Friday Faves Vol. 27

This DIY backyard cabana lounge area!

This list of the best beauty packaging of 2018!

This colorful living room design!

2018 Ulta Birthday Gift

If you're paying attention, you might've noticed that I love a birthday freebie. Okay, I love pretty much any freebie, but all the better if that freebie is a useful beauty product. Much like Sephora, Ulta Beauty offers an annual birthday gift for rewards members (free to join and worth it if you shop there with any frequency). The 2018 Ulta birthday gift is a lip kit including the following:

• Ulta Beauty Juice Infused Lip Oil in Cranberry + Pomegranate {.15 fl. oz.}

• Ulta Beauty Lip Mask in Cranberry + Pomegranate

2018 Sephora Birthday Gift (psst...it's free!)

A major perk of having my birthday in January is being among the first to receive the free annual Sephora Birthday Gift. It almost makes up for the fact that I can count the number of birthday parties I've cancelled due to snow on more than one hand. Almost. Inclement weather aside, my January was certainly brightened by this gorgeous gift. As usual, Sephora is offering two options for your birthday gift selection:

The best birthday email in your inbox

Best Beauty Products of 2017

Since I wrote about my top 10 beauty products of 2016 last year, I decided to keep the party going with my favorite products of 2017.

I was like, "hmmm, I've barely tried enough stuff this year to even make a list of favorites" but then I started writing and realized, oh right - I'm kind of a product junkie. Even during a year where I felt like I'd tried nothing new, I still had 10 favorites. Oops.

Friday Faves Vol. 9

This adorable smiley planet tattoo!

Guys...it's about Tom.

This cool salon chandelier made of blowdryers!

This genius peekaboo wall hook which a kitty pops from when it's in use!

This delicious-looking summer pasta with corn, tomatoes & zucchini!

This cute blast from the past Polly Pocket purse!

This interesting article about human embryo gene editing!

Good news! The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books will be re-released with original art!

This list of 33 underrated Trader Joe's products that people love!

This stunning wet/dry makeup!

What cool stuff have you seen lately?

You Need to Make This Super Moisturizing 3-Ingredient DIY Lip Balm

Any other lip balm addicts in the house? You'd never find me without at least one balm within grabbing distance, as I like to apply whenever the mood strikes. Once I'm aware I need/want to slick it on, I can't focus on anything but the lip balm until I get it. I've chosen to not think of this as a problem, and instead think of it as being highly moisturized at all times. I like to be smooth!

As a certified fanatic, I've tested and tried make balms. My simple, go-to choice to keep in my purse is the classic Burt's Bees variety (no other iterations, please!). My slather-on-before-bed bestie is Nivea Lip Butter. At times I'll pop on a Vaseline Lip Therapy to really seal in that sweet, sweet moisture all night. I've done my research; I know my lips.

Once on a whim, I grabbed this locally-made, small batch lip balm at a little variety store. Just to see, you know? A true student of the game is never done learning.

Turns out it was the best lip balm of my damn life.

That should be great news, but reality struck when I realized it was not available online and was not stocked in any stores near me, as I'd picked it up on a vacation. The universe can be so cruel.

Fast forward to this balm running reeeeeal low, and me scrambling to try to DIY my own replica based on the ingredients listed on the package. I've finally found a formula that, while not an exact duplicate, is great enough to satisfy my lip balm addiction and keep me from weeping over what could have been.

Wanna try it too? Read on!

How to Make DIY Lip Balm

The three ingredients I used in my lip balm were:

Shea Butter
Cocoa Butter
Sweet Almond Oil

I also used an empty tin from an old Nivea Lip Butter that I cleaned out. You can buy empty tubes and tins for lip balm pretty cheaply online, but why not use what you have?

Okay, here's where we get into it! I ended up with a simple 3-2-1 measuring method:


3 Parts Sweet Almond Oil (I used 3 teaspoons)
2 Parts Cocoa Butter (2t)
1 Part Shea Butter (1t)

Bring an inch or two of water to a gentle boil in a small saucepan. Place your ingredients in a heat-resistant glass measuring cup inside the saucepan until all ingredients melt to a liquid.

Melting, melting, melting...

When you've got all liquid, pour the mixture into your tin or container and let it cool.

