November Empties

It's time for the most exciting blog post I write - about my monthly empties! 

November was a good month, that's a pretty full box!

So I guess I lied in my October empties post when I said we only finish off one of these per month - in November we finished off three (and there are already 2 empty ones in our bucket for December...). As I've mentioned before, we have 7 of these on the go at any given moment (3 bathrooms, 2 in each plus one in the kitchen). 

Scents finished this month: 

Paris Amour (one of my favourite scents from Bath & Body)

Malibu Sunset (this smelled amazing too!)

Strawberry (this was good, but paled in comparison to the other two)

Oh hair dye, my old friends! I had dyed my hair fairly regularly for about 2 years, and then I dyed it close to my natural colour and let it be for over a year to give it a break. But, I was bored of brown hair, so magenta it is! I had this bottle of 30Volume Creme left from when I was dying my hair before (I don't use that entire bottle on two applications, don't worry). I dyed it twice in November, about a week apart. After getting the colour I like, I then go about 4-6 weeks between dyes.

Also - if you want to see how it looks, check out my Instagram over here ->

Foil Samples!! I have so many of these things kicking around, I'm really trying to make a conscious effort to use some up. This month I finished off:

Eucerin Anti-Wrinkle Night Cream - meh, it was cream

Eucerin Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream - again, meh. It did it's job but nothing special

EcoBeauty Good Day, Good Moisturizer - I received this in an Ipsy bag in the past. When I opened it, I thought it would last me about a week...5 weeks later I finally finished it off.

Korres Black Pine Night Cream - this stuff was good, once you got past the smell. It seemed strange to be rubbing something that smelled like trees on my face.

Real Beauty Serum - I received this in a Memebox (which I blogged about here). I loved it at the time, but it sat forgotten in a box after our move until I found it again in November. I put it on my face, and immediatedly did not like the way it felt, I think it might have been expired (which is fair, it had been over a year since I'd opened it). I had used about half of this before deciding it needed to go.

PureSmile Milk Essence Mask - another item I got from a Memebox (although I don't remember exactly which one...). These things look so silly on, I scared my dogs with it, but it left my face feeling so soft and smooth!

Vitabath Bath & Shower Gelee - Another foil sample used up! Hurray! This shower gel smelled really good!

Lise Watier Night Serum - I believe I got this from Topbox with a day serum as well (which I'm still using). I liked the night one much better than the day one, but I still don't notice if these things actually do anything or not...

Pantene Expert Conditioner - This was only 75mL, but it lasted a long time! It was nothing special, but it did exactly as conditioner should. I'm pretty sure we received this as a free sample from Beyond the Rack or something.

Aquafina Flavoursplash Lip Balm - Seriously. I finished a lip balm before I lost it. This was a momentous occasion - and it was one I didn't even really like, it just happened to be the only one in my desk at work for a few months. I didn't hate it, but I'm pretty sure I bought this in a three pack from the D-Rama (so cheap!)

Perfume samples! I've mentioned before about loving the sampler packs Shoppers Drug Mart sells; I think I've bought 4 of them now. I also bought one for Luke last year, so two of these are his.

Calvin Klein Euphoria for Men - this got a "Meh, 3/5" from Luke. 

Givenchy Pi - Luke loved this one, and it's in the running as the one he'll trade his coupon in for a full size.

Givenchy Very Irresistible (female) - I loved this one, but I think Gienchy's Hot Couture is just slightly better (I already own the full size of that one)

And there you have it, 19 items used up in the month of November! Go us!

xoxo,

Fallon

What The Hell Is A Pre-RD ADR @ BOG?!

After we had our dates set, I started reading about Disney World and I quickly realized that it was very different from Disneyland. We were able to fly by the seat of our pants when we went to Disneyland - zero planning was involved (we decided to go to Anaheim on a Monday afternoon and landed there Thursday afternoon). This time was going to be different - good thing we had 8 months to plan!

