Harry Potter Stamps!!

So the USPS released some Harry Potter forever stamps some time ago, and I had to go and buy a book of stamps because of it. I don't usually buy books of stamps, normally I just go to the post office and pay for the stamps there. And it didn't help that I kept forgetting to check if the Post Office had any available. lol.

So this post is just to share pics of the pretty stamps. I don't think I'll be using them, I'll be keeping them. Hee.

Iggle Craft Challenge for January!

So I decided while I was stranded in Michigan, that I wanted to start an Iggle Craft Challenge. What's that? Well, it's a challenge within the IGGPPC community to do something crafty using only what's on the supply list.

So this is the first Iggle Craft Challenge:

#IggleCC

• 1-5 sheets of felt
• glue
• scissors 

My original plan was to do two separate projects for this challenge, but I haven't completed the second one yet, and I might not before the end of January, so here's the project I did complete! lol.


My glue, scissors, and felt.

My supplies!

I chose white, yellow, black, and two sheets of blue, although I really didn't need that extra sheet of blue. I used the equivalent of four sheets in this project.



First thing I did was cut the pieces that would be the outside. I didn't use a ruler or anything to measure, this whole thing is all free cut.

Haha, if you didn't guess already by the colors, my aim was to make a TARDIS

Outsides done

 So I then cut out the detailing from the black, white, and yellow, and pasted all of that on to each piece.


Then I took the leftover felt and cut it all in to squares.

Pile of felt

I stacked them and glued them to the bottom of my tardis. The stack serves as the inside of the tardis, so it's not hollow.


Then I glued the outsides to the insides!

finished!

 To make the little light at the top, I rolled up a scrap of blue and cut two small squares out of yellow.

My tardis with the flash on.

Teehee. So there's my felt tardis for this month's Iggle Craft Challenge! We'll see if I finish my other project before the end of January, which is like, less than two days away. lol. If I don't, it's Valentine's Day related anyhow, so I might just post it in February. :)

Epicare Review

Earlier this month, NailPolishCanada.com sent me an Epicare to review! I've seen similar items very occasionally via Youtube, or other sites. They made me curious, but I never went looking for one.

Come to find out, Epicare is the original! So I couldn't be more excited to give this a try.

Epicare!

A description taken from the official website:
"Facial hair fuzz can be unsightly and embarrassing for most women especially those who love flawless looking skin on their faces. Epicare® happens to be the best way of getting rid of such unsightly and distressing facial hair anywhere and at any given time, leaving your face feeling silky, smooth and attractively feminine. The inspiration behind the invention of Epicare® is threading which is an ancient hair removal technique in which cotton thread is used to remove hair without the need for waxing or plucking."

And here's a quick instructional video:





The back of the packaging:

As someone from the States, it's neat to see the description in English and in French. Here, it's most often English and Spanish. Hehe.


So why Epicare? According to this....

Why Epicare?

Epicare is the world's first Do-It-Yourself Manual Threading device to remove unwanted facial hair. Its unique spring action removes unwanted hair from the roots safely and effectively without damaging the skin. Just bend and roll. It's as simple as that!

• Environmentally friendly and reusable
• Convenient, easy and fast
• Small enough to carry around
• Able to remove very fine, short facial hair quickly and effectively
• Finer hair re-growth
• Safe for all skin types
• Low risks of outbreaks
• Affordable and economical
• Hypo-Allergenic

Epicare comes in 8 lovely colors:

8 colors to choose from

I received Ocean Blue.

Ocean Blue

Some closeups of the product...

Handle closeup

closeup of the springs

Me and my new Epicare

Okay. First thoughts? This is going to hurt. I've had my eyebrows threaded before, so I know the pain of threading. And I've plucked the hairs on my upper lip before, so I know that pain too. And this little springy mechanism was going to pluck multiple hairs out at a time, over and over again. My eagerness to try the product outweighed my hesitation though, and I got right to it.

suspicious...

Ouch.

ouch.

Let me repeat that. OUCH.


Holy goodness did it ever hurt. Imagine taking a dozen sets of tweezers, and yanking a dozen hairs all out at once. I.. I was afraid to continue. I had to though. Time to man up. Ha.


It felt like a million forevers before the task was done, but in reality, took way less than five minutes.

