Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost

Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost. Two Coats with Orly Bonder Basecoat and Orly In A Snap Topcoat. Nails of the day for Thursday, January 31, 2013. The polish on my index finger chipped an hour after I took this photo. I've had this polish since 2008. I don't use it very often, but I love the color.

First Impression: Palmolive Fresh Infusions Lime Basil

Palmolive Fresh Infusions Lime Basil - First Impression

I posted this short review on Influenster.com.

PROS: Smell, Degreases Really Well, Lots of Bubbles

CONS: I don't think there are any.

QUICK TIPS: Pour a little on a wet dish sponge and go town.

I bought the Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap in Lime Basil yesterday because of all the great reviews I've seen on YouTube by ladies who got the 3 dishsoaps from Influenster. I smelled the other 2 at Wal-Mart and I the only one I like is the Lime Basil. I used it today and I can't say enough about the smell and the bubbles. I think it's better than the Palmolive Clean Sponge dish soap I've been using for the last 6 months, and it smells better, too. It got the grease off my plastic bowls and my pans. As of right now, I will definitely be purchasing the Lime Basil dish soap next time I run out.

Recommend: Yes

Aquafresh Extreme Clean Toothpaste

Has anyone else seen the Aquafresh Extreme Clean Aerosol Toothpaste ?  It looked interesting at Dollar Tree, so I bought it when I needed new toothpaste last week.  I don't think I like it. The can is neat with the orange and white and green, but that's probably the best part about this product--right neon colors--and the toothpaste itself is bright blue. It's only $1, so I'd say it's worth the price but not a cent more. The toothpaste gel squirts out kinda like neon blue cheese in a can, then swells up like mousse and turns white. Or maybe a better analogy is spray string because it can be a very messy, toothpaste shooting out  all over the place, process. I will finish the can, but I am not buying another one.  It's a neat concept, but not a great product. And don't forget to shake it before you use it.  As toothpaste, or gel, I'd say it works, but the novelty factor wore off the first time I used it.  I don't recommend Aquafresh Extreme Clean. It also tasted like aerosol propellant at first. That wears off when I'm about halfway through brushing my teeth.  It's gross.  This is the only aerosol toothpaste I've ever seen and I would not try another kimd, either.

Blog Fixes Progress

Hey, Everybody.

I think I've got everything updated/formatted through the Maybelline Popsticks/Revlon Lip Butters post. The next one is about the BlenderCleanser from BeautyBlender. For almost every post after that, I have to add the little HTML things for the spaces, change the footer if there is one, and remove my location if it's showing up at the bottom of the post. It's taking longer than I expected. In the meantime, I'm planning individual posts on the items that came in my January Birchbox.

I'm trying to get my Etsy shop in order and add more items. That has been taking a lot of time as well. Today I found out I can copy a listing, edit the colors available, delete the original picture, and add a new one. I've had my Etsy shop for well over a year, but I've really just started to get the hang of posting listings and navigating my account. I should have things up and running soon. Right now I have two of my Rose Photographs listed, as well as a couple bracelets and a set of mini hand-beaded Mardi Gras balls. I am planning to work on my shop a lot in the next week. I've been having trouble getting good pictures of my hand-knotted hair ties using my Android phone, so that has slowed me down a bit. Either the color is off or they are blurry. If it doesn't work itself out in the next couple of days, I will have to start uploading pictures of my items for Etsy using my camera's xD card. I do not want to do that, but it would probably mean clearer pictures. I will let you know how it goes.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/theperidotcricket/

Have Fun, Everybody, and Blessed Be. Thanks for Reading.
Tammy ThePeridotCricket

abb3rz07 Lena Dunham Rant

Watch "GIRLS AND FAT SHAMING LENA DUNHAM?" on YouTube

Books I Have Read January 2013

Hey, Everybody! I've been busy reading a lot while I was unemployed. I am so excited about my new job that starts tomorrow at West Corporation in Omaha.

I've read 5 books so far in January and I'm almost done with a 6th, In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. This is my list for January 1, 2013 to January 18, 2013. Thank you all for sharing this with me.

