantene Brand Manager, Maheen Hassan said, “We are proud to announce the launch of the New Pantene Shampoo with Pro-V and Conditioners with Histidine. This innovation will help Pantene work from the core of hair and make hair strong from inside so it can shine on the outside. Pantene has always played an important role in bringing new innovations for hair care and will continue by bringing innovative products for improved hair health.”


Availability & Pricing
The new Pantene Pro-V with Histidine is now available at all leading stores across Pakistan. The formula has been incorporated in all Pantene conditioners.


Healthy Sweet & Spicy Wings - Ramadan Recipes

6.17.2016



Usually when I come across recipes on Pintrest, I screenshot them and never ever get around to trying them out again - but, with nothing prepared for Iftar one day and only a packet of wings at home, I decided to pull up this easy peasy recipe and get cracking. The result is quick and super duper delicious. Since that day, I've made these sort of healthy sweet and spicy wings twice more - every time I use a packet of wings from K&N's and they're enough for three people to munch over, with some left overs too!



Image Credits - HERE!


What You Need

For wings:


1 packet of K&N's chicken wings (with skin)
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1⁄2 teaspoon chili powder
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper

For sauce:

1 cup barbecue sauce
2 tbsp cup honey
2 tablespoons hot sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder

What To Do

-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
-In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt, garlic powder, chili powder and black pepper.
-Wash, dry, and dip the wings into the flour mixture until coated.
-Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray with a generous spray of cooking spray.
-Place the wings in a single layer on the cookie sheet, and place in the oven.
-Cook for 35-40 minutes, depending on the size of the wings, turning once.
-While they are baking, make the sauce by slowly simmering the sauce ingredients over the lowest  heat.
-When the wings are done baking, carefully dip them in the sauce, and place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling.

As always, please don't base how amazing these actually turn out on my photography - these are thebomb.bom lol!


Chicken Steak With Creamy Mushroom Sauce

6.16.2016


Apologies for my in-ept-ness when it comes to food photography. I truly wish I was better at it, but I'm not lol. The reason I'm using a Google image as the main one and not my own is because I fear my flash photography of this delicious steak and sauce will make you never want to make it, and that is a shame because everyone needs to make this! I'm not just saying this - this is the easiest, most creamiest and quickest mushroom sauce you'll ever make. Even if you don't like mushrooms, just make this. It's that good and more - no joke! That said, the recipe and some of my own images are below (please don't be scarred for life, it tastes pretty, pretty good) - get cooking ladies (or gents haha)

Image Credit - HERE!



What You Need 

- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp. butter
- 4 tbsp. cream
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 tbsp. flour
- 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
- 4 tbsp. chopped onions
- 2 chicken cubes
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms

What To Do

- Now the first step here is to have a good look at your chicken breasts and see how thick they are - if you feel like theyre too thick, either slice them into halves from the middle and kinda smash them a bit lol. I choose to slice them in half from the middle for easy cooking.

- Next marinate your chicken breasts with salt, black pepper and mustard for however long possible. 1 hour would be great but even if you can't manage to give it one hour, it will still taste really nice.

-Now for the sauce, take a pan and add in your butter (be careful and not let it burn) then add the garlic you've chopped along with the onions and let them cook for a minute or more until the onions seem sort of caramelized (not browned please)

- Next add in your sliced mushrooms, fry for a minute. Then add in your flour, and mix well. Let this now fry for about a minute too, and try to not let it get too gloopy.

- After that add in the cream (please feel free to add less or more depending on how heavy you want the sauce to be), milk and chicken cubes. Ensure that the chicken cubes dissolve completely and random chunks aren't left anywhere and on low heat, let the sauce simmer until it comes to a boil. Determine how thick you want the sauce to be after it comes to a boil and take it off the heat accordingly.

- As you're making the sauce, take another pan, add a bit of olive oil and start frying your chicken breasts. Since you've already cut them in half and they aren't as thick, these will cook soon and you wont have to worry about them being cooked from the outside and raw from the inside.

- All you gotta do now is plate up, put your chicken steak on the plate, add a generous serving of the most aromatic and delicious mushroom sauce ever on top, or on the side and dig in! You will be going back for second helpings of the sauce, trust me!

Mint Lemonade - Ramadan Recipes

6.15.2016



So, Day 2 of my Ramadan transmission (lol, it's quite a far cry from what you see on TV though, right) and we are talking on how you can make the most easiest peasiest mint lemonade ever - in the world. I'm not even exaggerating. Now there are two versions of this, the 5 minute one and the 15 minute one. The 15 minute one is definitely a bit more healthy than the other version, although both are super refreshing, especially for iftar! I've read that green as a color is one of the most soothing for the eyes, etc etc - so this green drink (which isn't a green juice, thank God! Lol) will be easy on your eyes and will refresh you internally too!



5-Minute Version

What You Need

- Any ready-to-make lemonade mixture (I used the Tang black pepper version)
- 1 big bunch of fresh mint leaves
- 1 normal-sized jug of water

Directions

All you need to do is make your lemonade mixture as you normally would, directions are on the back usually, for those who are very inept in the kitchen, haha. Next, take your mint, wash it thoroughly - and start taking out all the mint leaves. Next, bring out your blender, take half a cup of the lemonade you made, pour it into the blender along with the mint leaves and blend till it's of a really smooth consistency. Now add this super green mixture into the rest of the lemonade you made, give it a good stir and ten keep it in the refrigerator to chill! Make sure you stir it well right before serving because the mint leaves tend to accumulate on the top, resulting in what you can see in my images. Couldn't really stir well during my photography haha.


