Grace Adele review

A good friend of mine who is a Scentsy consultant started selling Grace Adele. To be perfectly honest, when she first told me about it, I was lukewarm at best about the idea. When she asked me to do a product review, I was tempted to say no but decided to check out the website first, just in case. I'm so glad I did.

In case you did not already know, Grace Adele is a brand in the Scentsy family that focuses on handbags and accessories. Each Grace Adele handbag comes with a slip pocket on the front that you can put one of their coordinating clutches into to give it a pop of color. For the evenings, you can take the clutch out and use it on its own. There are also coordinating accessories and jewelry in the line. Now I will be perfectly honest and upfront with you here- plenty of pieces in the collection are not my style at all. And then there are pearls. Pretty pearls. Lots and lots of pearls. Yes please.

As soon as I saw these gorgeous earrings it was love at first sight. I love pearls and wear at least one piece of pearl jewelry pretty much every single day. They looked a bit dressier than just my standard pair of studs.

how cute would these be for bridesmaids?

I mean how lovely are they? And the best part? They are just $15! The earrings are available in either cream or black pearl and I chose cream. They came in a pretty black and grey floral patterned gift box that looked like it would be perfect for a quick and easy gift.

The earrings themselves are lightweight and very comfortable. They are a bit brighter/whiter than my every day studs and are a bit larger, but not large enough to be a nuisance. They are not heavy at all so after wearing them for a long time, your earlobes still feel fine. (I've worn large earrings that I have had to take off halfway through the night because they just irritated me so much. Not a problem here.)

For size comparison sake- the Grace Adele earrings are on the left and my every day studs are on the right.

After wearing these earrings for about a week, I loved them so much that I decided to visit Caryn's Grace Adele page again and see what other items they offered. I ended up purchasing this necklace.

Pearl Cluster Necklace $55

A few years ago, I received a pearl cluster necklace for Hannukah from a friend of mine that was my go-to necklace for parties, weddings, etc. Really any time I wanted a funner necklace than just a plain strand. I loved it to death. Literally. After it wound up in that great jewelry box in the sky, I searched for months for a similar replacement that did not cost an arm and a leg. When I saw this one, I knew I had a winner on my hands. I wore it with my black J. Crew ponte pants, boots, and black Lilly Pulitzer Fancy Fest Elsa for a date night out in Brussels. It was perfect.

Grace Adele has several pearl pieces out now in their collection. All of the pearl items are available in either cream or black. I'm thinking of getting the studs in black also. After I get this pearl cluster bracelet to match my necklace of course. 

Pearl Cluster Bracelet- $45

I also love this Shay clutch in pink. Perfect for nights out!

Shay Clutch- $40

Be sure to check out Grace Adele for some great gift options for yourself or someone you love! If you are interested in getting any Grace Adele items, Caryn has set up a party for me under PGMW. I'm doing a giveaway with it and any order that is placed through my party gives you one entry to win the pearl stud earrings in your choice of cream or black.

***Disclaimer: I received the earrings to review and did not receive any financial compensation. I purchased the necklace for myself using my own money.***

Lifeguard Press Review

A little while ago, Lifeguard Press contacted me asking me to do a product review for one of their Lilly Pulitzer iPad cases. Being that I am a huge fan of Lilly Pulitzer and my iPad (named Nina), I was so excited to hear this!

I picked the iPad case with Smart Cover in Dirty Shirley.

 It arrived in a gorgeous box in a matching print which looked so cute and festive. I opened the box and immediately snapped the case on. Right away I was impressed with how sturdy the case was and how pretty! It snapped on securely and stayed put. Even when I dropped it too many times for me to count. (And it didn't crack!- Not that I am advocating dropping your iPad. Do NOT do this.) The inside cover is a soft, fuzzy pink fabric and it feels really nice. A lot nicer than the inside of the Apple ones.

The case retails for $40. Considering the Apple Smart Cover alone is $39 and this protects both the front and the back of the case and this is so much prettier, I have to say that this is a much better value!

One downside, after seeing how gorgeous the Dirty Shirley print is in person, I am now wanting to get more items in this print- like this fun Desk Caddy to attempt to clean up my office and the cute calculator for only $10.

 

Disclaimer: I received the iPad case free of charge for review and my personal use and have received no additional compensation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

My Memories Suite Giveaway

Recently, I got contacted by My Memories to do a review of their scrapbooking suite. I have to be honest here and say that scrapbooking scares me a little. I once attempted to make a scrapbook for my BFF's 21st birthday. It got so expensive so quickly that I eventually just gave up. That whole experience has left me a little vary of scrapbooking in general, but I have been wanting to make TLS an album for before he deploys, so I figured it was worth a shot.

