Martha Stewart: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!

Today has been one of the rainiest we've had all summer. Although we've had days where it's been too hot for baking, today was a great opportunity to throw some cuppies into the oven and snuggle up!

I used a recipe out of Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook, although it can be found on her website here.

Bake on, lovers!

-B

P.S. This is rather old news to some of you I'm sure, but check out Jaydiohead- Radiohead mashed up with Jay-Z. Saweet!

2010 Emmy Awards Jewelry Round-up

Jewelry fashion at the 2010 Emmy Awards was an eclectic mix of surprising statements and safe bets. Chandelier earrings, big necklaces and crazy cuffs mixed with (snore) diamond studs, bare necks and lots and lots of basic black. Thankfully, I had my friend, Veuve Clicquot, with me to even out the ups and downs.


BUT - I wasn't hurled into a red carpet funk, like I was at the barren bling-scape at this year's Oscars. And I have Lorraine Schwartz to thank. As you'll see, she was responsible for most of my favorite 'lower-jaw-drop' moments last night.

(And Jimmy Fallon's Glee-inspired Bruce Springsteen opening number made me want to give up jewelry blogging forever for a life of song.)

The Recap:

Kim Kardashian paired her bejeweled Grecian goddess of a Marchesa gown with an 80-carat (!) Lorraine Schwartz cuff in both white and champagne diamonds that kicked a slow-starting red carpet into high gear.


And then Lea Michele came on the scene in a ruffled navy Oscar de la Renta fantasy dress and a stunning diamond mesh statement necklace with that 'blackened metal' look that's apparently all the rage this season. Glee!!!!! And we have Ms. Schwartz to thank again.


Eva Longoria Parker and Julia Louis-Dreyfus sparkled in big earring statements from Loren Jewels (rubies) and Irene Neuwirth (chrysophase and diamonds), respectively.


But wait. Just when you thought the statement necklace was a sparkling Lea Michele mirage only to slink back to our 2009 red carpet roundups - enter: Heidi Klum in all legs and diamond and ruby neck candy by (you guessed it!) Queen Lorraine. Big win!



Yellow gold was a 'trend-lette' last night, with Glee's Jayma Mays in Neil Lane stunners and Modern Family's Sofia Vergara in a head-to-toe gold look with a dress by Carolina Herrera and jewels by (drumroll....) Lorraine Schwartz!


As were red gemstones - like this 60-carat rubellite and diamond ring by Ofira on Kyra Sedgwick (in addition to all the ruby looks mentioned above).


January Jones walked the line with me in the dress department (a daring cobalt blue Versace) but her bed-head hair style hid 10.12 carat Cartier diamond stud earrings worth $1.2 million (the horror!) and did nothing to make her avant-garde garment choice work.


And speaking of 'find the diamonds' chic - Christina Hendricks (in another trend-lette - purple), Julianna Margulies, and Julie Bowen walked the Emmy red carpet with nary a jewel to the naked eye. C'mon, ladies!



So all in all, there were some colorful, daring moves that outshined the 'play it safe' crowd at this year's Emmy-fest. I am missing many of your favorites, I'm sure (Tina Fey? Anna Paquin? Betty White?) - so weigh in with your comments and questions!

And if you want a fun jewelry romp through the Twitter-sphere, check out my live tweet at #emmyjewelry last night with great 'tramps like me' @jenniferheebner, @jessicawalden, @Michelle_Orman, @AGTA_Spectrum, @gemgossip, @JulReDesigns, @quinsultant, @Treflebijoux, @Cocoabebe and MANY more!

Lush Cosmetics Review: Colour Supplement

When Tess and I were downtown yesterday we randomly took a gander over to Lush, a company that makes fresh, handmade cosmetics and skin care products out of mostly natural ingredients.

Not only is it fun to walk around and marvel at all of the incredible (and sometimes incredibly odd) products, but their sales associates are incredibly friendly (almost on the verge of car salesman-ness) and are always offering demos such as face masks or hand treatments... which we gladly indulged in ;)

I was especially intrigued by a product called Colour Supplement, which is a pigmented concentrated foundation of sorts. The genius in it is that it was made to be mixed with whatever face lotion one uses to allow for easier blending and a lighter feel that is healthier for skin. The sales associate who helped me find my color match was extremely helpful as well.

