Indy & the Ninja Blog

OK I have been a little makeup-crazy the last few days. This morning, I reorganised my brush roll because I remembered I had several great brushes that were sitting very sadly in my brush drawer unused. I may have a slight brush obsession My brush roll is such a monstrosity that there is no way it’s fitting in my Zuca.

Main brush roll/belt

I am reminded there are so many brushes that are favourites and I wish I could carry them all around with me! But here are some of my must-haves:

Powder: Stila #8 Powder Brush
I love how the brush head is flat and the bristles so soft. It was a toss-up between this and Scott Barnes, which are super fluffy and full, but the flat head gives me more control).

Foundation: MAC #190
Actually I am not particularly fussy about this one. I have a Pout one that’s just a good. I use this for both foundation and cream blush.

Blush: MAC #109 and Scott Barnes Contour
The Scott Barnes is a little more traditionally shaped despite the name (the blush brush in his range is the angled one not this one) and the MAC is like a mini kabuki on a handle – very full and round.

Kabuki: A’Squirrel Goat Hair Kabuki Brush
I have both the Squirrel and Goat kabuki’s from A’Squirrel and prefer the goat. This one trumps Make Up Forever, Julie Hewitt, Napoleon Perdis and whatever other ones I have. The only one I might love more is Chanel’s. Great for buffing and blending makeup.

Eyeshadow: MAC #217 and #139
Can’t live without these two! #217 is an excellent blender and #139 is my go-to for laying on colour. Other favourites include Sue Devitt Eyebase & lashline definer, Pout Blender, MAC #227, Sephora Smoky Eye brush and Nars #15. I also have a couple of cheapies by a brand called Uni Fox – I wish I knew where I could find more of these! Amazingly well-made for the price!

Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Ultra Fine Eyeliner
I do remember having the fine too but it’s location escapes me right now. I prefer a slighly fatter brush for eyeliner.

Concealer/Lip: MAC #194
This is a lip brush but it makes an amazing concealer brush too!

Backup brush roll (for if I have more models/bridesmaids)

Miscellaneous brushes I want to fit in but can't

Somehow my Shu brushes don’t make the cut into the main roll! Must amend this situation!

Tip of the iceberg of my brush drawer

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It’s been a long time since I bought much makeup – ever since Indy was born, there have just been too many other things to do! I’m been using little more than a little Shu Nobara stick, blush and Lipstick Queen Medieval.

I did recently stumble across Sugarpill and decided it was time for a fix.

I got the pressed eyeshadow palettes in Burning Heart and Sweetheart , as well as a couple of the loose eyeshadows (Goldilux is particularly dazzling). The colours are vivid with excellent payoff and the packaging oh-so-pretty, but the texture of the shadows themselves remind me a little of La Femme. It’s actually been years since I went through my Urban Decay glitter-from-lash-to-brow phase, so I don’t know how much use I’ll get out of the palettes, but the ChromaLust Loose Shadows will definitely make an appearance here and there.

I’m also in the process of redoing my lip palette. It’s taken me a few goes but this is how it’s looking now. I have some new lippies arriving soon though, so there might be a little more reorganizing on the way!

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I’m having some renovation done at home, which fingers crossed, will be completed before the new bubs arrives, so I haven’t had as much time to work on Indy & the Ninja as I would have liked. It’s a bit hard to work with all the drilling going on, and the dust has been wreaking havoc with my allergic bronchitus. I am glad to be finally caught up on orders and will finally have some time to work on the things I have in development. I have loads of projects I want to complete before bubs arrives, but reality states that I can only do as much as my very fatigued self will allow. Oh well.

One of my new projects are these super cute bunny cards. A stack of these are winging it’s way to one of our favourite stockists right now! I am working on a bunch of other designs, but don’t worry, hair accessories will still be my focus – these card designs are really just to keep the creative juices flowing.

Also look out for Indy & the Ninja in the latest Baby’s Got Style newsletter!

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Indy & the Ninja Lily & Scribble Panda hair flowers can be seen in the September issue of Total Girl Magazine!

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Indy & the Ninja was featured in Mixtape Zine Issue 13!

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Indy & the Ninja was featured on the Daily Buzz!

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I had some leftover pie dough from the pumpkin pie so I baked it in a 15cm cake tin. I did consider making a ganache filling, but I had no cream. I did, however, have a whole bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer.

Blueberry Pie

I simply baked the pie casing, cooled it, and made the blueberry filling. This will be yum with cream and ice-cream!

Blueberry filling
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
squeeze of lemon juice

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I just wanted to say a quick sorry if you have emailed me and not heard back! I’ve just found a whole load of unanswered emails! I must have broken something when I was fixing the site up! Sorry everyone. Will get back to you as soon as I can.

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Indy & the Ninja was featured in a treasury! Curated by Starzyia.

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I’ve never had a pumpkin pie before (well … there was that one time I was served a “deconstructed pumpkin pie” at Oscillate Wildly, but considering what turned up looked more like an pumpkin-y Eton Mess, I don’t think that one counts). Previously, I’ve been scared of pastry – I’ve even avoided cookie dough that needs rolling out! But after Kevin’s repeated requests for apple pie, I made one and found pastry not as hard as I imagined – and homemade apple pie is just the best! Ever since ventured into making apple pie, pumpkin pie has been on my list to try.

I used this recipe from Martha Stewart.

Having no idea where to find canned pumpkin puree or sugar pumpkins in Australia, I used 800g of butternut pumpkin and upped the sugar a little (I read that randomnly on the internet somewhere).

Pumpkin puree

Pie Crust

Mixing the filling

Filling complete!

Unfortunately, I misread the instructions and omitted the “cool completely on a wire rack” part and the filling went into a warm pie shell – a mistake only a pastry newbie like me could make! Oh well. I guess it might be a bit soggy but the flavour should be right???

Baked Pie

The pie didn’t seem to have quite enough filling as I had quite a lot of pastry going up the sides of the pie dish showing. Perhaps my Butternut pumpkin wasn’t quite 1.5 cups worth. Or my pie dish was too deep.

Slice of Pumpkin Pie

But sliced it looks ok! The taste: kinda like gingerbread custard. I’m not sure what to think just yet. It’s pleasant – but not a taste I am used to!

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