We didn't book our tickets for our flights until mid-August, but I spent many hours in May, June and July reading articles and blogs about Disney World. One thing I kept noticing were the abbreviations that kept being used. Disney people are pretty intense about their abbreviations, let me tell you! At first, I had no idea what people were talking about, until I found this handy little website: http://allears.net/tp/abrev.htm 

So, what exactly is a Pre-RD ADR @ BOG? In simple English, that is a pre-rope-drop (before the park opens) advance dining reservation at Be Our Guest (a restaurant located in Magic Kingdom). These blog posts are essentially a PTR - a pre-trip report. Once we get back from our stay at ASMu (All-Star Music Resort), I'll be writing a TR (a trip report) about our experience with PH (park-hopper's) and FP+ (fast-pass plus).

Did all of those abbreviations make your head spin? I personally avoid shortening words whenever possible (I am the person who will text "y-o-u" instead of "u" every single time). Going forward with my planning posts about our Disney trip, I will try to use real words instead of letters, but you will see a few. If you're ever curious about what I'm trying to say, just leave a comment!

xoxo,
Fallon

Disney Fever has struck us...

If you read any of my posts about our trip to California, you know that our reason was not to visit Disneyland, or even Los Angeles. We are extremely Canadian - we went for NHL playoff hockey. Disneyland was just an added bonus - something we knew we wanted to do at some point, but we figured we would have children before we ever made it there. As it happens, we ended up loving Disney! 

Luke had mentioned before that he would like to run a Disney race at some point in his life, so as soon as we returned to Canada we started looking into it. There was a Marathon weekend in January 2016 at DisneyWorld which had a full marathon, a half, a 10km and a 5km race. Luke has run 5 different 10km races, a half marathon and numerous 5km's in the 2 and a half years we've been together, so I knew he'd have no trouble with the training. He ended up deciding on the 10km - long enough to feel a sense of accomplishment, without putting himself out of commission to recover from a half marathon (which would have meant an entire missed day in the parks, and I just wasn't having that!).

Luke signed up and paid his registration fee at the end of April - this trip was going to happen! It was time for us to start looking at the length of our trip and where we'd like to stay. The 10km race is going to happen on January 8th, so we knew we'd want to be there by the 6th (sitting in an airplane for the entire day before a race didn't seem like a good idea), and my birthday is on January 13th so that gave us a starting point of dates to work with. 

We figured we would book the cheapest flight available, and then book everything else accordingly. Neither one of us is loyal to any one airline company - if flying within Canada we try to stick to WestJet, but international flights are entirely based on price! I've flown Alaskan Airlines (to Anaheim and to Las Vegas), American Airlines (from Anaheim to Edmonton), United Airlines (last time I went to Miami), and Air Canada (to Philadelphia, Puerto Plata and numerous domestic flights), as well as Lufthansa and Air Austria when I went to Europe years ago. We finally settled on Delta (who I don't think I've ever flown with) because they had the cheapest flights by a couple hundred dollars. The connections sucked, especially on the way there with 2 layovers, but money talks! So we now had our dates set: January 5th - 16th, 2016!

Check back soon for my next post: What the hell is a pre-RD ADR @ BOG?!

xoxo,
Fallon

Lip Monthly December 2014

Yes, this is almost a year old at this point, but I still wanted to get it up here.

I have no idea if it's still the same or not, but when I was subscribed to Lip Monthly it cost $10/month plus $6/month for shipping to Canada.

The 5 products in the December bag:

Hikari Lipstick in Crush, Value $13

City Color White Gold Shadow & Highlight Mousse, Value: $5.99 ($4 according to the card)

NYC Expert Last Lipstick, Value: $1.99

Ofra Lipliner in Orchid, Value:$13

Crown Lip Brush, Value: $3

At least they didn't send the ugly blue bag this time! 

I actually kept all of these items. The Hikari lipstick is a beautiful colour, the City Color Mousse is so smooth and creamy and I don't think there's such a thing as too many makeup brushes! The NYC lipstick hasn't received a ton of use but it's nice to have a different colour in my collection, and the same goes for the lipliner. 

The total value of these five items was $36.98, which is more than double the cost of $16. This was one of the better months from Lip Monthly for sure.

xoxo,

Fallon

Meowbox October 2015

It's been awhile since I've done a review for Meowbox, but we have been receiving it consistently since June 2014 (I keep renewing a 6 month subscription). It's a big hit with the cats, some of their all-time favourite toys have come from these boxes, and it has introduced us to so many great treats that we probably would not have purchased if not for Meowbox.

