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!
Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, the official start of summer. Something about this time of year always makes me think about the Shakespearean play A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. It is one of my favorite books, filled with Fairy’s, magic, and romance! Whenever I read it, I envision all the characters as though they have stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Mermaids, Sprites, Amazonians, Fairy Lords and Ladies frolicking in an enchanted wood all while leading a bunch of quarreling lovers through a moonlit chase to find their true love! Yes, a little magic is needed to cure the love-sick hearts, but in the end each couple is reunited to their hearts content, with only the memory of a fading dream to explain their night.
“Once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song; And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid’s music.”
– Oberon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices and let me rest.”
-Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“But all the story of the night told over, And their minds transfigur’d so together, More witnesseth than fancy’s images, And grows to something of great constancy, But howsoever strange, and admirable.”
– Hippolyta, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.”
-Bottom, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear.”
Have you guys heard about the new Pebble smart watch? Back in April on Kickstarter, the Pebble smart watch became the most funded project to date, raising an astounding $10,266,844, pledged by nearly 70,000 people! By the way, its original goal was only $100,000.
So what does this watch do that makes it so smart? This watch is a quick way to stay connected to your incoming cell phone messages no matter where your phone is. It connects to your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth and keeps you informed when notifications come in including emails, text messages, calendar alerts, weather updates, and incoming phone calls. In addition to notifying you, the watch also allows you to quick browse your messages, accept or deny calls, and control your music. That is just the beginning though, since in addition to other features, Pebble has released an SDK for developers to start working on even better and specific applications to run with the watch.
So why am I obsessing over it? Think of how many times you have missed a call or important message because had your phone in another room, or on silent, hidden in your bag, or deep inside your pockets. With this, you can always be informed of who is trying to reach you and decide if you should bother pulling out your phone just to talk to a telemarketer. The watch is also useful, if let’s say, you are in a meeting and want to check a missed call or text but don’t want to be disrespectful by pulling out your phone. Instead you could discretely look at your watch.
It currently comes in five colors: jet black, grey, arctic white, cherry red, and orange. It has an e-paper display with a backlight so you can clearly see it day or night. You can download and customize your watch faces and easily change out the watchbands with ones you purchase yourself. It is currently on pre-order, since they are still fulfilling Kickstarter orders, and it is priced at $150.00. You can find out more about the watch, or order one yourself at http://www.getpebble.com.
So, what do you think? Is this watch worth the hype or just another gimmicky accessory? Let us know in the comments!
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!
I recently just discovered a drugstore gem for instant relief of dry skin! The e.l.f. Daily Moisture Stick is an inexpensive miracle worker that, like its name suggests, is a stick of clear gel formulated with anti-aging components to moisturize the skin. When applied to the skin, either by direct application from the stick itself or by applying it with the fingers, a cooling burst of moisture instantly plumps dry skin, leaving the skin refreshed and soft. Some of the anti-aging ingredients include grape, shea, avocado, macadamia and aloe, however, instead of this product feeling oily and heavy as one might expect from the ingredients, it actually is quite light and refreshing and leaves no sticky residue whatsoever. What I love about this product is that it can be used on the face or the body and I have been using it for both. I have been applying the product via my fingers to my under eye area and directly to any dry patches on my face or body. The product has helped me greatly with a recent facial sunburn I was suffering from as the aloe helped cool my skin, keeping the burn area moist and refreshed.
I really have just been loving using this product and sort of feel like its a miracle worker of sorts! It feels so soothing and light on the skin and the moisture lasts a good while, although I have been using it repeatedly throughout the day because I love the way it makes my skin feel. Its one of those products that you can keep in your bag and use throughout the day at bathroom breaks to keep yourself looking and feeling refreshed. When applied under my eyes it sort of plumps up my under eye area which can sometimes look sallow a few hours after I apply my makeup. I am loving it for summer because it really helps to refresh the look of makeup that may begin to melt off in the heat. Just pat on the product with your fingertips to any areas where your makeup is beginning to look saggy and it peps it back up! It also works wonders on hands where you get that dry and dehydrated look. It really just fills dry skin with instant moisture that sticks and feels incredibly natural. For $6 there is really no reason not to try this Daily Moisture Stick from e.l.f. I picked mine up at Target, but you can buy it online from e.l.f directly.
