Happy New Year's Eve!!

We wish you all a very safe and happy New Year's Eve!!  Thank you so much for all of the support and love you've shown for HLNC in 2011! 

Tune In Tokyo: The Travel Bug

It's been awhile since our friend Stephanie has posted for us.  Part of that is because she is a busy wife and mommy of three living abroad and the other reason is because she has been perfecting her photography skills and has created her very own blog...The Travel Bug: A Journal in Pictures!

Armed with her Canon and sometimes her photography assistant and lovely daughter, Lily, she is now documenting her family's life in Tokyo and creating an awesome scrapbook of memories for her children to look back on one day.  We love The Travel Bug because we get to see parts of her life that we would normally not be able to see and it makes us feel closer to a great friend who is literally on the other side of the world.

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We hope you enjoyed Stephanie's pictures and we'd love it if you visited The Travel Bug...and be sure to follow her.  She has so much to share with us!!

Tuscan Soup Recipe

You guys know that normally Mendi posts the recipes but every once in a while I want to share something that I love to make and eat! I got this recipe from a fellow blogger, Katie over at Domestiphobia.  See I love reading about Katie's life and all of her awesome recipes and when she posted this soup I knew I had to try it! Sausage and bacon in the same ingredient list...yes please!

Ingredient List:

1 Pound of Spicy Sausage

1 Medium Red Onion, diced

2-3 Slices of Bacon, diced

3 Cloves of Garlic, minced (I'd recommend the real thing and not the garlic that is pre-minced in the jar. Also, for my own personal taste, I don't actually use the whole 3 cloves. I go with 2 to 2-1/2.)

1 Quart Warm Water

3 Cubes of Chicken Bouillon

1/4 Bunch of Kale, roughly chopped

1/2 Cup of Heavy Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Step One: Go ahead and dice up the onion, bacon and garlic and set aside. Also, go ahead and slice your potatoes as seen below (about 1/4" thick). You can remove the skins if you like but I like the soup with the skins on. This prep work will help you down the line when you need to add these ingredients to your pot.

Step Two: Brown the sausage, remove from pot and set aside. If there's a lot of excess grease in the pot then dispose of most of it. I didn't have a lot of grease so I just took a paper towel and soaked up a little. You do want to have some of the excess bits left in the pot.

Step Three: Add the onions and bacon into the pot (that is now empty) and cook on a medium-high heat.  Add the garlic once the onions are cooked. Cook for about one minute. Then add one quart of warm water to the pot with the onions, bacon and garlic.  Now I don't know much about cooking, but Katie says that by adding the warm water it will "deglaze" the pot and get all of the bits and tastiness worked back into the soup. I believe her!

Step Four: Add the 3 bouillon cubes and the sliced potatoes to the pot.  Let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft but not fully cooked.

Step Five: Add the sausage back into the pot and add the chopped kale.  Then pour in the 1/2 cup of heavy cream and a little salt and pepper. This will cook for another 5 minutes or so - the potatoes should be soft and the kale should be wilted and be a nice dark green.

Step Six: Enjoy your meal!

This is a perfect meal for me to make because I do the work once and get to enjoy it over and over again. Thanks to Katie for posting this recipe and feel free to go and check out her blog. She is so very entertaining! And she has cute dogs!

Jayme 

Feature: Peace Cord Bracelets

While glancing through the New Year's Special issue of Glamour magazine, we came across a bracelet that admittedly simply caught our eye because we thought "that's cute, we'd totally wear that"!  But as soon as we looked them up online, we found out that there's MUCH more to this bracelet than just being a stylish piece of arm candy.  Maybe you've heard of them before (they've been around for about a year), if not then please allow us to introduce you to Peace Cord bracelets...

www.peacecord.org

Peace Cord bracelets are the collaboration of two non-profit organizations, ARZU Studio Hope and Spirit of America, with all proceeds set to benefit grassroots programs in Afghanistan.  The bracelets are hand woven by women in Afghanistan from military grade parachute cord and uniform buttons that are the same as our soldiers use and wear.  ARZU Studio Hope is an artisan-based organization that creates employment opportunities and facilitates positive change for women in communities across Afghanistan.  Spirit of America is an organization that supports U.S. troops overseas in delivering humanitarian assistance to the communities in which they are there to protect.  Together these two organizations are lifting Afghan women (many of them widows) and their families from poverty and rebuilding their country by providing access to everything from education to healthcare to food to even the most basic hygienic needs.

