Tips for preventing pests in your home

I received this item in exchange for an honest review.

 This is my last review for now, and yes it's not my usual subject matter. I try to blog about all things which effect my daily life, so I feel it's relevant. Despite having Mr. Furrball - who is a pretty good mouser despite having no claws - we do have some mice in our home. I've been doing research to learn more about getting rid of them and honestly it seems like the best thing you can do is prevent them from coming into your home altogether.

There are a few things I've done to help prevent them:

1) Keep your house clean. This is more difficult for me since I have chronic pain, but I've been working on keeping our home cleaner and it does seem to help. Of course the cleaner your house is, the easier it is to stay clean. I think the best tip is to just never keep dirty dishes in the sink because that's a food source for any pests. I've found doing dishes as they are dirtied is simply the easiest way to stay on top of dishes. This way you don't have 50 dishes to do all at once.

2) If you have pets, try to keep their food up where the pests can't get to it. I usually keep food out all day which means the mice have access to that food which of course is not ideal but I don't really have any other good option on where to put his food.

3) Look for entry ways and either board them up or put steel wool in the holes. I think this has helped the most because the mice simply can't chew through the wool - not to mention, we only have the kind with soap so I'm sure they don't like that. Of course this means they will have to look for other entry ways but if there aren't any, problem solved.

4) Use peppermint oil. This essential oil in particular is supposed to confuse them. It's been said to keep bugs in general away. This is another step I have done which has seemed to have helped a lot. I just put some drops of peppermint oil on a cotton pad and leave it anywhere I've seen mice. I've also tried wiping down surfaces with the oil to keep them away.

5) Get a cat! Winslow has trapped or killed a few of our mice and other bugs even without claws.

6) Lastly, you can use a pest repellent like the one I will be reviewing today.

Product Description
DO THEY WORK? - That's the big question. There are no guarantees and that's the TRUTH with this kind of technology. Have a look at the reviews for other products and you will see some say it works & others not. Results are based on a number of factors including the type of pest & environment conditions. We tell you this as we want to be HONEST, but we have tested & developed a step by step guide alongside the multi-function our repeller offers to get the BEST RESULTS POSSIBLE in 4-6 WEEKS.

5 in 1 TECHNOLOGY - To get ultimate results you need a variety of technology - Ultrasonic waves emit a loud siren that humans cannot hear but is hugely irritating to pests - Electromagnetic vibrations don't let pests rest - Ionic control cleans the air of pollutants & food odors that attract pests. AC Socket allows you to plug in small devices & a light sensor activated night light gives a soft glow in dark places.

TESTED & EFFECTIVE - We have tested and tested some more to develop the most effective method to get rid of and reject pests. We have put this into a step by step guide so that you can have a pest free home. This is ESSENTIAL otherwise you will be continuously chasing these bugs around! Perfect against rats, mice, insects, spiders and more, but pet and human friendly (One repeller needed for each room)

MODERN DESIGN & EASY TO USE - The FIRAA repeller comes in a cool black body, with a nice soft blue night light. It will look the part anywhere in the Home and not attract unwanted attention but rather fit into the surroundings and be the envy of friends and family. The electric repeller just needs to be plugged in - no need to adjust any settings, it does it all for you automatically (adjusts frequency also).

Review
I noticed within the first day of use the moths in our home seemed very confused and we haven't had a moth problem since I started using this. We also seem to have fewer spiders. They seemed to go into hiding with use of this product. Unfortunately it didn't get rid of the gnats - we always have a ton of gnats in the summer with it being so humid here next to Lake Michigan. I was hoping it would keep the centipedes away but they didn't seem to mind it, either.

As for the mice, I definitely have not seen as many mice since I started using this product in addition to using the above techniques. I have not seen any in a few weeks - but I do hear them almost every night so unfortunately they are still in the house. I tried doing as instructing and unplugging the repeller for awhile, then plugging it back in to confuse them. I found the mice would just come out more once I unplugged it. So if anything, I want to say this does seem to keep the mice more confined to the walls which in the long run should help.

