I'll try to pick 1 or 2 (or more!) favorites for each category, but have no fear, each favorite will be a true favorite. I won't just choose things to have more products. I'll choose things I've been using on a regular basis or have used several times and loved. The same goes for the misses - they'll be things I've tried to make work or just wasn't happy with, not just a random assortment of things that merely didn't make it to the hits list.
Below you'll find a bunch of the things I've come to love and/or found very useful in the month of July. I'll also try to provide links where you can find out more info and/or purchase the items if it looks like something you might enjoy as well!
Hits:
Food:
Ice water - Every night before I go to bed I've been putting a plastic cup about half full of water in the freezer. In the morning I add a bit more water to the now frozen cup and it keeps the water cold for a long time as the huge ice chunk melts. It also adds more water to what's in the cup as it melts. I keep a near constant rotation of cups with ice like this going. I've found it helps me drink more water since I only really like it cold.
Freezer pops - If you live anywhere in the US, your summer has probably been pretty hot here lately. With temps and heat indexes soaring into the 90s and even sometimes above 100, I'm all for finding cheap ways to beat the heat. These freezer pops certainly helped. I found 36 of them for about $2.50 at Walmart, but found 100 for $3.50 at Meijer just this past weekend. I'm not really too picky about exactly which flavors are included in a pack as long as I have my pink ones and my blue ones. I tend to pawn the orange and grape ones off on my dad though.
Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Teriyaki Marinade - As you can see from the bottle above, this has gotten quite a bit of use this month. I think we've had 3 or 4 meals with it and there's still enough for 1 or 2 more. It's really, really good on steak. When I use it, I like to get the steak in the marinade in the morning to then cook in the late afternoon/early evening for dinner. As with any marinade, the longer you can leave it sit the better.
Lifestyle:
My "fancy" flipflops - I call these fancy because they're silver, sparkly and a whole ton more fancy than the flip flops I usually wear. I scored them on a trip to Dollar General when everything with a yellow dot (tons of their summer shoes and clothes) was 70% off. They were originally just over $6 and I got them for just under $2. Not bad and really if they don't last much longer than this summer, for $1.something I won't be too upset.
Craft:
Empty food boxes - I've found TONS of uses for these bits of scrap cardboard. The added benefit is that it keeps all the cardboard out of the landfill, even if just for a little bit longer.
Beauty:
Eyeko Skinny Brush Mascara - I won this mascara in a giveaway on a beauty blog a few months ago. I'd used it here and there, but recently started wearing it almost every day - even if I didn't do a full face of make up, I put this on. I've read mixed reviews of it, mostly from people who hated the brush. When I first started using it, I wasn't all that fond of the brush either. However, now that I've been using it for a while I've figured out how to use it for my lashes and the results are amazing!
Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm - A quick disclaimer that this is extremely expensive. Far more than I would really ever pay for an eye cream at this point in my life to be honest. However, I received a sample in my Birchbox a few months ago, and that sample has lasted a long time. The directions say to apply it twice a day - morning and night - but I've just been applying it at night. It really hydrates my under eye area and helps to smooth out some of the fine lines and wrinkles I have developing under there. I feel like I'm a bit young to be having these creeping in already (and they've been there for a while now) so I was happy to find that this is helping. I can really tell a difference when I don't apply it the night before. Instead of being more smooth and less wrinkly, there are tons of fine lines and wrinkles that my makeup tends to settle in. I've also found that if I need to use concealer under my eyes, putting on a little bit of this before doing my makeup helps keep the concealer from settling into things and makes it last longer.
Misses:
Food:
Tea Forte Minteas in Lime Mojito - If you read my last Birchbox review, you'll know I was not a fan of these at all. I've never had a mojito before so I'm really not sure how they're supposed to taste. That said, if these are true to flavor (or as close as you can get sans alcohol and being solid v liquid), I don't want to try one. I definitely get the lime flavor, but mojito? I'm not sure. Also, for something with mint in the name, I'm looking for something a bit more minty.
Lifestyle:
I couldn't think of anything I'd used in daily life that I was less than thrilled with.
Craft:
I really tried to think of something crafty I was using or tried to use recently that just wasn't working out for me and I couldn't think of anything. This is a good thing, right?
Beauty:
DG Beauty Makeup Remover Tissues - I know that sometimes you really do get what you pay for, but not always. I thought I'd give these relatively inexpensive makeup remover wipes a whirl because I'm always looking for a better way to get makeup, especially eye makeup, off my face at the end of the day. These were not the wipes for me. They do an ok job, but I sometimes felt like I was having to go over and over the same spots to get everything off and/or going back over with another product completely to feel like my face was makeup free. This was especially true for my eye makeup. As I stated above, the Eyeko mascara I've been using usually comes off pretty easily with a bit of water and/or a good soak in the shower. I thought it should be no problem for these wipes to get it off if it really comes off pretty easily. Nope. I'm not sure if they aren't moist (shuddering at that word) enough or what the deal is, but I need to wet my face a few times to loosen the mascara before I can really get it off with the wipes. Once it's loosened with a little water it comes off with just a few swipes though.
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