Venus Embrace Razor

So my baby girl is now a month old and slowly I am getting back to things such as posts.  

A while back I received a box from Influester to review a new product from Gillette. Gillette now has a product available called the Venus Embrace Razor, which the company has deemed perfect for the "on-the-go" woman.

 I have to hand it to Gillette, this razor is compact and ready to go anywhere. Here is a size comparison of the razor next to a quarter. 

   

As far as performance this item does live up to its claims. The item advertises that it can be used on the go and and is perfect for those spontaneous moments and/or the "I missed some hair situations", all you have to do is wet the razor and you are good to go. I was a little skeptical of this, but after trying the product, it works as it says. 

Overall I would recommend this razor for travel, in a purse, or to take to the gym. It is compact and works on-the-go. 

Wet N Wild Balm Stains Swatches

Okay, as promised here are the Balm Stain swatches. I actually did these swatches back in February but am just now getting them up...sorry!

Nudist Colony: An almost concealer colored tan/nude. 

  Pinky Promise: Shimmery/frosty light pink

A Stiff Pink: A bright cool tone pink. This one is pretty build-able and can be made rather bright.

Rico Mauve: A pinkish mauve. For me this is a "my lip but better color".

Red-dy or Not: A classic bight red

Lady and the Vamp: A lighter wine color. This one come out a lot lighter than it looks in the tube (at least on my lips)

Overall I really like these. My least favorites are Pinky Promise and Nudist Colony. I feel that Nudist Colony washes me out and Pinky Promise is too frosty for my liking. My Faves are probably Rico Mauve and Lady and the Vamp.

Influenster: The Annie's Homegrown Real Food Program Product Review

I was contacted by Influenster about trying a food product. I took a quiz and found out that I qualified for this trial offer. Influenster ended up sending me a coupon for a FREE family sized entree from Annie's Homegrown as part of their #RealFoodTastesBetter campaign. After consulting my family, we decided on the Annie's Family Sized Frozen Lasagna with Meat Sauce.

Here is what I got after redeeming our coupon at Target.

Review: I really liked that this product contained 100% real cheese, organic ingredients, and the pasta contains whole grains. It was nice to see so many healthy ingredients, particularly in an easy to make meal. Preparation was simple. The product just went in the oven for 65 minutes.

We also really liked the taste of this product. The noodles cooked perfectly and there seemed to be quite a bit of cheese. The only thing that could have made this meal more enjoyable would have been the addition of more sauce. As you can see from the picture above, sauce was a little sparse for this product.

All in all it was a good experience and I will probably try another product in the line in the near future. 

Thanks again Influenster and Annie's. 

Influenster is an exclusive community for people to share news, products, and reviews with the opportunity to be rewarded by brands. If you like writing reviews and would like to join this community please leave me a comment with your email and I can send you an invite.

For more information about Influenster or Annie's you can follow them on Facebook @Influenster & @AnniesHomegrown

Talk Nerdy to Me...Super Nails Glitter Polish

So about a month ago I participated in and won a blog giveaway from Burning Moon. I saw that she was doing a giveaway on some cool indie glitter polish and had to sign up. My prize was 5 mini polishes from Super Nails. Super Nails, created by KC Mikses makes some pretty awesome glitter polish mostly inspired by comics, holidays, and food. As a bonus, her polish is also 5 Free! As a prego mamma staying away from those harmful chemicals is very important to me.

Here is my prize pack: The Batman and Villains Mini 5-Pack. All glitters are in a clear base. 

Batman: Black micro dot glitter with large black and yellow hexes.

Shown over Rimmel Sunny Days and on a bare nail

Robin: Mostly red and green hex glitters with some yellow hex glitters and some large black circles (not shown in swatches). 

Shown over Rimmel Sunny Days and on a bare nail

The Joker: Purple and green hexes and squares with a few white circles.

Shown over Zoya Trixie and on a bare nail

Poison Ivy: Micro holographic green glitter with medium sized red hexes and some large green hexes.

Shown over China Glaze Pelican Gray and on a bare nail

Harley Quinn: Red and black micro glitters with red and black diamonds

Shown over Zoya Trixie and on a bare nail

All of these polishes were easy to apply and had a great formula. I had no issues with glitter curling or sticking up. Glitters are pretty dense and did not require much fishing (some larger glitters may require some extra effort, i.e. the black circles in Robin).

Overall I really liked these glitters and will definitely be checking out the site for more glitters in the future. My favorites are Harley Quinn and Robin.  

If you would like to get your hands on any of these polishes or any others from Super Nails her shop can be found here. This pack retails at the Super Nails Etsy Shop for $17.95 or if you like a particular polish the minis run about $3.99 each or you can get a full sized bottle for $7.99

Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo: Follow Up

With my last post on Monday, you may think it's too early for a follow up, but I will get to that.

So I first graced my nails with Zoya's Cosmo on Saturday, posted on Monday and it was off my nails by Tuesday evening (2/25). Here is why... 

Chipping and flaking started to occur Tuesday morning (after about 3 full days of wear). Chips were pretty sizable. (See pointer finger. It has chips on both sides).

With the added texture of the Magical Pixies these chips drove me bananas! I kept picking at the chips which resulted in half covered nails by midday Tuesday.

