Empties | June 2015

#minsgame | Day 2

Today I'm giving away these glass bottles. I could these from a fair trade company a long time ago. I liked that they were pretty, and that whoever made them was getting paid a living wage, but ultimately I never did anything useful with them. They have sat and collected dust, so now it's time to move on to someone who will show them more appreciation.

#minsgame | Day 1

For day 1 of this minimalism challenge, I'm getting rid of this DVD/VHS player. The DVD player is broken and I can't even remember the last time I watched a VHS tape. I honestly have just been using it as a shelf for a really long time. So time for this thing to go!

#books | The Garbage Sifter by Barry Jones

This is the first book by Barry Jones that I have read. The book combines politics, drugs, sex, murder, and an innocent Argentinian widow who is supporting her family by dumpster diving. The woman comes across a partially shredded CIA document while sifting through trash and decides to use to her advantage to better her family's well being.

The story combines government agencies from Argentina and the United States, and drug cartels out of Mexico. This can be really confusing normally, but the author is nice enough to break the book up into three parts and provide lists of the key characters for each. This makes the book read like a book of short stories almost, told from the different perspectives of the key players, but all of the stories tie back into the bigger picture and make that bigger picture easy to follow. The book is fast paced and an easy read. I personally liked that none of the sex or violence in the story was overly graphic either. I really liked this book and will definitely be picking up more from this author.

You can pick up The Garbage Sifter for yourself here

note: I was sent this book for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

#review | Adeline Organic Eye Serum

I've been looking for for a decent eye cream to help with the sunken in look of the area under my eyes for a real long while now. I've found with all of the eye products I've tried for probably the last couple of years that they just never love up to the claims. Most did nothing at all. A lot of them didn't fully absorb into my skin and just clogged the pores around my eye area as a result. I came across this serum and thought I might have better luck with it since it's not a cream, but rather a gel. I am transitioning to a greener beauty routine also, so I liked that it was a natural and organic product. You can see in the pic below that the list of ingredients in this serum is pretty short, and most of them are organic.

The bottle has a pump applicator, and the serum comes out as a clear gel. I found the pump to dispense too much product, so I kind of just give it a half squeeze each time I use it.

I feel like the gel spreads and absorbs really well, and my makeup sits nicely on top of it on days that I wear concealer and what not. There is no scent that I can detect, and it's a really gentle formula. No stinging, burning, or any other eye irritations. While I haven't seen a massive difference in my under eye area, you can see in the pics below that my under eye area is a little plumper and brighter after a few weeks of use.

The top photo is before use, the bottom is after 3 weeks:

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this eye serum. Given how little I need to use this bottle is going to last a very long time, which makes it a little budget friendly as well.

If you want to check out Adeline Organic Eye Serum for yourself, click here



note: I was sent this product for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Testing out Foap

Check out my photo on Foap! https://foap.com/photos/53c1343c-3d22-42df-933e-737e2ab62dbf

I just read about this app last night and thought I would give it a whirl. You can make money selling your personal photos with it, if there is anyone interested in your way of viewing the world. I will report back in a few weeks to let you guys know if it's worth the download!

Wow of the Week! | nyl Skincare Organic Shimmer Scrub

I got this sparkly jar of goodness in my May Petit Vour box. At first glance, I honestly didn't think much of it. I can always use a good sugar scrub, but I am almost always let down by the shimmer factor in skin care products that are supposed to leave the skin sparkling. Either no shimmer sticks to my skin at all, or the little that does wears off in a matter of just a couple/few hours. Here is a pic of the packaging and how the scrub looks. You can see from the ingredient list that there are lots of great, organic, skin loving things in this scrub to nourish the skin!

I found this scrub to leave my skin very soft and smooth, without leaving an overly heavy oily film on the skin(which I can't stand in scrubs). The best part though, I looked like I was covered in diamonds! The sparkle left behind by this scrub is AMAZING! Now, I'm a glitter nerd by nature so I am all for the super glittery after effect of this scrub, but if you just want a hint of shimmer you can easily buff away as much of the sparkle as you want with a dry towel. Then, to top it all off, it smells like fresh squeezed oranges(one of my favorite smells), and the shimmer stayed on my skin for two days. Two days! Here are some pics of how glittery it left my skin. My camera is not the best at picking up glitter, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it is way better in person.

If you are a fan of sparkling skin too, you can pick up this scrub here

If you're not a fan of shimmer but dig the organic natural ingredients, you can check out the non-shimmer version of this scrub as well as everything else that nyl Skincare has to offer here