Kiss Lashes Review and a Mini Makeover

It’s another post! I know, not really that exciting, but I like reviewing products from Influenster, so it’s exciting for me. And let’s face it…I have a habit of making it all about me. This post is going to do triple duty: a review of Kiss Lashes, a mention of John Frieda Three Day Straight, and a tale of girly shenanigans on a Friday night. The two products were received complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions…and shenanigans…are my own.

I enlisted the help of my friend to help me try out some of my products and she was on board (she’s moving away next week, so girly things kept me from getting emotional and crying all over her and begging her to stay). The wine may have also helped with avoiding being weepy. I’m actually really happy for her, but good-byes are always sad.

The first thing we did was use the John Frieda Three Day Straight Spray and her flat iron to straighten my hair.

I haven’t had straight hair in a really long time, and I wasn’t sure if I’d actually like it, but the end result was actually cute…and more dramatic than I was expecting.

Before..and my regular look (no hair products, no curling…my hair just does this)

The left half has been flat ironed. The right half has been washed and sprayed, but not ironed yet.

After. All straight! And kind of cool looking!

I really liked the straight look, but I honestly don’t know if I’d have the time to flat iron it consistently. Also, I don’t have a flat iron, so that poses a problem. I’m tempted to look into a more permanent means of keeping it straight, but I don’t know if I’m ready to part with the curl…even temporarily (because even a permanent method would grow out eventually, right?). Still, it’s something to think about for a new look.

Next, we tried out the Kiss Lashes. I was originally going to let my friend try these. I have sensitive eyes, and I was afraid the glue would bother them. However, in the end, curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to see how I’d look with eye falsies.

In hindsight, it would have been fun to take a video of the process of applying these, as I have a feeling we looked ridiculous. My friend did the application, and I focused on keeping my eyes from freaking out. Once they were on, they felt heavy and strange. It took us a couple tries to get them on so that they didn’t look super uneven, but once we did, the results were kind of cool.

Still a little uneven. Had a tough time getting them to adhere to the curve of my eyelid.

Good lash angle and a show off of the straight hair.

Getting a little goofy. Blame it on the moscato!

As much fun as we had with them, I’m not sure if they’re for me, at least not all the time. Maybe for a special occasion now and then if I can get them to stay on. The glue didn’t bother my eyes nearly as bad as I thought it would, but anytime something gets around my eye I tear up.

Also, they didn’t work so well with my glasses. They weren’t horrible, but they definitely felt a bit crowded behind the lenses.

Trying out the Kiss lashes made me want to try some things with mascara and possibly even give contacts a try again. The mascara might happen soon. I’m thinking of making a makeup run to Walgreens soon. The contacts? That will all depend on Jon’s work situation. But with my cafeteria plan, it’s definitely something I’m considering. It will take some practice, though, re: my eyes tear up when weird things come in contact with them.

I rarely end my posts with a question, but if anyone feels inclined to answer, does anyone out there use false lashes on a regular basis? If so, do they get easier and more natural to use with time?

A.

 

Product Review: Vaseline Men Spray Lotion (from Influenster)

If you’re following me on various social media outlets, you’ve already seen my mini-reviews on the Vaseline Men Spray Lotion I received complimentary from Influenster. Besides the fact that I’m not a man, I’m still digging on this lotion, and I wanted to give it the full review it deserves. 

Sure, it says “Men,” but I’m an equal opportunity lotion user.

I currently have a whole basket of lotion (go ahead and make a Silence of the Lambs joke…I’ll wait), but a lot of it is just girly and smelly, and only some of it is actually good at handling dry skin, especially in the winter. I’m a very itchy person, so finding a lotion that smells good and takes care of the itchy skin is kind of a big deal. 

I used this before Jon did, and I was sold right off the bat. The first thing I liked was the even spray. Ever went to spray something and you can’t get anything at first, and then all of a sudden you get way too much? I didn’t have that problem with this one. It sprayed evenly, and though it says it’s “fast absorbing,” I still had time to rub it in to the areas the spray didn’t hit. 

The second thing I liked was the smell. It has a potent cologne smell, which isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed it. Men’s scents tend to be stronger than women’s scents, and I like both. However, I have a lot of friends who can’t do strong scents, so while I want to recommend this to everyone, I can’t recommend to anyone who has a scent sensitivity. In fact, I always forget that Jon has a sensitivity, and it wasn’t until the second night of applying the Men Spray liberally that he mentioned it gave him a headache. 

Finally, I liked that it did what it promised to do. It moisturized and kept my skin hydrated through the next day. Itchy skin was replaced with soft skin (and the smell mostly wore off overnight) . I’ve been a fan of the Vaseline hand lotion (I keep a big bottle on my desk at work) for awhile now, and I think I would have been surprised if this hadn’t met my standards. 

Influenster also suggested I review Jon’s reaction to the product. I already mentioned that the smell bothered him when the product was over-applied, but when a light spray was used, it wasn’t as bad. He also found that the benefits were delivered as promised. In the future, I think he’ll want to find an unscented version. 

I anticipate having a few more reviews from this VoxBox coming soon. I’ve been trying most of the products, though a few are still waiting for friend assistance. Just to reiterate, I did receive these for testing purposes, but all opinions are my own. 

A. 

