July Lip Monthly Box

I know I don't need any more lip products in my life, but sometimes that means nothing when you are debating about trying a new beauty subscription, and it makes it even harder to decide when you get a a $5 off coupon! This subscription box is normally $10 a month but I ended up paying only $5 so I HAD to try it! It's a box of EVERYTHING lips, however, they do seem to send one non-lip product! Here's what was inside this months:

I think the box that they include is super cute, but can only really hold about 2 smaller lip products, most products were outside of the box in the envelope. I don't know why you need to know this, but I guess, I suggest maybe they look into a bigger box, because it's almost like, What's the point? But it is really cute with the design! To me, these all seem full-size lip products! The John Freida product is a hair product I always need on hand, especially during Summer. 

My absolute favorite product from the entire box was the City Color Lip Lush Crayon! I'm really into dark colors, even now in Summer, and I think this is my first purple color and I LOVE IT. I was surprised to find that it retails for $2.99 so something that is affordable! 

My least favorite product from the box was the Revlon Colorburst lip gloss. Not a fan of the color or
formula. It was too sticky for my liking.

I was really excited to see an Appeal Cosmetics lipstick in this box, and I know I have one coming in my Boxycharm box, and I always love a good red, but for some reason this shade didn't work for me as much as I thought! At least not on the first impression!

And the last product, the Lip Balm by City Color had a retail value of $2.99 was something I am on the fence on. I may need to use it more to get a full feel. At first impression though, I didn't care for the color, but liked how it felt on my lips!

Overall, this was a great box for paying just $5. However, I don't think I will be continuing it. I LOVE lip products, but I can't spend a whole lot on beauty subscriptions right now. They just aren't in the family budget.  It had a retail value of over $35!

Use Code "SUMMERLIPS" to get your 1st Box for $6.99!

Use my referral link to sign up here!

Product Review: Make Your Own Gummies Kit + Giveaway!

One time I went to a Twitter party where Glee Gum was one of the sponsored prizes. During that chat, I discovered that they had these "homemade candy kits." I was instantly curious because I love trying new stuff and candy is sort of a whole other food group for me. I was so fortunate that I was able to receive this product free from GleeGum to test out and share my opinions on. 

Now, I have seen Glee Gum before, but had NO idea that they made other things besides GUM! Here's a little information on this homemade candy kits:

Available in Make Your Own Chocolate, Make Your Own Chewing Gum, and Make Your Own Gummies, these activity kits are all-natural, educational, and eco-friendly. With pre-packaged ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, everyone aged 8 and up gets a real kick out of making candy from scratch. Focusing on the history behind and the origin of these candies, each kit is designed to captivate your interest, connect you to the global community, and create something yummy to eat in the process! 

Here's how my experience with this kit went:

The kit comes with 5 packets: sour mix, colored & flavored sugar, powdered seaweed, seaweed, molding starch and of course the instructions to put this kit together! Going into this experiement, I was kind of skeptical, I really had NO clue how a.) seaweed was going to be the secret ingredient b.) it was going to taste c.) and how easy it would be to actually to make this. Could an 8 year old really do this? Nonetheless a 27-year-old like myself?

Step One!

Steps:

Step One says  to Soak the  seaweed (not the powder) in water. No mention of what temperature of water, so I just did cold water.

Step Two is to Choose Your Shapes. I wasn't prepared for this one really went and kind of was stumped on what to select. They DO give a few suggestions, like those refrigerator ABC letters, which surprisingly I had a few left! I had the letter L and A, and I also grabbed this triangle magnet. They also suggest using the back of a tablespoon. 

Step Three!

Step Three!

Step Three is to Make Imprints. Smooth out the molding starch on a plate and place your shapes into the surface. For my huge fingers it was an issue to grab the letters out without messing up the outline. So, eventually I chose more of the magnet triangle shapes because they were the easiest! 

Step Four said to mix the powdered sugar with 1/2 cup water and stir well. Then, add the soaking seaweed into the bowl mixture. 

Step Five is to Heat the mixture for about 2 minutes! I suggest using a larger bowl. I was dumb and did a small bowl and some of it over boiled and I ended up loosing some mixture. Sad face. 

Step Six was to remove the seaweed from the mixture and throw away, because the carrageenan had done it's job! 

Step Six!

Step Seven!

Step Seven was to add the colored sugar packet into the hot mixture and put back into the microwave for another minute!