We encourage you to visit Peace Cord's website to learn more about their mission and to support this cause.  We are happy to say that we have placed our orders for the following Peace Cord bracelets and we can't wait to wear them proudly in support of peace and our troops.  

Army Dress Peace Cord bracelet ($15)

Coast Guard Dress Peace Cord bracelet ($15)

Navy Dress Peace Cord bracelet ($15)

We love that their slogan is to "WEAR PEACE PROUDLY."  Consider it done.

Beauty Battle: got2b Fat-tastic

As we've mentioned in past Beauty Battles, the purpose of these videos is for each of us to try out the same product (this time it's the SAME brand, but actually two different TYPES of products), then keep our opinions to ourselves until we can share our thoughts with each other while the camera is rolling.  This Beauty Battle features got2b's new line of hair products called Fat-tastic...

Available at http://www.drugstore.com/got-2b-fat-tastic-mega-lift-root-boosting-spray/qxp341803?catid=183515&fromsrch=fat-tastic+mega-lift+Root-Boosting+Spray+-+6+fl+oz = $5.99

Available at http://www.drugstore.com/got-2b-fat-tastic-thickening-plumping-mousse/qxp217743?catid=183510&fromsrch=Fat-Tastic+Thickening+Plumping+Mousse+-+8%2E5+oz = $5.99

We'd love to know if you've tried this new line of products from got2b, including the Dry Shampoo or the Non Aerosol Hairspray.

Is there a specific product that you'd like to see us Beauty Battle??  Drop us a comment to let us know!

Thanks for watching!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

We want to wish you guys a very Merry Christmas!!!  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then we wish you a Happy Holiday!! We hope that Santa is good to you all because we know that all of you are on the NICE list!  No NAUGHTY ones here!  :-) Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM VA! 

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The City of Richmond lit up for the holidays!

Hello Kitty Giveaway Winner!!

The winner of our Hello Kitty giveaway is...drumroll please...Mrs. WASP from the blog, The WASP's Nest!!  Congrats girl!  We'll be in touch with you today to get your mailing address.

Thank you to each and every one of you who participated in our December giveaways!!  There will be many, many more to come in the new year!!

Don't Knock it 'til You Try It! Recipe

You know what your Momma always said about "you can't judge a book by it's cover"??  Well, Momma was right again.  This recipe is a prime example!  When I tell people what it is, I love watching their expressions change to a look of HUH?!?!?  Trust me on this one, reserve your opinion on this until AFTER you take the first bite.

Pineapple Cheese Casserole

Here's what you need:

3 15oz cans of pineapple tidbits, drained

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

approx 3-4 dozen Ritz crackers, crumbled

3/4 cup melted butter

And here's what you do:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2) In a bowl, stir together the drained pineapple, sugar & flour

3) While you're there, go ahead & toss in the shredded cheddar cheese too

4) Spread it in a 13 x 9 baking dish

5) Put the Ritz crackers in a resealable bag & crumble them

6) Then sprinkle the cracker crumbs over the top

7) Melt your butter in the microwave

8) Pour the melted butter over the top

9) Bake until the cheese is melted & the top is golden brown (about 30 minutes)

10) Sit back & enjoy the look on everyone's face as they take that first bite!

I was first introduced to this recipe by my friend, Liann (thank you Liann!!).  To be honest, I thought at first glance that it was a macaroni and cheese dish or some sort of potato casserole.  I was not prepared for the sweet, yet tart, deliciousness that hit my taste buds!!  I've been making this dish for family holidays ever since and there has never been anyone who didn't fall all over themselves to get a second helping!

Have you guys ever heard of such a dish??  Do you have your own little special recipe that is always a hit at your house?? We'd love to hear!!

Mendi

December Birchbox...well sort of...

Cue dramatic sound effects:

DUN DUN DUN...

We've heard rumors circling that Birchbox might have had some issues with fulfilling their subscriptions this month.   And well...one half of HLNC has been on the non-receiving end of the aforementioned box of beauty goodies.  *insert disappointed face here*

For the first time, Jayme hasn't received her Birchbox in the mail yet this month (our fingers are crossed that it's still in route to her), but I thought I'd go ahead and show you guys what I got in my box this month...

So, we're curious to hear if you guys are Birchbox subscribers and your box is missing in action too?!?  With so many new subscription beauty product services emerging, we're hoping that Birchbox will pick it up a notch in the new year.

Mendi


UPDATE: Just as I was getting ready to hit the publish button on this post, Jayme just called to let me know that she received her Birchbox in the mail today!!  Fortunately, she received the same exact box as me.  Birchbox pulled through after all!!

