REVIEW: BIC Soleil Savvy

I received this razor from BzzAgent as part of their BIC Soleil Savvy razor BzzCampaign. I admit I was excited to be part of this campaign because I love trying out new razors especially if I can try them out for free. I have sensitive skin when it comes to shaving there are some razors I just straight don’t use anymore because they irritate my skin so much. I had high hopes for this particular brand of razors because I absolutely LOVE the BIC Soleil Bella’s – I’ve had a lot of good luck with that particular razor – both in the shave and in the longevity of the razor blades themselves.

Now fast forward to the BIC Soleil Savvy that I received. BIC actually stepped up their game with this design making the razor heads interchangeable. Meaning once the blade goes dull, you can simply click the holder, release the blade, throw it away and add on the new replacement blade. I do think this is a cool feature because it’s less waste (i.e., you are not throwing away the entire razor when the blade is dulled). BUT I do not like that this does not really mold to your skin as you shave. It just kind of stays put and you have to really manipulate your hand to get a close and decent shave.

Oddities aside I can say hands down I do not like this razor. As I mentioned I have sensitive skin and I can say SUPER sensitive skin under my arms. I used this to quickly shave my legs and it was fine – I can really use almost any razor on my legs and have an okay result (razor burn aside), but with my under arms? I really need to find a razor that works and stick with it. I tried this under my arms and it just flat out HURT. It was pulling the hair, didn’t give me a clean close shave, and it left me rather patchy with stubble. I’m not saying everyone would have these results – but my under arms hurt afterwards to the point I had to wait almost two days before I could finish up my under arms because applying deodorant even stung. Yeah – sensitive for sure.

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I received my Influenster Summer Beauty VoxBox!

Well, I received it two weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting about it. I received an e-mail from Influenster alerting me that I was picked to receive the Summer Voxbox and I was thrilled. The last one I received was back in the winter-time and I had not been invited to another campaign since until this one. I was looking forward to seeing what was in the box especially after getting my e-mail which just gave a generic hint as to what the products in the box would consist of. I will say the feminine hygiene one raised a brow because that’s a whole new topic! The goodies I received in my box are as follows:

- Hawaiian Tropicc Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen SPF 30 $8.99 for a 6 oz bottle
- Tampax and Always Radian Collection Prices vary per location
- Quaker Soft Baked Bar in Banana Nut Bread $3.29 per package
- Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color $9.99 value
- Sally Hansen Nails and Cuticles Hand Crème $5.99 for a full-size bottle
- Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy (Shampoo & Conditioner) $4.99-5.99 for a 12.7 & 12.9 oz bottle

Quaker – Banana Nut Bread Soft Baked Bars

I received this Quaker Banana Nut Bread soft baked bar in my Influenster Voxbox as a complimentary gift for reviewing purposes and I must say this is amazingly delicious!  I LOVE banana bread, especially with walnuts and this is a healthier alternative to it.  It doesn’t have the consistency of banana bread, but it gives you the illusion of having a yummy homemade banana bread with far less calories and guilt.  I will say I did warm mine up in the microwave per package instructions for 10 seconds and it was fabulous.  As soon as I opened the microwave door (at work mind you) all you could smell was banana.  Ahhhh, I’m a SUCKER for fragrant banana smells in food.  The almonds are on the top of the bar so they are nice and crunchy.  It’s rather filling and satisfying for a snack, it’s not overly sweet – which I appreciated, and it’s just a yummy snack.  I’m definitely going to be picking up a box or two of these next time I am at the market picking up some items to stock away in the cabinet.

Now in case you are wondering, here are the stats:

Made with real bananas and almonds, Quaker Soft Baked Bars Banana Nut Bread flavor has tasty ingredients and key nutrients to help provide fuel to start your day.

-5g Fiber*
-20% daily value of 5 B Vitamins
-6g of Protein
*Contains 3.5g of total fat per serving

SUPER late The Body Shop Birthday Haul!

And by super late, I mean it. This is like … from the end of May. There’s been so much going on that posting some things that are on my camera, or even on my phone has just been a chore. But anyway! Better late than never, right? This here is my haul from The Body Shop.
I knew I was getting a Clarasonic Mia from the LUUUX shop so I wanted to have some face was products to use with it. I also wanted some acne based products to use and figured I’d try some out since the shop was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale. Plus they were doing double points on purchases so I separated my transaction into 2 separate purchases to take advantage of my birthday gift and points, etc. Then the great thing was they had a combo bag with the shower cream and the oil for $15 which was a great steal!
Here’s what I picked up:

- Seaweed Clarifying Toner
- Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash
- Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion. (I really don’t know why I bought this, I have prescription acne products for this specific purpose – but I’m impulsive! Plus the girl that works there really talked this up so, I had to grab it…)
- Shea Shower Cream
- Shea Beautifying Oil

REVIEW: Frizz-Ease Sheer Solution

 

I received a bottle of John Frieda Frizz-Ease Sheer Solution from BzzAgent as part of their BzzCampaign for reviewing purposes. I admit I was pretty psyched for this campaign because I have seen Frizz-Ease sold in stores FOREVER but had never given it a try.  Truth be told, I don’t like to spend a decent amount of money on hair products, particularly when my hair is quite a pain and doesn’t like a whole lot of product.

