The worst my face has EVER looked

And Exuviance face mask did it. Bleh. So I decided on Saturday to try it out, and woke up in hives on Sunday. Allergy meds didn't help. Nothing seemed to. It is now Thursday and I'm still broken out to the point I'm embarrassed to go out in public. Cortizone cream has helped relief some of the heat and itchiness but gawd I wish it would clear soon! I tossed the face mask. What a waste. I do have sensitive skin but nothing has ever made me break out this bad before.

Used the shower sherbert, LOVE it! It smells so good, almost edible. And it scrubs nice and deep like I like (has sand or whatever in it for a good thourough scrub). Highly recommend it and now I want to try other scents! I'm such a shower junkie when it comes to scents.

I started using the Bliss youth cream but stopped when I broke out, so I have nothing to really report on it yet. I do like the way it feels though!

I also started using the eye cream, Cures by Avance, but ditto on taking a break from all face proucts for the time being. I had used it a few times with no noticeable results.

The Pur-lisse lip nourisher is definitly a favorite, though at $22 a pop I wouldn't buy it again (I'll stick to my $1 Blistex), but it does what it says it does; keeps my lips smooth, unchapped, and white gook free!

My book of the week is The Mysterious Benedict Society. It is a YA book, but I <3 it! Its full of puzzles and riddles and adventure and mystery! I highly recommend it to all!

I'm also a fan of Night Train, a movie I just watched. Its about a passenger who dies during route and others conspire to keep his treasure. It was so much more than I expected, so much better than even that simple plotline and dark and gory. If you're a fan of mystery, gore or sci-fi, I highly recommend it!

New BeautyFix and Bounce!

Well, it's been about a month since I started using the Bounce bar and it's getting to the end of the bar. Honestly, that's really good (for me). I do so much laundry, often multiple loads per day plus the bedding at least once a week, so I'm surprised it's lasted this long! Is it woth the $5.49? To me, no. I usually buy dryer sheets for about half that and they last me a few months; one reason being that I reuse them, another being that there is so much you get off one sheet, to where the bar keeps releasing. But I do love the product and I would buy it if the price dropped, it went on sale, or I had a coupon.

I got my second shipment of BeautyFix today! It's exciting, like Christmas an additional four times a year. Here's what I got; Shower Sherbert in Papaya Nectar - it smells GOOD, cannot wait to use!, Skindinavia Makeup finishing spray - bleh, I'll test and review it then pass it on to my sister, Decleor Instant Radiance Moisturiser, Bliss The Youth as we Know it anti-aging cream, Degree Sexy Intrigue Spray (it smells chemically), Pur-lisse lip nourisher - this was the first thing I put on!, Cures by Avance age defyer eye cream - I am most excited to see if this works, Juara tea toner, SpaRitual Lotion and Nail Polish. Wow, seems like a ton this month, 10 items! Well worth the cost IMHO. I'll review back about how they each work.

Long Weekend

Well I ended my perfume trial on Friday, thankfully! I'm sick of smells. I did like Thursday's perfume but the rest were overwhelming. I've also gotten a few more freebies! Aside from coupons I got some more books to review, a Flip Video Camera for a YoPlait project I'm working on, a Little People princess palace type dvd for Ella and a cell phone. They have a program ongoing for low income families where you can get a cell phone for free and 60 something minutes each month so I took advantage of it, nice to have for emergencies! I just can't figure out how to activate the darn thing yet. I've followed the instructions but it keeps saying unsuccessful. Oh well.

Other than that I've been doing a garage sale all weekend so that's been busy but slow, if that makes sense! I made a whole $20, the rest of the family had more luck at least! And my car is in the shop for a week for body work (after some guy smashed my back driver side door in).

I am reading my new Amazon Vine book, If Ignorance is Bliss why aren't there more Happy people. I love it! It's like a dictionary of quotes, and I <3>

A word to the wise isn't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice! (So true!)

The book is a blast and I recommend it to all who love quotes!

I saw the Boy in the Striped Pajamas this weekend, very tragic. There's nothing not tragic about Holocaust movies, though. It's hard to review without giving too much away but basically, the son of a Nazi general befriends a jewish boy who is stuck in a camp. It's all downhill from there and has many lessons to be learned.

