Nails Are Having a Moment

In the beauty world, nails have totally been stealing the scene lately.

OPI Shatter polish.

Katy Perry and her ever-evolving nail designs (seen above).

Sally Hansen patterned nail polish strips.

The Bad Girls Club and their special finger of different polish...

I don't think I've noticed people's nails this much since high school when everyone got tips, airbrush designs and exaggerated French manicures for school dances. I think back to those days and cringe at the tackiness. The difference today? Short nails are in and the designs don't take themselves too seriously - it's all about having fun with your nails.

The recent development (for me) is that I've decided to join the fun. See, I've been a nail biter since I was 3 years old. There are definitely worse things to be addicted to, but still...my nails are gross. It's a disgusting habit and I've never painted my nails bright colors for fear of drawing more attention to the issue. I've tried unsuccessfully to quit biting my nails about 15 times in my life, and it's never worked. Who knows if it'll last this time around, but I'm going on four weeks strong! It's helping that I'm not going with muted, plain colors - I want to play like everyone else is!

Week 1 - Princesses Rule! OPI (shimmery pink) with purple and green glitter on top

Week 2 - Princesses Rule! OPI with Crown Me Already OPI (silver glitter) on top

Week 3 - Essie Splash of Grenadine (bright berry)

Week 4 - Significant Other Color OPI (a lavender-mint oil slick)

After four weeks of no biting, my nails look healthy and are the perfect length - still short, but cute and respectable-looking. I've been using a great nail hardener base coat from my nail salon that I love, too - my manicures last a full week with zero chipping.

I can't wait to try out all these silly nail trends - now that football season is back (YES), you can bet I'm going to rock a gold glitter polish with black Shatter for Steeler Sundays. At age 26, I'm finally embracing girlhood full-on. Better late than never!

Summer Fashions That Leave Me Stumped

All it takes is a stinky, humid heatwave to remind me that NYC living isn't really pleasant in winter OR in summer.

Seriously, it was 102 degrees out when I left work on Friday. You know that feeling when you stand in front of a furnace for a blast of heat on a cold day? Yea, it's like that outside, except completely unwelcome. It feels like my calves are going to burn off every time I walk in the path of a bus' exhaust.

In honor of this beautiful weather, I wanted to take a moment and express my confusion with certain summer fashions I continue to see year after year:

- Gladiator Sandals - This is not Roman times and there is no need for that many straps on your shoe.

- Rompers - Rompers were originally made for toddlers. I'm still not sure how it became acceptable for grown women to wear them. Plus, they make going to the bathroom nearly impossible.

- Visors - Isn't the point of a hat to shade your eyes and protect your scalp? Who's the genius that decided a hat with the top cut off was a good idea?

- Flip flop/Boot Hybrids - Gee, I really love boots, but I want to show off my pedicure, too. Voila! ...FYI, slouchy sacks on your feet with toe cut-outs look strange and are the opposite of flattering.

- Mandals - It does not matter if they are expensive, real leather or "dressy," mandals are not a good look. A better idea: cover up your pale hairy feet with sneakers or boat shoes, or wear regular flip flops.

Stay tuned later this year for round 2 of my opinionated fashion thoughts, winter edition.

The Bonnaroo Experience

I let random strangers paint my body in the extreme Tennessee heat. Oh Bonnaroo. We did it in style. And it was so. much. fun.

One of the most well-known music festivals in the US today, Bonnaroo is a 4 day musical extravaganza in Manchester, Tennessee. Everyone camps out, lives in (all states of) freedom and harmony, and listens to music ranging from classic rock to indie bands to rap to dubstep. It was glorious big ol' hippie fest, and the closest I'll ever get to experiencing Woodstock.

There's so many ways you can do a music festival - rent a RV, drive down and bring your own tent, rent a tent or RV on-site, fly down and avoid the whole long drive, etc. As three (poor) girls, we decided that borrowing my friend's parents minivan for the drive down and renting a tent through Bonnaroo was our best option. We did NOT trust ourselves to correctly pitch a tent after a 16 hour drive, nor did we own a tent to pitch. Though a bit more money upfront, renting through Tent City was awesome. I can't recommend it enough! The tents were huge and they had cots inside, so we didn't have to sleep on the ground. And the major bonus - we were super close to Centeroo, where all the action happened. If you bring your own gear, you have no idea where you will get to set up camp - you could be 2 miles away from all the stages. When there are upwards of 80,000 people attending, it's nice to have prime real estate.

Now, if you're not an expert camper, there are just some things you won't know 'til you go. Things I've learned for next time:

- You need an awning to set-up in front of your tent. Shade is your friend!

