Happy HalloWINE!!!

I LOVE Halloween.  It's one of my very favorite times of the year and I really enjoy decorating for it, celebrating it, dressing up, everything!
When this 18 oz. stemless wine glass came available,  I just knew it needed to be mine.  I love the look of it for decorating, but it's also fully functional as a wine glass.  It's hand wash only, a beautiful orange color that's shiny with silver letters on it.  I love a good pun too, and Happy HalloWINE just fits my personality.  And while I did receive this glass for free to review, I can honestly say that I would buy another one in a heartbeat!

Disclaimer....I did recieve this product for free to test and review it.  My review is honest and 100% true though, I love love LOVE it!  To see this product on Amazon, click here.  Check out their other products too!  Super cute


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SlimFast VoxBox

First off I would like to thank +Influenster for the opportunity to test out these products!  I was sent this box for testing purposes and all of these opinions are mine, I was not compensated.

NOW!  I've struggled with weight all my life.  I'm at the point of life where I am happy with how I look 94% of the time.  The other 6% usually happen after I've pigged out on a buffet or something like that. When I was offered the chance to receive a SlimFast box, I jumped at the chance. One of the only times I lost weight was in High School when I did slim fast.  I had a shake in the morning, a bar at school, and as sensible of a dinner as I could possibly have in a southern household where Dad deep fried just about everything.  I knew this would be a great starting point.

I received my box just before a vacation.  I decided to wait until after I got back to open it.  In the box I got a few different products.  Some I was apprehensive about, some were products I haven't heard of, and there was a familiar one that I wasn't excited about at all.  

In my box I got a SlimFast vanilla flavored drink, a dark chocolate sea salt bar, a bag of sour cream and onion crisps, and a bag of cinnamon swirl snack crisps 


Firsts things first; SlimFast High Protein Smoothie Meal Replacement: Vanilla Cream Contains 20g protein and only 1g of sugar with 24 vitamins and minerals. It is lactose and gluten free. Back in HS, I HATED the vanilla flavor.  Let me tell you what.....they have IMPROVED greatly on flavor! It's become my new favorite.  I alternate between this and strawberry.  It really does keep me full until it's time for the next meal and is great to grab on the way to work or to drink right after going to the gym.  

SlimFast Meal Replacement Bar: Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Flavor Contains 10g of protein, gluten free, 5 g of fiber and 18 vitamins and minerals. Another thing that's improved.  IMO, nutrition bars are usually bland and dry.  SlimFast has improved on this and the crisps.  WOW!!!  This bar was YUMMY.  It didn't taste pre packaged and was filling for sure.  

SlimFast 100 calories Snack: Cinnamon Bun Swirl Drizzled Crisps Contains 3g of protein and 5g fiber WOW!!!  YUMMMMMYYYY  These were so great!  I'm definitely glad for proportioned bags, because I could eat my weight in these guys (and that's a LOT!) These were great for satisfying a sweet tooth.  I just wish more stores carried them!  I'm having trouble finding them.

SlimFast 100 calorie Snack: Sour Cream & Onion Baked Crisps Contains 2g protein, 5g of fiber and gluten free. Another hit!  These crisps were a great alternative to chips and helped me get through some cravings. The flavor was a bit strong, but for sour cream and onion, they were definitely on point!



All in all, this box was great!  I tried products I know I wouldn't have purchased otherwise and am super glad for it.  I have been on the SlimFast plan since mid January and have already dropped a few pounds without feeling starved!  

Freeman Beauty

The many faces of Freeman!