The company claims this product emits a sound which humans cannot hear but I can definitely hear it. I don't keep this plugged in all the time because I do find it a bit distracting. My cat also doesn't seem to like the noise. I had plugged this into an outlet in our kitchen and he just froze in place when he first heard it and then refused to go into the kitchen. He did seem to get used to it, but I ended up placing it in a higher outlet which seemed to help him but didn't seem to keep the mice away quite as well.

I do like that this has an outlet on the side so it doesn't completely tie up your outlet. I used this feature once with no issue.

The night light I feel is a nice feature to have - but I left it turned off because the light bothered me a bit, but that's probably an epilepsy quirk. So I definitely appreciate being able to have the option of turning the night light on or off.

I did find the single unit seemed to be enough to keep the pests away from our entire home. We do live in a small apartment (1 bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and spare room.) The frame of our home is made out of metal which I would guess makes the sound bounce back and forth more than normal perhaps, I'm not sure.

I was concerned about how this would effect my aquarium pets but my snail, frog and fish did not seem to be effected by it at all.

I would recommend this product - or a similar one - to anyone wanting to keep pests out of their homes but be aware there are some issues with it and it may or may not keep them all away.

Unfortunately this product seems to have changed in availability in the time since I received it for review. It was $29.60 on Amazon at that time. It is currently available on Amazon from third party sellers for $149.95 and they are currently backordered until November 11. Hopefully once they're back in stock the price will drop back down?

UpNature The Best Wild Oregano Oil 4 OZ 100% Pure Review

I received this product in exchange for an honest review. 

Gosh it's been a long and exhausting week. I've been trying to figure out what to do with my time. It's difficult when you have any kind of disability. You have all this time on your hands and want to keep productive yet may not have the ability to do so. I've been taking a break from genealogy so I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself. I've been drawing more, reading a lot and spending too much time on video games. I keep wishing I could find something part time to do to make a bit of money and eat up my time. As usual there are no such jobs around here. At least nothing I can do. So I'm doing the best I can for now. I'm down to my last few reviews so I'm still contemplating where to go from here as well. I'm still hoping to get approved for some reviews soon. Maybe I'll just keep blogging about my manicures. :)

Moving on to today's topic at hand I have another essential oil review for you. This is a new to me company. 

Product description 

This is absolutely the best value for money you will find on Amazon per ounce! Stop overpaying for oils. Ready To Start Using This Powerful Oregano Essential Oil To Enhance Your Health & Well-Being?By Using Oregano Essential Oil You Can Directly Enjoy The Following Health Benefits:

✔ Treating foot or nail fungus: Put a few teaspoons of our oregano oil in a basin of water and soak your feet in it. You can apply the oil with a carrier oil, on the skin or nails as well. This will help alleviate any kind of skin fungus.
✔ Terminate parasites and infections: With it's unique anti-parasite properties, it is one of the best natural tools to deal with parasites & infections. Dilute the oil, and place it under your tongue. Hold it there for a few minutes, and then rinse it out.
✔ Stop all colds completely: All you need to do is put a few drops of our oregano oil in a pot of steaming water. Afterwards, inhale the steam, and this will combat anything internal, and remove your cold.
✔ Respiratory and immune system health: Bolster your immune system with oregano oil, as a 100% natural tool. It is known for helping prevent and treat a vast number of infections.
✔ Relieve any bites and rashes from the body: Apply oregano oil diluted with a carrier oil on an affected area, to alleviate and help combat any bite\rash, including poisonous ones.

Review

I've used oregano oil in the past to combat allergies with no problems. Unfortunately I learned the hard way you definitely want to use a carrier oil with this. I tried using some of this oil on its own on my wrist and I broke out in a rash for several days. I'm not sure if it's because I used the oil undiluted or if I've developed a sensitivity to it. I eat oregano often so I sure wouldn't think so. 

That kind of scared me from using this on my skin for awhile. Next time I'll try it with a carrier oil. I did use this on my face over top makeup but that caused some irritation as well. 

