Most hilarious Christmas song ever

I first heard this song back in the '80s on Brother Weems' show on WLAN. Haven't heard it since but it stuck in my head and I've been searching to find it. Fate smiled on me tonight. I give you "Hang your Balls on the Christmas Tree"

Gillette Venus Embrace and Venus Olay razors

When I received my first Influenster Vox Box I was excited to receive a new Venus razor and two types of blades, the Embrace and the Venus Olay. I've been using Venus refillable razors for years and years. Although the may be a bit pricier than other brands, I find them to be excellent for shaving. The blades last a very long time. I prefer to use handmade bar soap rather than shaving cream and with these blades I rarely, if ever, cut myself. I generally buy the original or Divine refill.

I decided to try the Olay refill first. It comes in the usual plastic cup Venus packaging making it very easy to attach to the handle with no risk of cutting yourself. The refill head looks rather strange, with large rubbery looking strips at the top and bottom of the head. The head is huge. I found that I could not store my razor in it's shower caddy (I have an older version of the Venus caddy that allows you to store refill blades in a tiny case and the razor hangs on the outside.) I believe if you buy the Venus Olay razor (with the handle and blade) it comes with a holder that is large enough to accommodate the head. The bars are skin conditioners and there are five blades. I'm not sure, but I believe the moisture bars are supposed to help eliminate the need for shave cream. I shaved one leg with Kiss My Face shave cream and the other just wet. The razor performed equally as well on both legs. I was very pleased to find the razor did not drag on the leg that was just wet. The moisture bars provided plenty of slip for the razor to glide over my skin. I had the same super close Venus shave I'm used to. My skin did not feel irritated but I still followed up with lotion since it is winter and my skin is very dry. I will be interested to see how long the moisture bars last. I would highly suggest storing the razor where it will stay dry to prolong the bars. I would definitely consider switching to this version of the Venus razor in the future. Venus Olay refills retail for $15.50 for 3.

The Embrace refill also has 5 blades which gives a super close shave. I did the same experiment with this razor, one leg with shave cream one without, even though this razor does not have the moisture bars. There was a good bit of drag without shave cream so I would not recommend shaving without cream or soap. My legs were very smooth and not irritated. Embrace refills retail for $16.99 for 4.

I loved both razors and found they gave a closer, longer lasting shave than the original Venus shaver I usually use (that one only has 3 blades). If you've got dry skin or want to skip having to use shave cream, go for the Olay version. I would highly recommend either razor, though.

I Think I Love You, Stephanie Bond

I picked this book up a few months back when it was free in the Amazon Kindle store. I actually picked up a few of Stephanie's books, but this is the only one I've read so far.

I Think I Love You is the story of three sisters who witness a murder when they are kids and agree not to tell anyone what they saw (you know how it is when you are a kid and are someplace you shouldn't be...) Besides, the murderer was found so they didn't really NEED to tell, right? Skip forward to when the girls are grown. The girls don't talk much anymore. One ran away with the others fiance. Life has pulled them to different cities and very different lives. But various personal issues draw the girls back home at the same time. And that's when it gets interesting.

The characters were likeable and identifiable. The plot was somewhat predictable with some clues being quite obvious. But she threw in some red herrings as well and the true culprit was quite a surprise to me. I love that, unlike most cozy mysteries I've read, this one goes on well beyond the murder story and gives us a look at what happens to the girls after their reunion. I believe the book is classified as a humorous romance. There is a bit of romance and some light humor. I enjoyed Stephanie's writing and look forward to reading more of her books.

Cosmo Vox Box 2012

Have you heard of Influenster? Influenster is a social site that allows users to share product reviews. I had joined Influenster maybe a year ago but didn't really get into the site much. At the time it seemed more geared towards younger, hipper folks than me. Well, they have updated and relaunched their site and I got a invitation to take a fresh look.

I really like the new site. You can sign up for "badges" which basically tag the things you are most interested in. The categories are varied, from beauty and food, to family and travel and much more. You answer surveys and post reviews and read other's reviews. I find a lot more that I am actually interested in now with the revamp.

The cool thing is that they sometimes give out "Vox Boxes" with freebies for users to review. I'm not entirely sure what criteria determines who gets a box and what box you get. To my surprise, I just received the "Cosmo Vox Box"

My box included a full size Venus Embrace razor and one additional refill cartridge, a sample of B&BW's new scent Forever Red, a ginormous Ghiradelli candy bar and 2 "erasable ink" pens. In exchange for the goodies, I will post reviews after I've tried the products. I already know I love Venus razors so I'm happy to have received a new one. It will be fun to try out everything else and I'll be sure to share here whether the things are good or bad.

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration

I'm currently participating in the BzzAgent Burt's Bees Intense Hydration campaign. This is the perfect campaign for me and my dry skin. I received my kit about 3 weeks ago just as the dry patches that always accompany fall/winter weather were starting to appear on my skin. Game on!