(It blends a little better than this...)

I walked away with a small pot of it, figuring that at $13.95 it would last a long time as long as I mixed it with my face lotion (Olay Complete with SPF 15, as Claire would be happy to know!) it would last just as long as regular foundation.

Especially in a hot climate, putting on foundation is often an unpleasant idea- however, this stuff is light and seems to blend into the skin along with the lotion. It's light, soft, and gentle on my easily irritated skin.

All it took was a teeeensy dab and a bit of lotion the size of my pinky fingernail and it was actually more than enough!

What is also great is that on each product there is a sticker with the photo and name of the person who made it!

This is a product that I definitely recommend, especially as it costs about as much as any regular foundation! Hooray!

-B

Adventures With Tess Bates!

One of my great friends and roommates from APU, Tess, is visiting Seattle from Chicago before school starts! We've spent the past few days attempting to see and do all the wonderful things here, such as wandering downtown until our feet fall off, going to a Sounder's game, thrifting on the Ave in the University District, and of course drinking COFFEE!

(Tess met someone really special downtown- save the date!)

Also, I made the purchase of a lifetime- the tackiest, pinkest, cutest, weirdest pint tumblers EVER!

(Yes. Yes, that's right)

I realize that I'll garner much criticism from friends and strangers alike for owning these... but I feel no shame. I'll squee a little bit every time I take a sip from one of these bad boys!

-B

Gaea

I LIIIIIIIIVEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Applause please:

I have been without internet for a month

Somehow, I made it through

(i'm contemplating writing a song about this)

Damn, sometimes I am just in awe of how impressive I am.

Speaking of which, I have discovered the an incredible website-

Ecos

Its completely dedicated to green options for your home!

The best part is that its not all hippydippypatchouli-

it is accessible to everyone and makes being green super easy

on an EVERYDAY basis

If you haven't noticed, I am all about being nice to mother earth

She keeps me alive, so I guess I feel indebted.

And my freshman year science teacher,

however much of a basketball headed dunce he was,

made a good point-

if shampoo burns your eyes, imagine what it does to fish scales.

And thats not even talking about bleach or ammonia.

WWWOOOOOOO NATURE

Of course, what would a Claire post be without some mention of makeup?

Toxins in makeup are as harmful to you as to the earth-

FURTHER impetus to buy green and as close to organic as possible

(keep in mind that no product is perfect. the industry is always going to have flaws)

I <3>

Dr. Hauschka

Burts Bees

Jurlique

Tarte

E.L.F (cheap!!)

Lush

Ecotools

Aveda

Origins Organic

and YOU!

Kisssssssses

Claire

Royal Wedding Round-up

The diamond tiara set is out and about again - this time at the royal wedding of Prince Nikolaos of Greece to longtime love, Miss Tatiana Blatnik (an event planner for Diane von Furstenberg).

While the bride was the only one with a tiara to triumph (check out Jewelry.com for details), the usual suspects showed up in their summer best.

Who is your favorite royal?

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden:


Princess Letizia of Spain:


Queen Sofia of Spain:


Princess Madeleine of Sweden:

Queen Margrethe of Denmark

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark:


Prince and Princess Michael of Kent:


Infanta Elena of Spain:

Pearl Jewelry 101

From Coco Chanel to Michelle Obama, women have always considered pearl jewelry a must-have addition to their jewelry collections.

Ever wondered how those oysters manage to create such a shiny little miracle? Or what about the five most important factors to consider when buying pearls?

Here is a pearl primer from my sugar momma, Jewelry.com, that tells you all the pearls of wisdom you'll ever need to know! Enjoy!


Pearl Jewelry 101:

Pearl, the birthstone for June, is among the most timeless, classic and treasured of all gems. Throughout history, pearls have been associated with wisdom, wealth, purity, romance and mystery. The ancient Egyptians were buried with them. In Rome, pearls were considered the ultimate symbol of wealth and status. The Greeks prized them for their beauty and association with love and marriage. Medieval knights wore them in battle as a talisman against injury. And during the Renaissance, some European countries banned all but nobility from the right to wear them.


