barneys vs forever 21

pictures 1 , 3 , 5 , 8 via

pictures 2, 4, 6, 7 via

coconut lemon cupcakes & white chocolate glaze

okay I'll admit it - I had no excuse to make these

cupcakes . I will also admit that I did use

duncan hines lemon cake mix as a base .

guilty .

I made a white chocolate glaze using 

white chocolate chips , whipping cream ,  & a little 

buttermilk , & then topped the cupcakes with toasted coconut flakes .

I will also admit I'm a little afraid at the fact

that I have two dozen of them left in the fridge for joey & I ...

happiness is ...

a few things that made me smile 

this week ... 

[ new mascara - an easter gift from my sister ]

[ fun spring nails : essie's cute as a button on all

fingers but ring - sephora by opi's charge it ! on ring finger ,

with sephora by opi's only gold for me as top coat on same finger ]

[ new beach / subway read ]

[ current coffee obsession : dunkin donut's iced turtle ]

[ loving spring in queens ]

happy birthday ju !

happy happy  birthday to my

beautiful best friend & sister , julia .

I love you so much and wish 

I could be in connecticut with you

to celebrate ! 

stylemint

it's nearly impossible to find a great tee shirt 

at a decent price

that fits well in all the right places , is a 

soft ( but not too soft ) fabric , but yet still looks polished &

put together .

 my favorite tee shirt of all time

is from j crew - it's a white v neck boyfriend tee . 

I love it because it's not too snug but not

too big . do you know what I mean ?

It's perfect ... & I've literally worn it so much

there are holes in the shirt ! not okay but I still wear it ...

I even wore it out last night ( guilty ) .

I kept hearing about stylemint - a website curated

by mary kate & ashley that bases all outfits around tees .

they even offer design tips on how to style the pieces - 

& with an average price of $ 30 per tee , it's hard not to 

want every one .

via stylemint

reverse french manicure

 I have officially become addicted to the

gel manicure . I love that the color doesn't chip

for at least two weeks & that bubble-looking 

gloss I can never seem to do painting my nails at home
that the gel mani provides .

three gel manicures in a row later , my nails

are somewhat back to normal ( only negative

side effect of the gel : my nails are now thin & brittle ) .

while I have the chance to experiment with nail polish

before I get my next gel manicure treatment , I decided

to play around with the idea of a reverse french manicure :

[ essie : mucci gucci pucci ]

[ 1st : use a white polish to paint the top portion of

nail white - shape / sloppiness does not matter ]

[ 2nd : using second color ( mucci gucci pucci ) , paint 

over half of white section & bottom of nail ]

[ 3rd : many coats later ... ]

[ finished product - I think it's pretty darn cute ! ]