Kara's Cupcakes Opens New Store in Monterey

There's a new cupcake store in Monterey. This week marks Kara's Cupcakes' first week on the Monterey Peninsula. The Bay Area based business was created by pastry chef Kara Haspel Lind and opened it's first store in San Francisco's Marina district.The Monterey store is the 8th store and the first one outside of the Bay Area. Previously, Mrs. Delish's Cupcake Boutique was the only cupcake exclusive store in Monterey, although Layer's Sensational Cakes and Saving Room for Dessert both feature cupcakes as well as other desserts. In need of a sweet treat, we decided to check it out.

Exterior of Kara's Cupcakes at the Del Monte Center

Located in the Del Monte Center next to Williams of Sonoma,  Kara's is the only store offering cupcakes in the mall to our knowledge. The only other stores selling quick sweet treats are the Provence Bakery, Starbucks and Coldstone Creamery.

The interior of Kara's Cupcakes is pink and brown

Cupcakes are baked daily on site and according to the Kara's Cupcakes website, they are baked "using the finest ingredients sourced from local, sustainable and organic producers." The menu offeres "signature flavors" as well as "filled cupcakes" that feature a filling. All of the flavors can be found on their online menu. Kara's also offers "Kara's Cakes" which are a full size cake that serves 8. These can be ordered in most of their signature flavors.

Rows of freshly baked cupcakes are on display

To celebrate the new Monterey store, Kara's has made an commemorative cupcake called "Caramel by the Sea" which is a chocolate cupcake with caramel, chocolate frosting and toasted coconut topped with a blue sea star made of fondant. Kara's also offers a selection of gluten free cupcakes, with additional flavors available to order in advance.

A closer look at some of the cupcakes including the blue start topped "Carmel by the Sea"

Kara's features a selection of gluten free cupcakes

Kara's Cupcakes is an eco minded business and their website states that "our signature pink boxes are both compostable and recyclable. The utensils, cups, napkins and bags we use are also compostable therefore diverting a majority of waste from landfills." That's definitely good to know since Kara's was packed this weekend with customers eager to sample the baked goods. You can read more about Kara's green initiative here. 

Kara's Cupcakes compostable to-go bag

We decided to check out Kara's. They were having a special promotion for the opening and were offering a free Caramel by the Sea with any cupcake purchase to the first 100 transactions of the day. We ordered at Sweet Smores, and received the Caramel by the Sea (which was missing it's blue sea star.) We were also offered a sample of their frozen lemonade, which was deliciously refreshing and not too sweet. They also offer hot or iced coffee and tea. 

Sweet Smores cupcake in the foreground, with its fluffy toasted marshmallow topping

Once home the cupcakes did not disappoint. The Sweet Smores had a very light and fluffy marshmallow topping. The cupcake it's self was also surprisingly light as well. The cupcakes were very light and spongy and tasted as if they had just been baked.

A close up on the chocolate, caramel and toasted coconut topping on the Caramel by the Sea cupcake

The cupcakes are on the smaller side

The regular size (pictured above) is $3.25 each and $39.00 for a dozen. Kara's also offers a mini size for $2.00 and $24.00 per dozen. We wish the cupcakes were a little larger, the regular seemed on the smaller side compared to other gourmet cupcakes such as Crumbs Bake Shop. However the smaller size and the locally sourced ingredients allows us to feel less guilty about eating them whenever we hit up the mall. Regardless we are excited to have even more choices for cupcakes, especially right at Del Monte Center! Mall trip, anyone? 

Stylish Essentials: Day at the Beach

Thinking of a day at the beach? Check out what we wish out beach bag was filled with.

Girly Day at the Beach by monterycharm featuring lightweight purses

Victoria s Secret beach footwear
victoriassecret.com

Forever 21 lightweight purse
forever21.com

Heart glasses
makemechic.com

Victoria s Secret victoria secret
victoriassecret.com

L Oréal Paris beauty product
beautifulmakeupsearch.com

Aveda
$33 - harrods.com

Butter london nail polish
nordstrom.com

Stylish Essentials for a Day Trip to Monterey

Monterey Day Trip by monterycharm featuring an oil free face moisturizer

This weekend I found myself walking all over Monterey and at the Del Monte Center. Not that I mind and I think all the walking is good for me, instead of working in front of the computer. When ever I see all the tourists around Monterey on vacation, I want to go on a trip too!

With that in mind I was inspired to put together this set on Polyvore. I'm addicted to style magazines and I always find the themed spreads with fashion and beauty products are my favorite.This was my first time using Polyvore, and I found it's a really great tool for discovering new trends and creating my own style boards. I curated this collections of stylish essentials for a day trip to Monterey. Let me know what you think! What would you bring on a day trip here? 

My First Shellac Manicure

I have never been one to keep up my manicures and my nails usually look destroyed. I've tried biotin and multivitamins, but I work a lot with my hands and always break or chip my nails. I work retail and while the clothes are soft, dressing the mannequins or styling the display jeans always runs my nail ragged.

