Purple Luxe

Here's a look at one of Essie's new Luxe Effect polishes, shine of the times. I LOVE this polish, it contains slightly larger flakes then traditional glitter. It has this amazing iridescent quality which can pick up so many different colors. It actually reminds me a lot of the mineral Mica. (What up 4th grade geology!?)

It looks great paired with pinks & reds or blues & in this case purple! 

What you need:

Essie Luxe Effects shine of the times w  Funky Fingers Cheshire

Start with 2 coats of Funky Fingers Cheshire.

 Then add on a coat of Essie Luxe Effects shine of the times & your favorite quick dry top coat.

Here is a few more looks in different lighting so you can see the full spectrum of colors this polish gets! 

 I wanted to show you how this pairs with a pink polish; so here is a quick look of shine of the times paired with Essie eternal optimist as a base.

On Pinterest? Repin here or here! 

Cute Cukes!

Here is a quick & easy way to class up your cucumbers!

 All you need is a fresh cucumber, a peeler, a fork & a knife. 

Start by washing & peeling your cucumber.

Once your cucumber is all peeled take a fork & press into the cucumber. 

Drag along the side to create ridges. Repeat this all the way around.

Using your knife, slice up your cucumbers & voilà you have some super cute 'cukes'!

Add these too your salad, cucumber sandwiches or try them in a tangy marinade!

This marinade is made from 3 parts white vinegar, 1 part vegetable oil, 2 Tbs of Sugar. Let them soak for 10-15 minutes for a tangy treat.

On pinterest? Repin here or here!

Orange Cream Cupcakes

It's cupcake time! So after seeing this pin on pinterest, I was curious to try it! Basically it says you can replace the eggs, oil & water in a boxcake mix with a can of diet soda then top with light cool whip topping for a cupcake under 100 calories! Sounds good to me! Now while this does add aspartame (fake sugar) to your cupcake, it is a nice alternative if you are on a diet & desperate for some sweets! So like cupcakes consume aspartame sparingly & in moderation.  

So when the challenge came for me to make a low cal birthday cupcake for a family friend, I decided to get  creative. 

What you need:

Diet 7Up wDuncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix w Nestle White Chocolate Chips,w 1 Cara Cara Orange w Light Whipped Topping w Cupcake Baking Cups w 1 Gallon Zip-Lock Bag w A Food Processor w Apple Corer w Fresh Raspberries & Decorative Sprinkles (optional)

Mix & Bake

 

You can actually just use a can of Diet 7Up but since I don't drink soda regularly I didn't feel like buying a 12 pack & just got a bottle. Measure out 12 ounces of the soda & add it to your cake mix. It will fizz for a moment so give it a second or two before you blend. Place your batter into your baking cups & bake for 18-22 minutes at 350.

White Chocolate & Fruit Purée

While your cupcakes bake you'll want to get out your food processor to purée your white chocolate chips & Cara Cara orange. (If you can't find a Cara Cara orange you can use the local variety at your market.) The Cara Cara orange has an exceptionally sweet & tangy flavor which will blend nicely with the smooth white chocolate flavor. 

In a microwave safe bowl add 1 cup of the chopped white chocolate chips & begin to microwave in 10 second intervals. Stir in-between & repeat 3 times until smooth.  Then you are going to want to spoon in the orange purée. Add in one spoonful at a time & stir. At first the chocolate will seize & begin to get thick and chalk like. IT'S OK. Just stir the best you can, when you feel like it is well blended add in another spoonful. The chocolate will smooth itself out again. I added about 5-6 spoonfuls until I got a nice orange cream flavor. 

Fill

By now your cupcakes should be done. Take them out of the oven & let them cool. Then take an apple corer & gently press into your cupcakes. (I only went about half way down into the cupcake, I didn't want to fill the cupcakes with too much filling seeing as these are diet inspired cupcakes.) Then fill your cupcakes up with the orange cream filling.

Top

Then take a large 1 gallon zip-lock bag & fill it with the cool whip topping, snip off a corner with scissors to create a makeshift piping bag. Top off the holes you created in the cupcakes above the orange cream filling.

Swirl the piping bag around to create your mock icing topping. 

You can stop there if you like, but to make these a bit more aesthetically pleasing I added a little bit of red sugar sprinkles & some fresh raspberries. :)

So even with the addition of the orange cream filling & toppings you can still have a cupcake for around 150 calories!

On Pinterest? Repin here!

Peachy-Keen

The first official day of spring arrives tomorrow & here is a new nail look to bring in the season! 

What you need:

Funky Fingers Star-Studded w Funky Fingers Down to Earth w Essie A Crewed Interest

I started with 1 coat of Funky Fingers 'Down to Earth' on my accent nails & then 2 coats of Essie 'A Crewed Interest' on the remaining nails. This color has a great peachy hue, it's more on the orange side then pink. Very bright and sunny. 

Then I added 1 more coat of 'A Crewed Interest' (just to bring out a bit more richness in the peach color) then 2 coats of Funky Fingers 'Star-Studded' to the gold accent nails, followed by some quick dry top coat. 

On Pinterest? Repin Here!

