5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!
For my second installment of 5 Quirky Uses I decided to focus on an object that fills many a recycling can, wine bottles! There are many arts and crafts projects that involve empty wine bottles that are easily accessible through Pinterest, but to stray away from those more complicated upcycling projects, I decided to focus on uses for the bottle whole! So, without further ado, here are 5 ways to use an empty wine bottle(s).
Stuff them into tall boots to help them keep their shape.
Fill them with a string of lights for an interesting lighting option.
Fill them with water and use them as a vase for long flowers.
Stick a taper candle into the neck and use them as a candle stick.
Fill them with sand, cork them and use them as book ends.
It’s that time of the month again! Yep! You guessed it! My Ipsy Glam Bag has arrived. This month I almost forgot I was getting the Glam Bag and it was such a welcomed treat. I have been doing this whole low buy exercise where I have been trying not to buy unnecessary things like makeup and beauty products, so I haven’t been purchasing as much as I had been in the last few months. So, when I saw that I was getting my monthly subscription service, it was thrilling!
This months bag was themed Beach Beauty, and we received a fluorescent pink see through tube shaped bag which I really like! It made it hard to be surprised as I was opening it on camera for my YouTube channel, but it was still terribly exciting!
So, lets run down what goodies I got!
The first item I pulled out of my Ipsy bag was this Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon in Flirty Fuchsia! I was absolutely thrilled to see this first and even though its not a particularly expensive product ($4 value) I love chubby sticks and the fact that I got one in pink made me very happy! You know how much I love my pink lipsticks!
The only thing about this color that is a little deceiving is that they are calling it fuchsia, but its really more of a bubblegum pink, which I do not mind, because I really don’t have any lip products in that shade, so I am glad I got something that is unique for me!
The next item in my bag is a travel sized can of Big Sexy Hair, Weather Proof! Now, I have always wanted to try a Big Sexy Hair product so I was glad they sent me this, and especially glad they sent a Weather Proof formula for the summer. I don’t go through much hair spray on average, so even though this isn’t a full sized item per se, I will still get a good amount of use out of it. I bet you it lasts the summer! Another inexpensive product, but one I was glad to receive ($3-4 value).
This next item was pretty unique! I received the Demeter Roll On Perfume Oil in the scent Salt Air. I really like this product because it is a full sized purse sized sample that retails for $10 on the Demeter site. It also has a very pleasant summery smell that I could not for the life of me figure out until I finally realized that the smell was very similar to the way a Hollister store smells. So, if you like the way Hollister smells, you should like this!
The next item in my bag that was more of a deluxe sample size was this Coola Mineral Sunscreen tinted moisturizer. Although I wish they had sent a larger sized sample, I was very pleased to receive this because I have heard very good things about Coola. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a tinted moisturizer or a tinted sunscreen, but after testing it out I can say its more of a tinted sunscreen, This doesn’t have much coverage to it even for tinted moisturizer standards and it blends into your still without really leaving any noticeable color change. But in a facial sunscreen thats a good thing! Normally, if you use a facial sunscreen you get a ghostly white glow to your skin, but this keeps your face looking normal, which I think is awesome. Only thing I was worried about with this is whether or not it is waterproof. It doesn’t say so on the packaging but I did look up the product facts online and it is indeed water resistant for 40 minutes! Full size is $36, but I would value this sample at $3.
The final item in my bag came in very cute packaging! It is a BH Cosmetics California Collection eyeshadow trio. Now, I have seen BH Cosmetics before at Target and I know its not a very expensive brand, so this set couldn’t cost more than about $5, but when I do see their products at Target I am always curious about them.
The trio was a little unexpected to me because the colors were a bit bright, but its the summer I guess so it goes with the theme! The purple grape colored shadow is very pretty, but I am not sure if its something I would use. I may get some use out of the middle color because although it seems like a dark tan or nude color, its actually a nice bronze. The final color is a very bright gold, which again isn’t necessarily something I would wear, but I can give it a shot. I usually prefer taupes to golds or bronzes, but since I have been going for a neutral eye for the summer, I may be able to create a simple sun kissed eye with these shades. And if they don’t work out for me, I know a friend who would look great in these shades!