Mostly I've just been using this in my oil diffuser. This oil is extremely potent so I only needed to use a few drops. 

This oil is supposed to be great for so many things which I could definitely benefit from. Hopefully I will find a better way to use it on my skin so it does not cause irritation. 

This oil is $20.99 on Amazon for a 4 ounce bottle. Most of the other brands I found only come in 10mL bottles, so you definitely get a lot of bang for your buck with this oil.

Don't toss those old polishes yet

I was looking at some of my old polishes and trying to revive one using thinner when I figured out a pretty nifty trick I thought I'd share. 

I keep hearing about how much people hate texture polishes which inspired me to use OPI Stay the Night yesterday. I love this polish by itself because it's a beautiful black with red glitters. My hair is currently black and red so it seemed fitting. 

Anyway I was trying to thin out one of my gold Kleancolor minis and it just was not happening. I swear I'll never buy minis again because they just clump up on me. I forget right now which polish this one is. I'm thinking maybe Golddigger. It's a jelly base with gold and holo glitters with the random silver holo glitter tossed in. 

I decided to try applying it to my nails despite it thinning out. I found that if I dab the polish on my nails the texture grabs some of the polish. Since it's already textured the polish doesn't have to apply smoothly. Just make sure to dab it. If you try to apply normally it won't come out right. 

So now I have a good use of my old junk polishes. I'll have to experiment more but this seems like such a good way to use those old polishes while adding some sparkle to your textured manicure. 

Non Slip Anti-Bacterial Bath Mat Deluxe Review

I received this product in exchange for an honest review. 

I think I've mentioned before how much I've been working on making our home more comfortable. It's difficult because we rent so were limited in what we can do as far as improving the aesthetics. Limited storage space doesn't help either because I have no room for decorations.  

One of the things we thought to do last year was replace our boring plain shower curtain with more interesting ones. Our walls are white which we both hate so a little bit of color helps make things more interesting.  This is the new one which I just hung up today. 

It's polyester so I did have to get a liner for it but so far I like the idea of a polyester curtain and this one just makes me smile. As it happens this week we are in the bathroom with the FlyLady program so it's a good time for a new curtain. All of this goes along with today's  review of the Non Slip Anti-Bacterial Bath Mat Deluxe. 

Product Description

DESCRIPCION • STYLISH WHITE COLOR LOOKS GREAT AND LUXURY IN EVERY SHOWER Make every bath or shower you take safer and more sanitary, anti-bacterial BPA-free. Made of high-quality, allergen-free vinyl. Machine washable. Excellent Grip Top and Bottom The underside of the mat is covered with suction cups that, once pressed into place, adhere firmly to the floor of a tub or shower stall and will not shift or slide when you step on or off.

Review

I like this bath mat because it is BPA free. I question the claim that it is machine washable, and haven't tried to wash it that way. I used a wash cloth and some general purpose cleaner to wash it and that worked just fine. I've been using this for about a month and I haven't noticed any build up of grime or mildew or anything. That's better than my tub stopper which I had to clean after a week. It's so humid up here next to Lake Michigan that everything grows at a really fast rate, so I'm pretty happy with how clean this mat is after a month of use. 

At first I thought this mat seemed a bit small for our tub, especially looking at this picture. However, in actual use it's a perfect fit. Since I'm so accident prone I'm thankful I haven't slipped once since I started using this. All of those oils in the bath salts I use to tend to make things more slippery unfortunately.It eases my mind having this in our tub as well, knowing we're not as likely to slip and fall now. Even when taking a bath, I didn't have it slipping around on me - if you remember my review of my bath pillow, the suction cups on it don't stick to anything on the tub.

One of the bonuses to this bath mat is that it comes with this little loofah. I thought it looked kind of cheaply made but I was surprised at how well this works. The texture is a bit like a washcloth so it feels absolutely incredible on your skin. It definitely works well to exfoliate the skin. 

Additionally, this bath mat does seem to be one of the more affordable bath mats on Amazon. I feel it is definitely a good deal for the price. It's comparable to Walmart prices as well.

