QueenLeilani

Whisper Challenge

11:40 AM

My best friend and I did a video tag that has been going around called the "Whisper Challenge" - have you tried it? It is so much fun!

Basically, the rules of the game is that one person will wear headphones with music playing loud and has to guess what the other person is saying. My best friend's favorite color is pink, so we were using her daughter's rhinestone Hello Kitty headphones lol. Let me tell you...it looks much easier than it is. Man was it hard! But it was so much fun! It's a perfect game to do with kids, family and friends. I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed making fools of ourselves. Haha

Items shown in this video:

Pink Hello Kitty Bejeweled / Rhinestone Headphones

All About Arlene

Kitchenaid Mixer

9:49 AM

I hope you guys are enjoy your new years so far! Wow it feels like 2014 just passed us by so fast...like where did the year go? It felt like we just celebrated New Years for 2014 not too long ago! I hope you guys enjoyed the holidays and are on a good start 2015.

As for me, after years of wishing...I finally received for Christmas a KitchenAid Mixer 5QT. Yay!! I've been wanting this bad boy for years but it's so darn expensive. I specifically wanted the one with the clear bowl for video purposes. Since I film baking tutorials for my YouTube channel, I wanted what I made to be visible. It usually runs between $250-$500 depending on the version you get. But they had a great sale at Costco for $229 until Jan 18, 2015... so if you ever consider getting one, consider getting it there.

So the first thing I wanted to make with my mixer was bread. But not just any bread. Challah bread! According to Wikipedia, it's a special Jewish braided bread eaten on Sabbath and Holidays. My friend who is Jewish taught me how to make it. I had never heard of Challah bread before until I moved to New York and when I took my first bite I was completely hooked. I felt like I was living under a rock my entire life for not discovering this bread sooner. So delish! Stay tuned for the video tutorial on how to make this - and if you're not subscribed to my YouTube channel, just a heads up, I always post the tutorial on my YouTube first before I post it on my blog. Until next time, see you on my next post. =)

All About Arlene

Disney FROZEN Cupcakes! - Super Easy Vanilla Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting!

9:30 PM

Hey Guys!!

So my friend Sirin's daughter, Maia just had her birthday and she is absolutely OBSESSED with the new Disney movie, Frozen!

All I hear her talk about is....

"Frozen this...Frozen that....

Can you do my hair like Elsa?

Do you want to watch Frozen with me?

Do you want to build a snowman?"

Geez!

Talk about excitement! haha. I had to watch the movie myself to find out what all the excitement was.

I do have to admit. I cried ~~like a baby~~. Don't judge me. So hey.... I thought it was a perfect opportunity to surprise Maia and make her these Frozen themed cupcakes. I figured I'd record the process while doing so. I hope you guys like it. If you have been a follower of mine, then you might have already seen my 3 tier cake that I made her for her past birthday. If you missed it, then you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zq6C0SRyDQ

As far as for the cupcakes goes.....can we just take a moment and just talk about how excited I am to share this with you. I've made so many different versions of Vanilla Cupcakes out there...but I must admit. This is my all time favorite. I had to do some tweaking to find what worked best for me by making some adjustments, but I think i finally got it! The sour cream works wonders and it really does help make the cupcake super moist and fluffy. I find that it's important to have an oven thermometer to make sure your oven reads the correct temperature...since it can really make or break your recipe. Also, the trick to a perfect cupcake is...after you finish baking your cupcakes...you don't want to leave it in the muffin pan to cool because it can continue to bake and become dry. So once they finish baking, immediately take them out of the pan and let them cool on a wire rack. The easiest way to take them out of the muffin pan when they are still hot is I drape a kitchen towel over the cupcakes....and flip the entire pan upside down allowing the cupcakes to gently fall into the towel. While they are upside down, I just transfer them to a wire rack. Don't worry about any indentations, because if you baked this right, the cupcake should spring back to form.

As far as the frosting goes... I hate it when the frosting is just too darn sweet that it just overpowers the entire flavor of the cupcake. The frosting is suppose to compliment the cupcake, not overpower it. For this reason exactly is why I add just a pinch of salt to the frosting. It's not entirely noticeable that it tastes "salty". It just helps to tone down the sweetness and give it a balance. If you on the other hand, loves the sweetness, by all means, leave the salt out.

Ok, on with the recipe...

Vanilla Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting

(12-14 cupcakes)

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons of vanilla extract (use the real vanilla, the the imitation)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/3 cup of sour cream

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup whole milk.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit

2. Beat the butter and sugar till crumbly.

3. Add the vanilla, oil, eggs and sour cream till combined.

4. Slowly sift in all purpose flour, add salt, baking soda and baking powder.

5. Mix with a spatula while slowly stirring in the milk.

6. After incorporated, you can mix it with your hand mixer till smooth.

7. If you prefer the classic white vanilla cake, then skip to steps 8-9 and transfer to a cupcake lined muffin pan, proceed to step 10.

