With A Side of Jess

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Gillette Venus Embrace Razor Review - Influenster Cosmo VoxBox

I would really like to know how I didn't know about these Gillette Venus Embrace razors sooner! I mean, as I said in my initial thoughts/unboxing of the Cosmo VoxBox from Influenster, I'm usually a disposable razor gal so that's probably how, but really. I feel like had I known just how awesome these razors are I would have made the switch sooner.

Quite possibly one of the best things about the Venus line of razors from Gillette is that all of the blade cartridges are interchangeable on the same handle! That means that if you try one type of blade and decide it's not for you, you don't have to buy a whole new razor system to try out a different one. All you need to do is purchase new blade cartridge refills!

Here's a little information about this particular blade cartridge before we get into all my thoughts:
  • 5 blades to get just about every hair
  • Approved for the bikini area
  • Soft grip handle
  • Ribbon of moisture
  • Does also come in disposable form
  • Retails in the $8 - $9 range (1 handle and 2 blade cartridges) at Walmart and about the same on Amazon
  • Original refill packs (4 per pack) retail for $15 - $16 at Walmart and Amazon

I kind of wish I had thought to take before and after pictures but at the same time, I feel the Internet is a better place without pictures of my hairy legs (agree?). At any rate, once the weather cools down, the time between leg shaves tends to increase - much to my husband's dismay. This happens for 2 major reasons:
  1. There's no need to show off my legs in any way shape or form once the temperature decides to stay below 60
  2. My skin tends to dry out much, much faster in the cooler weather and shaving sometimes exacerbates this problem

So the other day I decided to try this bad boy out. I was given two blade cartridges - an original and one by Olay - to test out. I started with the original.

First, I love, love, LOVE the design of the cartridge. The way it looks, the way the blades are close together and most especially the way it's fairly flat - yet curved at the right spots. I am a notorious knee nicker when I shave and yet somehow, this time, no nicks! The blades just hugged the curves around my knees and gave me an amazingly smooth shave instead of banging things up and making the shower look like a crime scene.

The only thing that went even a little awry were these little tiny red dots that cropped up shortly after I got out of the shower. These little red dots - that were usually little red bumps aka razor burn - were the reason I switched to disposable razors. For some reason I tended not to get them with certain disposable razors, but almost always got them with non-disposable razors. But anyhow, this time they weren't full blown razor burn. The dots didn't hurt or itch and they certainly didn't develop into bumps. They were also gone by morning, which was a great thing.

After using the razor again, I've decided that it may have been the body wash I was using for shaving that may have been the culprit of the red dots. I don't use shaving cream to shave because it's just not practical for shaving in the shower and I've found that I have an allergic reaction of sorts or something when I use many of them. It's almost like they guarantee I'll have razor burn. But anyhow, another use of the razor with a different body wash revealed amazingly smooth legs with no red dots or bumps!

A couple of days after using it to shave my legs, I decided to test out my arm pits. If I'm going to get razor burn from a razor, that's where it will show up for sure. I picked a day when I didn't really have much to do in case I ended up with razor burn and couldn't put on deodorant. However, I really could have picked any old day with a ton to do if I had wanted. Yet again, no razor burn!

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Life Update - December 2012

I've decided to make at least monthly life update posts so that everyone can kind of know what's going on in my life outside of things I post like Foodie Friday, reviews, Birchbox, etc. Since I plan to do them at least monthly, they'll be mostly updates on what's been going on since the last update. If something happens or I want to write more posts like this I will.

So we made it through Thanksgiving! It was a hectic day since my mom and aunt ate lunch with my grandma at the nursing home and we typically have our big meal for lunch. We had to shift things around to accommodate that and the in-laws who also changed their meal time this year. It meant I got to do more of the cooking on my own, which I LOVED. I really do love cooking big meals for lots of people, but really that only applies when I'm not necessarily expected to do so. If it's expected of me or I feel it's not appreciated, I'm not so fond of it.

Thanksgiving Dinner
In blog related things, I'm knee deep in products that need my attention in some way - tested/tried and reviewed mostly. I love being able to try products and share my opinions with others, but sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming when several things come at once. PLUS, I don't want this blog to be just about reviews and products like that so sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a balance so that I can get the information out in a timely manner while still having posts about other things on the blog.

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox awaiting reviews
Also competing for my time is my new job. I had one week of training and I'm now in week two of training. This is my last week of formally scheduled training and then I can get into some other aspects and learn about those. Due to the nature of my job - and all the HIPPA privacy stuff that goes along with it - I won't be mentioning it often. All you guys need to know is that even though I'll be working full time starting soonish, I will still make time for blogging and sharing. I may not be able to do it every day as I have been, but some sort of balance will settle out.

Christmas is almost here! *cue jingle bells and carolers* I have most of the shopping done for my side of the family and I'm VERY proud to say that I don't think I've yet spent a penny of my own cash to pay for any of it. I've done a great job at saving up points for gift cards and such and used those to pay for all the gifts! If you'd like to know more about the sites I use for this and the like let me know and I'll get to it!