The bath mat is available on Amazon for $9.99

The shower curtain I bought at Amazon for $7.99 (but I got it free with a gift card, yay!)

CHROME nails with Born Pretty Store

I received these products in exchange for my honest opinion. 

I was going to post this last night but as probably most of you know by now the entire reviewing world is in an uproar at the moment with Amazon's decision to ban companies from offering products in exchange for an honest review. Obviously this effects me personally and effects this blog because I review so many things here and then on Amazon as well or at least I did. I'm personally feeling pretty disheartened. I'm not sure yet what it will mean for my future of reviewing. The web sites I use to work with companies will adapt I'm sure. They are promising things are going to continue on as usual. But I don't want to make this entire post about all of that. Things are definitely changing so only time will tell what that means exactly. 

So today I will be reviewing Born Pretty Store's chrome effect powders. I received both gold and silver so I decided to use both at once so you can compare. Let me begin by saying I like these little jars much more than the usual little containers the powders and things usually come in. I can never tell the top from bottom with those and I find them more difficult to open. These little jars are obvious in their design and easy to open so I'm much happier with these. 

 (I noticed while putting this post together, and comparing my powders with the photos on Born Pretty Store's Web site that while my gold looks the same as theirs, for some reason my silver looks completely different. It's definitely not the same fine powder as is shown in those pictures so I'm wondering if they didn't change the powder at some point.)

I played around with these powders quite a bit before actually using them. Let me say they are so much fun. I know Born Pretty Store and just about everyone I've read stated you have to use these with gel polish so that is what I did. I did use regular polish with my test swatches and didn't notice a difference. Born Pretty Store recommends using these over white or black gel polish. I actually don't have either of those and I figured that's what everyone else was doing so I did not just to try something different. I used Bundle Monster gel polish in red. 

Obviously the issue I have with chrome is it shows every little flaw so if your nails aren't perfect it will show. So sorry but I'm not sorry. The photo above and below are my nails before I applied the top coat. 

I think you can see the silver is a bit more flaky than the gold so it doesn't have the same effect. It's a beautiful chrome but not really the mirror perfect chrome you see with some powders or polishes. Still I love it. The gold took on more of an orange color which I found to be beautiful. At certain angles it almost looked red which was strange. The gold I'm not sure you could really call chrome. It's definitely gold but it has a bit of holo sparkle to it. Regardless of what you call these they're lovely and so fun to play with and easy to apply. As you can see from my pictures the powder does get everywhere. So pardon the mess but I did want to get before and after pictures with the topcoat and I didn't want to risk cleanup because the powder does rub off easily. One more thing I like about these powders is you can rub them on to get different texture effects sort of like doing gold leafing. 

I had planned on doing some kind of nail art with these, but they started to chip after 4 hours. Less than a week after painting them, I still hadn't done any nail art and they were chipping but also lifting. I was actually able to peel the polish completely off my nails so I'm thinking it just never cured correctly or something, I don't know. I guess I still need to practice gel nails more or maybe it's my polish? I probably will get some black and white gel polish at some point just to have on hand.

Edit. I just thought to add in my test swatches for you to see. A few of these have the mermaid powder as well but you can clearly see the gold and silver chrome powders with regular top coat applied. 

$1.99 1g/box Mirror Powder Gold Silver Pigment Nail Glitter Nail Art Chrome - BornPrettyStore.com

http://www.bornprettystore.com/1gbox-mirror-powder-gold-silver-pigment-nail-glitter-nail-chrome-p-30353.html

You can use my coupon code QTX31 to get 10% off your purchase from Born Pretty Store. Shipping is always free worldwide!

Be sure to check out their new nail art supplies
and they have a bunch of nail art supplies on special, and even more at the low price of only 99 cents!

Born Pretty Store decals glitter and more

I received these items in exchange for an honest review. 

Today I have three manicures and three different products to review for you. They all kind of go hand in hand so why not post them all at once. You'll see. 

For this first manicure I used two coats of Ciaté London Spinning Teacups from my August Ipsy bag. This polish applied easily and lasted a long time before chipping. I loved it. 