8. Evenly divide the batter in 3 separate bowls and tint each bowl a different shade of blue.

9. Take a spoon, and scoop 2 spoons of batter into cupcake lined muffin pan, starting with the darkest color first....then repeating the same steps for the medium blue, layering it over the darkest color.....then layering the lightest color on top.

10. Bake for 15 min, 350 degrees

11. Remove immediately from the muffin pan once baked to prevent over baking and let them cool on a wire rack.

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup crisco (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

1/4 cup whole milk

Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Blend the butter and crisco

2. Mix in vanilla

3. Slowly mix in sugar, salt and milk

4. Texture should be thick and should hang on to the spatula

5. Start piping!!!

Note: If you are in a warmer area and find that your frosting is still a bit soft, easy trick to fix this is to let it sit in your refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to allow the butter and crisco to solidify a bit to make it easy to work with.

List of items I'm using in the video:

Elsa Miniature Frozen Doll

Camera that I am using

All About Arlene

Blueberry Peach Galette

9:30 AM

Hey guys! So it's finally a New Year!! Happy 2014!! I can't believe how fast the time has flew by. Well here is my last video from 2013, a Blueberry Peach Galette that I made with my family. Things have been crazy on my end lately. I have been working on some new content for my YouTube channel and also been busy with something else that I will announce shortly. Even though it's been hectic, i'm enjoying every single moment of it. So if you're a follower on my blog or on my YouTube channel, Instagram, Twitter, or heck...all of them....then you will know about it soon. It's funny how at first I used to think that people never really read my blog since my follow count wasn't exactly anything to brag about. But it was when I don't post....I get messages from people who say "hey, you haven't posted?" or "hey, when are you posting your next video?" or when people approach me on the street and say "hey, I watch your videos!" that I realized that wow....people are actually reading this thing and watching my videos! Ha! They just don't have a blog themselves to subscribe to it or a YouTube channel to subscribe to my videos, and so forth. So thanks for reaching out to me and approaching me. I love it when I meet my followers. Well, until my next post....stay warm (it's snowing here in New York)....and I'll talk to you on my next post.

xoxo,

Arlene

All About Arlene

MULAN - Disney Princess Collab!

7:53 AM

So Halloween came and gone so fast it seems! I did a Disney Princess Collaboration with a few of my friends on YouTube. We all did a look inspired by one of the Princesses and I chose MULAN. It's one of my favorite Disney movies along with Little Mermaid. I was actually feeling very sick when I initially filmed this and I still am sick as I write this with a fever of 103 degrees. Boo! This flu bug has been floating around during this drastic weather change and I've been trying to avoid it as much as possible. But it came around the hidden corner, jumped out at me and said "Tag you're it!' Haha. So here we are. Well I hope you like my Disney look and hope you enjoy watching my video as much as I enjoyed making it.

xoxo,

Arlene

If you can see the video, click here to view.

All About Arlene

Tim Burton Pumpkin Carving - Nightmare Before Christmas

4:30 AM

I was inspired from Tim Burton's movie "Nightmare Before Christmas" so I carved up one of his character, good old Jack! Who doesn't love a Tim Burton movie. His movies are exceptional!

Arlene's friends

FALLing to Autumn Nails (YouTube Beauty Collab)

8:10 AM

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've made a beauty video and what better way to start but in a collaboration with some of my YouTube beauty girl friends! We all created a video inspired by Fall. As for me, I was inspired by my scarf which I love wearing during this season. If you don't know yet, purple is one of my favorite colors. I love the combination of the gold and purple on my scarf and recreated it on my nails. I hope you like it! Please check out the video above. If you have trouble viewing it from my blog, click here to watch.

Products I used:

:: Base Coat - Formula X for Sephora
:: Swatch Me - Julep Nailpolish
:: Glamorously Glittering #6 - Milani Eyez Glittering Eyeshadow
:: Beautifully Brilliant #2 - Milani Eyez Glittering Eyeshadow
:: Olive Oil
:: Q-tips - Target
:: Nail Glitter - LA Splash
:: Hardwear Top Coat - Butter London

Please check out the videos from my other YouTube beauty friends who are also part of this Fall collaboration. You can find their links to their YouTube page below:

:: Nicole (Mommytipsbycole)
:: Yanyi (Missyanyibeautynlife)
:: Arlene (QueenLeilani)
:: Airah (Airahmorena08)
:: Wing (Divamakeupqueen)
:: Diana (Saldanadiana)
:: Rheesa (Reesiibabe)
:: Melinda (Memeathroughz)
:: Grace (Xogoxo)

Happy Fall!! xoxo Arlene

Engagement Photoshoot with Mamichula8153 (Lee & Richard)

9:56 AM

I am so happy to be working with my dear friend Lee (aka Mamichula8153 from YouTube) and her fiance Richard for their wedding. They are such a beautiful couple. We met up together for lunch to go over some wedding bits. Before meeting up, the weather was a bit gloomy and rainy so we didn't think we would have an opportunity to do a photoshoot outdoors. But luckily, once we finished eating, the weather cleared up and we just had to take advantage of the perfect weather!

