This DIY "boot bra" is super simple... like suuuuper simple to make. And I suppose they're called "bras" because they support your boots (boobs), but unlike actual bras, these aren't cumbersome, annoying or restrictive.
Read MoreI haven't posted a cocktail recipe in a while. Truth be told, I haven't made one in a while. Most of the time I'm having a glass of wine or something simple like a vodka soda. The holidays always bring out my inner mixologist, so I've been here slanging cocktails this week.
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving week! I have a super easy DIY for you just in time for the holiday. I decided super last minute to host my parents at our new home and I'm super excited for them to come. It's always a good time when we get together and there are few things I enjoy more than late night hangs with my daddy.
Read MoreIn an era where you can subscribe to pretty much anything with the exception of a lifetime subscription to heaven (though that would be nice), I have definitely had my fair share of being swindled out of my $9.99-$40/month for everything including razors, shoes, panties, dinner and more by clever little advertisements.
Tempt me with a subscription to booze? I didn't stand a chance. I'd been curious about how much I'd appreciate a service like this (since I am a self-proclaimed at-home master mixologist, of course), so I was excited to try American Cocktail Club -- because that sounds like THE club for me.
It's a simple concept: you sign up on their site and opt-in for one of two box options and they send you a monthly box with everything you need to whip up your own cocktail at home.
I received the August box that featured The Summer Belinni created by Gabby Cirigliano. The cocktail is sparkling wine-based and included two canned sparkling wines, some fancy cocktail blend by American Juice Company called Harriett Peacher Stowe, and a guava-flavored ginger ale. The box even included flower petals for garnish.
I spent a couple minutes of my Labor Day mixing this very simple cocktail and enjoyed one while catching up on Sunday's episode of Insecure. I'd never heard of 2/3 of the ingredients, but it was surprsingly pretty tasty. A little weak, but tasty.
Here are the pros and cons.
I think the one thing I would change off top is the lack of customizing your box based on preference. It would've been awesome to take a short survey based on my drinking habits and tastes and then sent a box with those things considered. Their website says that after a couple of boxes, you will be able to provide feedback so they can better customize your box, but there's definitely a huge opportunity to do that upfront.
All-in-all, there are few things I can appreciate more than having a box of booze delivered to my front door monthly. While I would've totally appreciated something a little more heavy-hitting than a belinni, I still enjoyed it for the most part. If you're open to trying a variety of different cocktails and have little preferences, or if you just want to hone in on your at-home mixology skills, I would totally recommend trying them out.
I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. Anyone else need an encore?
Xo,
Aquia
This post was produced in collaboration with American Cocktail Club. As always, thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting sponsors who keep content fresh on The Faux Fancy.
Happy Spring! I'm over the moon for this weather we've had in Texas the past couple of days. Blue skies and high 70º temps have their way of putting me in the best of moods. Speaking of good moods, I never knew how much a banana pudding cocktail on a warm Spring day could also contribute to said mood. But let me tell ya.
I've had my eye on the Jackson Morgan brand for quite some time now. I love all things creamy, so when you take a creamy treat and mix it with whiskey? I'm sold. I've been dying to get my hands on the Salted Caramel flavor because salted caramel is hands down my favorite flavor combination of all time. But banana pudding isn't too far behind.
Jackson Morgan Southern Cream can be served chilled straight up or mixed into a cocktail. I wanted to give this a real banana pudding feel so I served it shaken with a float of homemade whipped cream and garnished it with crumbled Nilla Wafers.
When I tell you it was GOODT, I tell you no lies. Yes, good with a t for flavor. I knew I wanted a whipped cream float to sit atop of the shaken liqueur, so I didn't want to get the canned crap and spray it on. I've mastered the art of perfectly whipped cream from all of the Irish coffees I made over the holidays, so I took this route.
Jackson Morgan is an American brand born out of the need for a craft whiskey cream. They have flavors such as peaches and cream, salted caramel, and orange whip to name a few, and they are all on my must try list. Check out their store locator to find a bottle near you.
