Favorite Beauty Products As Of Right Now (Summer/Fall 2012)

So this is highly awkward. Who knows if anyone is listening right now on account of I haven’t blogged in forever, but this summer was another chlorine-filled one like the last. However I did not bake as much as I did last summer. I did make some yum treats though. Fresh strawberry cupcakes, strawberry muffins, salted caramel cupcakes, cake batter muddy buddies. Probably a few more. Te he. Today I’d like to show you some of my favorite beauty/hair supplies.

*One note before we begin:

In my profile picture I’m donning pigtail braids, so it’s not obvious what texture my hair is. I have naturally curly/wavy/frizzy/thick/huge hair. From December/June I tend to straighten it with a flat iron very often. Now I swim during the fall so there’s normally no time/reason to go at my hair with heat. In the summer I normally don’t use heat on my hair except on special occasions. Lately I’ve been trying to blow-dry my hair straight although sometimes it turns out extremely puffy. My hair is also really long (I don’t know if this matters), but I do have split ends so I guess that might contribute to the type of conditioner I use? I don’t know. Anyways it’s like 5 inches away from my butt when it’s curly. It’s obviously a lot longer when it’s straightened out.

Oh and another note:

My hair does not have the normal outside forces ruining it everyday. I swim everyday in chlorine which dries out my hair and changes the texture.

Ok, now that we’ve gotten that aside, let’s begin!

Photos: Courtesy of http://favim.com/image/492614/

So, let’s begin with my shower products. I use a face wash. I have tried plenty of face washes. Plenty! Again with the swim thing, my face gets extremely dry and I can’t use any ol’ face wash. Before I swam I would use Biore Warming Anti-Blackhead Cream Cleanser. This stuff works beautifully and it makes your skin feel so clean and refreshed. It not only minimizes pores and blackheads but it also treats acne. I also used to use some alcohol-smelling cleansing pads from the dermatologist and some cleanser that works really fast but it does bleach the face and dries it out. I also used to use Clean & Clear Morning Burst Shine Control Facial Cleanser and I occasionally use it still. I also shower every other day and sometimes longer because of my hair texture. So I used to wash my face every other day and then use the alcohol pads on the days I didn’t wash my face. Now, I use Alba Coconut Milk Facial Wash. I can use that normally every day without my face peeling from dryness. P.S. I have provided links for each wash so you can go to the site and see what it looks like :)

Kay, now... drumroll please...

Hair Care!

Last summer I had an epiphany with Tresemme weather control shampoo and conditioner or whatever it’s called. This summer I’ve been using Organix Coconut Milk Shampoo and then Aussie Moist Conditioner. I wash my hair first with my shampoo and after I put the conditioner in I brush it out with a wide-tooth comb. Then I wash it out in coolish water. Brushing it out while it still has conditioner in it makes the hair really smooth and detangled and when you wash your hair with cold water it seals it in. Both my shampoo and my conditioner smell heavenly so that’s always a plus :)

Now, let’s see. When I get out of the shower I always moisturize my face. I swear, I have to slap that moisturizer on as soon as I get out or my face will start peeling. Oh, and my go to moisturizer is Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture for Combination Skin. The amazing thing is that they have 3 kinds: for oily, sensitive, or combination skin. I probably should be using sensitive skin right now but I used to have oily/combination skin and it still works excellent.

Makeup

Now after I moisturize I brush out my hair with a wide-tooth comb (never use an actual brush on wet hair, it’s too harsh) and detangle it with Aussie Hair Insurance Leave-in Conditioner Spray. This stuff also smells amazing and detangles great. I’ve been using this stuff for about a year and I think I’ll stick with it. But this summer I’ve been also using Garnier Fructis Style Pure Clean Smoothing Cream. Now I don’t think it tames my frizzies very well but it does work well as an extra detangler. Then I use Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Curl Define & Hold Creme. It works pretty good on keeping my waves/curls smooth and defined but I think I could do better. Although it also smells really good :) 

Today I just bought some Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk and I’m trying it out to see if it’s any good. Wish me luck!

Honestly, I don’t wear makeup, but I still have some that I use on special occasions that I really do like. Maybelline’s the Falsies Mascara seemed to really enhance my eyelashes the one time I used it for pictures. For foundation I like Covergirl NatureLuxe Liquid Silk Foundation with sunscreen in Aspen. I’m not much of a gloss or lipstick girl so I really enjoy Maybelline’s Baby Lips. It slides on easily and it’s not cakey like lipstick. Also the cherry color smells really good, like cherries! For lip balm I religiously love Burt’s Bees. I have the Ultra Conditioning kind right now but I have gotten the Honey balm before too. Oh and back to lipstick, during the school year, on busy mornings, it was so simple to just put on the Baby Lips just like chapstick! I also use Covergirl NatureLuxe Gloss Balm in Grenache which looks beautiful!

