I got my hair cut and styled a few weeks ago, and on my way out of the hair salon I spotted a colorful arrangement of Bed Head products. Now, I love Bed Head… in the past I have used their Self-Absorbed, Mega Nourishing and Brunette Goddess shampoos and conditions. But the one that stuck out at me this time was Bed Head SUPERSTAR Shampoo and Bed Head SUPERSTAR Conditioner. Both were touted as being great for thick, massive hair (which I have, for the most part), as well as colored hair. So I snapped up one of each.
I have now been using both SUPERSTAR shampoo and SUPERSTAR conditioner for two and a half weeks, and I have to say, I love the product. As someone on one of my blogs (or was it on Twitter?) said, the stuff smells a lot like a Philosophy perfume. I love their perfumes, so that’s fine by me! More importantly, it’s treating my hair like a queen. It cleanses and moisturizes without going overboard. It lasts all day long, even late into the night when I’m still awake writing about best seo software. And it’s gentle on my hair dye — of course, I make sure it is by adding some dye to both my shampoo and conditioner, so I have plenty of color every single day. 
Bottom line, this stuff is great, and it has taken up permanent residence in my shower!
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If you’re a fan of Victoria’s Secret Squeaky Pink Fresh & Clean Shower & Shave Body Wash, then you’re no doubt as bummed as I am to discover that Victoria’s Secret is no longer carrying it. I feel like kicking myself because I noticed the stuff marked down to just $4.00 a bottle a few weeks back, and man would a great deal that would have been! Seeing as how I never pass up a good auto insurance quote, I shouldn’t have ever passed up that awesome deal either! Oh well…
As I wrote in my review of the stuff, it lathers nicely, provides plenty of rich moisture for shaving, and smells divinely. The good news is that not all hope is lost — you can find it on eBay! You’ll probably wind up paying $10-$15 per bottle of it, but if you really want it, you’ll cough up the moolah for it. I lucked out and found a seller offering four bottles of Victoria’s Secret Squeaky Pink Body Wash for $31.00 + $10 shipping. So what’s that work out to, $10.25 a bottle? Not bad… that’s about what it was when Victoria’s Secret still carried it, right?
The other day I ran into Target for another box of Clear Care (here’s my review), and noticed that Target carried its own version of it, Up & Up Cleaning and Disinfecting Lens Care System. Target’s own line of Up & Up products is nothing new; in fact, I buy a lot of Up & Up products, including sanitizing wipes, laundry detergent, fabric softener, napkins and paper towels (but not toilet paper — that’s one thing I won’t scrimp on!).
The first thing I immediately noticed about Up & Up Cleaning and Disinfecting Lens Care System is that the housing container is on the flimsy side. Also, the metal gear that creates the bubbling action with the hydrogen peroxide solution is fixed to the bottom of the storage container, rather than being on the bottom of the lens “cage”, which is attached to the lid. This means that you shouldn’t pre-fill the container with solution while you’re rinsing your contacts, since the solution will begin to bubble right away. It also means you have to be quick about getting the contacts submerged into the solution once you do add it, so that they can be properly and thoroughly cleaned.
Another thing I noticed — and I don’t know if this was a fluke or what — is that it seems like the solution needs longer than the minimum of six hours to be properly neutralized. The first morning after initially using the product I went to put in my contacts after they had soaked for about six and a half hours, and dear GOD did my eyes burn. It happened the following morning, after my contacts had soaked for about seven and a half hours. So since then I have made sure to let my contacts soak for at least eight hours, and I rinse them with regular contact lens solution before putting them in.
Overall, I don’t think I’m too impressed with Up & Up Cleaning and Disinfecting Lens Care System. It looks like Target is good for some things (including excellent POS systems; from a former employee’s perspective I can tell you that they rocked!), but not others. Between the flimsy design of the housing container and the fact that the gear is in the container instead of on the lid itself, and the fact that I’m essentially spending more with this solution because I’m still having to use regular solution, I’m not satisfied with the product. I’ll use it until it’s gone, but then I’m going to switch right back to Clear Care!
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Protein is a big focus for me lately, so when a friend from my local weight loss surgery support group recommended Isopure Zero Carb, I decided to pick up a bottle or two and give it a try. She kept going on and on about how good Isopure tasted, so I hit up my local GNC, ignored the employee’s yammering about X products and Z products building muscle and cell mass, and picked up two bottles of Isopure Zero Carb — Alpine Punch and Mango Peach.
