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