It's hard to believe that such a luscious, beautiful gem comes from such humble origins. A natural pearl starts out as a grain of sand or microscopic worm that works its way into an oyster and cannot be expelled. To protect its soft body from this irritant, the oyster secretes a smooth, hard crystalline substance called nacre. Layer upon layer of nacre coats the foreign object and hardens, ultimately forming a pearl. In general, the thicker the nacre, the richer the 'glow' of the pearl - which can greatly enhance its value.


Although early pearl gathering depended on divers braving the oceans' depths to retrieve these treasures, the vast majority of pearls today are grown, or cultured, on pearl farms by surgically inserting a small shell bead, or nucleus, into the mantle of an oyster.

Even though pearls are harvested en masse on pearl farms, producing a quality pearl is an extremely rare event. It is estimated that half of all nucleated oysters do not survive - and of those that do, only 20% bear marketable pearls.

When shopping for pearls, the five factors that determine value are luster (surface brilliance); surface cleanliness (absence of spots, bumps or cracks); shape (generally, the rounder the pearl, the higher its value); color (pearls come in virtually every hue of the rainbow, and a few others, too); and size (the average pearl sold is 7-7.5 millimeters, but these gems can be as small as 1 millimeter or as large as 20 millimeters).

Because pearls are soft, ranking only 2.5-4.5 on the Mohs scale for hardness, they require special care. Natural oils from the skin, as well as hair spray, lotions and cosmetics, can dull their luster. Like other jewelry, they should be cleaned with a soft damp cloth and stored in cloth or cotton away from other jewelry to prevent scratching. Also, avoid allowing your pearl to come in contact with harsh chemicals, which can erode its surface. And if worn frequently, pearl necklaces should be brought to a jeweler once a year for re-stringing to prevent strand breakage.

Bone Chilling Jewelry

Is it me? Or is the jewelry world getting a little macabre these days? From Jaws jewelry to creepy crawly couture, designers are letting go of the Cinderella diamond fairy tale and are embracing Freddy Krueger fashion instead.

Case in point? Bone jewelry.

Blogger Nicole Keating from W Magazine spotted this crazy cuff designed by Turkish jewelry designer, Alp Sagnak aptly named, "The Bone Bracelet". He used a dozen oppossum tibia and fibula bones, which he says "in Turkish are unique because they are the only bones with two joints."

Throw in oxidized silver, 24-karat gold, rubies and diamonds and you have a $10,500 bone chiller for the perfect goth goddess to grab for their collection.

But Sagnak isn't the only 'bone collector' out there. Trend Hunter features designs from the "Churchyard Human Bone Collection" made from human teeth, wrist bones - even bones from the human foot!

I don't know about you, but I'm not really interested in accessorizing with poor Mary's metatarsals (rest her soul). Ew.

What star do you think is the most likely to bust out with bone bling on the red carpet? Maybe True Blood's vampire queen, Evan Rachel Wood? Johnny Depp in collar bone cuff links?

DIY: Magnetic Scrabble Letters!

My mom loves scrabble letters. She's picked them up at thrift stores over the past year and has a set sitting on a bowl near the front door and arranges them into cute phrases, like this:

(Waiting for me after I came home from my first year of college)

There being about four sets of scrabble letters in my house, mom gave me some to take with to school to put on the coffee table. I decided that they would get more use as magnets, on our fridge!

All it took was a pair of scissors and a trip to the hardware store to buy a few feet of magnetic strips (with adhesive on one side, so no glue gun required!) for about $2.00.

Cut the pieces to about 3/4 of an inch, or whatever best suits the length of the Scrabble piece.

Secure the little magnets to the Scrabble pieces by removing the adhesive covering and pressing them firmly to the back of the Scrabble square.

-- And booyah! Cute magnetic Scrabble pieces for your fridge, white board, or what have you.

The total budget for this project is somewhere around $5.00 :)

-B