I topped it with my gold mermaid nails powder from BPS then added some nail decals and finished with top coat. The mermaid powder is absolutely awesome. You use a makeup applicator to rub it on your nails and you can get some very different looks depending on how you rub it on or what colors you use. It was so much fun to play with. 

Unfortunately the top coat does mute the effect so you can't see how pretty this was. Also I had some issues with my nails bubbling but after some playing I think it must have been a reaction between my topcoat and the decals and maybe the powder. 

My next two manicures I'll admit are a bit strange and I had minor issues with them as well. I did every other nail using Zoya Zuza and Myrta and I used a matte top coat with these. On the Zuza nails I added a could of orange jewel decorations. On the Myrta nails I did this. 

First I swiped a coat of Zuza at a diagonal on the Myrta nails. I found this glitter hard to work with because it's actually a bit more like salt so I found the easiest way to apply it was by dipping my nail in the glitter pot.  

This glitter is absolutely awesome because it glows in the dark. I first tested it under black light. 

I didn't expect the rhinestones to glow so that was a happy surprise. The glow power for this glitter is amazing. It barely needs to charge up at all. 

After taking these pictures I did follow the instructions and I applied top coat to seal the glitter in place. In my opinion this ruined the look. I actually hated it with top coat enough to not take pictures and I ended up redoing my manicure after a day. So next time I will not use top coat. I imagine the glitter doesn't stay on as well without it. 

The glitter was ok to remove. I had to use acetone and leave the cotton on my nails for several minutes to soak. Then I had to kind of scrub it off. Not the easiest but not the worst. It does take some getting used to wearing the glitter on your nails but if you've ever done salt nails or used other bulky nail art decor you should be fine. 

So for my last manicure I kept my Zuza nails and applied two coats of Zoya Kimber on my naked nails. Then I was back at it again with the mermaid powder and nail decals. Unfortunately by this time my Zuza nails were looking pretty chewed up thank you for not drying before bed. I didn't realize how unsmooth they look until I got my photos. I also had some melting or curling with the decals which gave it a sort of bubbled look. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. 

I still love the gold shimmer of the mermaid powder so it's not a complete loss. The mermaid powder I would say I am happiest with, and would consider getting it in other colors. It's a fun way to add some shimmer to a plain nail polish.

The mermaid powder is available for $1.99 and comes in 5 different colors. As I mentioned, I think I received the gold one. It wasn't well marked on the packaging.

The luminous glitter is available for $1.29 and comes in 7 different colors. I received number 3.

The water decals are available for $1.29.

You can use my coupon code QTX31 to get 10% off your purchase from Born Pretty Store. Shipping is always free worldwide!

Be sure to check out their new nail art supplies
and they have a bunch of nail art supplies on special, and even more at the low price of only 99 cents!

Pure Artisan Original Coconut All Natural Soap Bar

I received this item in exchange for an honest opinion.

For once... I think I have nothing to say. So here's my review of Dazzle Beauty's Pure Artisan Soap.

Product Description 

Pamper your skin with Pure Artisan Original hypoallergenic soap. Ideal for daily use on all skin types, our blend of Coconut and Rice Bran oils cleanses and hydrates, leaving your skin soft and moisturized. 100% Pure vegetable ingredients Hypoallergenic No perfumes, dyes or additives Blend of coconut & rice bran oils gently cleanses, hydrates and moisturizes About 'Pure Artisan' soaps Pure Artisan soaps are made of all-natural, 100% vegetable ingredients, blended with precision, and each bar of soap is cut by hand to perfection. This unique selection of hand-crafted, cold process, unscented soaps will give your skin the luxurious feel of popular brands without the harm of additives and chemicals.

Review

I've been having a lot of skin sensitivity for the past few months, so I thought something more natural might be just what I needed. I was right. Pretty much anything I put on my face for the past few months left a slight sting feeling, not very pleasant. All of that stopped once I started using the Pure Artisan Soap from Dazzle Beauty. I've also noticed the eczema on my husband's legs is clearing up since we stopped using our old soap, so I'm assuming there was something in it causing issues.