Cost: $32.95/month 

          $27.95/month on a 3 month subscription ($83.85 charged every 6 months)

          $22.95/month on a 6 month subscription ($137.70 charged every 6 months)

I love the personalization each month! Obviously the cats don't care about this, but it makes me feel like they value my business by adding a personal touch. Everything is always nicely wrapped in orange tissue paper with a little feather, which the cats usually try to destroy.

The Empurrium Handmade Candy Corn

Value: $6?

Meowbox has sent items from this company before, and they have all been a hit. Pita loved this thing! They clearly contain decent catnip because Pita licked this thing for about half an hour when I first gave it to her. Magoo loves chewing on catnip toys for some reason, so I've had to hide this thing.

Ruff & Whiskerz Wildlife Cherperz

Value: $3.99

I honestly forgot about this being in this box, I don't think I've seen it since I took this picture. One of the pets must have kicked it under a couch or took it downstairs. In this house, hard to say where it went....

Bavarian Cat Toy Welli Fish

Value: $6.99

We received the red version of this, and oh man does it stink. It actually smells like fish, gross. That said, Hero went absolutely nuts over this thing (see picture below). It's been awhile since he's loved a toy this much...so if he's happy I'm happy!

Petstages Plaque Away Pretzel 

Value: $4.55 (Amazon.ca price)

This toy has been a hit with all of the animals. I've caught both dogs and both cats playing with it, and it's been strong enough to hold up against all of them so far.

Purebites Freeze Dried Wild Pacific Salmon Treats

Value: $3.19

Meowbox has sent this brand of treats before. The cats ate them, even though they were in no way their favourite. Hero will eat these, Pita prefers soft treats. This brand is also sold for dogs, which our guys love though.

Hero was one happy kitty cat with his new fish. To keep this away from the dogs it's been placed into a giant box that Hero likes to hide it, and every so often we'll hear him inside the box going crazy playing with this thing. 

This box contained 5 items (4 of which were toys) with a total combined value of $24.72. On a 6 month subscription it's just barely worth more than the price I paid, but on a 3 month or month-to-month you wouldn't even break even (if that's what is important). I like receiving new-to-us products that I probably wouldn't pick up and buy on my own. This is a subscription box that's around to stay for awhile.

xoxo, 

Fallon

October Empties

I had originally planned to be all over this and have this posted on November 1st, but of course my camera died, and I had no idea where my charger was. I finally found it, and although it's a bit late, here are my October empties!

It was actually a decent month for finishing things off - yay for us!

We wash our hands! We pretty much only use Bath & Body Works hand soaps - you can always get them on sale for a decent price, and they have delightful scents. Yes, I just said delightful. We also have seven different kinds on the go in our house at any given moment (3 bathrooms, 2 kinds in each plus one in the kitchen) - we finish off one each month on average.

The Body Shop Hemp Face Protector

This isn't my favourite, and I tend to love Body Shop moisturizers. Luke actually ended up being the one who used most of this up - he also didn't love it, but neither one of us hated it either. I have a hard time going a day without moisturizer of some sort in this dry Alberta weather.

Gillette Shave Cream

Fairly generic. I've never tried this, but there's usually a bottle of it kicking around somewhere. 

Crest 3D White

It's always good to clean your teeth! This stuff was one of my favourites for awhile. I still like it, but I'm so partial to the classic Colgate.

Bread & Butter Face Shave

I guess Luke finished off two things of shaving cream this month. This one he claims is one of his favourites ever - thank you Men's Holiday Topboxes from the past few years!

Random hotel samples

We always bring these things home from every hotel stay, but there's soooo many of them in our house now. I've started trying to actually use some of these - in October we managed to finish off a body wash, a shampoo and a conditioner.

Foil samples - 

Jergens Ultra Care Body Moisturizer - We received a handful of these when we went to see Stars on Ice back in May. I had this one in my desk at work and used it solely as hand cream. It's fine, no complaints. It has no fancy smell or anything, but it helped my hands.

Clarins - Multi-Active Night Cream - I was a big fan of this! The sample contained enough to last about 4 nights, it was a really nice cream! If I ever run out of moisturizers (which is highly unlikely...) this would be one of my first picks for a night cream.

