curiouslycarmen, Author at Curiously Carmen

Nuba

January 15, 2015

Hi everyone!

This is a really late post and has been in my drafts folder since September. Oops! But better late than never right? =) Enjoy the post!

I have heard really great things about Nuba from a number of different people. I’ve passed this restaurant quite often, as the bus I normally take to downtown drives by it. Each time I pass Nuba, I wonder when I am able to finally try this seemingly delicious place. I finally got the opportunity to last week, when my company was holding a company welcome lunch for myself and the other co-op student (I wrote this post back in September… oops)!

To start, my coworker and I decided to split the roasted potato and garlic soup, which was their special that day. It came drizzled with olive oil, which we stirred into the soup. The soup had a mild spiciness to it, and a strong garlic taste. There wasn’t any potato chunks in the soup, I think it was pureed into the soup because it had a thicker consistency. In addition, there was an abundant flavour of spices which went well with the garlic taste. To all the health conscious folks out there, their daily soup is always vegan and gluten free!

I ordered the chicken tawook with hummus. It came with a side salad, chickpeas, pita bread, and choice of roasted potatoes or brown rice. All of our pita bread came in the same bowl. The pita was a thinner than I was used to, but perhaps that is the style?

I wanted to eat it with tzatziki sauce, but it came at a surcharge so I decided not to. Judging from the menu, I was not expecting the chicken to be on skewers, but it was tasty and savoury nonetheless! There was a slight grilled taste on the chicken, and it was very juicy and flavourful. The chicken was marinated in paprika, lemon, thyme, and garlic. Apart from the chicken, I regretted ordering the brown rice as my side rather than the roasted potatoes.

The brown rice was a bit hard and undercooked for my personal taste, but that’s just the Asian inside me speaking, we love our rice really well cooked and soft 🙂 I was also told that the roasted potatoes were really good and one of their specialty dishes. I think the dish came to around $15-17, which seemed a bit overpriced for what was received although the chicken was really good.

Another dish that was ordered that day; I forgot if it was the lamb kafta or lamb kibbeh. Sorry! I didn’t try this so I can’t give much of an opinion on it, so a picture will have to do 🙂

At the end of our scrumptious meal, my coworker ordered a Turkish coffee. I thought that the presentation of it was very cool and unique! I didn’t try any because I have extremely high sensitivity to caffeine (once, I drank a Pepsi Lime at dinner and couldn’t sleep until 3am. Or had milk tea at 10am and slept the next morning at 6am…), but I was told that there was a strong chai flavour to it. So a mix of chai tea and coffee!

For dessert, we all split two dessert plates. I’m not too sure of what each pastry was called since I wasn’t the one that ordered it, but I did enjoy the taste of all of them. In particular, I enjoyed the almond nougat type pastry, but I’m pretty sure there is a specific Lebanese name for it.

All the pastries were really sweet. The two next to the center pastry had some sort of carmelized sugar on top, and was a flaky pastry. The one in the center had the same idea, but with a custard-type topping.

-Carmen

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

January 11, 2015

Harroooo everyone! =)

About a month ago, I told you all about my Black Friday Sephora mini haul. One of the items I bought during the sale, which I briefly mentioned in that post, was the Bliss fabulous foaming face wash, a 2 in 1 cleanser and exfoliator.

It was one of those items where I wasn’t planning on buying it, but I saw that it was on sale for 50% off and had great reviews. I took too long deciding whether or not to buy it, and when I went to checkout, I found it was sold out along with all the other products I wanted =(

But when I went to Sephora in person the following day, I was happy to find that they had plenty in store, for the same sale price! I got it for $12 canadian, usually it is $24.

Because Sephora is always better at marketing a product than I am, here is what they say- “Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash harnesses the power of botanical soothing technology and super soft exfoliating beads to deliver a simply sensational skincare solution. This bestselling, oil-free purifier instantly dissolves excess oil and makeup and lifts away dead cells, leaving skin clean, nourished, and fresh.”

Maybe because I read so many great reviews on this product, I was expecting more than it delivered. Some people claimed that this product instantly melted away their entire face makeup, so I was really excited to try it because having difficulty removing makeup when you just want to go sleep is a pain!

