Dipped Marshmallows

This has been a fun treat to deliver to neighbors and friends and they make your hot cocoa taste fantastic!

Happy Holidays!

NYX is on Hautelook today!!!

I am so excited that NYX makeup is on Hauetlook today.

Click HERE to go shopping!!

I am still deciding on what exact colors to get because the selection is pretty good but I am thinking I need these for sure….

This entire lip set is only$18.50

 

And this cute set called “earth angel” is only $25

Sorry if you are not a makeup freak like me but they do have cute clothes today too (I love Ella Moss) but oh my goodness I am excited. Happy Monday!

2011 Holiday Card

I wish you could see how cute the glitter turned out I hope your Holiday preparations are going perfectly!!

HauteLook: Urban Decay

I am so excited because Urban Decay is on HauteLook today and I just got my favorite primer potion for $9 (regularly $18). This is by far the best eye shadow primer ever. I think this is the old packaging because now it comes in a squeeze tube but that is a great price so who cares.

And I also picked up this Urban Defense tinted moisturizer for $3 (regularly $30). I love tinted moisturizers (MAC is my favorite) but for $3 I thought how could I go wrong lol.

I was just super excited and had to share it with someone!

Birchbox Breakdown: November 2011

I feel like I am always behind posting about my latest Birchbox but hey I get to it eventually right {wink}. If you want to learn more about Birchbox go HERE.

The theme for this box was Getting Gifty and this is what I got….

 

1. Atelier Cologne: Vanille Insensee Cologne Absolue

My Opinion: I was not a huge fan of this scent it was a little too musky and I tend to lean towards the fruity/sweet side when it comes to perfumes.

2. Borghese Fango Active Mud mask

My Opinion: I really enjoyed this mud mask it left my skin feeling really smooth and clean; although I have to say for the price of a full sized bottle I don’t think I will be buying this one.

3. LaROCCA Champagne and Shimmer Supreme Crème

My Opinion: I love this glittery lotion. It smells good, it’s not greasy, and has the perfect amount of shimmer.

4. Zoya nail polish in the color Izzy

My Opinion: The color is so so perfect for me it is a very shimmery pink I love it. It went on smooth and had pretty good staying power.

 

Treat/Extra: Two paper dolls coasters

My Opinion: They are super cute. I think they would make a fun gift for your friends or neighbors.

AND I also got something from the “Bauble Bar” because I purchased a full sized item through the website. I like when companies give you a little surprise like this especially when it’s so cute!

As usual I am already so excited to get my December Birchbox and I will keep you posted when I do! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Blog swapping!!

I have been asked by my bloggy friend Jennifer over at quirky pickings to do a little blog swap, and to make it even more fun she asked me to pose the question for her to answer!

Stay tuned to read what she had to say and come and visit me HERE to get find out how I would finish this phrase “If you really knew me you would know……” (P.S. it does include a picture of me and you know how very rare that is lol)

Enjoy my friend Jennifer…..

Are you inspired by anyone that you would be embarrassed to admit?

i didn't have an immediate answer to this question because i don't believe a person should be afraid to confess to inspiration, however it is achieved. so it took me a long time to answer this. the question’d been sitting in my inbox, then my read folder for months. literally. i'd asked for it in august. and been mulling over the answer ever since.

i decided this morning to tackle it. and so, my thinking cap took the form of a google search: embarrassing inspirations. i checked the image results. i saw pictures of women with their eyes covered with black rectangles, as though their vision had been censored. of monkeys with their teeth bared and their hands across their faces. of french mastiffs (best dogs ever, by the way) with their upper lips caught on their bottom teeth and their eyes fierce. of rats and rings and seth rogen.

and for some reason, i thought of bette midler.

and remembered all those times when, as a child or adolescent, i would go off by myself and sing her version of the rose.

or be sitting in class (or detention) writing down the lyrics and drawing a cheesy picture of a rose to go with it. because i knew how to do the homework already, knew i'd ace the test regardless of whether i completed the assignment, and my teachers’ busy work bored me. because the lyrics:

when the night has been too lonely

and the road has been too long

and you think that love is only

for the lucky and the strong

just remember ...

these gave me solace when my day had been unbearable. and more often than not, it had been.

we had two versions of this song in my house. one by her. and one by harry belafonte. hers is infinitely better.

i love this song.

