New year's resolutions

Hello hello everyone and happy new year!! How was your new year's eve? Sorry if i didn't post yesterday but you guys can undestand, i took a day off to recover from the 31th night :)
Today's post is a classic first week of the year kind of thing, i'm talking about new year's resolutions! This 2013 i have so many, i feel really energised and ready to start, i really hope i'll get to achive most of them!

1. Do the 41 days U.S.A and Canada tour with my dad and my brother this summer.
2. Finish off all my university exams for the year, in time and with good grades
3. Have lots of lovely followers on my blog and youtube channel
4. Get home more ofthen (i live in Milano but i'm originally from Bari)
5. Inprove my english
6. Workout 5-6 days a week
7. Learn how to cook and improve my baking skills.
8. Make new friends and see the old ones more ofthen :)
9. Spend some time with my canadian sister
10. Be happy

If you want you can share with me your resolutions and post them in a comment down below, i would really really like to know them :)
I hope this post wasn't too boring, i'm going to do a  "what i got for Christmas" post very soon and lot's of exciting things are coming up here on the blog!
So thank you for sticking up with me and i can't wait to spend 2013 with all of you!

The very best of 2012

Hello everyone and happy last day of the year! I really hope this 2012 was a great year for you, for me it definitley was an interesting year, lots of things happened and thinking about it i wouldn't change much, as always i wish you lots of exciting things for the upcoming year!
Today i decided to share with you a selection of my favourite beauty items of 2012, it was such a challenge to pick just few goodies to show you because i love so many!

The first favourite is a solid shampoo by Lush Cosmetics, it's called Godiva and i just can't live without it!

 It lasts for a very long time and since is not liquid you cantake it with you anywhere. This is how Lush describes it:

"Named after a certain naked protestor, Godiva gets to work sending a message to your hair. Our vegan, 2 in 1 shampoo bar conditions your hair follicles with moisturizing nut oils and Shea butter to care for dry, processed locks and leave you with glossy, shiny, and softened tresses. Long used as a tonic for the hair and scalp, jasmine also perfumes your locks with an ultra-sexy fragrance with serious staying power."

The second one is also from Lush and is my favourite face scrub and mosturizing cleanser in the all world. It smell like spicy cookied dought and it even looks like it! Even if it's also a scrub, it's very gentle, i use it every other day. This is how Lush describes it:

"With maize flour, polenta and a popcorn topping, the ingredients listing makes this fresh facial cleanser look more like a festive snack! We combine these ingredients to give you a very soft scrub, leaving your skin bright, clean and smooth. It is gentle enough to use on your entire body, and has a dash of cinnamon powder to warm up winter skin"

Of course i could not leave out the best makeup remover ever! I just can't get enough of Bioderma H2O, it removes any makeup without irritating my eyes and my skin, it feels very fresh on the skin and gives you that little bit of moisture that is always good!

Definitley the star of my makeup this 2012, Kate Moss n.107, you know how much i love it! I've talked about in at least two more posts but i can't help it! It's the perfect rich oxblood deep berry color and pared  with a neutral eye makeup or some eyeliner it's perfect for fall and winter.

In the past two years i've always come back to this brush set, it's quite unexpensive, it's arround 27€ for the all thing and the quality is amazing! It comes with 5 eye brushes, 5 face brushes, a fan brush and a lipstick one. I really recomand it to anyone who wants a compact complete brush set to travel with or as a gift to someone who's just starting getting into makeup. Some beauty guru said that the fondation brush in this set is even better that the Mac one. Set by Zoeva.com

 This is a new entry in my top beauty favourites but as soos as i tried it i knew i was going to love it! This is Clinique "All about eyes" a under eyes serum that reduces puffs and dark circles, it leaves that area soft and smooth like never before. It's quite pricy but the results and crazy and immediate! 32€ from Clinique

 This oxblood violet nail polish from Essie is just a statement piece, the pigmentation is amazing, with two coats you get the most beautifull dark manicure. It lasts for a 7-8 days and the best part is that when you remove it it doesn't fades your nails not even a little bit. The applicator is wide and big so with one brush stroke you cover the all nail. The color is called "Sole Mate", 13€ from Essie.

Let's be onest, this is a classic in the beauty charts, the Naked palette by Urban Decay is to die for! I had it for a year now and i couldn't do my makeup without it. The pigmentation of the eyeshadow is incredible all the nuances are tridimentional and very particoular for a neutral palette. You can create hundreds of different looks with it and in my opinion is just the best investement. 45€ from Urban Decay.

Last but not least two of my top O.P.I favourite  nail polishes, "I spotted the lizard" from the Spiderman collection and "Malaga wine". The first one is the exact dupe for Chanel "Peridot" only with better pigmentation and duration. You only need one coat in my opinion because the nail polish it self is very thick. I love the duo crome gold and green effect. The second one is a O.P.I. classic, is this deep berry wine red, it's just very sophisticated and elegant i really love it and again the quality is to die for. 12€

I hope you liked my "Very best of 2012" i hope you will have an amazing new year's eve and i'll see you next year!!!!! Bye bye  XO

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Pumpkin gnocchi RECIPE

Good morning everyone and happy holidays! Today's post is a really yummi one, it's one of my favourite dishes ever and the recepie was created by my lovely mom. It's a new modern version of a very traditional italian dish Gnocchi. This type of "pasta" is originally made using potatoes but my mom has replaced it with pumpkin making it not only healthier but tastier.. The recipe is very easy and it doesn't take a lot of time.
This recipe is for 4 people.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1kg of pumpkin puree (in Italy we don't have canned pumpkin puree so i had to make my own, i'll show you how)
-500g of all purpuse flour
-1 egg
-salt
-nutmeg
-parmigiano cheese

TOOLS:
-a small striped wood board. It's tool created to give gnocchi their shape but you can use anything similar to it
-a rolling pin

1) Cut the pumpkin in small pieces, remember to clean it first, remove any filaments or seeds. Put it in the microwave or in the oven until is pretty much dehydrated. Blend it util you have a puree.

2) Add 1 egg, 2tbsp of parmigiano, a litte bit of nutmeg and a little bit of salt.

3) mix everything together  and start adding the flour. Keep pooring it until the consistence is similar to the playdo.

4) On a non-stick surface poor some flour and stretch the dough with a rolling pin. The thickness should be about 3mm.

5) Roll the stripes in little cylinders and cut them in little pieces

6) Now the fun part! Take the Gnocchi board-maker and swipe the little pieces one at the time with your fingers, don't use a lot of pressure, be delicate. You should get the typical gnocchi shape. If they're not perfect don't worry, it does take practice, i swear they will taste just as good!

7) Now that you have your super yummi gnocchi it's time to cook them!

8) In a pot full of boiling water poor a hand full of coarse salt and then poor the gnocchi, they cook very very fast so be carefull, they only need a cupple of minutes. When you feel they are ready, put them in the bowl of your choice and add a piece of butter and some chopped sage and parmigiano cheese.
Enjoy!

If you have any questions please don't esistate asking :)