Sunday, June 19, 2011

Eye Makeup Remove Q-Tips

Hey Chicas!

So I was checking out the Dollarama the other day, and I'm sorry but the makeup section always gets me.  Every freakin' time!   It's like its calling to me, "look I'm only $2 please bring me home, Please!", and of course the last please is in a whiny child voice.  And who reallllyyy can say no to that.  TMI, sorry but you must understand the pull that the aisle has on me.

So I managed to get out there only spending a small fortune.  The first item that I want to bring to you guys is the Eye makeup remover swabs....

As you can see the picture on the box is pretty self explanatory.  And for only $2 if it doesn't work, than who cares.

The swabs come in individual wrapped packages....


The individual wrapped is a little annoying, as they are tough to pop out of the plastic, and its a lot of waste of plastic.  Regardless....


So you pop the cotton swab out of the plastic (after some difficulties) and you have what looks like a normal swab.  Expect its not at all. hehe..  The center between the cotton is a hollow plastic tube, this is where the products travels down.

The end that has the blue strip on it, be careful with that one until you're ready!

The basic idea is that end that has the blue strip on it you snap it, or bend it over and it releases the makeup remover to the other end of the swab.  It requires a little more effort than one would think for a q-tip but bend it like Beckham...or, actually just until it snaps.
 Once it snaps that releases the makeup remover product.  It flows down to the other white q-tip end.   With this end you can remove your eye makeup.  But Wait!! do you think you can?????


According to the box.....
For those of you who don't want to squint the words out it states. 
"Keep out of eyes."

So yeah, I'm assuming that it means not IN your eye, and hopefully AROUND your eye is ok.  Since you know its for eye makeup removing :-)


You do get a good amount of product in the Q-Tip, it is pretty easy to use.  My only issue is that the cotton swab end, isn't very cottony, meaning that it can't absorb the makeup that it takes off very well.  It cuts through the makeup really well, but to get that black residue off you need another cotton pad or facecloth to finish the job.


Overall, if you're in a pinch and travelling and don't want to take a whole bunch of crap with you, spending two bucks on some cotton swab makeup remover all in one, will not only save you space, but cash as well.


Caitlin xoxo

Friday, June 10, 2011

How to quench charred Skin

Hey Chicas!
So I’m back and recovered, somewhat.  The remnants of the burn, is the lovely peeling.  A constant reminder of the stupidness of charring your skin (and the bada$$ tan lines), at any point in your life!
A visual reminder!
Having said that, I have tested out a number of Sun Burn “Relief” agents, and lived to talk about it.  So here is your complete  list of the best and the ok ones.  Not that you will need it, because we won’t ever be that stupid.  Right?.......Right?


The first one that I tried is the standard Aloe Vera.  Just because its Hempz doesn’t mean that it’s the best.......you got that?  It is for all intensive purposes the exact same as Life Brand aloe vera, but if you’re like me, you want to know for sure, and I know, it’s the same!  
  •  Its sticky, as all aloe vera is (as in it took 5 full minutes to peel off an oversized shirt from my back, not the best when the skin in tender) 
  • Has a nice smell 
  • Can be cheap 
  •  Slight Moisturizing  effect Slight cooling effect (didn’t take out the feel of heat in my sever burn, but on slight redness I have no doubt it would work)
The next in line was the Hawaiian Tropic I.C.E Lidocaine Gel. 
  • It is definitely less sticky then the aloe, 
  • Loved the smell, 
  • It was BLUE! 
  • Great pump 
  • Took the heat out more than the Aloe but still not all gone 
  •  Could  apply lots of it and still absorb (not that easy with the aloe)
I found an article on line about good ol’ fashioned Noxzema working wonderful to decrease the amount of heat in the burn.  So I bought a tub and decided to give it ago.
  • You need a buddy (aka very hard to apply yourself, as its a thick creamy consistency and wants to stay on your hands) 
  • You need to apply a few layers 
  • I liked the smell....its standard Noxzema scent, so decide for yourself 
  • Has the tingly cooling feeling (in a good way) 
  • It doesn’t look pretty on 
  • Hard to remove
Next came the Solarcaine Medicated Lidocaine Gel.  I picked this up at Wal-Mart, I remembered my  brother having this stuff in his room, when I was growing, he cut commercial grass, so I figured it could be too bad.
  • Easy squeeze tube bottle (great for slippery fingers and hands) 
  • Has a nice fresh scent 
  • Could feel the cooling sensation 
  • Noticed relief of heat in my skin (Major)
 At this stage, the burn has gone down, as it would have without using anything.  So I thought that I could try the Vaseline Aloe Fresh Moisturizing, which is a daily moisturizing gel. 
  • Not sticky at all, 
  • Absorbs very fast 
  • Slight cooling feeling 
  •  Slight moisturizing
So all in all, it was a helpful little exercise, unnecessary, but helpful.