Hello Kitty GIVEAWAY!! - **Closed**

We're so excited to bring you the last giveaway in our 5 part giveaway series. We have had so much fun with these 5 amazing giveaways!!  Now without further adieu the 5th and final giveaway is another Sephora exclusive brand...HELLO KITTY!  This giveaway is valued at over $125!

WHO's ELIGIBLE: 
Anyone who doesn't live in the Richmond, VA area.  This is our way of saying thank you to our loyal readers who live just a little too far away to have been able to attend our Richmond Sephora event.

HOW TO ENTER:
Comment on this post and let us know in which ways you are following HLNC (via Google Friend Connect, YouTube and/or Twitter).  You MUST be following via GFC in order to be eligible (if you aren't already following, just click on the blue "Join this site" button on the right hand side of this page).

For extra entries:
1 entry - Follow us on Twitter @HerLateNightCra and let us know your Twitter name
1 entry - Subscribe to our YouTube channel and let us know your subscriber name

FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE THIS TEMPLATE BELOW AND JUST FILL IN YOUR OWN INFORMATION.  This makes it super easy for you to enter and very simple for us to record your entries.

I follow HLNC the following ways...

GFC: 

Twitter: 

YouTube Channel: 

My e-mail address (optional):


GIVEAWAY CLOSES:  Friday, December 23rd at noon EST
The winner will be selected via random.org and will be announced here on Friday, December 23rd.

NUMBER OF WINNERS:  One

PRIZE SHIPS:  ANYWHERE!

**If you are comfortable, please leave your email address in the comment, otherwise we will attempt to contact you via the way(s) you entered.  If we don't make contact with you by Monday, December 26th then we will draw a new winner.  This giveaway was sponsored by Sephora.**

Thanks so much and good luck!!

Kat Von D Giveaway Winner!!!

The winner of our Kat Von D giveaway is.... Miranda from the blog Miranda's Makeup & More!!  Congrats, Miranda!  We'll be in touch with you today to get your mailing address.

Later this evening we'll be posting our next giveaway...the final one in our series of 5!!  We can't wait to share this last one with you!  

The Low-Down: HANAair Professional Blow Dryer

http://www.misikko.com/
http://www.misikko.com/hana-air-professional-hair-dryer.html

We are so happy that we had the opportunity to review this product and we'd like to thank Brian at Misikko. If you are in the market for a salon grade hair dryer, then we hope you will consider the HANAair.

As mentioned in the video: 
HANA Salon presents the powerful HANAair hair dryer. This dryer has been Salon tested and Salon recommended since its inception. Inspired by Italian design, the combination of HANAair's strongest AC motor along with its tourmaline lined ceramic heater will dry your hair up to 60% faster maintaining natural shine while promoting healthy luxurious hair.

Hana Salon Air Hair Dryer Features:

• Ion Technology- condition hair & reduces static electricity
• Tourmaline & Titanium Oxide Technology- natural ions promote healthier hair
• Silver Nanotechnology- for antibacterial Protection
• Scratch Resistant Shell with black metallico finish adds durability and is easy to clean
• Long life motor with low noise
• Gyroscopically balanced for easy handling
• Fiberglass concentrator
• Italian Design

Features Adjustable Heat 2 Fan Speeds 3 Heat Settings Plus Cold Shot Ceramic Heater Most Advanced Far Infrared Ionic Heat Tourmaline, Titanium Oxide & Silver Infused Pure Tourmaline Crystals Add Antibacterial Ions and Shine Attachments Concentrator Warranty 2 Years

Let us know your thoughts!!  Have you tried the HANAair??

Kat Von D GIVEAWAY!! - **Closed**

We're so excited to bring you the 4th giveaway in our 5 part giveaway series.  Today it's all about another Sephora exclusive brand...Kat Von D!  This giveaway is valued at over $120!!!

WHO's ELIGIBLE: 
Anyone who doesn't live in the Richmond, VA area.  This is our way of saying thank you to our loyal readers who live just a little too far away to have been able to attend our Richmond Sephora event.

HOW TO ENTER:
Comment on this post and let us know in which ways you are following HLNC (via Google Friend Connect, YouTube and/or Twitter).  You MUST be following via GFC in order to be eligible (if you aren't already following, just click on the blue "Join this site" button on the right hand side of this page).

For extra entries:
1 entry - Follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/HerLateNightCra and let us know your Twitter name
1 entry - Subscribe to our YouTube channel and let us know your subscriber name

FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE THIS TEMPLATE BELOW AND JUST FILL IN YOUR OWN INFORMATION.  This makes it super easy for you to enter and very simple for us to record your entries.