I tried this a few times when I had full coverage makeup on, it did not remove all my makeup easily. It also did not come off instantly, I had to scrub. It also said that it is an exfoliator, but I see this as a cleanser because it doesn’t do a great job in exfoliating.

I think this face wash would be good on a daily basis, but if you are wearing full coverage, I would recommend something else. My Lush Herbalism cleanser does an amazing job at taking off makeup, clearing breakouts, making my skin tone even, etc… it is truly a magical product. Actually, even my $3 St. Ives Apricot Scrub does a better job at exfoliating and taking off my makeup LOL!

I really liked the light scent it had, it was very refreshing. The gel formula also had a bit of a cooling sensation. This did not dry out my face at all, and felt really moisturized after usage.

For $24 regular price, I don’t think I would buy it again because it’s not worth the price to me. There are products out there that are definitely better at removing makeup, and for a better price as well. However, I am glad that I tried it and I’ll probably finish the bottle eventually because it’s not a bad product. I just had higher hopes for it! =)

What are your favourite face washes? Let me know in the comments down below!

-Carmen

Peckinpah

January 8, 2015

After almost a year of wanting to try this place out, I finally was able to cross this off my mental check list of restaurants I wanted to try! Doesn’t it feel great to finally go to a restaurant you have been wanting to go to for so long? Granted, I still have many restaurants I want to try but at least Peckinpah is finally crossed off 🙂
Peckinpah is situated right on the skirts of Gastown, on the corner of Water and Carall street. At first, we almost walked by the restaurant as it was quite small, but I recognized their signature bull logo. We also walked into the take out part of the restaurant by accident, and had to leave and come through the main entrance. Oops!
Peckinpah is southern style barbeque joint, most known for their slow cooked meat and big meat platters. Walking in to the main part of the restaurant, there was a rustic and southern vibe to this quaint restaurant. It reminded me of a casual pub but with more class and character if that makes any sense. Since we came around 1:15, the lunch rush had gone and we almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves!
I started off with a root beer. All their soft drinks are from Boylan Bottling Co. I believe, so this one was no different. It was very sweet and refreshing.
I ordered the chopped beef po’boy with a choice of corn bread as my side. When it first arrived, I thought it looked smaller than I imagined. Despite its small sized, it was packed with intense and delicious flavour. It came with stewed beef brisket bits which were incredibly soft and cooked to perfection, the type of deliciousness that can only be made with patience and skill. The baguette was soft, and the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and crunchy. Nearing the end of my baguette, I was beginning to get pretty full. I was surprised considering that I thought the portion looked small in the beginning, that’s how much beef brisket is packed in that thing!

As for the corn bread, it was a bit sweet and grainy. The outside was a bit hard, but once you chewed it, the inside was soft. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either 🙂 I would probably try another side if I came back. Our server told us that the cream corn and potato salad were pretty good.

My coworkers ordered the beef brisket sammie, which they both enjoyed. Our other coworker ordered the mac and cheese, which I fell in love with at first bite. It was extremely cheesy and flavourful. She added a side of chicken, which was marinated really well and went with the flavours of the cheese. Who would have known that a specialty BBQ meat place would have such great mac and cheese? 🙂

-Carmen

Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon

January 6, 2015

Hi everyone!

After buying Sephora’s Draw the Line 2014 set and using most of the products for two months now, I decided it was finally time to talk about them! One of the products included in this year’s set was the Marc Jacob’s Highliner gel eye crayon, which retails for $30 Canadian (full sized product) at Sephora. The set only included the sample size, which was half the size of the full but I still thought it was a good deal with the set!

Funny story, I wasn’t actually planning on using this until I had finished one of the other pencil liners in the set. Of course, I accidentally misplaced that one somewhere and the rest of the pencil liners I had weren’t that great, so I decided on opening this one.

It seems like gel liners are all the rage right now, and for great reason too! I remember the first time I tried gel liner, it was one of the gel pots from MAC back in high school. Ever since then, I’ve loved gel liners for how smooth it glides on your eyelid and the intensity of the colour. Gel liners are more pigmented due to the way that it is formulated.

