tech wallpaper

5 iPhone Wallpapers for April: Destination Paris

April always makes me think of Paris. I guess its because I always get that tune “April in Paris” stuck in my head around this time of year. So, come away with me on a month long excursion via some beautiful wallpapers that will help you escape away to Paris with every glance at your home screen!
lifestyle

Conjuring your Desires: Love

 

 
Conjuring your desires is a new weekly feature for the month of March that focuses on using your natural power and energy to bring yourself everything you are looking for in your life. Each Thursday visit back for a new installment covering the topics of talismans, love, money, and luck!
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Love is all around us, or so they say, but for some of us, love is something that constantly eludes us or perhaps doesn’t stick around. While I firmly believe that love comes to us when we aren’t really looking for it, I also believe that the best way to attract it is with self confidence. You must love yourself first and foremost before you can expect anyone else to love you! So, step one of this whole process will be to help you gain confidence in yourself. 
  • Wear deep colors like bright blue, indigo, mauve and black to release your inner confidence and gold toned jewelry.
  • Eat power berries like blueberries and cranberries which have natural antioxidants and magical properties to release your inner energy. Figs, ginger and grapes also have a similar affect and should be added to your diet as well.
  • Use rose scented perfumes and beauty products. I highly suggest rose salve which can be used as a dry skin cure, lip balm and moisturizer all in one! 
  • Finally, try creating your own self love mantra and repeating it on a daily basis. For more information on creating your personal mantra, see Mantra: Writing on the Wall from Issue 4 of Strange & Charmed.
So, now that you have the self love and self confidence down, you are ready to move on to finding real romantic love. Try some of these tricks to attract love, continuing your self love mantra as well as an added tool.
  • Wear gemstone colors like blues, greens, purples and pinks, and corresponding jewelry.
  • Eat plenty of sweet fruits like apples, bananas, sweet peas, and sweet potatoes.
  • Use a sugar lip scrub to keep your lips in a perfectly kissable condition. I highly suggest Fresh Sugar Lip Polish which is a scrub made from coarse sugar. It tastes great and with daily use you will transform dry lips into plump, pink, perfection!
If you keep it up, these things will help you attract real romantic love, but above all the best advice I can give you is to keep your heart open to everyone who comes into your life. You may think you know who the guy or girl of your dreams may be, but keep your eyes open, there are plenty of fish in the sea! Good luck!
lifestyle

5 Must Have Beauty Time Savers

Doing your makeup in the morning can be a time consuming task, especially when we all have a multitude of items that are for this or that area of your face or body. To save yourself some time, try using to double duty products that will slim down the size of your makeup bag and make getting ready for your day a breeze!
 
1. Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Polish
When I first bought one of these cute little nail polishes, I will admit, it was because they reminded me a lot of the Chanel Nail Varnishes, but these budget friendly polishes are actually so much more than your standard nail color. They are actually a base coat, color and top coat all in one, so no need to waste time with different nail products. This will definitely cut down on your drying time!
 
2. Victoria’s Secret Make it Last Prime & Set Makeup Spray
I have never been one to use a makeup primer let along a separate spray for finishing, however, when I came across this two in one primer and set spray, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a whirl and I am so glad I did! I was actually very impressed with the staying power of my makeup when I used this spray and I love that is does double duty so I don’t need to use two separate products to get all day makeup coverage. 
 
3. L’Oreal The One Sweep Eye Shadow
It’s true, I am a makeup neophyte! I cannot for the life of me get my eye makeup to look right unless I am using a product that tells me exactly what to do! This all in one smokey eye shadow pallet has a brush that will apply all three colors at once in one sweeping affect so that even I can’t mess up my eye makeup! Perfect everyday smokey eye makeup in one second, check!
 
4. NARS The Multiple
To be completely honest, I am not the type of person who buys a lot of department store or designer brands of makeup. After years of using the “good stuff” I figured out that it wasn’t any better than many drug store items I could find for a fraction of the price. But one brand of designer makeup I do repeatedly purchase is NARS, and specifically, the Multiple. This stick of color can be used in more than one way (hence, multiple) so that it can be your blush, lip color, highlight and eye shadow all in one! For all the items of makeup it replaces for me, I figure its well worth the price, not to mention a major time and space saver in the morning!
 
