Simple Skincare

I fell in love with Simple some point last year... or maybe it was the year before.  I honestly don't even remember where, but I got a sample in the mail of the some face wash and a moisturizer.  Up until that point in time, I hadn't found a face wash that left my face actually feeling clean. I hadn't found a face wash that didn't leave my skin overly dry or breaking out like a pre-pubescent teen.  I used my Simple face wash and was like "wow, this is it.  This is the face wash I've been waiting to find.  This is exactly what I needed."

I don't have the bottle in front of me, but I remember looking at the ingredient list thinking that they were real, natural ingredients that I can pronounce.  They really did keep it SIMPLE.

Years later I've added other Simple products to my routine.  Products like the "Protecting Light Moisturizer SPF 15" or even the "Replenishing Rich Moisturizer".  I've tried a few types of the wipes, like: micellar makeup remover wipes, exfoliating facial wipes, and cleansing facial wipes.  -My favorite is probably the cleansing facial wipes.  They make it so easy to just come in after doing some yard work and wiping away the grime, quickly.  Later when I shower, I use the facial wash to clean up the rest of the way.

Now I've gotten the chance to try the Micellar water, from Simple.  I had previously sampled the Garnier Brand, but the Simple Brand is quite comparable and works just as well.

Overall, I am a #SimpleSkinCare Believer.  I trust Simple to help my face stay clean and clear.  It doesn't dry me out, leave me broken out with acne, or leave my face oily.  I just feel simply cleaner and better.

I have received the Simple Micellar Water and Cleansing Facial wipes for free, for testing purposes.  #SimpleSkincare

Amethyst Heart

This necklace is really cute. It comes with a black cord necklace attached,but I honestly think it would be better on a silver chain. I am considering removing it and adding it to a chain I have.


The pendant is a pretty Amethyst heart with some silver colored metal flowers holding the pendant into place. The product description states that the necklace is hand crafted and polished, which I could see. The back of my necklace has a few minor nicks in it. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful stone. My biggest complaint is that the flowers a bit thin on mine, and they are really all that is holding the stone into place. From what I can tell, the stone isn't glued in. I have already caught the flowers on a shirt and my bedroom curtain (Don't ask) and it tugged on the flower a little too hard. It looked like I was going to lose my pendant. I was able to un-snag the flower and save the pendant. -But I'm not sure how many time I can actually do this, or how many more times I'll catch it on something.


Pendant Size: 1.38*1.26 inch


Overall, it is definitely a unique piece of jewelry. It is beautifully crafted and any person who loves gem stones would love to own this necklace.


I have received this necklace for free, in exchange for my honest review.








To Purchase on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Philaeec-Natural-Heart-Shaped-Necklace-Amethyst/dp/B01BXUE1HI/ref=cm_rdp_product

Kiben KB701 Sports Polarized Sunglasses

You're really not going to get much better than these sunglasses, for the price.

What you get:

-A hard, sturdy protective case.
-a soft bag case
-sunglasses
-5 interchangeable lenses (a few of them are polarized)
-1 sports strap
-rope strap
-lens covers
-cleansing cloth
-polarized lens card-you can only see the image with the polarized lenses
-internal clip frames for prescription lenses
-spare nose pad

The composite frames are lightweight and flexible.  You can't really feel them on your face.  They seem like they'd be hard to break.  I haven't exactly TRIED To break them, so I honestly can't tell you how easily they break.

There are 5 sets of lenses that come with this and they easily switched out.  There are polarized and non-polarized lenses.  There's a yellow set, blue tinted, black, polarized, and clear set of lenses.  It only takes about 30 seconds to switch the lenses.  The lenses are shatterproof and 100% UV protected.




To prove the polarization of the lenses, there's a little card in the batch with an image imprinted on it.  You can see most of the image with the bare eye, but once you put the polarized lenses over it you can see some cars driving on the highway.  True quality, polarized lenses transforming images right before your eyes.