This was supposed to be a before pic when I started biotin, except in 3 months they didn't look any better

I'm also addicted to glitter polish which doesn't help. I have a tendency to wear it just on my days off and remove it within 24 hours. Back when I worked in an office I wore acrylic nails, but my current job has a strict policy on styling and doesn't allow any fake nails.

Gel polish seemed like a good middle ground for longer and stronger nails. I took it to google to do some research and found some good guides on PrettyShinySparkly and About. One of my supervisors also wears gel polish and I loved how shiny her nails looked. I was hooked. After reading up on the different polishes, I decided that I would go with Shellac.

 

Directly before my manicure!

As you can tell from the before picture, I've neglected my nails. With work, moving and packing I just didn't have the time to keep them trimmed or filed. My cuticles seriously needed some attention since it had been almost a year since my last actual manicure. When you can't wear nail polish at work, you kind of just let things slip. . . a lot.

I went to Nail It Salon on Cass Street after reading the good reviews on Yelp. And they did a great job. It was $25 for the Shellac Manicure. The manicurist filed my nails, pushed back my cuticles and in preparation and then applied a base coat, two layers of color and a top coat. Each layer was cured under a UV light.  I was amazed that my nails were dry as soon as they came out from under the light. She said they would stay that shiny and chip free for the full two weeks. 

After with base coat, top coat and two coats of shellac polish

Its been 4 days since I had my nails done and they still look great! They even survived moving a mattress and bed frame from the basement to the second floor. I have noticed a little bit of regrowth at the cuticle but they are still just as shiny and chip free as the second I walked out of the salon.

Still looking good!

I really like that they haven't chipped or peeled! Normally I'm always breaking my nails. I think I'm a convert. Now if I can only make it to the salon every 2 weeks for the upkeep. . .

Throwback Thursday!

Throwback Thursday! Here's an old picture of Carmel Beach I took back in 2011! I love how instagram makes everyone a photographer. I'm kind of addicted to using the filters. Take a look at this picture I took from Del Monte Beach:

No cropping and using the basic IPhone 4 camera

Instagram after cropping and filter

And voila much better or worse depending on how you feel about filters. Do you have any favorite apps for instagram? I like using InstaCollage for my collages and InstaEffect FX for random effects like stars and sparkles. Not sure when they will ever be useful, but I like them none the less.

Affordable Statement Jewelry

One of the things I miss about living in the big city is the shopping! Its so easy to go to the mall or different boutiques since everything is so close by. I really need to find some more shops I like in the Monterey/Carmel area. Luckily there is a J.Crew and an anthropologie in Carmel! In the mean time I'm going to indulge my online shopping.

I've had my eye on Bauble Bar for a while now. I follow them on pintrest and instagram. But I haven't bought anything until now. I just bought the Minnie Bow earrings in navy when they were a buried baubble.

Minnie Bow image via Baublebar.com

I haven't been much in to statement jewelry but lately I've been trying to update my look. I love all the coral and mint that I've been seeing. I really like this pair of earrings.

Pink Sunflower Studs image via Baublebar.com

And this one

Beach Chandelier Drops image via Baublebar.com

Also in the affordable statement jewelry category is Charming Charlie. I know they have a location at the Northridge Mall. I've only walked past it briefly but, I've been to other Charming Charlie locations and I liked what they had. Especially since everything is set up by color.

Trying on a gold and coral combination with my yellow tank at Charming Charlie in SoCal

I also love J.Crew's jewelry, but its so pricey! I'd rather spend the money on a cashmere sweater. Especially since trends in statement jewelry change so quickly. However I still love to look at it.

Bright Stone Necklace image via JCrew.com

Good Bye Ombre Hair! Hello Brunette

Yesterday I decided to get rid of my ombre hair. I had it dyed at the height of the trend in 2012. I loved how low maintenance the color was, especially after having full highlights for years. It looked really natural too, most people just thought my hair had naturally grown out or had faded from the sun. I wish! It actually took almost 5 hours to color it, but my stylist did an amazing job.

Warm brown to straw blonde ombre hair

But alas, after seeing how much the color had faded and grown out, I decided my beachy mermaid hair had to go. So I decided to go back to being a full brunette, and let me tell you, its a lot hard to get rid of ombre than you would think! First she did a root touch up for my base color. Then I didn't want to do all over color and wanted to keep some of the highlights, so my stylist painted on lowlights to match my base color with the bayalage technique. Afterwards she toned the ends to blend it all in.

Brown Bayalage highlights

I love it! I also got long layers and a couple of inches cut off and it feels fantastic. My hair is so bouncy now and feels less dry since all the bleached blonde ends are gone. The best part is that since the color is Aveda I'll be able to keep it up with my stylist in Monterey. I usually got to the Adara Salon in Pacific Grove. When I'm in LA I always go to the Aveda Institute in Westwood. Its such a good deal since the work is done by students.