Author: silveropal3
Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips
This is my review of these awesome little nail polish strips that Sally Hansen makes. Other companies make them as well but the ones I bought at Target were Sally Hansen.
I’m one of those people that hates painting their fingernails because I can’t paint as well or as fast with my non-dominant hand (my left hand). I end up getting impatient and cranky as well as inevitably smearing or denting my newly applied nail polish. This is why I am so glad someone came up with the idea of these nail strips.
The steps are easy and if you do it right you’ll have “freshly painted” nails in less than twenty minutes with no drying time!
1. Match a polish strip with each nail.
2. Make sure your nails are clean. You may wish to buff them.
3. Peel the nail polish strip off the white paper backing. When I attempted to peel these off the clear plastic layer came off all by itself. Then I peeled the nail polish strip away from the white paper backing by getting my finger nail (or a toothpick) underneath the silver strip at the top of the nail strip. I’m not sure if that’s how they’re supposed to come off but that’s how it ended up for me.
4. Apply the polish strip by aligning the strip with your nail. Press the strip on from the center out for best results. The side that is supposed to stick to your nails is the side that was attached to the white paper backing. You can use the side that is rounded or you can rip off the silver tab and use that side which is more square — guess it just depends on what shape nail bed you have.
5. File off the excess nail polish strip. I found that the back and forth motion wasn’t the best for filing these off. I filed the excess off by filing from the top of my nail down. You can use whichever way you want tho.
That’s it. Pretty simple. If you find that the polish strip isn’t sticking you can just hold the strip down on your nail with slight pressure so your body temperature warns it up a bit and makes it stick or you can use a cotton swab and lightly dampen it with nail polish remover. The nail polish remover will make the polish strip sticky so you just have to gently dab the nail polish soaked cotton swab on the supposed-to-be-sticky side of the polish strip.
This is my first time trying these babies out but so far they are fabulous. Quick to apply, no drying time and it seems they’re not chipping just yet.
Cat Genie 120 Self-Cleaning Cat Litter Waste Management System
Let’s just say this right off the bat — THIS BOX IS AWESOME! It will be the last cat litter box I will ever buy. I decided to buy a second one only because even tho it says it can suit up to three cats it’s better to have two of them. Sometimes one of my cats wants to go while the CatGenie is cleaning but can’t so they go pee in the shower drain or sink or something.
Now on to the product review…
I’ve had cats all my life and have always dreaded going down to clean the litter box. The strong amonia smell and the stinky poos wreaked havoc on my nose (I have an overly sensitive sniffer my docs tell me so everything is magnified) and I wanted a better solution because for sure I wasn’t going to get rid of my kitties!
Enter the CatGenie!
This litter bowl (not box, haha) does exactly what it says it will do. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had to clean their litter box! The only time I’ve had to do anything with the litterbox is a)when we had to set it up, duh! and b)when we had to rinse off the water sensor a couple of times. That’s it!
We have also had to add some more pellets to the bowl as our kitties paws do tend to track the lil things around the house…altho it’s a lot less than I thought it would be and it helps that they are teeny tiny pellets, too. Since we bought the first one almost a year ago I’ve only bought one box of pellets and there’s still half a box left. It may just depend on how big your cats paws are or if they are stickier than other cats’ paws so who knows…I’m just telling you mine track the pellets very little.
I would like to note that I do have the SaniSolution cartridges on auto delivery and this makes it a lot easier since I don’t have to remember to buy the cartridges. For three cats I have my auto delivery scheduled at one cartridge every two months which I think is awesome, I thought for sure the cartridges would only last a week or two given how many times the CatGenie runs a day! Altho every time it does run it is music to my ears 🙂
The CatGenie works as follow:
1. Your cat goes to the bathroom in it.
2. The CatGenie waits ten minutes and then starts running (if another cat goes in after the first cat the timer resets and waits another ten minutes).
3. First stage of cleaning it scoops out the solid waste (checks 3 times).
4. Second stage of cleaning it fills the bowl with the SaniSolution and scrubs the little pellets clean then drains (does this 3 times).
