K'Nex Battle Bow is Awesome - Let Us SHOW You!

So, I always find ways to keep in touch with you, but sometimes I like to change my game up!

James (my nine year old) and I were recently asked by K'Nex to take a toy, build it, and tell you guys all about it. So, since I've been feeling the YouTube vibe lately, we did this in a series of videos. Check our action!

We've got lift off on Battle Bow! The packaging is super bright and fun, and easy to understand. Admittedly, I was nervous to put this together. I'm not at ALL mechanically minded, so I'm not usually the parent that gets nominated for this sort of thing. My husband is an engineer, he usually does this stuff!

Then, because unboxing videos are stupidly popular, I let James shoot his first ever unboxing video!

He's got a little to learn, but he's pretty good, right? 

You guys, this toy went together so smoothly and easily, it was amazing. I'm not mechanically minded at all, and even I could hang with it, absolutely no problem. We were missing a connector, unfortunately, but we went ahead without it, and seemed to go on just fine.

Clicking those last few pieces in to place;

Clicking those last few pieces in to place! He says that this was harder to put together than his last Lego set, but I'll point out - his last Lego set took a college engineer to put together. This could be done by a nine year old. In other words...I don't agree with his assessment, haha!

Now, because this promises to shoot 75 feet - seventy five FEET! - I wasn't about to go letting him fire this off in the living room! We were headed out into the world!

Comically, and this is 100% true - we went to the tennis courts in our neighborhood to shoot the gun. We get there, and realize that we don't actually have the first guess how to shoot the gun at all. So we have to go back across the street, get on the suuuuuper slow computer in the clubhouse in our neighborhood, google K'Nex to try to find the instructions, give up on finding the instructions at all, and pull it up on my rapidly dying phone. All the while, the absolutely lovely woman that runs the clubhouse is trying to support us through this bizarre effort we've undertaken. Oh yes, the chaos that is my life is 100% real.

We figured it out! And there is absolutely zero trickery here, it really, legit shoots that far. If I was going to edit these videos, I would have taken out the part about him coming to your house, wouldn't I?

Our final wrap up video with the Battle Bow! He's had an absolute blast playing with it, and if you have a nine year old boy, you'll appreciate this - he didn't come running home to jump on YouTube, he actually wanted to PLAY!! Amazing! Thank you K'Nex, indeed!

If you've enjoyed watching our shenanigans, maybe come check out my YouTube channel?

Taking This One To The Youtube!

I bought a new mask, that I was pretty disappointed in. I didn't think words were going to do my disappointment justice, and I didn't even feel like an Instagram post would do it justice. I had to take this one to the YouTubes!

Please to enjoy!

Like my reviews? You can find me on Facebook where I engage in all sorts of silliness!

Sometimes You Don't Need Something...Until You NEED It...

The good people at Healthy Solutions generously gave me a tube of their OxyRub Pain Relief Cream, in exchange for my sharing my opinions on it. Awesome. Well, as the way of the world goes, I have a good couple of weeks pain wise, and I didn't really have much of a need for it. So I looked at it, and I thought on it, and I couldn't decide what on earth to do!

And then because sometimes life works out like that, I tossed it in my bag when we left for vacation. And within a matter of hours, my son has shin splints - and me without my children's aspirin! - and I jam my toe on the sliding door at the hotel, with no ibuprofen either.

OxyRub, take me away!

I applied it to my son first. It is mentholated, and I thought almost had a wintergreen sort of smell to it, although the Amazon listing claims the smell is citrus. I did not get that, I'll take their word for it. Despite the fact that I did not smell the citrus that they claimed, I do actually like the scent.

I noticed a little went a long way, I squeezed out the amount of rub that I figured would cover one leg, and was able to capably cover both.

Afterward, I asked his opinion on how the lotion went on, and how it felt. He said that it went on nice, but reported feeling like it took a long time to absorb. He described it as feeling a "little greasy". I will tell you to take that with a grain of salt though, he's pretty fussy with his opinions of lotion.

He also reported that it relieved the pain for 1 to 2 hours, and that when the pain returned, it was noticeably less. So, other than the greasy factor, he was a fan.

And I've now used it myself several times since we've been here, and one of them was admittedly kind of silly, so stay with me.

I jammed my toe on the hotel door. There is a sliding glass door, and I tried to go out it. The seal is really high, and my second toe didn't make the cut. Brutal. So I slathered up my toe, and down around the joint.

My opinion differed from my son a little bit. I found it easy to use, and fast absorbing. And it was very cooling, which immediately helped me be more comfortable, and feel like my pain was more under control, which was great. I was able to get comfortable and up off of my foot. By morning, of course, the effect had completely worn off.

Today, I used the cream again, for a reason that is admittedly sillier. We're on vacation today, and we did a lot of walking. Like, more steps than I'd ever done in one day on my Fitbit. And my feet were tired! I slicked the soles of both feet down with my OxyRub, gave it a minute to absorb, and walked to dinner. You guys...I didn't feel so silly after that! I mean yes, my feet were still sore, but I was in so much better shape! I'm not sure I could have made it across the street without the pain rub!