The kit included 3 full size products...cleanser, night cream and mask, along with a few samples of day cream and night cream to share with friends and family. I kept one of the day cream samples to try for myself.

Intense Hydration Cream Cleanser: The first product I tried is the cream cleanser. It only takes a small amount of cleanser to cover my entire face. Although it says to avoid eye area, I'm a lazy face washer and often have just massaged the cleanser over my face and eyes to remove all my makeup in one step. This cleanser does not foam or lather. It is a bit like a cold cream but does not leave behind the residue I find cold cream does. I've used the cleanser alone, just massaging into my skin with my hands and removing with a wet washcloth as well as with my Clarisonic. Despite its non-foaming quality it works extremely well with the Clarisonic. The cleanser does a great job removing makeup. It has a pleasant orange scent that lingers just a bit after rinsing. My skin does not feel tight or stripped after cleansing but rather is soft and hydrated. I love this product, especially for this time of year.

Intense Hydration Night Cream: The night cream is very thick and comes in a nice heavy glass jar (I'm a sucker for nice packaging!) Again, a little goes a long way. Probably a pea size amount is enough to cover my face and neck. The cream soaks in immediately and does not leave a greasy residue. My skin feels so soft and comfortable. There is a slight herbal scent to the cream, I suppose that's the clary sage. I'm not a fan of this scent, however it disappears quickly and is not bothersome. Again, I really like this product. I feel I could use this product year round because it is hydrating but not heavy.

Intense Hydration Treatment Mask: I tend to gravitate to clay masks and sometimes peel off masks. Ones that deep clean and energize my skin. So I was a little dubious to try this one. The treatment mask is a thick cream that you apply to your face and let sit for 5-10 minutes before wiping off. It does not dry on your skin like a clay mask. I've used it twice so far and found it to be better than expected. It has that same herbal scent of the night cream, which I don't like, but it's livable. I find that the mask does leave my skin feeling quite clean and a bit tingly and refreshed yet still hydrated. I may like this better as we get deeper into the cold weather and my skin gets dryer. I feel this mask would be nice for a "spa day" treatment and though I may not reach for it every week, I will enjoy it for an occassional treat.

Intense Hydration Day Lotion: The sample packs provided by Bzz Agent were quite generous and I was able to get almost a week's use from the pack I tried. I enjoyed the product very much. Just like the night cream, it left my skin moisturized and soft without any greasiness. It absorbed quickly so I was able to apply makeup shortly after applying the day cream. The texture was a medium cream, not as thick as the night cream but not a thin lotion either. I don't recall it having much of a scent. The day cream did not have SPF so it probably wouldn't be my choice for a summertime day cream. But this time of year I nearly always have makeup on when I go out and I get my SPF there. I may pick up a full size of this when I finish my current day cream.

The line also includes an eye cream which I have not tried. I rarely use eye cream. Thankfully my skin is not too picky and I apply whatever cream I use on my face to the eye area as well without any problem.

I love that Burt's Bees products are pretty natural. They don't have any parabens or mineral oils. You can see full ingredients lists on their website too so you are able to do your research before you buy if chemicals are a concern for you. I would recommend this line for anyone with dry skin.

All in all I'm very happy with this entire line. I will definitely finish the products I've got and will probably purchase again when they are gone.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects

Just a quick post on Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips. I love nail art and thought these looked like a quick and easy way to decorate my nails. So I picked up a pack at Ulta's 20% off sale last week. A pack of 16 nail polish strips retails for $4.99. You apply the strips to dry, unpolished nails. I topped mine with a coat of top coat because I heard this could extend the life of the polish. The box says the polish can last up to 10 days. I only used one strip as an accent nail. This may prove to be quite wasteful on my part. They say the strips dry out quickly once the pack is opened. I sealed my unused strips immediately in a tiny zipbag and have my fingers crossed they'll be usable in the future. The strip was a little fiddly to apply. I could have used a slightly smaller size (I saw somewhere that you could cut trim them to fit, but I was in a hurry).

I did my nails Monday night. The colored nails have Butter London Horespower as a base coat, 2 coats of Orly Haunted Mansion and Butter London PDQ top coat. The accent nail has just the Salon Effects polish strip and PDQ top coat. Here's what my nails look like after 4 1/2 days. As you can see, the colored nails are quite chipped. The SE nail has only the slightest chip at the nail tip. I'm quite impressed. I'll probably take all the polish off tonight or tomorrow since I hate hate hate chipped nails.

At the flea market today I found a vendor selling the Salon Effects packs for $1 each. I only bought one pack because the quality of goods at our flea market is often suspect and there's no guarantee how fresh these things are. I'm anxious to try a whole manicure with the strips. Although applying them to my non-dominant hand will be quite a challenge I'm sure!!

