NYC City Proof Intense Lip Crayon

If you have been at any drugstore lately you might have seen these twistable crayons crowding the aisles. This past year, every brand from drugstore to high end, seems to be releasing some form of these chubby sticks. Everyone has talked about how much they love them from the revlon kissable balm stains to the tarte chubby lip stains. They are supposed to go on sort of like a balm, stay on like a lip stain, and provide color like a lip stick. Kind of like an all purpose type thing right? They claim to provide long, comfortable wear. Something you could throw on and not have to worry about touching up your lip color. And, to some extent, I do pretty much agree with there claims. They provide a fairly opaque color and glide on smoothly like a balm. However, every single brand I have tried whether it has been tarte, revlon, or clinique have turned my lips an off orange-y red color. I will say that I can only speak for the nude shades. I like a pale pinky nude, the lighter the better. It's just what looks best on me. So naturally I only purchased pale, nude shade from every brands' lines. I believe that for these lip pencil stains a light nude color provides the ultimate test for the quality and formula of the product. The texture should be thick enough that you can see the light color on my decently pigmented lips but still retain a moisturizing quality. Most lines of these chubby stains such as cover girl and nuetregena don't even include a light nude-y color because they are so difficult to perfect in this formula. Before this NYC one my favorite chubby type stick was the Revlon kissable balm stain in precious. The formula is super creamy, comfortable, and opaque. However it sadly does not stain your lips a nude. In fact, it left my lips dry and a orange-y color. After this encounter, I gave up all together on the chubby sticks until I came across the NYC City Proof intense Lip Crayon.
I picked this up at target for around $3. The shade is Nolita Neutral and I love it! It retains all the qualities a stick should have, gives me an opaque color, and doesn't stain my lips orange. It looks really nice and naturally nude on my lips which is perfect for when I'm not wearing a full face of makeup. The packaging is great and the texture kind of reminds me of the Mac prolongwear lipsticks. And color wise, it's very similar to the Revlon precious which I payed $9 for. If you have been looking for a nude pencil, defitnetly try this one out!
Xxx Girl with the Pink Bow

NYC on the right, Revlon on the left

Princess Barbie nails...

We are all victims of pinterest. I personally can spend hours on end scrolling through pinterest and pinning things that I probably don't exactly need. But hey, I can't help it. Pinterest is my outlet, something I use to escape from reality, and get my imagination flowing. A couple months ago, I want to say about mid- November ish I stumbled upon these beautiful, semi ridiculous nail art pictures. I personally love the look of over the top nails and of this one picture that I came across just wouldn't leave my mind. 

So, when the oppurtunity came for me to get ridiculous bedazzled nails at a not completely ridiculous price. I took advantage of it, hey I had to fulfill my Pinterest desires. Pinterest made me do it. That's how I justify these crazy things. Not going to lie, these babies attracted a lot of attention. From "wow I LOVE your nails!" to "what the heck your insane" from my friends they were for sure eye turners. And I was obssesed with them even though they sometimes got some negative comments. But hey, with art any response is good right? And in my world of pink and sparkles nail art is as beautiful as Van Gogh. Keep this picture in your mind ladies, it might be worth more then a Van Gogh soon. Just kidding! But hey I like them so maybe you will too. We can bask in the glory of my nails. Xxx Girl with the Pink Bow

Acrylics at home

this one on the bottom is when I got them done at a salon

Recently, the trend of acrylics has been all the rage. Or maybe it has always been popular and I am just now jumping on that band wagon. There's something about over the top, glittery, flashy, "ghetto fab" nails that just get me every time. For me, the longer and the flashier the better. But, the price tag of getting acrylics can tend to rack up. Especially when you have millions of bottles of nail polish sitting in a drawer unused. Using up hoarded nail polish is eco-friendly right? A couple months ago I spotted an at home Acrylic kit by KISS. At $9 I thought it was not bank breaking to give a try. It came with two sets of tips, glue, a brush, acrylic powder, and acrylic liquid. Essentially all you do is glue on your tips, trim them down to your liking, mix together the acrylic liquid with the powder, then mold it on your nails. Sounds easy right? It's not. Two bottles of acrylic liquid, a new kit, and another brush later I finally got the hang of it. It's tricky because it's difficult to get your acrylic "paste" smooth and achieve that nice, even texture to paint over your nails with. Overall, for me it's worth saving some money and trying to figure it out. 

