Rabulous

This is where I rant and rave about the good stuff:

Oral-B Triumph
11.14

I never thought I’d be willing share a toothbrush with my husband– until, he brought home Oral-B’s electronic toothbrush.
Since I’ve always had the old fashioned manual toothbrushes, the thought of implementing an electronic gadget to clean my teeth outside of a dentist’s office was pretty intimdating.  I often associate dentists’ offices visits with unyielding torcher.

At first glance, I was amazed by the Triumph’s little LCD screen, as well as by its various modes.  I turned it on, with toothpaste on my specific brush head, uh, before I put it in my mouth.
Once I got the hang of it, I was even more impressed, despite the novice drool.  The Triumph clocked my cleaning session on the LCD screen, enforcing the 2 minute brushing rule.  The smaller size of the toothbrush head helped with the hard to reach places way back by my wisdom teeth.

I really like its functionality and the technological advancement with the LCD and user modes.  Since the Triumph is designed to be used in a family bathroom setting, you can change the heads for up to 4 people.  There’s a storage compartment for each head behind the unit, which is equally convenient and much cleaner than the whole manual toothbrush holder thing.
At first, because I’m such an electronic toothbrush novice, I wasn’t too willing to go against the old fashioned toothbrush grain.  With the Triumph, it so much more efficient to get a thorough cleaning every time.  I certainly feel the difference.

In the long run, I think the $100 will be worth the investment, considering dental procedures don’t get any cheaper.  The family unit with interchangeable heads is definitely a new concept, but one that I’m sure I’ll get used to.  at around $20 for a pack of 3/4, the toothbrush heads seem to be a little pricey in comparision to manual brushes, but it’s to be expected.
Overall, with its various soft-high modes aiding in effective cleaning, family functionality and gadgety appeal, I think the Oral B Triumph is a great new addition to our bathroom.

The Oral B triumph and refills can be found at BBB/Harmon, Amazon and CVS.

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Dove Advanced Care Conditioner
10.30

For as long as I could remember, I have always had an ongoing love affair with Dove Products, even moreso now as a result of Dove’s awesome Campaign for Real Beauty. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest clicking the link and watching Dove’s latest commercial titled “Evolution.” It depicts the staged reality of beauty and the process a model endures to achieve her finished state.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Dove has introduced a number of products over the years, including a line of hair care products. One of the newer lines, the Advanced Care Therapy, consists of a shampoo and conditioner geared to nurture dry, damaged or frizzy (me!) hair.
Because of my natural hair texture (afro-like, thick and sometimes unmanageable) I’ve run the gamut on tons and tons of various shampoos and conditioners in hopes of finding the miracle product. I’ve recently finished a bottle of my favorite conditioner- Redken’s Allsoft- and so, I moved on to a bottle of the Advanced Care Therapy conditioner.
The bottle is smooth-looking midnight blue with a soft curvy exterior. Its unique shape makes it easy to grab and then tuck behind the army of bottles on my shower rack.
The consistency of the conditioner is very rich, creamy, but noticeably smooth. It’s not chunky or greasy to touch like other drug store conditioner I’ve used in the past. The scent is a familiar clean, but powdery smell, reminiscent to other Dove products. The bottle says to leave the conditioner in or 5 min. or longer, but I usually forgo that and go about my routine.
As soon as I wash the conditioner out, my hair feels noticeably softer like, run-my-fingers-through-my-hair- soft. On regular work days, I wear my hair wavy and just style it with a Biolage curl cream to keep the frizzies tamed. Over the past few days, I’ve used much less of my curl cream and have still avoided the dreaded mushroom hair. This conditioner not only makes my hair feel much softer to the touch, but it doesn’t weigh it down at all.
Needless to say, Dove’s Advanced Therapy conditioner will become a staple among my conditioner line up. For a drug store conditioner, Dove’s $4 bottle has done a comparable job to my favorite salon products, not to mention has done wonders for my crazy hair! Dove has free samples and other goodies here.