Can you believe I recorded this entire thing straight from an iPhone? I didn't initially intend on making a behind the scenes video at all. I originally only recorded footage for only Lee & Rich to see, but with all the great clips, we decided to edit a video for Lee to upload on her YouTube channel. She created a Wedding Series playlist for her subscribers, which entails great tips and ideas for those who are planning their own wedding. You can view her playlist here:

LEE AND RICH ENGAGEMENT - BY SIRIN SAMMAN 1

The photographer, Sirin is a good friend of mine and her work is amazing! She focuses on capturing the most natural interaction between couples...and it shows in her pictures. If you are interested in seeing more of her work, check out her website here:

The music is by Landon Austin, which is beautiful song...especially as a wedding or engagement song. You can check out his music here:

LEE AND RICH ENGAGEMENT - BY SIRIN SAMMAN 2

If you are having trouble viewing the video on my blog, you can click here to watch. Below, is just a few pictures from the photoshoot. The pictures came out so beautiful and really had fun working with them on it....and look forward to working with them again.

LEE AND RICH ENGAGEMENT - BY SIRIN SAMMAN

Arlene's friends

EDC 2013 (part 2 of 2)

11:55 AM

Check out the video above from EDC 2013 ( Electric Daisy Carnival ), a yearly celebration of EDM ( Electric Dance Music ). It was another great time with my friends! We will be going to EDC Las Vegas next year - super excited about it! Check out the video above that I edited and some pictures below.

If you are viewing this on a mobile device and have trouble watching it, you can view it on a computer. The video was blocked for mobile viewing due to copyright music. Boo! Unless you are tech saavy, you can watch it on your mobile device on "Desktop Mode" - if you can't figure out how to do that, just watch it from a computer.

I had so much fun...and just to name a few of who were there... Rebecca & Fiona, Empire of the Sun, Calvin Harris, Cedric Gervais, Dirty South, Nicky Romero, Porter Robinson, R3Hab, and more....

Caroline Issa's Collection for L.K. Bennett

6:30 AM

I had the lovely opportunity to meet a very young and successful model and designer Caroline Issa. I was invited to Bazaar Harper Magazine & L.K Benett's event as they celebrated the launch of Caroline Issa's collection before its release. L.K. Bennett is a favorite line of Kate Middleton and you can bet on it that she already ordered all of Caroline's collection. Also, doesn't Drew Barrymore look amazing on the cover for Bazaar? She is so gorgeous and doesn't seem to age one bit. I was able to get a special edition for this magazine that's different than what was released on stands. Thank you Bazaar and L.K. Bennett!

Can you see a hint of my blue highlights?

My Outfit of the Day:

Glasses / Clear Framed - I got these for Christmas and loving them so much

Necklace - Bebe

Turquoise Blazer - Forever 21

Caroline Issa looking young and beautiful


Desserts? Yes, thank you for very much. These cookies with a cream and nut filling were so delish!

Brownies? Yes, thank you!

Once you hear the story of Caroline's inspiration of these shoes, you will fall in love with them as much as I have. Pom-poms and all! Her inspiration came from her visit in Thailand and all the bold vibrant colors and patterns triggered this masterpiece.

I love the pom poms, they are so fun! I'm all about fun!

All About Arlene

Organized Kitchen Pantry

8:00 AM

Whoa Momma!! That's a crap load of stuff! I can't even believe that my pantry even looked like this at one point. I'm so proud of the way I organized my pantry.

Since I live in New York, apartments are small and limited in storage space so I have to make due with the lack of cupboards I have. My pantry which contains all of my baking ingredients was just awful and sad looking. As much as I love baking, every time I opened it, something was falling out. It was hard to find what I wanted and just the clutter itself would just spoil the mood of me wanting to bake sometimes. Something had to be done...and it needed to be quick!

I purchased these containers that I found. It was important to me that it had a airtight seal without the hassle of opening and closing. This happened to fit the bill. It's BPA free plus it is safe to use in the refrigerator, freezer and top rack dishwasher safe. My kind of container! I provided an *affiliate link to where I purchased it here.

I used a label maker to name each container

Ta-Dah!

