My lovely friend Lisa gave me a bag of fake nails!
I've tried some good ones, I've tried some bad ones.
Some of these are going to be far too long for my fingers, so I'll be able to use them for special events or long weekends, then clip them down for work.
Shall we begin?
I got two packs of the Fashion Diva nails, so I used one.
I HATE GEL GLUE! Just putting it out there. It went bubbly, and my nails literally popped off within a night.
I used Fing'rs brush on glue to re-stick my blue fashion diva ones after the gel glue failed miserably, and they've held up well at work so far. None lost, none pulling, I don't even have lifting issues yet.
Other than the totally shocking application by myself, they almost look, dare I say it, natural. Not too long, not too short, I can still type, bag goods at the checkout, change reams of paper, etc.
Other than being more careful around heavy things that like to break nails off (I'm looking at you, boxes of paper...) they've lasted Friday night (sans one which fell off while I was asleep) and most of Saturday night with gel (they started falling off in the nightclub, so I picked them all off and reapplied new ones the next day - the sizing isn't too bad, the differences between them are great enough to differentiate but not big enough to make a massive difference between say, a 6 and a 7.), Sunday, Monday and now coming into Tuesday with brush-on.
More gel glue.... *grrrrrrr*
These pink ones look ultra cute. My only regret is that I might have to trim them for work.
Assuming that the GEL GLUE will hold them on long enough to NEED trimming...
Pink frenches are adorable, and without any other pattern, I could stamp them or paint them.
Yep. More gel glue.
NON GEL GLUE!!! And Glue Tabs for one-night-wear. These are what I would call "glamour" length - too long for me to get away with on a regular basis, but something that might make my hands look longer.
These might actually be too small. I have pretty average nail beds, but really short nails.
I think these will go to someone who will use them, when they come over and want their nails done (but they have no nails).
Same with these. Lets NOT use the gel glue. Ok?
I'll let ya's know just how long the Diva's last. So far, 3 full days (and counting!).
This is very very late.
I got this box on the first weekday of Febuary, and I did a youtube video... and it failed.
So it sat there, and I glared at it for a while. Eventually I realised that it wasn't going to fix itself if it just sat there, so I took the photos and watermarked, and sat on them for another week.
It's now halfway through Febuary, so I guess I should do a posty-post.
First box of 2014!!
Benefits They're Real Mascara.
Full Size $43 (85g). Sample: $1.50 (3g).
This stuff is amazing. That brush will get even the tiniest lashes. Its thick and juicy and makes your lashes look fake.
Dermalogica After Sun Repair.
Full Size $52 (100ml). Sample: $7.80 (15ml).
I gave some of this to a friend of mine - she managed to burn BOTH her knees. Just her knees.
She said it felt really good. It smells really nice too.
Blistex Five Way Lip Protection.
Full Size $7.80 (4.25g). Sample: $5.20 (2.8g).
As a huge blistex fan, this stuff is pretty nifty.
It smells good, it feels good, and it survived being put through the washer and dryer (yes, it melted, but no, it didn't leak!)
It tastes ok too. Compared to the Carmex, its pretty good.
Chillax.
Full Size $5 (90ml).
I offered this to my boyfriend because he has trouble sleeping. He didn't take me up on it, but the offer is still there should he need it.
NS8 Heel Balm Complex.
Full Size $25 (100ml). Sample: $5 (20ml).
It has a pleasant smell, and it works well. I used it a couple of times and it smoothed some of my more rougher spots on my soles. My heels will still need a tonne of work.
Scholl Party Feet.
Full Size $13 (1 pair).
They're used to make your shoes less achey in the balls of your feet. I have some that are a bit thicker, and they take up some of the space in your shoes. These take up less space in the shoe, so would work well for those slinkier shoes.
Palmers Eventone Tone Perfecting Cream.
Full Size $16 (75g). Sample: $1.06 (5g).
I love Palmers stuff. I have cocoa butter products everywhere. I'm wondering how well this will work, but I'm not a huge fan of foil packets! If I can find an empty jar to decant it into, I'll use it.
Total value this month: $38.56. Not great, to be honest.
The products were mostly samples, and the whole thing is a little disjointed. I guess its a pre-valentines box (skin cream, mascara, shoe gels) but its a little bit of a post-new years party box (sleep aid, heel balm, sun repair).
This is the only box I have received so far with a value less than twice what I paid. Mostly they're really good.
I'm hoping now that Sample Bar has finished its course, that Goodiebox will pick up its game - its now the ONLY beauty box available in NZ, without trying to get imports from overseas.
I was inspired by this website to make pretzel bites for Christmas. I didn't like the fact there was so much sugar in the mix, so I went without.
Ingredients!
- Milk and dark chocolate buttons (the milk chocolate adds sweetness while the dark chocolate adds that layer of intense flavour, but you could totally just use one instead of both.)
- Pretzels (well, duh!)
- Peanut butter. I went with smooth because it would contrast the crunch of the pretzels. I think I chose the reduced fat/reduced salt version because the chocolate and pretzels would fill that requirement.
Scoop out a generous 1/3 tsp of peanut butter.
Roll between two spoons to make a lovely little ball of yum.
Smush between two pretzels.
Place on a baking tray until you've finished all your pretzels.
Melt equal parts of milk and dark chocolate using a double boiler... or in my case, a metal bowl over a pan of water.
Drop your prezel bites in and roll them around a bit till they're totally covered.
The pretzel bites look like little hearts! So cute. So sassy. So incredibly delicious.
Lay your little bites on some tin foil to set.
Throw the broken ones into the remainder of the chocolate and make pretzel crunch bark!
While everything is still soft and melty, sprinkle the remainder of the crumbs and salt from the pretzel bag over the bites. Or just stick with rocksalt.
These were so good. And so easy.
Om nom nom.
You totally don't need the extra sugar.
You could try it with crunchy peanut butter.
You could try it with white chocolate.
You could add sprinkles or maybe a layer of caramel before chocolate dipping... the options are endless!
Make some today! Make some tomorrow! Take some to work and impress your co-workers.