Check out the recipe below and try this boozy dessert in a cocktail glass.
Shake banana pudding cream in cocktail shaker over ice.
Strain into coupe glass
Using a stick blender (very important for whipped cream), whip the cream on low until you get a loose, but thicker consistency.
Using a spoon, pour whipped cream over spoon, into the glass to separate from the liqueur
Garnish with crumbled Nilla Wafers + banana slice
Enjoy!
Xo,
Aquia
Disclosure: This post was produced in conjunction with Wax Cabin Candle Co. As always, thoughts are my own. Thanks for supporting sponsors that keep content fresh on thefauxfancy.com.
We are 6 days away from Christmas (HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN?!) and here I am, the biggest procrastinator in America. I literally have purchased nothing. But don't worry, if college taught me anything, is that I work best under pressure -- like 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter and we're down 18 type of pressure.
That said, I'm sharing my go-to last minute (or not) gift for every occasion. You literally can't go wrong with gifting booze -- that is unless the receiver is a recovering alcoholic or doesn't drink for whatever reason. Oh, or pregnant. I forget that's a thing.
Anyhow, here is a tried and true gift idea for all of your non-alcoholic, not pregnant, social drinking friends and colleagues: The Booze Box.
It's as simple as it seems -- figure out your friends drink of choice or just pick a classic cocktail and buy all of the components necessary to make said cocktail. My go-to is a Moscow Mule - because everyone loves their own copper cups and they're so simple to make. I refuse to pay the absurd amount that regular stores charge for copper mugs, so about 90% of the time I score one at either Walmart ($5) or TJ Maxx (~$7).
You simply add a copper mug, a mini bottle (or two) of vodka, a lime and an individual ginger beer. And, if you're fancy, add a cocktail recipe card with instructions on how to craft the perfect cocktail.
Other cocktail suggestions are an old fashioned (my favorite), side car, mint julep. The list goes on. I purchased mini glass tubes for the bitters and added a few sugar cubes to the box to create a perfect old fashioned.
Show up to your office Christmas party or gift exchange and have everyone fight over your gift. Because that's always the goal.
Merry Christmas, kids!
xo,
Aquia
You know what's hard? Marketing yourself. Talking about how how awesome you are and the great things you're doing without sounding braggy is tough. That's why I'm more about that slide-a-business-card-and-lets-discuss-via-email life. No, but really, I used to have non-9-to-5 sponsored business cards when I was in college and trying to land my "dream" PR job, and while I can't say they were responsible for helping land said job, I do understand their importance.
I searched a couple options for designing my "blogger" business cards and was very close to purchasing a design from Moo. But after I got to thinking about it, I realized that I'm not making enough monies from this here blogging to invest in fancy business cards. So I opted to make my own on Canva. Canva makes it easy to produce graphic designs when you're like me and don't want to continue paying for Photoshop. I have the Canva for business version, but you could totally make something great with the free version as well.
Once I designed my cards, I did some price comparing to find the cheapest printer. Staples won by a long shot. I believe I got somewhere around 250 cards for about $14. Y'all know I love me some gold, and I had the option to add a metallic foil to the cards, but I opted out and instead decided to gild the edges myself with liquid gold leaf.
I saw a DIY somewhere on Pinterest that cut out the top of a toy alligator and business cards fit perfectly inside. Can we not talk about how miserably I failed at recreating that? For starters, idk what type of knife, saw, jack hammer you need to cut through a toy alligator, but I tried as hard as I could and stopped shortly before I lost a finger. The alligator I got from Hobby Lobby was apparently real gator because I could not, for the life of me, cut through that thing. Just when I almost counted it a fail, I realized that I had the most obvious business card holder that called for no knives... the alligator's mouth, duh.
What you need:
Spray paint your alligator with the color of your choice. Holding a stack of business cards irmly together, paint the edges with the liquid gold leaf. Let both dry. Place cards in alligators mouth and proudly display on your desk. Voila.
xo,
Aquia
Fun fact: for several years during and post college, you couldn't pay me to touch anything with vodka in it. Between plastic bottles of McCormick Vodka to every flavor of Smirnoff Vodka under the sky, there were no limits Freshman year. So needless to say, my freshman year ruined it for me.
