Saturday, February 7, 2015

#FrostyVoxBox from Influenster

I love Influenster, I really do. I have gotten to sample some really great things from them. The last box I received from them was the Frosty Vox Box, and yes, it came around the holidays and I have been so lagging in posting about it.

Pika loves Influenster too!

Included in the box was:
*Celestial Seasonings Tea in Candy Cane Lane
*EcoTools Sleek and Shine Finisher Hair Brush
*Fruit Vines Bites
*NYC Expert Last Lip Color in Sugar Plum
*McCormick Gourmet All Natural Thyme
*Rimmel London Just Let It Go Eye Make Up Remover 
*Rimmel London Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner
*Boots No.7 Protect and Perfect Intense Advanced Serum

Plus coupons for Celestial Seasoning tea and Boots No 7 Serum.

A cat free look at the box.

What I liked:

Celestial Seasonings Tea- I am a huge fan of their tea to start with. Seriously, if you open my cupboard, I have a Ramona Flowers worthy stash of Celestial Seasonings tea. I even had a box of Candy Cane Lane already in there! I love the flavor, its not overly mintly at all. I don't use sweeteners in mine, only because I drink this tea when I'm trying to get my gastrointestinals to calm down and sugars can counteract it sometimes.

Fruit Vines Bites- These are made by Red Vines (which I love!), so I thought I would more than likely like these too. Yes, I do. They are soft, little bites of cherry goodness. They remind me almost of a fruit snack, but a little more grown up. 

EcoTools Hair Brush- This was a surprising like for me, and thats because I am incredibly picky about my hair brushes. My hair tangles really bad, so certain brushes don't work in my hair. This one did just fine, and its lightweight, yet sturdy. 

What Was Meh:
These aren't things that are terrible, but they weren't too super high on my excitability scale either.

McCormick Gourmet Thyme- The only reason this is down here is because I haven't had the occasion to use it yet! I love McCormick, and almost all of their other basic branded seasonings are in my pantry, I just don't cook many recipes that call for things other than salt and pepper. 

Rimmel London Eye Makeup Remover and Scandaleyes Eyeliner- I don't wear makeup. This is something that bugs the hell out of my husband and mother-in-law. I never have though, and I'm not sure I ever really will. So I didn't really have the know-how to apply the eyeliner (it looked like I got beat up by a piece of charcoal), but the makeup remover was good at helping me not look like a panda anymore. These are meh only because I lack makeup knowledge and know-how, not because they're bad products.

NYC Lip Color in Sugar Plum- Again, not a makeup person. However, I do like lip glosses, stains, things like that. So this one I was interested in trying out. I didn't like it though. The color didn't really suit me, and it had the sticky lipstick thing going on that I can't stand. It was also a pain to remove from my lips, which is a bonus if you want the color to last you for a long time, but since it wasn't for me, that was a negative.

Boots No. 7 Protect and Perfect Intense Advanced Serum- I love the word serum. It makes sound so fancy. The purpose of this product is to reduce your wrinkles' visibility, and while I have a multitude of gray hair like the old lady I am, I still don't have wrinkles yet. So I didn't see the product work in the way it was supposed to. But it was nice because its hypoallergenic, so it didn't irritate my skin like some skin care products can.


So there's my review! I really enjoyed the box, even though it seems like more items are on the meh side. Are you guys part of Influenster yet? If you want to join, sign up here! Also, I need to let you know that I received these products complementary from Influenster for testing purposes. While these were given to me to review, all opinions are my own. 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Looking for Group and Raid Dynamics IRL

Its time for another WoW Wednesday! Today's post will touch on two things- the Looking for Group documentary that was premiered at last year's Blizzcon and a recent Anomaly podcast that discusses the dynamics of raid groups.

First up is Looking for Group. I watched it on Hulu a few weeks back, but you can watch the whole thing on YouTube if you don't subscribe to Hulu. It shows how WoW came to be, showcased some of WoW's more familiar players (Felicia Day, Brandon Routh, King of the Nerds Season 2 contestant Zachary Storch, etc) and I swear to Jeebus, you will see the lady the modeled the dwarves after. It was neat to see where some of the characters in-game get their names from, because even though I've played the game for a long time, I'm not super knowledgeable in the names of the creators. I recommend this documentary for anyone that's interested in how World of Warcraft came to be.




Now, onto the podcast (Listen to it here). I found this podcast through the Female Geek Bloggers group (that group just helps you find everything great on the Internet!). I was immediately drawn in by the topic, even though I don't raid. I mean, I do groups, which are just tiny, faster raids if you really think about it. I've never considered that the role I play in WoW could possibly translate to how I am outside of the game though.

But it makes a lot of sense. In WoW, I play caster classes. They are pretty much distance damage classes, but this also applies to healers. In real life, I tend to hang back from crowds, because I feel awkward just throwing myself out there. I'm pretty quiet, unless I know you, then its different. And my profession by license, though I'm currently unemployed, is pharmacy technician. So that heals, right?  And again, its a distance class. I'm not the doctor, right in the middle of it all, making those life changing diagnosis, I just dispense your meds and help you along. I'm a supporter. Even in my household. I do for everyone, not much for myself, just always keeping everything going. Thats like a dps, they are always keeping the damage coming, constantly keeping the group moving by supporting the tank and protecting the healer. My husband would fit the tank profile pretty well, and thats what he plays mainly in the game (his other toons are mostly rogues and hunters). Hes the life of the party, hes not shy at all. And his job in real life requires him to have a ton of people and problem solving skills, but he also has to be prepared to protect himself and others at a moments notice.

What do you think about this? If you play games like WoW, or LARP, do the characters you're drawn to represent your nature in real life, or do you go completely the opposite direction? Let me know in the comments!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Mixtape Monday #2

Hello February! Its that time of year where everyone gets all lovey dovey. And that's nice, but sometimes it makes me want to vomit a little. I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day as a whole, but I do love its decorations the most out of any holiday. Today's Mixtape Monday is for all the people who don't have anyone to call a Valentine this year. Harsh, I know, but some of these songs are really great to cry/rage/laugh at, and hopefully at the end of it all, you'll realize that while it sucks right now, it won't always.