Also tested out the new Hartz Dog treats. Well, Dobey tested them anyways, lol. He doesn't care for them much, but he ate them. Slowly. Which is unusual for him. They do seem to help with his breath and teeth though but it recommends giving him 2 a day, which I think is way too much.

Orange you glad you didn't put it on your face?

I decided to sample the Bella Bronze self sun tan cream yesterday. First off, there was a nice, underlying butterscotch scent that I loved. It cam out a clearish orange, but applied invisible, and said it took a couple hours to work. I applied it to my legs and arms and shoulders and forgot about it. Looking last night, hours later, I really didn't notice a change, neither did my husband. But this morning when I woke up, orange! Not too orange, mind you, but orange enough. Just like every other self tan cream out there. And even though I washed my hands right after applying the stuff, they were orange too, which was more noticeable than the rest of it. Oh well. There were also a few splotches and streaks, even though I took my time really rubbing it in so I don't know how that happened! So yeah, Bella Bronze, no thank you!

I'm also working on Tuesday's perfume today. It's not as overpowering as yesterdays so far, thankfully. Really not a scent I would wear either, but it's better.

Perfume Trial

I don't normally wear perfume as I don't care for heavy scents or like most of their smells. I got picked to take part in a perfume trial for this week though, so I'm doing it. Each day this week I use a different perfume (they came in pre-marked envelopes with each day of the week on them), and I fill out a survey at the end of each day. The fun part is I have no idea what scent I'm sampling! I hope they tell me at the end in case I do like one.

I also got a bunch of samples in the mail today, yay! Lavera Naturkosmetik organic skin care face mask, in wild rose scent. I love the smell of rose so I look forward to sampling that! I also got coupons for free Velveeta shells and cheese Cups, that you make in the microwave. Mircowaved mac and cheese sounds gross, but we'll check it out! And another coupon to sample Charmin Ultra Soft and review that. I also got a pack of Kotex liners and pull-ups for potty training (even though Ella's past that). I love getting goodies in the mail!

Amazon invited me to participate in a program I didn't even know they had, Amazon Vine. Basically, once a month they send out a newsletter with new products and I get to pick 2 of them to try and keep and all I have to do is review it! I love it. Mostly it's books but sometimes there is software, food or other household products. After a week when all the Vine members get a chance to pick from the new items, we are allowed to go back and pick 2 more from whats left of that month and previous months. So far I have gotten a few books, an anti-virus program and an energy drink. I just ordered another book and dog treats from the new newsletter so I look forward to getting those! I'm not sure how to join it, they just invited me and I review a lot on there, as well as buy a lot, so that could be a factor. Who knows?

My, this perfume is overwhelming. I don't care for it so far and I fele itchy wear I sprayed it!

~~~

I just finished The Venus Fix by M.J. Rose, and I thought it was brilliant! I picked this up casually, thinking it sounded interesting but doubting I'd get into it. Boy was I happily surprised! I couldn't put it down and found that even with taboo subjects, the author kept the story on a serious note without being too "smutty", I guess is the word I would use. I typically don't care for too much sex/romance in my stories, but she blended it all in and made me care. The plot was good, the characters complex, and even thought I thought I knew who was doing it pretty much from the get-go, I had no idea until the end when it all came together masterfully. I almost always figure the killer or plot out sooner than I'd like, but this was very satisfying in revealing nothing until it was time. I even found myself going back and rereading the killer's letter entries to tie it all in together in a new way. Brilliant, just brilliant! I will be picking up more from this author!

~~~

I also watched a few new movies this weekend, and they all sucked. Bleh! Zombie Strippers, Baby Blues and Bane. Zombie Strippers was as lame as it sounds, but being a zombie buff I had decided to try it anyways. I mean, Freddy Krueger was in it! But yes, still lame. Cheesy, corny and just lame. Guys might like it for the naked strippers, even though they were zombies.

Baby Blues could have had potential but it failed. It is about a mother of 4 who suffers postpartum depression after her newest baby and her husband being away all the time as a trucker. It really could have had potential. But it went campy and she basically just lost it and went after all her kids, never stopping to show any humanity left or think. It was unreal to me, and not in a believable "she snapped" kinda way. Just unreal and campy. It could have been done so real, heartbreaking and sad, but it failed.