Overall, I was very happy with this months Glam Bag, despite the fact that it had the least value of any bag I have received before. I am not sure if this value range is something that I should expect from now on, or if perhaps this month the products were just not as valuable as previous months. I know I have seen other glam bags from prior months that had a different mix of products in it that were of lesser value than what I received so I think its just luck of the draw! Either way I am happy with this bag because I am sure I am going to use up most of these products! If you would like to see my unboxing video for this month’s Ipsy My Glam Bag, click here to be directed to the video on my YouTube channel!
5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!
I love breath mints and especially the cute tins they are frequently stored in. But what do you do with those tins once your mint supply runs out? It seems such a pity to just toss the empty tin, so put yours to good use with these 5 Quirky Uses!
Wrap up your earbuds and store them inside the tin.
Use your tin as a travel pill box.
Store quarters for parking meters in the tin and leave it in your car.
Use the tin to make a mini first aid or on the go sewing kit.
Keep hair ties and bobby pins in the tin for quick, organized access.
Hello Everyone and Happy 4th of July to those of you in the U.S! Since today is a holiday for me, I didn’t have a post planned, so I wanted to share a video I uploaded on my YouTube channel today! It’s my monthly favorites for June 2013, aka my Fave Five! Hope you enjoy this video and the holiday!
With July 4th coming up, I thought I would take a moment to talk to you about drinking, or rather, how to avoid drinking in social situations. This information doesn’t just apply to July 4th weekend, but can be applied all year round if you are someone who prefers not to drink but finds it had to avoid drinking while others are indulging.
Reasons to avoid alcohol
While you certainly do not need a reason to avoid drinking, there are many legitimate reasons why one would choose not to drink in a social situation. You may be in a recovery program in which you are voluntarily prohibiting yourself from alcohol, in which case you have made a commitment and would not want to stray from that. You may be on certain medications that interact negatively with alcohol, or you may be the designated driver for the evening. These situations tend to have the least amount of pressure from others to drink. Usually, people who know this information will not offer you drinks or try to compromise your integrity or health while out at a bar or a barbecue, but what about other reasons when your avoidance of alcohol is not so clear cut?
I for one, generally do not drink when I am out, even if I am with friends who are drinking. I have no problem defending my position that I don’t like alcohol and the affects it has on my demeanor. I find that alcohol makes me feel tired and gives me a stomach ache, and even if I keep my drink count low, having alcohol in my system usually makes me feel laggy for days. I personally also do not like to drink my calories in alcohol or any other beverage for that matter so that factors in as well.
The Stigma of Sobriety
For me, its not hard to avoid drinking because most people know this about me and will not offer me drinks, but what if you were someone who usually drinks with friends but now, for whatever reason, has decided to stop?
The first thing you have to know is that sometimes people find it hard to understand why someone would not be drinking alcohol if it was offered. People almost take it personally or feel like they are being judged when someone suddenly stops drinking. There is definitely a stigma around sobriety and it usually leads to the assumption that you are recovering from an alcohol addiction (whether you are or not) or that you’re pregnant (if you’re a woman). These questions can lead to a feeling of peer pressure that could cause you to fall off your own wagon in a way and choose to drink just to fit in.
I know some people who end up doing this. They may want to avoid alcohol for one reason or another but when they get together with their group of old drinking buddies, they find it hard to avoid drinking and since they don’t have a strong reason to withhold they end up imbibing. I think this stigma sucks, but luckily there are some things you can do to avoid it!