I'm not sure much else has been going on in the last month or so, which I suppose is good.

Monday, December 10, 2012

30 Days of Pinspiration


By now many of you know what Pinterest is. If you don't, consider yourself lucky and enjoy the hours of free time you have not spent saving things you "might" want to do later. And just in case you REALLY don't know what it is, it's basically a gigantic bulletin board where you can "pin," aka organize and save, ideas for really anything - food, beauty, craft, fashion, the list is just about endless.

So now that we're clear on what Pinterest is, I bet you're wondering what 30 Days of Pinspiration means. It can mean many things to many people, but for my purposes it means that I'd like to do 30 projects from Pinterest. Will these all be done in one month? No way Jose. I don't have that kind of time or money. However, my goal is to do a combination of craft and food ideas found on Pinterest - 30 of them to be exact - over the next several months. I figure I can probably do 1 or 2 each week for a total of 4-8 each month. At that rate, it should take me around 6 months, give or take a few on each side, to complete.

I will be needing your help though. I've created a board that I'm encouraging people to add project ideas to. All of the 30 projects will be chosen from this board - and only this board - so pin wisely and often! You can check out all the ideas currently on the board here. To be added as someone able to pin to the board I'll need your email address.

I'm looking to start this project in January, so get those pins in place! I can't wait to see what great ideas you all have for me to try!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Christmas Cookies Week 2 - Chocolate Chip Cookies - Foodie Friday

In preparation for making chocolate chip cookies I purchased a bag of chocolate chips a couple of weeks ago. My sister and her boyfriend decided they wanted to make chocolate chip cookies and I gladly lent them my chocolate chips to use on the condition that they shared their recipe and I was able to photograph the cookies to share with all of you. These are the cookies they made and the recipe they followed.

It's worth noting that instead of using pecans they used chopped walnuts. This was better for me as I prefer walnuts to pecans, but feel free to choose your own favorite.

Ingredients
3/4 c. butter flavor Crisco shortening
1 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 T. milk
1 T. vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
 1 t. salt
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. coarsley chopped pecans (optional, though if omitted, add another 1/2 c. chocolate chips)

Directions
  • Heat oven to 375*F.
  • Combine Crisco, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat egg into creamed mixture.
  • Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecan pieces.
  • Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375*F for 8-10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11-13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Cosmo VoxBox 2012 - First Impressions/Unboxing

I was beyond excited when this came in the mail the other day! I LOVE getting new products from Influenster! The products are ALWAYS great products to start with and the sample sizes never disappoint - in fact I've found that many are full sized products or travel sized products. That's a bonus for everyone since I get more product to test out it means you guys get a better review!

I did film an unboxing video the day I got it and before I peeked inside. You can find it on my YouTube channel, which I will link here or at the bottom of the post. The rest of this blog will be basically the same things but may have a bit more information since I'm not just typing this on the fly.

Ok, so what IS the Cosmo VoxBox? According to the info card it came with, it's full of products that a modern gal needs. Great! Let's see what's inside!

Gillette Venus Embrace - Razor and Venus and Olay blade refills
I'd just like to start by saying that I forgot to snap a picture of the Olay refill. If you're interested in seeing what it looks like, check out the YouTube unboxing video.

I'm not typically one to use razors that have refills. Yes, I'm a disposable girl. However, I've heard great things about these razors and I'm excited to see if they can get me to change my mind. According to the info card, the refills cost $3.50-$4.50 per month - I have no idea how they figured that up but that's not too awfully expensive. However, it is more than I currently spend per month for my disposables and I don't buy the cheapest disposables either.

FriXion by Pilot Pens
These are erasable gel ink pens. I can honestly say that I haven't really used erasable ink pens since I was required to in late elementary school/Jr. High - and then they only came in blue I think. Obviously there are more color choices here. They actually come in 8 different colors according to the website, which is pretty impressive!

I'll just post a couple of pictures showing how they write and erase and save my thoughts on how they do both until I've had a chance to use them more.

Top row: Left - writing, right - erasing
Bottom row: Left - erasing, right - writing

Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk Sea Salt Escape
You can hardly go wrong sending this lady chocolate - and Ghirardelli chocolate to boot! According to the info card, this particular flavor has sea salt and roasted almonds in Ghirardelli Gourmet Milk chocolate. I'm so excited to try this and my only wish is that they had sent two!

Forever Red Eau de Parfume from Bath & Body Works
According to the info card, this fragrance has a blend of pomegranate and red osmanthus with a bit of vanilla rum. First, I'm not sure what red osmanthus is or what it should/does smell like. While I'm being honest, I'm not even sure what a pomegranate smells like - it's been years since I've had one. On first whiff, and even second and third, I just smell my mom. It's very much a fragrance she would wear and I'm not sure if it's something I would wear. I tend to lean more toward fruity, floraly scents but sometimes warmer smelling ones grow on me. We'll have to see where this one goes.

So that's all that came in my Cosmo VoxBox 2012. It's a pretty diverse mix of products I think - everything from pens to razors. I can't wait to test everything out and see what I think. Keep checking back for individual product reviews!



Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.