Thanks once again to +Influenster and +freemanbeautyuk for my #feelingbeautifulin5 VoxBox for this #contest :) 

So!  For this wonderful Voxbox I got 5 samples from @Freemanbeauty.  I recieved 

• ​Avocado & Oatmeal Mask
• Charcoal & Black Sugar Polishing Mask
• Honeydew & Chamomile Sleeping Mask
• Cucumber Peel-Off Mask
• Coffee & Chai Energizing Paper Eye Mask

On my face in the picture below are the the avocado and oatmeal, and the black sugar polishing mask

Now for the hard part!  My unbiased review of each product.  First a little background about my skin.  I have fairly sensitive skin.  I usually use a higher end product for my face, and I wash my face every day.  I usually can't use things like this because it makes be break out worse or it makes my skin oily.  My skin is normally pretty tame.  Not very oily, I don't break out a lot unless I'm SUPER stressed or have extra hormones going on.  I was excited to try this product because My skin changes....I was anxious to see what was going on!  So I will break it down and give my review of each mask individually and give each a score out of 4 stars with 1 being the least points and 4 being the most.  The categories are smell (How good I thought the product smelled), Texture (how thick it felt, how it felt on my face), Do I recommend?, and overall score. Please keep in mind that these are MY opinions.  Maybe they will work for you, this is all about me though! Click on the link if you are interested in reading more about the product on Walmart.com or Amazon.com!

​Avocado & Oatmeal Mask

SO, the smell of this was FAB U LOUS!!!  I loved it!  Neither smell was overwhelming and it didn't bother me to have on my face.  You put this on your face, avoiding your eyes, and leave it until it is dry.  It made my face itch while it was drying, so I took it off a little early, (maybe after 5-7 minutes) but I could tell that it worked its magic.  It drew out impurities and left my skin feeling smooth.  I did noticed the next day that my skin was a little more oily than normal, but still no negatives for this one. 

Charcoal & Black Sugar Polishing Mask

This particular sample was my favorite of all of them!  The smell was YUMMY.  Definitely didn't remind me of charcoal :) My skin felt great afterwards, and just overall a great product.  It warmed up slightly, which always makes me think it it really REALLY working.  My skin felt great afterwards.  A little oily, but nothing too bad.  Overall a pretty darn good scrub

Honeydew & Chamomile Sleeping Mask

UGH.  I was looking forward to this one and wasn't the biggest fan.  The smell was okay.  I liked the idea of honeydew and chamomile mixed together since chamomile is one of my favorite things to have before bedtime.  The smell literally kept me awake for a while.  I would get a wiff of it as I was dozing and it would startle me awake.  This happened a couple of times before I washed it off.  My skin felt pretty good!  I would recommend, but definitely not for me.

Cucumber Peel-Off Mask

UGH again!  My least favorite.  Middle School aged Brittany hated this mask, and so does adult aged Brittany!  The smell was a strong cucumber smell, which I pretty much hate all the time, and the texture is like glue.  It itched SO bad when it was on my face, and I couldn't deal.  It was washed off in about 3 minutes.  I hate hate hated it. 

Coffee & Chai Energizing Paper Eye Mask

I was the most curious about this one!  Instead of a mask that you put on yourself, it's an actual mask. The mask unfolded and had a serum on it that was thicker than water but not much. The mask was shaped like a masquerade mask. Except I suppose my face is wider set than most?  I had to cut the mask down the middle to fit my face!  Not too big a deal, but it was weird.  The smell was pretty nice.  I'm not a fan of chai, but this wasn't overpowering!  Over all it was meh.  I didn't notice much of a difference, and once again had to rewash my face because I was itchy.  

d

Alright guys

ZzzQuil

     SO!  Here I am again blogging for purposes of product :) This time, I received ZzzQuil Plugged in Lavender and Chamomile Sleep Enhancer from my friends at Influenster.  When I opted to take the quiz for the box, I thought, why not!  I do often have trouble sleeping.  I am wary to try medicines because I'm afraid I won't wake up if something happens to the kids.  So I was excited to try this product!
I am a fan of aroma techniques for 'curing' things.  I love my bath soaks for sore muscles, stress relief, and have tried it for sleep before.  I thought this would be similar.  I was wrong :/

     There's a lot of different reviews out there, and to each their own! The product is a small plug in item that has a place for two little scented pads to go in.  There are a couple of different ones, the one I was given was the sleep version.  Lavender and chamomile.  Easy to use? Absolutely.  You're not supposed to touch the little pads but, if you do, it's okay.  There's an adjuster on the side of the product that allows you to have a lot or a little bit of smell.