Step Eight was a difficult one for me. It was to pour the hot mixture into the molds. I tried to pour it but it turned out to be way too blobby, so I ended up not even using the molds and made actual BLOBS of gummies. Was this my error? Or, was it not hot enough? I am not sure! Then pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes! 

Step Eight!

Step Nine was to coat the blobs with the sour mix! And then ALL DONE. You have your very own, homemade gummies to eat and share with friends! Yay!

So, how did they taste? They tasted decent! Of course, I wasn't expecting them to taste like the gummi bears I get in the store that contain god knows what, so if you go into the taste test thinking like that, it will help the situation! I will say that, I, did NOT add the sour mix because for some reason, I forgot it was there, so I am assuming that if I HAD added the sour mix, it would have been even better than what they were, so that was definitely my fault there. I thought this product was SO SO SO fun, and I think a young child would LOVE it. I mean, I am 27 and loved it! I am really curious about the other two kits - Chocolate and Chewing Gum! I think it'd be a fun activity to do with a school aged child because you can learn and go further with the idea of carrageenans! Which I have no clue what are. 

Anyone try any of the other kits? I'm really curious about how those went! Or even if you have tried this Gummie Kit. How was your experience? ;)

 

Thank you to Glee Gum! Follow them on Facebook & Twitter for up to date information, discounts, gift ideas and other goodies! :)

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Beauty Box 5: May 2014

I used to subscribe to Beauty Box 5 back in the day, meaning 2 years ago when I was obsessed with the fad of "boxed subscriptions." Don't get me wrong, I'm still obsessed, but now I have a family to support so subscribing to these services don't usually happen because I usually can not afford it. However, back in April they shared a coupon code for a FREE box, and of course, I jumped on it. Here's what was inside:

Pretty decent box! Wouldn't say it's AMAZING, but definitely not disappointing. 

BH Cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadow Sample - Value: $6

This is a real cool sample. The colors are fun and ones I would wear in life. However, I didn't want to open this one, to take a picture of the colors because I'm probably going to regift it because I already have this exact same sample from BH Cosmetics that I got in Beauty Army, and there is a high chance that I also may have a 3rd one. I have seen this sample palette before, LOL. Nothing wrong with that, but I feel like it would go great in someone's gift pack for some special occasion. 

Just Being Sexy Body Bronzer - Value I HAVE NO CLUE BECAUSE I AM TERRIBLE AT MATH.

I'm not sure I would ever use this. When it comes to bronzer I'm clueless. And the fact that this is a BODY bronzer makes me a little more fearful. What if I sweat? Will it come off? I can't even compute a calculations to this because I never excelled in mathematics, but my guess is that it's less $1.00 considering 6 oz is valued at $49 and we were sent 24 ML. 

Aveeno Positively Nourishing Calming Body Wash - VALUE: $.90

I LOVE this stuff!! The smell of Lavender, Chamomile + Ylang-Yla

ng (what?) is one of my favorite smells ever and the fact that this is a body wash and not a lotion doubles my excitement! I love itty bitty things you can take on trips with you and this will definitely make my bag for NYC. 

LA Fresh Travel Lite-Facial Cleansing Wipes - Value: $3.50

I am a huge fan of LA Fresh. I've never actually ordered them on my own or seen them in stores, but have received them as samples before and LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Not to mention I love cleansing face wipes alot in general. They are perfect for making you feel a bit more fresh in the facial area on some days! I'm pretty excited to get this product and it will also be traveling with me to NYC in June. 

Montagne Jeunesse Glacial Cooling Face Mask - Value: $2.50

I've only used one mask by Montagne Jeunesse but enjoyed it. So, I'm pretty excited to try this and I actually received 4 masks from the company to provide my thoughts on them in another blog post! I am really looking forward to that! 

So, based on my (i'm sure poor) calculations the value of this FREE box was: $13.90? NOT bad. They could probably have sent me 5 foil packets and I probably would not have complained since it was entirely free, so because this box had stuff I enjoyed it was a good experience for me. HOWEVER, I don't think a good enough one to continue to my journey with them. I currently subscribe to IPSY (amazing!) and Love with Food (it's true, I love Food!) and that's really all I can afford right now. Now, I hope canceling goes smoothly. I have heard some things... 

Purex Insiders: Triple Review!

