Home

Hey everyone! I'm home for the weekend with my parents, so I'm probably not going to blog at all this weekend. I will resume postings on Monday though, so be looking out for that! Thanks!

Target Haul

I wanted to show you all another Target haul, but I wanted to talk about the reasoning behind these hauls as well. I did the college series, and I think it went pretty well, but I wasn't at college the entire time the series was going on, so I couldn't show you a lot of what was going on or what I was buying. I think these Target hauls are a good chance to show you guys what I've bought, and kind of "what do college kids eat and buy for their dorms." Hope that makes sense, and I hope you guys enjoy reading about these hauls as much as I like shopping at Target!

Now, on to the haul! Here is everything that I bought. Understand that the only things that were on my list were the detergent and the gum.

 I bought some new headbands for my hair. They were like $2 off in the clearance area. I don't why, but I bought them anyways! They are my favorite hair bands, and I lost all of my other ones.

 I needed some gum. So I tried this one.

 I blogged about these a while ago. You can find that post here. This is the first time I've ever seen these at my Target store, so I picked them up. They will make some great morning snacks on my way to class.

 I was craving some cashews. So I bought them. Whoops. And they are already opened. I couldn't even wait until the picture was taken to chow down. I was starving...

 I was craving these too. I got them in pretzel, regular cheddar, and Parmesan. I've already opened the pretzel ones, and I'm eyeing the Parmesan.

 This was actually on my list. Well, what was on my list was the mini surf detergent boxes. They didn't have that. So I got this. Which is made for high efficiency washers, so now I need to return it and get the right ones. Darn it!

This is from the Bzzcampaign that I'm a part of. I got it for free to try it out. The first one that I got was the cotton mandarin one, but I returned it because the top wouldn't spray AND because my roommate doesn't like orange scents. So yea. 

That's all! let me know what you got last time you went to Target!

Sally Hansen Nail Stickers Review

Really, they are called the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, but that's a long name. So I'm just going to call them stickers, since that's what they really are. I've only used these once, but I wanted to do a short review on them while they were still on my fingers.

A lot of people have said that these babies last a long time, and I definitely agree. They have been on my nails for about a week and a half. They started chipping on day 2, which I found kind of ridiculous. Granted, I am probably a lot rougher on my nails than the normal girl (I work with my hands in the scenic studio at our theater...so power tools and all) but at the same time, I don't think I was just smashing them against things. I also found that the stickers weren't as stuck down at the top of the nail, so when I would go to wash my hair every morning, I was getting my hair caught in the stickers, which was super annoying.

I did like them though. I got a BUNCH of compliments on my zebra print nails, and what I liked is that you can cut the strips from one package in half, and end up being able to use these strips twice. Also, when my nails started chipping really badly, I just cut my nails, and it made them look brand new. So, if you are going to use these, I'd say let your nails grow a little bit so there is something to cut off when they do chip. That way, you can get them to stay on a lot longer!

For the money, I would only buy them if I LOVED the design. But I do think they are fun, and a lot more hassle free than normal nail polish. It was an overall good experience other than getting my hair pulled every morning in the shower. But I think they chip a lot faster than other people admit to.

Have you tried these out? What is your favorite design?

Open Box Showing: Fall Soap Box

I'm so excited for this! I got my first box from Fortune Cookie Soaps! They are called the Soap Box, and this one is the fall soap box. This is what was in there:

 Just like most subscription sample services, this one comes with a card to tell you what is in the box!

 A coupon code for $10 off your next purchase.

And this is what was in the box! More detail of what was in there in the pictures below:

 The Something Nutty Milk Bath: "We couldn't decide on just one yummy fragrance, so we threw in all the things we most wanted to smell like for fall. A mouth-watering blend of vanilla, hazelnut, maple syrup, banana, coconut, orange, lime, grapefruit, bergamot, and clove."

 Fig and Berries Eco Suds: "A yummy blend of figs, currants, cranberries, acai berries, and raspberries."

 Ripe for the Picking OCD: "Close your eyes and imagine walking down the isles of a local Farmer's Market on a Saturday morning with a basket on your arm. Yeah, That!"

 Roast My Marshmallow Fortune Cookie Soap: "An ooey gooey smell of campfire roasted marshmallows."