Perfume samples 

I might have a slight addiction to perfume...I love the packs Shopper's sells for $80 (used to be $75) that contain 10 of these minis (usually about 3-4mL) along with a certificate for a full sized version of one of them. I love being able to wear a perfume before committing to spending $80 on one, so I will continue to buy these. 

Givenchy - Hot Couture - I've traded in the certificate from the third set I bought for the full sized version of this one. I love it so much.

Diesel Loverdose - This was the one I traded in my 2nd certificate for. 

Ralph Lauren #2 - The full sized version of this was only $69 (and I had paid $75 for the box) so I decided it wasn't worth using my certificate on (plus I tend to love multiple samples from each box) so I traded in some Shopper's points to get the full sized version of this one. This is up there as one of my top three favourite scents of all time.

Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara

I received this in the mascara sampler box from Shoppers that they released last year. I'm very particular about mascara - when I receive a new one I will not even twist off the cap until I'm about to start using it. I only keep them in rotation for a max of 6 months, and then they go into here, whether they are fully used up or not.

I really liked this one. I will never use another cheap, generic drug store brand mascara again, they just don't compare! I wouldn't say this is my favourite one ever, but it would definitely be one I'd consider paying full price for. 

There you have it - October's exciting empties! Our November box is filling up quite nicely :)

xoxo,

Fallon

Memebox My Pouch Essentials

November 13th, 2014 was the last time I placed an order from Memebox before they discontinued international shipping to all countries except for Korea and the US. 

Cost: $52.99 (purchased as a value set with "Oh My Lips") - I had Memepoints and a discount code which lowered the overall cost to around $38 for both (or $19 each if you want to get technical...)

This was shipped on December 8th last year, so over 10 months ago now...

The always wonderful Memebox information card!

This box wasn't as full as other boxes, but it still contained 6 items, which seems pretty standard. They just happened to be smaller items this time.

Kwailnara Perfume de Moist Hand Cream in Glam Savanna

Size: 50g (full size)

Honestly, I haven't even tried this yet. It's been sitting in a box of extra cosmetic stuff for 10 months now.

Cost: $4

Witch's Pouch Radiant Lolli Tint

Sample Size, 2.5g 

This is a liquid-y very bright pink lip gloss. Another item I haven't even used yet in the 10 months since receiving this box haha. I think I'll probably pass it along now that I've started sorting my stuff like crazy.

Value: $8.33 ($15 for full size - 4.5g)

Hanskin Bio Origin Royal Ampoule

Oh man, why did I order this box? Another product I haven't even tried yet...I guess you take just a drop or two of this and spread it over your face? I have a hard time believing so little product can cover your entire face, but I guess I'll have to try it out at some point.

Value: $7 for this teeny little sample, full size =$54

Tonymoly Cover Pot Concealer

This isn't huge, only 4g but it is full size. You really don't need much of this at all! I have actually used this! Hurray! This box wasn't a complete waste of money haha. I'm actually a big fan of this, it's nice and creamy and has a much fuller coverage than I typically use. I also ended up getting the correct shade for my skin tone! Score!

Value: $5

Tonymoly Crystal Stick Shadow

And...another product I haven't used. This is a shimmery yellowish-colour. If I put it on my eyelids I would look like I was suffering from jaundice - shimmery jaundice. Not a good look for me. Pass!

Value: $5

RoseMine Vitamin E Lip Balm in Rose Fairy

I received this exact lip balm, only in a different scent in the "Oh My Lips" box. I haven't used either of them yet, but I will more than likely end up keeping the other one and getting rid of this one. I am not a fan of Rose scented stuff, and putting floral scents on my lips does not sound appealing to me at all.

Value: $7

The total value of this box was only $36. This is by far one of the lowest value Memeboxes I ever received, and only product had me interested. Overall, I give this box a meh.

xoxo,
Fallon

September Empties

Yes, it's almost the end of October, but I'm still going to post this. It's nothing fancy or exciting, but here are the products we finished off in September:

Forever 21 Cucumber Melon wipes - these sucked. They were actually some of the worst face wipes I've ever used. I will go to Walmart or Superstore or Winners to buy this type of thing from now on.

Vaseline Men's Facial Moisturizer - L loves this stuff. We found them for $1 at a little store last summer when we were in PEI, so we bought them out of them, and his supply is still going. He already has another one on the go, and I think there's still a few more in our extra product supply.