Tips to Avoid Alcohol
If you feel like you cannot survive the stigma around sobriety, there are a few things you can do to avoid suspicion. If you have an event at a bar or restaurant, I would suggest arriving a bit early before the others and talking to your bartender or waitress. If you let them know you are not drinking this evening, but you don’t want anyone to know, they can make you fake drinks that appear to be alcoholic beverages, but are really just club soda or mixers without the alcohol. Many times, the glasses they use at bars and restaurants denote alcoholic beverages from non alcoholic beverages, so if you arrive ahead of your friends and they see you with a clear glass filled with ice and garnished with a lime, they will just assume its your usual gin and tonic, even if its clear soda or seltzer water.
Just make sure if someone wants to try your drink you keep it to yourself. Its easy enough to make up an excuse like “I think I may be coming down with something so its probably best if you don’t drink from my glass.” And if you can’t make it early to to location, don’t fret, just try to pull your waitress or bartender aside and discreetly let them know your preference for the evening. Bartenders especially will understand this and are usually more than willing to oblige. Just make sure you pass them a good tip at the end of the night for keeping your secret safe, after all, you are saving a good amount of money if your drinks are dressed up sodas without the shots of alcohol!
Now, these tips may work when you are out with friends, but what about when you’re at someones home or a barbecue? Obviously, its a little harder to control this situation, but there are things you can do to avoid alcohol without people pestering you about it. First, I suggest bringing some drinks of your own. Usually, if your attending a barbecue or a party at someone’s house, or at a public place like a camp site or local park, you would bring something like a side dish or a bottle of wine etc. Well, make sure you bring yourself something to drink without alcohol in it.
I suggest one of three things. First, if you are normally a beer drinker, I suggest picking up a 6-pack of a micro brew root beer or ginger ale that you can find at your local grocery store. Often times these microbrew non alcoholic drinks appear to be actual beers as they are packaged like them. You don’t need to say anything about what you brought, but if someone asks you and notices its not a beer, you can say something like “I really love this stuff, its my new addiction!” People may offer you something alcoholic, and you can politely pass on it with the legitimate excuse that you brought your own. I find with situations like this, people aren’t so concerned with what you are drinking as long as you are drinking something that looks familiar.
My second suggestion would be to bring a pitcher of a beverage that looks like a mixed drink. Remember in college when you used to drink “jungle juice” and it was basically Kool Aid with tons of clear alcohol in it, but for some reason you couldn’t taste the alcohol? That’s the concept with this one. Make a colorful beverage and stick to it for the event. If someone asks for a sip, let them have it and revel with them in amazement at the fact that you just can’t taste the alcohol! “Maybe I didn’t put enough alcohol in,” you can suggest. Your not lying and your friends will probably end up avoiding your beverage for something stronger anyway. In the end, everyone wins and you most of all win for avoiding alcohol without feeling the peer pressure of your friends.
My final suggestion would be to use a colored solo cup or your own opaque pitcher to drink from during the event. At parties, the non alcoholic beverages are normally sitting right next to the alcoholic ones, so its easy enough to fill your cup with a soda or juice instead of the hostesses homemade sangria. As long as they can’t see whats in your cup, no one can notice what you are or are not drinking. If comments arise as to the quality and taste of the sangria, make sure you give your thumbs up to be polite to your host. She certainly won’t know you didn’t try it!
Conclusion
Even though you may find yourself in social situations where you would normally enjoy a drink with friends and family, its often tough to avoid alcohol even if you want to. Compound that with the fact that many people find it odd when friends suddenly change their drinking behavior, and certain social events can turn into a pressure filled time instead of a fun event! Although honesty is always the best policy, what your friends and family don’t know won’t hurt them, and its not like your hurting yourself by not drinking. So, with a little forethought, you can make sure you look and feel like you fit in with your crowd while also maintaining your personal integrity. After all, alcohol is a tricky thing. It may be fun to loosen up with a drink, but it can also have short term and long term affects to your well being that just aren’t worth it to some people. So make sure you’re doing what you need to do to get by and I hope you have a great July 4th wherever and however you are celebrating!