Tea and Chocolate from the J’AdoreVoxBox

Based on the lack of posts, you can probably tell that things are at a slow crawl lately. That, and I just haven’t been in the frame of mind for blogging. If I remember correctly though, last year was pretty uneventful until March, so fingers crossed that when spring…and the better weather hits…I’ll have more blogtivity.

The excitement for today was that my J’AdoreVoxBox from Influenster arrived!

It’s like Christmas, but for Valentine’s Day

There is some pretty great stuff in there, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to blog about all the things. Today, I started with two of the items…the consumables. Because how hard is it to tear the package open and get to chomping and drinking, right?

Red Rose Tea sent four tea bag samples for my drinking pleasure. Within ten minutes, I was sipping on a cup of their delightful Creme Caramel.

I love tea, but like other things, I go through phases where I drink a lot of it, then switch to something else, like water or coffee (or soda, but I’m trying to curb that habit). I can drink iced tea all year round, but my hot tea moods come and go. However, after trying the Creme Caramel, I think I might be entering back into a hot tea phase. It’s so good! Only slightly sweet, not too rich, and it’s a taste that just makes me happy. I drink tea plain, no cream or sugar, but I can see how this flavor might taste good with a little dash of something else. Having said that, I’ll probably still enjoy it fresh and unadorned.

In the category of things that I love all the time, no phase needed, is chocolate.

The best thing ever

This bag of Hershey‘s kisses is huge! I usually prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate, but Hershey’s are a huge exception. Their milk chocolate is the best, in my opinion, likely even better than most of the gourmet chocolate brands. Kisses are great because they’re easily portioned controlled, and one little Kiss packs a punch.

Serious side note: my relationship with food has changed greatly over the past couple years. Nothing is off limits, I don’t berate myself for eating sweets and treats, and I’ve realized that the quickest way to binge on something is to deprive myself of it. I also try not to negative self talk when it comes to food, though sometimes I let things slip (old habits die hard). However, I do know that I tend to feel yucky after consuming too much sugar, but if it’s in front of me, I’ll eat it.

Hence, the Kisses will be shared with Jon, and have been put into a bowl and stuck in the fridge to serve as a sweet treat over time, not all at once. I did, of course, already have a healthy serving size before writing this review. No regrets. They were delicious! If I get to feeling bakey, I can also add them to cookies or use them in a bunch of other recipes. But I think they’ll be most effective for a quick craving killer.

Samples, tea, and chocolate…seriously not a bad way to kick off a Saturday.

All products were received complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions are my own. 

A.

NYC HD Color Trio Review

I mentioned a week or so back that I received my JollyVoxBox from Influenster and was excited to try things out. One of the items was the NYC HD Color Trio eye shadow pack, which comes with three colors and easy applicator brush.

Though  I’m not one to show my own pic on this blog, I can say that the colors were very “me.” I don’t usually wear makeup, so when I do, I don’t want anything loud. I want something that can make a subtle difference and highlight rather than showcase.

After using this eye shadow, I feel I may need to use more makeup in 2014.  The colors blend well together and the consistency of the makeup is smooth. In the past, I’ve had problems with eye makeup being too powdery and getting into my eyes. Not with this. It goes on and stays on. It even came with instructions on which colors to apply to which areas of the eye if you want to blend them, but I’ve also found that wearing one color at a time works for me.

I wear glasses, so eye makeup isn’t always noticeable, but I did a little test and can definitely see a difference. My eyes look bigger and more awake when I take the time to put on my NYC HD.

 

I definitely think wearing more eye shadow is going to be on my to-do list for 2014. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get wild and try some more colors.

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. Opinions are my own. 

A.

To-Do Lists and a Box of Goodies

Though lacking in excitement, the day was a really productive one. I managed to get several things off my to-do list over lunch and after work, and though I still have plenty of projects to keep me busy through the rest of the month, I feel a little bit better knowing I’ve finally got a few things off my shoulders.

At lunch, I went to drop the laundry off to Jon, and we used our remaining time to go grab a nearby geocache, marking our first time geocaching on our lunch. My main goal in getting this one, since it was near the cemetery, was to drop off my zombie travel bug. She’s now in the wild and will hopefully move on to big adventures. Since that didn’t take long, we made a quick trip to Kinko’s to grab some boxes to ship some things to people.

After work, we took advantage of yet another nice day and went to walk the rec center track. Unfortunately, tonight’s walk wasn’t great. My mission had me running from zombies straight from the start, and instead of restarting to get my warm-up, I went with it. I had some ankle cramps and my thigh muscle felt strained, so we called it after about a half hour. I didn’t finish my mission, but I’ll redo it next time. It was a good one. Very intense.

When I got home, my Jolly VoxBox from Influenster had arrived, and I opened it right away to see what kind of cool products I would have the chance to review this month.

I’m going to be trying out all of those things over the next few weeks and will be reviewing everything individually as I get the chance to use them. As you may have guessed, those Skinny Cow chocolates have already been sampled.*

Possibly better than regular peanut butter cups….

I spent the evening finishing up the writing project for my mom, which I think came out okay. Sadly, I didn’t get to revise the next chapter of my Nano, but that’s a good project for tomorrow. I also just realized I forgot to put laundry away. As much as I like to get that done, I’m feeling tired, so it might have to wait for tomorrow night.

Time to shower, read, and sleep…in that order.

A.

*I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes