Schick Hydro Silk Razor Review

A few weeks ago I was able to try out (for free) the Schick Hydro Silk razor thanks to Bzzagent.  Now, I'm like any other lady; I like to have silky smooth legs, which only comes with a close clean shave.  I normally use razors made for men--they are no frills, no gimmicks, a close shave every time...and the blades seem to stay sharper longer than most blades made for women.  

That being said, I was very hesitant to try this razor.  When a razor makes claims about super hydration, I tend to roll my eyes and go straight back to my man razor.  Well, this time I tried it.  Here's what I thought:

Good:

• I liked the holder.  It's simple, sticks to the wall of my shower easily, easy to move, and hasn't fallen off when it's not supposed to.  It keeps my limited shower shelving space clear and keeps the blades from rusting.
• The handle.  It fits well in my hand and makes my grip feel extra secure.  No razor cuts due to slipping of the handle!
• Clean close shave.  Yes. This works as well as the man razors.  WOO!

The not so good:

• The head of the razor.  It's SO big and bulky.  It feels like I'm maneuvering a bobsled through a mouse maze most of the time.  
• The water activated moisture serum.  This is probably just me, so bear that in mind when I say this:  I hate moisture strips.  They just seem gross and slimy to me.  Is that just me?  This one is no different, although this one DOES dry between showers, so no gooey goopy gross mess to worry about when just moving the razor.  I don't believe any of the moisturizing strips really help moisturize after a shave, but maybe that's just me.

Overall:

I think this is a great razor for most women.  It provides a close shave, has an awesome holder, and has great hand feel.  One other thing to consider when buying this is the fact that when you buy the razor it comes with a replacement blade.  Yay!  It ends up being a good value.  With the not-so-good being mainly a preference thing, I think it's fair to say that I'm just being picky.  

Kiss Nail Dress Review

So about a month ago, I received a Voxbox from Influenster.

In this box were a bunch of items free of charge for me to test.  One of these items was Kiss Nail Dress.  These are basically premade nail polishes with fun designs that you can just stick on to your nails.  There are a bunch of designs with interesting textures, colors, and styles.  I originally saw these in the store and thought they'd be really fun, but was hesitant to purchase them since I'm really hard on my nails.  I ended getting some really cute champagne colored ones with what look like champagne bubbles, and immediately thought it was perfect for new year's eve.

I'm a huge texture person, so these were awesome.  They were surprisingly easy to apply, and they looked awesome when they were done.  I was actually kind of proud of myself with the final product.  There were enough of each size in the package that I didn't have to use the wrong size on any of my nails, and had a bunch left over too...not enough to do them again, but enough to use them as accent nails with nail polish, or as accents with other nail dress nails?

So here is how it looked:

Now, keep in mind that I can't handle long nails, so this may look cuter on someone with nice long nails, but I still liked it.  I also got a lot of compliments at work and from friends.  I ended up getting the exact same nail dress kit for a friend just a week ago, and I'm excited to hear her thoughts, as she is what I'd consider a beauty guru.  

Overall, I really liked this product.  Along with everything else I've already mentioned, the nails stayed on and looking great for 3 days before I started picking at them (just a bad habit). I think I may not have completely cleaned my nails before application, otherwise they probably would've looked great for longer without bubbling up on the cuticle edge (this only happened on one of my fingers, and after messing with it, I decided to just take them all off).  Definitely try these if you get a chance!

Goody Quickstyle Brush Review

Ahhh...I love trying new products.  I usually spend a pretty penny trying new items...and end up not being completely satisfied with my purchase.  Luckily, I get a voxbox once in a while, so I get to try new items without the guilt of spending the dough (aka, FREE!).  My most recent voxbox from Influenster, the Holiday Voxbox, came in the mail about a month ago. I've been testing many of the products, so I thought I'd start sharing my conclusions.

Look at all the goodies to try!

First up, the Goody Quickstyle Brush.