- Coleman makes these super cool freestanding shower stalls for camping. That's a bit extreme, but we would've given anything for one of those saline drip-looking bags that you fill with water that become a "shower." Even just a hose to hook up to the various faucets set up in the camping areas would have been lovely. We paid for showers twice, and washed in a trough/slop sink another day with the masses...next time, I'd love an upgrade.

- Sunscreen for your head. I was pretty good about applying sunblock, I really was. Nevertheless, my scalp is still peeling off in sheets. Um, gross.

- Even if you bring a lot of food, you're bound to want to eat and drink inside Centeroo. It may be a lawless utopia, but you still cannot bring any outside drinks or large amounts of food inside, so pocket money is recommended. Plus, at a hippie fest, imagine all the delicious treats!

Oh yea, and I heard fantastic music all weekend. One thing I loved about Bonnaroo (compared to what I've heard about other festivals -cough- Coachella), is that it's not scene-y or pretentious at all. In fact, it's the complete opposite. Everyone is dirty and sweaty and wearing as little clothing as possible (due to the heat). It's all about the music and having a good time.

My love for music began in the 5th grade, when my classmates and I decided we were into alternative, listened to 104.7 The Revolution religiously and spent recess talking about Pearl Jam, Alanis Morissette, Nirvana and No Doubt. I've loved listening and getting into new music ever since, but I'd never consider myself someone really into the scene or an expert on new bands.

Bonnaroo reconfirmed that. There were so many bands I was unfamiliar with! I saw around 18 shows during the 4 day fest, but there were so many more I wish I could've seen. I came home and instantly downloaded new music from other artists I wasn't able to see. Some of my favorite shows from the week:

- Girl Talk. Hands down, the most fun set ever. Pittsburgh pride all the way! He played from 2:30am - ? on Saturday night. It was a sweaty pit of crazy dancing people, confetti and balloons, and it was incredible. My face was stuck in someone's armpit for part of it. I didn't care.

- Mumford & Sons. What can I say? Their music warms my heart and I can't help but smile when I hear their songs. They are SO good live. They played some songs from their upcoming album, and from what I heard, I am positive it will not disappoint.

- Arcade Fire. They were awesome. They had such great energy, and they played all their big hits from The Suburbs, and a few of my faves - Keep the Car Running and Wake Up. Plus the show opened up with parachuters in the sky. So cool!

- Eminem. I was surprised I liked his set so much. The whole "Recovery" theme from his CD carried into the show, and had you rooting for him. Everyone was so into it. And whether I liked it or not, I knew almost all the words to his songs!

- Florence & The Machine. She sounded just as hauntingly beautiful live as she does on their album. We had to leave their set early, but I would LOVE to see her again.

- Wiz Khalifa. Again, Pittsburgh pride! He was great. So much fun. I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

- The Black Keys. So good live. We missed part of their show (erg), but they were excellent and I'd see them again anytime.

- J.Cole. St. John's alumni, woo woo! Another fun set, another young rapper that I'm excited to see evolve and grow in the scene.

- Robyn. I wanted to see Cold War Kids...my group wanted to see her, so I went with the flow. She was really good! As nice as it is to chill and sit on the lawn and listen to music, it's more exciting to dance the afternoon away to energetic tunes.

- Scissor Sisters. Apparently I like the gay disco scene. Who knew? They were a blast, and led right into Girl Talk's set, making up the most fun Saturday night imaginable.

- The Strokes. Love. Not only was their music great, but we got the pleasure of seeing two ugly (completely) naked girls jamming out in front of us. Anyone know why the sound was a little low, though? I felt the same way at the Which Stage during Buffalo Springfield.

Other super goodies - Freelance Whales, Chiddy Bang, Best Coast, The Knux, Smith Westerns...

Oh, and about that body paint...there were three of them. A guy in a dish towel loincloth, a girl in a sunhat armed with paints, and a guy with Braveheart face paint, a black denim kilt and a shirt that read 'Free Hugs' in duct tape. We offered them beer and a PB&J for their mushrooms, and they offered to paint us. I had no idea it would entail having my entire exposed skin (other than shorts and a bikini top) coated in paint. They called us warriors. It was hilarious...until we had to scrub our skin raw with a scour brush the next day. Oh well. We looked amazing.

What a week.

How a Beauty Publicist plans to survive Bonnaroo...

I'm going! I'm leaving momentarily! Yep, a beauty publicist is going camping at a big hippie music fest for the next 5 days or so. And I can't wait.

Wanna know what I packed to allow me to look hippie chic and not dirty patchouli grunge? Check it:

Dry Shampoo

The savior of lazy girls everywhere, my favorite brand is Klorane, and I always buy it from Sephora.

Baby Wipes

If the showers are just too gross, at least I will have a ton of Natracare organic baby wipes with me.