Pretty much that’s it when it comes to beauty products! Bye bye!

Mini Pretzels

Hey guys! Well, I haven’t see you in uh... like 3 months. I don’t know if you’re reading this, but I really tried if anyone cares. I had stuff to blog about, I just, didn’t feel like going on my blog and well... blogging. Lol. So, let’s get down to business chicas. I’m going to be posting everyday for a few days to get rid of the crap I had. First I’m going to introduce the pretzels I made in March. They were pretty creative I have to say. However, the cheese sauce I cooked tasted horrible. It got hard after a few minutes. I don’t plan on making cheese sauces for the future. And since it wasn’t a very good recipe, I won’t tell you where I found it from. Instead my family just eat it with mustard. Ok. So here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

-a can of Pillsbury crescents

-1 egg, beaten

-sea salt for sprinkling

-mustard for dipping

Directions:

Split your crescent roll in half. I really don’t know how to explain the rest so follow the pictures. Press the seams together. Cut little strips of dough and roll them thinner. Twist into a pretzel (which I did really badly), and brush your pretzels with a beaten egg to get that pretty golden shade. Now sprinkle coarse/sea salt over all of the prepared pretzels. Sorry, but because I did this so long ago, I do not remember how long I cooked these for. I know it wasn’t that long. A bit shorter than the time on the can. Serve warm with mustard. Enjoy!

Polka Dot Nails

Just a little notice, I want to share this with you guys before you go all awhol on me for never posting. Look at these. I know, it is a horribly horrible pic but just look at these things. You have to admit, they’re pretty irresistible. You can never go wrong with polka dots.

How Do You Do It?

Excellent question. 1st of all, you’ll need the following ingredients:

-toothpicks

-white acrylic paint

-black or very, very, very dark brown nail polish (I used Essie’s Little Brown Dress)

Yep, that’s all you need :)

And nowwww....

Directions:

1. Apply a base coat and let dry.
2. Apply your black or brown and let dry.
3. Squirt a tiny blob of your acrylic paint on a paper plate or something else you don’t mind getting paint on.
4. Dip your toothpick into your paint and make little dots all over your nails.
5. Apply a top coat.

You’re done!

Bye, bye!

What's IN This Christmas Season

This Christmas and New Years’ Eve, it’s your turn to show off those sparkles and rock the red, green, and SILVER! Here are a few tips and ideas to make you stand out under the mistletoe.

Denim

This gorgeous denim polish pretties up any outfit this season. It goes with pretty much any pattern, florals or stripes, and you will steal all the attention.

Find: $9 Essie Bobbing for Baubles

Glitter

Glitter makes a perfect disco ball appearance to your fingertips and an even more perfect addition to your New Years’ Eve assemble.

Find: $14.99 OPI Muppets Collection Rainbow Connection

Fur Mittens

 Your fingers will be all toasty and warm and they’ll look cute at the same time!

Find: $19.50 Aerie Convertible Mittens from Aerie

Fair Isle Sweaters

Paired with pants, a skirt, or leggings, this holiday trend is too darn cute. They’ll provide you with plenty of cozy but cute outfits during the rest of winter.

Find: $70.80 Free People Cropped Fair Isle Pullover Sweater from Bloomingdale’s

Hope these quick ideas will keep you looking sleek and chic at your upcoming parties.

Bye, bye!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

You’ll need your ingredients:

1 cups creamy peanut butter
¼ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup light brown sugar
1¼ cups powdered sugar
4 cups milk chocolate chips (two 11.5-oz bags)
¼ cup vegetable shortening

Prepare your mini muffin tin and your pan. I used foil, not parchment paper, on my cookie sheet, only because I didn’t have any.

Melt your peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar over medium heat until melted and bubbling, just a little.

Add your powdered sugar ¼ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.

Melt your chocolate chips with your shortening.

From there you fill your cups with a few teaspoons of chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, drop in your peanut butter patties, fill with more chocolate, and refrigerate again. These aren’t the exact steps, I’m sorry, but I found this recipe on Brown Eyed Baker so you can just head on over there.

I found this adorable little tin at Hobby Lobby for I think like a buck or two. I layered my peanut butter cups over each other.

I made this little tag by cutting a “3 1/2” circle out of holiday scrapbooking paper and printing out another tag on the computer.

I tied red twine from The Twinery around the tin with the tag I made.

The gift went to my mom’s friend’s son who is sick in the hospital. With all of his strength and positivity about everything he is taking it very well.

Cute, right?

Bye, bye!

Cheesy Ham & Cheddar Crescents

Last night I was hungry for something buttery and cheesy. And in the fridge {GASP}, there was a can of Pillsbury crescent rolls. So I’ve been watching their recipe videos lately, and I wondered if I could transform a plan crescent roll into something much more. Like a midnight snack. Hence, these were born:

They are very greasy/buttery, so if you don’t like that you can just skip the butter steps. Hope you enjoy them!

Bye, bye!

Merry Christmas Tags {Free}

So, last night I got a little creative and created these Christmas Tags:

This is just a little preview but you can download them using the links below.

I plan to hole-punch them, slide some holiday ribbon through, and tie them on the cake pops I’m making for Tuesday. You can download them for free to use to attach for any festive holiday gift if you'd like. Hope you enjoy them!


Merry Christmas Tags {Pages Download}
Merry Christmas Tags {Word Document Download}

Bye, bye!

Clever Ideas to Deal with Pumpkin Pie and Crust Scraps

So, I must have made my pumpkin pie bites from the earlier post a bit small than Bakerella’s. But, hey, I’m not one to follow the crowd (and that was a pinch of sarcasm for the day).

Because I had a heck load of pumpkin filling and pie crust left over. So, here is what I did with it:

INTRODUCING:

Idea #1 Cupcake-sized Pumpkin Pies (hey, it rhymes!)

Ingredients

-pumpkin pie filling (I used leftovers from the Pumpkin Pie Bites)

-refrigerated pie dough (I used leftovers from the Pumpkin Pie Bites)

1. Use a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes of dough.
2. Push the pumpkin-shaped pie crusts gently into a cupcake pan, folding the dough the hangs over into the cup.
3. Fill with your pie filling.
4. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes (this is what I think I cooked it at)

And here is the process:

Enjoy! 

Cheetah Fingernails

Ah, the glory of the difference of these two designs. Remember my Cheetah Toes post back in August? Well, let the memories flood back. This time I did my nails myself and painted my fingernails, not my piggies. I’m so sure that the last one was better, but here they are!

What I did was coat the nail polish brush very lightly. If you have too much polish you will have big blobs, not cheetah spots. Be careful, and the messier, the better. Remember, this is cheetah print, not perfect zebra stripes. It comes easier the more nails you do. Just dab your brush onto your nail in very quick, sharp movements until you create spots.

Have fun and try this out! Mistakes are natural!

Bye, bye!

Short & Sweet: Tiramisu Teacups

One quick post right now. Look at these cuties!

Yes, I’m not kidding. These are chocolate teacup molds filled with mousse and whipped cream. NOT KIDDING. Oh, and topped with chocolate shavings. Yummety yumm yumm.

These came from an awesome Italian market. And they are DELISH!

Good luck not drooling. Ha ha. These are so freakin’ adorbs! I wanna make them!

Bye, bye!

Starbucks, Cake Pops, and Cupcakes... Oh My!

The best thing happened to me, just recently. I was in the downtown area and I saw a Starbucks. Which gave me the idea to stop in. And I almost passed out from happiness. This Starbucks had a downstairs with a lounging area and lots of cute tables. And upstairs there were lounging chairs and a couch area, there was even studying tables with lamps. Displayed in the glass case at the counter, there were 2 beautiful things. Cake pops and mini peanut butter cup cupcakes. And they were gorgeous.

I have had the cake pops at Starbucks before, and every time I try them I’m addicted. I got 3 of the Birthday Cake pops and 1 Tiramisu. They were... DELISH!!!

They’re just so pink and simple.

And yes, I know the shaped cake pops are really creative and artsy, but when they are tasty they are also pretty awesome.

And the cupcakes? They were also gorgeous and so, so tasty! It tasted exactly like Morley’s candy blocks.

And that’s all I have to say. You should probably go and buy some of these treats. Before you find out that you’re missing out on a lot.

And now here’s a bunch of random photos that I enjoyed :)

I know, it’s making you drool.

Such moist and chocolaty cake inside. One word. Heaven.

And these boxes they were in? Too cute, also. I have to find similar ones to transfer my goodies in.

Go out and get yourself a cake pop. You deserve it.

Bye, bye!