And Bane. Oh Bane. Take a serial killer slasher and mix it with a futuristic alien sci-fi takeover, and reveal none of that until the end, and you have Bane. Well, describing it makes it sound better than what it is. It's campy, the aliens fake looking, and the actors poor. It played like a made for Sci-Fi movie and failed like the worst one of those. It is just not worth the watch, trust me. It was soooo stupid.

~~~

Beginning of the Bounce

I just wanted to make a quick blog to date stamp my Bounce dryer bar. I got this a few days ago and decided to start using it today. The box says it should last about 2 months, depending on usage, so we'll see how long it lasts! Considering I do at least a load a day most days, and often 2-3, I will be surprised if it lasts a whole month. I'm not sure the retail price of this yet, but I will find that out before the trial is over.

NetFlix vs. Blockbuster

I read recently that Blockbuster is close to going out of business, mostly due to Netflix and their amazing prices. That sucks. I think Blockbuster has the better service, honestly. I say this while I use Netflix (but only because I won a free year subscription in a contest). My dad said it best when he says, "Netflix ships all the new titles to the free trial members, to get them to stay. We never get s#@t!" And he's right. When I first signed up for Netflix, I did get all the hot new releases. Now, I swear I wait at least a month per title. So I tried my own little experiment, to only put the new releases in my queue. Still waiting. So here I am, with a 3-out-at-a-time subscription, with nothing at home right now. They are finally sending Bane, which has been in my queue forever, well at least since it first came out. And it's aggravating. Aggravating enough to go to Blockbuster and rent the must-sees for $4? No.

But before Netflix, I had the Blockbuster online package, and it rocked. It was about the same price, but it let you exchange online rentals in store for in store rentals. Which rocked! Because if you got there early enough on Tuesday (New release day), you were pretty much guaranteed to get those must sees. Netflix doesn't offer that, it can't.

So if Blockbuster goes away, that pretty much guarantees the monopoly to Netflix. Well, that gets me to Redbox rentals. Which I rented from once, because I was dying to see Yes, Man and it had been in my queue a month already. So I paid a buck, watched it that night and returned it the next day. Good price? Absolutly. If you rent and return it right away. Lose it? Forget it, you'll pay more than anywhere else. About $50. Yes, I researched this as well to see what the catch was! You will get charged $1 per day, but after 15 days they will charge you an additional $25 and it's yours to keep. Is that all? I'd rather just buy it on Amazon before it got to that point!

So Blockbuster still gets 5 stars from me, even after all these years. Netflix is staggering at 3, I really wish they had more new releases available.

~~~

On another note, my Beauty Fix welcome kit came today, yay! It is awesome! I have all my new goodies lined up on my desk waiting for me to use them. I got Jonathon Finish Control hairspray (I don't really use hairspray because I hate the hard, stiff effect) but I will test it soon. Lisa Hoffman Night and Day cream, 3Lab lift cream, Bella Bronze self-tanner, Glowelle, Global Goddess eyeshadow, Exuviance and Spa Face. The only thing I used so far was the Spa Face, which is "floral water extracted from the bitter orange blossom". It smells so good! And my face feels so refreshed and cool after spritzing it.

I also got another new laundry product, a Dryer Bar from Bounce. Basically, it looks like a bar of soap that stick in your dryer. Instead of using dryer sheets, this bar releases whatever you need per load, lasting about 2 months depending on how much laundry you do. (So about a week for me! LOL)

I will blog more when I've tried all these great new products! I am super excited :)

Entering Sweepstakes Can be SO BORING

So every now and then I go around and enter a bunch of sweepstakes hoping I'll one day win. It hasn't happened yet! That said, there are some good ones going on I'll share with you. Reader's Digest is giving 10 Kindle's away (complete with $40 in Amazon $ for books). readersdigest.com/kindlesweeps

That site keeps erroring on me, everyone must have got their magazine today and tried to enter or something!

