What's in my Target Beauty Bag

Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to snag one of the Target Beauty Bags they were giving away on Target Style's Facebook page.

All of the samples came in this adorable bag. The colors are more pink and orange than the purple and coral it seems to me in the pictures. Below you'll find all of the samples that were in my bag. It's my understanding that overall the bags contained similar products, though there may be slight differences (shampoo v. conditioner for example).

Neutrogena Visibly Bright facial cleanser - I'm excited to try this! I've been looking for a cleanser that will perk up my skin a bit so hopefully this is it.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes - There are 7 wipes in the sample, which is quite a few for just a sample. I've heard lots of good things about these and I'm also very excited to try these too.

Pantene Color Preserve Shine Conditioner - It smells really good, but I don't have color treated hair.

Nivea Extended Moisture lotion - I haven't heard anything good or bad about this specific product, but I've heard good things about Nivea lotion in general. It'll make a great little lotion to keep in my purse.

L'Oreal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer - I'd never heard of this particular product before I received the sample. If it makes my face look half as good as it does the girl on the back of the package I'll probably buy stock in the stuff.

There were also several Target coupons for the same, or similar, full size items that were in the bag. I'm not usually a Target shopper since the closest one is over 30 minutes away, but they were nice to get.

Overall, I'm excited to use a lot of these products and see how they work. I like trying new beauty things and this is a great way to check out several at once.

This is not a sponsored post, in fact Target probably has no idea I'm even writing this.

POTD: Undercover

(I'm not sure why it's kind of grainy. It only shows this way here.)

 Excuse the chips because they've been painted for a couple of days. The color is Wet 'n Wild's Megalast in 206C Undercover.

I'll be honest, it's a bit of a mature pink, more like a dusty rose to me but I like it.

Junkin' for Gems...An Intro

It's the first weekend in May and garage sale season is upon us! This excites me more than I care to admit. If you couldn't tell already, I LOVE a good deal and good deals are usually to be found at garage sales.

My mom and I usually hit up a few garage sales each summer. It's a hobby of sorts we picked up together when we were planning my wedding. It's amazing the things people are getting rid of and for cheap! But I digress.

I thought it would be fun this summer to play a game of sorts with garage sales. I'm in the process of compiling a list of things I'd like to buy this summer - from craft supplies to random house decor items - as well as putting together a budget for these items. My goal will be to purchase as much of my list for as cheaply as possible.

I won't be going to garage sales every weekend, but it's my goal to do a shop and tell of sorts each time I do so that you can see what I was able to get and how much I spent. Hopefully you'll keep track and play along all summer to see what good deals I can score and hopefully share yours as well.

As I said before, I'm in the process of putting together a list of "must find" as well as a budget. I'm aiming for 25 - 50 items and will then figure out a budget for the summer. I'll be posting the master list and budget within the next few days.

You'll find all the information about this in a link at the top of my page.

ETA: The master list and budget is now up and you can find it here (also by clicking the Junkin' for Gems  tab at the top of the page)

Will you play along?

Mio Liquid Water Enhancer - Blueberry Lemonade Review - Foodie Friday

I am not affiliated with Kraft Foods, makers of Mio Liquid Water Enhancer. I received this product for free as part of a Facebook giveaway. All items mentioned were purchased with my own money and all thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.

I was extremely excited to see that this was a full size sample and not just a packet or two of single serving samples. According to the package, it contains 24 servings and 1 serving is about 1/2 tsp. It also indicates that you should use 1 squeeze per 8oz. of water.

I got so excited about this sample that I ripped open the box, got myself a cup of approximately 8oz. of water and went to town. The very first thing I will say about this is to be careful. For some reason I thought it would come out in drops, or at least a bit slowly. It does not! It shoots out like a water gun. I ended up with blue flavoring all over my hand and fingers because I tilted it instead of holding it straight upside down to squeeze. Lesson learned.

I started with one squeeze, stirred and tasted. Too watered down for my tastes. I could barely taste anything. Added another squeeze and stirred. Better and I could start to taste the blueberry, but not quite enough flavoring for me. Yet another squeeze added and stirred in. This was just about right as far as strength of flavor goes. I added another to see if four would be too much and it wasn't. It really tasted about the same as three.

The water above looks far more blue on camera than it did in my cup. In my cup it was more of a purple or lavender, however this could have been due to my lighting or any other number of factors.

Once I got down how many squeezes I needed, I sampled the water as it was. 8oz of water and 4 squeezes of the Mio. It tasted pretty good, though a lot more blueberry than lemonade flavor. In fact, I really didn't taste any lemonade. It was mostly blueberry. I wouldn't have known it was supposed to be Blueberry Lemonade except the package told me so.

As an aside, and not really a negative, I drank this at about 11am and for the rest of the day, every time I burped I tasted blueberry. While it wasn't necessarily unpleasant - there are far worse things one could burp - I was surprised that the flavor had lasted really that long.

Have you tried the new Blueberry Lemonade Mio? Though I haven't looked, I'm somewhat under the impression that it may not be available in stores just yet, so will you be trying it when you're able?

Check out some of the other delicious sounding Mio flavors:

Feel Better Soon - Tutorial Tuesday

Thanks for checking out this week's Tutorial Tuesday. With all the spring colds and allergies going around, I thought a get well card would be appropriate. Below you'll find a supply list with suggested paper colors, though you can really use any coordinating papers you already have on hand, as well as the video tutorial itself.

Enjoy!

Supplies needed:
A2 card base (4 x 5.5) - white
3.75 x 5.25 solid rectangle - yellow
1 inch squares: 5 patterned and 6 solid - pink
2.25 x 3 solid rectangle - white
2.5 x 3.25 solid rectangle - green
Sentiment stamp
3 small acrylic gems
Adhesive