It wasn't until recently that both my mind and liver were able to forgive myself for all the harm I'd subjected them to and vodka suddenly stopped tasting like nail polish remover. On a good day, you might find me order a Tito's soda or a cucumber martini. I'm like a born-again vodka virgin.
When Figenza asked me to come up with a cocktail using their 3x distilled fig vodka, I was super excited about the possibilities. The stuff is actually pretty good and having been scarred in the past by flavored vodka, that says a lot coming from me.
I made not one, but two equally delicious and refreshing cocktails; a twist on my old faithful Sidecar and a summer favorite Frozé. If you're on the east coast, you're in luck as Figenza is only available there for now, but I'm sure they will make their way across the country soon. Be sure to follow their super pretty instagram feed and check their website to find a bottle near you.
This post was produced in conjunction with Figenza. Please drink responsibly, kids.
Sometimes I make something that I think is too simple to share. Or to even write about for that matter. This is one of those times, although it's so cute how could I not share?
There was a week (about a week ago) that out of 5 week days, I was in Michael's 4 of them... consecutively. I'm usually more of a Hobby Lobby girl, but Michael's gift and clearance section is a force to be reckoned with. I kept seeing these cute little wooden boxes sitting pretty in a variety of colors, and the 70% off sign in front of them, and talked myself into thinking I didn't need them. But myself knew better. So on the 3rd trip, I scanned the boxes at the price checker, saw that they were about $4 a piece and threw them in my cart...like a boss.
I still wasn't sure what I'd do with them, but while passing by the little rubber animal section, I soon had a vision. Little trinket boxes with cute little figurines on the lids. Michael's rubber animal selection was seriously lacking that day. I wanted a giraffe, but not a huge one, and of course they were out of not-huge giraffes. I wanted a snake, but a decent sized one, but of course they only had anacondas. Once I saw the flamingo I was sold. While in route to the register (in that section that they put all the irresistible $1.50 items that you have no use for but have to have and don't have much time to think it all the way through because it's almost your turn to check out), I saw the cutest little feather figurine that I assume could've served as a ring dish and threw it in the cart.
Anyway, the moral of the story is go to Michael's and grab a few of those cute boxes before they're all gone. Or before I beat you to it. And if you don't get lucky, you could very easily do the same thing with boxes from the wood craft section and a little paint.
Enjoy!
xo,
Aquia
Ever see something that you're absolutely obsessed with and then see the price tag and immediately think that whomever decided on that price was very clearly smoking crack cocaine in its purest form? Glad we're on the same page.
I had that very thing happen when I first laid eyes on these gold feather shadow boxes from ZGallerie. But when I saw the bigger one listed at $139.95, they got a smooth side eye coupled with a #boybye.
There was no doubt I could recreate a similar concept for literally less than 5% of the cost. Although I wanted to do a shadow box, Michael's had these cute frames on sale for 70% off, so I picked up two (at $5.99 each) and decided I'd make it work. I had a pack of white feathers at home (who doesn't?) and enough gold paint to repaint every room in my house gold if I wanted. But thanks, ZGallerie for the inspo.
Note: I might still try this again with a shadow box frame. Currently, Michael's has a 50% off one item coupon available, so I might be making a trip sooner than later.
What you need:
Here's how to make it:
Voila!
Mildly obsessed. And it's the easiest thing I've done all week. Make you some.
Cheers!
Aquia
I told y'all I've been a boozy popsicle-making fiend lately. Well, I'm keeping the spirit of summer alive with yet another. And this time, it's creamy.
I've loved Not Your Father's Rootbeer since the moment the first droplet hit my tongue. I mean, on a regular day, Rootbeer is my jam... add 8% abv and you've got yourself a die hard. Couple a die hard with a popsicle making fanatic...and, well... you get this; Not Your Father's Popsicle.
ere's what you need:
Mix all the ingredients together, pour in mold, freeze solid, enjoy. If you're looking for a creamy center, you can also pour the beer into the mold and insert stick. Freeze a couple hours (not solid), remove stick and pour mixed creamy ingredients in the center. Boom.