1. Getting Lucky by Elaine Barbieri. Leisure Books. New York, 2009.

2. Firelight by Kristen Callihan. Forever (Hatchett Book Group/Grand Central Publishing). New York, 2012.

3. Fireproof by Alex Kava. Doubleday. New York, 2012.

4. Arcadia by Laura Groff. Voice (Hyperion). New York, 2012.

5. Cat in a Neon Nightmare by Carole Nelson Douglass. Forge (Tom Doherty and Associates). New York. 2003.

I did not enjoy Arcadia so much. It is a good book detailing the life of Bit, who started out in a hippie comune and ending when he is about 50 years old, but I liked the other 4 books a lot better. Cat in a Neon Nightmare felt like I was wading through a quagmire of old PI cliches for the first 1/3 of the book. I highly recommend all the Midnight Louie Mysteries by Carole Nelson Douglas, though, of which Cat in a Neon Nightmare is the 15th book in the series. Of the other 3 books, 2 are historical romances and the 3rd is an FBI mystery. I enjoyed them a lot. Firelight has a bit of the supernatural in a re-telling of the Phantom of the Opera sort of way. Fireproof trails an FBI agent tracking an arsenist and stumbling upon a killer who travels America's highways. Lucky is a love story set in San Francisco in 1849.

Happy Reading, Everybody. If you would like to leave a comment saying what you have read lately, I would love to read it.

Tammy ThePeridotCricket

First Look: Birchbox January 2013

First Look: Birchbox January 2013

I got my January Birchbox on Tuesday. The expected delivery date was January 18th. It was 4 days early. Here's what I got.

theBalm cosmetics Hot Mama Shadow & Blush All-In-One
Number 4 Clarifying Shampoo
Lashem Measurable Difference Lash Gel Serum
Harvey Prince Skinny Chic
Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream

My Birchbox Trade List on MakeUpTalk.com is closed for now, or 3 out of the 5 items would be on it.

Here's what I think before I try any of it.

theBalm cosmetics Hot Mama Shadow & Blush All-In-One
I don't use blush. It's Orange. I've seen about 100 people on YouTube say it's a dupe for NARS Orgasm blush, only with less shimmer. How is it a dupe when it's not exactly the same. Could people say, "Almost a dupe"? The packaging is unique and interesting, kind of like a 1950's Hawai'i advertisement, only with a bikini. I will be adding this to my Birchbox Trade List on MakeUpTalk.com when I re-open it in a couple weeks.

Number 4 Clarifying Shampoo
I was going to trade this, but I've decided to use it, as long as it doesn't smell too bad. Leave-in conditioners and argan oil probably count as things that need to have a clarifying shampoo once in a while, right? I've seen people open it on YouTube and say it smells bad. Others like the smell. I haven't opened it yet, so I don't know. It's in a plain black and white bottle like the labeling used to be for generic products at the grocery store--just a white box with black writing.

Lashem Measurable Difference Lash Gel Serum
As soon as one girl on YouTube said something like, "... causes blindness, changes the pigmentation of your eyelid ... well, that was another kind of lash serum ... I might try this one ..." I knew this was not for me. Another one for the trade list.

Harvey Prince Skinny Chic
I don't know what to say. Skinny. Chic. Um, bad marketing? It's a perfume that's supposed to help curb cravings. It smells sweet like green apples and pears. Yeah, like that's gonna help curb my cravings. I love pears and green apples. I want the Harvey Prince Ageless Pink Grapefruit sample that Birchbox sent out this month. I was going to trade the Skinny Chic for that sample.

Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream
At least it doesn't have soy like one of the other face creams in the January Birchboxes. I have hormonal issues which soy aggravates. I can't eat things with soy and I don't want to put them on my skin. Of course, I didn't actually read the ingredients yet, so I might not use this either. It's 2 packets about the size of ketchup packets on little purple cards. I think there's 2 uses per packet. I hope it smells nice.

I'll post reviews as I either try each product or trade them and let you know what I think.

Tammy
ThePeridotCricket

Line Breaks Editing Pain

A small bit of success this week. I have edited as far as the Twistband Review from my May Birchbox at the bottom of this blog. I think that's 5 entries. Now they have spaces in the proper places, which they did not before. I just inserted a double line break where it needed to go using the "
" HTML thing because the Blogger editor will not insert the line breaks the right way. I don't know why. I am planning to fix more entries later this week. Thank you for bearing with me. For now I have to go get groceries and then make supper.

I got my January Birchbox today. And I have discovered that my laptop does indeed have a word processing program--two in fact--WordPad and NotePad. I cannot figure out why it doesn't have Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. Now I can type whenever I want. No guarantees it will look the way I want, but I can fix that.

Next Monday I start a new job. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it. I still have another job offer on the table and if they want me I will be taking that job instead, so my life is in limbo right now. I feel like I have to take the job that would start on Monday because I need to work and I need to get paid, but I want the other job more because it's easier to get there on the bus and the call center cannot possibly be as nasty as the one where I've been hired already. Then again, it could be worse. But I still wan that job. I hope the HR lady calls tomorrow and says the second job wants me.

