Hand Braided Rhinestone Bracelets

Todays post is unrelated to cosmetics or skin care. 
Lately, I've been experimenting with trying to make jewelry out of different materials such as metals, clays, and fibers. It has been fun trying out different combinations and sometimes finding a successful combination. :)

I really like this little puffy heart charm. :)

This pink one is one of my favorites. It's smaller than the other two blue ones I made.

Love the color of the thread in this one:

A bit about L.

This post is long overdue. Thank you to Lisa of Shop N' Chomp who tagged me ages ago in her "Writings on the wall of my blog" post. Sorry that I'm only just now responding! I thought I'd add a few extra things about me though to make up for it. :)

Questions in the tag are:
1. What's your name/your blogger name?
2. What's your blog's name/URL?
3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
4. Favorite quote?
5. Your Favorite song?
6. Your favorite band/singers?
7. Anything else you want to say?
8. Tag three to five other people.

I ran out of cute stationery so I wrote all my answers in a plain notebook. :)

A few other random things about me:
I really like food. :) These next few pictures are only of sweets though, hah.

These Meiji matcha chocolate sticks were nothing but heaven in my mouth. No joke.

Delicious, rich, melt in your mouth goodness. So good that I contemplated driving to simply empty the store of their supply....

I have a difficult time resisting cute candy packaging! Even if I don't care for chestnut, maple syrup, or hazelnut milk flavor. Too cute, too cute.

Ever since I've discovered first hand how difficult and time-consuming macarons are to bake (especially when one doesn't have a grinder!), I relish a good macaron when I can get my hands on one. :)

Thanks P for these delicious ones from The Big Apple! Pistachio was my favorite.

I enjoy making jewelry from time to time. :)
I am loving the fine details on these beads I recently acquired. If you flip the beads around, there's a different design on the other side! :)

I lurveeeeeeee Community, the TV show!! Even though every character is fun to watch, Abed has to be my favorite. :)

To my readers: If you're comfortable, tell me a little about yourself? I'd like to get to know more about you. :)

Adventures in Lip Balm Making: Take 2

The first time I tried to make my own tinted lip balm, it didn't turn out too well. I burned the balm and it just stank to high heaven afterward. This time, I tried a different approach: the microwave!

What you'll need is:1. Vaseline2. Microwavable container (I used a shot glass)3. Lipstick4. Spoon4. Empty container to store your new tinted lip balm5. Saran wrap

First I scooped a few spoonfuls of Vaseline into the shot glass and added about 2/3rd of the lipstick.

Sometimes, this can get a little messy so it's good to have paper towels/tissue on hand.


Cover your shot glass with saran wrap. Leave a little opening for ventilation.


Microwave in 10-15 second intervals. Check to see if it's soft yet. After doing this about 5 times, I took my shot glass out and stirred the ingredients together with a toothpick.


It's a little more liquid after microwaving it a bunch of times.


Here is the finish product. It hasn't finished cooling down yet. I think I should have microwaved mine a bit longer because there were still chunks of lipstick in there.... The tint is nice though. It's sheerer than if I had simply worn the lipstick on my lips alone which I like. It also has moisturizing properties with the Vaseline in it.


Anyone attempt their own DIY lip balm yet?

Adventures in Lip Balm Making

Attempt #1: Caudalie Lip Conditioner & Etude House 55 Kissful Tint Chou




Right when I was about to start my Caudalie Lip Conditioner review, it broke off! I had just gotten it too. ;_; Imagine the sound Phil from Modern Family made when Claire didn't wake up early enough to buy an iPad for him. That was what I sounded like.

Anyway, I surfed the net for information on how to "salvage broken lipstick" because that was about as close as I could get to my minor dilemma. I found a cool YouTube video featuring a product called LipstixRemix but I didn't feel like waiting to fix this. Then I found an interesting post by Elizabeth of My Beauty Spot on how to make tinted lip balm using your stove or hair straightener. I opted for my stove.



My list of supplies:
- medium sized silver spoon
- tin to pour lip balm in
- Caudalie Lip Conditioner
- Etude House 55 Kissful Tint Chou
- Oven mitts





First I put the remnants of my Caudalie Lip Conditioner into the medium sized spoon. Using a cotton swab, I scooped out the rest of the balm onto the spoon. Using the middle section of the cotton swab, I broke up the lip balm into smaller pieces so that it would melt faster.



Squeezed out some Etude House 55 Kissful Tint Chou onto the lip conditioner.



After putting on my oven mitt, I held the spoon over the stove top, rolling the balm around so that it wouldn't burn at the bottom.



Finally, the lip conditioner had melted all the way but the lip tint hadn't yet. I wanted to wait until the lip tint had melted all the way but I think that was a bad deicison. My concoction started smoking. O_O

If I ever attempt this again, I think I'll pour the concoction into my container once the lip balm is melted and then I can just mix the tint up with a cotton swab.



After pouring the liquid mix of lip conditioner and lip tint into my tin, I noticed a stench in the air. I think I burnt it. :/ I wanted to finish everything though so i placed the tin into the freezer.

Here you can see grits on spoon, after I've poured out the melted lip conditioner and tint. Perhaps that's the burnt part?



A few minutes passed and upon looking at my DIY attempt, it was solid! Exciting. Then I took a whiff of it. Not so exciting. The original Caudalie lip conditioner smelled like vanilla. This is a burnt version of that. Not good.

I do like how solid the balm turned out. I can swish my finger around in it and it won't collapse in the middle like some jelly-like balms might. The scent is all that bothers me. I guess I shouldn't cook it as long next time.

*Edit* I coudn't do with the smell of the balm. I ended up emptying out the contents. Round 2 it is.