My initial impression of this was that it was SLOW. After 30 minutes, less than 25% of the software had downloaded to my computer. I posted this on facebook and someone responded with "welcome to Germany" so I guess it's more of a Kabel Deutschland thing than a software thing. Being the least patient person on the face of the planet, I wasn't thrilled.

When I downloaded it, I got to work. To create a new album, you are given the choice of making your own from scratch, or going with one of several premade layouts. Since I don't like things that are too cluttered and scrapbooky looking (you know the things that look like the entire contents of a Michael's threw up on them?) and since I am obviously the world's most creative person ever (insert eyeroll here), I decided to make my own.

Big mistake. I cannot for the life of me make a decision so it took me a solid hour to decide fonts, pictures, background pages, etc. The finished result?

That's it- two pictures,with navy borders, a monogram, and our wedding date. Simple but I kind of like it that way. (I did mention that I'm super creative right?)

For round 2, I decided to go with a premade layout instead. So much easier. The wonderful thing about the premade layouts is that the album size is already selected for you, so that's one less thing to try to figure out. This whole process was a lot easier and better for me. Here is a sample page from take 2.

I think it looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself and I am considering using My Memories to make a wedding album for ourselves since we don't yet have one. Apparently wedding albums get to you faster if your mother actually remembers to order them. Who knew?

If you are actually creative, unlike yours truly, you will be happy to know that My Memories offers additional digital scrapbooking kits in addition to what comes with the software.

Want one for yourself?

My Memories is generously offering a Preppy Girl Meets World reader one copy of the software.

To enter:
1) Please visit the My Memories website and post which digital scrapbooking kit is your favorite for one entry. This is mandatory.
2) Follow my blog through GFC for a second entry.
3) Follow myself (@whaleflipflops) and My Memories (@mymemoriessuite) on Twitter and post the giveaway link back at both of us for a third entry.
4) Post about this giveaway for a fourth entry.

This giveaway will run through midnight EST on January 2nd, and I will pick a winner when I wake up finally after my NYE merriment.



If you would like to purchase one for yourself or as a last-minute gift for someone, you can use code STMMMS93273 to receive $10 off your purchase.



Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review. I received the product for free to try out. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Not Soap, Radio Review

A little while ago, I got contacted by Not Soap, Radio to do a product review for their lip balm. I am a huge huge fan of Not Soap, Radio products, I even gave two of their products as gifts to my bridesmaids, so I was very excited about this! I am a huge lip product junkie, at any given moment in time, my purse is guaranteed to have at least 7 lip balms/glosses in it, so the fact that I was getting a new lip balm to try was a huge plus in my book.

Well, Not Soap, Radio surprised me by sending me TWO new lip balms to try out. Considering I had been having a not great time, getting their package in the mail seriously was the highlight of my day.

I was sent the Cocoa Nostra Confectionary Black and White Cookie Lip Balm

and the Happy Hannukah Greeting Card Lip Balm.

As a displaced New Yorker, I was in heaven over the Black & White Cookie Lip Balm. And as a Member of the Tribe, the Hannukah lip balm brought a huge smile to my face.

Here are the two lip balms side by side:

I don't know if you can see that, but the Hannukah one is in a plastic pot and is a bit taller. The Black & White Cookie one is in a metal tin.

Here is how they look in the pots. The Happy Hannukah one is on the left again, and the Black & White Cookie is on the right.

Happy Hannukah:
This one is chocolate gelt flavored (OMG, so good!) and tastes just like milk chocolate. It comes on very light and silky smooth. The scent is not overpowering, and over all this is a winner in my book.


Black and White Cookie:
This one has a much stronger scent than the Happy Hannukah lip balm. It is not overpowering but will definitely be too sweet for people who don't like sugary-flavored products. It also goes on smooth and shiny. If you like black and white cookies, you will love this lip balm.

To be honest, I have to say that I found the scent of the Black and White Cookie to be a bit too strong for me, and if this were a lip balm-off, the Happy Hannukah would win. I will gladly use this one every so often, but it is a bit too strong for me to become an everyday staple for me. The Happy Hannukah one is a whole other story. I love it to death, have used up more than I am proud to admit, and wish that I had one in every purse.

If you are new to Not Soap Radio, check out their website. They have a ton of awesome gift ideas for yourself or someone like you.