Bath & Body Works - Country Chic Body Wash

This smelled decent, worked decent and I bought it on sale. Deals! I think we have a few more of these kicking around in our supply of extra stuff in the basement. If the price was right, I'd buy more of these in the future.

Bath Retreats Bath Salts - To be fair, this was actually finished off a few months ago, but I had dumped a different kind from a plastic bag into the container. Now that I have a nice bathtub, I love using it and enjoying it. I go through quite a bit of bubble bath stuff now.

Saje candle - I don't normally post items like this, but I just wanted to do a review of this - it sucked. I typically love Saje products, and was expecting this to have a fairly strong scent when lit. Instead, it was even weaker than any of the cheapo candles I buy from Ikea.

September was a boring month for empties - but we were away for the last week of the month visiting family in another province. October already has a few more items than this in the bucket.

xoxo,

Fallon

Memebox Thanksgiving Box - For You

I placed a huge order for Memeboxes on November 13th 2014, which ended up being the last order I ever placed with them. They no longer ship to Canada, only the US and Korea now. I am sad I can no longer open these open boxes full of packaging I can't read, but it's definitely been a savings on a bank account!

This box was the Thanksgiving Edition for You (they also offered one you were supposed to gift away, but it was sold out). Thanksgiving in Canada had already passed by a month before I even ordered this box (due to it being for the American holiday), but I still decided it would be worth it. 

Cost: $32.99, but I traded in all of the points I had and I had a promo for a percentage off the total order. This box actually cost me $24.52 (including shipping) 

I really liked the bright orange box, a change from their usual hot pink.

Inside lid of the box

They pack some of these boxes with so many things! 

These information cards are amazing! The translation doesn't always make the most sense, but it at least gives me an idea of the products I received.

Pure Smile Essence Mask Sheet

1x - Milk

1x - Strawberry Milk

I've received a bunch of different masks from Memebox, and I have used a few of them. They look super weird on, but they always leave my face feeling nice and soft! I kept these.

Value: $2/each ($4 total)

Saracen Gold glitter

This is thick, chunky glitter and not at all something I will ever use. It's meant to be put over a layer of nail polish, but isn't that why they make glitter polish? So much easier. This was passed along to a younger cousin who will use it.

Value: $6

Peripera Heart Glow Stick

This reminds me of Benefit's Watts Up stick. You just rub it on your face anywhere you need a little glow or highlight. I kept this, and have used it.

Value: $14

Vivito Illust Lumiere Primer

This is actually a really nice illuminating primer! It reminds me a bit of one of my favourite moisturizers - the Vitamin E illuminating cream from the Body Shop, but this also has a primer mixed in. I never wear foundation or concealer without applying a primer first, so this has been used.

Value: $50

Vivito Painting Sweet Lip Balm

This smells really good! I received the orange one, which is one of my favourite scents. I did keep this, but I have a million lip balms and glosses so I haven't even used this one yet... Also - I would NEVER pay over $20 for a lip balm.

Value: $24

Shara Shara Miracle Multi-Cream

This is described as a moisturizer which delivers an "instant moisture surge and glowing radiance to dry, tired face as if letting the skin take a rejuvenating winter sleep" but then it goes one to say "apply directly to face, body or hair". Why would I put moisturizer in my hair? Wouldn't that make it ridiculously greasy and like a WWE wrestler who uses a full bottle of hair gel before every match? (I just went to watch wrestling a few days ago, I couldn't stop looking at their greasy hair...)

I have kept this, but it has not been used yet. I think I might end up passing it along.

Value: $18 

Shara Shara Brush Set

Value: $24 for 5 brushes

These are decent enough brushes. I took them out of the pink carrying case they came with and stuck them with the rest of my makeup brushes - standing upright inside an Ikea vase filled with coloured sand from Ikea. For some reason, these are the only brushes I own that the sand sticks to completely, and every time I take one out to use it I get purple sand all over my bathroom counter :(

With Shyan Nail Polish

This is a very pretty colour, don't get me wrong, but I'm really trying to not use any polishes that contain Formaldehyde so I put this one into the go-away pile.

Value: $4

This Memebox contained 8 items worth $144 in total. Not bad considering I paid under $25! I also kept more than enough products to make it more than worth it.

xoxo,

Fallon