Look at me, young and naive, posing happily before trying it.

The next time I tried this, I used it straight out of the shower, thinking the warm water might open up my pores a bit and make things a bit less painful. It did seem to hurt less, but not by much. The pain was still pretty bad.


Then I also tried numbing my upper lip with ice before going at it. THIS is the way to go, people! After holding some ice to my lip for 10-20 seconds, I could only feel the tugging. Woot!!!


After about a week, it got much easier to use. My skin was getting used to it. And now I don't even need to use ice. Haha.



And now for a TMI pic...

So many tiny hairs...

The focus is a bit blurry, but you can still see the tiny hairs the Epicare removed.



Overall, despite the pain, I really do prefer this method to plucking, shaving, or waxing. Plucking just takes way too long, shaving can cause painfully annoying ingrown hairs, and waxing feels like it rips a layer of skin off with it. Using the Epicare really is quick and easy - it's just not painless. At least, not as first. lol. This is now my new favorite!

It's fairly easy to maneuver the spring, kind of instinctual. The site says you can roll the handles inward and outward to get results, but I found only rolling the handles outward works for me. Inward doesn't seem to do anything. Some folks say you don't even need a mirror to use this, but I can't trust myself to catch all the hairs without a mirror. Plus, I get a nice satisfactory feeling being able to see this work. lol.

 To clean it, all you do is bend it and shake the hair out. You can wipe it off with a clean, dry cloth.

The Epicare is also pretty affordable. It costs around $15 for one and, with proper care, lasts 6-8 months. I only wish these were sold in stores!

Pretty glad I have this Epicare!

For my lovelies in Canada, you can purchase Epicare from NailPolishCanada.com.
For the lovelies anywhere else, you can purchase Epicare from the official site. They even sell little Epipouches to store your Epicare if you'd like. So cute. Hehe.

---

Ways to check out Epicare:

NailPolishCanada.com

Epicare's Official Website

Youtube

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook

*This product was provided for review, but my opinions are my own. :)

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Travel In Colour Review

 Last polish to review from the China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze collection!  I won this entire collection from a giveaway hosted by The Nail Files, and sponsored by China Glaze.

The whole Happy HoliGlaze collection

The last polish in this collection is Travel In Colour:

Travel in Colour

Unfocused to show the colors!

January Mani!

I said I would share my snow mani that features China Glaze's There's Snow One Like You, so here I am!

As soon as I saw There's Snow One Like You, I knew I wanted to make it snow on my nails. And I knew I wanted to make a snowman. Hehe.

left snowman

I used a matte top coat, I felt matte would work better than shine for this one.

right snowman

It's weird, because normally I do better on my left hand because I'm right handed, but I like the little snowman on my right thumb better. Hee.

I love this mani. I love winter! :) And these snowmen are so much nicer than any snowman I can make out in the yard. lol.

Due to being stuck in Michigan for the first two weeks of January without a polish in site, I wasn't able to do my nails! Then when I got home, I found all these polishes to play with and had to swatch them all! So this is my only nail art mani for January. That'll do though. The snowmen make me smile. :)

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Review Pt. 3 [image heavy]

 Today is the third part of my China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze review! As mentioned in a previous post, I got this entire collection from a giveaway hosted by The Nail Files, and sponsored by China Glaze.

The whole Happy HoliGlaze collection

Today I shall share these four:

Elfin' Around, Just Be-Claws, Santa Red My List, There's Snow One Like You

Elfin' Around, Just Be-Claws, Santa Red My List, and There's Snow One Like You.

How to Fail, Fail, and Fail Again

How to Fail, Fail, and Fail Again

a frustration by noxy

Step 1: Decide to make lemon meringue cookies

Step 2: Naively take a happy, unsuspecting pic of your ingredients.

Step 3: Follow step 1 in the directions

Step 4: Follow step 2, and "mix your egg whites on high for ten minutes until meringue is glossy and forms stiff peaks."

Step 5: Continue to mix for 10 more minutes because the meringue is not forming stiff peaks.

Step 6: Listen to the idiocy of your brain when it says "you just need another egg white!" and add another egg white.

Step 7: Mix for 10 more minutes without success.

Step 8: Give up. Drop mixture in to cake pan and bake for two hours.

