Incoco, Nail Polish Appliqué Review.

In my last post I mentioned how I received Incoco, Nail Polish Appliqué in my latest Birchbox. I normally paint my nails every weekend, but this past week has been a bit hectic; Easter, writing a paper for class, prepping for the Find and Follow your Passion conference, and I had to get everything set up for a new employee  that starts working with me on monday. *Whew*

Because if this I didn't have time to paint my nails and let them dry for the appropriate amount of time. I typically don't paint my nails after 6pm ever, because there have been times I've painted my nails and the polish is still damp enough to get creases overnight in my sleep. I hate bare and chipped nails though, so I had to do something fast. The Incoco strips have no drying time, so I was excited to check them out. 

Pros: 

-No drying time! 

-Very shiny finish.

-Don't have to worry about using too many or too few coats of polish. 

-They don't chip as easily as polish. 

-They don't look like stickers. (However, they are so detailed that several girls have asked me "Those have to be stickers right?" But still... they weren't entirely sure.) 

Cons:

-They take longer to apply then painting your nails.

-You file off the excess plastic sheet, which is easy for the front of your nails, but difficult in the areas where you  nail touches skin. 

-They are $9 each and you only get one manicure. 

You can see I messed up slightly with the application to my middle finger nail.  

The Verdict: They were fun to try out, and the no drying time is a fantastic plus. But for $9 each, I would suggest only purchasing the packages with intricate detail, as opposed to solid color packages. 

Have you ever used nail polish appliques? If so, how did they turn out? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, 

March Birchbox

Oh no! It's been over a month since my last post. I have something else in the works that I hope to put up here soon, but in the mean time, here's what I received in my March Birchbox:

1. Incoco, Nail Polish Appliqué. I was super excited to get this. I've always wanted to try these nail stickers from the drug store but never wanted to spend the money on them. I'll try these out when the weather gets warmer and let you know how it goes.

2. Evologie, Intensive Blemish Serum. I'll be using this tonight, if it works it will be worth it, if not, this was a rather boring addition to my box.

3. Whish, Shave Crave Shaving Cream. I'm the type of gal that's often just used soap and skipped shaving cream all together, so I wasn't very excited about this. If I try it and it's somehow amazing I'll write back to let you know.

4. twistband, headband. I've received the hair ties before but this is large enough to be a headband. It reminds me of lacrosse in high school when we would use pre-wrap to get our hair out of our faces. It might be useful for going running one day.

The box also came with a Madewell nail file. (Click here for a coupon worth $25 off a purchase of $75 or more at Madewell.)

This month marks my tenth month getting a Birchbox. As I continue to receive a box each month the samples are smaller and fewer. I used to get 4 real beauty samples and one lifestyle sample. This month I feel like I only received three true beauty samples. But for only $10 it will take a few more disappointments before I actually stop subscribing.

I'm enticed by the GLOSSYBOX that starts at $21/per month and includes higher quality samples. We'll see how long I can resist purchasing myself more nice things.

Recently I've been buying tulips to try to coax mother nature into finally giving us some warm weather. So far it hasn't been working that well, but I'm still enjoying the flowers anyway!

Thanks for reading,

Home Made Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs

Two weeks ago I was planning to visit my grandparents house in CT for the weekend. Unfortunately the snowstorm "Nemo" came into town. While NYC only got about 8 inches of snow, my grandparents apparently received about 38 inches!

On that Friday afternoon when I was supposed to be having a nice vacation day in CT, I instead left work a few hours early to beat the storm. I then made some home made spaghetti sauce and meatballs to cheer myself up a bit. This is a perfect meal to eat while surviving a snow storm.

This is a recipe from my mother and one of our families favorite meals. Be thankful I'm sharing it with you!

Sauce

2-3 35oz cans of Crushed Tomatos
3-4 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons basil
some salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic

Put all of these ingredients in a large pot together and simmer.

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork (I could only get .68 lbs ground pork- but it's fine)
1/2 cup-ish seasoned italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup-ish parmesan cheese (cheap stuff like kraft works best)
1 egg

Mash this all up together with your hands. Then form the meat into tightly packed 1.25 inch balls. Make sure they are tightly put together so they don't fall apart in the pan.

Fry the meatballs in about 4 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until they are browned- this takes a while. Watch out for burning oil splatters! When they are finished, place them into the sauce and let them simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. While the meatballs should be mostly cooked through by the time you're done frying, you'll know that they are completely cooked after the additional 3 hours in the sauce pot.

Serve with some pasta and you are good to go.

The best thing about this recipe is that you can freeze all the leftover sauce and defrost it again in a few weeks or months for another delicious night of home made sauce and meatballs. 

Let's hope the snow comes during the week next time so it doesn't ruin any weekend plans!

Thanks for reading, 

Reverse French Manicure

This weekend I decided to be a bit more creative with my nails and attempt a reverse french manicure. I had two different images as inspiration in my head as I did this. First was this really beautiful manicure I saw on Instagram, the other was this "Nail Art for Chipped Tips" blog post I read on Glitter, she wrote.

I used one coat of Sally Hansen 'Petal Pusher' as the regular french base and one coat of OPI 'French Quarter for Your Thoughts' as the tip. Like the blog post above suggested, I used paper reinforcers on the nail to make a perfect circular tip. Best suggestion- paint each tip one at a time, removing each reinforcer before the nail dries. I was always curious what worked better, leaving tape on until dry or removing it immediately. Apparently removing it immediately is the best option.