Seriously, these are really good quality.  You can't feel them on your face.  They aren't big and bulky.  They would be awesome for whatever sport you're partaking in.  


I have received these sunglasses at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest review.

To get yours, click here: http://amzn.com/B01CMG1K3A

I'm a Beautiful Butterfly

I occasionally just get in those caterpillar moods, where I want to curl up, take a long nap and awaken feeling great about myself...and NOT covered in mosquito bites.  I feel like this hammock was made for me.  I AM a beautiful butterfly, after all.  I could sleep in this hammock for DAYS (or 1-2 weeks depending on how long it takes me to go from the Pupa to Butterfly stage).  The biggest issue I have while sleeping in hammocks?  MOSQUITOES!!!  They're so overly annoying and flock to me, like I'm just one big meal. 

This hammock is easy to set up.  It has straps and carabiners that connect to both ends, so you can easily attach them around some trees.  I used my hammock stand, because my yard only has one tree.  There are elastic cords that you can run through the mosquito netting and hook up the carabiners, to keep the net from falling on top of you.  There's room to move around, even though all I do is sleep.  There are two mesh pockets in the netting and the original bag that the hammock came in remains attached to the outside of the hammock, for additional storage space.  The netting only zips up along one side, but there is a zipper on both ends, for ease of opening.  There is nothing that I would change about this cocoon... er.... Hammock.  I can get a decent amount of rest and wake up feeling great and not covered in itchy mosquito bites.

I have received this hammock at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest review. 

Weapons of (m)ASS Destruction

I do product reviews. When I saw this, I MIGHT have been drinking, and thought "SURE, I can review

that." When the package arrived, I thought "Wow, this box is heavy. What's in it?" and I opened it up and immediately thought "NOPE, I CANNOT review this the way it needs to be reviewed." This is seriously a BIG, 11", heavy weapon of mass destruction.



As a female, I don't have a Dong of my own. I've always thought that If I did have a dong:

1. I'd just want to run around and smack people in their faces with it.
2. Sword Fight With it
3. Pee standing up

Well, I cannot do #3 with this, but I definitely CAN Smack people in their faces and Sword fight with it. My sword actually turns more into a Light .... or Dark.... Saber. I make the noises and everything.

As an adult product, I am EXTREMELY terrified of this thing. -Which is honestly a rarity. I'd try almost anything at least once. Except this. I Feel like Meat Loaf.... I won't do that.

As a Weapon of Mass Destruction, I am in love with it. I seriously just keep it in my purse and occasionally pull it out to smack people around with it. It's heavy and packs a hard punch. Ha. *Wink* *Wink*. Packs a hard punch. Are you willing to try it out and see how hard it can hit? I bet it can tear some stuff up, if you catch my drift. It is a definite weapon of mASS destruction. -I'm done with the innuendos now.

If you buy it and realize you're too afraid to try it, just carry it around for extra protection. If you pull this out of your purse and are ready to throw down with it, I can guarantee no one will want to mess with you either.

I have received this product at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest review.

 Order your own safety device here, on Amazon: Weapon of (m)ASS destruction

Zen Chickens

EVERYTHING ZEN


Have you ever tried to purchase a coloring book, or any book, online to get it and it not be anything like what you wanted it to be? I had recently ordered my sister an Adult coloring book, and when it arrived, I absolutely HATED it!! It was not what they advertised at all.





Zen Chickens (I need to figure out how to rotate)


Well this book is not like that at all. This book is exactly what it says it is. It's an adult coloring book with so many awesomely designed chickens (and the occasional egg, roosters, chicks, etc) for you to color. As the product description states, these are all hand drawn and there are over 70 of them. They vary greatly from extremely intricate details to minimal details that won't take us much time to color and personalize. There is a huge variety of chickens that are illustrated in this book. There must have been so much time dedicated to creating the photos for this book. The detail and amount of diversity in it is beyond exceptional.




