Reviews

My two cents.

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!

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 🙂

Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer

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)

71SL5gZJFyL__SL1500_

Wobbly and a pain to wheel around

Altra 9234096 Laptop Cart

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 #.

On Your Toes Foot Bactericide Powder – Eliminates Foot Odor for Six Months

This stuff rocks.

I had never gotten a bactericide before and in fact never knew they existed. I have certain shoes I wear daily and they start to smell after a while. I would wash them but they wouldn’t smell any better so I decided to try this stuff.

On Your Toes Foot Bactericide Powder

This stuff came on time and exactly as described.

You just sprinkle a capful of this wonder into each shoe and shake it around a bit so the whole inside of the shoe is covered.

First day I noticed a huge difference — NO SMELL!
I know it says to sprinkle it at least three times (I think that was the number of times) into the shoe to get the full effect but I only did it once and it’s been probably two months since I’ve sprinkled it in there and there is still no smell!

I also sometimes sprinkle this stuff directly on my toes and rub it in a little when I’m wearing sandals or flip flops, works just as well.

Rejuva Minerals — multitask powder, foundation + all over face color — Day 2

Day 2

Cleaned + moisturized + multitask + foundation + multitask — VOILA!  My face looks fresh, flawless and like I mentioned before it looks like an airbrushed finish.  My face also feels light as a feather like I’m wearing nothing and doesn’t look dry or flaky.

Sitting here at work and my face doesn’t feel tight like it did with the Bare Minerals!  Also, let me just reiterate the fact that this makeup smells like cocoa and it is fabulous to be able to smell that throughout the day 🙂

My skin is clear of pimples still and I’m super happy about that.  I’m hoping my skin will stay pimple-free throughout my trial of this makeup because so far I really like it.

Rejuva Minerals — multitask powder, foundation + all over face color — Day 1

rejuva minerals

I received my Rejuva Minerals makeup Wednesday night and could not wait to try it out!  Sadly there was still kitchen work to be done for the remodeling so I didn’t get a chance to try it out until this morning.  May I also add that even tho I had never tried Rejuva Minerals before I ordered the full-size version instead of the trial-size like they suggested (there are absolutely NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES).  When I was ordering the foundation they had some useful color matching information on the page.  They compared it to Bare Minerals colors which thankfully I already knew which color I was with them.

Day 1

Cleaned my face, moisturized, put on multitask powder first, then foundation, all over face color and finally some more multitask powder to set everything.  After a few minutes the makeup sunk in and WOW.  My face looked like it had been airbrushed with makeup!  This was craziness to see because, as you know, I’m a novice to the makeup world and still unsure about the proper application, how much to use, et cetera.  The fact that I could do it in about ten minutes and it look flawless was fabulous!

I skipped the primer because it appears that primers causes my face to be too dried out, especially around the corners of my mouth and between my eyebrows. (NOTE:  I did go primer-less with the Bare Minerals but that stuff still made my face dry and itchy right away and throughout the day)

Rejuva Minerals — multitask powder, foundation + all over face color

Just received my Rejuva Minerals stuff in the mail and anxious to try it out in the morning!

I would try it out now but lots of work to be done with remodeling the kitchen 🙂rejuva minerals

Will let you know how Day 1 goes by tomorrow night!

Bare Escentuals — bare minerals — Day 5, 6 & 7


bare minerals precision face brush

Day 5

I can see the makeup kind of caking or flaking around the corners of my mouth and on my t-zone.  The ouside corners of my eyes are red and itchy and hurt to the touch.

Bare Escentuals Precision Face Brush

Day 6

A couple more new pimples sprouting up on my cheeks…

Day 7 (today)

I’m sitting here and the skin around my eyes and around my mouth are tight and dry.  I dabbed moisturizer on it but that didn’t help (I use Clinique Moisture Surge) and it kinda made the makeup come off.  The outside corners of my eyes are still red and are sensitive to touch.  Can’t wait to go home and take this stuff off my face for good.

Conclusion

While Bare Minerals was majorly hyped as being the best skin care you can buy, my conclusion is I will never use these products again (except for the blemish treatment, it really rocks I think b/c of the sulfur).  My skin is worse than when I started – I have more pimples and now my face is dry.  I’ve noticed that my face is rather itchy as well, probably from it being dry.  Hopefully after a week of letting my skin go back to it’s normal daily routine…it returns back to the way it was before I started using bare minerals.

bare minerals blemish therapy

I do highly recommend the blemish treatment.  The sulfur in it really does heal pimples quite fast (2 days maybe?) and, if you don’t mind the smell of sulfur, it also serves as a concealer because it’s tinted.  I have also been putting it on my old acne marks and it seems to be making those less visible which makes me happy as a clam :)

bareMinerals Blemish Therapy

I’ve decided to try Rejuva Minerals and see if that’s better.  From what I’ve read so far they are mica and bismuth free so they should cause less skin irritation, pimples and less dryness.  Their makeup also has cocoa powder in it making you lightly smell of chocolate!  What could be better? :)   Whenever I receive the new makeup I will write a review on that as well.

rejuva minerals