Here is what Cosmo looked like on Day 1 again

All in all I think I will use this Magical pixie as more of an accent nail, if I grab for it much at all. The texture was a bit much for me (and usually I LOVE texture polishes). I also didn't like that the polish looked a little spotty in the sunlight. I feel sort of let down by this polish. Zoya's original pixie polishes were the reason I went crazy for Zoya, but these kind of missed the mark for me. I feel like Cosmo did not last as long and I almost wish you could buy the colors of these magical polishes and just add hex holo glitters as a top coat.

I used this polish according to the directions for this review. On bare nails with no top coat. I may try it again with a base color and a top coat to see if I like it any better.

Score:

Formula: 3 out of 5. 

Seemed a bit thicker than most Pixie Dust polishes by Zoya, but I feel that it was still pretty easy to work with for a glitter polish

Texture: 1 out of 5.

While this polish was gorgeous in some light settings, in others you just saw the grittiness of the polish. The medium hex glitters added more texture than I liked and made me too aware that it was on my nails.

Longevity: 2 out of 5.

I felt like I didn't get close to a week with this polish, which is basically the norm for me with the original Pixie Dust polishes. This polish seemed to chip faster and made much larger chips than I am used to from this brand.

Overall: 2 out of 5.

Zoya Cosmo, and probably the whole Magical Pixie Dust line is one of those polish lines that people will either love or hate. For me, as a stand alone polish, it is just not my cup of tea. Maybe I will like it more with a layer or two of top coat, but as is it is not my favorite Zoya polish by a long shot.

Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo: Day 1

So I received a bottle of Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo after providing a clue for their Tune Tuesday promo on Twitter. For more info on this promotion go to this website: http://tunetuesdays.com/ 

It is SO much fun and they play almost every week. 

To provide a clue all you need to do is have a song or artist in mind who shares a name with a Zoya color and then tag @ZoyaNailPolish and use the hashtag #TuneTuesClues when tweeting your clue. 

If your clue is chosen you WIN a Zoya color of your choice! If you win a round during the guessing of the clues on #TuneTues you win the color of the clue answer and a color of your choice.

Anyways...here is Cosmo!

Cosmo is a textured Zoya Pixie Dust shade with micro silver glitter and small & medium sized holographic hex glitters. Due to the different glitter sizes it is a whole lot grittier than past Zoya Pixie Dust collections.

Due to all the bling, my camera had a hard time focusing and capturing all the shiny holo glitters.

Here is a photo of the polish in low light. Pictures do not do this polish as much justice as seeing it in person.

Here is Cosmo with high noon sunlight. I was hoping to get a good picture of this polish's shine, but instead got a picture of just how textured this polish is. 

Here is one of the promo photos that got me all excited about this polish and had me ordering (from Zoya site)...

First Thoughts:

Well I only ordered one of the three polishes in this collection (although I thought of getting all three multiple times) because I wasn't quite sure I would like that extra texture. I have been completely on board with Zoya ever since I first tried one of their original Pixie Dust Polishes, but one of the things I liked about them was that they were sparkly but also didn't snag on anything.

To be honest...the jury is still out on this polish. I love the sparkle but am still unsure of the added texture. I feel that I could add a top coat but I am pretty sure this polish would easily eat up 3 or 4 coats and one of the best parts of Zoya's Pixies are that you don't need base or top coats and you get long wear polish.

Side note: In some ways this polish reminds me of rocks. Like a silver/holographic version of Fools Gold.

Think this...but on your nails.

Because of this extra grit, I can feel the nail polish if I run my fingers through my hair or across fabric. Also I feel like I got pretty good coverage and opacity when applying indoors, but when in direct sunlight I did not some spots that could have used a bit more coverage. I think I will actually use a base color like Finger Paints Chromatic Creation under Cosmo next time just to see how a minimal holo polish works with this one. 

Anyway, I will let you know with the follow up my final decision about this polish. 

Note: Day 1 with this polish started on 2/22/14.

BB Couture For Nails-Nail Lacquer in Snow Bunny: Follow Up

I think of all the polishes I have tested so far this one had the worst performance. Although I love the color, and it looked fantastic for about 3 days, I don't know if I will go running out for more from this brand.

Here is a reminder of what this polish looked like on Day 1.

Color was great, coverage in 2 coats, pretty good formula.

Around the end of day three, beginning of day four I started noticing issues. While the didn't chip right away I could see lines (almost crack like) in the polish. I tried time and time again to get a photo of this but pretty much failed. Basically up close I didn't have that nice smooth creme finish I was hoping for. As the week progressed chips started to occur more where the lines were and there was visible wear and lifting near the cuticles.

Here is a look at Day 7...

On the positive side, there was no peeling. I have rather oily nail beds and sometimes that is an issue for me. So would I recommend this polish? I am leaning more to the no side. At least for this particular creme. Maybe a glitter polish from this brand would perform better. 

With a price tag of $10.95 per polish  (http://www.bbnailpolish.com/) and claims of being a polish that stands alone with no base coat or top coat required, I feel that many cheaper polishes perform as well or better. 

Score:

I guess I should probably start scoring these polishes.

Formula: 3 out of 5

(slightly streaky on first coat but nice thickness)

Longevity/Wear: 2 out of 5

(really didn't like the lines that happened) 

Overall: 2.5 out of 5