Pixel Posybytes of life

I have another product favorite from my Holiday VoxBox courtesy of influenster.com. It’s a fun single use peel off masque from Montagne Jeunesse. I haven’t tried a peel off masque in at least 10 years, so it was really fun to think back to my junior high sleepover days.

I received the Passion Peel Off masque which is a bright pinkish-red color. The masque goes on smoothly without being overly sticky. It also feels incredibly relaxing while it dries. After leaving it on for 15 minutes I slowly started to peel at the corners and it came off in one piece leaving my skin super soft and incredibly smooth.

I’ve already purchased an assortment of other Montagne Jeunesse masques to test drive. The Chocolate Mud masque smells heavenly and I highly recommend this one if you’re a chocolate lover like me. It took a bit longer to dry maybe 20 minutes, but the smell was so wonderful I didn’t mind. My skin wasn’t quite as smooth as with the peel off masque, but was again incredibly soft.

I haven’t tried the others yet, but I also picked up the following products from Walgreens: Cucumber Peel Off, Dead Sea Face Tonic, Dead Sea Mud Pac and Crushed Raspberry Fruit Smoothie. Montagne Jeunesse has quite a few other varieties all in single use packets available in most drug stores.

NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshine is another product I was able to test drive as a member of influenster.com. This lipgloss is fantastically priced at under $3 a pop and comes in 10 easy to wear shades. The formula is smooth, not sticky, has super shine and feels incredibly moisturizing. The moisturizing effect is probably my favorite part as my lips felt really protected from the harsh winter cold.

I also love that this is a great inexpensive gloss, which means I don’t worry about stashing them in my bag or back pocket for a night out. Losing one or even sharing with a friend is no big deal.

The color I was given to try is called Nude York City. It’s the perfect nude for me, not too pink and not too brown. The wand has a large curved sponge applicator which makes applying the gloss quick and easy, even with no mirror available. Check out the other available Liquid Lipshine shades at: newyorkcolor.com.

NYC New York Color products are available at most drugstores including Target and Walmart. Or try this 2-pack deal through Amazon.com.

As a member of Influenster.com, I had the pleasure of trying out Broadway nails new press-on manicure line called imPRESS. This fun fake nail kit requires no special glue or tools and relativity little skill. With no drying time and the quick application, these are great to keep on hand for those emergency moments when you need to look pulled together fast!

The kit comes in a cute nail polish shaped box that includes 24 nails of various sizes to ensure a perfect fit and one cleansing pad that smells like rubbing alcohol to rid your nails of any oils so the adhesive properly sticks. Don’t toss out the leftover nails, keep them on hand to fix any mistakes or use the extras to mix and match with other kits for unique looks.

The imPRESS kit that I received was in Dancing Queen, a zebra print. It’s a bit much for an everyday look for me, but definitely a wild and fun design. The full line has 36 different looks in solid colors, french manicures, patterns and animal print designs. Unsure of which design is for you? Impressmanicure.com offers a fun try it on app to test drive all 36 nail color options. Don’t forget to print the dollar off coupon as well. imPRESS nails can be found at CVS, Rite Aid, Duane Reade, KMart, Walgreens and Walmart for $5.99-$7.99 depending on the design.

I’ve only had the imPRESS nails on for one day, but the company claims they will last up to a week. They feel secure on my nails while doing light chores around the house. I can tap my nails on the table and not a one feels loose. I will follow up next Saturday to see if they lasted the full week and how the removal process goes. No special tools are needed for removal either. Instructions are to rock the nail gently back and forth until it loosens, or apply fingernail polish remover around the edges and wait one minute. Nails should pop off with no damage to the natural nail.

My first impression of this fake nail kit is it is a great alternative to expensive salon manicures. They look nice, not as great as a professional job, but better than the stick on wrap nail polish I’ve used in the past. The nails were super easy to use and were on and ready to go in just a few minutes. Can’t get much better than that!

Update: The nails lasted the full week and I could have gone longer! Although around Wednesday (day 5) every time I ran my fingers through my hair, strands would get caught under the base of my nails. I wonder if I had applied a few nails on top of my cuticle which was causing them to lift a little as my natural nails grew out.

I was sick of the zebra pattern it was just so wild for my everyday life and I didn’t want to wear the zebra nails to my family Christmas, so early Saturday morning I tried to pry them from my natural nails. They were really stuck on and would have damaged my natural nails if I continued with this method. So I tried soaking my natural nail in some acetone (same stuff I would use for professional nails). This turned the fake nails into mush that I had to chip away at. Boy it was a mess. They did however come off and I only had damage to 4 nails. This was most likely my fault for not letting the acetone soak long enough.  They definitely take more time to remove then they do to apply with the acetone method.