Pros-

-Saving money! Not a whole lot, but a fairly significant amount

- Customizable. You can shape or paint your nails whatever color your heart desires

Cons-

- If your not crafty, you may not achieve the look desired

- No matter how close you get, you may never achieve the "exact" salon look. However, you'll get pretty close

- It's extremely time consuming

The Numbers (AKA the money)- 

At Home:

-KISS acrylic set: $9 provides everything you'd need. Walmart

-A set of fake tips: $1-2 for when you use up the fake tips that come in the set. Sally's Beauty Supply

- Nail polish: $1-15 you can use any nail polishes with acrylics. Anywhere

- Top coat (Seche Vite): $8. Pretty much anywhere

In case you don't want to buy the set, and want to buy things separately 

- Acrylic liquid: $5-8: Sally's

- Acrylic powder: $6-15: Sally's

- Brush: $4- 11: Sally's

- A set of fake tips: $1-2 Sally's

- Nail glue: $1 Anywhere

In the salon:

- Full acrylic set: $20-40 plus 20% tip

Like I said, to me it's worth it when I have the time. But for special occasions I will still be going to a salon. Xxx Girl with the Pink Bow

Life with a Bow: SB2K14 day 1

TURN UP FOR SB2K14!! Just kidding I'm not going anywhere... While all my friends are sunbathing at the beautiful seaside beach and roaming some exotic, tropical island, I'm stuck here... most likely eating. But hey, if there's nothing you can do about it, you might as well make the best of it right? I started my day off with some of my recent obsession: the Dunkin Donuts chocolate glazed donut coffee. Sounds absolutely disgusting I know. But it's DELICIOUS! I never thought I'd like it because I hate donuts but it had this great flavor and smells absolutely amazing. And of course a side (okay maybe feast) of fruit. I'm a fruit-a-holic. Literally I can eat over 10 apples by 10:00 in the morning. I may or may not have eaten a crap ton more fruit after taking this picture.

|mug: TJ Maxx| plate: target| 

Then it was off to physical therapy.. apparently I separated my shoulder so I've been doing "aggressive treatment" to get my shoulder restored and back on the volleyball court. It was my luck that I got offered a free massage. 

|jeans: target| blouse: oldnavy| cardigan: F21| scarf: F21| 

We lunched at snappy salads. If you've never been and love greens I totally recommend it. Fresh greens, veggies, fruits, meats galore. Not to mention a great selection of dressings and toppings. 

And to top off a lovely day. I finally managed to track down the sour patch kids gum. It taste exactly like sour patch kids! I gave one to my friend to try and we were blown away! 

| ring: James Avery| bag: Rebecca minkoff| 

The rest of my day was fairly chill. I watched movies with my only friend in town. We snacked and stalked everyone at seaside and hated our lives. Then my mom and I finished the day with some hot yoga. I love yoga. It relaxes not only my head but also my muscles. For someone with stress/ anxiety problems such as myself, doing yoga really helps. 

That pretty much sums up the highlights of my day! Xxx Girl With The Pink Bow

Easy healthy mini breakfast egg frittatas..

As we all get busier and busier the time we have to fix ourselves a nice nutritious breakfast slowly dwindles down. But as they say breakfast is the most important day, and these little mini egg frittatas are perfect! They're pretty much customizable to however you like your eggs.... turkey, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, spices, or whatever else your little heart desires. My favorite combination is portabella mushrooms, spinach, and green onions. The mushrooms give the eggs a nice texture and the spinach adds an extra little punch of protein. Fun fact: per calorie, spinach has more protein than beef! The spring onions add a little kick without getting too sweet like a red onion would. Enjoy these with a side of fresh fruit, oatmeal, toast, or even greek yogurt for the perfect boost to start your day. 

Ingredients: 

- 1-3 eggs (varies depending on preference)

- 1 cup egg whites (varies again on preference) 

*for a lesser fat version, use all egg whites. I normally use 1/2 eggs, 1/2 whites.*

- 1/2 cup spring onions chopped

- 5 cups chopped spinach

4-6 large mushrooms, sliced

*use whatever ingredients you would like*

- Pam olive oil

- salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

- Spray your muffin tin with some PAM and set it aside. 

- Whisk together your egg mixture until the yolks are blended and add salt and pepper to your liking. 

- Chop up your fresh ingredients 

- Fill your muffin tin with the veggies FIRST, then slowly pour in the eggs 

- Bake for 20-30 minutes and enjoy!! 

What do you normally have for breakfast? XXX Girl With the Pink Bow