Stopnail - Hot Pink Glitter

Stopnail - Hot Pink Glitter

OoOoh aahh! I'd been yearning for a hot pink glitter nail polish and am having a hard time finding one so I decided to make my own! It was super easy to do and the effect was stunning! First I applied my base polish, City Color's Bright Pink and then while still wet, poured the glitter over the polish. I used Stopnail's hot pink glitter (unnamed) that I purchased in Chicago. At this point you can shake off excess glitter and apply your top coat and you're good to go! Gorgeous!

 

Sally Hansen - Whisper

Sally Hansen - Whisper

   What a beautiful shade for the Spring! I saw the Smooth & Perfect collection around and debated on whether or not I wanted to give them a try. All the colors are pastel/neutral and I usually go for the brights/glitters. Anyway, Whisper (the gorgeous lilac color shown above) called out to me and I had to give it a try. I also chose Whisper because it reminded me of Cover Girl's Grape Ice, which was one of my favorite polishes. 

   Upon applying the first coat, I wasn't too impressed, it went on thin and sheer and my nails were rather tore up at the time due to a battle with trying to take off glitter polish, and you could really tell, even with the polish on. However, two more coats later and I ended up with literally smooth and perfect nails and with the pretty color shown in the bottle. Needless to say I was really impressed with the end result. The color payoff and formula are both great! The polish was pretty chip resistant, too, even after an all day marathon of cooking and using my hands. It makes me wonder what the other colors in the Smooth and Perfect collection are like..

City Color - Bright Pink

City Color - Bright Pink

I bought this kind of on a whim, mostly because I'd never seen this brand before and because my husband hates spending time in the cosmetics aisle, so it was kind of a hasty purchase. However, the color is a really pretty bright pink (as the name says) erring more on the fuchsia side of the pink spectrum. I was really looking for more of a jelly type polish, and while with one coat this is thin, it wasn't quite what I was looking for. This is three coats, otherwise it's quite sheer. 

Love & Beauty - Midnight

Love & Beauty - Midnight

Super sparkly polish by Forever 21's makeup line, Love & Beauty. This color is called Midnight and certainly does resemble the midnight sky! It is a deep dark blue with micro holographic glitter. This is with three coats on, since the initial coat was kind of sparse. I was afraid with this color that the base might drown out the glitter, but I'm happy to say such is not the case! It looks super dark almost black on and reminded me a bit of OPI's My Private Jet.. Consider it MPJ's sparkly dark blue cousin!

Pure Ice - Wild Thing

Pure Ice - Wild Thing

 

I couldn't pass up this color while in the cosmetics aisle. Wild Thing is a lime green cream polish with a glossy smooth finish. I am really impressed with the staying power and shine of this polish, especially for the price! 

Maybelline - Peachy Petal

Maybelline - Peachy Petal

From Maybelline's limited edition spring 2012 nail polish collection.. Swatched above is Peachy Petal, one of the collection's 6 springy shades. I've been in a pastel mood (which is quite the stray from my usual obsession with glitter polishes) and Peachy Petal really struck a chord with me. I feel like it appeared a lot lighter/softer colored in the bottle as opposed to on my nails where it seemed more like a coral than an orange sherbet color, which I suppose is what I was going after. The staying power on this polish is great! I've always liked Maybelline's polishes and this one is no exception! 

Strawberry Banana Pie Recipe

Strawberry Banana Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 (9''/standard) Shortbread pie crust
• 1 (3.4 oz.) package of instant vanilla pudding
• 2 cups cold milk
• 2 bananas
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 (21 oz) can strawberry pie filling
• Whipped cream

Directions:

Prepare the pudding filling by pouring 2 cups cold milk into bowl. Add pudding mix and whisk (by hand or with electric mixer on low speed) until blended and pudding is thick. 

Now, slice up your bananas (approx 1/8 in thick) and place in small bowl. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice to bananas to avoid browning. Line the bottom of your pie crust with banana slices. Overlapping is ok.

Pour pudding mixture over banana layer spreading evenly.

Top pudding layer with strawberry filling. Let the pie sit in the refrigerator for 3 hours, or overnight. Serve chilled and top with whipped cream! 

While I usually prefer cream pie to fruit pie, I decided to try out a fruity and creamy pie - hence the Strawberry Banana Cream Pie (similar to Polly's Banberry Pie but better because it's made with lots of love.) The recipe was super simple to make and was pretty much devoured within minutes!

Lip Smacker - Disney Princess Collection

Lip Smacker - Disney Princess Collection

Lip Smackers!!!! (my other beauty obsession after nail polish). I love Lip Smackers and I love Disney so this combination really spoke out to me! The formula on these is similar to the Cosmic Smackers in that it imparts a subtle shimmer, which is very pretty and princess like. I'm excited about the new flavor offerings and that it's not just a run of recycled old favorites. The color names are super cute, themed for each princess, and are as follows:

Magical Glow Berry (Rapunzel) 

Cherry Kiss (Snow White)

Berry Magic (Jasmine)

Vanilla Sparkle (Cinderella)

Calypso Berry (Ariel)

Fresh Kiwi Pie (Tiana)

Tea Party Treats (Belle)

Spun Sugar Shine (Aurora) 

Sally Hansen - Multi-Faceted

Sally Hansen - Multi-Faceted

I am pretty much drawn to anything sparkly and when I saw this new polish by Sally Hansen sparkling in the cosmetics aisle, I knew it had to be mine! This polish, as the name implies, is really rather multi-faceted. At first glance it looks like black and silver chunky glitter, but once you take a deeper look, there are actually chunks of holo glitter as well! 

