Review: Freeman Chocolate & Strawberry Facial Clay Mask

As you can see, this facial mask has gotten quite a bit of love from me. Back in May when I went to visit my parents in New York, my mom found this at a Pathmark and grabbed it for me. It took me a while to finally get around to using but since then I've had a few masks and I'm in love with this.

Admittedly, I don't usually see results with masks but I do them out of routine and general maintenance since I somewhat subscribe to notion that over time it's actually doing something. Whether it is or is it not doing anything remains to be seen as I've never stopped long enough to see what would happen. 

TL;DR: I do a facial mask once every week. I leave it on for around 20 minutes to half an hour and then I wash it off. I pat down my skin and follow up with a toner.

This particular mask smells amazing as it really does smell like strawberries and chocolate. I've never really had much success with chocolate masks in the past but this particular one amazes me. I'm not sure if it's because I spend the entire time dreaming of chocolate covered strawberries and realize that I cannot have it but I face feels rejuvenated thereafter. I actually feel as though my skin looks younger (please note that I said "feel" rather than "see" because the latter has been harder to determine).

The long of the short is that it's a great mask for my combination skin. It makes my skin feel rejuvenated and therefore always seems to give me the impression that it created a glow. The only drawback I can think of about it (aside from dreaming about desserts the entire time I have it on) is availability. I have not really seen this line or any of the other masks in it out here on the West Coast. It could be that I'm not trying hard enough but at least on the East Coast it seemed to be available in every drugstore. Nonetheless, it can still be purchased online.

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Product: Freeman Chocolate & Strawberry Facial Clay Mask
Price: ~$4
Stars: ★★★★★
Would Recommend? Yes!
Takeaway: I love this mask and maybe I'm biased because it smells like chocolate and strawberries. I will say that for my combination skin, it makes it feel rejuvenated which is always a plus and definitely worth the price.

Influenster Sunkissed VoxBox

Items were received by Influenster VoxBox complimentary.

I received this box a little while ago but I've been slacking on writing about it. I feel a bit bad since I don't think this particular selection really fit me which made it hard to write about in the first place. This particular box came with four items: Dr. Scholl's For Her, Sinful Shine in Picante, Olay Fresh Effects (Light to Medium), and Goody Ouchless Ribbon Elastics.

Let's start with the good. I adore the bottle of nail polish quite a bit. I love the shine and how long it lasts and I think it's a great addition to my ever growing nail polish collection. Since I got this box, I've been furiously hunting them down and I anxiously await them to hit Walgreens' shelves. Thus far I haven't had much luck finding them but I have determination!

And now for the bad, which pains me to write about. As much as I love Dr. Scholl's insoles, I don't wear high heel shoes and these were made specifically for that cause. I can't really blame anyone for that since this goes back to an injury I had a few years ago. I did figure that I could slip them into my sneakers but that's largely why I haven't even opened them yet.

The Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream absolutely does not match my skin tone (I know, I've tried a sample of it before) so I don't want to even bother to open the box. 

Finally, that leaves the Ribbon Elastics which was my last hope for the box. I don't wear my hair in ponytails though and I prefer to go with buns. It turns out that the elastic on them is very limited and they can barely hold up a bun or even the rare ponytail that I'm willing to sport.

I definitely appreciate being selected to test the items in the first place, but I'm a wee bit sad that only one product really worked out for me.

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Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary through the VoxBox product testing program.

A Final Look at the Red Ladies

Back in June I tried out a bunch of red lipsticks -- I had a few others in the lineup that I didn't quite get to so I never got around to posting the comparisons. The experiment was to try out several different lipsticks over a span of a few weeks, and here are the lipsticks (taken the morning of that they were applied for the day) so that you can see the difference in colours.

e.l.f. Studio Matte Lip Color in Rich Red

Maybelline Color Sensational in Very Cherry

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Matte
Collection Lipstick in 107

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in 01

Lancôme Color Design Lipstick in Red Stiletto

MAKE UP FOR EVER Rouge Artist Intense in
Moulin Rouge

Nuance Salma Hayek Color Vibrance Lipstick in Paprika

Pawalla July 2013 Box

It's been a while since I've gotten a Pawalla box so when they contacted me regarding a slight glitch, I was more than happy to accept the box rather than a refund. Now I will completely admit that upon opening the box, I wasn't all that thrilled about the contents. I'll explain as I go through the listings of the box and my first impressions but I'll also remark now that the box was well received by the kittens so take what I say in my initial observations with a grain of salt.