Yours truly is partial to the 8 Days of Luscious Lips Hannukah Set, $18

I would love to find this under my menorah- especially since that pouch would be perfect to take on flights

the Alpha Sigma Alpha Beauty palette, $5

If you are not Jewish or an Alpha Sigma Alpha, don't worry, they have plenty of products for you to fall in love with. If you check out the Not Soap, Radio facebook page, they have a 20% off coupon code posted on there now.




Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review. I received the product for free to try out. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Exfoliating Minerals Review

A couple of weeks ago, I got contacted by Exfoliating Minerals to review their facial cleanser. I am a total beauty product junkie (I can just blink and suddenly I've spent at least $200 in Sephora like that!) so of course I jumped at the chance.

First things first- I have to be honest here- this stuff is not cheap. At all. At $48 for a 4 oz. tube, it is the most expensive face wash I have used. TLS, whose facial product of choice is "whatever's on special at the commissary this week," balked at the price. I had to assure him that I did no in fact pay for this. Twice.

Those of you who like to buy American will be happy to know that this product is made in the USA. Yay Exfoliating Minerals. Also, it is all-natural, eco-friendly, and Exfoliating Minerals does not test on Animals. This helps make the cost seem like a much better value.

With that said, I used the cleanser every day for two weeks, morning and night. I did not use any of my other face washes (that's right- plural- I told y'all I'm a junkie didn't I?) at this time, to truly test it out. I love scrubs for both my face and my body and was expecting something coarse and gritty. What I got was a clear, free-flowing gel in a tube. I was skeptical. No way in heck was this stuff going to work. But nevertheless, I made a commitment to give it a shot, so here went nothing.

What I noticed right away was that it smelled great. Kind of citrus-y with a mix of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Later, while looking at their ingredient list, I noticed that it's made with lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits. Well that would do it. If nothing else, this would definitely be my best-smelling facial cleanser.

I half expected it to get gritty once I put it on my face. It didn't. Seriously, if you're looking for a grainy, coarse, scrub, look elsewhere. It felt completely smooth on my skin, and after just two days, I noticed a difference in how glowy my skin looked. I did notice a difference in some dry patches, so I guess it worked.

Final note- like I said before, the gel is very free-flowing, so when you first use it, be careful to only squirt out a tiny amount. A little bit here does go a long way.

In general, I fell in love with this cleanser and will definitely continue to use it in the future.


Disclaimer: I was not financially compensated for this review. I received a tube of this product to try and keep. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Le Creuset ::swoon::

CSN stores contacted me about doing a product review for them. I have done a review once before and have had nothing but positive experiences with them. The company has over 200 stores including Baby Cribs Plus, Cookware, All Modern, Luggage, and more. Being that I am in the process of packing/unpacking/repacking/registering, etc. for our first house together, obviously I jumped at the chance to get more kitchen/housewares items. Few things make my heart go pitter patter quite like Le Creuset. I adore everything about it. The quality, the products themselves. And the colors. Oh the colors! Currently, I cannot get enough of Caribbean and Cherry.

I chose to go with this beauty:

I love it so much and cannot wait to get it! I am anxiously awaiting its arrival and am pondering what I will make/serve in it first.

Not Soap Radio

I am one of those girls who loves shopping for makeup and beauty products. Despite the fact that I don't really wear makeup all that often, I seem to have the contents of an entire Sephora store in my apartment. I could probably go for several months without buying any lip gloss, lip balm, soap, lotion, or shower gel, and still have enough to last me. Does this mean that I ever stop acquiring more? Of course not. So when I was contacted by Not Soap Radio and was asked to do a product review for them, my response was an enthusiastic yes. This company is totally up my alley because they have a line of sorority-lettered beauty products. The only thing I love more than lip gloss is anything and everything having to do with ASA (except for maybe the chapter that I advised). When I got the package from the company, I thought Hannukah came early.

Inside it was one big lip gloss, one tube of ASA Narcissus-scented roll on perfume oil, two body souffles, an ASA makeup palette, and a trio of ASA lip glosses. (Why yes, I am an Alpha Nerd, thank you for asking.)

The first thing I ripped open was the big lip gloss. I have to say in all honesty that I was disappointed. The color was all wrong for me and very metallic made my lips look like a Christmas ornament. Seeing as how I didn't really tell the company what I look like or what colors look good on me, I can't blame them for sending me a product that looked horrible on me. I took it off before I got the chance to see if it plumped my lips as promised. KMH, I will be bringing this to Chicago with me so you can try it to see if it works better on you. My first thought was "uh oh, what if I agreed to review their products and hate all of them?" Well folks, I had no reason to be. Later that night, I took a shower and then slathered on the "I'm Not Here, I'm Really at the Spa" Body Souffle. The texture was thicker and creamier than a lotion, but not as dense as a body butter, and did not leave that oily mess on my fingers. If I were stuck on a deserted island and could only take one lotion with me, this would be it. Coming from a girl who has at least 7 lotions in her medicine cabinet, 1 on her desk, and 2 in her purse, plus others in her closet, this is high praise. There was another body souffle in the package as well in a much smaller size which I did not get to try, but got relegated to my travel cosmetic case to be used for all of my upcoming trips.