Okay guys! Listen up because I have some news and updates that I wanted to share! I just got back from The Blogcademy in New York City. In case you are not aware, The Blogcademy is a two day workshop for bloggers hosted by three of the webs greatest bloggers, Gala Darling, Nubby Twiglet and Rock N Roll Bride! Without going into too much detail, the workshop centers around helping budding young bloggers like myself turn their sites into successful internet properties by learning to develop good content, accurately using branding and marketing and learning to monetize.
I learned a lot about some areas I am behind in and also rediscovered my purpose and direction for Strange & Charmed. So, of course, this means over the next few days, weeks and months, you may see some tweaks here and there to the site, my content and hopefully to the overall feel of the blog.
A more complete write up of my Blogcademy experience will follow eventually is some form or another, but like I said, there is a lot of processing I need to do and the fact that I have to go back to work Monday morning doesn’t give me any immediate time to think! So, stay tuned!
As you may remember, last month I signed up for the Ipsy My Glam Bag after deciding that I wanted to sign up for one of the many beauty subscription box services. My May bag was filled with awesome stuff, but I did know what to expect, so my June bag was a surprise! I have an unboxing video going up on my YouTube channel, but I mentioned in that video that I would put up swatches on my blog and I have also decided to take some pictures and do a little review.
So, as you can see from the overview, the bag was a wonderful cheetah print, highlighted with a chartreuse zipper across the top of the bag. Inside were five full sized items as far as I could tell from doing a little research. The first was the JCats Sparkling Cream Palette as seen above. It appears to be a glitter eyeshadow palette. The colors are definitely not something I would have chosen or really would wear on my eyes as I usually avoid gold and I didn’t get a good impression of them from the way they looked inside the palette. They retail for about $5 online.
The next item in my bag was a NYX Rouge Cream Blush in the color Boho Chic, a deep nude pink tone. The consistency of the blush was very nice and smooth and it applied easily and evenly to the skin when I tested it. This item retails for $6 on the NYX site and is something I have never tried before. In fact, I have no cream blushes whatsoever and this color is also unlike anything I have. I think it will be a lovely natural summer blush so I am excited to try it out with a full face of makeup. {Color swatch below with the others).
The next items were a lipliner and an eye highlight. The lipliner pencil from Starlooks came in the color Tipsy, which as you can see below appears to be a pinkish nude in the pencil but swatches much brighter. The pencils retail for $12 and definely had a nice consistency that you would expect from a more expensive liner. The Chella eye highlight came in the color ivory lace and I am still not exactly sure how to use it. It is either an eyeshadow highlight that I can use under my brow and perhaps in the corners of my eye to brighten my eye area, or perhaps I can also use it to line my lower water line to get that enlarged eye look. I don’t see why I couldn’t use it that way and I think I would get more use out of it that way. It retails for $18 so thats another higher end brand, however, I have never heard of them or the Starlooks brand before, but that’s is the point of these beauty box subscriptions- to find new products!
This next product was a Cailyn Line Fix Gel Eyeliner. It came in the most interesting packaging that I refuse to throw away because its so pretty!
The eyeliner came in the color Iron, which was basically a dark grey which is perfect for me! I have never used gel eyeliner before, but this packaging was so clever. The top stick actually pops off and reveals the liner brush, so its like an all in one product and it retails for $21! I will definitely get use out of that for sure!
As you can see in this image above, the blush and the lipliner look like they are part of a similar color family, although, as you can tell from the swatches below, they are actually quite different!
The color in the pencil is a bit deceiving as it is much brighter when you apply it to the skin! I still think its a pretty good neutral however, and I tried it with my Mirabella Pixie Lipstick from May’s Ipsy bag and they go together well. I also have a feeling it will work nicely with my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain in the color Rendezvous as it is a similar orange hued coral. I also think this liner may work well with a nude lip color if I fill in the lips with the liner a little bit first.