Happy Summer!
It's officially hot as what some might imagine hell to feel like. Luckily for me, I'm stocked up on my summer water (that would be rosé). A girl's gotta stay hydrated. The only thing better than regular rosé is frozen rosé (read: frozé).
I got a popsicle mold set on Amazon recently, and I have been on a popsicle making frenzy. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. I've made Moscow Mule Popsicles, Not Your Father's Rootbeer popsicles (blog post to come) and every boozy combination in between. This one, however, is one of my favs. Obviously because they're pretty and also because they're tasty.
Here's what you need:
Pretty self explanatory, I'd say. But simply cut the dragon fruit, add it to the molds, pour in the rosé and freeze for at least 8 hours. And while you wait, you deserve to enjoy the rest of the dragonfruit with a tall glass of leftover wine. No, but really, I was pleasantly surprised by how well they marry.
Happy summering! Enjoy!
Last summer, I developed a mild obsession with doing things with hallowed out fruit (mainly pineapple) shells. Like drinking a cocoloco out of a coconut shell or a piña colada out of a pineapple. You get my drift. But in preparation for summer and less rainy days (fingers crossed, Texas has been unruly), I made this cute little center piece or place setting to tropicalize (I made that up) your summer festivities.
Here's what you need:
Can I just tell you how magical this pineapple corer tool thingy is? It's magical. In just about 30 seconds, you not only have a hollowed out pineapple shell, but you also have the perfect little pineapple ringlets to snack on. $4, holla!
Summer is hands down my favorite season. I might complain once or twice about the outlandish Texas heat, but when it's all said and done, I would prefer to be in the sweltering heat than the cold any. day. Life's just so much more pleasant during the warmer months. Patios, pools, cocktails... I mean, come on. Once all this rain decides to chill the hell out, it will feel moe like summer, but I was thankful for the few hours of sunshine we got on Memorial Day. So to pay tribute, I made myself a watermelon cocktail and frolicked in my pool.
So for fans of summer everywhere, I'd like to share said watermelon cocktail with you. And if you don't like watermelon, then... never mind, I was going to say something rude.
Hope you had a fantabulous Memorial Day! My favorite thing about long weekends is the short week that follows, of course. So today, I'm sharing a super simple DIY to do in all your newfound time.
If you're super analytical, then sure you can tell this is an arts and crafts project, but otherwise... Not so much. This adds a cute (and inexpensive) addition to coffee tables and/or bookshelves everywhere.
Here's what you need:
No really, that's it. I think the rest is super self-explanatory, but you simply spray paint the ball (or dome) gold and add as many toothpicks as it takes. Then, give it another spray, ensuring you cover all sides of the toothpicks. And there you have it. You're no Nate Berkus but you're pretty damn close. So kudos!
This DIY is so simple it seems silly. My intention was to use actual jewelry fasteners for this, but laziness came over me, and simplicity prevailed. Truth is, Hobby Lobby didn't have what I was looking for, so I improvised and it happened to work out.
This could be repurposed for a variety of different fabric/ribbon, but in this case I chose velvet. Hobby Lobby sells most of their ribbon by the spool, but at like $2/each, I couldn't complain.
The three things you'll need are ribbon, a hot glue gun, and Velcro "coins" (buy like 15 for $2 here). Oh, and like 3 minutes to spare. And scissors. Don't forget the scissors.
Instructions:
Told you it was simple. I made a few others with different type of ribbon that I'll share at some point. Potentially a more sophisticated, store-bought looking version. But in the meantime, this gets the job done. Enjoy!
Happy Cinco de Drinko! We Americans will find any excuse to have a drink in hand, right? A couple of years ago, I was in Cabo on Cinco de Mayo and my husband and I had our own Cinco de turnup. You know why? Because they don't celebrate that shit in Mexico (outside of Puebla, that is). I won't bore you with a history lesson, but I will share a celebratory cocktail that'll make whatever today is irrelevant.