I haven't had time to color in it yet, but I am excited that when I do get the time, I have some extremely detailed and very beautiful chickens that will be waiting for me. This is great for anyone who loves to color and is looking for something with a lot of detail but needs the occasional not-so-detailed photos as well, as a chance to regroup. This is also great for anyone who loves chickens or just wants something different to color. I am beyond pleased with it. I have many friends in the art industry and hand drawn art is always my favorite. I definitely support everything this book stands for.


I have received this Zen Chickens coloring book for free, in exchange for my honest review.

  


To order your Zen Chickens, visit Amazon: Zen Chickens

Tomameri MP3 Player

For the most part, I am pleased with this MP3 player. It arrived neatly packaged, with a charging cable and headphones. I immediately charged the MP3 player and it charged just fine within a few hours. It had a partial charge upon arrival. When I plugged in the headphones, one of the ear buds did not work. I threw them out, and used my own. Most ear buds would work fine with this, if you're not pleased with the ones that it comes with.



This does NOT have built in memory. It comes with a removable 16 GB memory card in it. You can add your own memory card or remove this one and replace it if needed. I was able to easily plug this into my computer, by taking the USB charging device that it came with, and plugged it directly into my computer. From there, I could just drag and drop or copy and paste onto the device's memory card.






This is about the size of an iPod, from what I recall; but it is NOT an iPod. It's been a few years since I've touched an actual iPod, so I honestly cannot remember. This does have an FM transmitter which works perfectly. It can play videos, scroll through photos, and plays MP3s. It also has a voice recorder, which could occasionally come in handy. You can scroll through the screens by pushing the menu button, then use the left or right arrows to scroll through it. Just push the center button for play, or select. It's really user friendly. It's easy enough my 8 year old took it from me and claimed it as his own in a matter of minutes.






I have received this MP3 player for free, in exchange for my honest review.




To purchase your own, click here.

Animal Wall Art: Big Wig Prints

When I saw these prints, I immediately thought of my adorable niece and how much she would love these in her room.  She just turned one back in March and absolutely LOVES animals.  The colors are gender neutral and would make a great addition to her play room.  The animals are a bit boxy shaped and it gives them all a unique look. The set of four prints contains: an alligator on a greenish gray background, an ox or yak (I don't necessarily know the difference) on a reddish orange background, a zebra on a green background and a raccoon on a yellow background.  They're not the typical animals that you'd see on children's pictures and that's part of what makes me like them.  You could put these in a room with other sets of photos that have more common themed animals and it would mix perfectly.  The photos are glossy prints on 8x10 paper and would look best in a frame.

I have received this set for free, in exchange for my honest review.





















To purchase this set: Animal Wall Art

 

Are you ready for sandals?

There for a while I was doing good about writing Blogs about the products I appreciate, and then life happens.  It seems like lately I've only been writing blogs when Amazon doesn't cooperate and eats my reviews.  I hit submit and they just never go live.

With that being said, Summer is on the way.  It's seriously right around the corner.  Are you ready for summer?  I'm not.  I'm already busy enough; I don't even want to imagine how hectic it's going to be once the weather is actually nice outside.

It seems like everything I review lately is trying to get me ready for Summer.  It all started with an Amope foot file that I got from Crowd Tap.  I love that thing!!

Then from there came the sandals and dresses.  I've gotten so many cute summer dresses to review that it isn't even funny.  I've also reviewed about 5 pair of sandals now.

So far, the most comfortable sandals I've come across are these sandals, by SandalUp.  They're thong sandals that range in sizes from 5-11.  They do only come in whole sizes; no halves.  They come in black, white, brown, and navy blue.  I own the black pair, that I had received at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest review.

These sandals are simple and cute.  They might drive the OCD Person in me slightly batty, because they aren't symmetrical, but I can cope.  They have a simple silver metal buckle off to the side.  They straps don't rub when I walk.  They're extremely flat and have no decent support, but I am always barefoot anyway. Even without there being padding or support, they're still quite easy to walk in and pretty comfortable.