5. Rimmel Scandaleyes Flex Mascara
False eyelashes can take ages to apply in the morning and I personally have never had the knack for it! Admittedly, a lack of lashes has never been a problem for me, but I do tend to adore that false lash look! So, I like to use a buildable mascara like this Rimmel Scandaleyes that actually contains lycra that will help enhance your natural lashes to appear nearly false. Its probably the next best thing to false lashes and its much quicker, thats for sure!
 
So, do you have any favorite beauty items that do double duty or help save you time in your morning routine? Let us know in the comments!
lifestyle

Conjuring Your Desires: Money

 

 
Conjuring your desires is a new weekly feature for the month of March that focuses on using your natural power and energy to bring yourself everything you are looking for in your life. Each Thursday visit back for a new installment covering the topics of talismans, love, money, and luck!
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Money is an easy thing to acquire but not an easy thing to keep, which is why we need a constant and steady stream of it in order to balance our lives. When it comes to conjuring money, you need to take into account not only the receiving of money in one form or another, but also the respect for money. “Waste not, want not,” is a sure quote to live by when it comes to cash, but there are a few easy things you can do to attract money to yourself and a few not so easy things to do to get it to stick.
  • Wearing and displaying gold will help to attract money to you. 
  • Cinnamon sticks and orange peels also attract money. Try drinking orange tea with cinnamon or keeping those scents around you. 
  • Burning sandalwood incense on Sunday morning an hour after sunrise and doing a simple meditation will also help bring money to you. Sit quietly during this time and reflect on what your monetary needs are and how you will honor and respect that which is given to you.
While trying to attract money it is very important that you also respect it or else you can scare it away. 
  • Do not make any frivolous purchases, make regular deposits into your savings account and keep your wallet and purse in order. 
  • File receipts, keep clean bills in your wallet and make sure to store your change with care. 
All these things will help to attract money to your pockets! Once you begin to see that you are attracting money into your life, make sure to continue to practice respect towards it. Money is fickle and will stay away if you waste it!
lifestyle tech The Pink Mac

An Apple Genius Broke my Macbook Pro Parts 1&2

lifestyle

Get Freebies on Your Birthday!

Since Wednesday is my birthday (!) I wanted to share with you guys some great places to get some freebie birthday gifts on or around your birth month! Many stores and restaurants will give you something on your birthday, whether it be a coupon or a free appetizer or desert, but certain chains will actually give you a completely free item, like an entree, free service or gift certificate. Make sure to sign up for the loyalty programs at all your favorite stores and eateries, because sometimes their birthday gifts come via email or in the actual mail, so sign up early to make sure you get on their lists and make sure they have your birth month or birthday on file so you can take advantage of your freebies!
Food Freebies
  • Au Bon Pain will give you a free salad or sandwich on your birthday.
  • Ben & Jerry’s will give you a free scoop of ice cream plus $3 off an ice cream cake.
  • Both Starbuck’s and Caribou Coffee will give you a free drink on your birthday.
  • Ruby Tuesday’s and Red Robin will both give you a free burger.
  • Rita’s Italian Ice will give you a free regular Italian Ice.
Retail Freebies
  • Aveda will give you a free gift up to $24 in value on your birthday.
  • DSW will give you a $5 gift certificate.
  • Sephora will give you a free gift of your choice (right now its a Benefit sample set or a Fresh Sugar mini’s duo if you order online!)
  • Ulta will give you a free Brow Arch if they have a Benefits Beauty Bar in-store.
  • Victoria Secrets will give you a free surprise gift on your birthday.
lifestyle tech The Pink Mac

What’s In My Car Emergency Kit


Hey Everyone!