I already picked up 2 more french manicure designs. Pick Me a pinker base and Rock It a peachy nude. Just testing them out, I know the design is much more me and will look fantastic. I’m giving my natural nails a little rest and will be applying Pick Me for New Year’s Eve.

All I had to hear was surprise diamond ring inside of every candle and I was hooked. DiamondCandles.com has married two of this lady’s favorite things and the company is gathering a following quickly. Just do a search on YouTube and you’ll find hundreds of “Ring Reveals” where you can join in the excitement of pulling out that little gold pouch from the candle to find out what type of ring is inside. I found out about Diamond Candles from Elle Fowler:

DiamondCandles.com is a new company just shy of 1 year old and sold exclusively online. As their name hints, their candles are sold with the chance of finding a diamond ring. Every single candle sold at DiamondCandles.com has a ring, but it may be worth, $10, $100, $1,000 or even $5,000. The ring is located in the top 1/4 of the candle stuck to the edge in a little gold foil packet. These are long burning candles and it’s very difficult to resist digging into the wax before it’s melted away to reveal the ring.

The 21 ounce candles are on the pricy side, in the Yankee Candle range. Being heavy and fragile to ship, shipping costs ran me $9.00 for an order of 2 candles shipped via USPS to the Midwest. For some reason my post office has stopped delivering my packages to my door so I had the extra headache of standing in line at the post office to retrieve the candles. That’s more USPS’s fault than Diamond Candles.

My overall impression of my first order is a bit mixed. The surprise ring element is beyond fun and because of that these candles will make a unique gift. The quality of the candle however wasn’t as impressing. Both scents I selected were light and neither were able to fill my kitchen with their scent. The wick tended to mushroom badly and released a ton of soot if not watched carefully.

As for the individual scents:

Pumpkin Chai

This candle smells amazing in the jar, just like a fancy coffee house drink and perfect for Fall. However it had very little smell while burning, actually it had zero smell. I was disappointed in this. Sniffing the jar it’s warm with a hint of pumpkin and a wash of tea. Lit it’s just slightly warm. and only if you’re really sniffing for it. I had this burning next to me while working at my desk and got nothing from it.

My ring from Pumpkin Chai was one of the cheaper rings, but still very sparkly and pretty. A light pink round stone sized about 1 CT and set in a silver setting with little clear stones running part way down the sides. It fit my right hand ring finger perfectly, probably around a 7 or 8.

Cinnamon Roll

This one is another light scent, although I could smell it while it was burning. The Cinnamon Roll scent was just barely enough to lightly scent a bathroom. I would have preferred this bakery scent in my kitchen, but the scent was lost in my open floor plan. My husband at this point started making fun of me for buying expensive candles that have no smell.

Cinnamon roll smells just like the name. In the jar you’re hit with mostly cinnamon with a little bit of sugary icing and a hint of warm dough. Burning you smell the warm bakery scent more with light cinnamon after thought.

My ring from Cinnamon Roll is another one of the cheaper rings, but again sparkly and pretty. This stone is a bit larger maybe a 2 CT clear round stone set in a half bezel silver toned setting. It’ll make a great engagement ring substitute while traveling and fit my ringer finger perfectly.

I recommend burning these candles with an Illuma-Lidon top to ensure an even burn. Without using one I ended up with tunneling which can shorten the lifespan of the candle.The Yankee Candle Illuma-Lids fit the top of the Diamond Candle’s jar perfectly.

All in all, I love the concept of these candles; the surprise ring is reminiscent of the mystery prize in cereal boxes from years ago. I wish the candles had the strong scent throw that Yankee candles do, especially with the hefty price tag and shipping. I went ahead and purchased the Christmas sampler pack and hope to give them one more test round and give out a few as gifts. I’ll follow up if any of the scents are able to produce a stronger throw than my first two. If not, these candles will be a once in awhile candle for the ring treat, but for everyday scents in my home, I’ll be going back to my Yankee Candles and Scentsy Pots.

I received a bottle of WEN Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner for being a member of Influenster.com. I am into my second week of use and am a total convert already. I have seen enough positive results to feel this product is worthy of a first impression review.

Here’s a little background on my hair type. I have past the shoulders fine long straight hair. All of my hair can fit into a small ponytail holder. It’s been colored and highlighted many times over. Before using WEN I would consider it very dry, tangled easyily and often looked frizzy. Basically over-processed and damaged hair. I have been told by stylists before that my hair seems to suck up their products, so it must be very “thirsty”.