On Amazon, I had given them 4 stars, before the Amazon purgatory had eaten my review.  For the money and quality, these are good sandals.  They can be dressed up or dressed down. They're comfortable enough to wear them all day.


You can find them here, on Amazon: SandalUP .

Beach Wedding Wear: San Tokra Bridal Beach Wedding Crochet Barefoot Sandals

It seems Amazon is angry at reviewers lately.  I've had about three (3) Reviews that I took my time to write that Amazon just swallowed and threw into Review Purgatory.  *SIGH*  With my hectic schedule of three jobs, a Kid, a boyfriend, and Volunteering at the USO, I don't have time to Blog like I'd want to.  But here it is....

I got the opportunity to review a pair of San Tokra Bridal Beach Wedding Crochet Barefoot Sandals a few weeks ago.  I wrote the review and gave them 4 stars, but Amazon swallowed my review.  I've been trying to make time, so I decided I'd do it while at my part time job.

These Crochet Barefoot sandals are BEAUTIFUL.  My only issue with them is that I have small feet. I wear a size 7W.  These seem like they're made for someone with at least a size 9 shoe.  They're just really long.  They have a decent sized anklet strap, so you can wrap them around your ankles a few times to keep them securely in place.  I do definitely think that these would make a beautiful accessory for a Beach Wedding.  I'd just like to see them in different sizes.

I think if I had bigger feet and could sort of stretch out the crochet pattern a little better they would look much better.

Pardon my Sasquatch Feet.  I probably don't have the best Modeling Feet for such a product; I had shattered some bones in my feet, while in the Army.


Here's the link to purchase them: San Tokra Bridal Beach Wedding Crochet Barefoot Sandals

Murad-Live Spotless

As a product reviewer, you're often called upon to try things that are a little out of the norm for you.  Quite often, I will take these products on and the challenges that they present, just to see if they do what they claim they can do.

On February 13, 2016, I received a package of Murad products in the mail.  I had vaguely remembered having a conversation, via email, with someone about a skincare line, but I had managed to deleted the email and was clueless on where it came from.  What am I supposed to be doing with this??




Reading the directions, it basically said that this is a skin lightening regiment.  It would reduce the appearance age spots and skin discoloration through a three step process.

Step 1- The Essential C Cleanser:  Wash your face with this cleanser both morning and night.  I also washed my shoulders and neck with it, since that's where all my freckles and age spots are.

I can't say that I did this 100% of the time, but I definitely did my best to stick to the routine.  I'd wash my face both night and day (typically in the shower for one, and then just a quick wash the second time) pretty much every single day.  There might have been a day or two when I didn't exactly wash my face in the morning, or before bed.  I just work too much and don't have the time to follow these types of routines.  But nonetheless, I did wash my face at least ONCE with the face wash, every single day, since I've had this.  I really like this face wash.  It has a light, citrus scent to it and makes my skin feel soft.

Step 2- Rapid Age Spot & Pigment Lightening Serum:  Use the Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum all over your face, neck and shoulders.  A little bit goes a long way.  Do this both morning and evening.

The Rapid Age Spot & Pigment lightening Serum was probably my favorite option for Step 2.  The serum goes on smoothly and quickly.  A little bit goes a long way.  I seriously just squirted about 2 drops onto my hand and covered my face; put one drop on each shoulder and rubbed it into my shoulder and up to my neck.  That pretty much covered everything.  Again, much like step 1, I can't guarantee I did this 2 times a day, but I definitely did it at least 1 time a day, and I know sometimes I did this step twice in a day, even on the days I didn't wash my face twice.  It was just an easy step and went by quickly.  It dries pretty quickly, so there was really nothing to it.

Step 2A-Intensive C Radiance PEEL: Use this in place of the Rapid Age Spot & Pigment Lightening Serum.  Leave it on your face for about 10 minutes.  It DOES tingle.  Rinse with warm water and wash cloth. 