The appeal of Isopure Zero Carb is that it has 40g of protein. The downside is that those 40g worth of protein come in a whopping 20 ounce drink. That may not sound like much, but when your stomach isn’t much bigger than a jumbo-sized egg, it is a lot. But nevertheless, I figured I could take a drink with me on the go, or work at one while I was working, and easily drink over half of a day’s worth of protein.
Unfortunately, I’m disappointed with the taste of Isopure Zero Carb. I’m just not that into the flavor. It’s too strong, I guess to mask the underlying taste of the protein — and it doesn’t even mask it that well. I can’t justify spending nearly five bucks a bottle and struggling to consume 20 ounces of fluid in order to get in 40g of protein. I’d much rather eat more meats, snack on more cheeses, and mix up other types of protein shakes that offer 20 to 30 grams worth of protein in just 4 to 6 ounces of liquid.
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Island Escape, from Glade’s Relaxing Moments collection, is the newest scent from Glade, and I fell in love with it the moment I smelled it this afternoon. I generally alternate between Glade and AirWick for scented oils, though I continuously use odor-combating Febreze scented oils for my son’s bedroom, the bathroom (mainly because of the cat litter), and the kitchen.
So, what made me choose a Glade scented oil in Island Escape? Well, it just smelled so good! One whiff of the scratch & sniff had me picturing summer, the beach, dragon fruit and passion fruit juices, and peaches. According to Glade, the scent should remind you of the tropics, summer-warmed figs and mangos. Let me tell you, they nailed it. This scent is the perfect combination of that, without being too strong or sickly sweet.
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Who says you have to pay a small fortune for glasses? I already pay almost $300/year for contact lenses, and that’s with my insurance discount, which I only get every two years. That means that next year I’ll pay over $300 for contact lenses, and I’ll have to cover the $125 visit & fitting fee, too! Yes, those are some high prices for the convenience of contact lenses, and yes, I’m dreading having to pay for them!
Anyway, I do keep a spare pair of glasses on hand, but since the prescription is going on four years old and the lenses are scratched in a few places, I’m going to replace them soon. I’m not going to bother with the standard route of getting glasses. Since I already have a prescription, I’m just going to check out the eyeglasses that Zenni Optical has. They’re an online exclusive, so you don’t have the normal costs associated with operating a brick and mortar establishment. This means paying for the cost of the frame & lenses only — not the high rates that stores charge in order to cover their own costs!
Psst… don’t just take my word for it — Check out what the Brooklyn Liberal Examiner had to say about Zenni Optical!
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Last Saturday afternoon I wrote about Manic Panic. At the time it was still in my hair, so I couldn’t give you much of a rundown on it. Well, my hair is now nicely colored, and it stays that way because I mixed about two tablespoons of additional Manic Panic with my shampoo, and another two tablespoons with my conditioner, so I get a “freshening up” dye every time I take a shower.
Manic Panic is a vegetable-based dye that doesn’t contain ammonia, bleach, or any of the other harsh chemicals that strip hair of its nutrients and vitality. This is a good thing for me, as my hair is already weakened and somewhat damaged from a protein deficiency I am currently battling. The downside is that the lack of the stripping agents prevent Manic Panic from truly “bonding” with hair strands like standard dyes do, so it tends to wash out completely within a few weeks (this is why I added the dye to my shampoo and conditioner; doing this has worked perfectly, as my hair has the same cherry wine shade that it did on the first day I dyed it).
Manic Panic has barely any smell to it, and it doesn’t burn or sting like normal dyes do. It felt very good in my hair, and washed cleanly out — though I had to spend ten to fifteen minutes rinsing in the shower. Oh, and my bath tub and shower curtain are now hot pink. But I’m sure that’ll eventually clear up whenever I stop shampooing and conditioning with dye!
Best of all, Manic Panic did a great job of adding some spunky color to my hair, which impresses me because my natural color is dark brown!
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I got my hair cut and styled a few weeks ago, and on my way out of the hair salon I spotted a colorful arrangement of Bed Head products. Now, I love Bed Head… in the past I have used their Self-Absorbed, Mega Nourishing and Brunette Goddess shampoos and conditions. But the one that stuck out at me this time was Bed Head SUPERSTAR Shampoo and Bed Head SUPERSTAR Conditioner. Both were touted as being great for thick, massive hair (which I have, for the most part), as well as colored hair. So I snapped up one of each.