I'm really happy with how this turned out. Something I like about the reinforcers is the adhesive is not as strong as basic scotch tap, so when you remove them it's easier on the bottom layer of nail polish. I think I'll be using them more often in the future!

Have you attempted a reverse french manicure? Have any tips or tricks for a finer finish in the future? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading, 

Birchbox - January 2013

Today I am hosting a little party for some of my friends. We'll do our nails and eat good snacks and cocktails. This is my idea of a perfect party. I hope I remember to take pictures.

On Monday I received my January Birchbox. They also sent me an email this week and apparently this was my 9th Birchbox- time flies. (I got 20% off in their store to celebrate.) Each box is hit or miss- I've gotten a few things in my that I really love, some things I'll never use. But for $10 a month I'm always satisfied with them just because it is so fun to have a small well wrapped packed to open each month.

So here's this month's goodies:

This month's box - theme "Best Year Ever"

Left: DDF Acne Control treatment. I tried this on one blemish the other night. I couldn't tell if it made a difference yet. I like the idea of blending and Acne treatment with Witch Hazel to sooth. 

Right: Embryolisse: Lait Creme Concentre 24 Hour Miracle Cream- I put this on yesterday morning. Birchbox has really hyped this stuff up but so far it just seems like thick face lotion to me. I'll continue to use it and keep you posted. 

La Fresh Waterproof Makeup Remover Cloth- This was the "Beauty Extra". I'm not a fan of only getting one cloth, it makes me hesitant to use it incase I need it for another day! 

Aeire Shimmer Fragrance- I was surprised to see an Aerie (as in American Eagle's body line) product in my box. The perfume sample came wrapped in shiny material. Other than that the actual perfume is not shimmery. (That's probably a good thing.) 

To be honest, I keep all of my little perfume samples from Birchbox in a small cup in my bathroom. They are more of a decoration since I don't use perfume very often. 

theBalm cosmetics, Hot Mama- A "two-in-one blush and highlighter". I've put it on twice this week. I'm trying to get myself used to wearing blush again after not using it for so long. We'll see how I like it! I received their Mary-Lou Manizer a few boxes ago and I tried to use it but it was a failure. I think I like this little sample a bit more. 

A good box, but I don't think any of these items will become part of my favorites collection. Perhaps I'll share some of my all time favorite Birchbox Samples in an upcoming post. I should buy a few of them full sized before my 20% of coupon expires next week! 

What did you receive in your Birchbox this month? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading,

A brunchtastic weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and didn't have too much trouble getting back into the swing of things this Monday.

A highlight of my weekend was Saturday, when I went to a friend's house to have a delicious brunch with her and all of her friends. The menu included a delicious ricotta frittata, homefries, arugula salad, mimosas, and fresh bacon.

Here's my plate before eating:

To finish the brunch we also had Cinnamon-Sugar Pull Apart Bread. Click the link for the full recipe. Here are a few pictures of different parts of the bread making process:

spreading the cinnamon sugar mixture onto the dough. 

cutting the dough into strips to place in the pan. 

the finished product!

Let me tell you, that was some really good bread! I could go for some right now.  

One downfall of the weekend- I didn't have enough time to paint my nails. I have bare nails for the first time in months. But today I received my January Birchbox (what a great way to start the week). so I'll be sure to share what I received in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading! 

Presto, Pesto!

I received a food processor for Christmas and was really excited. The first thing I decided to whip up (or chop up, rather) was pesto! I saved a few pesto recipes on Pinterest and wound up using this one by Martha Steward. The only change I made was I used two cloves of garlic instead of the suggested 4. I also used pine nuts, not walnuts. It turned out great! And be warned: it makes a ton of pesto.

Next time I'm thinking of using half Arugula, half basil. Do you do anything differently in your pesto recipe? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, 

Home Made Pop-tarts

On Sunday morning I decided to try to make home made pop-tarts. I copied two different recipes that I saw on Pinterest- and took the easier steps from both recipes. These are the easiest thing on earth to make and they taste great. (Although I'm not sure they're any healthier for you than store bought.) 

Here's how to make them.

Ingredients:

• Your favorite fruit jam or preserves 
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• pre-made pie dough 
• parchment paper
• cookie sheet

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the pie dough flat and cut into equal sized rectangular pieces. You could also use a large cookie cutter in the shape of a circle, heart, etc. I just hand cut. Have an even number of rectangles: one for the top and bottom of the pop-tart. 

Place a dollop or two of jam on half of the dough rectangles. Place the other piece of dough on top of each one. 

Press a fork to the corners of each pop-tart to seal in the jam. 

Brush butter over the top of each tart, and poke several fork holes into the top for ventilation. 

Cook the tarts for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

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This upcoming weekend is looking pretty free, so hopefully I'll have time to whip up a few more meals or crafts! 

Thanks for reading, 

New Years Eve Nails

Happy 2013 everyone! My name is Julia.

My New Year's Resolution this year was to start a beauty/food/crafting/fashion blog. I actively blog for work and NY Creative Interns, and I also have a personal blog of my own. But every morning with my cereal and coffee I love reading fashion, crafting and beauty blogs that I've found on the web via pinterest and other websites. I figured why not try? This will also give me excuse to spend more of my free time being semi-productive: trying new recipes, crafts, and beauty products.

To start, let's talk about New Year's Eve. New Year's is actually my very least favorite holiday of the whole year- but I was able to have a nice night. I saw old friends from high school and then finished the night watching the actual movie "New Year's Eve" with my family and boyfriend.

For the night I did my nails with OPI 'Lincoln Park After Dark' and had an accent nail on each hand with a coat of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'.

Looking forward to the next post! Until next time,