Huggies PullUps

We were lucky enough to receive a sample of PullUps from Influenster to test out and review. I have to say, I am quite happy with them. Ewan has been potty trained since last July but we still out him in disposable training pants at night, just in case there are any accidents. We received the girl version of these but he didn't seem to care and was quite excited that he got to wear purple undies!

We were sent the 2T-3T size and they fit him well! He was able to pull them on and off by himself and seemed quite comfortable in them, 

Since he rarely has accidents we weren't able to really get a good look at the disappearing pictures but these training pants are solidly made. I will be purchasing the . Thanks, Inflenster!

Yikes! It's been awhile!

Sooo, I suppose I probably have some explaining to do and some catching up to do. I just loaded up my blog and it has been nearly 3 years since I last posted! That is crazy! A LOT has changed in the last three years. We were still expecting our son when I last wrote, since then, we have also welcomed a beautiful libel girl to our family. Ewan was born April 4th, 2013 and Freya arrived October 4th, 2014- exactly 18 months apart. Allow me to introduce you to my two loves!

Its hard to believe that we are just getting ready to celebrate Freya's first birthday! it's amazing how fast the time goes!

Some other changes since I last posted. I have decided not to return to work. Instead, my best friend and I have launched a cake decorating company. Iced Queens Cakery has been going strong for over a year and a half now and keeps us busy enough that things are still fun!

I will write more soon! I have some new beauty reviews coming up. 

Ipsy November Review

I realized that I didn't actually get any of my reviews up from October, and for that I am sorry. A lot has changed with my beauty box subscriptions since September. I have decided to go ahead and cancel Glymm because it has been consistently weak, in my opinion. I did receive the November bag as my last one, and there really wasn't anything in there that is worth writing about. Another shampoo that I am unable to use, a perfume sample that is incredibly tiny, a teeny soap sample and one or two more items that I can't even remember. With Glymm's price increase it is just not worthwhile any longer.

I also cancelled my Glossybox subscription. I'm actually pretty sad about that decision. I have consistenly liked most of my Glossyboxes (and I really love the boxes they come in), but with their 40% price increase it is just not worth it to me any longer. I find these boxes often come jammed with drug store products and don't deserve the premium price tag. I believe I will be getting the November box as my last one.

I have now been signing up to receive the Natural Beauty Box. However, that is not exactly going as planned. I paid for the October box on September 18th and have yet to see it. They tell me there was a problem processing some of the orders. It should be in the mail this week, along with the free November box they are sending me. Not a great first impression, but I am really hoping it will be worth it once it finally does arrive.

I's also now decided to sign up for an Ipsy subscription (formerly MyGlam). I believe this is only just available to Canadians. When I looked at some of the reviews online it looked really great! It didn't take long for my first Ipsy bag to arrive...

The first thing I noticed about this subscription was the cute cosmetic bag it came packaged in. The bag is a chocolate satin with a gold zipper. I know I don't really need any more of these, especially after being bombarded with them from Glymm, but this one is very cute!

The first item out of the bag was a full sized eye liner pencil from Starlet. I have never heard of this brand before. This came in brown and I think it will suit me well, although I haven't had a chance to try it yet. 

The next item was a replacement for a lip gloss that was included in most other bags. It looked like it was a cute color, but I have received so many lip products in the last few months that I was happy to get a different product. This is eclos Plant Stem Cell serum. I tried this the other night and really liked it. A little goes a long way. It feels nice on my skin, although I think it will take several uses to see what it might do for my face.

I was so excited to pull this next product out of the bag. I was really hoping I would get this color! This is a full size bottle of Nailtini nail polish in the color Millionaire. It is a gold micro glitter with multi colored glitter bars in it. I think this will be so perfect for the holidays. I have never heard of or tried Nailtini, so I can't wait!

This next item looks familiar! Benefit They're Real! Mascara. I received another sample of this in November's Top Box. I think the other option was a brow gel, which I don't think I would ever use, so this is a nice item to have instead.

The last thing out of my first Ipsy bag was so cute! This is a sample of the Balm's new eye shadows in their Meet Matt(e) series. I think everyone got a sample of Matt Battali. The packaging is super cute and it is a generous sample. The photos of the eye shadow didn't turn out, but it is a very dark plum color- Perfect for my green eyes!

Overall, I think this is one of my favourite beauty boxes I have ever received and I am really looking forward to seeing what else Ipsy has in store. Their subscription is $10 a month and it is just shy of $5 to ship to Canada. So at $15 it's right on track with most of the other ones.

Novemeber Top Box Review

I received my second Top Box in the mail this week and I really thought it was quite great. I had spent some time poking around online, so I know there were at least two versions of the box. For the most part I was really happy with the contents of mine. Let's take a look!

Again, I must apologize with the way Blogger posts my photos. I still haven't found the trick to rotating those (even though they are saved the proper way).