I love this soap because it natural - made with real ingredients and not chemicals. No heavy perfumes which some people are sensitive to. It also lasted me a very long time. Actually, one of the problems I had with this soap is that it melted and stuck to my shower stall so it didn't last as long as it could have if I had kept it in a soap box, for instance. Even with that issue, my two sample size bars of soap lasted about 1 month. In comparison to the 1 bar of soap we normally go through every single week, that's such a huge difference!

I would definitely recommend this soap for anyone with skin issues or for those with sensitivities to chemicals in store brand soaps. I would also recommend not leaving this in the shower stall.

This soap is available on their Web site and it's currently $2.50 for a 3.75 - 4 ounce bar, with bulk buy and monthly auto-delivery options.

Konjac sponge review

I received this item in exchange for an honest review.

Good morning faithful readers -

It's been about 2 weeks since I hit my head and had the concussion and today I am finally starting to feel like myself again. I'm happy to finally feel good again. It's really frustrating to struggle with your health for years, and turn it around just to have an accident bump you back a few steps again. I've found it helps me so much if I start my day by cleaning for a couple of hours, followed by about 50 minutes of Zumba. I still struggle with staying hydrated, but I'm working on it and that alone has helped me enormously. I feel like sticking to a beauty regime helps as well. When I was organizing my makeup recently and tossing out anything which had expired, I came up with the idea to take any makeup which expires in - say a month or so - and putting it all together in one of my Ipsy bags. I added in the essentials, and bingo! I have one bag to go to after my shower and my makeup routine now is pretty simple and requires almost no thought. The only thing I'm changing each day is the eyeliner. After years and years of struggling with raccoon eyes I finally figured out that if I apply mascara as the first step of my eye makeup, I can just about avoid all raccoon eyes! Anyway, after that I apply a basic eyeliner. Then I usually use one of my LA Colors jumbo eye pencils on my entire eyelid and finally top that with some eyeshadow. My mood has been so much better over the past few months in general and I'm feeling better but it seems like one of the things I struggle with the most is my concentration. Due to my epilepsy and brain injury issues I struggle with something like ADHD a lot of days, so little things like this helps. I'm happy I've figured out a few tips to help myself, and I just wanted to share them in case they can help anyone else.

Part of my daily routine is the use of my konjac sponge which I will be reviewing for you today.

 

Product Description

How to use:

1. Soak the sponge for several minutes in water until it is fully soft.

2. Gently massage your face with it without scrubbing. Once it is soft, you can wash your face with the sponge and water or you can put your facial cleanser on the sponge.

3. You can rinse the sponge and press it gently and press it with two hands.
Then, hang the sponge on the enclosed hook in a well-ventilated space after use.

Note:
1. We recommend to replace the konjac sponge every 4-8 weeks.
2. Pureeni konjac sponge added Activated Bamboo Charcoal comes dry like a hard loofah. You need to soak the sponge in a bowl of water for numeral usages. It is soft.
3. If you are allergic to the konjac sponge, please stop the use.

Review
This is not the first time I have used a konjac sponge, so I knew what to expect with this. Like others I have used in the past, the sponge was hard out of the package but once soaked in water became nice and soft.

I like this particular sponge a lot because of the size and shape. As you can see from my picture, the sponge fits very nicely in my hand. It's not too small nor too bulky. It soaks up the soap very easily so I found I use less soap. This konjac sponge is very easy to use due to the shape.

I've been using this sponge for about a month and mine shows no sign of deterioration, which is excellent. I've used other sponges which started to fall apart on the first use, so I'm very happy with the quality of this product. They recommend replacing it every four to eight weeks so I will continue to watch for signs of it falling apart but I feel pretty sure this one will last me at least a few more weeks. One more thing I like about this sponge is that it does have a string attached to it which makes it easy to hang up in my shower. You would think the holes for the string would weaken it, but even so mine seems to be holding up well.