5. Third stage of cleaning it dries the pellets and the bowl (does this 3 times) — this is also the stage where the “fresh scent” is predominently noticed.
6. CatGenie is ready to go for another round!
The fresh scent is pretty strong so if flowery-scented stuff makes you sick I would defnitely go with the unscented SaniSolution cartridges. I will say I don’t like flowery-scented stuff but I don’t mind this fresh scent, weird right?
If you’re looking for a solution to your cat litter problems then the CatGenie is going to be your new best friend 🙂 I’ve bought both of mine from Petco and if I ever have to buy another one (I’ve come to the realization that everything breaks eventually) I will buy it again from there because it was cheaper. Perhaps if it were on Prime on Amazon and a bit cheaper I would buy it here.
For the people who say it clogs all the time…maybe your cats excessively shed or it’s not put together properly? All I can say is it hasn’t clogged for me — only the water sensor has needed a quick rinse.
Hope this review helps you make your choice!
Walgreens rewards you for tracking your fitness
In case you folks didn’t know, Walgreens rewards you with free money (Balance Reward points) when you track your daily fitness and goals. It’s really easy to set up and who doesn’t want free money?
Just go to Steps with Balance Rewards and either log in with your Walgreens.com account or create a new one then follow the steps to setup your new Steps account. It’s that simple.
Silly Kitty
Mmm a very tasty wheat beer with grains of paradise and coriander.
Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 — Rose Tinted – sheer raspberry mauve in fuchsia case
Perfect tinted + light-feeling lip balm!
Quick Take: hydrating, non-waxy, long lasting, fresh smelling
I bought this as an extra buy when I went into the Sephora store. The sales associate recommended it to me even tho I really didn’t want to use a tinted lip balm especially for $22! Since I like trying new things tho (and they have an AWESOME return policy) I decided to give it a whirl…and I am SO glad I did because this is now my favorite lip stuff to use on a daily basis!
Why I like this product:
- No waxy feel like Chapstick and Carmex
- Smells absolutely delightful, smells like lemons!
- Goes on smoothly and doesn’t feel cakey or thick
- Balm feels super light like I’m not wearing anything on my lips!
- The Rose tint I think is the best all around color because it only give your lips a subtle tint.
- This stuff is pretty long lasting — the lady said you probably have to reapply it every hour like every other lip balm but I only apply it maybe four or five times a day.
- The tube — it feels nice in the hand (almost like metal, but it’s plastic) AND it screws shut so the cap can’t come off in your purse and ruin everything (kudos to the developer who thought of that)!.
- Even after this treatment has been on my lips for a while my lips actually feel moisturized instead of just feeling like I have a barrier between my them and the environment.
Overall I would definitely recommend this to my friends + family as the perfect daily lip “treatment” and I would totally try to get them to splurge on it, worth every penny!
As for the exfoliation it’s supposed to give I’m not too sure if it really does exfoliate my lips (because I’ve never used an exfoliating lip product) but it must be doing something good because my lips have never looked better! They’re not peeling as much and I’m not having to bite off extra pieces of lip tissue anymore 🙂
Rejuva Minerals — multitask powder, foundation + all over face color — Day 6 & 7
NOTE: I bought a bunch of new brushes to try out with all my new makeup!
SHANY Pro Vegan Mineral Brush Set with Pink Clutch
ecoTOOLS Make-Up Kabuki Brush Set
Day 6
My face is smooth as silk and I’m pimple-free! My face still isn’t dry, I’ve actually gotten compliments on how my skin looks flawless as if I had it airbrushed.
I’m getting used to the whole makeup routine in the morning so I’m not as displeased with that as I used to be — remember, I’m used to not doing anything to get ready in the morning besides brushing my teeth and washing my face.
Day 7
I decided to try out Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer in addition to my usual makeup regimen just to see what effect a primer would have. Well let me tell you this particular one goes on smooth as silk — it comes out of the tube as a liquid-gel then as you put it on your face it finishes to a powdery feel — very nice!