Once cooled, you'll have a soft, but solid lip balm full of natural and moisturizing ingredients. 
It looks pretty plain, but it gets the job done spectacularly.

Once it warms up it might be too soft or hard for your preference, but you can easily repeat the melting process to add more almond oil (to soften) or more cocoa butter or even skin safe beeswax (to harden). It comes together so quickly, it's really no problem to adjust as you'd like. Even pop it in the freezer to speed up the solidifying process!

Your lips will thank you. 😀 💋

What's your ride-or-die lip balm? Have you ever made your own?

Friday Faves Vol. 5

This adorable donut bead necklace DIY project!

These delicious-looking lemon poppyseed mini scones!

This fun and functional witch spoon rest!

 This vintage 1960s beauty tutorial video!

This list of business advice from 19 badass biz ladies!

@Strange_Animals posts photos of animals you've never heard of! I couldn't even pick one photo...that "bunny" is a sea creature!

This beautiful rainbow contour! New trend?

This interesting article about the connection between the mob and NYC's early gay clubs.

This cute melting kitty cone shirt from Threadless!

This collection of 1980s novelty erasers!

What are you peeping on lately?

Nail Art Hack: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens

Nail art is the trend that keeps on trending. I'm totally cool with that, since I've been doodling all over my nails since, like, fourth grade, and have no plans to stop. All that practice has afforded me a certain skill level, but sometimes it still feels like too much time and effort for such a short-lived "work of art."

Sometimes you just want something easier. A nail art hack, perhaps?

Enter Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. These pens come with either a round or fine tip, and allow you to more easily draw all kinds of designs on your nails. They feel almost like a paint marker, but the product inside is distinctly nail polish-esque. 

One major difference, though - these don't have that classic nail polish stink, which is a major plus. When I draw intricate designs with typical nail polish, I sometimes feel woozy by the end from all the time and polish it takes. 

This might be due to the pen's water-based formula, which is also what makes these so easy to use. Say you draw what was supposed to be a cute puppy face on your thumb nail, but it actually ends up looking more like a deceased raccoon - just wipe the design off (byyyye, poor lil raccoon!) with a wet cotton pad/ball/swab and start again! It won't interrupt the base nail polish, either. Nice!

To fully test these lil' guys out, I first painted each of my nails a different color, following a rainbow pattern. This way, you can see what the nail art pens look like over light colors and dark colors. To be honest, I kind of wanted to just stop here because I liked the plain rainbow look so much!

Alas, I bravely soldiered on. Before you begin, give the pen a good shake and push the tip onto some scrap paper or a paper towel a few times to get the polish flowing. Once you start drawing you'll see that enough product comes out to draw an opaque design, but generally not so much that it gets runny.

Some nails were just screaming for specific designs, like the pink nail becoming a watermelon, and the red nail becoming a ladybug. On others, I just chose the color I thought would work best functionally and aesthetically, then made up a design on the spot. That worked out mostly well, but please don't look too closely at either of my pinky nails ☺

Here's a simple idea: use a white nail art pen to draw a stripe near the free edge of your nail. Follow that stripe with a green nail art pen, drawing outside of the white stripe. Add some black dots for seeds and you've got super simple, yet adorable nail art!

Here's my final result! For just kinda messing around, I was really impressed with these. Some work better than others, but I love that some brighter colors, like pink, could draw over some darker colors and still be vibrant. 

The most important part: You MUST finish these with a top coat! This is not a drill, people! If you don't, the pen may wash or wear off very easily. Top coats: don't leave home without 'em.

Nothing is perfect, though (except you!) 

I found the pearlescent white to be too liquid, and difficult to use for that reason, though that may just be my tube.

The biggest flaw was unfortunately with the violet pen, which sucks because it's so damn pretty! I painted over orange and the violet later paled and bled a bit (seen below left) and over light blue, and the violet wore off in places (below right).

I'll definitely be reaching for these again. If you want to dip your toe (errr, fingertip?) into the nail art pen game, I suggest picking up a black one since it's so versatile, and just playing around with it. I honestly feel like you'll love it! PSA: If you buy at the drugstore remember to use a coupon! Always. ♥

p.s. these would be great for French manicures, too!

Have you ever tried these nail art pens? What's your biggest challenge with nail art? Have you seen any cool nail art designs lately? Share 'em!