One last difference with this sponge is that the manufacturer does state you can squeeze it to wring out excess soap and water. Others I've used in the past specifically state NOT to do this. I have done this with this sponge and it's been fine.

This Konjac sponge is $6.99 on Amazon.

Dima Zales Limbo and Haven reviews

I received these books in exchange for an honest review.

Today I'm returning with two short reviews. I finished reading Dima Zales's Last Humans trilogy at last. You can check out my review of the first book in the trilogy, Oasis, here - or keep reading for my reviews of Limbo and Haven.

Limbo

Description

From a New York Times bestselling author comes book 2 of The Last Humans trilogy

Yesterday, I learned all of Oasis’s secrets—or so I thought. As a new danger arises, the long-awaited Birth Day celebration turns into a nightmare, and this time, there may be no escape.

In Oasis, nothing is what it seems.

Review

I had difficulty getting into Limbo. I actually put it down for a few months before picking it up again. I just wasn't that into it. Limbo seemed to be just more of the same of Oasis. I didn't care for how Theo and Phoe's relationship progressed. I kept waiting for Phoe to turn on Theo and it never happened. For me I feel like much of this book could have been left out and I could have gone from reading the first book skipping over this one to read the final book and still have been fine. So unfortunately this wasn't my favorite of the author's work.

Limbo is $3.99 for the Ebook but is also available in paperback and audio. 

Description

From a New York Times bestselling author comes the mind-blowing conclusion of The Last Humans trilogy

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be real?

I thought we were out of danger. I thought we’d outwitted our enemies. 

I was wrong.

As my world is torn apart, survival may not be what I expected.

Review

I liked Haven a lot more than I did Limbo. It was easy and fun to read and I felt it finally got interesting again. I found I was still hanging on waiting for Phoe to do something rotten to Theo so for me the ending was kind of disappointing. Still I found the story to be disturbing yet interesting and enjoyable. I feel like this story could have become a cult classic if it had been written a few decades ago. But it wasn't, so some of the ideas behind it aren't brand new yet Zales puts some interesting spins on things and I feel borrows from other authors a bit. Recommended. 

Haven is also available for $3.99 

Coconut Activated Charcoal Powder by Sagano

I received this product in exchange for an honest review.

It seems like I'm always saying this these days - but sorry again for the lack of posts. I had intended to post earlier this week, but over the weekend I bumped my head and so I was in excruciating pain for a few days and just really disoriented most of the week. Not fun nor how I ended to spend this week! I've also been spending a lot of time getting my house cleaned up and getting rid of some extra stuff. This involved throwing away a ton of beauty supplies which had expired - oh that was so hard to do! I know I should toss some of my expired nail polish but I just don't have the heart to do it.

Anyway, moving on to today's product review - today I will be reviewing Sagano's Coconut Activated Charcoal Powder.

 
Product Description:
Bring your shiny, pearly whites back with the Sagano Raw Activated Charcoal Powder! Activated charcoal is a natural adsorbent that binds with various impurities including stains from coffee, tea, or other tooth-staining beverages and foods. With weekly use, it helps improve gum health and prevent tartar or plaque buildup, which causes tooth decay. Because of its very fine powdery texture, you can also safely use it in your regular skincare ritual at least once or twice a week, for gentle exfoliation and pore cleansing. Treat yourself with a soothing at-home spa using the Sagano pure bamboo activated carbon powder this weekend and start seeing the difference! 

Review:
Several months ago my husband suffered from formaldehyde poisoning and I had read charcoal was good for treating that. I thought it might be good to have on hand just in case he comes into that kind of situation at work again.

I was interested in the Sagano charcoal because it advertises improved teeth health. While I don't have teeth issues, I do have gum problems. My husband and I both tried brushing with this charcoal. My teeth aren't very stained so for me the charcoal was easy to brush with, and it tasted fine. I did notice it seemed to help my sore gums feel better, and it removed the mineral deposits which always collect on my one tooth. My husband is a long term tea drinker and cigarette smoker so his teeth aren't as healthy looking as mine. He found the charcoal did the job of cleaning his teeth, and he did say that it felt cleaner afterwards. However, he had to brush his teeth with regular tooth paste and really scrub to get the black stain off of his teeth and brush.