The first item I pulled out of the bag was Benefits They're Real! Mascara. I have heard a lot about this mascara and I have seen it pop up in a number of beauty boxes, but this is my first sample of it. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever tried a Benefit product. I'm usually not much of a mascara person, I find that they make my eye lashes hurt. I have been wearing it a bit more in the last little while because I received an amazing sample in one of my other beauty Boxes. I really hope this one is just as good! The full size mascara retails for $29.00. This sample size is worth about $9.60.

The next item out of my box was a full sized China Glaze nail polish. This is another first for me, I have seen all kinds of China Glaze polish, but I have never had the opportunity to try it out. I really love this color! It's part of their Safari collection and I am very excited to try it out. When I was looking at some of the other boxes online I noticed that some girls received a color called I'm Not Lion. It's a very pretty iridescent, gold color. I liked it some much that I placed an order for it this morning. I hope it really is as pretty in real life. The China Glaze polishes sell for about $8-$12 depending on where you find them. This is a full size bottle.

Next up was this bright red lip paint by Pari. I wasn't too sure about this color when I pulled it out of the box. I don't often wear very pigmented lip colors and this one is quite bold for me. I tried it on right away and actually really liked it. It is just as red as it looks but it goes on very smoothly and feels incredible on your lips. I'm hoping I will be able to get some good use out of this at Christmas time. The full size of this product retails for $14 and the sample size is not much smaller than the full size, so this sample is worth just over $10.

The last item I pulled out of the box was this beautiful perfume sample. The tester is for Vera Wang's Lovestruck. I have to admit that I am usually pretty leery about perfume samples. I am very particular on the kinds of scents that I like and some of them really bother me. Top Box describes this scent as a mainly floral scent, with soft hints of fruit and musk. Usually must and floral scents really turn me off, but this perfume is quite nice and well balanced. I could see myself using this on a regular basis. The full sized bottle of Lovestruck retails for $79 making this sample worth about $6.50.

That was it for this month's Top Box, but I really was very happy with it. Can't wait to see what December has in store!

More Befine Reviews

Wow, looks like I have been slacking off again! I am so behind in getting any of my beauty box reviews up. I promise, I am going to try harder in the next little while. I do have to mention though... I have cancelled a couple of my subscriptions.

For those of you that haven't heard, Glossybox increased their price by 40%. Boxes are now $21/month. They did give us the October box for the usual cost of $15. To be honest though, I really wasn't too juiced about this box. It contained a lipstick in a dark brown color, a nail polish that doesn't even show up when you put it on, shampoo that I can't use because of the sulphates in it, and a drug store brand razor. The box just doesn't seem like it is worth the price any more, so I cancelled.

I also cancelled Glymm after receiving the October box. I actually didn't mind this month's box. In fact, it came with the BEST mascara I have EVER used! I'm sorry, I can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but it is amazing! Overall I have just felt the Glymm bags are a little lack lustre and I was getting bored with them. I can't use a lot of the skin care products at the moment because of the Pro Retinols in them. My mom has been benefiting from that fact, but I am just getting tired of so many skin care samples.

I did however sign up for another new box, Ipsy- formerly MyGlam Bag. It looks like this one has only just become available in Canada. It also looks like this subscription in mostly make up! That makes me pretty excited. I am really looking forward to trying this out. I think it was just short of $15 for Canadians.

I have also purchased the October Natural Beauty Box, although that has yet to show up. Hopefully in the next day or so.

I want to go back a couple of months to one of the items that was included in one of the Glossyboxes. They sent us a box that contained 5 different samples from Befine. I tried the mask first and hated it! The cleanser I tried second was amazing. I instantly fell in love with it and have purchased the full sized bottle.

Now I have had a chance to try out the other 2 cleansers that came in that box.

The first one was this Befine Food Skin Care Gentle Cleanser with Sugar, Mint, Oats, and Rice.

This cleanser smells great! Very minty and sweet. But that was about the last thing I enjoyed about this cleanser. The formula is so runny I had a hard time containing it in my hand before I could put it on my face. It's honestly as runny as water. That really turned me off this cleanser and it really had no redeeming properties for me after that. Total disappointment.

Then I tried the Befine Food Skin Care Exfoliating Cleanser with Brown Sugar, Sweet Almond and Oats. This cleanser was even better than the one I had already fallen in love with! It smells like hot oatmeal, sweet and caramelly (if that is a word). The texture is rough like sugar and ground almonds. I love that! I really love good exfoliators. It smells like heaven, and left my skin feeling so smooth afterwards. I instantly bought the full size in this as well. I am hopeful that it will be a little easier to get out of the bottle than it is to get out of the foil packet. The rough texture really makes it stick in there.

Overall, I just don't know how I feel about this company. Their products seems so inconsistent to me. The other item in the box was a nice cream. This was just ok for me. So looking back there were two samples that I loved and 2 that I hated. Not a great track record. The plus is that, of the products I loved... I really loved them and purchased the full size. Wish things were a little more consistent though.

Friday High Five

I thought this day would never come. Ah, Friday, glorious Friday! This has been a very busy week. After having company I find there is always a lot to get done, just to get life back to normal. It was also a full week after a short one the week before. That's always hard to cope with. Really, shouldn't all work weeks be only 4 days? We should start a petition!