The contents of the box included the following:

• 2 Cans of Against the Grain - Big Kahuna with Crab & Tilapia
• 2 Cans of Against the Grain - Shrimp Daddy with Tuna & Salmon
• Greenies
• Whole Life - Tail Mix Cat Treats
• Petchup - Catchup
• PushClean - Pet Towelettes
• I Love Catz - Sisal Rattle Football Cat Toy
• Doggles - Sushi Catnip Crab

So the reason why I was slightly disappointed (which had nothing to do with the box) was the cat food selected was something that the kittens have rejected before which was a bit of a bummer. I thought they'd love it but they seemed to have hate it. That was a few months ago and I'll likely try it again with them. The toys I figured that there was no way that they'd play with them because they've been all about their collection of mylar balls. The treats... well, I kind of wish they wouldn't send so many treats because we have a surplus of them so I could do without 2 more bags. Then there was the towelettes which just seemed odd. I was really unsure of the Petchup because we actually still have the Meowstard from January and none of the cats seem to like it anymore. 

I was glad that I was so wrong because an hour or so after opening the box and mulling over what to do with everything, I found a small lump on Hiro. Rather than grab the usual baby wipes (we use Huggies Natural Baby Wipes), I figured I'd give the new PushClean bamboo towelettes a shot. They worked great with the small clump of hair and blood and we were able to see what was happening without hurting him. Shortly after that, I come in to check on Shiva who is happily playing with both new toys.

I'm still on the fence about the food, treats, and additional supplement but we know a lot of cat owners out there who will happily take it off our hands. If not, then there's always the chance to donate them to the shelter that we adopted our kittens from.

More Hauls!

Today I got home and I was super excited to find some packages awaiting me! (Okay, well, yesterday I got some packages too that made me really happy but these are actually related to this blog). Anyhow, I opened up my Zoya shipment first and I figured that I might as well show some of my latest nail polish acquisitions during my hiatus.

From Zoya (and therefore from left to right), I got Darcy, Liberty (Pixie Dust), and Faye. From OPI I picked up Every Month is Ocktoberfest and Vesper (Liquid Sand). And finally I grabbed Sally Hansen's Sugar Coat in the Spare-A-Mint colour. The Pixie Dust, Liquid Sand, and Sugar Coat are new territories for me since I've never really tried texture nail polishes before.

Today I also received my order from Sephora! I'm super excited about this one as it is the supposed final princess in the Sephora Disney Reigning Beauties. Now, unfortunately I won't be taking too many photos of this one since these are actually a gift but I figured I'd at least show you it. Below is the compact and the nail polish set for the Ariel line.

Series 3: A Work in Progress

In all honesty, I've kind of been moping around lately. I blended the first one in this series (Raiya) back in April but just didn't get around to finishing the rest of the series. Yesterday I buckled down and finished it out however I'm still on the fence about the final colour: Lei.

As with the previous series, these were all blended for myself or my friends so the names follow suit. First up, was Raiya. The inspiration at best was cherry blossoms, but I was unable to secure pink flower shaped pieces of glitter so instead I incorporated butterflies into a pink base. It didn't come out right the first few tries but finally I got it to where I wanted it to be.

The second and third was Amy and Anita, respectively. "Amy" took two tries to get it right, but it got to the right colour almost immediately. Anita, came out exactly right the first time round.

The final one in the series was Lei, which didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. It came out a bit too blue rather than the teal I wanted (it was intended for it to be closer to Anita). On top of that, I'm a bit worried about the mixture itself since it came out so... incorrect. I will likely revisit it soon as Lei would be the end to Series 3. Until then, the series is incomplete. 

Soap Haul from Hawaii

I have a tendency to stick with my favourites and not really deviate too often from that. But I figured it was time to try another vendor a shot. I haven't tried them out as these are fresh out of the package but here's my soap haul from Passion Moon Potions on Etsy!

PMP is currenty on vacation till July 17th but pictured above (in no true order but somewhat left to right) is: Banana Brulee, Cucumber Lemon Basil, Oatmeal Cookie, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Sugar Goddess,  Peppermint Oatmeal, Haupia, Chocolate Haupia, Pineapple, and Vanilla Mango. I can't wait to try them all!

DPF Sales Fun!

Today marks the first time that I ever completed a transaction on the Disney Pin Forum (this is pin trading related). Since I don't really have much of a collection to trade, I decided to go the route of purchasing. I purchased two pins and the seller kindly threw in two of my "most wanted" pins!

Of course, since I love Stitch (and Jasmine), I won't be trading these but they are a happy addition to my collection!

Winners of the First Ever Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who participated while I've been on hiatus. This morning I contacted the two winners by email to alert them that they've won. Just in case they've missed that email though, here are the two winners! Congratulations and thank you everyone!