       This product gave me a bit of a headache. Regardless of what number I set it on, the smell of lavender and chamomile was INTENSE.  I set it on the lowest smell and plugged it the farthest away from my head.  I couldn't stand it.  I ended up unplugging it after a day.  HOWEVER, when I used it on my kids, it was great!  This product is in my 3 year olds room.  I've been putting it in and taking it out every few days so that the smell isn't too intense, but so far so good!  I've noticed that he takes naps a little easier and goes down without a fight a lot of other times.  So as I said.  Not for me, but to each their own.  It's a relatively inexpensive item to try and figure out if you can use it to fall asleep.






 "I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Quaker Oatmeal Real Medley

I liked this product so much that I went out and bought them after testing them in my VoxBox.  I received the   Cherry Pistachio Oatmeal in my goodie packet.  But I can vouch for all the flavors (which you can find at the bottom of the page I linked to) Every single one of them are DELICIOUS.  They are filling, easy to use, and a great start to your breakfast day.  My favorite flavor was the cherry oatmeal one.  I love pistachios though, so that was a given for me.  They are fairly inexpensive and easy to find.  Nothing bad to say, pretty straight forward.  Just awesome.  10 out of 10.

Kiss Nail Dress

LOVE my Kiss products.  Fairly inexpensive, gets the job done, looks great, and tons of variety.  I got some  Kiss's nail dress product in my Vox Box. I'm usually not crazy about my nails.  Truth be told they're brittle, break all the time, and are short.  I used them anyways (because that's what testers do) and they were AWESOME.  They were super easy to use, and I even had enough that I could use one of them on my big toe and paint the rest of my toes another color.  It stayed on for a month.  An entire month!  Now, this is winter, I'm not exactly wearing flip flops, but I walk around barefoot around the house, and I have a crazy one year old who will randomly bite my toes (don't laugh, because it HURTS!) I recently got a free sample in the mail that I'm anxious to use, but want to wait til flip flop season so that I can use it on my toes!

I Give this product a 10 out of 10.  I honestly can't say anything negative about it.  I wasn't crazy about the design I was sent, but there's so many other options out there!  The design stayed on my fingernails for about  2 weeks, was simple to use, and didn't chip as badly as nail polish does.  It comes in a pack of 28 strips, so I can almost guarantee the size of your nail is out there.  LOVE it.

My Goody QuickStyle Brush

SO As mentioned before I have in my possession a Holiday Vox Box.  Full of goodies!  Speaking of Goody's have you guys seen the obscene amount of brushes out there?  There is one for everything.  And I say YAY for them!  I've always been a fan of Goody products.  Their hair elastics seem to last the longest, their brushes hold up to my hair and actually say what they're going to do.  I have SO many of their brushes new and old.  Before I knew brushes mattered, I just used whatever my mom had on hand.  That being said let's talk about the brush I got in my VoxBox.

Here it is.  And I can't say more good things about it.  It really DOES get my hair dryer faster.  I love using it when I blow dry my hair, I actually like it better than my round brush that I have (which I also love)  I tried a blow out 2 different ways.  I have a LOT of hair, and with my round brush it usually took me 25 minutes to completely dry it.  With my Goody brush, it took only 18 minutes.  That's a lot of extra minutes when you have an active 6 year old and a 1 year old who is into everything!  My favorite use for the brush though, is on my daughter's hair.  Her hair has a wavy texture and before she gets out to school in the mornings I have to do something with it.  This usually involves a squirt bottle.  I HATE using any type of heat on her hair.  So we would either have to get up earlier to do anything with her hair to give it time to dry, or she would go to school with wet hair (which has not been ideal given our recent cold weather)  With the brush, I can squirt her hair, brush it with the Quick Style, and it's literally soaks up the water!  It's AWESOME.

Pros
Pretty colors
Drys hair faster

Cons
A bit bulky and heavy (but nothing compared to my big round brush I used to use for this
Can be a bit tricky to clean
A little expensive at $11.99

All in all I give this product an 8 out of 10.  I probably wouldn't have bought it on my own because of the cost, but it has more than earned it's keep.  Saving me 7 minutes on blow drying is HUGE to me, and using it on Lily's hair has been awesome too.