So while this definitely works well at cleaning your teeth, I found myself hesitant to use it. When I had gotten this, I wasn't thinking about it being a fine powder. I think I expected it to be in larger pieces for some reason.  I haven't found a good way to use this with brushing my teeth without making a big mess. Just be warned, if you're going to use this to brush your teeth, plan on scrubbing your sink afterwards.

I haven't had a chance to use this to detox, as I haven't needed to. Nor have I had the chance to use it as a face mask as I'm almost out of coconut oil. I do plan to eventually! I did use this for a stomach ache and I was pleasantly surprised to find relief within minutes. I followed the directions by drinking it about an hour or so after eating, and I drank a full glass of water after taking it.

You get a full pound of charcoal in this bag, and I don't see an expiration date so that's a plus. This bag promises to last me a long time. Mostly, I'm happy we do have it on hand in case of another serious exposure to toxic products. Oh, I did want to mention as well this comes in a bag, sealed within a bag, sealed inside the outer bag. Needless to say, it is pretty well protected.

This is certified food grade charcoal.

Sagano Coconut Activated Charcoal Powder is available on Amazon for $19.95

More goodies from Born Pretty Store

I received these items in exchange for my honest opinion. 

I just got a nice package of goodies from Born Pretty Store for review so I figured now was a good time to wrap up my reviews from them. Here's a sneak peek of what I got in the mail. 

I'm so excited to try out the mirror and mermaid effect powders. I've been playing with them on some practice wheels so I can say so far they're pretty awesome. 

Today I have two reviews for you. The first I've actually been using for weeks now and it's these finger protectors. 

Yes I know it looks like a crazy monster creature but these protectors are pretty cool.  

They come in a bunch of different sizes along with a chart so you can easily make note of which size to wear on each finger. I found my hands to be symmetrical so that made life easier. 

As you can see there are plenty of size variants and lots of duplicates of each size so finding the right fit shouldn't be a problem. 

This came with French tip stickers as well but I didn't use those. These protectors are supposed to be easy to clean but I didn't try. I realized that if I left the polish on it marked them so I knew exactly which ones I needed next time I went to use them. I think I actually prefer these to other cleanup solutions because they work well and there really is little to no cleanup. The only issue is you have to be careful not to apply the polish over the cuticles. These would be perfect for methods like sponging where it tends to be a bit messier. I'm definitely going to continue to use these for a long time.

This is a 26 piece set, and it is available for $2.99.

http://www.bornprettystore.com/26pcsset-creative-spill-resistant-manicure-finger-cover-nail-polish-molds-shield-p-25683.html

Next I received this gel polish for review. It's absolutely gorgeous just as it is, full of shattered holo glitter. This one is magnetic though making for a really cool effect. 

So as I'm sure you can tell I did have a minor issue with this. It worked fine until I used the magnet. For some reason the magnet actually pulled up and shifted my base coat which yes my base was set and dry and fine. It actually made for a kind of interesting effect. I just didn't get the nice smooth manicure I expected. 

I also did not get the strong well defined line which is shown in the example pictures on the Web site. But that's ok. It still turned out really pretty. 

Nail polish just does not last long on my nails so even though this is gel it started chipping after just a few days. That seems to be the normal for gels on my nails.

This nail polish is available from Born Pretty Store for $3.59 for a 5 mL bottle. It's available in 12 colors. I received number 21, which didn't seem to be quite true to color. I would say mine is more purple and definitely darker than what is shown in the sample images. This almost looks dark grey in regular light. This polish does come with a magnet as well.

http://www.bornprettystore.com/bottle-born-pretty-chameleon-with-magnet-board-p-25217.html

You can also use my coupon code QTX31 to get 10% off your purchase from Born Pretty Store. I do believe this applies to normally priced items only, however.

Be sure to check out their new nail art supplies
and they have a bunch of nail art supplies on special, and even more at the low price of only 99 cents!