Step 9: Try again.

Step 10: Repeat steps 3-5.

Step 11: Repeat step 8.

Step 12: Sit in frustration.

Step 13: Don't cry.

Step 14: Do not cry.

Step 15: Go insane.

Step 16: Try again.

Step 17: Wing it, ignore instructions.

Step 18: Add ingredients randomly.

Step 19: Fight the urge to cry when you notice the meringue has somehow formed stiff(ish) peaks.

Step 20: Go back to the recipe, follow step 4, and "Place meringue in a pastry bag (or plastic sandwich baggie with a corner cut off) and pipe in very small dots onto a baking sheet."

Step 21: Bake for 2 hours or so.

Step 22: Write this blog while waiting for "cookies" to bake.

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Review Pt. 2 [image heavy]

 Today is the second part of my China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze review! As I mentioned in a previous post, I got this entire collection from a giveaway hosted by The Nail Files, and sponsored by China Glaze. Took me long enough! The sun I tells ya. That sun has been hiding.

The whole Happy HoliGlaze collection

The colors I'm sharing with you today are:

So Blue Without You, Bells Will Be Blinging, Mingle with Kringle, and This is Tree-Mendous

A Kickstarter I'm Contributing To

I love kickstarter. I recently found a kickstarter to help fund a line of geeky sprinkles.

Police box sprinkles, steampunk sprinkles, lightning sprinkles.

 Geeky sprinkles! HOW COOL IS THAT?!


I'm grabbing this pledge:

Pledge $12 to get a bottle of Police Box sprinkles!

And I felt this neat kickstarter needed to be shared. So here I am. :)

CURSE YOU CLOUDY DAYS!!

Reminder, check out my review and enter my giveaway from yesterday!


I really want to play with all my new makeup and polish, but I don't want to take pics without the sun, and the sun has been gone for days due to clouds and snow. GRRRRRR. I'm going to give it the weekend. If the sun doesn't come out by Monday, I'm just going to have to live without pretty sunny pictures. Sigh.

So today I'm just going to share some random pics.




First up, I started using my Doctor Who Diary I got from a friend. Started on the 16th. Been using it as my checklist for things I need to do. It's working nicely, although I was really bummed to see that the ink from the pages transfer when you write on it. Some of the pages have a full page of color, so that ink will transfer over to the next page when you write on it. Sigh. Here's a pic of an example:

Schick Hydro Silk Sensitive Care Razor Review

Earlier this month, I joined a BzzAgent campaign for Schick Hydro Silk Sensitive Care Razors. I received one from them to test out for myself, and today is my review for it!

The razor came with four coupons! Who wants one? I have three to giveaway, (I'm keeping one! hee) just shoot me a tweet or go to the "Contact noxy page" and email me. :)

Info taken from the BzzAgent campaign:

THE HYDRATION HYPE IS FOR REAL
Hypoallergenic Moisturizing Serum infused with Shea Butter. 5 Curve-Sensing™ blades. Skin Guards. All those features might just sound like bells and whistles for now, but trust us – as soon as you take a few strokes with Schick® Hydro Silk® Sensitive Care® razor, everything will make perfect sense.

Winter can be especially tough on sensitive skin. Dermatologist-tested Schick® Hydro Silk® Sensitive Care® razor delivers a better hydration boost than any other razor. The Hypoallergenic Moisturizing Serum hydrates your skin for up to two hours after shaving while the 5 Curve-Sensing™ blades protect your skin from irritation. So even while you’re bundled up in a parka, your legs will feel like hitting the beach all winter long.



First thoughts? Alriiiight, a new razor to try!

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Review Pt. 1 [image heavy]

Hello!! Today is the first part of my China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze review! As I mentioned in a previous post, I got this entire collection from a giveaway hosted by The Nail Files, and sponsored by China Glaze.

I decided to break it down in to smaller parts rather than review the entire collection all at once. Break down will be four parts.


So we're going to start with these four polishes: "Put a Bow On It", "Be Merry, Be Bright", "Your Present Required", and "All Wrapped Up".

I'm HOME! Also, mail call, and ulta haul.

I have returned home!! Yesterday, I took a train back to Chicago, then another train to home. I was so exhausted last night that I didn't do much of anything. And I was super happy to go to sleep. Ha. But I did take some time to open up some packages that were waiting for me!!

