Smiley 360 Mission - O'Keeffe's Working Hands Hand Cream Review

I received this product from Smiley 360 for free for review purposes.

Here is the product info from the Smiley 360 website:
The skin’s natural barrier can be damaged. This damage to the skin barrier leads to increased water loss, which creates dry and cracked skin. O’Keeffe’s^® Working Hands^® not only protects skin from further water loss, but also draws moisture into the skin, utilizing a humectant. The protective barrier seals in that moisture, reducing the rate of evaporation.

I work in a skilled nursing facility so I am constantly washing my hands and using drying hand sanitizer, so I was excited to try out this product. Now, I don't have cracked skin but my hands often feel tight and dry at the end of the day. I have dry and sometimes cracked cuticles as well so I was hopeful for this product. I've been using this product for about a month now and it has its pros and cons.

Pros:
Moisturizing yet light formula
Little to no fragrance
Blends into the skin quickly
Feels good on the skin

Cons:
Packaging: this product comes in a tub with a screw on lid. I prefer a squeeze tube or pump.
Can be greasy if you use too much (the packaging specifically says that a little goes a long way)
I don't feel that the moisture lasts for a long time. My hands feel dry each night despite daily use. 

I've also used this cream on my husband's wrists where he's been dealing with really dry flaky skin. He didn't like it because he said if felt greasy. He's not a huge lotion/cream guy to begin with. 

I think that you can't have a heavy duty moisturizer without some level of greasiness. I would save this cream for night time. I don't think that this is a cream that can be reapplied throughout the day

Overall, I'm still kind of on the fence about this product. I don't think I'd purchase this because I prefer the hand lotions that Bath and Body Works sells (partly because of the scents) and I feel like I can reapply them all day without any greasy feeling.

http://h5.sml360.com/-/mf9n

FrostyVoxBox Review

Influenster FrostyVoxBox Reviews

First post for the New Year. I'm making a goal for myself to regularly post and make this a full time hobby. Hope you enjoy this multi-review!

I've been a member of Influenster for almost a year now and it has been a lot of fun! Influenster is a program that you can sign up for to receive free products to test out in exchange for reviews and generally getting the word out. It doesn't cost anything to sign up either! The way that it works is that you connect all of your social media to your Influenster account. Those connections get you points which is called your "Impact Score." The higher your score the more likely you'll receive a VoxBox. Then you have to complete "badges" for the products which include writing reviews, posting photos to Instagram or Facebook, or posting to Twitter. Most boxes have a theme or are targeted towards one brand. So far I've received 3 boxes, the FrostyVoxBox being my third. This one had a bunch of great products that were very useful to me. Below I will post little reviews on each product. Enjoy! And if you're interested in becoming a member of Influenster below is my referral link if you'd like to use it. I don't receive anything from this link except maybe some points added to my impact score. 

www.influenster.com/r/615678

The first product I tried out was the Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Decaf Green Tea. I've wanted to try a peppermint tea for a long time, but didn't really want to buy a whole box just in case I didn't like it. But turns out, this tea was delicious!! I sweetened it with a little bit of honey and that's it! It was sweet, yet refreshing. And I was able to get 2 cups of tea per tea bag too and the flavor was still strong on the second cup. Just FYI, these particular tea bags did not come with an attached string. The box also included a coupon for the tea as well which will be put to good use!

Now, I love to cook so when I saw this next item I was pretty excited because I've slowly been building my collection of spices/herbs. Bring in the McCormick Gourmet Thyme. I tried this out in a crock pot recipe that included venison (Thanks Dad!), carrots, potatoes, onions, and celery. I guess you could call it a Venison Beef Stew. I really liked that packaging of the new McCormick Gourmet Thyme is a plastic bottle, which I appreciate because I am kind of clumsy in the kitchen. It was a good size and I'll get a lot of use out of it. Now, I don't use thyme too often but the flavor really came out in my stew! When I first added it to the stew I could smell the aroma... a little minty savory scent. I want to use it on some chicken or turkey next!

Another little treat that was in the box was Fruit Vines Bites in the strawberry flavor. I've never seen these before and I don't know if they come in different flavors, but who isn't a fan of strawberry. Fruit Vine Bites are a soft chewy candy that are the perfect bite size candy to satisfy a sweet tooth. A lot of times, I just need a little taste of something sweet after dinner and these did the trick. I only needed to eat a few and I was good to go. They had a nice sweet strawberry flavor that kind of reminded me of the strawberry Twizzlers bites. Kind of the same concept too, but these were much softer which I liked.