singing it is one of the few things i do well.

not that i can sing as well as i did twenty years ago. i smoked too many cigarettes between now and then, and my range is significantly less because of it. but even still, i can sing it sufficiently.

i used to sing it on the bus on the way to and from school.

quietly. or so i thought.

someone heard me once. and, of course, his reaction wasn't kind. neither were those of others who clued in on his mockery of me.

i rarely sing in front of people. probably because of that. i hadn't realized until just now, though, that that's why this is. i'd been in choir for one year in high school. i do the occasional karaoke with friends. that's it.

anyway. i love this woman's voice. i love her spunk. i used to dream that i could be a little bit like her.

but ultimately, it wasn't her so much as the song that inspired. the lyrics. the hope in them. it kept me believing in the future when i couldn't see much of one at all.

Repost: If you really knew me you would know…..

This is a post I had written for a blog swap but I wanted to post it in full here before I moved on because it was so important to me.

So I have been wanting to blog about this for a really long time but I think it’s the hardest to write about something personal that you love because you expose a part of yourself, but here it goes…..

Let me preface this by saying loud and clear that I have never done anything like this and I am quite possibly one of the most uncoordinated people on the planet. That being said if you really knew me you would know that I have become absolutely obsessed with something called Oula. If you haven’t heard about this I have no doubt that you will one day soon. It is a cardio dance class that is literally one of the most fun things (especially exercise related) that I have ever done. It is filled with top 40’s music and I feel like it is somewhere that I can let everything else go and rock out and let the music move me. I leave the classes feeling energized, happy, and excited (how many times can you say that after you have been sweating like crazy at the gym for an hour).

Yes this is me ugh I am so not photogenic but I had was part of a project where we were photographed doing some of the Oula movements and it was actually a blast.

 

In my head when I am dancing I look like this……(PS this is not me although it is the founder and creative director of the program and she is AMAZING)

But I am pretty sure I look more like Elaine form Seinfeld (if you saw that episode you will know what I mean)….

The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to be a great dancer to go to this class and have it change something inside of you. It is amazing stress relief and great cardio obviously, but more than that I feel like it’s just plain good for my energy. How cheesy I know and I sound like an infomercial but there it is friends I couldn’t imagine my week without this as part of my routine.

Birchbox Breakdown: October 2011

Better late than never right? I really liked my box last month but some of my other project kept me from telling you about it sooner, sorry for the delay. And if you have not heard about Birchbox check it out HERE where you can sign up for the monthly beauty sample box for $10 a month.

The theme for October was Prep and Finish and this is what I got….

 

1. Befine lip exfoliator you rub this over your lips in small circles and then remove it with a warm wash cloth to leave lips feeling velvety.

My opinion: I am addicted to lip products so I was excited about this. It does work really well as an exfoliator although it is very drying so I do not use it often. I am thinking in the middle of winter though this will work miracles on my lips.

2. blinc mascara is a tubing mascara that is not supposed to flake or smudge all day.

My Opinion: I have read so many mixed reviews of this that I was very skeptical. I actually ended up buying the full size of this product because I like it so much. I do feel like mascara is about as individual as shampoo but for me this works great. It doesn’t do much for the volume of my lashes but it is fantastic with length and it really does stay put ALL DAY!

3. Pangea Organics Facial Scrub (self explanatory lol)

My Opinion: I received the Pangea facial cream in my last box and liked the product but was not in love with it enough to buy the full product and I feel much the same with this little guy. The scent is nice and it is a nice exfoliator but I am not in love.

4. Redken Shine Flash is a finishing spray that is supposed to leave your hair super shiny.

My Opinion: I think there is a fine line between shiny hair and greasy hair and for me this seemed to leave me more on the greasy side so this one was a no for me but maybe on a different hair type this would work who knows.

Treat/Extra – Tea Forte Minteas that are infused with energizing yerba mate and rick cocoa.

My Opinion: This was another one of those things that I didn’t love or hate. I tend to only like mints that leave my mouth really fresh smelling and tasting and for me these didn’t do the trick. And energy wise I didn’t notice a thing so I will be sticking to my Diet Dr. Pepper lol.

 

All in all I am still really loving Birchbox I have purchased something in the full sized product from both of my boxes so far because I was so excited about the sample. I already can’t wait for my November box it should come in about a week so I will keep you posted.