If you have a slight pink tinge from being out in the sun or at the beach, the standard Aloe Vera, would be fine.  I actually think that the Vaseline Aloe Fresh, would work better because it’s not as sticky, but compared to the aloe vera, not at all. 

If you have a severe burn then that stuff’s not gonna cut it!  Now the Noxzema was the best to remove the heat from the burn, but its messy, very messy.   You need someone to help you apply it.  And you have to remove the excess from your skin because it kinda dries itself and the extra remains.  The issue is that it remains a white gloppy mess, its not like you could go anywhere with it, it had to be removed.  The only way was to basically have a shower, we have a hand shower and someone had to rub my back with a soft wash cloth to remove the stuff, and it wasn’t a fast process, and it hurt a little a lot actually.  So it removed a lot, a lot of heat from my back, but I’m still unsure if the removal process is worth the gain.

Having said that, the best one is the Solarcaine Medicated Lidocaine Gel, see even Emma approves!   

I think it worked the best because of the Medicated Lidocaine, the Hawaiian Tropics has Lidocaine as well, and both have the same amount of the Lidocaine 0.5%.  So I’m not sure why one felt better than the other, but I’m going with the Solarcaine!

So I hope you found that helpful, but something that you will never need to use!

Caitlin xoxo

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Flower Beds

Hey Chicas!

So my back is healing.....slowly, but the important thing is that there is a slight improvement. If anything good can come for this scorching of my skin, it would have to be testing the various Sun Burn "relief" products out there.  And......ready for it.....I MAY have found a winner, another go at it tonight should determine the winner.  So at least you can heal faster, nicer, less painful then I did, when the summer comes around.  But you really shouldn't have gotten a burn in the first place.  OMG could you imagine if that had been my face!  Talk about aging yourself another 10 years in a few hours!!


So the cottage, is my parent's cottage, not mine.  I don't even own a house yet! 
Just wanted to clear that little tidbit of information up.


This was the cottage on the outside before we did anything to it.  Do we all notice that upside down lamps by the door.  It was one of the first things that I noticed.  Anal, totally, but someone needs to be able to pick these things out. :-) 


This the final result, as of now, meaning there very well could be other items changed.  We rarely leave a flower bed as is.  Which is one of the nice things about gardening you can create such different affects by the choice of plants you use, and even the color of those plants.
Taken from my camera phone, in the late afternoon, with very tired arms.

When I was young I used to H-A-T-E gardening, but now when I see the results and the before and afters, I actually like it. (Do NOT tell my mother that)

I am quite proud of the hard work, maybe not so much my crisp back, but the end results are pretty good.

Here are few more shots.....because I know you really care! :P

Click on the images to see them bigger!
You however care about the type of plants we planted.  Maybe, if not then simply browser through some other posts that catch your interest.

We tired to pick natural flowers, by that I mean, nothing too exotic for little old PEI, and ones that you can see in the wild, that fill out and will require little maintenance in the long run.

Keep in mind that all the flowers came from the charity drive (so $40 bucks for these you see and extra that we had to take home), and from the home garden.

Plants Planted:
2 types of hostas - elephant ear (dark green), and the one with the white center (sorry gardeners, I'm not sure of the names)
African Fern (appearance of a fuzzy fiddle head)
Bleeding Heart
Violets (white and purple)
Small yellow/orange lillies
Lambs year
Forget me Nots
(more to came as the names come to me!)
Hope you guys enjoyed that little post, and if you'd like to see more like this.......well tell me,
 and I shall do my best!
Caitlin xoxo