Mattifying Powder

DermaQuest's On-the-Go Finishing Powder is awesome. It comes in a convenient travel brush, goes on clear and has SPF 30. No burns for me hopefully!

Sun hats and headbands

Bad hair day? I'll just cover it up...and look cute doing it.

Eye Mask

Our tent is white. Meaning I'll wake up as soon as the sun rises. Um, no thanks. Silly eye mask it is. I may even stick it in the cooler so it's nice and cold going on each night. ( I got that tip from Gary Chardonnay!)

Okay, I'm off! Full review will come afterwards. Eeee!

Booze Cakes

This past Christmas, my younger brother got me a recipe book called Booze Cakes from Urban Outfitters. Booze and sweet treats together... you know how to cut to the core of me Baxter.

I hadn't had a chance to bake anything out of it, though - I live alone and having a cake lying around for me to aimlessly munch on is a recipe for disaster. But when the little bro decided to visit a few weeks ago, it was time. The book had all kinds of tasty, liquor-filled concoctions, but I chose the Long Island Iced Tea Cakes. He's still in college, so I figured it was apropos (and maybe I could reminisce about bad decisions made after Long Island Iced Teas, too?).

Now, we all know baking is not my strong suit. So how'd it come out? Delicious - I didn't screw it up! The way the book laid out all the recipes was so simple. In addition to the usual labels at the top of each cake (how long to bake, how easy - difficult, etc.), there was a Booze Meter - a smiley face ranging from a slight smirk to a full on cheeseball grin to show the amount of booze used. The Long Island Iced Tea cakes had a nice big grin, obviously! The recipe was fairly simple. I just bought a bunch of liquor nips, lemon juice and Coke...the rest of the ingredients I already had at home. The finished product tasted like a lemony pound cake with a nice little kick. Here's the recipe:

CAKE ingredients:

- 2 cups flour

- 1/2 tsp baing soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tbsp gin

- 1 tbsp light rum

- 1 tbsp tequila

- 1 tbsp vodka

- 1 tbsp triple sec

- 2 tbsp lemon juice

- 2 tbsp cola, chilled

- 1 cyp sugar

- 1/2 cup milk

- 6 egg yolks

- 1 stick unsalted butter

SOAKING SAUCE ingredients:

- 1 tbsp gin

- 1 tbsp light rum

- 1 tbsp tequila

- 1 tbsp vodka

- 1 tbsp triple sec

- 2 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tsp sugar

- 2 tbsp cold cola

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl - set aside. In a measuring cup, combine vanilla, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, triple sec, lemon juice, cola, 1 tsp of the sugar, and milk.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks 5 minutes, or until thick and pale. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and beat until yolks form a thick ribbon. Gradually beat in the butter and remaining sugar.

4. Beat in flour and milk mixtures in alternating additions. Pour batter into pan. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

5. While cake cools, combine all soaking sauce ingredients in the cleaned and dried cake pan. Cut cake into bite-sized pieces; return hem to the pan to soak up the sauce, about 30 minutes to one hour. To serve, arrange on a platter with cocktail picks.

Yum! It was really good and got approval from my brother and all my coworkers. Since it doesn't have any icing and isn't too sweet, it goes perfectly with coffee or tea. You could even have a piece for breakfast (it's 5 o'clock somewhere?).

I felt so accomplished baking a cake - maybe I'll become one of those people that makes cakes for everyone's birthdays and big occasions (...probably not). There's a few others that I definitely want to try out. The Honey Spice Beer Cake, Pink Champagne Cake, Mocha Rum Brownie Bites, and Margarita Cheesecake all sound promising. If you're looking to bake a cake with a boozy twist, give this book a shot.

Booze Cakes by Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone

Finding Paradise in Miami

New York City is an awesome city to live in, and I'm so lucky that I've been able to go to school and work here over the past 7 years....but sometimes you have to get out.

By mid-March, the stressful and frenetic pace of life here combined with the 'spring that just wouldn't come' was making me grumpy. Good thing I have friends in warm places willing to let me visit! Though I was born in Florida and still have a ton of family there (in the Tampa/St. Pete area), I had never been to Miami. It was time.

For just being a quick weekend jaunt, it was action-packed. I got in around Happy Hour on a Friday night and we immediately went to a bar in the Brickell area - all the cool kids go there apparently. Right after we parked in the garage I got my first true taste of Miami - a guy wearing red suede Ferragamo sandals and white linen pants got on the elevator with his girlfriend wearing leopard pants. Ha! After hopping around to a few bars, we finished the night eating Cuban pizza, which has a softer dough and is filled with bananas and carmelized onions. I think I like NY pies better, but it definitely had a unique and interesting flavor!