I follow HLNC the following ways...

GFC: 

Twitter: 

YouTube Channel: 

My e-mail address (optional):


GIVEAWAY CLOSES:  Monday, December 19th at noon EST
The winner will be selected via random.org and will be announced here on Monday, December 19th.

NUMBER OF WINNERS:  One

PRIZE SHIPS:  ANYWHERE!

**If you are comfortable, please leave your email address in the comment, otherwise we will attempt to contact you via the way(s) you entered.  If we don't make contact with you by Wednesday, December 21st then we will draw a new winner.  This giveaway was sponsored by Sephora.**

Thanks so much and good luck!!

Tokidoki Giveaway Winner!!

The winner of our Tokidoki giveaway is....Kayla Lyford from the blog kayheartsmakeup16!!  Congrats Kayla!  We'll be in touch with you today to get your mailing address.

Later this evening we'll be posting our next giveaway...the 4th in our series of 5!!  We're super excited for you to see what we have in store for you guys!!

POTM...December Edition

As you know we started our Polish Of The Month post back in August as seen here and we love showcasing a special polish or polishes every single month.  There are so many awesome polishes out there that they really do deserve their own post! And this month is fun because we have both chosen holiday inspired colors. 

December Polish Of The Month

Mendi's Pick - Butter LONDON's Knees Up with OPI's Excuse Moi!
Knees Up is the perfect metallic red for the holidays!  And after we discussed this polish in our ULTA Butter haul video (seen here), we learned that "Knees Up" is British slang for going to a party, so this polish is very fitting for your holiday shindigs!!  For extra sparkle, pair it with a red glitter for a perfect accent nail.

Jayme's Pick - Butter LONDON's British Racing Green and OPI's Fresh Frog of Bel Air

British Racing Green is the perfect dark hunter green shade and is perfect to wear alone, but since it is the holiday season, I upped the ante and added the sparkly top coat.  Fresh Frog of Bel Air is full of tiny green glitter and has chunks of silver hexagon glitter.  This duo is seriously like a Christmas tree for your nails.  So festive and fun!

Are you guys wearing holiday polishes??  Do you have a special go to for December??  Please let us know!

Sephora Event Haul & a Little Footage

Of course we had to do our part to make our "Holiday Girl's Night Out" Event with Sephora a success, so we thought we'd let you in on the things that made it into our shopping basket that night...

Mendi's Haul

Boscia MakeUp-BreakUp Cool Cleansing Oil

Too Faced Primed & Poreless Skin-Smoothing Primer

Hourglass Aura Sheer Cheek Stain in Petal

Hourglass Film Noir Full Spectrum Mascara

Hourglass Film Noir Lash Lacquer

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint

500 point Beauty Insider perk: Fresh set (Soy Face Cleanser, Black Tea Age-Delay Cream & Sugar Rose Lip Treatment)

Jayme's Haul

Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief

Clinique Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick in Cranberry Cream

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint

Sephora Jumbo Liner 12HR Wear Waterproof in Beige

Hourglass Aura Sheer Cheek Stain in Flush

Hourglass Trace Lip Liner in Reveal

Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Primal

Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Creme Lipstick in Nocturnal

And as a little bonus, we have a tiny bit of footage from our event to show you guys!  Thanks again to our wonderful husbands for joining us at the event to be our "paparazzi"! 

Thanks for watching!  If you attended the Sephora event, thanks again for being a part of it.  And if you weren't able to attend, then we hope you're at least enjoying the "perks" of our Sephora event by entering into all of the Sephora-sponsored giveaways that we're hosting this month!

Tokidoki GIVEAWAY!! - **Closed**

We're so excited to bring you the 3rd giveaway in our 5 part giveaway series.  Today it's all about the Sephora exclusive brand...TOKIDOKI!  This giveaway is valued at over $70!

 

WHO's ELIGIBLE: 
Anyone who doesn't live in the Richmond, VA area.  This is our way of saying thank you to our loyal readers who live just a little too far away to have been able to attend our Richmond Sephora event.

HOW TO ENTER:
Comment on this post and let us know in which ways you are following HLNC (via Google Friend Connect, YouTube and/or Twitter).  You MUST be following via GFC in order to be eligible (if you aren't already following, just click on the blue "Join this site" button on the right hand side of this page).