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Bounce Lint and Freshness Roller
10.30
I realize it might just look like your ordinary lint roller, however as I pull my sweaters out from storage and my winter coats out of the corner of the closet, this new product from Bounce has been pretty useful.

Jeff recently brought this lint roller home and I just tossed it into our linen closet with the rest of the laundry stuff. When I unwrapped it and took a good look at it, I realized that it’s actually a lint roller combined with a Bounce dryer sheet. It’s nothing earth shattering, I know, but for someone who’s constantly borrowing the office packing tape to remove lint from my suit jacket before a meeting, the Bounce roller does two jobs in one.

The one we have smells just like the dryer sheets we like- the linen fresh. The roller part looks just like the ordinary lint rollers, except the masking tape part has a stronger adhesive with fun orange polka dots. Unlike most other lint rollers, this one comes with a convenient plastic case.
For me, I think the only downfall is that it only has 45 sheets. It runs about $5 and can be found in stores with detergent/laundry supplies. I was just at Target and the grocery store this past weekend, but I haven’t seen it in those stores yet. I’ve been noticing that when sales people come to Jeff’s office to drop off samples, the products usually show up in stores within the month.
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Nivea Smooth Sensation Lotion
10.24
I’m going to be totally honest here: this is my least favorite lotion. ever. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s probably really great, but it’s definitely not for me. Sometime last week, I started itching all over. I’d just read an article in the Times about bedbugs, so the crazy could’ve settled in from that.

However, I was convinced it was one of the plethora of products I’ve been using. So, one by one, I cut out all the new products I’d come in contact with– including our laundry detergent.

The first item, just happened to be the Nivea lotion. After I stopped using it, the itchiness instantly went away. I’m almost positive it was the complexity of the ingredients and my skin’s reaction, or rather rejection to this lotion. I won’t go as far as saying that it sucks, but I will say that I, personally, won’t use it again.
In comparision to other lotions, it was extremely greasy. Perhaps that was the smoothness part? It did absorb rather quickly, but as I mentioned, it made me feel itchy. It does have a great list of helpful ingredients for dry skin such as shea, Gingko and Vitamin E. Although, because it made me itch, instead of doing what it was supposed to, I was far from impressed, especially after I priced this new lotion at $8 a bottle. It just didn’t do it for me.

If anyone is interested, I have a slew of coupons and a new bottle of this lotion.

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Johnson’s Calming 24 Hour Moisturizing Wash
10.23

Probably best known for their baby powder and lotion, Johnson’s is now gearing to nourish women with their new line of body washes and lotions. I recently started using the Calming 24 hour Moisturizing Wash, hoping to find a new lavender-scented body wash light enough to use before for bed.

I poured an ample amount onto the pouf and noticed that, like the website and bottle both say, the bodywash appeared to have lotion in it. It’s much richer and thicker than most popular bodywashes that I’ve used in the past. It’s pretty fragrant, but definitely much subtler than Dove or Caress. It was a sudsy and extremely moisturizing wash, in comparison to the organic bodywash I’ve been using– exactly what I’ve been looking for.

My skin gets pretty dry in between showers and lotion applications. When I woke up the next morning, I could still smell a bit of the soap’s lavender scent linger. I also noticed that my legs and arms were still soft-feeling from the bodywash and after shower lotion from the night before. I loved that gentle but effect wash.
I’ve been using this wash every day since that initial shower, not just for nights, either. I really love the smell and moisturizing effect. I’m not sure about the 24-hour deal or the calming effect for that matter, but I do know that this one beats out the more expensive and more popular body washes.

It’s a rather large bottle at 12 and 20 oz. I priced it at $4.50 at the store, though it appears Johnson’s has a coupon deal for $1 off. Even though I’ve seen commercials for this new body wash intermittently, I checked my local CVS and grocery store, but they don’t seem to be carrying it quite yet. Target, Harmon and Wal-Mart have it in stock.

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Kiss My Face Lip Balm
favorite flavor: Treat Mint
10.17

I’m one of those people that are freakishly obsessed with lip balm and chapstick. At any given time, I must have at least 4-5 different types of lip balm in my work bag– just in case! Blistex’s DCT and Medex are byfar, my most favorite chapsticks. So, any new tube or tub of lip stuff is always up against steep competition on my end.