Saturday morning we drove out to Homestead in the "country" of Miami and went to a Amish farm to pick strawberries. Who knew I'd be put to work on my vacation? The farm stand also had delicious milkshakes (raspberry-chocolate, mmm), amazing breads and jams. My favorite purchase? Hot pepper guava jelly - makes a perfect rub for beef, pork chops or chicken!

Then we were off to Schnebly Redland's Winery (pictured above), easily the most unique winery I've ever been to. No grapes here - instead they create wines from tropical fruits native to the region....avocado, mango, passion fruit, star fruit, lychee...the list goes on. I bought the Lychee Wine, which was sweet with a hint of carbonation and reminded me of a Riesling, and the Avocado Wine, a smooth white wine with a buttery, creamy aftertaste.

After hitting up a rooftop pool party and relaxing at home for the evening, we decided to go out on the town. Did you know that there is no set time for bars to close in Miami?! What a wonderous thing! I thought we went out late in NYC, but we left the house at 1am that Saturday and still had plenty of time out and about. I'm not really the South Beach-long line-huge cover charge-grimy bouncer kind of girl, but we did stop on Lincoln Rd. at Segafreda for drinks before hitting up Bardot, the bar everyone was talking about all weekend. Bardot did not disappoint! We got there around 2:30am and danced til 6am, easy. The music was so much fun, and switched in and out from awesome song to awesome song. We finally called it quits when we noticed people starting to mop the floors and clean up.

Did the night end then? NOPE. Time for after-hours breakfast! Instead of your standard diner, we went to a Spanish 24 hour restaurant (when in Miami...). Yep, the menu was in Spanish. I left it to my friend to order, and we stuffed our faces with Columbian hot dogs. So delicious! I woke up with heartburn, but it was worth it.

My final day in Miami was spent on a pontoon boat off the Biscayne Bay looking at views like the one at the top of this post. Gorgeous! It's weekends like this that make me wonder if I could picture myself living in another city. I can. Not sure if it will be Miami (although I'd visit there again anytime), but I don't think I'll be a New York City girl forever. There's just too many other parts of the country that I want to get to know! I'm not willing to settle down until I find my perfect-fit city. It's out there somewhere!

Tretorn - Social Media done right

It started with a Facebook request. Will you please 'like' this picture of me with the Tretorn bear? I want to win a ski weekend!

It ended with a new customer. I'm now in love with my Tretorn Skerry Reslig Vinter rain boots. So much so that I wear them even when it's not raining.

There are so many ways to reach customers in today's world. Straight up sales, advertising, public relations, and now the newest tactic to join the party, social media. Working in a boutique PR agency, many start-ups and small businesses come to us curious about creating an online presence and building relationships with customers through email newsletter programs, blogging, Facebook, Twitter...the list goes on. I don't claim to be a bonafide expert on the subject - my clients have smaller budgets, so I'm typically researching ideas for wall posts, gaining followers and deciding which blogs to partner with for giveaways, not creating new i-pad applications or anything crazy. But I do find the topic really interesting. Social media is constantly evolving, and sometimes it works incredibly well, and other times it doesn't do much to bolster a company's image. There doesn't seem to be a direct formula for it.

As a publicist, I'm not supposed to fall for social media tactics (Unless it's my client! In that case, I push them on every single person I know...), but I fell right into Tretorn's lap, and their Swedish goodness worked its way right into my heart.

I had never heard of the company before my friend sent me a Gchat message directing me to 'like' Tretorn on Facebook, find her picture on their page posing with the bear mascot, and 'like' the image. Apparently, whoever got the most people to 'like' the page and their picture with the bear would win a ski weekend in VT/CO/somewhere equally mountainous and cool. I did as I was told (as long as she guaranteed that I was invited on said weekend). Suddenly I was getting updates from Tretorn, a Swedish line of outdoorsy gear in my daily Facebook newsfeed. I could've just 'unliked' them and stopped receiving updates after the contest ended (my friend did not win sadly), but I enjoyed the updates. Turned out they had some pretty cute rain boots and gear, and Natalie Portman was photographed wearing them, and the company drove a Wellie Wagon truck around San Francisco and sold boots on the street. Kind of awesome!

The rainbow colored collection of rain boots made rainy days seem bright and fun and the images of the Wellie Wagon all over SF gave me my daily hit of wanderlust. Soon I saw an announcement for a site wide SALE. Those 4 little letters really call out to me. It was on. I clicked through to the site and found an adorable pair of tall olive green rain boots that were lightly lined and perfect for the cold rainy days of late winter/early spring. They were just $35 on sale! Done and done. Who needs Hunter boots anyway?

My Skerry Reslig Vinter boots arrived about a month and a half ago, and I've already worn them at least a dozen times. Even if it's just cloudy and gray out, I find it acceptable to wear them. And there you have it - Tretorn gained a new fan and customer, all through a Facebook contest.

Social media hard at work.