 Cram You Face in My Sweet Pumpkin Pie Mask: "I'm pretty sure if I didn't bring back this fragrance from last year, there would be a revolt. Smells like pumpkin cupcake."

Snickerdoodle Whipped Cream: "You've always wanted to smell like a delicious concoction of cinnamon, butter, sugar cookie and allspice, right?"

 Pumpkin Coconut Crunch Itty Bitty Gritty Lip Scrub: "What could possibly make Pumpkin better than just Pumpkin? You guessed it! Coconut!"

A Roll in the Leaves Bath Fizzy: "Prepare your nose for a roll in the leaves. It will never be the same again."

I'm so excited to try everything out! Please let me know if you are familiar with some of this stuff. A lot of these things didn't come with instructions, so I'm not really sure how to use them all. Thanks!

Reviews will also be coming soon on individual items. Some of these items I can't use until I go home because I don't have a bath tub in my dorm room. But reviews will definitely be soon :)

Monday Update: September 24th

Current Mood: Lazy.
Nail of right now? A severely chipped Sally Hansen Nail sticker thingies that I blogged about. Although, two of my nails are missing that. I just need to take it off, but I haven't yet.
What did I do this weekend? Not much. I went to two long rehearsals, and then I did a little bit of homework. But mostly I slept in until noon and then screwed around until rehearsal, and then went back to my room and screwed around until I fell asleep. Oh so productive...
What's planned for this week? Not much. Just my usual work, rehearsals, homework, classes, etc. I am going home next weekend though, so I'm really excited about that!
What am I looking forward to? CASTLE!!! The season 5 premiere is tonight, and I'm so excited! I love castle :)
What am I dreading? Getting everything done on time. I just have a lot to do :( Maybe if I started doing more on the weekend, I would actually not be so bogged down over the week.

Aveeno Active Naturals

This whole "test out a shampoo and conditioner each night" is so much fun! I have another shampoo and conditioner that I tried out that I wanted to share with you all: the new Aveeno Active Naturals Nourish and Strengthen Hair Care Collection Shampoo and Conditioner.

What they claim: This shampoo and conditioner helps to reduce breakage by 90% in just 3 washes.
They have around 4 different shampoo and conditioners in this line, and they are made for different hair types.

What I thought: They weren't amazing. Honestly, I didn't notice my hair any stronger than normal, but at the same time, I only got to try the shampoo and conditioner once, not for the 3 weeks that it claims it takes to make your hair stronger. I also didn't like the smell. It smelled like sunscreen, which is not what I want my hair to smell like. It didn't smell as bad in my hair as it did when I was putting it in my hair in the shower, though. It lost some of that sunscreen smell.

Would I buy it? Nope. Just simply because of the smell. I like my hair smelling really good, and not like sunscreen. Maybe if they changed the smell, I would try it again.

Have you every tried this before? Is this the shampoo and conditioner that you use in the shower? Let me know!

Shave Gel VS Soap

My roommate and I were discussing the fact that she uses shave gel to shave in the shower, and I didn't. I decided to pick up a bottle and do an experiment. Just call me Katie the Science Geek!

My Experiment: Does shave gel work better than soap? 

The soap I'm using: Bath and Body Works Shower Gel. This particular shower gel happens to be the I heart Watermelon Cherry that I just bought a week or two ago. 

The shave gel I'm using? Skintimate's Skin Therapy for dry skin. My legs are pretty dry usually, so I thought this one would be appropriate. I didn't know if different brands would give me different results, so I just picked whatever looked legit at the time. 

My Premise: I shaved my left leg with the shave gel. I shaved my right leg with shower gel. I'm conducted this "experiment" twice, and each time, I used the same leg, and the same razor on each leg, although I did have to switch razors between time one and two because the blade got dull on the first one. 

The result of this experiment? The shave gel wasn't any better than the shower gel. In fact, the shower gel gave me a better shave on my knees, and an equal shave on my legs. I do think however that the shave gel made my skin a little softer. I did notice that I cut myself both times on the shower gel side, whereas I didn't cut myself when I used the shave gel. Weird. 

My science teachers would be so disappointed that I called this an experiment, but I think it was successful, and a great way to test a product out against what I was already using. 

Do you shave your legs with a shave gel/cream or with soap? Let me know in the comments!