Tape Hair Extensions Removal.

Sorry for the boring title but if I didn't make it sound so clinical, I probably would have said something like: 

"Tape Hair Extensions Removal Was Invented By The DEVIL".. Actually, that does sort of have a ring to it..

Ok I think I'm being a bit of an impatient little baby here because I COULD go to one of my two girlfriends who are qualified hairdressers and get them removed and reapplied but one of my friends is going to charge me $200 to remove then reapply.. And another friend is going to charge me only $80 to remove and reapply but I thought to myself that it's Christmas soon and I should be spending my money on presents NOT my hair so I went on Google, learned how to remove them myself using simple household items and then I went a step further and looked up how to retape and reapply tape hair extensions. 

I've always been more of a DIY girl, thanks to my grandfather who could probably put up a shed with a toothpick and a piece of chicken wire. So after taking into account my money situation, Christmas presents, the traveling back and forth to the cheaper hairdressing alternative (who lives an hours drive away) and my burning desire to try and do everything myself at the same quality and standard of a professional.. I have decided that doing a home job is the best option for me. 

I have found some hair extensions tape on Ebay for $1.29 coming from China, which will take two weeks to get here or I could pay $9.99 for tape that is coming from two states over, that'll probably take two days to get here. As I'm already saving $80 - $200 on my hair, I don't mind spending $10 on the tape and just dealing with short hair for a few days. 

I'm leaving the reapplication of my extensions in the capable hands of my mum. She use to install my  pesky glue in extensions, so a thin tab of double sided tape shouldn't be very difficult for her to handle. 

I am off now to remove my extensions in the correct way, because when the a few previous extensions started to slip out, I removed them myself by just pulling the two pieces of tape apart.. 

Can you say O U C H . . ?

Yeah, it pulled out half my frikin hair with it! Leaving me with a red roar bald spot.

Below is what a tape extension looks like after a month.
It's just grown out, but that is how long my hair has grown in a month. I've done my regrowth twice and as you can see, I'm in need of doing it for a third time. 

This is one weeks regrowth.. 

I've been blonde a year and my black hairdye is STILL coming out. It's disgusting.

I will take photos and video of me removing these extensions properly using home products so you can do it at home and save some money. I will then do a follow up post to show how to retape and reapply your own extensions to save you EVEN MORE money.

Who else has tape hair extensions? I highly suggest buying them. They are the most NATURAL looking and feeling extensions in ze UNIVERSE!

Up, Down, Up, Down.

For those of you who don't get the movie reference in my title, I'm referring to Daniel Son in The Karate Kid when he had to paint the fence. That is one of the jokes my mum and I had yesterday when we painted our front fence. The other joke was us singing "A Woman's Touch" from the classic movie Calamity Jane. The highlight of our day was when my brother bought us a lunch platter and sang (in character) "And what does Mr Sunshine say to you? Howdy do!"

I guess we played that Dorris Day movie one too many times growing up.. Haha. We spent all day doing the first coat, only to run out of paint on the home stretch.

Online Finds: Chanel Phone Cover

Two weeks ago I bought a "bling cover HTC Wildfire" on Ebay. This is the display photo they advertised..

And here is the one they sent..

It's not bad. I guess it did only cost me $5 so I can't really complain.

They quality is not great at all, but I doubt someone is going to sit there with a microscope and make a point to look for all it's flaws. It will do for now.. And now that I know how easy it is to make them, I might order ten plain covers for my phone and try making some myself!

DIY Italian Triangles.

My brother Sebastian has always been the chef in the house. When my mum got sick, I was very young and she lost of her touch with cooking (to put it nicely), so from a young age my brother took over.

Although it is an unconventional situation, my family continually get restaurant quality meals thanks to him.

About three years ago Sebastians body changed and he couldn't eat pastries or a lot of other things. Food gave his body hell for a long time so before he cut out pastry altogether, I made him teach me how to make something we simply call 'triangles'.

Now, like a mother down to daughter process, I'm going to teach all of you.

What you will need:


One packet of puff pastry - even the cheap stuff works fine.
Approx 200g of salami.
Approx 250g of ricotta cheese.
A jar of your favourite pasta sauce - try to keep it simple like a classic tomato or nepolitana.
A tub or squeeze bottle of tomato paste.
A pack of tasty cheese.
A knife, a spoon and a fork.
Mushrooms and onions are optional.


Step One:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
After defrosting two or three sheets of puff pastry (not to the point they are droopy, but so you can move it and it wont snap).


Step Two:
Place one sheet of puff pastry on a clean bench with the plastic underneath still on. Cut a line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner, making the sheet into two triangles.


Step Three:
Get a big tablespoon with of tomato paste and place it right in the middle of each of the triangles. Take the back of your tablespoon or a knife and spread it out so that there is an inch of the pastry around the edge that is not covered. This is VERY important. The paste doesnt have to be perfect, it is just a base.