There's also another site, fastsweeper.com that allows you to enter a ton of contests with one click. You can sign up and enter the first time for free, then it's like $28.99 for 3 months thereafter. They do guarantee a win though, so if you haven't won after 3 months the next three months is free, and so on, until you win. I have yet to win anything from that but I signed up about 5 months ago and sure enough, when I emailed that I didn't win, they gave me another 3 months free. I wish I'd win something already!

~~~

I'm still waiting on my Beauty Fix package, and it's driving me nuts because I know it's in my city! Will it get here today or tomorrow? It's frustrating having to wait!

I did recently get the new Intuition razor though, so I'll review that. First off, I LOVE Venus razors. Have been using them since that very first commercial came out years ago. I have super sensitive skin and never went back to anything after Venus. It was a 5 star product for me.

Until Intuition. I really didn't think it would compare, but it blew Venus away! I swear my legs have never felt this smooth before and I am now hooked for life. I keep eyeballing my Venus refills and telling myself I HAVE to use them before I buy Intuition refills, but I am tempted! The smoothness lasts longer, I find I don't need to shave as often, and my legs are bump free! With my sensitive skin and using sensitive gel and any normal razors, I break out all over my legs. With Venus, it wasn't nearly as bad but I'd still get a few bumps. With Intuition, nada!

So it is thicker around and bulkier, which I thought I'd hate, but I atcually love that. I don't think I've dropped it once, whereas the Venus' skinner handle gets dropped not a lot, but enough. Also, my Venus gets used up a lot quicker because it rusts or the gel stuff disappears from sitting in the shower. I know it comes with the handy case to stick to your shower wall, but mine never stays stuck. And if I take it out of the shower, I'll forget it until I'm in and needing it. So, it rots in the water. The Intuition has a nice cap that covers it and then some, keeping the water out and my gel fresh!

And it is smooth. I quickly gave it 5 stars, bumping my beloved Venus down to 4. Oh well, such is life.

~~~

And my new movie to review is Valkyrie. Okay, I didn't like it. Hate me if you must, I know the world loved this movie, but not me. I didn't hate it, I actually sat through and finished it, but it bored me. I'm not one for War movies anyways but this did look good in the previews. I just thought it sucked and dragged on. I mean, what was the point in making a movie about one of the 15-20 times they tried to take Hitler down and failed? Seriously? I think I'm done with War movies, and Tom Cruise, for awhile. I'm not a Cruise fan anyways, but, well, the previews looked good.

~~~

And on to my book of the "week". I am currently working through the May Bird series, I'm on the first book. It's dragging for me. It started off interesting enough; the main girl, May, finds a letter from the Ever After calling for help, and her and her hairless cat Somber Kitty go through to help. You'd think it makes for a great tale, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's too soon after reading Un Lun Dun, because it pales in comparison and the stories are similar as far as plot so far. I'm almost at the end, because I am dragging through it, but I don't know if I can make myself read the next two books. Maybe if I take a break after this one... We'll see. Bleh.

BeautyFix

I just found out about a new site/program called Beautyfix. Now, normally I am against paying for anything when it comes to trying stuff out, but I had to check this out. For $49.99 you get some of the season's top picks by celebrity's and their makeup artists. These are products worth hundred's of dollars and you get them at a deep discount to try them out and you can earn gift cards for reviewing them as well. Also you get another discount should you buy any products you like. The site link is here;
http://start.beautyfix.com/dms1106/

Now, I haven't gotten my first kit yet, but I did cave in and order it after thinking on it a few days. That's one thing I always try to do when making a big purchase, sit and think it over a few days and see if I forget about it or still "have to have it!". I found myself oogling the site itself many times during that time before ordering it and raving to others about it.

So, for $49.99 you get;
8 of the season's hottest beauty products (worth hundreds of dollars)
A makeup bag
Tips from the industries leading professionals
A $25 gift card to glow.com (after reviewing your products)

I just love the whole idea of this. I love trying new things, especially things I hear about on tv or in magazines that are hot items of the season, and this is a bundle that will be like X-mas at my door 4 times a year!

So yeah, enough about that! I will write again when it arrives and what I think of it all.

~~~

Next up, me and my husband just watched the movie Ramen Girl with Brittany Murphy. It was a cute movie and I liked that the setting was in Japan and showed a lot of the lifestyle and traditions of there. The ending was a little confusing, but we figured it out. Overall this reminded me a lot of one a few years back starring Sarah Michelle Gellar where she cooks and her emotions go into the food and all that. Abby (Murphy) is an apprentice for a great Ramen Chef and is learning how to do that while recovering from a break up with her boyfriend. Again, it's a satisfying movie but I did prefer the one with Gellar (which name escapes me). I give it 3 stars, because I did like it but I didn't love it. Again, the end was a little confusing and Abby was a little whiney for my taste. I wouldn't watch it again but it was cute.

My first reviewer blog!