Combining the gel and crayon eyeliner into one, the Marc Jacobs highliner was born!

I can’t think of a single negative thing about this product except for the cost, maybe. At first use, I loved how smooth and easy it was to apply, and how pigmented and intense the colour was. It also does not smudge the whole day and night, and is waterproof.

In fact, this eyeliner is all that I’ve been using lately since it seems I’m always in a rush in the mornings now. It takes me 15 seconds to quickly tight line my eyes, and what results is an intense and striking black that lasts all day! Any makeup product that is easy and fast to apply, and long lasting, is good to me.

One thing I don’t like about pencil products is having to look for my sharpener. This product comes with a built in sharpener so you don’t have to worry about it becoming dull. It also comes with a twist up bottom!

I’ve also been looking for a replacement gold liner since my favourite gold shade of the Sephora + Pantone has been discontinued (how sad), I might give the champagne shade a try next time I’m in Sephora. But at $30 a pop, it does not come cheap =( However, I’ve come to realize that I much prefer high quality eyeliners that are worth the investment, than a cheap one which smudges or does not last the whole day- the annoyance and retouching up is not worth it. Which means I need to carefully manage my money (aka no more useless sugary drinks or random snacks)!

What are your thoughts on gel liner? Have you tried the Marc Jacobs highliner before and what did you think of it?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

OMGNailStrips.com {Nail Strips Review!}

January 5, 2015

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone is having a good day so far. I am excited to share this post with you as I’ve always been curious about nail strips, and I know some of you might be as well =) OMGNailStrips.com is a website specializing in nail art stickers, with a wide range of nail sticker designs. Cutesy, festive, to grunge- OMG Nail Strips have it all.
For this post, I was able to choose two nail strip designs that I wanted. Originally, I had wanted a polka dot nail strip (no surprise there, hehe) but I was told it was sold out =(. I just tried to link that design, but I think they took it off their site. As a backup, I went with the strawberry design instead, which I was still really happy with and is sold for $8 USD. They arrived in the mail pretty fast, around 2-3 days from when I first placed the order.

The application process consisted of trial and error for me. I have a tendency to skim over instructions instead of carefully reading them, it’s just a bad habit that I have. Because of that, I don’t blame OMG Nail Strips for being unclear. Although I gave my friend a set to try, and she had trouble following the instructions as well.

One thing I found really odd about the nail strips were how HUGE the strips were. I think it’s because you can also use it on your toenails, and our toenails tend to be bigger than fingernails… I used the smallest stickers this time.

Here is the application process:
1) Ensure that your nails are clean and free of polish.
2) Find the size of nail stickers you’d like (I recommend the smallest one on the right, everything else is really big).
3) Before peeling, match it with the size of your nail and cut the sticker with manicure scissors if needed.
4) Unpeel the clear top coat and apply to nail, starting from the bottom. Ensure that there are no air bubbles! This was the part my friend and I had trouble with, we didn’t even notice there was a hard, clear coat until afterwards.
5) After it is on your nail, unpeel the white backing slowly.
6) Apply a top coat of clear nail polish.

This picture was taken two days after I applied the nail sticker, still looking pretty good! But the tip was beginning to chip a bit. If you’re wondering why the strawberry sticker is pink this time, it is because this is my left hand =)
After five days in total, I decided that it was time to part ways with the sticker, as you can see it was peeling off. The packaging said it would last up to ten days, but my nail polish tends to chip after 2-3 days so I knew that it wouldn’t last that long for me.
My friend tried the crow nail design, she wanted to get a Christmas themed sticker but we weren’t sure how long shipping would take. If we knew how fast it would be, she definitely would have ordered them! For my friend, hers lasted seven days before peeling.

Would I use nail strips again? Yes, definitely! I love how they are an easy and fun way to dress up your nails. Plus, there is no drying time and it also does not smudge. I know some people who don’t like nail strips because it’s hard to apply or it doesn’t fit their nail shape or something, but I find them fun to use and would not mind using them again =)

Check out OMGNailStrips.com here!

What is your opinion on nail strips? Thanks for reading and take care!

-Carmen

Press product featured, all opinions are my own.