I recently made a video on my car emergency kit and what I keep inside. A car emergency kit, for those of you who are new to the concept, is a bag that you keep in your car that is filled with items you may need like hairspray, lipgloss, extra feminine supplies, etc. It is not the same thing as a roadside emergency kit that you would use in case your car broke down! This car emergency kit is just a bunch of extras you may need while your away from your home that you can keep in your car instead of having to carry around a heavy purse full of extras. I hope you enjoy the video and let me know, what do you keep in your emergency bag?

lifestyle

Conjuring Your Desires: Talismans

Conjuring your desires is a new weekly feature for the month of March that focuses on using your natural power and energy to bring yourself everything you are looking for in your life. Each Thursday visit back for a new installment covering the topics of talismans, love, money, and luck!
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A talisman is an object that you wear or keep on your person for power or protection. They are normally made from natural elements such as metals, stones, wood or other organic materials that directly correlate with the wearers astrological aura to release their natural energy. A great example of this would be a piece of jewelry, such as a ring, that is made with the wearers birthstone. Birthstones are an example of a natural element that correlate directly to astrological individualism. However, the stone alone does not make the item a talisman. Other factors like the metal used or number of stones must be evaluated to ensure a match between the item and its owner. In order to design or find your own talisman, its important to do your research. Here are some tips to help you get the information you need to identify your most appropriate talisman.
1. Using your birth month, find your birthstone.
2. Using a Zodiac chart, figure out your sign and research the appropriate metals and numbers that correlate to it. This information is easily found online with a quick google search.
3. Using the stone, metals and numbers that are best for you, design or find a piece of everyday jewelry that fits within your astrological parameters. For example, I am a Pisces, born in March and my birthstone is Aquamarine. My talisman is a ring made from platinum with 3 Aquamarine stones. As a Pisces, platinum is one of my suggested metals, my birthstone correlates to my birth month and the number 3 represents March (not just because March is the 3rd month, not all months work in this way, for example December is also the number 3 because it is the 12th month and 1+2=3).
Once you have found or created your talisman its very important that you keep it with you often. Start to think of it as a source of energy for your soul as it is a unique representation of yourself. Make sure to take good care of it because how you treat it will represent the energies that it will bring to you.
lifestyle

Five Ways to Design Your Dream Nightstand

Its so important to have a good nightstand set up by your bed. Not only does it keep important items are your fingertips while your sleeping, but it can also keep you organized and prevent you from waking up and walking around your room or home to get items to make your night more comfortable. Below are a few must have items that we think will help you sleep better at night!
1. A spacious bedside table: Depending on the amount of space you have to work with and also the amount of items you like to keep handy by your bed, your needs for a bedside table may vary, but I do have a few pointers for picking out an ideal table. First, you want to make sure that the table is not too high or too low for your bed. You should be able to reach over out of bed and grab an item easily without having to sit up in bed or hang down out of the bed. I would suggest measuring how high you would like the table before you buy and make sure to bring that information with you when shopping. Also, I always think more storage is better than less, so unless you are a true minimalist, try to get a spacious table with drawers. Even if you don’t keep much by your bed, you can always use the drawers to hold your lingerie or delicates, freeing up space in your closet or clothing chest.
2. Lamp: You may not think you need a bedside lamp if you have overhead lighting or other lighting sources in your bedroom, but bedside lamps are great to keep on in the evening while your trying to get to sleep because that softer light sets the mood for sleepy time.
3. Remote caddy: Although you may have a good amount of storage in your bedside table, sometimes its easier to store certain items in a caddy beside your bed. My caddy holds remotes, books and iPads in a safe and out of the way location between my bed and side table.
4. Phone and tech chargers: Obviously, if you have any portable gadgets like a cellphone or iPod that you use frequently, you will want to keep them near you at bedtime and having chargers conveniently located beside your bed will remind you to charge the items while your sleeping. Its a good habit to get into, especially if you are someone who finds that they forget to charge their phones because the chargers are elsewhere in your home.
5. Clock: Its probably a good idea to have a clock on your bedside table even if you use your phone as an alarm. I love my clock because its big neon letters are easy to read in the middle of the night so that I don’t feel the need to grab my cell phone to check the time.
What else do you keep on your nightstand? Leave us a comment and let us know!