Let me start by saying I am a Stay-at-home-mother of two. I started reviewing products and joining focus groups for something to do while I'm at home, and of course for the free products! I decided to start this blog to basically keep track of all my reviews and share them with anyone who cares. I am not employed by any company, I simply sample stuff from them, and my opinions aren't bought, they are always honest. Companies pay me for my time in sampling their products WITH the products and occasionally points that add up to redeem for gift cards. I'm not really making any kind of income with this, I mostly do it because it's fun and I like free stuff!

~~~

Okay so... so far today I have checked my sites for freebies and entered a few contests, but nothing really exciting. I will talk about a few recent exciting items I sampled though, starting with Purex' 3-in-1 laundry sheets.

I became a Purex Insider a month or so ago and they sent me a sample pack to try and review (there were enough sheets for about 5 loads I think) along with coupons for a free starter pack and cash off. I will say, I was iffy at first about how well this would work. Basically you toss one sheet in with your load of clothes and it has detergent and softener with it that is released at the right times. Then you simply switch the load, sheet and all, to the dryer when it's done and the sheet is then heat activated. Now, because it is heat activated, I only used this in a cold wash (I'm not sure if hot water would activate it or not, and it doesn't say anywhere on the product). I will say, it works! It smells great and my clothes were cling-free! I used all the sheets in my laundry until they were used up and I was impressed! I won't go as far to say that it works better than a combination of detergent, softener and dryer sheet. But it does work as well.

Which made me think, that's great! But how much is it? Well, I found the starter kit for $5.97 at Walmart (and used my free coupon). It does 20 loads (the refill packs do 24 for the same price). So for less than six bucks, getting all 3 products in one easy sheet, that's not bad! Typically I spend that on a bottle of detergent alone which does about the same amount of loads. Then I spend another $3 or so for dryer sheets, which last a few months. (I don't use softener).

So that got me thinking even more that I wish I had this when I used to live upstairs in an apartment and had to drag multiple loads of laundry, a heavy bottle of detergent and my toddler to the laundry mat. And I almost always forgot my sheets. This would have been the perfect product for those trips! And that got me thinking to college students, senior citizens, and well, anyone else who doesn't have a washer/dryer in their dwelling. Which makes this product pretty much amazing. 5 stars!

~~~

My next review is for Repo! The Genetic Opera. Okay I'll admit, when I first heard the title I thought, "LAME". But after a few online friends raved about it, I had to check it out. I don't know why I waited as long as I did! This is seriously my new favorite musical of all times! (Topping out the previously tied Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge and Sweeney Todd).

It's dark, gothic and of course, like all good musicals, tragic. Only instead of a tragic romance (which is there, but more of a subplot) this is a tragic father/daughter story. I laugher, I cried, I sang it for days afterwards. And I bought it. And, I plan to watch it again tonight with my sister and get her as hooked on it as I am. And, I'll probably even buy the soundtrack.

Well, so the premise of the movie is futuristic, and you know how when you don't pay for your car it is repossessed? Well, in this future, people buy organs; such as hearts, livers, etc., on credit. And when they default? The Repo Man cometh for them!

It is sooo good. I recommend it to all. 5 stars!

~~~

And last but certainly not least, my latest book review, Un Lun Dun by China Mie'ville. The basic premise for the book is this, Un Lun Dun is a sort of mirror version of London, only weird. When umbrellas are broken or no longer of use, they go to Un Lun Dun, where they become unbrellas. And such is the way with all the world's trash. Sort of. There are also weird residents, crazy buildings, and even crazier ways of life.

Deeba and her best friend, Zanna, accidentally find themselves in Un Lun Dun. They meet strange new friends, find strange alternatives to their way of life, and oh yeah, find out Zanna is the Chosen one and fated to save Un Lun Dun from the all too smart Smog.

I found myself, for the first time ever, unable to put this down yet forcing myself to just because I wanted to savor it and digest it every few chapters. There is so much going on that it can get overwhelming, but in a good way. It just takes a minute (and occasional reread) to wrap your mind around some of the insane details that describe this crazy, new-aged Alice in Wonderland type tale. It is darker than AiW, though, and definitly more modern. It is also rich with good lessons and morals. Definitly a modern day fairy tale for the 8 up crowd. I passed it to my son when I was finished and insisted he start right away, it is that good! This book gets 5 stars from me and goes on my keep shelf. An instant classic! I hope they make a wacky-doodle movie out of it, too!