American Grown, Siesta Key Lemon Body Wash

I noticed today that Bath and Body Works is still holding their Hello, Yellow! Sale and that the American Grown line is available online.  Right now, this huge 24 oz. bottle of body wash can be had for USD$8.

I really like this body wash.  The smell is just delicious and I love the way the bottle looks in my shower.  I mean, it just looks like a big jelly candy to me.

It's not the most moisturizing of body washes, making it better suited for summer than winter, but that just gives me a reason to use my overly-developed body lotion collection.  That's a bit of a delusional justification, but I think I'll stick with it anyway.

In my opinion, this is a great buy because the bottle lasts forever, the soap lathers well and leaves me squeaky clean - all wins in my book.  And I'm a huge fan of the scent of lemons, and this one does not disappoint.  If I didn't have so many other body washes to try, I'd definitely buy this one again.

Crafty, Crafty, The Girl Can Craft

***WARNING - No makeup at all in this post.***

My journey into the etsy world is making me, uh, craftier. Which, to the boy, is probably not a good thing but he loves me so he wouldn't dare say anything to me about it. But I have to admit, I probably spend too much on my hobbies, but I have very good explanations.

May I point you to exhibit 1 - the Nerd Venn Diagram. I'm not trying to make myself sound all smarty-pants or anything, but I think I clearly fall into the "geek" category. I am both intelligent and highly obsessive.

Exhibit 2 would be a list of sites I like to visit when I have money sitting in the bank:

• www.jetpens.com
• www.sephora.com
• www.knitting-warehouse.com

Which leads to the whole point of this post. My crazy love of knitting. I wish I could say that I made really cool socks or dolls or something. But no, I can't make anything that isn't a rectangle. Thankfully, I really love right angles. (I am working on a beanie for the boy, but that's probably going to take a while because not only am I an obsessive knitter, I am an incredibly slow knitter.) And knitting helps relax me - so that's another way I justify my obsessive need to buy lots and lots of yarn and needles.

My friend (who has her own cool food blog btw) encouraged me to post some of my latest work. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to say that "latest" in this case means it took me 2.5 years to finish this piece. Check it.


There you have it, the culmination of 2.5 years of work. For those who are fellow knitters, the scarf was knitted with acrylic yarn using #5 needles, approximately 80 stitches across, and ended up being about 5' 10" long. I made up the pattern of stripes myself and only learned how to weave in ends when I was about 3/4 of the way done.

I promptly sent it to one of my best male friends in Michigan as a birthday present. He claims he loves it and was very thankful I did not include any fringe. It seems most guys hate fringe, or at least the ones I know.

See? So being a geek can lead to good sometimes...

Shiseido, Tsubaki Golden Repair Shampoo and Conditioner

I was so looking forward to trying this set of supposed hair-pampering elixirs. I mean, just look at the description of the conditioner as it's posted on Amazon:

The hair enriching nutrients in camellia oil in a luscious thick conditioner that heals brittle hair, split ends and dryness.

I like luscious. I like enriching. So I'm really confused as to why I didn't like this.


First off, I didn't think the smell was amazing. And for whatever reason, that mattered a lot to me. Probably because it was from Japan and I expect Japanese things to smell, well, not just good, but freaking awesome. Perhaps I expect too much, but usually I'm not this disappointed. The smell wasn't awful by any measure, just okay.

Next, I hoped that it would make my hair that's been damaged from one too many digital perms softer and less glitchy. But, surprisingly, it made my hair a little more glitchy (meaning, it made the ends dryer and if my hair dried in a somewhat unattractive position, it would be stuck in that position no matter how ridiculous looking). Overall, a total fail. I'm sad just typing that.

I think what really made it a fail was the price tag. In a very general way, it works as it should - it's a shampoo and conditioner. It cleaned my hair. It sort of conditioned it. It wasn't bad enough to keep me from using up both bottles (if I had thrown them away, all I would have heard was my mother yelling at me in my dreams for wasting). But for USD$10 each for 220 mL (or about 7.44 ounces), it's just not worth it.

Rescue Beauty Lounge, Scrangie, No More War, Dead Calm

It's not even 7:30 in the morning and I am sitting here contemplating doing a manicure before work. Am I crazy? Probably. But is it doable? Yes, it is.

I've done this many times before and I have to tell you, when I am short on time, there's really only one brand of nail polish that will deliver quick, reliable results on a morning like this - Rescue Beauty Lounge.

I was introduced to this brand by reading, what else, other beauty blogs. I was like most people at first - I couldn't even imagine spending so much money on a single bottle of nail polish (USD$18 in case you're wondering). But I was curious, so I thought I'd try one out. It's been a very expensive yet very satisfying addiction ever since. I have about 9 colors now and I love ALL of them. Now, when I have a bad day, I think about "swinging by" their lounge on Centre Market Place to see if I can pick up one more. In short, it's ridiculous.

I thought about waiting to try and swatch all my RBL polishes before putting up a post, but my rate of doing manicures is horribly outpaced by my buying of new polishes, so that's just a losing battle. I decided I just needed to suck it up and post.

Before I put up the pretty, pretty pictures, let me just quickly tell you why I love RBL so much. I think I can boil it down to three main reasons: 1) these polishes really do require only 2 fairly thin layers (as opposed to 4 or 5) and as a result, they dry to a hard finish really quickly; 2) these polishes have the longest wear of any nail polish I've ever tried (I can often get more than 1 week of wear with only the tiniest bit of tip wear); and 3) the colors are just breathtaking.

Without any further ado, here are the photos.

First, we have my current favorite - a tribute to a celebrated nail polish blogger, Scrangie:

Scrangie (in the shade)

Scrangie (in the light)

Next, what I'm wearing right now. A beautiful olive green:

No More War (in the shade)

No More War (in the light)

And finally, one of the truest navy blues that exists:

Dead Calm (in the shade)

Dead Calm (in the light)

Clearly, these are all wins and might even deserve the name, "Perfection."

I Hate Chapped Lips

Chapped lips drive me crazy. Seriously. I hate feeling like people might be staring at some loose flap of dried skin on my lips when I'm out in public. I really hate that urge to keep licking my lips even though I know it's not good for me. And I absolutely can't stand the way chapped lips make me feel unkempt, dull-looking, and generally a mess.

Thankfully, that's no longer a problem because now I make them. In my kitchen. On the weekends. Yes, yes, my life isn't the most exciting thing out there at the moment, but it is what it is. I have found that I actually like making lip balms. And that I'm kind of good at it too. So I started testing my formula out with friends and family. Eventually, after quite a few batches, I came up with what I call "The Perfect Formula."

Now, I sell them. For a piddly USD$3 each.

Okay, by now, you've figured out that this post is a pitch. I'm sorry! But I'm really trying to make this thing a viable business because it's something I love to do.

Anyways, I'm running a special right now. If you buy the lip balms from my etsy store, I'll throw in free shipping for U.S. residents and 50% off shipping for those outside the U.S.

I've got 7 flavors out at the moment, but there are more in the pipeline. Currently, I've got:

• Crunchy Almond Biscotti
• Rich Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Buttery Toffee Crunch (this one is my favorite!)
• Summer Peach
• Lip Loving Lemonade
• Luscious Key Lime
• Ripe Raspberries and Cream

Check 'em out!