I recently started a new feature on my YouTube channel called My Fave Five. Its basically my monthly favorites cut down to just five items! I know many bloggers do a monthly favorites and I wanted to start as well because I think they are a great way to spotlight certain products that you are loving and to share the good news with everyone! So often we are totally inundated with products and trends that its hard to choose which ones are right for us and worth the hype and money, so I think this is a great way to share great products with others! I would love your feedback if you use any of these items!
Here is my Fave Five for May 2013 with links to where you can find the items as well!
Yep! Summer is here and so its time to stock up on awesome, colorful and ultra portable tech accessories! There is nothing worse than a clunky and boring iPad keyboard case while you are outside working by the pool or beach, but luckily, I have found five sleek, feminine and unique iPad keyboard cases to keep you looking trendy this summer while you try to mix work and play.
First, I have this very bright and neon colored ultra-slim wireless keyboard case from Bodhi. It folds up super slim in a choice of some bright neons so its perfect for taking with you to lunch or just to throw in your bag to get some work done while you are out of the office. I love that the iPad is secured to the case so that when you use it in keyboard mode, it can’t accidentally fall out!
This Brookstone Silicone Keyboard can be rolled up and tossed in your bag on the go! It pairs wirelessly to your iPad or other Bluetooth device so you don’t need to worry about toting around extra wires and other nonsense. They also come in an array of cute colors for the warmer months and because its silicone, you don’t have to worry about spilling your drink on your keyboard!
Admit it! Pink is your favorite color! So, of course, you just have to have a bright pink, slim keyboard case for your iPad! This iHome Slim Bluetooth Keboard case for iPad is very similar to the Bodhi design, but with a more traditional style keyboard and a slightly smaller price tag. Again, this style keyboard is great protection as well as a functional accessory to help you get more done on the go!
If space is a major issue for you and you want the smallest, most portable wireless keyboard, or if you just want something really high tech and futuristic, this ThinkGeek Cube Laser Virtual Keyboard will have you feeling like a Jetson! This Bluetooth enabled keyboard can connect to many devices and instantly projects a keyboard onto any surface. Just don’t ask me how it works, I couldn’t tell you!
This ZAGGKeys Ultra Slim Keyboard case is a popular choice amongst iPad keyboard users for many reasons. The ergonomic keyboard layout is a fan favorite, similar to the Macbook style keyboard and the case to keyboard design keeps your iPad in its natural glory. Not to mention, its backlit in a variety of bright colors. Not only is it rare to see a backlit iPad keyboard, but its even more rare that you have a choice of colors! Definitely something you will need for a late night work session!
Summer is here and one trend that seems to recycle itself year after year is the Maxi Dress! Although we have certainly seen these dresses before in all their iconic glory, from summer to summer the trends seem to change ever so slightly. Today, I want to talk to you about the maxi dress style, elements of it that stay the same year over year and the new elements that make Summer 2013 maxi dresses unique.
First of all, there are three main silhouettes that make up the basis of the maxi dress look. The kimono top, the bandeau, and the tank top. From season to season, these styles don’t change for the most part. The kimono top, as illustrated on the first dress, is a universally flattering top comprised of a short, wide sleeve and a v-neck. The bandeau, as seen on the second dress, is a strapless style that is often a little more casual because it lacks sleeves. Finally, the tank top style, seen in the last dress, is a versatile look that can include a variety of strap widths and a V or U style neckline. Depending on your personal preference you may gravitate to one or all of these maxi dress styles.
Now, let’s talk about the summer 2013 trends that make this years dresses stand out from previous seasons. I see three major trends happening in maxi dresses this year. First, as seen in the first dress is the ombre look where a solid color is used and fades from light to dark or dark to light. The ombre trend has been popular for a while now, so its no surprise to me that its now a prevalent style in dresses as well. The next trend I see for this summer is a mix of patterns, as illustrated in the second dress. Whether its a mix of a floral and a stripe, or a pattern and a solid, mixed and contrasting patterns are a big trend this summer season. The final trend I see this season in maxi dresses is geometry as seen in the third dress above. Whether its color blocking or asymmetry, geometry is playing a big role in fashion this summer and it has many faces that make it edgy and on trend.
So, have you picked up any new maxi dresses for this summer? If so, are they part of the summer 2013 trends? Please share in the comments!
![Merbabies [MMXI]](https://www.strangecharmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Merbabies-MMXI.jpg)