When I first got my hands on Kiss My Face’s lip balm, I was taken aback. First of all, I love Kiss My Face’s natural products. While not everything is completely organic, this company uses a high percentage of natural goods throughout their various lines.

I’m into the minty lip stuff, so upon first application of the treat mint lip balm, I was really into it. It’s not sticky or gummy like some lip balms can be. It provides a good amount of moisture, without being too overbearing. The mint taste is really refreshing, but just the right amount. I love the strawberry and mango flavors as well. Those two are both really fruity, but not too sweet or sticky. Kiss My Face says with SPF 15 our lip balms contain to artificial colors and were not tested on animals.

Overall, I really like this lip balm. My only problem with it, is that it doesn’t stay on as long as I’d like. I usually have to reapply after a cup of coffee or a few hours. At $2 bucks a tube, you can’t go wrong with an extra flavor in your bag to go alongside of the good ol’ standby.

I know Amazon, Drugstore.com, Whole Foods and of course Harmon Discount carry Kiss My Face goodies. _______________________________________________________________________________
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I’ve been using this really great face wash lately. Normally, I use Neutrogena’s Deep Clean face wash, but unfortunately, even though I’m 30, I still break out quite regularly. stupid genes. Aside from the prescription stuff, Neutrogena is usually the only thing my dermatologists have ever recommended. For whatever reason, lately, the stuff’s been aggravating my skin. And so, I decided to try something more natural.

I pulled out the Nature’s Gate Revitalizing Facial Scrub, hoping to find something that actually works. The scrub, is truly a scrub. The consistency is pretty coarse and smells delicious. When applied to the face, it’s coarse enough to exfoliate, but gentle enough to cleanse with ease. It’s not sudsy, nor is it too fragrant. Its orange fragrance is very soothing, and it almost seems like you’re washing with pure oranges– it’s that fresh. Nature’s Gate touts the product as having “Amino Acid Moisture Complex.” I did notice a very subtle but extra moisture after I was all done. Based on the ingredients list, it’s clear that this specific product isn’t totally organic; however, its natural ingredient list definitely left me feeling thoroughly cleansed and fresh.

The website says, “Willow Bark, Corn Meal and Walnut Shell gently exfoliate and help draw out impurities, leaving skin clean and refreshed.” I think the walnut ingredients that create the coarseness is a definite plus. Its consistency is very similar to St. Ive’s Apricot scrub, but I feel like this wash is a bit lighter and fresher, much different that St. Ive’s. I love the cruelty free and paraben-free aspects of this product. Parabens are used to preserve and extend the life of chemical ingredients in personal care products. They have been linked to the increasing rise of breast cancer and the use of products containing parabens…definitely a good reason to consider integrating all natural products into a daily regimen. It contains Certified Organic Ingredients, but it is not totally organic. Those aspects, alone, make me want to continue to use this on a regular basis. Checking on various websites, it looks like this scrub runs about $8-10, pretty average range for good natural products. I’m not sure if I’d use this every day, mainly because of its scrubbing attributes and I love to switch it up. It’s a really great product that actually diminished the blemishes quite noticeably after a few days. I will definitely use this often, or whenever I need an extra exfoliating lift.

Ingredients: Water, glyceryl stearate SE, zea mays (corn) kernel meal, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, butylene glycol, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange peel), sodium laureth sulfate, juglans regia (walnut) shell powder, rosa canina (rose hips) fruit extract, algae (seaweed) extract, salix alba (willow) bark extract, symphytum officinale (comfrey root) extract, carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil, amino acid moisture complex [sodium PCA, glycine, alanine, proline, serine, threonine, arginine, lysine, glutamic acid], betaine, sorbitol, emulsifying wax NF, linoleamide DEA, PEG-100 stearate, ceteareth-20, xanthan gum, sclerotium gum, methylparaben, propylparaben, diazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15, disodium EDTA, fragrance, titanium dioxide.