DIY Makeup Organizer

                                         

The clock strikes 2, my brain goes numb; bore-o-clock. And that's usually when it begins; my unending quest of inspiration and creativity. It's already been 6 to 7 weeks since the end of high-school which I attended in Karachi and i've been back home here in Riyadh. Since then my life has been mundane and excruciatingly dull. I'm aimless and going out of my mind with nothing to do, Outing with friends is not an option since most of my friends are off to study at universities abroad. This is why DIY projects are my holy grail, keeping me sane (borderline).

 When depressed it is best to push yourself to do something productive. It gives you a sense of satisfaction, the 'good day's hard work' feel. So the other day i decided to clean out piles and piles of junk, i tend to collect. The first step of any project-unintentionally so- is when you collect random crap you'll never use over a period of time. So there I was, sorting through and some if the things I found were: fake cheap lashes, old glasses, candle holders, tin cans, scraps of fabric, yarn etc.

 Creative juices flowing in my system, i sat there for a solid amount of time, staring and thinking hard. After trying multiple (decidedly weird) ideas I finallly settled on something; makeup organizer. Okay so it's no billion dollar idea but what I had in mind was a bit different from the conventional ones. It looks good, it does the job and it's very simple top make. What more could you want? 

Without further ado, let's get started folks!  

Here's a list of all the stuff you'll need:
1. Tin can
2. Small glass
3. Fake lashes (I don't think this could be any more obvious but for those of us on the slower side: DO NOT USE YOUR HUDA BEAUTY LASHES or any other expensive brand)
4. Lash glue
5. Any paint to colour your tin can that won't wash off in two colours, one for the base and other for the lips.

I used and old tin of cream commonly found here (locals call it 'gishta'). The size is very adorable and the top peels off which gives the inner rim a clean finish. (also I really hate using can openers; they leave the edges frayed and messy). Make sure you wash it thoroughly before use. You don't want any nasty remnants or smells clinging to your precious makeup ESPECIALLY if the tin in question was previously full of something like tuna. Flawless skin with essence of fish? I don't think so.
As for the glass, it can be any tiny mason jar. We get small glass jars of cheese at every convenience store here so that's what i used. You can easily find one at the dollar store or clean up and old jar of anything really!

Moving on to the instructions:

1. So the first thing you're going to do is paint your can in the colour of you choice. I used a spray paint but you can use any paint you have, anything that will stay on the can and will look good. We will leave the glass as is, just clean it up to make it nice and shiny.
2. After the can's all dried up, position and apply the false lashes, first to you can and then on the glass. Use the images I put up as reference. You can estimate how it'll look by drawing on a sketch with the lash glue on both containers. This way you can wipe off any errors without permanently destroying your project.
3. Lastly, paint on a set of simple cutesy lips on both the containers and let them dry. Again use my picture as reference. As you can see they are very easy to make, but if painting proves difficult you can use a sharpie or a permanent marker just for ease. Just keep in mind that the material you use needs to be well pigmented so that it shows up properly on top of the painted can as well as the glass.

And that's it! Pretty simple right? Now throw in your makeup brushes, lipsticks and pencils lying around messily on your dressing table, and admire your handiwork. Hey you invested your time and effort into this, no shame in pride here. You can change it up and try different things too such as bottles, boxes, bowls. Use your imagination, be creative and most importantly enjoy what you do!

That's all for this easy peasy project, do try it out and be sure to share your lovely creations with me by tagging me on Instagram. My IG id is - @amna.sayeed 

baibai xx

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Homemade Peach Syrup

So lately I have been obsessed with making syrups and sauces. From pizza sauce to mint syrups, I've left nothing behind. Although sometimes they don't turn out as good as expected, in which case I take it upon myself to make it all over again just to get that perfect taste.  My source of inspiration is generally from the food I've had at restaurants. I had this amazing drink at Nandos last week which had a fresh minty tang to it. I instantly felt the need to recreate it myself the moment I got home. It took me hours to try to figure out the mint syrup. Made it twice now, but I still feel like it isn't anything close to the original. I'll be sure to share the recipe as soon as I've amended that though. :D 

       I don't know if I've mentioned before but I'm a HUGE fan of flavored tea! Basically I will devour any sort of tea as long as it does not involve milk. During a midnight reading session of The Book Thief I felt a sudden inexplainable craving for Iced Peach Tea. At 2 in the morning. Yep. And obviously there was no possible way of buying any at such an odd hour however my cravings take a complete and crazy hold over me, which is how I ended up trying my hand at making it at home in the dead of the night like a perfectly normal person. Lucky for me I managed to unearth a peach from the depths of my fridge. Goodness knows how long it was in there but I'm not one to speculate. 
 Now creating the peach syrup was tricky, and like my many previous escapades did not come out that good on the first try. Craving satisfied though. (Almost). Anyways I continued to work on the recipe and managed to get it right the second time. Wild creative ideas at midnight do not always oblige the brain to function rationally. The mistake I had made the first time was adding the pulp with the water while straining, which as it turned out was a grave mistake causing the syrup to turn all white and bubbly. The outcome was fascinatingly weird to look at. Keeping this in mind the second time round I was extra careful to avoid letting any pulp get in the water. And voila! Here you have it, ladies and gentlemen (highly doubt that gentlemen bit), my final product. This peach syrup is perfect for Teas but that's not the limit to its uses. You can get creative with its usage, whether as a topper for cakes or to incorporate in puddings or desserts of any kind. Knock yourself out! :P

Ingredients:

Peach - 1

Sugar - twice the amount of the liquid

water - as needed

Directions:

1. Cut the peach into chunks. In a sauce pan, add the peach and fill it with water just to the level of the chunks. Make sure its not overfilled.

2. When the water is boiled and peach is super soft, remove the saucepan from heat and strain the liquid. Make sure you don't get any pulp in the strained water.

3. Measure the water and add it to a clean saucepan with twice the sugar. If the water is 1 cup then add 2 cups of sugar and so on.

4. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and leave it to simmer for 2-3 mins.

Remove from heat and let it cool. Pour into a container and enjoy your Peach syrup! 

Make sure you try it out and comment below if you have any problems or telling me how it turned out :D

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