Regarding one of my new found favorite makeup brands, I would like to say with 100% certainty that I would recommend this to my friends + family. I have already started telling my friends about it, I even gave one of them the free full color catalog that came with my order (they are normally $1.50 if you order it by itself).
I’ve only had one zit this whole one-week trial and I believe it is just because of stress and eating lots of bad things – we have been remodeling our kitchen and have had to eat out EVERY single meal, it’s ruff!
Conclusion
I really hope they start selling this stuff in stores like Sephora or Ulta as I’d rather go to a store to buy it than have to wait a week or two for the stuff to arrive (I have the type of personality that requires things I want to be immediately available to me, thank you Amazon Prime!).
As I said before, I would highly recommend this product to my friends + family. My only thing I have that may be considered negative for some people is that it doesn’t really control oil as well as I thought it would. Perhaps my expectations were too high to begin with but from what I read on the website this makeup is supposed to provide a matte look because it’s supposed to control oil a bit. I have combination skin – oily at my t-zone and normal everywhere else – and this makeup only looks matte for about an hour or two and then my forehead goes back to being an oil slick. Who knows, it could also be the terrible fluorescent lighting at the office 🙂
Rejuva Minerals — multitask powder, foundation + all over face color — Day 3, 4 & 5
Day 3
Cleaned + moisturized + foundation + multitask — I decided to skip putting on the multitask powder before my foundation so I would have one less layer of makeup on my skin (even tho they’re all super sheer layers). Also, if you’ve noticed I haven’t been using the all over face color very often because the foundation and multitask powder is sheer enough that it doesn’t make me look washed-out and pale. I still plan to use it on nights out and stuff tho.
Skin is still looking wonderful as well as feeling fabulous. Still no zits. Still no dry skin. Still no flakiness, redness or irritation.
Day 4
Same routine as day three — still going strong! No zits, no dryness, no irritation or breakouts.
Day 5
Put the stuff on in the morning and it lasted well into the evening like always (even without the use of face primer!). This evening it was actually misting raining and strangely when I looked in the mirror I didn’t see any of the makeup running down my face or anything. I don’t know if it’s because this mineral makeup sinks into my skin better or maybe because I don’t have that much on…I’ll leave that up to the next person to decide.
Altra 9234096 Laptop Cart, Cherry on Black (Kitchen)
Wobbly and a pain to wheel around
I was really excited to receive this desk so I could sit on my couch and use my laptop. I know it’s called a LAPtop but my legs always get hot from using the laptop on my lap so I decided to shop around for a laptop table.
The item arrived on time and was as described.
My first impression was:
1. It was a pain to assemble (so my husband says) because there were so many pieces. (He’s not a dummy when it comes to this kind of stuff so don’t assume the worst lol)
2. It felt cheap — the plastic, the wood and just the overall look of the table. I know it was only like $35, maybe I was expecting too much.
3. You could adjust it but the shortest height it would go down to was still higher than I wanted it to be. I like to lay on the couch and use my laptop but I could not do that with this table b/c it didn’t go down far enough. I had to angle the tilt of the table the furthest it would go to be able to see the screen.
4. Whenever I typed on my laptop while on the table the table would constantly go up and down and wobble. It was so annoying that I ended up just using my laptop on my lap. We checked all the screws and nuts and bolts to make sure everything was as tight as it should be and they were. This was just a wobbly table.
5. The bast of the table is rather large so whenever I rolled it anywhere I had to make sure I wasn’t running into things. My idea of a laptop table would be one that has a smaller base to manuever easily.
I will say, however, the table did function well as a side table for drinks and such.
I ended up getting the Furinno Adjustable Vented Laptop Table and I am LOVING it. Smaller profile and so much easier to move around. This one wobbles ever so slightly, hardly noticeable at all AND it comes in fun colors 🙂 The joints seem sturdy and I like the push-button way of adjusting the legs. They even have handy #’s on them so you get both joints adjusted at the same #.