Step Four:
Spoon 2 - 3 tablespoons of your pasta sauce ontop of the paste, still leaving an inch around the edge bare.


Step Five:
Cut your ricotto cheese into cubes. They don't have to be even. Mine are usually big because I love ricotta but it's upto you. Grab your sliced salami, keep three or four pieces of salami together and cut them into strips roughly 1cm wide. Take your cubes of ricotta and place roughly 6 ontop of the pasta sauce, cover end to end.Place the salami over the ricotta, still keeping the 3 pieces together. (Here is where you'd add your sliced mushrooms and onion.)


Step Six:
Sprinkle your tasty cheese ontop generously.


Step Seven:
With clean hands, dip two of your fingers into a glass of water and run them along the bare edge of the pastry. Lift one of the corners of the pastry and fold it over so that you are folding your triangle in half. Now with your fork or your fingers, stamp TWO of the three edges together so that they seal closed.


Step Eight:
Lift up the triangle so the open edge is facing upwards. Spoon three or four more tablespoons of pasta sauce evenly ontop from edge to edge. Sprinkle extra tastey cheese on top of that.


Step Nine:
Carefully lay the triangle back down, use your hands and push any ingredients that have fallen forward, back into the triangle and then fork stamp it closed. Use your fork and poke two or three sets of holes in the top of the triangle so the ingredients can breathe in the oven.


Step Ten:
Repeat these steps with the second triangle and place them on the tray. Place the tray on a middle shelf in the oven and leave for roughly 10 - 15 minutes or until a light golden brown. When top of the triangle is starting to LIGHTLY brown in the oven, drag tray out of the oven so you don't burn your hands and carefully flip them over. If there is some spillage of the pasta sauce, it doesn't matter because there is still plenty of filling but I wipe the tray roughly with a teatowel so the spilled sauce doesn't dry up and burn while.


Step Eleven:
Let the bottom side of the triangle (which is now facing up) go golden brown and then remove from the oven. Let the triangles sit for a minute or two and then plate them up.
The filling is too hot to eat straight away.

For Best Results:

Line the oven tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Make all the triangles at once rather than completing one and moving on the the next.

Always make sure the edges are tightly sealed together. Smooth over any cracks in the pastry.

Notes:

You can make these as an entree or party size by simple cutting the pastry smaller.

These can be served alone, with no sides as they are a great meal.

They are fantastic the next day too. Just leave them on the stove top with a tea towel on top overnight or in the microwave on a plate and heat them the next day for lunch.

Triangles are not pretty and I could make them nice and presentable for the photos but it's just not me. They are a sloppy mess and I believe it makes them taste better if you do them roughly.


Bon Appetit!

Is That Really You?

Heyyyy.. How are you? I haven't seen you in hours!! 

What, You don't recognize me? But it's me! It's Anastasia. 

I swear!! 

Remember that time my Mac left me and I thought I couldn't go on and you were there to comfort me? Or what about the time I went shopping and the girl was a real rude cow to me and you said you totally understood where I was coming from.. 

Ahhh yes, NOW you believe me. 

No I didn't have any work done.. But I will tell you my secret. It's egg whites and lemon juice. 

I knowwww, it is a weird combo, but as you can tell - it works!

Well the other day I was having a coffee with my friend DeAnna and she couldn't stop staring at my face. At first I was flattered and then she got this vague look on here face but deep down I knew it was disgust. She was staring straight at my pores.. 

No, trust me, they were huge. I had never really done a pore treatment or thought much of them. There I was thinking that just exfoliating would shrink those babies but my face was a golf ball. My friends stopped hanging out with me because one night we all went out to a club and Victoria, you remember her right?  

Yes, well she went to wipe a mascara smudge off from my upper cheek and one of my pores actually swallowed her finger!!! I haven't really heard from any of my friends since that night. So from then on, it's just been me and my pores. 

Yeah, I agree. She was a rude hussy but anyway, I casually mentioned to DeAnna that I needed to go home and exfoliate because I feel like my pores are getting big. I played it down as though it were no big deal and she told me about this home remedy she has. I laughed at first. 

I totally thought she was making fun of me.. and then last night I tried it. 

Well it was simple. I washed my face, mixed one egg white and a teaspoon of lemon juice together with a spoon until they went a bit white & thick and then I dipped my fingers in and masked my face in it. 

Nah, it wasn't as disgusting as you think it was. Within 20 seconds my face felt tighter, within 5 minutes I felt like I'd had a botox injection. 

It was amazing. I waited until the mask had gone a bit flakey and dry and I simply washed it off with luke warm water. 

I knowwwww, so simple but as you can see. Oh so effective - You didn't even recognize me! My pores were so huge that I did it twice and there are parts on my face that look like they have no pores at all thats how tight my skin is! 

Yeah your right, I'll have to send her a present as a thankyou. 

Anyway, it was nice running into you. Remember egg whites and lemon juice. Haha, 

Ok ciao.

Texture examples of: Before & After.