Here is a “swatch” of one of the sparkling cream eyeshadows. As you can see, this product is very chunky and basically just straight glitter. I am definitely not going to put this on my eyelids as it is very difficult to apply and its so thick, I worry I may get the glitter in my eyes! The colors were very pretty and perhaps they can be used as some sort of body glitter, but overall the product is not very good in my opinion. The word cream in the name is quite deceiving as there is no cream base to this product as far as I can tell.
Here are the color swatches for the products. I apologize that I swatched these on my arm with my birthmark! Also, my arms are quite hairy since I am Mediterranean descent and I have never been one to bother with shaving or waxing them. Anywhoo, from top to bottom we have the cream blusher, the lipliner which is actually quite a bright coral color, the eyeliner, and finally the eye highlight.
I hope this post was enjoyable for anyone who was wondering about the product in this months Ipsy My Glam Bag! I may continue to do posts like this in the future if the products need swatching and a review! Head over to my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/misstrenchcoat to see the unboxing video if you haven’t already!
Nothing says summer like enjoying a nice fruity drink! Although I am over 21, I am not a big drinker, but I do always enjoy the fun flavors and the delightful look of a summer cocktail so I like to make non-alcoholic versions of these summer drinks, aka mocktails! I am sure many of you have heard of the term “mocktail” but for those of you new to the concept, it is basically a drink made to copy the look and taste of a cocktail but without alcohol. Mocktails are great for the under 21 and sober crowd as they embody all the fun of fancy fruity drinks but without the negative affects of alcohol.
So, on to the drinks! Last summer I fell in love with the Mocktail drink mixes from Crystal Light. Not only did they come in fun flavors and bright summery colors, but they were also 0 calories! I have tried most of the flavors at this point, but I especially love the margarita and mojito flavors. They are just like your standard Crystal Light mixes, just add water and stir and you have an instant drink, but you can take it one step further and dress up your drink to make it a true mocktail.
Frozen Mocktail Margarita
In your blender, mix equal parts of your premade Crystal Light Margarita with ice and blend until smooth. Add salt and lime juice to taste. Taking your margarita glass, rub a slice of lime around the rim of the glass transferring the juice to the rim and then dip the rim of the glass on a plate dusted with margarita salt (if you don’t have margarita salt, you can use a coarse sea salt). Garnish the glass with a slice or twist of lime!
Classic Mocktail Mojito
To a glass, add a few sprigs of fresh mint, sliced limes and a teaspoon of stevia in the raw (you can use sugar in the raw if you prefer, but I am trying to keep this as low calorie as possible). Using a spoon or mixing stick, crush the mint, lime slices and stevia together. Fill the glass with ice and add your premade Crystal Light Mojito. Garnish the glass with some more sprigs of mint and/or a slice or twist of lime!
I hope you enjoyed my quick and easy mocktail recipes! There are many ways you can make mocktails, but I love the instant Crystal Light mixes because they are easy and calorie free. You could add alcohol to these recipes and make them real cocktails but remember, alcohol can make you very dehydrated and so its better to quench your thirst in the summer heat with the alcohol free versions!
I was recently asked to make a YouTube video explaining, from a woman’s perspective, whether or not the iPad is a useful device and to give my thoughts on the matter. Of course, since I have owned a few models of iPad, including a mini, I would say I am very pro-iPad, so I was happy to discuss all the reasons an iPad is useful to a female! Of course, most of the reasons also apply to men, however, I decided to make this video as though I was talking to a girlfriend who was on the fence, so I gave female specific examples. The video is a little long and a bit chatty, but I wanted to cover everything I could think of to touch on situations each and every girl out there would relate to. I hope you find this useful if you too are on the fence about whether or not you want to purchase an iPad!
On a side note: this video does not go into choosing between the models any further than the main difference I see between the iPad and the Mini. This is because I believe its a personal choice that involves a great deal of money and I do not want to sway anyone one way or another on which to choose, its all up to what you can afford and what you think you will need!