WEN was developed by stylist Chaz Dean as a new way to cleanse hair. In fact that’s how WEN got it’s name, it’s the word “new” spelled backwards. Chaz Dean wants everyone to stop using the detergent found in most shampoos that strip the natural oils right out of our hair only so you can put moisture back in with conditioner, an endless cycle. His product allows your natural oils to exist while infusing hair with moisture and keeping the greasiness at bay. I have been a proponent of skipping shampoos for awhile now to allow hair to recover and have been washing about every other day for almost a year in an effort to get my hair into better condition and keep my color from fading.

Since I was already washing my hair every other day  I decided to stick to that same schedule while testing out WEN. Note that I just read on the FAQ that Chaz recommends washing every day for damaged hair until your hair is in better condition, only then you will notice that you do not need to wash but every 2 or 3 days.

Sweet Almond Mint makes your scalp tingle, and that’s a really nice feeling to me while sleepy in the morning. I let the water run on my hair while using my fingers to lightly work just the water into my scalp for a couple minutes. I apply my WEN Cleansing Conditioner 3 pumps at a time (rubbing my hands together before applying) by starting at my hair line to the top of my head, moving to under the nape of my neck, then working more into the left and right sides of my head. I then add a splash of water (here come the tingles) and massage my scalp some more, adding another 3 pumps while I am massaging my scalp all over. If you’re keeping count, we’re at 15 pumps of product so far. Now I section my long hair into two, one half over each shoulder and put 6-8 pumps into each side, twisting it into the hair (I’m at 27-29 pumps!). Now I take my wide tooth shower comb and start de-tangling. I know I’ve used enough product when the comb pulls globs of WEN off my hair (which I rub back into it of course!).  That’s a lot of product, especially when my 27-29 pumps is on the light side of what Chaz Dean suggests you use.

It’s worth nothing that if you use too little WEN, you’re not getting the full benefits or fully cleaning your hair. After awhile your hair will start to look worse. Don’t be afraid to use too much, you can’t! Plus you really need that much to ensure your hair is clean. At $30 a bottle, using that much product hurts the wallet and feels wasteful. That’s my  biggest downside to WEN, the price… however I was purchasing a salon shampoo and conditioner at $30 each and a ridiculous deep conditioner for $50, plus a smattering of other products to treat this and that. So for me, this switch is actually cheaper. At this point depending on how much time I have, I take a claw clip and pull the length of my hair up and either get out of the shower with WEN still in my hair to take care of some other morning chores, or finish up the rest of my shower and save washing the WEN out for very last. To do this I use my wide tooth shower comb again and rinse and massage out every last bit, even massaging my scalp a bit more. While my hair is still sopping wet I take 2 more pumps of product (yep now we are over 30) and work it in to the length of my hair. Whatever product is leftover I rake through the top. At this point I towel off and usually let my just washed hair air dry naturally, saving the heat tools for day 2 hair.

Now to the exciting part! Two weeks into using WEN and I decided to try putting rollers in my second day hair. Now, I do this a lot with second day hair as a way to hide the slightly dirty roots, as curls raise the hair away from the scalp. Before using WEN, I’d mist my hair with a little water and comb out the night time tangles. I’d roll my hair and use lots of hairspray when taking the curlers out. Almost right away my curls would start to fall and there was no hope for any curl left by the end of the work day, if they even made it to lunch. Seriously, even if I made my hair stiff and hard with hairspray, the curl would fall. And I work indoors! Well, today I did this same routine, only my water bottle had 2 pumps of WEN shaken up into it and I skipped the hairspray because I thought my hair looked unusually curly and I wanted it to settle a bit.  I figured it’d fall limp soon enough and rushed out the door. Not so! People commented on my hair all day, and I’ve worn it curled 100′s of times. I had absolutely no product in my hair other than the leave in WEN conditioner from the day before and the little bit from misting in the morning. I came home from a long day at work with a head still full of bouncy curls filled with body. Wow! That has never in my life happened, especially without any product. I can rough up my roots without damaging the curls, they actually look even better. Here’s a picture of my almost ready for bedtime hair still full of body and bounce.

I can’t wait to see how WEN transforms my hair with another couple of weeks. I already purchased more conditioner and the styling cream to ensure I won’t be without.

Disclaimer: I received an Influenster.com VoxBox filled with Natural Products for free. This post is a review of Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner. Although the product was received free, I am not being paid for this review and the opinions expressed on this page are my own.