Tada!! Five packages for me! Two prizes, two items for review, and one I bought. Of course, the one I bought is nail polishes, as is one of the prizes, so I'll be reviewing those too. Hee.



I'll start with the envelopes first. And first is what I bought! A blogger I follow is having a blog sale with a ton of different polishes. Two of the polishes on her list have been on my "to-buy" list for a while, Essie's No Place Like Chrome and Penny Talk.

So, with shipping, I bought the both of these for the same amount I would have had to pay for one usually. Woot!


Next up, a prize! Last month, Divastitch12 was having a giveaway for her new Amy Pond wristlet. The rules were delightfully different than most giveaways I enter. (I swear I'm addicted to entering giveaways) To enter, you nominated someone else to win the wristlet. I nominated childhood friend of mine. We've known each other since grade school, (first grade!) and when I was thinking of someone to nominate, she came to mind.

We ended up winning. The nominated won the wristlet, nominator won a tardis embroidered towel. Teehee. Here's her etsy shop. She's got some adorable geeky embroidered stuff.


Last envelope is from Nail Polish Canada.

They sent me this epicare to review. It's a "facial hair threader" - a hair removal product. Wish me luck with it! lol.


Next up, from the smaller box,  is another product to review from BzzAgent - a Schick Hydro Silk

I shall be trying this out asap.


And last, in the biggest box, is a prize I won in a giveaway from The Nail Files. The box was unnecessarily huge. I mean, yes, there were THIRTEEN nail polishes in it, but most of the box was air pillows. lol.

That's right, thirteen polishes. The giveaway was to win China Glaze's whole Happy HoliGlaze collection!

The collection is the first twelve, then included a mini of the limited edition Travel in Colour.


Look at all the pretty!!

Ooooooo. So many to play with!




That's basically all I got in the mail! Aside from a tiny sample of a pretty nice Clearasil Superfruit face wash, and... sadly, a "return to sender". It was a Christmas card for a friend. I sent quite a few out last month, and only heard from about half of the recipients about them. I wasn't expecting to hear from all of them, but I also wasn't expecting to get a return to sender. I've sent mail to that same address not too long ago. Makes me sad. I emailed him to let him know that I did try to send him a Christmas card. Sigh.



Moving on, today I went to Ulta and Target and picked up some things.

Tada!




First up is some Almay eye makeup remover pads. I love this stuff. I usually use the purple labled ones, but decided to give the waterproof ones a try too.

Next is an Essie polish. This is the one thing I got at Target, because I couldn't find it at Ulta.

It's a limited edition polish from the Encrusted Collection called Belugaria.


Back to Ulta, I ran out of my Burt's Bees cuticle cream, and remembered as I was staring at this, so I grabbed this two pack. It's got a smaller tin of cuticle cream in it, but it also has a mango butter lip balm that I wanted to try. So far I'm liking the lip balm.

And then we have some Color Whispers!

One is Berry Ready - the color I've been wanting to pick up! And the other two were actually found in the clearance section for half-off. I Crave Coral and Sienna Sands, which were APPARENTLY part of a limited edition summer '13 release that I somehow never heard of despite my love for these Color Whispers. Ah well, at least I have these colors now. :D

Last up is an Urban Decay palette!

This is the Dangerous Palette. It's apparently limited edition, and it was marked down from the original price, so I'm guessing it's on its way out.

Teehee! I have so much to review!!! But for now, sleep. Mayhaps tomorrow I'll review some of those China Glaze polishes!



Oh! And before I forget, an update to my beauty wishlist. I got Berry Ready, so check that off the list! But now I'm getting second thoughts on one of the items...

Coralista. I've wanted it ever since I first saw it... online. The more I see it in person, however, the more I'm not so sure. That might leave the wishlist. That Essie polish ... I completely forgot what the name of it was, so I couldn't be sure if I'd found it. And thinking back now, I'm pretty sure I did find it, but my uncertainty stopped me from getting it and I can't remember where I found it. lol. D'oh! Now I'll have to look for it another time. Chocolate Cakes, noxy. The name of the polish is Chocolate Cakes. Geeze.

Okay okay! Goodnight! :D