Now that next few items are what I was really excited about trying out! In the last year, I have turned into a make-up junkie! Mostly sticking to drugstore brands, but I've also been indulging in a few select high end brands. First make up product in this VoxBox is the NYC Expert Last Lip Color in Sugar Plum. This shade is about one shade darker than my natural lip color, so I've actually been wearing it to work just to bring a little more color to my face. This lipstick feels moisturizing and creamy. There is a tiny bit of almost golden like shimmer that is really pretty. I wouldn't say that it has awesome staying power, but I really don't mind reapplying it. And for the price at $1.99 at most drugstores you really can't beat it! I'd like to try a few other shades now. The top swatch is one pass of the lipstick and the lower swatch is the color built up with a few passes.

I've used my fair share of Rimmel products because they are good quality for a good price. And that's right up my alley. So when I saw this black Rimmel ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner in Black I was excited. You can never go wrong with a black eyeliner. This one goes on smooth and is really black. I like to smudge this out a little bit on my upper lash line and it smudges really well. It also has really great staying power. It's not dry. It glides right on. The top swatch is one pass, second swatch is built up. FYI: I religiously use the Nude Rimmel ScandalEyes eyeliner in my waterline to brighten up my eyes and I LOVE THAT!

Another Rimmel product that was included in this box was the Rimmel Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. I've used this eye makeup removed before and I've actually bought 2-3 bottles of it so I was kind of "ehh" about getting it. I've actually switched eye makeup removers because this one does not remove the waterproof mascara I wear (Cover Girl Lash Blast Waterproof in the orange tube). I have to use waterproof mascara because I have straight thin lashes that do not hold a curl if I don't. Anyways, this eye makeup remover works really well if you do not use waterproof mascara. It easily takes off my eye shadow and liner. It doesn't leave an oily residue and doesn't irritate my eyes. I'll probably use up this bottle, but I won't buy this. I stick to my store-brand Neutrogena eye make up remover.

**I didn't realize HOW MUCH was in this box until it took 2+ weeks to finish this post!! =)

Now I love trying out new skincare products. The only problem with getting skincare samples is that you usually don't have enough product to really know if you're skin benefits from it. But regardless, the next product is from Boots. No 7 Protect and Perfect Intense ADVANCED Serum. I've never tried a serum before so I wasn't really sure what to expect but the claim is that it reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. This feels silky smooth on the skin when applied. It feels moisturizing and has a light fresh scent. Now I can't say that it reduced my fine lines, but it felt nice to apply. Now the price for a full size is $29.99, so I'd have to try it out a little more before I decide if I'd purchase it or not.

Last but not least, is probably one of my favorite products from this box. The EcoTools Hair Brush. Now, I'm one of those people who will own a hair brush for years (gross, I know) but it's just not something that I go out looking to buy so when I saw that this was in the box I was really excited! I love this brush. I use it to untangle my hair after a shower and it doesn't pull out my hair or get stuck. The design of the brush is really interesting. When I brush my hair, the brush has a little give to it that makes it comfortable on my scalp. I've also used it to dry my hair, which works really well because the brush has "vents" under the bristles that allows the air to flow around the hair. 

WHEW! That was a lot of stuff!! Bare with me in terms of photos and writing. I'm still a rookie in the blogging world. Have a great rest of the day and hope to see you back again!

**I received all of these products complimentary of Influenster for testing and review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Hello world.
I'm trying to start this blogging thing so we shall see how it goes. Basically this blog will be like a lot others out there including posts of my favorite things...makeup, home stuff, pets, shopping, and cooking. I like to consider myself a newlywed (been married for 1 year) even though I've been with my husband for a total of  11 years. I live in a college town in West Virginia and work as a speech language pathologist in a nursing home. Everyone always says "isn't it depressing working in a nursing home?" Not really...some of my patients have more spunk in them now than a lot of people have in their 20's.  I'm a mom to one little furball...my Westie Bentley. Right now, he takes the spot as my baby. We plan on having children in the near future. We are currently in the process of building our first home and it's been a tiring but exciting journey so far. Getting excited for the holidays as they are quickly approaching. I keep stressing because at this point I only have about 25% of my Christmas shopping done. I've been in this habit of being a last minute shopper for the last few years and I really don't like it. Hopefully I can knock out shopping this weekend. Well this is it for now...I'm excited to start adding some of my passions and interests with you all!