Tammy ThePeridotCricket

Mutual of Omaha & TD Ameritrade

http://instagr.am/p/UfU49REkxe/
Mutual of Omaha and TD Ameritrade as seen from about 118th and Nicholas in Omaha. I went out there for a job interview last Monday--not with either of these companies, but another one which has its HR office out there--and I got hired today. Training starts next Monday. I don't know of I'm really happy about that or not. I need a new job. I want the job. I don't know if I'll be a good fit. And the bus is never on time. I am waiting on another job offer. If it turns out the other company wants to hire me, I am going to take that job instead. Anyway, I think this is an interesting picture and I wanted to share it with everybody. It's from Monday, January 7, 2013 at about 3 p.m. I took it while I was waiting for the bus after my interview. I had to go for a second interview with the same company the next day, then a drug test the day after that and a background check. Finding out I was hired today makes me sad. I absolutely need this job, but I only half want it.
Tammy

Blacklist: Beauty.com and Drugstore.com

This is the most fucked up customer service I have ever seen.  Banned For No Reason.

http://www.makeuptalk.com/t/132157/really-unhappy-with-beauty-com-drugstore-com

Picture Upload Test

I just re-installed the Blogger app. on my Android Phone. It wouldn't let me upload pictures when I tried it before. I am hoping for better luck this time. Being able to upload images is one of the main reasons I switched to using Blogspot. I need to have pictures in my posts.

Blog Issues

I have realized that I am going to have to start using HTML in my blog entries because Blogger just will not leave spaces and linebreaks where I put them. Thos has been a tremendous pain in the ass to me for the past month. My blog entries look all squished together. I don't like it. I have been trying to solve the problem and now I think I have the solution, although putting in the linebreaks manually using HTML is also a pain in the ass. But it's better than the alternative. Now I just have to find the time to go back and fix all the squished blog entries. Tammy ThePeridotCricket

Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo

Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo & Conditioner A+++ 9 days ago on Influenster PROS: Soft, Manageable Hair. Smells Great. Works Great. CONS: Macadamia Oil Set Is Very Greasy and Made Me Itch. QUICK TIPS: Target $5.99 for 13 fl oz. I give the Organix Macadamia Oil an F-. I love the Moroccan Argan Oil line by Organix. I use the shampoo, conditioner, and the weightless healing dry oil. The Macadamia Oil shampoo and conditioner made my scalp extremely oily and gave it the worst itching ever. I do alternate about every other wash with Head & Shoulders. The Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo especially smells good. With the conditioner it leaves my hair soft and smooth and shiny with lots of body. I use the dry oil before I brush my hair and it kills any frizz that might be left. I sometimes like to just shampoo and run, so to speak, and the Argan Oil shampoo and a spritz of the dry oil on my towel-dried hair leaves my hair manageable even without conditioner. My hair has never looked or felt healthier since I started using this set in March. I have gone through several bottles of the 13 fl oz size and I will continue to buy the Organix Moroccan Argan Oil products because they work great for me and they smell great. The shampoo cleans my hair and my scalp really well and never makes me itch. Recommend yes

First Look: Birchbox December 2013

The this month is All Wrapped Up. Okay, so this is not the greatest Birchbox ever, but it's definitely not the worst.Those of us who got this box got screwed out of reviewing the foil packet of Thymes Lotus Santal Body Lotion. We get to review 4 items instead of 5, which is kinda pissing me off. Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream I don't use anything like this on my face. I wanted to try a sample of perfume called Juliette Has a Gun Mad Madame, so I traded the CC Cream for that through makeuptalk.com. The perfume smells a little musky at first, but it's a wearable fragrance. Kerastase Nutritive Nectar Thermique - Protect Heat protectant leave-in conditioner for hair. I don't use heat on my hair, but I do like leave-in conditioner, so I am going to give this a try. 2 10ml foil packets, so that's quite a lot. Thymes Naia Body Lotion The description says lemon pulp and yerba mate extract. The smell is not delightful. It smells like just a generic lotion from the grocery store. The smell stayed even through 3 hand washes. It's a little lemony. Thymes Lotus Santal Body Lotion Tiny Packet. Haven't opened it yet. I've seen people on YouTube who got this box say it smells good. ModelCo Shine Ultra Lip Gloss I got the one called Berry Pink. It smells like strawberry candy, which is nice. I've used ot a bunch of times and I like it a lot. It is moisturizing and it's not very sticky. It has no color on my lips, though. It's just shiny. Full Size. Well, here it is January 7th, 2013, and I'm just posting the first look for my December 2012 Birchbox, which I've had for almost a month now. I will post reviews for each product later this week. I'm trying to get back into blogging several times a week. Wish Me Luck. Tammy ThePeridotCricket