Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Nicole by OPI "Snow-man of My Dreams" Review + Swatch

Two coats, natural light

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, it will soon be the most wonderful time of the year. What does that mean? Glitter nail polish, of course. And Nicole by OPI's newest Glitter Holiday Collection is the perfect remedy for anyone suffering from glitter withdrawal. Swatches of all four colors will be coming soon but as soon as I tried on this shimmery, cool blue I knew that it deserved it's own post.

The glitter in this polish is chunky and gritty. A top coat is needed for a glossy, smooth finish. But as much as I love this color, I have a strong feeling that it won't just chip but remove entire patches of polish with little effort. Quick last minutes warning: I've used this color twice and the polish in the bottle is already starting to get goopy and hard to apply--clumping on the brush. It isn't a huge deal now but it will only get worse as time goes on. Just something to be aware of before buying. *sigh* But I really, really love the color.

P.S. Sorry for the depressing state of my cuticles. With finals week approaching, my nerves are fried.

FTC: Product was sent to me for review


Monday, November 21, 2011

How To Make Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

1. Mix together 1/2 cup of unsalter butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2 large eggs, and 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree

2. Mix together 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of backing soda, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon salt

3. And then mix it all together

5. Put batter in a pie pan

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (177 degrees C) and cook for 18-20 minutes

6. Take the cake and mix it in with frosting until it easy to mold (similar to the consistency of cookie-dough)


7. Using an ice cream scooper, form the dough into balls

8. Dip the lollipop sticks into melted chocolate and push the stick into the balls. The chocolate will harden and prevent the cake from falling off the stick.

9. Dip the ball into the melted chocolate until the entire surface is covered

10. Optional: We made these cake pops around Halloween and so we used black food dye to make faces and a green tictac to act as the stem. But be as creative as you want at this step.

If you try to make your own cake pops I hope they turn out as delicious and beautiful as ours. It was really fun to get into the kitchen. Even though I don't like pumpkin, I loved eating these. Anyway. I hope you liked this post and I might be doing more baking posts in the future.