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Welcome to Makeup n More by Anna, my new blog! I'm excited to continue blogging from here. :)

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RECIPE REVIEW: Thai Hot-and-Sour Soup

It was really rainy and dreary here last week, and so I decided to make some hot-and-sour soup:

I got the recipe from the book Perfect Thai, again. This tasted delicious and was super easy to make!! The only things I had to chop were a few small green chillies and some water chestnuts, and then I dumped these in a pot of boiling vegetable stock with some mushrooms, rice noodles, lemongrass, soy sauce, lime juice, a bit of sugar, and rice vinegar. The best part about this recipe: There was practically no cleaning up to do afterwards! I just had to wash the knife I used to chop things and the pot I boiled everything in!

The other good part about the soup is that it isn't fatty, and so it is filling without being too heavy. It's perfect for if you have an upset stomach.

Are there any easy recipes that you like? I would love to try out some new recipes!!

SWATCH & REVIEW: Julep Taylor and Julep Meryl

I have a quick post today. I just wanted to share swatches of two more Julep colors that I borrowed from Haylee. I don't think I've ever seen a Julep color that I didn't like. The formula on both of these was great, too. They both were completely opaque in 2 coats.

First is Julep Taylor:

I used this one as the base for the flower manicure I did as a guest post for Fun Size Beauty. It's such a nice, bright blue--I love using colors like this on my toes.

Next is Meryl:

Meryl is a pretty standard grey creme polish, but I really love this polish because of its great formula.

What are your favorite Julep colors? Haylee went on a spending spree and bought a bunch of Julep polishes, so I'm looking forward to playing with those when I go visit her next week!

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Designer-inspired

Today's theme was designer-inspired. I was inspired by this gorgeous Monique Lhuillier dress:

I was pleased that my idea for my nails panned out:

I used Wet n Wild Shine Black Creme as the base, and used paper reinforcements to make the half-moons. [There's a great tutorial here.] I used Wet n Wild Shy on top of the black. Last, I used one of my new Bundle Monster stamping plates, BM-20, to stamp the design on top of my half-moon manicure. 

This was my first time doing a half-moon manicure with paper reinforcements, and I learned how important it is not to use a thick polish for your top color. If the polish is too thick, then it's hard to get a clear half-moon. Also, if you accidentally put too much polish on your nail, you also don't get pretty half-moons. This was also my first time using my stamping plates; I plan on doing a review of the plates soon, and I'll include some tips on stamping there, too. Also, let me know if you would like a more detailed tutorial of this!

Be sure to check out the other girls' designer-inspired manis:

Lab Muffin - Maria's Nail Art - Unnaked Nails - Nail & Polish - An Accent Nail - Valiantly Varnished - MASPOOASE - Every Little Polish 

HAUTELOOK: Laura Geller and OPI Sales

Hautelook is having a sale on Laura Geller items right now!

                                                               screenshot from hautelook.com

Hautelook is also having a sale on OPI that starts tomorrow at 8 AM PST. I'm super excited to see what they have!

SWATCH & REVIEW: Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Make Your Move

After hearing such marvelous things about the Marvelous Moxie Lipsticks online (haha, I promise I didn't do that on purpose), I was super excited to try them out for myself. One of my friends had Make Your Move, and I borrowed it one day to try it out:

Make Your Move is a pink-brown shade, and it was a pretty neutral shade on me. These lipsticks are just as wonderful as everyone says. Make Your Move was pigmented enough to even out the uneven coloring of my lips. This lipstick is very creamy; you have to apply it in one swipe. If you try doing multiple swipes, the color can get splotchy. These lipsticks are also as long-lasting as everyone says: after 4 hours and one meal, the lipstick was still there!! It was great!

One con to the Marvelous Moxie lipsticks is that there are not that many work for darker skin. If you love rocking bright shades, then you'll love the selection, but since I love neutrals and am kind of picky with what colors I like, I couldn't really find any that I liked besides Make Your Move. The other con is that these lipsticks do melt easily, and so I would advise not leaving it in your purse and definitely not in your car. When I was testing out these lipsticks, I heard the woman beside me complaining that her Marvelous Moxie lipstick melted when she left it in her purse, but all her other lipsticks were still fine.

