Monday, February 17, 2014

{Pinterest} What I'm Loving 2.2

What I'm Loving

Heart Shaped Sunglasses
Ugh, I love 'em! The just scream "Spring" to me, which I am hoping isn't to far away! We got 10" of snow dumped on us last week. :(




Pink Refrigerators
What? I know, the thought seems totally weird, but I'm really in love with vintage pink refrigerators! You can't deny how cute they are!




Makeup Vanity
I do not have an actual vanity, I use my desk to store my makeup and do my makeup, but i'm thinking of "re-purposing" my desk into a vanity over the summer... maybe?






**All Images from Pinterest.com**

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Red Velvet White Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I hope you're hungry, because I've got another recipe. When I saw these cookies on Pinterest I knew I had to make these for Valentines Day! 

**This is not my recipe, the original source is here**


The only ingredient you probably do not having laying around is the red velvet cake mix. Otherwise, everything I already had! Butter, eggs, unsweetened cocoa, vanilla, and white chocolate chips.

Add the cake mix, butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Then mix it all up. Mine was pretty thick, so put some elbow grease into your mixing.

Next simply fold in the white chocolate chips.
Allow your dough to chill for a minimum of 30 minutes before rolling.

Next create a powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture.

Roll dough into 1'' balls and roll in the powdered sugar.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool for 3 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack.

Omnomnom, Excuse me, I was just stuffing my face with these delicious cookies!

Ingredients:
-1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix
-6 TBS of melted butter
-1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 eggs
-1 tsp of vanilla
-1 cup of white chocolate chips
-3/4 cup of powdered sugar
-1 tsp of cornstarch

Instructions:
1. Add cake mix, butter, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Stir.
2. Fold in white chocolate chips.
3. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
4. Combine powdered sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Roll 1" balls of dough in sugar mixture.
7. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.
8. Allow cookies to cool for 3 minutes on sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Yields about 3 dozen cookies. I got 33 cookies.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Valentines Day Treat- White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Today, tomorrow, and Friday are/will be Valentine's Day themed post. Today, is a recipe for a little Valentines Day treat/snack. Let me tell you, these little pretzels are super addicting. I had to force myself to stop eating. 
Everybody loves chocolate covered pretzels, right? Well these white chocolate covered pretzels are perfect when pink and red sprinkles are added! The best part is, they're really easy to make!

- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/4 bag of mini pretzels
- Valentines sprinkles as needed

Melt your chocolate.
**TIP: I added 1 TBS of Vegetable Oil to the chips before I melted them, it makes it easier to dip**
I melted my chocolate in the microwave for 1 minutes on a power of 70. Then I stirred and microwaved it for 15 more seconds. (Follow the instructions on the back of your chocolate chip package for best melting results) 


Next just dip, drip, and dunk. Some of my pretzels had more sprinkles than others. Just add as many sprinkles as you prefer. 

After the previous steps, I placed the pretzels on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Then I put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to help the chocolate harden.

Aren't they so cute?!? I stored mine in an airtight Tupperware container. They do not need to be put in the refrigerator.  

So what do you think? Yummy, or not a big chocolate-covered pretzel fan?

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

How to Properly Clean Your Makeup Brushes

I mentioned in last week's post that I would have an in-depth post on cleaning your makeup brushes. 
I want to start off by saying some of my pictures are a bit out of focus. Sorry, I was trying to take pictures with one hand and clean my brushes in the other. More difficult than I thought it would be.


"Why should I clean my makeup brushes?" you might have asked.
Well, as you rub brushes all over your face and eyes, oils, dirt, and dead skin begin to build up inside. Yuck! And if your using a sponge to apply makeup, bacteria and fungus can begin to grow inside. (Excuse me while I go throw up...) 
If you're not cleaning your makeup tools your skin is at risk of breaking out, and other nasty things.
The good news is, it is SUPER easy to clean your brushes and sponges

All you need is dish soap (or baby soap) and some olive oil!

Squeeze about a quarter size drop on a plate, and then a nickle size drop of olive oil.

Completely wet your brush.

Then stir it around in your soap/oil mixture.

It should begin looking really gross. This brush was used for foundation, so you can see a skin toned color to the mixture.

After mixing for a bit, rinse your brush out and squeeze as much water out as possible.

Mold the bristles back to their original form for drying. These brushes can stand alone, so I just set them upright.

Face Sponges are just as easy to clean as brushes. You can see the foundation in this sponge.

Just like brushes, wet your sponge completely.

Next you'll only use dish soap (no olive oil in sponges), but put the soap in your hand instead of on a plate.
Work the soap through the sponge, drawing out the makeup. When your sponge is thoroughly soaped up, rinse and squeeze all the soap out. **It is important to make sure all the soap is out, or the sponge can get ruined when soap drys inside.**  

Squeeze dry the sponge in a clean towel and let it air dry.

**If brushes cannot stand alone, let them dry off a counter.**

I recommend giving your brushes a full 12 hours to dry. Some brushes may dry sooner, but that is about average. Sponges can, of course, be used wet, so you could use your sponge right after cleaning.

Some sources say to clean your makeup brushes once a week.. however lets be honest here, nobody has the time to wash all their brushes every week. I wash mine about every 3 weeks. 


What did I tell you? Easy right! 
So did you know all this information already? Or is this new stuff? Comment!

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Saturday, February 8, 2014

{Pinterest} What I'm Loving 2.1

What I'm Loving

Stripes
I'm not sure if it's a phase i'm going through.. but i'm completely obsessed with stripes right now. Particularly black and white.
  







Flower Head-Wreaths 
Yes I pin things for my very distant wedding. :) When it comes to weddings i'm pretty traditional, like, just a veil, but i'm really loving the flower head-wreath thing going on!





Aren't they elegant? 

Blue Nail Polish
It's becoming my thing. Just last night, I bought two blue nail polishes. I have a thing for blue, okay?


I bought this color ^




**All Images From Pinterest.com**