The Push of a Button

I should have realized that S C Johnson wasn't targeting the sharpest market when they thought it necessary to include the following on their bullet list of directions for Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner: "Not a body wash".   I am admitting to you all here today, that, "yes, I bought it".   Why is the "easy button" so attractive?  I fall for it too often thinking that it just might really make my life easier.  So I hang the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner on my shower head and take a shower (fighting the urge to use it as a body wash - ha).   When the shower is over, I simply push the button and in 15 seconds, the sprayer starts coating the inside of my shower with cleanser.  It sprays for about 5 seconds.  My 4 year old son watches with delight while I realize I just spent $12 on this thing so it would spray for me?  So it saved me 5 seconds of spraying and I still have to get in and rinse it off.  Trust me I waited day after day to see if it would clean itself (as the directions stated "no rinsing, no scrubbing").  Finally I just got in there and cleaned it the old fashioned way.  It is just so pleasing to hear things like "Spray and Walk Away" and "Fix it and Forget it".  On that note, I also bought the dishwasher gel packs that have a rinse agent built it.  Now, I actually liked those little dishwashing pillow pouches but are they really easier than pouring some liquid or powder into the little hole?  Not really, but they are way cuter!  It wasn't until I bought a cheaper version of the pre-packaged dishwasher pouches that I realized my quest for making my life easier was getting out of hand.  The cheaper version also came in pre measured packets, but these ones didn't disolve, they had to be unwrapped; and they didn't unwrap easily.  When I finally got the little bugger out and dropped it in it's place I realized that it looked like the chunk of dishwasher detergent that would get stuck in the bottom of the box during the humid summers in NY.  I just paid extra to have someone turn my detergent into the hardened chunks I used to try to avoid.  Somebody help me!  Now there is the Bounce Bar calling my name.  Instead of spending, oh let's see, half a second getting a dryer sheet into the dryer, you just mount this bar on the inside of your dryer and never think about dryer sheets again.  The ad has women telling how much time they save and how they can use all the help they can get when it comes to laundry, blah blah blah.  Saving a milisecond does not count as helping me with the laundry.  When it can sort, fold and put away, then you have a product (or is that a maid?).  I am making a vow not to buy this thing, but feel free to pass on information about a product that really does help, and really does save time and/or money.

"You've Got Nails"

In high school ('83-'87) I drank Knox for Nails gelatin to make my nails grow.  In college, I experimented with Lee Press-On Nails.  I remember waking up with them stuck in my hair instead of on my nails.  As a young professional, I tried the DIY acrylic gel sets and ended up with weird cement lumps permanently adhered to my nails.  I have always admired pretty, manicured nails, but I guess I've never been willing to pay for them, so I have learned to accept my flat, thin, short, manly nails.  Last Christmas we went skiing and my boots were too small (I told the guy they felt small and he said I would want them snug, so I went with it.  What do I know?)  By the end of the first day, my big toes felt bruised so I got the bigger boots - duh.  A week later, my toe nails were black and blue.  A month later, they fell off!  Gross!!!  I did what I always do when I have a medical or other important question; I googled it - "toe nail falling off".  I learned that if I put fake nails on over the new growth, it would help guide the new nail so it wouldn't come in funky, crooked or bumpy.  I fully intended on going to a real salon and having real acrylic nails put on my big toes, but then, I saw it at Target - glue on toe nails!  I thought I should give it a try.  What did I have to loose, another nail?  So I picked out the right sizes for both of my big toes and glued them on and painted them to match my other toes.  Yay!  They looked so good, and stayed on over 7 days; I even wore them in the pool.  My toe nails have grown back perfectly now, in case you're wondering.  So I say all of this to say - You can imagine how excited I was to get an email from Revlon asking if I'd like to try their new "Runway Collection" of glue on nails,  and review them on my blog!  This excites me on so many levels,  first of which is they were free!   Secondly, someone actually found my blog!  Thirdly, they are DIY and very inexpensive!  Fourthly (?), they are gorgeous and go very well with my "lipgloss side".  I put on my first set last night and for my first attempt, they look pretty good.  I've got nails!  I did however glue my fingers together several times over the course of 10 nails.   If you look closely, you can see some air pockets where I either didn't press hard enough or didn't get enough glue.   I still need to see how difficult it is to get them off, and how much damage the glue does to my real nail.  But for now... I like them, except when trying to text (I think I'll file down the thumbs).
Update!!! - I've now tried taking them off and have on my second set.  Everywhere I go, I get compliments so I have to say, I love them.  My second attempt was much more successful considering I didn't glue my fingers together this time.  I also filed down a couple of the nails prior to gluing them on so I got a better, more custom fit.  A friend from high school, who uses these regularly gave me a tip on getting them off too.  She leaves them on until they start falling off on their own, which makes the soaking time shorter, and the temptation to pry them off lesser.

Eyelash Envy

I have a problem!  I have "Eyelash Envy".   Everytime a new mascara comes out at the drugstore, I am convinced that it will be "The One".  The One that makes me look like the model on the package, The One that won't clump together, flake off or smell funky (Sheer Cover smelled super funky!).  I know full well that the models have false eyelashes, professional make-up artists, photographers and photo editors.  Even so, I buy the new mascara thinking that it will somehow fulfill my lash fantasy (Revlon Lash Fantasy, btw: 2 step application and ended up flaking under my eyes by the afternoon).  CoverGirl Exact Eyelights was supposed to bring out the natural beauty of my hazel eyes (blah blah) and Rihanna said it would make my eyes "4X brighter".  I'm not sure they were brighter...how do you measure eye brightness? Well if I can't believe Rihanna, can I believe Drew Barrymore?  I decided to take the risk and see if CoverGirl Lash Blast would "max out each lash" and remain smudge proof.  Well, I thought I'd share  a picture since, so far, this is my favorite.  (It's kinda scary, beware.  Maybe I could have smiled eh?) I still want to try Maybelline's Stilettos mascara to see if I can "grasp each lash" to get "provocative length".  I'll keep you posted.  Meanwhile, please let me know if you've found "The One".  (See why I don't really fit in at the composting workshops?)

Retin A - The "Before" photo

Well, it happened...I turned 40 last April 24, 09.  I have totally embraced it and actually feel pretty stinkin happy about where my life is right now.  I have my health, a happy family and I can still fit into my wedding gown.  OK, there are a few things I'm not exactly raising the roof about - massive amounts of funky gray hairs that stick straight out of the front of my head, and "smile lines" all around my eyes and mouth -wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles.   So, I'm coloring my hair and trying to decide, "highlights, or no highlights"?  But yesterday I got my first prescription for Retin A; magic in a tube.  I put it on last night after getting a little freaked out about all the possible adverse reactions (here's to hoping I don't get a rash or crusty pustules, or lose pigment in treated areas...)  Every magazine I read says 40 and over skin needs a retinol cream, so...  here I go.  The good news here is that my original prescription for Renova was going to cost me $180.  When I asked if there was a generic, the derm said he could change the scrip to a low dose Retin A and then I could ask for a generic.  Yay!  Now it only cost $59!  Still a whole heck of a lot more than I've ever paid for a face product.  Crossing my fingers.