So, like I said - I was initially a little perplexed by this product. But if you need a quick acting pain relieving alternative - for cases like mine, where you're caught without, or just because it's your own preference not to take a pill - OxyRub has got you taken care of!

As a special treat for my readers, go to Amazon, use code "SAVEOXY2" and take 20% off of your purchase. It's well worth it - quick acting pain relievers are hard to come by, take advantage of the good ones!

Find them online;

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EASY536
http://www.healthydirections.com/product/oxyrub

Link Round Up, Maybelline Edition!

In blogger speak, a "link round up" is like a party of sorts, where everyone can bring the newest thing they've written or talked about, it's all collected in to one single place, and then the reader can come and be pointed at all the different articles, in one neat spot.

Rather than inviting multiple bloggers, I figured I'd just make my own tiny link round up! This one features all my posts where I've talked about Maybelline makeup!

Oh, There Will Be Shenanigans! (original post date: July 8, 2015) Where I talked about Maybelline Great Lash Real Impact! mascara. And had it proven to me, once again, that eyelashes are weird things to take pictures of. :)

Swatchery Version 2.0 (original post date: May 18, 2015) Featuring a swatch of "Cherry Me" from the Baby Lips line.

Swatchery! (original post date: May 5, 2015) Featuring a swatch of "Melon Mania" from the Baby Lips line, which was brought back for Christmas 2014 as part of their "Customer Favorites" selection.

Doctor To The Rescue! (original post date: March 13, 2015) Featuring some pictures of displays from the Spring 2015 selection of Baby Lips, as well as swatches from some of the Baby Lips: Doctor Rescue line.

Battle Of The BB Creams, Round Two! (original post date: January 14, 2015) Talking BB Cream, and my opinions on the Maybelline version.

Go, Go Electro! (original post date: January 6, 2015) Swatches from the Baby Lips: Electro line, which at the time looked to be getting closed out - and it feels like it's been a while since I've seen them in the store - but are still listed on Maybelline.com.

Makeup Primer, And How To Make It Work For You (original post date: December 24, 2014) Where I actually try my hand at a video demonstration of makeup primer, and why it's important, featuring Maybelline's Baby Skin primer.

I'm obviously a big fan of the Baby Lips line. I don't even know what happened! I had one, next thing I knew, I had 12! They just come out of nowhere!

When I'm not writing long form reviews like these, I can usually be found on Instagram writing short form reviews! Let's be friends there too!

Long Live the Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Stick!

Hi guys! Long time no talk! Turns out my nine year old being home for the summer didn't offer me quite the amount of time to blog that I'd hoped. But, I'm looking to get back in the game, so let's get started!

These three beauties are the Rimmel Scandaleyes eye shadow sticks. And they were fair to good quality - the gray was hard to blend, the gold and purple went on like dreams. I've talked about them before, and I've even Instagramed about them:

https://instagram.com/p/6idvQYNfsz/?taken-by=beautybytheresa11

and 

https://instagram.com/p/5SN3v5NfsO/?taken-by=beautybytheresa11

(And by the by, I'd be super pumped with a like on either pic. It's a public account, you don't even have to follow me to do it...although I'd be super pumped if you did that too, haha...)

I also noticed that I was seemingly always seeing these on clearance, but I could never put together why. A lot of times when you find makeup on clearance, they're either discontinuing that particular shade, or maybe changing up the packaging. But they seemed to be always marking these down. What was the deal?

I just logged on to the Rimmel site tonight, and figured it out. Long live the Rimmel Scandaleyes shadow stick, cause these guys are goners. Liners, shadows, cream shadows, they'll have them all. But if you're a fan of the chubby pencil format, you'll want to stock up, cause when they're gone, they're gone.

Like eye shadow? Me too! I talk about it all the time!

Oh, There Will Be Shenanigans!

Picture with me if you will...

5:30. 5:45 maybe. I get a text from my husband that says that I'm going to drive him to meet a coworker up town for drinks, while I'm gone to swimming with our 8 year old.

Never mind the fact that I didn't get invited to go out for drinks, I got bigger problems. I gotta look "meet the husbands coworkers" level presentable ...in about a half hour.

Oh boy. What's a girl to do?!

Throw on a little Queen Helene Mint Julep mask, and run out and clean up the car, for starters!

If you've got skin on the oily side, and you want to clean up that oil, pronto, Queen Helene is your girl. That stuff is old school, and it's made it so long for a reason! It's great!

Next, prime, perfect and good eyebrows. Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water, Aveeno CC Cream and It Cosmetics brow pencil do the job nicely. Were I that pressed for time, I could have stopped here. But clocks still ticking, I gotta keep going!