 I was actually very interested in trying this brush with the microfiber between the bristles because I've got thick long hair, and drying it seems to take forever.  I used this brush several times and compared it with drying times using a normal brush/towel method (also used with the Quickstyle)...my "study" was in no way scientific or accurate.  I honestly didn't really find myself saving any time using the brush.  Maybe this would work better for someone who has thin, short hair?  I dont know.  No matter.  It is still a quality brush--it feels sturdy, and doesn't allow me to grab too much hair (I tend to be in a rush when it comes to my hair), so I ended up being more careful about brushing my wet hair.  I hear that's a good thing.

Overall, I would still recommend this brush to people.  I think it's a good brush, and if you do find it helps drying time, then all the better.

Halloween Card

Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, is just around the corner.  I created this card to send to my friends this year--I love the simplicity of it!  Please feel free to download it (as an MTC file) (as an SVG file) to cut on your KNK Zing or Silhouette Cameo!

Please note that this file WILL cut out the edges of the card for you!

Finally made our honeymoon shadowbox:-) Ahhh. I miss Japan.

Japan, Day 12: Jigokudani Monkey Park

Christmas day, the hubby, my mom, my aunt, and I headed to Jigokudani Park, home of the onsen-loving monkeys.  We booked a night in an ryokan not really knowing what to expect, as none of us had seen the monkeys or stayed in this particular area before.  We were definitely in for a treat!  The hike to the park was snowy and leisurely.  Upon getting towards the top of the hills, we were immediately greeted [completely ignored] by monkeys!  As you can imagine, these little fellas are pretty used to humans, so we were able to get close as they were scavenging for food, and take some nice shots.  You can see my husband's photographs HERE.

After seeing the monkeys, we enjoyed some relaxation back at the ryokan with a huge meal, beers, tea, more beer, and time at the onsen.  Here are some of my photos of the monkeys--please click on the pictures to expand them:)

my favorite little guy:)

Japan, Day 12: Iwate prefecture--Rikuzentakata city

I will admit I've been avoiding this blog post in particular.  I didn't want to have to go through the pictures.  It's really hard to imagine the devastation left by the tsunami that hit almost one year ago...until you see the damage for yourself.  I'm thankful my family wasn't effected, but we have family friends who lost relatives and friends.  I was glad to be able to see this for myself, but so sad for all the people who lost their lives:

The tree of hope:

Japan, Day 11: Yamadera

Yamadera was a stop we had decided on while researching sight seeing locations before the trip.  We liked the idea of hiking up to the top of this hillside and seeing the beautiful temples.  It was a little different than we had imagined, especially with the ice covered stairs, but the view at the top was beautiful, and it was a nice day trip after a few days of rest in Tokyo.

Japan, Day 8:Tokyo

After a week of constant travel, we really were quite exhausted.  "Taking it easy" was what we wanted to do...and we did do just that on the 10th day in Japan...but not on the 8th.  We headed to Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo early in the morning with our tour guide, my aunt Hitomi.  It was a pretty crazy place, with a hoard of tourists, restaurateurs, chefs, etc.  It was hard just staying out of the way of the people who were trying to get seafood for their businesses.  It was amazing to see the array of seafood sold at this place.  It's not like anything you would see in Newport, that's for sure!

Tuna at Tsukiji fish market

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Next, we headed to Asakusa to see the Senso-ji temple there.  I had been here several times before, but it was Craig's first time...and I think he enjoyed himself.  For any complaints about crowds we may have had in any of the other sites, this place was definitely one of the busiest places we'd been to thus far.

Kaminarimon, the outer gate of the temple

Great red lantern and the bottom of one of the lanterns

Hachiko statue in Shibuya and another lantern (at Senso-ji)...sorry about mixing pics here.
ps...there's a movie about Hachiko.  I have yet to see it.

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As usual, we stumbled upon a few random shrines...

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Then we finally made our way to the Tokyo Tower.  I should mention that we did get a few glimpses of the Tokyo Sky Tree...People in general seemed to be pretty excited about this building.  We may have to see it next time we're in Japan, when the building's construction is completed.
Anyway, we hung out at the Tokyo Tower for a while, and waiting until sunset to see them turn on the lights on the tower...it was a long day, but we were happy to get so much out of it:)