1.  Wow! Does our place look amazing! Dan and his father managed to get so many projects done around the house while he was visiting. I never expected them to do so much. They brightened up the guest bedroom by getting rid of the old grey and red color scheme. The room looks so much bigger now with its punchy yellow and blue walls. They also painted several doors in the house, painted the front hall closet door, changed all of our light switches and moved all of the heavy furniture out of the room down stairs and from the upstairs room to downstairs. We are finally in the home stretch and will be able to go look at carpet for the nursery, this weekend.

2. After all the renovations that were done in our home last week (my husband and father in-law worked overtime to get everything done... and what an amazing job they did!) we still need to organizing a lot of things, especially in our new guest bedroom/offices. I have a cupboard in our former guest bedroom/offices, however, it was damaged when we moved and then damaged again when we tried to move it to the other side of the room. The sad fact is, this cabinet will NEVER make it down the stairs in one piece. I have a lot of crafty stuff to store so I definitely needed a new cabinet. I found a really great one at Canadian Tire. We went to pick it up last weekend but the only one they had in the store was really badly damaged. My dad was able to help us grab another one with his truck (since it is pretty large). My parents also helped us take it all downstairs. That was a lifesaver since i'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting. The cabinet is still in pieces in the basement, but we should be able to build it in the next day or two. I love storage!

3. I also decided that it was time I got a new desk. The desk I currently have is in really rough shape. I purchased it at a thrift store for a whole $5. It's never been in very good shape, although it has served me well. The thing I really liked about the desk was that it had a lot of storage. I started looking around and found one that I was really interested in at Ikea. Dan and I hopped in the car on Tuesday night to take a look at it. It was disappointing. I thought the desk would actually be a lot bigger than it was. It wasn't very wide and definitely not deep enough to use my Cricut on it.

 See how much storage this desk has? There are shelves inside the cupboard, 2 drawers, not to mention the shelves on the hutch portion. It also has a white board on the back. I thought it would be perfect. Just as we were leaving, Dan spotted another style of desk that I have never given a second thought to. A secretary desk. We spent a few minutes checking this one out and I was very quickly falling in love! Inside both the top portion and the bottom there are shelves that I can fill with all kinds of junk! The front panel pulls down to create your flat desktop and there are more shelves inside that part that will be perfect for holding paper. I really hemmed and hawed over the price. It was about 3 times more than I was hoping to spend. I suppose in a way to justify the purchase to myself, I have decided that since I paid so little for my current desk I should definitely splurge on this one. I think the plan is to go pick it up tomorrow morning. The only downside to this desk is that it is solid wood. I know, you're thinking it's crazy that I would rather have press board than wood. The thing is, with this particular line that Ikea has, the press board has a really nice, smooth, shiny, laminate finish. Whereas, the solid wood is just stained. It's a more dull finish and I don't like that you can see the wood grain. It's a flaw I have decided to live with.

4. Wednesday night a girlfriend of mine invited me to an Arts fundraiser that she had an extra ticket to. It's a good thing that these tickets were comped to her, because they were $200 per person. It was a black tie affair and neither of us knew what to expect. The food at the event was delicious! However, everything was served in very small portions. We were still hungry after we left so we went to grab some dinner. It was a very fun night! Despite the rather dull event, the company was great! We spent hours chatting away. It was definitely a nice way to break up the monotony of the week.

5. Last night Meghan came over for another round of soap making! As usual, we tackled 2 batches. (I really should get a third mold so that we can get more done in one sitting) The scents we chose this week were Lavender and Peach Bellini. We had a bit of trouble creating a good lavender color. A chemical reaction often turns my liquid colors into mud when we add them into our soap, so you never really know what you are going to wind up with. Eventually we did get a nice color. It's maybe a little more grey than lavender but it will do the trick. We also added a little bit of pale purple glitter and lavender buds to the top of the soap, just to make differentiation easier. We had run out of any color that may resemble peach so we had to improvise a little bit with the Peach Bellini soap. We chose to stick with a natural colored base but added in some peachy and coppery glitter. It turned out really nice when I cut it up this morning. And both scents smell amazing!

I hope everyone has a great weekend full of fun and rest! On a side note... just over 50 days until Mexico!

Review Befine Pore Refining Scrub

I thought it was only fair to give you a straight up review of another Befine product that came in my Glossybox last month (especially since I trashed the face mask from them). They certainly have redeemed themselves in my eyes though. For the last couple of weeks I have been using the Befine Pore Refining Scrub with Coconut, Jojoba and Citrus. I don't think I have ever used a product that had created so many positive changes in my skin's appearance. This scrub makes my skin soft and supple and I have noticed that my pores seem much smaller and definitely more refined. I honestly didn't hold out much hope for this product since the mask was such a disaster. I can honestly say this is the one and only Product, out of all of my beauty box subscriptions, that I will absolutely be purchasing full sized.