An easy eye - champagne across the lid, a dark brown in the corner, and a little mascara. I read someone once compare Maybelline to the "training bra" of mascaras. Which sounds weird when you initially hear it, but then you go "You know what? Maybe..." it doesn't do anything exceptionally. Like, you can see from my before in this collage (the top one) - I was OK for length, and good enough for color. I mostly need volumizing help. I didn't especially get it, I didn't especially get a great enhancement in length or color either. I just got a nice, for sure better defined than before, lash. They do a little bit of everything with Great Lash, and probably better than anybody out there. If you need a just solid, working mascara, Great Lash will always be a great choice. But if you're looking for a little more Oomph, this probably isn't your gig. Or, to see that bra metaphor through to the end...if you're looking for a push up bra, it's not for you. :)

Eyeliner (I used treStique shadow crayon in "Kona Coffee", which is so long lasting, you'll practically have to beg it to come off), and lips, and I'm ready to go, with two minutes to spare! Woo!

And can we talk about those lips?! Cause holy lips, batman! That lipcolor is Wet N Wild Natural Blend lip shimmer in color 108 (Wet N Wild isn't much for naming their lip colors), and it packed 10 times the punch I expected. Went on smooth and even, a little bit of a glossy finish. A little bit of minty to it, even, which isn't enough to be irritating, just enough to feel kind of cooling and refreshing.

This is a long lasting color - I made it to dinner a couple of hours later, and when I wiped my mouth with my napkin, I was wiping off lip color. I often say that when Wet N Wild hits their mark, they hit it hard, and with this, they NAILED it. This stuff is fantastic. Where I didn't overwhelmingly, enthusiastically recommend Great Lash, I will overwhelmingly, enthusiastically recommend this lip shimmer. It's absolutely worth every cent.

As a bonus, if that's your thing, the lip shimmer also bears the seal of approval from the Natural Products Association, meaning it's been certified as a all-natural cosmetic product! This color is really good for you - it just keeps getting better!

I made it with two minutes to spare! I played swim class mom (actually, I got lost in my cell phone, which I kind of even hate myself when I do that. That's so awful...), and then met up with the coworker for dinner, and was so glad I took the time to get my face in order! 

30 minute face - it can be done! See you later, beautiful!

Since I got so super pumped for the Wet N Wild product, if you like them as much as I do, you'll be intrigued to see that I talk about them all the time!

I Got A Problem...

Well, I had a problem.

At any rate, I went to my son's elementary school field day. I'd never been before, so I figured why not? I was in charge of the "pizza box game", where the kids had to run a variety of relay races in order to stack pizza boxes. In a portion of the soccer field that felt like it was 1,000 miles from any sort of shade. On a scorchingly hot day.

And in case this IS your first time at the rodeo that is the Big Blog...I'm very fair.

As a result, I came home from elementary school field day, looking like this:

Starting to see my dilemma, right? Let me add in a few more layers (pardon the pun, but I'll get to that...). My day job is working at a local dance studio. I run the front desk, and teach a couple of classes, and it's an absolutely blast-y blast. The kind of fun that I feel awkward using words like "job" and "work" to describe it. This picture happened to be the same day as our end of the year banquet, and, a mere 4 days before I was going to have to look good, in a costume with exposed back and shoulders.

Yep, I got a problem. And then this sunburn began peeling like a beast because...well, because why not, at this point, right?

Enter my good friend;

Adovia Dead Sea Salt Scrub with natural oils. My burn was peeling, and I needed it to be over, much faster than it was actually going. And there are no pictures of my peeling sunburn, because let's be honest with each other - I didn't want to take them, and you don't really want to look at them. :D

I tried this scrub out on my hands first. Did you ever use the Mary Kay Satin Hands kit? This scrub sort of does both steps at the same time. It's kind of awesome like that. Your hands will come away smooth and buttery soft! Big, fat grains of salt and smooth, silky oils. Beautiful!

At any rate, back to the sunburn.

I got in the shower, dipped my hand in to the well, and hoped for the best. Scrubbed off my back and shoulders and chest, and hoped for the best.

I got up in the morning, and much to my surprise - it worked! It really, really worked! The peeling skin had dried up, and could simply be brushed away! I was so surprised! This stuff is great!

Here's a few other minor details I noticed;

Keep this A. WAY. from your kids. There's no fooling - you open this up, and it's salt and oil, clear to the top. Even with my 8 year old (who should reasonably know better than to pour oils all over the table), I was nervous to let him mess with it, it was filled to the top, and oily!

The scent is "Ocean Breeze", and I found it a bit...cloying. Stuck in my nose a little too well, you know?

But, otherwise, I was more than satisfied with this product. I gave it the biggest test I knew how (peeling sunburns are brutal. If you're lucky and haven't had one in a while, think back. You've been there. lol...), and it passed with flying colors. I would very enthusiastically recommend this to a friend!

See you later beautiful!

This was my first try talking about women's body scrubs, but I have talked about men's before!

Have you liked my Facebook page yet? Click the bar at the top! C'mon! It's easy!

Full Disclosure: Adovia was kind enough to supply me with this product in exchange for my opinions on it, however, the opinions are all my own. You can purchase their scrubs through this website here, and their products are for sale on Amazon as well.