15-Minute Version

Now in the version, you don't use the ready-t0-make lemonade mixture, but use actually home-made lemonade. That means going through the entire shebang of squeezing lemons and everything. The way to make mint remains the same!

Please do try this drink, it's way more refreshing than I've made it look here - my photography skills do not do justice here, at all, haha.

Imli Chutney / Sauce - Ramadan Recipes

6.14.2016






imli chuntey - tamarind sauce - ramadan recipes - easy ramadan recipes - quick ramdan recipes

Who doesn't have Imli / Tamarind Chutney on an everyday basis during Ramadan? This seriously has to be the most used iftar item, at least in my household. Pair it with rolls, samosas, chats, dahi barras - anything and everything goes. So I thought I would kick off my Ramadan/Ramazan recipes week with this easy and quick recipe, that anyone can make given that I've made it haha! 

WHAT YOU NEED -

-2 cups imli/tamarind
-3/4th to 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it to be)
-1/2 tsp zeera
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp black salt
-1 tsp red chilli powder
-1 tsp garam masala

DIRECTIONS -

Soak the two cups of imli into almost four cups of warm water and let is sit for an hour. After an hour, take out the pulp and put it on low heat. Slowly add the sugar, as desired, and let it cook on low flame.As the mixture starts to boil, add in all the other stuff like salt etc. Keep on cooking on low flame till you reach you desired consistency. Some people like it think, some like it thin - so it's all about personal preference really.



Top Picks From The Saira Shakira Eid Collection 2016

6.13.2016

What a stunning collection Saira Shakira has come up with this year - love the pastel and how they've used them! Saira Shakira’s latest Eid collection consists of 15 basic designs and 25 luxury designs; it showcases a diverse range of unique ensembles with asymmetrical cuts based on luxe, summer-friendly fabrics such as organza, chiffon, and cotton net. The collection is an amalgamation of pastel shades and floral embroideries that celebrate summer and the festivities of Eid. Patrons will be able to purchase the collection off-the-rack at the brand’s flagship store and online from their Facebook page www.facebook.com/sairashakira from June 14, 2016 onwards. Customised pieces can also be ordered at the one-day open-house exhibition running from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM on the day. All basic designs will be available within a price range of PKR 15,000 to PKR 25,000 while the luxury designs will be available for PKR 30,000 to PKR 40,000.


Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

6.12.2016

The start of Ramadan in Pakistan means the start of iftar and sehri deals, everywhere you go - you're bound to run into a billboard or ten. While I somewhat understand the concept of going out for Iftari -  I just fail to see how people can go out for Sehri. Ask my family how crazy it is to wake me up for Suhoor lol, actually getting ready and driving off to have it - nope, no way - never, ever happening for me! Anyways, below is a list f some of my favorite restaurants in Islamabad and the deals they are offering. There are tons more deals but I've only included deals to places I've actually visited (not necessarily for Iftar though) - Hope you enjoy my guide to iftar deals in Islamabad - 2016 edition!


ROASTERS

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

THE MONAL

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad
Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

GLORIA JEANS

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

LA TERRAZZA

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

PAPPASALLIS

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

OPTP

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

TUSCANY COURTYARD

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad
Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

HOWDY

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

MCDONALDS

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

SECOND CUP COFFEE

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

NEW YORKER PIZZA

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

KFC

Guide To Iftar Deals In Islamabad

Sephora Favorites 2016 - Lash Stash To Go

I've always been intrigued by the Sephora favourites sets so decided to ask a relative who was traveling to get one for me. What's special about these sets, and this one in particular is that not only do you get to try 5 deluxe-sized samples of high end mascaras, you also get a voucher to purchase one of these masers for FREE! How cool is that?! At the end, for $28 you go to try a bunch of luxury mascara and get a full-sized version for free! Talk about a good deal haha :)

I'm not sure, but I think these sets come around yearly, so this particular selection is going year long,  but don't quote me on that. I might be wrong. The Sephora Favourites  Lashstash To Go 2016 includes -

Marc Jacobs O! Mega Lash
Milk Makeup Ubame
Too Faced Better Than Sex
Tarte Tarteist
Ciate Triple Shot



Sephora Favourites Lash Stash To Go
Sephora Favourites Lash Stash To Go

So far I haven't tried any of the mascara except the Tarte one, but expect a full review on all of these very soon! 

Check out the set on the Sephora website - HERE!

Price - $28

Why I Won't Be Applying Henna / Mehendi This Eid!

6.07.2016


I remember exactly when my love affair with mehendi / henna ended - it was during my best friends wedding that she had hired a henna artist to come over to her place and basically apply henna on all the 'bridesmaids'. All was well, till the henna started drying on my hands - at first it was a slight burning sensation and then it was quite a lot. I have to mention here that I have quite a high pain threshold so, if I say it was burning, best believe it was BURNing! Lol. Anyways, that wasn't event the worst part since I sucked it up and went on with my life. It was a couple of days after when the mehendi was fading away that the real issue came. Instead of fading away, like normal mehendi / henna this damn thing was peeling off?!?! I mean, what the flower? My skin was literally peeling off in the same design as the henna - it was freaky! It hurt, the peeling took quite a few days and basically by the end of the ordeal, I had said goodbye to henna / mehendi forever. It's a stance that I still feel very strongly for and have never gotten henna applied again.


That doesn't mean I don't like looking at the designs and appreciating them. My personal taste when it comes to mehendi is basically very simple, I don't like super thin designs that basically cover up every surface of skin on your hand! Below are some of my favorite ones, I know they're not the most 'traditional' henna Eid designs but if I were to ever go back to applying henna - I would love to get one of these! 











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