Frankenstein on the big screen

Recently my sister invited me and C to go see a double feature of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein at the local movie theater. It is part of TCM's Event Series. C and I are both big fans of Universal's old horror movies so this was a real treat. The picture quality was quite good (I believe they have been restored). The sound was less impressive, even with the excellent sound system of the theater. 

Of the two, I probably prefer the first movie more. The second tries to throw in a bit more humor through the supporting cast which is generally just annoying. The monster is more sympathetic in the sequel as he comes to realize his hideous appearance and the utter repulsion it causes. But the first is more a classic horror film. No blood or gore. Just moody, creepy, use your imagination horror. Neither movies is terribly accurate to the book.

This was a one night only treat, so if you missed it you're out of luck. However, there are other classic movies in the TCM series. If you love old movies, it might be worth checking out to have the opportunity to see a favorite on the big screen.

Follow up...

Following up on the L'de Lolita Lempicka post. I stuck with just the one scent for four days. May not sound like much to those who wear just one or two scents, but for a perfume addict like me, that's a darn good stretch. The urge for something different was just too great.

I broke the string with Fuel for Life Denim, a sweet fruity amber, very unlike L. Denim is sort of crispy and fresh where L is warm and comforting. I found myself missing L about midday on Thursday. In just those 4 days I had become quite attached to the scent.

I'm going to try more single scent runs to try to narrow down my collection. I do love having many scents to choose from. Some are better for warm days (Burberry Weekend), some for cold rainy days (Breath of God), some are great for helping me sleep (Habinita), some for feeling energized (Fuel for Life Denim). So, no, I'll never be a one scent gal. But I do want to know and understand my collection so I will always have the right scent for the right time.

L de Lolita Lempicka

I've decided to try something new this week. I'm going to try to stick to just one fragrance for the entire week. As you can probably tell from past posts, I love perfume and have a lot to choose from. I rarely wear the same scent two days in a row and frequently change scents between morning and evening depending on the longevity of the scent. I have no desire to go back to my days of being a one scent girl. But I thought it might be interesting to see how long I can stick to one scent before getting itchy for a change.

I chose L de Lolita Lempicka for the experiment. I adore this scent. An ideal scent for fall. The smooth creamy cinnamon is so unique. Fragrantica lists the notes as: Top notes are bitter orange and bergamot; middle notes are immortelle, cinnamon and musk; base notes are tonka bean, vanilla and sandalwood. I mostly get cinnamon, musk and vanilla. It is perfect for any time of day. Goes well for work or casual. It doesn't go weird if the day turns hot. It is comforting and soothing when you get a wiff of it throughout the day. Definitely a great scarf scent. All in all, it's one pretty versatile perfume that I tend to overlook.

The bottle, while quite lovely, belies the contents. One would think with an aqua colored, heart-shaped bottle adorned with netting shells and starfish that the scent would be aquatic or at the very least summery. This is not at all the case.

I will be sure to report back how I make out with sticking to one perfume.

Review of Glade Expressions

My most recent BzzAgent campaign was for the Glade Expressions line. For this campaign I was supplied with coupons to get the products for free rather than receiving actual samples. This proved a bit of a problem because I couldn't find the products at the store where I normally shop. Eventually I did find the fragrance mist at another store and picked up the Cotton & Italian Mandarin scent (the store only had 2 scents to choose from!)

The product is a little different than other room sprays I've tried. There is an outer sleeve that covers the canister of spray. You twist off the bottom of the sleeve to change the spray cans out. To dispense the spray, you squeeze the bottle rather than push a button on top.

The sleeve helps to camouflage the room spray and has a nice sleek appearance. I don't tend to leave room spray sitting around so this has never really been an issue for me. The sleeve and bottom cap are all plastic. I think this might be helpful if you are storing your spray in a bathroom, near a kitchen sink, or other damp area where a normal metal bottle could possible leave a rust ring.

It is pretty easy to change out the spray can. Just untwist the bottom, tap the sleeve on the table to release the can and pop in a new one.

The scent is very nice. I get mostly the cotton/linen/fresh laundry type scent, almost no citrus as the name would imply. It's not overly strong (ie: headache inducing). The mist did a fair job of removing cooking odors. It does a wonderful job of just generally freshening up the air when the house is closed up. The scent dissipates within an hour or so. (If I want long lasting scent I go for candles or tart warmers).

The only disappointment I had with the actual product was the squeeze to spray function. I feel you have to squeeze rather firmly and that is a bit uncomfortable for me. Someone with arthritis or a weak grip would not like this packaging.

I wish the stores where I shop would have had the scent diffusers as I would have liked to try that for the basement for a longer lasting freshening. I would also like to find some of the other scents. Doesn't Fuji Apple and Cardamom Spice sound wonderful for fall? If you like using fragrance products in your home, I think this would be a line worth checking out.