Wow, have I mentioned how much I LOVE being a Purex Insider? Seriously, in the last month or two I have gotten 3 more products to review. I've been so busy and life has been hectic that I've really slacked on laundry. I get most of my chores like that done on the weekends, but lately my weekends have been consumed with fun activities. So generously, from Purex Insiders, I received the following:

Purex Crystals Fabric Softener Sheets in Lavender Blossom.
Okay, normally...you would never catch me complaining about dryer sheets. I've only used dryer sheets that work really well, have amazing scents and do their job - make fabric softer. When I received the package from these before I even opened I was OVERWHELMED with the smell of these. WOW. Normally Lavender is my kind of smell, but this was way too strong! This did however make for a product that really follows through on their "30 days of long lasting freshness." I'm not really sure if it actually lasted the WHOLE 30 days, but the freshness and scent was there. Thank god for laundry cabinets where I overpowering smell can be smothered a bit.

Purex No Sort for Colors:
In all fairness, I only used this one time since I received it. With that said, I could not really tell a difference! To me, it worked just like any other Purex detergent I've received, so no real complaints there. It's supposed to after Anti-Color Transfer Technology! Sounds real fancy! I guess I may have to come back and update this portion after a few more uses!

Purex Crystals LIMITED EDITION Fabulously Fresh:
My love for these freshness booster beads are never ending. I love all scents and all kinds. So this product worked well. I LOVED the scent. My one complaint is I don't believe the scent lasts for weeks like it says on the bottle, but to me that's not something I necessarily care for. It does what it's supposed to even if it is for a day or two. I also love that they came out with something Limited Edition and would really love it there were more in the future!


Once again, thank you Purex for providing me with these items to product test. I look forward to many more opportunities for other awesome products!

The Purex brand provided me with  these samples in exchange for a product review. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. 

As Seen on TV: Perfect Pancake Pan

Cost: $12.50 on Amazon!

Does it really work?

It's a question I have about ANYTHING that's considered as an "As Seen On TV" product. Of course, I could read many reviews from other people who have purchased it, but I've always wanted to try them out for myself. Sometimes you just don't know if there are legit or being paid to say that. Well, I purchased this product with my own money, so this review is legit!

First up to bat was the Perfect Pancake Pan! Why this one first? Well, I wanted something I could actually use if it worked, since it was my money, I wanted to make sure it was worth it and my son LOVES Pancakes! AND, I am terrible at making pancakes. I mean, making them look pretty. Mine usually turn out to be weird shaped ones, which is totally fine, because you eat them in minutes anyways, but for someone who is a slight perfectionist this product seemed right up my alley.

Here's what this product claims:
-Makes 4 pancakes at the Same Time
-Fast & Easy
-Spatula Free
-No Added Fat
-Four PICTURE PERFECT Pancakes EVERY Time

Let's break it down now...

Makes 4 Pancakes at the Same Time:
Totally true! You can make one, two, three, or four at the same time!

Fast & Easy
Hmm.. I must say the first go at it, where I followed the directions BIT by BIT - it took FOREVER. Of course now, we did not pre-heat the stove. And when the directions said cook on low to medium heat, I put it dab in the middle of low and medium. Seriously waiting for the edges to lightly brown and have numerous bubbles, took over 15 minutes before we could flip it. Maybe that was my error, but by the 2nd go at it, we moved it entirely to the medium level and it sped up and not to mention it was pretty hot by then! Having 4 being made at the same time is a great thing!! Really does speed the process for me who usually does one pancake a time in fear that they will melt together and two small pancakes become one big deformed one.
Spatula Free!
True again! One less dirty dish to clean is always a great thing in this household!

No Added Fat!
Well, the box screams this, but then Step 1 in the directions say to prepare the pan by using oil. So... this claim is a thumbs down for me!

Four PICTURE PERFECT Pancakes Every Time!
Pretty much true. Of course, it all depends on if you have an unsteady hand when you flip the thing, because it can ship the batter and ruin the shape by falling out -it did happen to me, but this is depending on the operator!

Overall, I LOVED this product. It did everything it said besides it being "no added fat".... if you enjoy thick, fluffy pancakes, this product is a great tool. I know my boyfriend prefers them to be on the thin size so we'll really just have to experiment.

 

What was an added bonus for me was the fact that this product makes THE perfect over easy egg. I never made them at home (or had my boyfriend do it) because I was terrible and flipping them and having them bust open. Besides overcooking them a bit and flipping them poorly, they turned out perfect!!