Have you tried Marvelous Moxie lipsticks yet? What'd you think?!

SWATCHES & REVIEW: Merle Norman Purely Mineral Eye Pencil in Dark Brown

Today I have another Merle Norman products to show you guys - Merle Norman's Purely Mineral Eye Pencil in Dark Brown:

I have a sample pencil, which is why it is small. The actual pencil also comes with a built-in smudger.

The pencil glides smoothly onto your eyes with no tugging. The pencil is also very pigmented, and it does not travel. When I wore it in LA, the liner stayed on all day. I was a bit bummed when I went to Phoenix, though, and the pencil didn't last as long because of the heat and humidity, but...what product does? I don't wear this pencil nearly as much as I should because I like lining my eyes in black, but if you have fair skin or think black looks a bit harsh, this could be a nice pencil for you.

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Two Colors

Hi guys! So Haylee and I recently became part of the Artsy Wednesday group, and we are super thrilled to be part of a group of such talented and creative nail artists! Basically twice a month on Wednesday, we post a nail art design based on a pre-selected theme. Today's theme was 2 colors.

Here is what I did. I used OPI Pussy Galore and NYC Black Lace Creme:

I did the stripes with striping tape and freehanded the bow using a toothpick. I've wanted to try a striped manicure using a Liquid Sand polish, and this was the perfect opportunity! :)

Here's what Haylee did:

Haylee says:

"I apologize for the bad clean up job. I am saving up to buy a nice nail art brush set to help with my clean up jobs. I just couldn't break the bank right away because I bought my first set of  stamping plates!!!! It's been an exciting adventure and I look forward to posting many manicures using my new set (Cheeky Vibrant Collection). So basically, in honor of our first Artsy Wednesday, I am posting my first nail art design using the stamping plates. Isn't it cute? I would have put stripes on all my nails except I was still trying to get the hang of stamping so the lines did not turn out that great on the now solid colored nails. For the pink I used Essie's Italian Love Affair which is by far my favorite light pink for darker skin tones, and for the brown I used my new limited edition Pierre Hardy for NARS Vertebra Right."

Thank you to the Artsy Wednesday ladies for letting us join in on the fun!! Make sure to check out what they have done for Artsy Wednesday:

Lab Muffin - Maria's Nail Art - Unnaked Nails - Nail & Polish - An Accent Nail - Valiantly Varnished - MASPOOASE - Every Little Polish  

Fourth of July Polka Dot Nails + Tutorial

Happy Independence Day to everyone in the US! I'm back from vacation, and super jet lagged, but I really wanted to do Fourth of July nails, so I fought of my sleepiness and did these:

I used OPI Designer de Better for the the base and OPI 20 Candles On My Cake, Ulta Blue For You, and Kiss Nail Art Paint in White for the dots.

1. Paint your nails your base color (here, I used Designer de Better.)
2. Use a bobby pin or dotting tool to make the polka dots. I think it's easier to go by rows when making the polka dots: I made the white one first, then did the red and blue ones, and then moved up to the third row...
3. Let the polka dots dry COMPLETELY. I waited around 10 minutes before moving on to the next step.
4-5. Use a toothpick or a smaller dotting tool to make smaller dots in the first dots you made. It's easier to do one color at a time: here, I did all the blue dots first, and then in Step 5, I did all the red dots. I did the white dots last.
6. Once you have done all the inner dots, let the dots dry COMPLETELY, and then seal with a top coat.

Tips:
-Wipe the extra, dried-up nail polish off of your bobby pin/toothpick/dotting tool after each dot. It makes it easier to get nicer dots.
-If your nail polish starts drying out, it will be hard to make nice dots! Pour out a new drop of nail polish when you notice the nail polish is starting to clump up or dry.
-If you don't like how the outside dots look, you put a little bit of polish on a toothpick and fix the shape of the larger dots. :)

I'm going to go unpack now...I've been putting it off because I hate unpacking, but it's time to suck it up and do it! Have a great day, and if you're in the US, enjoy the barbecue and fireworks!!!