Baked Ribs Recipe

I just made some delicious baked ribs and felt the need to share this recipe!

In addition to the below listed seasonings, you'll need:

1 tsp each - lemon and orange zest
Soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
Half an onion, sliced


Take a rack of spare ribs and season both sides with the following:

Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Greek seasoning

Sprinkle both sides with each zest and soy sauce. Be easy with the soy sauce, you already added salt, so a heavy hand can make a salty rib.

Place foil on a large cookie sheet or baking pan. Position the ribs in the middle and put the garlic around them. Lay the onion slices on the ribs and make an "aluminum foil tent" over them. This just means to cover the ribs, but not airtight. Cook at 275 for about an hour and a half, then uncover and cook at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Make sure the pork is completely cooked before serving, also let the ribs rest for about 15 minutes after removing them from the oven. With proper resting time, they will be tender and juicy! This is a basic recipe, so have fun and make it your own, enjoy!

Hair tutorial - Loose Curls

I've had so many clients tell me that they can never do their hair like I do, so this is to help women give themselves a sultry look with not much effort. All of my tutorials are on techniques that I think are easy, thus easy to learn. This particular look is for "2nd day curls" or the style to wear the day after you curled your hair. I love having a loose, relaxed, messy look the day after I have had perfect curls. It saves time and you get two looks for the effort of one!

As I said, this is a style for the day after you've curled your entire head. Simply wrap large sections of your hair around your finger, wrapping away from your face. Stop about 2-4 inches from your scalp, so that part of your hair stays straight and transitions in to a curl. Insert two bobby pins around the middle of the curl (one up, one down). You're going to look silly, but you're also going to sleep on it, so it doesn't really matter. I do about 3-4 sections on each side and one barrel roll on the crown of my head. (If your hair is longer than shoulder length, then pin the back sections too.)

Make sure to leave you bangs out.

Yet another lovely example of my inability to make a serious face...

The back, it's not pretty now, but it will be.

Now spray a medium hold or workable hairspray over the curls, I like Catwalk's Session Series, it's what they replaced "Work-it" with. You could also just run some gel or mousse through each section pre-wrap if you don't have a medium hold. You really don't want to use a hard hold or sticky finishing spray at this point because it'll just cause extra frizz. The next step is to go to bed. If you have issues achieving volume, try to put your hair above your head to sleep, so the weight of your head doesn't flatten it. It will get flatter over night, and that's okay, but if your hair is particularly hard to make voluminous, I suggest taking that extra step.

When you wake up, take the bobby pins out and don't freak out because your hair is flat and frizzy, like this:

Simply run some smoothing oil through it, I used Chi's Silk Infusion. (A little goes a long way.)
Then flip your head upside down and run some mousse through it, I used Paul Mitchell's Extra Body Sculpting Foam. Don't completely saturate your hair, you shouldn't have to dry it after, the mousse is just for texture, definition, and hold. Flip your head back over and spray with a finishing spray and smoothing spray, if needed. For the back I just scrunched it and sprayed it, since we're going for a messy look.

Voila!

It really is an easy look to achieve, you may have to run a flat iron through your bangs, but that's better than having to do your whole head! Here are the products I used:

The smoothers

The holders

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and get a sexy new "do" out of it!

Makeup Tutorial - Basic Cat Eye

Every woman should feel sexy and beautiful. The classic cat eye is one look, when done right, that guarantees that feeling. It's very simple, with the right tools and this quick tutorial, you should be able to  achieve this look easily any day of the week!

The focal point of this look is obviously your eyes, but more importantly, your lash line. The thick liner, winged out at the end creates a look of thick lashes and a very pleasing shape to the eye. So to keep the focus on the liner, I'm using fairly neutral shadow colors.

You will need:

A palette of neutral colors (Urban Decay's Naked or Naked II and Tigi's Professional palette are perfect)
Liquid or cake eye liner
Liner brush
Mascara
Urban Decay's Primer Potion
Mac's Set Powder
Shadow brush for blending
Brush to apply set powder

I used Naked and Tigi's palette. Here are my maps for the colors I used:

Start with the wonder twins:

Okay, they're not really twins, but they do wonderful things.

Apply primer to the eyelids and while that's drying pack on some set powder below your eyes.

I didn't use as much as I would for darker colors, because it's not necessary in this case.

Sweep a layer of "Champagne" across the bottom of your brow bone.

I didn't realize the lighting was so horrible until after I took these.

Apply "Sidecar" to your inner corner, across your lid, and below your eye, about a third of the way.

Fill the rest of you lid with "Sidecar" as well.

Now apply a layer of "Buck" into your crease.

Blend with a clean shadow brush.

After blending, you may need to add a bit more "Sidecar" to your inner corner.

Okay, I'll show you the trick to getting your eyeliner to look beautiful and glamorous as opposed to a drag queen (not a like fishy queen, rather, a nube). Pull your eyelid taut, and hold it with your finger as you apply the liner with a brush.

Like so.

I used Laura Mercier's Tightline Cake liner, you can use any good liquid or cake liner. I also found a cheap trick for the water used to apply cake liner. I use a measuring cup that came with my son's Advil, I just marked it "Makeup" so there aren't any future mix-ups. ;)

Genius, I tell you!

Apply a "base line". I start in the middle of my lash line and work my way to each end, so I don't smudge the corner where it should be thinner, or create an uneven line. You have more control using this method.

When you release your lid, it should look something like this:

Start in the middle again, and thicken the ends a bit.

The way I think of it, to simplify the situation, is to pretend I'm drawing an obtuse triangle on the outer corner. Since makeup is essentially about shapes and shades, it really does make sense.

Yes, I'm aware that I'm a nerd who uses math to do makeup. 

Go over the end until you have the desired thickness for your eye. If you get it too thick, just use a Q-Tip to thin it out a bit and try again.

It should look similar to this:

Pulled.

Relaxed.

Open.

I showed all three views because if you don't have a trained eye, it's hard to know when to stop or when you have the correct shape closed. This hopefully helps you to realize what shape it will look like while closed. Use your liner brush to smudge some liner on the bottom outer corner, then use pencil for the water line.

Finish with mascara and you're done! Another great thing about the neutral shadow is that it pairs well with bold lip colors. Here are some examples of the color options and my inability to make a serious face:

Like pink...

...and red.

You could even try this season's hottest color tangerine for a lip that pops! I hope you enjoy bringing out your sexy for the day!

Product Review - Urban Decay Naked Skin

I received a sample of Urban Decay's new foundation with my last order from their website. I currently use Mac Pro Longwear Foundation and love it.

Since I'm so in love with the Naked eyeshadoew palette, I figured this would be a good option should I ever abandon my Mac foundation.

I really liked the way this felt on my skin, it was very smooth, not heavy at all. It helped even out my skin tone (as foundation should) and did cover my blemishes, but I still had to use concealer on one spot. They offer a variety of shades, the one I tried matched my skin very well.

I will definitely buy UD Naked Skin in the future, it is fairly priced at 38.00 USD and the bottle will last awhile.  This is how it looked on my skin.

My bedroom has the best lighting, so thats why this picture is lying down.

Overall, I give this 4 out of 5 stars. It was relatively weightless, but if I was having a lot of break-outs I would need better coverage. It was very comparable to the MAc foundation I wear, but a lighter option.

Urbandecay.com