Made-For-TV- Vault: Lying Eyes (1996)

First thought: Okay, any movie from the 90's that features The Cranberries is already off to a good start.

Lifetime-y Tagline: Young and Beautiful. She was this year's pick...but somebody else's target.

Starring (aka: famous people you may know): Cassidy Rae showed her face in a few 90's Lifetime Movies, but after googling her it looks like she dropped off the face of the Hollywood earth. I really liked her as an actress - but that was back in the 90's when I thought most of the acting in these movies were decent! Nowadays, not so sure. It's pretty terrible, but that's why we LOVE Lifetime Movies! ;) Vincent Irizarry plays the creepy as all hell, Derek, who likes his ladies young and although a lawyer with young children seems to like to hang around a high school alot. Mmmhmm. 

Lifetime Movie Cliche Attached: Married Older Man Courts Young, Sexy High School Girl Then Someone Tries To Kill Her Out of Jealousy. 

Plot: Wow. I pretty much just told the whole movie plot with that cliche I just wrote. Anyways, I get it, Amy is a young, naive high schooler, she can't possibly know that  her new lover is a married man, right? I mean he DOES tell her she is the only one so that has to be legit then. Well after some time of being love bunnies (so, in Lifetime Movieland - 2 weeks) she starts getting "stalked." First, it's her coat that gets shredded in the gym locker room at school and mean ransom like notes in the mail box. EEEK! Hasn't she ever seen a Lifetime Movie before? RUN, girl, RUN!!! ...But, of course, she doesn't run too far and is often back in the arms of Derek (who annoys me quite a bit!)...

So this is where I haven't made up my mind about this Lifetime Movie posts...do I spill the beans and give away Spoiler of what happens or do I let you watch it for yourself?...I think I will let you watch it for yourself to see who the crazy bat is that is trying to kill Amy. So, that kind of leads me to...

WTF, I know it's a Lifetime Movie, but...I know that Lifetime Movies like to have twists, but the "crazy bat" here comes out of nowhere. Well, sort of. I mean, I can't even remember the first time I watched this movie - probably back in 1996 when I was a  young little lady at 10 - but I think they really wanted you to be shocked! I mean it would be too obvious to go with Derek's wife, right? The Crazy Bat has very little screen time, but I suppose her motive works. Ree Ree Ree! 

Watch it NOW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdchgB-zm-c&list=PLACEA62BEB277950A&index=71

Purex Insiders: Dial's Deep Cleansing Hand Soap

For some hand soap is just hand soap. I would say I am one of those ladies who get excited about a new scent of soap and enjoys looking over her accumulated hand soap collection. I'm sure there's others out there, right? ;)

Like always, I was really excited to get into this promotion from Purex Insiders. I've been a member for a while and they certainly know how to treat their members well. I love getting packages in the mail from them and sharing the coupons with readers and loved ones. 

Honestly, if you could have heard my thoughts when I first swished my hands together after pumping a dollop of soap into my hands, you would have probably laughed. It was along the lines of, "WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Seriously. I. LOVE. THIS. SOAP. I am pretty sure that I have used soaps in the past with micro-scrubbers but this soap is totally different and I'm not even sure I can really explain why! I have been trying to think hard about what makes me gravitate to this soap more than any others I have used in the past, and I think it has the RIGHT amount of soapiness and micro-scrubbers. I've never used a soap where you could really FEEL the micro-scrubbers - like the perfect exfoliate cleanser for your face. In the soaps I have used in the past, I have been able to see the little beads but could never feel them, this was perfect. 

Not to mention that the 3 scents they introduced were completely unique:

Yellow Raspberry

Water Blossoms

Coconut Lime Verbena

I was lucky enough to receive the Yellow Raspberry & Coconut Lime Verbena. I will probably go on the hunt for the Water Blossom tomorrow! I want to try it that bad! 

Both scents were spectacular smelling. The Coconut Lime was very heavy on the Lime and I couldn't sniff out the coconut, but that's really okay with me. And, the Yellow Raspberry really just made me want to lick my hand of soap! 

I would absolutely purchase this again, and because of this product test I may just never buy anything else. I've heard it's hard to find in stores, but am hoping that when I

venture out tomorrow I won't have a problem finding it. It was released in February, so we shall see! 

The Dial brand provided me with a sample of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap in exchange for a product review. However, all opinions expressed here are my own.