I admit I used to believe this product was to be used in only people who had curly hair.  My godmother’s daughter always used this and she had super curly hair so I felt the two just went hand-in-hand.  Plus when I did notice it on the shelf it was at least $10+ for a bottle and because I don’t really like throwing my money away on a product that may just not work for me, I never felt compelled to purchase.  Although now after using this product, I wonder what I waited so long for because this stuff is amazing!

I took the bottle with me on vacation a few weeks back – to the beach out of all places.  My hair tends to be rather straight and as the day progresses it can start to look a bit oily.  I do typically have flyaway’s as I don’t use product in my hair outside of an occasional pump of volumizing mousse or split end treatment.  Although in beach weather my hair takes on a new life of its own.  It’s just all around crazy, especially after sitting on the beach for a while – between the salty air, the moisture in the air, the heat, etc., my hair goes from normal to crazy.  As you can see from one of the photographs my hair was completely off the charts crazy with volume – volume I don’t typically have.  It was frizzy and just screamed helmet hair.  After washing my hair, towel drying and then applying 10 drops of frizz-ease solution into my hand (after shaking) I rubbed my hands together and smoothed into my hair.  The results were fabulous!  I was able to go out the rest of the night while on the beach and walking around and my hair was perfect.  Not a fly away in sight, no unruly frizz, no ridiculous beach weather infused volume.

This is very lightweight on my hair, which is a great thing.  If it wasn’t my hair would look weighed down, stringy and oily.  It did not cause any buildup on my hair which I loved because even certain brands of shampoo (not Pantene) leave this thick coating on my hair which can be visible by the naked eye especially when it stays on my scalp.  I will be purchasing once I use up the contents of my bottle – so thanks BzzAgent for turning me onto a fabulous hidden jewel.

Under the Bed Shoe Storage

I picked up this under the bed shoe organizer at TJ Maxx eons ago.  I put it in my closet and while moving things around spotted it and decided to put it to good use since my shoes (particularly the shoes for summer) had spiraled out of control.  A year or two ago I purchased a stand-up shoe organizer that turned out to be a piece of crap once I put more than 6 pairs of shoes on it.  The thing literally toppled over and the hinge parts snapped off.  I threw away the bottom part and kept the top 2 layers which were sturdy and have that in my closet -- but since my shoe collection is larger than just the 8 pairs of shoes on it I needed something else.  The bottom of the closet was riddled with shoes and my boyfriend would grumble every time he had to go in there.  Sooo... I felt this would be the perfect solution -- and it is!

It's a pretty sturdy nylon type bottom with a plasticy top that zippers together.  There are 12 compartments for shoes and it easily slips under the bed with ease.  I currently have a few more slots available for shoes but I need to find a few that have a missing half (weird how that happens to me).  I only paid $7.99 for this on clearance and it's been a space saver for sure.  It's also sleek, so if anything spilled on it, clean-up would be easy and it's very lightweight even with the shoes in it.  It also has 2 carry handles at the side in case you need to pick the bag up and move it elsewhere.  Overall I'm really pleased with my purchase.

My Summer BBQ Cravebox

 

During the month of July, Cravebox put together what they coined “The Summer BBQ Cravebox” for their subscribers.  Firstly, if you are not familiar with Cravebox – it is a monthly subscription ($10/mo) for subscribers to receive a box of goodies which are generally geared toward health/beauty and food related items.  Yes, it’s similar to Birchbox, etc., but this one is linked in with food and health items.  So more of a lifestyle box.

Originally this was going to be a special edition Cravebox, which mean you would have to sign up fro it in advance and they would mail it to the select number of cravers who signed up before they were gone.  According to the Cravebox President, because this box was so great they made it their July box so all would enjoy it.  Considering it’s July, BBQ’s are typically going in full-force they wanted to share the wealth with all.  I will say this box is geared more towards BBQ seasoning and less towards food/health & beauty.  There was not a single beauty item in this box this month – but nonetheless for the $10 spent, I definitely got my moneys worth – particularly with the flame disk, the True Lemon box and the coupon for the free lighter.

This time around my monthly Cravebox consisted of:

-          BIC Flame Disk

-          Coupon for a FREE Bic Multi-Purpose Lighter

-          Mighty Leaf Sunburst Green Iced Tea w/ coupon

-          True Lemon Original Lemonade to-go packets

-          Mozaik appetizer trays w/ forks

The one food item that I had been really wanting to try for a long time has been the True Lemon.  I’ve seen it advertised years back, but since at that point in time it was only sold on their website I never purchased.  It’s now sold at my local grocery store – but I’m looking forward to trying.