Birchbox June 2013 Reivew

Birchbox is a monthly subscription box for $10/month.  You’ll receive 4-6 beauty/lifestyle products to try out.

image from birchbox

The box itself changed.  Birchbox’s logo changed.  I am nervous about this… what other changes have been made?  I JUST renewed for a year – I hope the boxes don’t start to disappoint me.

Information Card.

Postcards… this photo is missing the one for NYC… since my sister’s sending that one right away to our friend Surbhi in India.  That’s the only one that made sense to send though… like why would I send a postcard that says Barcelona on it?  So this box was supposed to be about Summer adventures… I really didn’t get that vibe.

Color Club Wanderlust Collection: I received “Mod in Manhattan”  Cute name… not a cute color.  Yes, I got the “NY” color – and I am from NY.  But I hated it.  I would have rather gotten any of the other 3.    The coral was for Spain, green for London, and lavender for France.  I painted two nails – and immediately took it off.  So disappointing.

Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleaner: This face scrub is all natural, which I think is pretty cool.  It smells AMAZING.  Like sweet lemons.  The sample is pretty small, but I hope I can get a few uses out of it.  It costs $32.95 for 4 oz which is pretty steep – but if I fall in love with it, I MIGHT purchase it.

Laqa & Co Lil’ Lip Duo: This reminded me of Aria on Pretty Little Liars.  Unfortunately I could never pull off an Aria hot pink lip and I will never use this product ever.

Comodynes Self-Tanning Intensive: My sister got this in a box before.  We’re Irish/Swedish… self tanning towelettes are not our thing.  She received two in her box (I only got one)… which she used and it did not work out well for her.  SO I am totally afraid to try this out… and I only have one – so what if it really doesn’t get my whole body… and I’m left all uneven?

Tweezerman Filemate: THIS was my favorite item in the box!  I am SO happy I got zebra and not polka dots (I am no fan of polka dots).  The little nail files are SO cute.  I gave one to my sister immediately to put in her bag… it game with 12!  I’ll keep one in my car, in my desk drawer, etc.  It’ll be just so handy and easy to store.  I always need a nail file, and I keep them in a few places, but this is great!  I really like Tweezerman products.

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day!!

I made this Gingerbread Cake with Creamy Gingerbread Frosting for Father’s day this weekend.  It turned out great!!

My dad’s favorite is gingerbread so I looked around online and I quickly found this recipe.  It was the frosting that made me want to make it.

The Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

1. preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) round cake pans (I used spring form pans).
2. Mix flour, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Beat butter, brown sugar and molasses in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Add eggs; beat well. Add dry ingredients alternately with boiling water, beat on low speed.
4. Pour into prepared pans.
5. Bake 18 – 20 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Let cool completely.
6. Frost the cakes. Layer on top of each other. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Creamy Gingerbread Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 package (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
8 ounces (1 tub) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1. Pour milk into medium bowl. Add vanilla pudding mix, cinnamon, and ginger beat with wire whist 2 minutes. Gently stir in whipped topping.

Make me smile Monday…