These mini patrón margarita shots are as cute as they are good, and while I strongly encourage you to also have a full sized version, these make for awesome party favors...or starters.
What you'll need:
*Makes one* Pour tequila, lime juice and sugar in cocktail shaker over ice. Wet rims of tequila bottles and coat in salt. Shake vigorously. Using a small funnel, pour mix back into tequila bottle. Cut straws in half and stick in bottles. Enjoy.
Beyoncé. I could literally start and end this post with nothing more than... Beyoncé. I've wanted to snorkel in natural springs of lemonade since she blessed the world with her HBO special followed by her sixth studio album, which in my opinion, is the best yet. No but really, I'm drinking the lemonade. By the gallon.
My best friend and I had a pretty funny text exchange the Monday after she snatched the world by its edges:
Me: I feel like me, you and all of America have been reading all things Lemonade today.
Amoya: I have tabs of articles up waiting to be read. I did maybe two important things today for work. It's Lemonade Day.
Me: I went to Target at lunch. Bought an obligatory bottle of lemonade. And a lemon. Because I have sugar at home.
Amoya: I got lemonade at Raising Cane's today. I did it for Bey.
Needless to say, I'm blown away by the artistry (I'm going to her show in LA in TWO weeks. Eeek) and felt it only appropriate to share my own rendition of my favorite lemonade recipe.
When life gives you lemons, make [bourbon] lemonade.
Bourbon Lemonade Cocktail
Ingredients:
Directions:
In a shaker filled with ice, mix bourbon, syrup and lemon juice and shake rigorously. Strain into martini glass. Top with splash of sparkling water. Garnish with lemon wheel. Go forth and slay.
My weakness = foods of the dessert variety. And french fries. French fries are probably one of the biggest reasons I couldn't be a serious contender of the Paleo life. That is, because I've found a "healthy" paleo-friendly chocolate chip cookie recipe that I like (dare I say it) probably even more than regular chocolate chip cookies. Just trust me on this one.
My co-worker-friend who has been paleo for about 2.5 years now introduced me and literally flipped my world upside down. BUT THEY'RE SO GOOD HOW THE HELL ARE THESE GLUTEN-CARB-LOVE-HANDLE-FREE? I've made them three times in the last two weeks, so again, just trust me on this one. They're made with almond flour which removes the bloat and coconut oil which removes the guilt. The dark chocolate chips are there because you're an adult and no one tells you what to do. AND there's no egg, so twerk one time for safe cookie dough!
I modify mine a bit and add ground flax seeds because me and my digestive tract aren't always on the same page. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
How to whip them up:
For more paleo-friendly food pics and recipes, follow my coworker-friend, Rita, on Instagram!
Also, it's almond milk.
xo,
Aquia
Ya'll, I've been slacking. Admittedly. I was trying to stay on my at LEAST once/week schedule, but last week through me for a loop. Because adulthood. And full time job-hood. And ladytime-hood. Anyway, today I'm sharing a super simple DIY that I did a very long time ago but haven't had the opportunity to share yet. I bought all of the supplies months ago with the intention of gifting it to a friend for her birthday. Her birthday was in January. In two days, it'll be April. Judge me.
I really loved this lucite/acrylic side table from CB2. But for $80 + shipping - nahhhh.
CB2 - Acrylic Tray Table - $79.95
This project simply calls for a cheap Ikea laundry basket, a picture frame, and some basic decorative hardware from Home Depot (and some heavy duty glue). No really, dassit.
Here's the rundown.
You'll need:
The step-by-step
This can be used as a side table or even a drink stand of sorts. If you wanted to go a step further, you could also secure hardware handles to the frame to give it another look.
xo,
Aquia
Welcome to the ultimate guide to life with Aquia – featuring everything from home decor, DIY, style, beauty, everyday life, and more. I teach you how to lead a life of luxury without breaking the bank.
