On my recent trip to Auckland I couldn't help but head to Smith & Caughey's to check out their Benefit cosmetics counter. I'd been eyeing up the Roller Lash for a while and it'd taken me some time to convince myself to splurge on mascara, at $45 it was a bit more expensive than what I'd usually be willing to pay but I'm glad I took the plunge!

I'd never actually bothered to look at photos of the packaging so when I saw it, I fell in love!

I try to cook pancakes every weekend for breakfast as a little something special for me and my daughter, the only problem is I'm certainly not a great cook!

This pancake recipe is foolproof and can easily be changed up to a vegan friendly recipe if you so desire. They're delicious, fluffy and you virtually cannot tell the difference between this recipe and egg-inclusive options!

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon*
1 cup of milk (or your choice of a vegan friendly option eg soy, almond)
2 Tbsp of olive oil (vegetable oil works too!)
1-2 Tbsp of water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence*

*I don't actually measure the cinnamon and just sprinkle it on until I think it looks about right, and measure the vanilla essence out using the cap from the bottle, approx. 1 cap full, so these are guesstimates!

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, combine all remaining wet ingredients and stir.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just mixed.
4. Heat up a frying pan to a low-medium heat and use your oil of choice so the pancakes won't stick. You don't need a massive amount, the last thing we want is for our pancakes to be swimming in oil.
5. Using a ladle or a large spoon, measure out your pancake batter and pop it onto the frying pan. I don't wait for any bubbles to show when I turn them, I watch the texture of the raw batter change so the edges are beginning to set then flip them and continue cooking them for another 3 minutes or so.

These go delicious with french vanilla ice cream, blueberries or like pictured above, maple syrup and banana.

I'm going to apologize for my massive absence, the second half of 2017 was spent dealing with some of the biggest emotional stresses in my life.

I'm hoping for a much better year this year and thus far, it seems to be working okay!

I took some time off work and took my daughter up to Auckland where we stayed with my brother who was kind enough to take us out for dinner for my early birthday present. We only spent a few days up there, and had intended on going to Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium and taking a wander around some of the lava caves on Rangitoto Island however the weather decided it wasn't going to play ball and a cyclone hit the day we were meant to head to Rangitoto. We decided instead to go and see Coco at the movies on the Xtremescreen at Hoyts before heading into town to do a spot of shopping, which is when the weather decided to really hit. I ended up stopping at Smith & Caugheys and Mecca Cosmetica to grab a couple of pretty treats before we went to the Odyssey Sensory Maze - Alex was terrified of a couple of the rooms but it ended up being her favourite part about our trip!

A few days after returning from our short holiday, I learned that I'd been named as one of the ten finalists for Miss Frankton Thunder - a pinup competition - in March! So I've been busy planning three outfits including one swimwear one. I'm more nervous about getting up on stage and talking, I'm hoping I don't have a panic attack, my heart starts pounding away and I feel funny just thinking about it!

The next lot of good news is that I'm getting the self harm scars on my thighs tattooed over - potentially as soon as next week! I've wanted this done for a few years and known exactly what I wanted and have decided that now is the time. I'm so excited to see what my tattooist has drawn up from my ideas! And to be able to finally reclaim my body for myself.

Next up, is my sister is about to have her baby so I'm really looking forward to being not only a mother myself but an aunty as well - I hope that I can be even half the awesome aunt she is to Alex, to her wee baby.

My birthday is coming up on Sunday, so I'm treating myself to a trip to Kmart with a giftcard I got for Christmas (Mott knows me too well, haha) and heading to Spotlight to hopefully find some of Gerties patterns, and maybe Davids Emporium for fabric.

Anyhow, it's super, mega late and my eyeballs feel like they're about to fall out of my head, so I'm going to head off and pop my thinking cap on for what more I could blog about :)

I've recently become a fan of sheet masks, they don't feel so drying on my skin compared to other masks and I can't help but feel like I'm treating myself every time I pop one on. They act like a quick pick me up for my skin and leave my skin looking a bit brighter.

Recently I saw that one of my favourite daily deal websites had a Tony Moly sale going so I got in there quick and grabbed some of the Panda's Dream sticks that I love so much as well as a few sheet masks to try.

I'm a sucker for Tony Moly's cute, bright and fun packaging - I have the Cat Chu Wink lip tint which came in a clear bottle with a black lid topped with a cute cat head and also have a couple of their Petite Bunny Gloss Bars which come in a variety of flavours and feature a cute bunny on the tube lid - and each different flavour has a different bunny face!

Anyway, so I'm sitting here right now wearing the Tomato mask. The first thing I did when I opened it was smelling it, I was worried it might smell like tomato but surprisingly it doesn't! (This is good, because I have a broccoli one and I don't want to imagine smelling like a broccoli for a while)

After wearing the mask for 30 minutes and removing it, there was still a lot of serum on my face, so I massaged this into my face and down to my neck as well. Once this was absorbed, my skin still felt quite tacky for around 15 minutes. I've found that from the Western sheet masks I've tried, they tend to leave my skin feeling oily rather than tacky. There was no dramatic difference in my skin besides feeling moisturised and having slightly brighter skin which is no different to me than my usual moisturiser.


Pros:
- doesn't actually smell like tomato. It has a sweet, fresh smell to it. It's almost citrus-like.
- the mask itself is a decent size and covers my entire face
- while wearing the mask, it felt cooling and soothing, I can imagine this would feel amazing after a day out in the sun!
- they're actually pretty cheap - I bought a 4-pack for $11
- does not contain talc, benzophenone, triethanolamin, colour additives, or parabens!

Cons:
- I found it to be a bit wet, there is pleeenty of serum on the sheet mask so it ended up dripping from my chin onto my clothing.
- Tony Moly do test on animals and is not a cruelty free brand

Ingredients:
Water, Glycerin, Glycereth-26, Butylene Glycol, Peg/ppg-17/6 Copolymer, Bis-ethoxy Diglycol Succinate, Panthenol, Allantoin, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Chlorphenesin, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Tromethamine, Solanium Lycopersicum (tomato) Fruit Extract, 1,2-hexanediol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Honey Extract, Prunus Persica (peach) Fruit Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, Illicium Verum (anise) Fruit Extract, Disodium Edta, Fragrance

There have been many a few changes since I created this blog (and thus forgot it even existed).

One of the reasons for this was due to an ongoing issue I was having with Facebook and changing the name of my FB page from Loula Von Vixen to Modern Misfit. Four months of back and forwards and I finally got it sorted!

I have had a lot of things going on, and over the last couple of months I've started climbing my way back up. I'm still working the same job, still living in the same old house. I no longer consume animal products. I dyed my hair so it's slightly reddish and got the medusa piercing I'd been humming and haa'ing over for the last twelve months. I'm seeing someone new (who makes me smile like a dork). I've cancelled heading to Auckland Armageddon and Sydney Supanova. I've picked up the guitar again. I've started stepping outside of my comfort zone and getting out of the house. Oh, I also completed my Raven costume which I wore to Tauranga Armageddon and I slayed, I was so proud of myself!

I'm not going to get too much into detail about everything at the moment, I'll have to save that for another day, maybe in small little trickles. I'm not too sure.