This polish is a part of Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength line and was advertised as a jewel overcoat. I admit it would look pretty layered on top of a base color, but I love the maximum glitter effect of it by itself. I used three coats to achieve this look, because it is suspended in a clear base the glitter comes out patchy and sparse with one coat over naked nails -but with three it looks like sparkly salt and pepper bling! 

P.S. I've never received more compliments on a nail polish before wearing this!

Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet

Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet 

I am absolutely in love with this color I wore it for about two weeks straight last summer, and that's saying a lot! You can use just one coat to achieve the color payoff in the bottle, but I'm all about layering it on and did two coats, just to cover up any imperfections. The formula is really smooth and dries fast, and I've witnessed minimal chipping, which is always a plus. Overall an awesome color. I am in love.

Lip Smacker - Minnie & Daisy BFF Collection

Lip Smacker - Minnie & Daisy BFF Collection

OMG!!!! I thought the Disney Princess Smacker collection was the bee's knees well, you might have to sit down for this one, but I think Lip Smacker did it this time with their Minnie and Daisy collection!!!!! I really can't think of two gals any more fitting than those two to have Lip Smacker flavors created in their honor. I just about flipped out when I saw these, if you can't tell.. The formula is your standard Lip Smacker non-shimmer smooth and shiny type, which is always nice. I could barely contain myself long enough to take a photo of them before I ripped open the package hehe. The tubes are so cute and adorned with our lovely ladies. I kind of love them all.. The flavors/colors are amazing and as follows;

Cotton Candy Crush (Minnie)

Grape Shimmy Shake (Daisy)

Cupcake (Minnie)

Vanilla Twirl (Daisy)

Very Bow Berry (Minnie)

Berry BFF (Daisy & Minnie)

Watermelon Whirl (Minnie)

Cutie Pie (Daisy)

Ever Nail Polish

Ever Nail Polish

Wow! What a pretty blue! Reminds me of the color of my favorite Kool-Aid -Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade -yum! Anyway, I picked up this little bottle of polish whilst in Rome, Italy. I can't find anything on the internet about this brand, or find a color name on the bottle (might be in part by not being able to read Italian).. However, after two coats the color payoff is wonderful a beautiful ice blue creme! Although it appeared thin and streaky, that was totally not the case. I received many a compliment while wearing this shade, and I must say I couldn't stop admiring the polish myself! I wish I could order more of their colors, but I guess I will just have to wait until I return to Rome!

The Best Grilled Cheese Ever

The Best Grilled Cheese Recipe Ever

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Garlic Powder

Butter or margarine

Parmesan cheese

2 slices sourdough bread

1 slice smoked Gouda cheese

1 slice Monterey Jack cheese

1 slice Cheddar cheese

Method:

Pour olive in oil in pan on medium heat - just enough oil to lightly coat bottom

Butter 2 slices of sourdough bread and sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan cheese

Add cheddar, monterey jack and gouda cheese slices

Place sandwich on warm skillet

Allow each side of sandwich to brown and then flip (about 3 minutes per side)

Cut sandwich and serve

Bask in the cheesy goodness!

Note: You can get creative here by trying any type of bread or cheese that you would like. Don't have sourdough? - try whole wheat! Don't like gouda? Try mozzarella! I also prefer a less gooey grilled cheese so I only use one slice of each cheese but you can really use as many slices as you'd like. The possibilities are truly endless..

Shaka - Shimmer Orange

Shaka - Shimmer Orange

Another great Italian polish! Shaka is OVS Industries' house brand makeup line. I bought a cute shimmery lipgloss and this polish from their line. The color is a real great orangeish pinkish goldish shimmer. It is one of those polishes that looks different depending on how the light hits it. The formula is non gritty and it had reasonable staying power. I am also loving the simple packaging - it looks really neat and clean to me. Next time I'm in Rome I'll make sure to hit up the cosmetics section of OVS once again. 

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix (or made from scratch)

3/4 cup soymilk*

1/3 cup applesauce*

1 1/4 cup water

6 oz strawberry jam

Frosting:

1 1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Prepare cake mix as directed on box combining all wet ingredients with dry until incorporated and lumps are gone.

*for a healthier/vegan cake sub egg for 1/4 cup soy milk per egg and equal parts applesauce for oil.

Line muffin tin with baking cups. Fill each cup about 1/4 of the way.

Fill each cupcake with 1/2 tbsp of strawberry (or your choice of jam/jelly). This doesn't have to be perfect.

Cover jelly center by filling each cupcake with remaining batter until approx 3/4 full 

Place in preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes

Cupcakes are ready when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tops have reached a golden hue 

Peanut Butter Frosting

Combine peanut butter and butter in a medium size bowl and beat with electric mixer until incorporated and smooth

Mix in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time 

Add 1 tbsp of milk at a time, if frosting looks like it's thickening (I added about 4 tbsp total to get the consistency I liked)

Add in 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Beat frosting for around 3 minutes or until fluffy/spreadable. 

After cupcakes have cooled, and frosting is prepared, it's time to have a little fun and frost those cupcakes!

All frosted and ready to go!

Inside view of the tasty little treats

These were a HUGE hit! The peanut butter frosting can be a bit tricky to master but is totally worth it in the end, everyone said that was their favorite part. Using yellow cake also gives it a more pb & j type of taste by mimicking white bread. Overall, these are a huge crowd pleaser - I mean who doesn't love a nice pb & j?!