Step 2A was probably really my LEAST favorite.  10 minutes?  I don't really HAVE 10 minutes.  I work 3 jobs, I have a kid in Cub Scouts, I do product reviews. I have a boyfriend whom I rarely make time for.  I do volunteer work at the USO. I feel like 10 minutes was asking too much.  Granted, I should take those 10 minutes and love it.  But yeah.....  So I think I did the face peel maybe twice during this time frame.  Both at night, while I'm sitting at home doing product reviews.  It tingled.  At  first, it was tingle overload and made me uncomfortable, but I think that's just because I didn't know what to expect.  It really wasn't THAT bad, the second time.  It rinses off easily.  My face was sort of red after I did it, but it went away quickly.

Step 2B-Active Radiance Serum: Use this in place of the Rapid Age Spot & Pigment Lightening Serum.  Massage it over your clean face, neck, and chest.  Allow it to dry completely.

The Active Radiance Serum was my next favorite after the Rapid Age Spot & Pigment Lightening Serum.  A little bit goes a long way.  Just massage it into your face, neck, and chest (and shoulders) and let it dry.  Then you're done.  I try to do this at least once, maybe twice a week.  I typically do this step before bed.  It just seems like the right time to do it.  Let it work it's magic while I'm asleep.

Step 3-Essential C Day Moisturizer: Apply this to your Face, neck and chest, after your choice of step 2.  Make sure your face is dry when you do this.   

The Essential C Day Moisturizer.  When I read the directions, it said "Apply liberally".  I really used way too much the very first time I did this.  My face felt so greasy and gross.  I seriously had to wash it all off and try again.  You really don't need a lot of this to get the full effect of it.  My face feels hydrated and fresh all day long when I use this.  Again, I fail at daily routines, so I didn't use this EVERY day, but I tried.  It's just some mornings are busier than others and omitting this one little moisturizing step saves me a few minutes.  Overall, I used it almost daily and really liked how it felt. ***If you put this on, while your face is still wet with the lightening serum on it, it gets chunky and peels off of your face like glue.  I've had this happen a few times.  So make sure you let the serum dry completely.***

Now, how did it actually work as a skin lightening regiment?  Honestly, I can't say it's perfect.  Part of the issue is that I tried to take some Before and After pictures for my own tracking purposes and well, my phone is awful at taking pictures and the lighting is even worse at my house.  I THINK I can tell a difference in the colors of my age spots and freckles, but I can't really be certain.  There definitely isn't a Night and Day color difference; at least not from what I can see.  But I see my skin every day.  

I asked my boyfriend if he noticed any difference and of course I got the typical man response "Babe, it doesn't matter, you always look good to me."  Thanks, BABE, but that's totally not the right answer this time.  Good job for trying.

I see my skin every day, so I'm not going to notice a big change.  I'm hoping once I get the photos post on here, I can get a better side-by-side comparison and see what's really going on.  I do think my face is just generally more pale, which I'm okay with.  I don't have to have a tan to feel confident. 

Age Spot March 4, 2016

Age Spot February 13, 2016 

More about Murad and my time with it.

Murad was created to treat skin discoloration from the sun, genetics, hormones and inflammation.  I have some SEVERE discoloration in my neck from spending too much time in the sun, as a child.  I get red and splotchy, uneven colored skin constantly.  Since I've been using the Murad, yes, I am still red and splotchy, constantly, but it's not nearly as bad as it has been.  My skin tone seems to even out a bit more and blotchiness isn't as noticeable to others (I will always notice it).  To me, that's enough to be a firm believer that something in this is really working.

I have received this Murad for free, for my honest review, from BeautyStat.

§  90-Day Rapid Lightening Regimen product

http://www.murad.com/rapid-lightening-regimen-90-day-supply

§  Rapid Lightening Regimen information

http://www.murad.com/rapid-lightening-regimen

Murad Rapid Lightening Regimen Giveaway