End of the Rainbow

I just can not seem to get enough of my gold polishes lately! Here is a quick look at this St. Patty's Day 'pot of gold' look.

What you need:

Funky Fingers Down to Earth w Funky Fingers Star-Studded

Start with 2 coats of Funky Fingers Down to Earth

Then add 2 coats of Funky Fingers Star-Studded to your accent nails & top off with your favorite top coat!

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: this glitter polish will take you forever to get off so plan on rocking it for as long as you can!)

Did I mention this pairs great with a Glitter Bombed EOS ?! ;)

On Pinterest? Repin Here, Here, orHere!

EOS gets GLITTER BOMBED

So a couple of weeks ago I was in the drug store looking for some cough drops (laryngitis is the pits btw) when I spotted that EOS came out with a new flavor lip balm 'Honeysuckle Honeydew'. YUM. (To be perfectly honest I was more intrigued by the beautiful bright green spring color, but the flavor is what sold me) Now normally I'm all about the 'Summer Fruit' flavor, but I'm ready for spring & need to shake things up. 
Now if you haven't heard of these little EOS Smooth Spheres yet, you should probably pay attention. These little eggs pack a huge punch, for 1 they are the smoothest lip balm ever, they make my lips feel amaze & are great for a daily moisturizer.   (I wouldn't recommend them if your looking something to cure really super chapped lips, for that I would go with 'NEOSPORIN Lip Health Daily Hydration Therapy' that stuff with cure the chapped lips off an ice road trucker.) Plus they are super cute & little known fact they were designed with the 'conversation starter' concept in mind; people who are unfamilar with it with it are always curious as to what this magical sphere is. Double bonus if you are hyper sensitive to chemicals & weird products, this baby is 95% organic, 100% natural, paraben & pertrolatum free. Packed with antioxidant-rich vitamin E, soothing shea butter & jojoba oil, to keep your lips kissably soft & smooth. 

photo credit - http://evolutionofsmooth.com/

So I purchased this little green guy & brought him home. I had it on my night stand & then one fateful day I left my door open to my room, where my little sweet angel Brindlee, decided to go investigate. So I understand, if I were a dog I would want to go check my room out too, I mean I do live there so it is pretty awesome... so as a way to show her gratitude to me for letting her explore she decided to CHOMP on my new little egg. So I came back to a not so round, not so fabulous egg. :(major sad face. 


Well, I like to make the best out of most situations, & I really enjoy up-cycling things that are old & making them sparkly & beautiful, I decided to do some therapy on my little green guy. First I tried fixing the holes where Brindlee bit in using a candle to warm up the plastic and then smooching it down with my fingers... so this kinda worked, but it was still lumpy. Then I came to the conclusion that the only thing that could save this baby was glitter. This actually was a brilliant idea (if I don't say so myself) because glitter reflects light, it gives the illusion that the sphere is perfectly round and hides all its imperfections. It's basically botox for your EOS.  


But then I wanted to up the anti. I wanted an 'EOS To Go'. Lately I've been rolling around with just a tiny little clutch, (haven't been feeling the purse or shell for whatever reason) & the only downside to the EOS is that it can't really fit in your jeans pocket. So I figured I already had a whole bunch of holes in this sucker, why not one more. So I decided to add a key ring. 


Forgive me for not photographing the first couple of steps, I made the decision to blog this about half way through. 

What you need:

Sharp Tweezers w Key Ring w Hot Glue/Gun w Acrylic Paint (heavy body) w Funky Fingers Down To Earth w Funky Fingers Star-Studded w Top coat 

Ok so you want to start with your pair of sharp pointy tweezers, (now these tweezers are honestly sharp enough to 'shank-a-bitch' if necessary. I keep them in my makeup bag when I go out in lieu of mace. ;) ) I pierced the container at the top of the sphere were the EOS logo is printed. Then I pierced it on the other side and kept slowly stretching the holes until they finally connected. Then once I could see the tweezers on either end I carefully slid on the key ring. You want to make sure that you have enough plastic between the hole & the top of the egg so it wont rip when you put on the key ring. I then just coated the top of the plastic with some hot glue to enforce strength to the EOS so it wouldn't rip. 

see the bite marks?!

Next thing I did give it a new base coat by adding a layer of Acrylic Paint. I used a 'heavy body' because I wanted to fill in the holes a little bit, and the heavy body acrylic is really easy to build upon without using a lot of paint.

Then once that dried I added a layer of Funky Fingers Down To Earth. I like to call this the 'golden snitch' phase. (10 points to Gryffindor)

 I know I could have probably used another acrylic paint for this layer, but I really wanted to use this nail polish combo because I think it looks awesome plus it really is 'hard as nails'. I knew it wouldn't flake off with any bumps or scuffs from my keys.

Then it was time to add on Funky Fingers Star-Studded. I did two coats. Then to seal the deal I added some top coat. If you wanted to do this in acrylic and craft glitter I would suggest sealing it in 'mod podge' or glue gel to keep the glitter from flaking off. 

& that's it! Surprisingly easy, & it looks awesome! Who knows maybe EOS will see this and start producing a limited edition sparkly EOS smooth sphere! ;) 

on Pinterest? Repin Here, Here, or Here! :)