Do you Hautelook?

I have another new love…….

Hautelook

What is Hautelook? (this is directly from the website)

HauteLook is a premier members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on the world's best brands. Each day, members receive an email invitation to the newest, most exclusive sale events on the best merchandise for men, women, kids, home and beauty - at prices up to 75% off retail. HauteLook is free to join and everyone is welcome - there are no commitments or charges for membership.

I am not a huge online shopper but they have such great deals on all of my favorite things. I can’t show you all of my latest purchases because I have started Christmas shopping but I got this super cute shirt…..

Sorry the picture is so small lol. It’s from Threads for Thought and I can’t wait to get it. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Halloween Candy Cake

Well they are finally done! The marketing gifts that I made this month were by far some of the most time consuming things I have done in ages but I was so excited about the outcome………

I have been told that the hands on top that are holding the card look like antlers so here is a different angle lol….

I thought I would also share with you my new favorite Halloween décor…..

Just some old bottles with labels I printed out and food coloring with water. Super easy but I think they are fun.

Happy Halloween!!

Sunday morning doughnuts

So if you are like me and you don’t have a Krispy Kreme near your house you have a void that you just have to fill with something, right? So here it is my latest doughnut fix and it’s actually easy and surprisingly delicious……

You need something like this……

And you get this!!!!

Trust me these are really amazing and I have high standards because my Grandpa owned a doughnut shop when I was younger and we still make them around the holidays.

I found great directions HERE!! You won’t be sorry

Birchbox inspired bracelet tutorial

Remember this cute little guy….

Well I have finally finished my own version of this and I can’t wait to show you how I did it.

 

And now if you want to stick around I will show you the steps to the braided version of this because if you can do that one you can do any of them!

Basically I used crochet thread, tacky glue, and a metal charm….

I cut three separate pieces of thread about 22 inches long each (that is way more than you will need but it will be easier to work with)…

I like to secure my work with these paper clips and then I loop all three strands through my hoop….

Next I separate the strands out…….

And start braiding……..

Once I get the length that I want I tie a simple knot…

I like to make both braids on the same side so that I can get the length of each the same……

Hanging off each end you will have six strands and I like to cut it down to two so that it’s easier to manage….

I then secure the strands with my paper clips again and prepare to make the sliding knot…… the best tutorial I have found for making this knot is HERE. Trust me when I say she did a much better job of explaining this than I could have.

Last but not least I used tacky glue on the knots to keep them from fraying or falling apart……

let the glue dry and there you go…..

Tell me what you think and let me know if you have any questions!

Birchbox Breakdown: September 2011

Now that I have had some time to try out the products in my Birchbox I thought I would give you my opinion on the treats I received.

This is the card with the details of what I received and they also include the price of the full sized product (I really love that).

#1. So let’s start at the top of the list with the Incoco nail Applique’s…..the style that I got was like this

They are made out of real nail polish and they are supposed to last up to 14 days.  So if you know me you know how much I LOVE nail polish and this was right up my ally. Look how cute they are on…

My opinion: The first nail or two were tricky and then I got the hang of it. After a week of them on my nails they held up perfectly through laundry, dishes, cooking, and hair washing (he he). I don’t know if they would have held up the entire 14 days because I got antsy with the growth on the cuticle side because my nails grow super fast and removed them. But I loved them so much that I bought these two different patterns…

#2. The Jouer lip enhancer is supposed to plump, hydrate, and condition all in one step. If there is anything that can compete with my nail polish collection it would be my lip gloss/balm collection.

My opinion: I was so excited to try this and to be honest it was a little bit of a let down. I didn’t think it was anything very special and certainly did not fee that it offered any plumping whatsoever. I didn’t love it or hate it, to be honest it was just blah. So no I will not be purchasing more. I feel like that is so mean to say but hey I am just being honest.

#3. LIV GRN perfume in Earth. Can I just say I hate these little sample bottles they make a mess when you open them.

My Opinion: I tend to like really fruity sweet scents but I have to say that I love this so much and I will most likely get this in the full sized version.

#4. Pangea facial cream (I think that speaks for itself )

My opinion: I don’t love it or hate it. Much like the lip product it was just okay.

#5. Friendship bracelet

My opinion: I love love love the bracelet. I have worn it a ton already and am working on my own version inspired by this so stay tuned because it is going to be so cute and so simple.