Avon Suede Nail Enamel

Yesterday I got my Avon order and it included two shades of Avon's Suede Nail Enamel.  It comes in six Fall perfect shades and I chose Touch of Taupe and Sumptuous Rose.

It's also available in Fuschia Feel, Soft Violet, Blue Royale, and Platinum Beauty.  The model on the page here is wearing Soft Violet and Platinum Beauty.

It's recommended you wear this polish *without* a base or top coat, and I have to agree.  Unlike most nail polish, this dries to a very matte finish and although there is some shimmer to it, it's not glossy at all.  A top coat would ruin that effect.

Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil

About a month ago I signed up to receive a jar of Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil.  The very generous folks over there kindly sent one to me!  Since then I've been using it in a number of ways and I have to say, I love it!

Ways I've used coconut oil:

• facial moisturizer- I've been applying it to my face right out of the shower, concentrating especially on the area under and around my eyes.  I've noticed a more youthful appearance around them.
• lip balm- It made my lips soft and smooth.
• every where else moisturizer- Again, right out of the shower I use it to moisturize my entire body.  It works just as well as any other lotion I've ever used.
• make-up remover- I use waterproof eyeliner and coconut oil had no trouble softening it up and making it easy to remove.  
• deodorant- Yes, I even tried it as a deodorant, and tested it out by taking a walk downtown on a pretty warm day and even wearing it to work.  I know what I smell like when I sweat.  Using coconut oil as a deodorant definitely worked!  Even after hours walking in the sun and a full work shift, I had no B.O.!  I still sweated, because of course it's not an antiperspirant, but as far as keeping my pits from stinking, I give it an A+
• butt stuff- I used it for Lucas' diaper rash.  He's always hated it when I applied diaper rash cream, and to be honest, I hate it too.  It's so thick and it sticks to my fingers.  I put some coconut oil in a baby food jar and stuck it in the basket with his diapers and wipes and started using it regularly.  His rash cleared up after a few days, but even while he still had it, it didn't seem to bother him as much.  He actually grabbed the jar every time I changed him and asked me to give him his "butt stuff!"
• skin condition- I had a weird itchy, rough, and scaly patch on my elbow for weeks before I got the coconut oil.  I started rubbing it on my elbow daily and it was gone within a week.
• bug bites- I put it on Matt's bug bites when they were itchy.  It seemed to work for him, but it's hard to tell for sure.
• coffee- I stirred a spoonful into my coffee one morning.  I really couldn't taste the difference, but the oil spots floating in my coffee kind of turned me off to it.  It's something that I could probably get used to, if I did it more often.
• brownies- I used coconut oil to grease the pan, and then I used it in place of the vegetable oil that the box called for.  Since it was still solid, the batter was a little thicker and more difficult to mix and spread in the pan than it would've been with vegetable oil, but other than that, they turned out great!  They had a very slight coconut flavor to them, which I totally see as a bonus!
• margaritas- my friend and I were trying to rim our mango margaritas with sugar, but we didn't have any lemons or limes... so we used coconut oil to make the sugar stick to the glasses.  SO GOOD!  The flavor worked especially well with the mango.

 Things to keep in mind

• When you get your coconut oil, it will be solid, but it will liquify at 76 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mine completely liquified and I put it in the fridge, because I like the texture that it is at room temperature, but not so much when it's liquid.  When I took it out of the fridge it was really REALLY solid.  It was actually too solid to scoop any out with just my fingers.  I would recommend keeping it out of the fridge.  
• If you choose to cook with it, keep in mind that the virgin coconut oil WILL have that coconut scent and flavor.  Tropical Traditions green label coconut oil would be a great substitute for every day cooking.
• It's *oil*.  When you use it for your skin or hair, you really don't need a lot.  I like to put a lot on my legs, because it makes them look kind of shiny, but I put a much smaller amount on my face.
• If you're going to be using it for something kind of gross, like baby butts or athlete's foot, put a small amount in a baby food jar just for that reason.  You don't want to be dipping your fingers in it while doing those things, and then later putting it on your face or in your food.  Just saying!

For more ways to use coconut oil and lots of recipes, visit Tropical Traditions website!

**Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Demon Girl

Ok guys, I don't know yet if I want to do a weekly book review or what, but I read this one last weekend and wanted to share it with you all. I also figured it fit in well with Halloween being in October and everything.  :D  I found Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher for free to download on my Kindle. If you've got one, you can download it by clicking here. 

I've always loved fairy tales and now I love all kinds of supernatural novels. Obviously Demon Girl is among them. Set in a post apocalyptic type world, humans live in small pockets of civilization while demons roam free.  Abandoned as a baby, Rae's lucky enough to have lived long enough to be chosen to be a Disciple.  She's training to be a Cleric, responsible for keeping the decimated human population safe from demons.  One morning, life as she knows it changes forever.  Suddenly finding herself out to be a demon in disguise (I'm not giving anything away here, it *is* called Demon Girl) and caught between not only a fairy and a vampire, but also a fairy civil war, Rae is not equipped to handle her new found abilities or the choices that are thrust upon her.  She certainly isn't the smartest heroine I've been introduced to, but she's honest and determined to save everyone from everything.  

Fletcher has created an intricate story, and characters with very different motivations.  She's written a story that moves along quickly, but not too quickly that you get lost trying to keep up.  As it's written from Rae's point of view you are thrust into a new world trying to figure things out just as she is.  There are some twists and turns that take Rae by surprise that sometimes seemed obvious to me, but she's dealing with lots of new emotions so I didn't have  too much trouble overlooking those.

All in all I found it to be a very good read, and definitely a good beginning of a trilogy.  I'm looking forward to reading the next installment: Demon Day, which is also now available on the Kindle. 

*I was not approached to do this review by anyone nor was I compensated in any way.  This is just my opinion.

Tackling Mildew Stains

If you're like me, you hate cleaning the bathroom. I really hate cleaning my bathroom and I will admit I don't clean it as I should. Not to say that my bathroom is filthy. I wipe down the sink every day. I scrub the toilet bowl as needed between full cleanings. My weak point is the shower. I figure, Hey, it gets cleaned every day, multiple times. Unfortunately that's not really true, and I know it. So while the rest of my bathroom is passably clean, the tub area doesn't get cleaned thouroghly enough. The tub itself is easy. Even the tiles are easy. The hard part is the grout between the tiles where mildew grows! And that was becoming a problem in my shower. I had mildew stains in the corners where the tiles met the tub and there were some stains around the faucet and knobs. I use Fantastik in my bathroom and that does just fine for most of it, but it wasn't doing anything for the mildew, even with hard scrubbing. I needed something new.

I was clipping coupons from the paper one Sunday when I found $1 off X-14 Mildew Stain Remover. The ad claimed it would work without scrubbing. Well, this was just what I needed! I was going to buy some type of mildew remover or other bathroom cleaner anyway, so $1 off was incentive enough to buy this specific brand.

I decided to put it to the test after I had cleaned the bathroom in the usual way (including attacking the mildew with Fantastik and scrubbing as hard as I could). I read the instructions first and there were the usual precautionary statements: use gloves if you have sensitive skin or use for prolonged periods, use in a well ventilated area, avoid inhaling, avoid eye contact, may discolor clothing and other fabrics, et cetera. The instructions themselves are exceedingly clear: "TO REMOVE MILDEW STAINS: Spray, wait until stains disappear, and rinse." Can't get much easier than that!

I sprayed it on every mildew stain in my shower. I didn't know how much time it would take for the stains to disappear so I set my kitchen timer for 10 minutes. For you moms I took before and after pictures of a small corner.

before

after

Does it look like brand spanking new grout? No. Does it look remarkably better? Absolutely! In fact, when my husband came home from work and got out of the shower he said "Hey, the shower looks really good." The other thing he noticed right away, and my only complaint about the product, was the lingering smell. The fumes are pretty strong with this and I really wouldn't recommend actually sitting in the bathroom and waiting for the stains to fade unless you have an open window AND an exhaust fan. Other than that, I'm very happy with the way it worked! The bottle does say that heavy buildup may need two cleanings, and I do plan on trying it again the next time I clean the bathroom to see if we can take "remarkably better" to "like new." Until I do though, I'm satisfied that the mildew isn't an embarrasment to me anymore. 
Want to try it out for yourself? Click here to download your own $1 off coupon!

* I was not given this product to review, and I did not receive any compensation for this review.  This is strictly me, buying something myself, and sharing my opinions with readers.