I will show you an updated picture to see how this new organized pantry has been holding up...

so be sure to check back for the status. =)

*Disclaimer: all items mentioned above were purchased with my own money. This is not a sponsored blog post. Affiliate links help fund a small amount towards my blog to continue to make content. Thank you so much for your support.

Electric Nails

8:10 AM

So my friends and I were talking about the Electric Daisy Carnival and Electric Zoo and how we had so much fun this year and can't wait for the next year to come. It made me think about my nails and how I spent the time to prep them to match the occasion that I totally forgot to show you guys what I did! Duh! But if you follow me on Instagram, then you didn't miss much since I posted this picture there before. I got so many compliments on them and people were asking me how I did it, I thought I'd share it with you. The results of the final look made people think that I spent several hours on them or that the process looked like it would be complicated. However, when I explained how simple the process was...people couldn't believe it.

Tools that you will need:

1. Nail polishes of your choice (preferably opaque colors that are not sheer)
2. Scissors
3. Scotch Tape (yes, that's right...you will need tape)
4. Nail glue (optional)
5. Clear top coat

It's 6 easy steps. So here's how to do it.

1. Paint your nails any base color that you want. (I chose a deep purple)
2. On a strip of scotch tape, paint strips of various colors of your choice
3. Cut strips, triangles, squares...any shapes with a pair of scissors
4. Arrange the cut pieces of tape on your nail
5. For added security, you can use a tiny amount of nail glue to seal corners of the strips (optional)
6. Finish with a clear top coat for sealing...and your done!

Ta-Dah!!

P.S. If you never seen my Electric Daisy Carnival video with my friends this year...you should check it out here below! I can't believe that the video as of today has 116,491 views within 6 months! Thanks insane! That's for all the support

Click here to watch video

Arlene's friends

Electric Zoo Festival 2012

1:53 PM

I had an awesome time with my girls Nathalie and Frances at Electric Zoo Festival here in NYC. It was my first time going. Instead of me explaining it, check out the video I made below. =)

Who's going to save the world??

We mustache you a question!

Arlene's friends

Fashion's Night Out 2012

1:38 PM

I had a great time during Fashion's Night Out in New York with my girls who are also on YouTube. Lee Lee aka Mamichula8153, Melissa aka oxPRETTYSPiFFYxo and Nathalie aka NatyMidnight and let's not forget my friend Waise in the back which technically he was considered one of the girls for the night. He actually flew in all the way from San Francisco, California to New York the same day just for Fashion's Night Out and flew back home the next day. Only a 1 day trip. Now that's real dedication to fashion right there! As Waise quoted for the night, "I have to look fabulous just in case I see Anna Wintour" haha. Speaking of Anna Wintour, you must watch "The September Issue" which is a documentary of the behind the scenes of the making of fashion magazine Vogue. If you're into fashion, it's definitely something worth watching. Click here to watch the trailer. As for Fashion's Night Out....we had a fabulous time, despite the riot that took place in SoHo. Check out our video below to see how the night went....

All About Arlene

Underwater Adventures

11:52 AM

I got a new Waterproof Camera as a surprise gift from Tricky for summer. It's a Sony Bloggie HD Waterproof camera and I decided to make an awesome video with my family while testing it out for the first time. I love this camera. It's shock proof and dust proof. Check out the video that I made with my family below. Hope you're enjoying your summer! =)

Family Adventures Underwater (Plus BLOOPERS!!) from Most Amazing Family on Vimeo.

All About Arlene

My DIY Shoe Rack

12:33 PM

My DIY Shoe Rack

I love my customized shoe rack that Tricky and his brother Mikey helped me make. Living in New York, apartments are known for being small and not having enough closet space. So you really have to be crafty on your storage space. You have to utilize wall space and build up. Generally, people would put them in the closet: on the floor beneath the clothes or top shelf. Or sometimes even invest in furniture, cubby holes, etc to store shoes which just takes up valuable floor space. Either case, shoes take up so much space! I love my shoes, but hate how cumbersome it can be when I don't have enough space for them. It was a love hate relationship that I have had with them for quite a while...up until now.

Anyways....it wasn't until one day I was Skyping with my dear friend Lisa and she noticed my shoe rack in the background that she wanted to know more about it. I posted a picture of Lisa and I Skyping on my Facebook and it stirred up questions about my shoe rack in the background and people wanting to know where I bought it. lol No, I didn't buy it. It was custom made. My initial inspiration came from Pinterest (oh how I love Pinterest, but how it sucks up a lot of my time from browsing. But that's a whole 'nother story lol). After a few requests to make a tutorial video on how this was made, I will be uploading one shortly on the process of the making. But in the meantime, here's a little sneak peek of some pictures of the building process.