For extra entries:
1 entry - Follow us on Twitter and let us know your Twitter name
1 entry - Subscribe to our YouTube channel and let us know your subscriber name

FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE THIS TEMPLATE BELOW AND JUST FILL IN YOUR OWN INFORMATION.  This makes it super easy for you to enter and very simple for us to record your entries.

I follow HLNC the following ways...

GFC: 

Twitter: 

YouTube Channel: 

My e-mail address (optional):

GIVEAWAY CLOSES:  Thursday, December 15th at noon EST
The winner will be selected via random.org and will be announced here on Thursday, December 15th.

NUMBER OF WINNERS:  One

PRIZE SHIPS:  ANYWHERE!

**If you are comfortable, please leave your email address in the comment, otherwise we will attempt to contact you via the way(s) you entered.  If we don't make contact with you by Saturday, December 17th then we will draw a new winner.  This giveaway was sponsored by Sephora.**

Thanks so much and good luck!!

Sephora Collection GIVEAWAY Winner!

The winner of our Sephora Collection giveaway is.....Kristina Jordan from a blog called Pretty Rambles!!  Congrats Kristina, we're so happy for you!  We'll be in touch with you today to get your mailing address.

Momentarlily, we'll be posting about our next giveaway...the 3rd in our series of 5!!

Sephora "Holiday Girl's Night Out" Event Recap!

We're so sorry that it's taken us a few days to post a recap of our event that was held on Sunday, December 4th at the Regency Square Sephora here in Richmond.  This was our second event with Sephora and what can we say...it was a fabulous night!!  We had a great turnout and everyone was definitely in the holiday spirit and in the mood to shop!  We started off the evening with a few of our friends getting complimentary holiday mini-makeovers.  They served as our "models" and we got to reference their glowing faces throughout the night.  The Sephora make-up artists were spectacular and full of great tips.  Looks we saw that night were very luminous, so a highlighter was a must.  And red lips...yes please!  Perfect for a holiday night out!

Hourglass MakeUp Artist, Josh Collier, with our friend Dinah

Our friends, Ashley and Dinah, sporting their holiday looks...bright red lips & a cat eye 

Stopping for a pic with our friend, Irena, another one of our amazing makeup models for the night

We also were excited to meet Josh Collier who is a MakeUp Artist for Hourglass Cosmetics.  You can also find him on YouTube dishing lots of great advice and tips.  Check out his channel here and subscribe if you haven't already.  Josh got in on the fun as well, giving makeovers and really teaching some of us about the Hourglass brand.

Then there was Amy Bishop who was with us from Stila.  She was amazing too and got to share all of her knowledge with some really happy ladies who got to sit down in her chair for a makeup application.  We loved having them both there and really want to thank them for their energy and their time.  We also got a few goodies from both Hourglass and Stila to play with and can't wait to share our thoughts with you guys.

The Sephora staff was AMAZING, as always!!  The store looked beautiful and they even had a table of some of our favorites at the front!  There was a table full of holiday treats and drinks to help out when we got weak from talking and shopping.  And to top it all off...Sephora had put together prize bags that were raffled off every 15 minutes just for attending the event!!  And let us tell you, they were full of great products from awesome brands like Lancome, Clinique, Benefit and Philosophy!  And it didn't stop there.  For those that made a purchase, Sephora gave away two $50 gift cards with a makeup application and two large gift bags. The lucky ladies that won the gift cards and makeup application were so excited!  Congrats again go out to our friend Jessica Seitz and to Jayme's cousin Sherri Smith.  The winners of the two large bags full of Sephora goodies were Liann Snipes and Kimberly Parker!  Liann won a bag FULL of products from Bare Minerals and Kimberly won a tote bag full of products from Hourglass, Laura Mercier, Too Faced, Benefit and Philosophy!!  We were stunned by the giveaway prizes that Sephora put together!!

We just want to say thank you to all of you that attended!!  We hope that we had a chance to speak to each and every one of you!!  If we missed you by some chance, please know how grateful we are that you came out and enjoyed the night with us. 

And a HUGE thank you to Meagan and the team of AWESOME and TALENTED ladies at Sephora.  You all made the night so much fun and one that we won't forget!!  We are still pinching ourselves that we got to be a part of another awesome event with our favorite store!

P.S. ~ In a couple of days, we'll be sharing the details of what goodies we picked up the night of the event, plus we will have a little bit of video footage so that all of you guys can experience some of the fun with us.

And don't forget to enter in our Sephora Collection giveaway going on until noon EST tomorrow, Sunday December 11th, if you haven't already!  And we still have THREE more Sephora giveaways to come with brands that we are SUPER excited to share with all of you!!