Being the total sorority girl that I am, I was most excited to try all of the ASA products. I am one of those sorority girls that loves just about anything that has letters on it, but am getting to that point in my life where unless I'm at a conference or other sorority event, it is no longer acceptable for me to be wearing a hot pink t shirt with 4" polka dotted letters on it, so I am always looking for cute lettered stuff that is practical and I can use. Alpha Sigma Alpha's two flowers are the Narcissus and the Aster. The ASA pefume oil that the company makes is Narcissus scented. Now I have never sniffed a Narcissus in my life so I cannot tell you how it smells, but I can say that the roll-on perfume oil was pretty darn amazing. It is not too strong, but musky with just the right amount of sweetness and is really convenient to take with you when you travel. I would love to know how the other sorority ones smell, but it would be a bit weird for me to own something that said "Delta Delta Delta" on it, so if any of y'all buy one for your sorority, be sure to let me know how it is.

My camera decided that it just did not want to photograph the inside of the ASA beauty palette well, so here is the outside packaging.

Lis and KMH, are y'all squealing yet?

All of the colors in the palette as well as the lip glosses in the lip gloss trio were the exact colors that I love and look best on me, so I was very excited about that. I rolled on some ASA perfume, put on some eyeshadow and a cute lip gloss and went on my merry way. I got a mani/pedi and then went to Sephora for some concealer. The flamboyantly gay person who helped me in the Dior area told me that my lip gloss looked good on me and wanted to know if it came from the store. If it can pass the gay makeup salesman test, then I guess it means it's really good. Check plus. (Bonus, the lip gloss is small enough that you can just stick it in your pocket which makes it great for travelling if you have a lot of beauty products to take with you and not a lot of room in your little ziploc bag.)

After Sephora, I went to my Nana's house to see what she though. Sadly, my mommy was out of town so I couldn't get her to weigh in. The conversation went something like this.

me: Nana, what do you think of my makeup?

Nana: You look very pretty. Do you have a date?

me: No I don't.

Nana: How old are you?

me: 25

Nana: Are you married yet?

me: no

Nana: You need to find a man, you're getting old.

me: yes Nana

5 minutes later

Nana: You look very pretty. What's different about you?

me: It's this new makeup. Do you like it?

Nana: Oh you met a boy!

me: No Nana.

Nana: Then what's the point of wearing makeup? You're getting old. You need a husband.

2 minutes later

Nana: How old are you?

me: 25

Nana: when do I get to meet your husband?

me: when I get one

repeat this dialogue about 7 or 8 times
In retrospect asking an 85 year old woman with Alzheimer's and dementia who is desperate to dance at her only grandchild's wedding about this was probably not a smart move on my part.

Two days later, I met my mom after work for dinner and grocery shopping. (My mommy is one of my best friends.) It was gross out that day so I wore the new lip gloss and eye shadow so I wouldn't look and feel like a total shlub. Plus I wanted to know if it looked good on me, and commenting on my appearance is one of my mother's strong suits. I tend to wear neutrals or very matte colors and do not like glitter anywhere. The eyeshadows had a bit of shimmer to them, but not enough to make me look like a Vegas showgirl. It is just sparkly enough to be good for going out, but not enough that it will make you look weird if you wear it to work. After the usual hugs, kisses, how have you beens, etc. I did not have to even ask my mom what she thought of my appearance. "You're wearing makeup! You look so pretty! Did you finally meet a guy?" Will someone please explain to my family that the problem isn't me meeting a guy, it's the type of guy that I meet? I mean does my mother really want a penis model or boy whose only hobby is watching porn for a son-in-law? After convincing my mom that I am, still single, I did her to say that she thinks I look very pretty. So there you have it folks: it's sorority-girl tested, Jewish mother approved!

After perusing the Not Soap Radio website, I have to say that one product that I really wish they had sent me was this Flirtini Cocktail Party Lip Gloss:

The color is exactly the kind that looks great on me, I love lip gloss way too much, and cannot resist anything with the word cocktail in the name. Am I going to have to order this? I think so!

The good news is: Not Soap Radio has generously offered MRM readers a 20% discount on anything on the website with coupon code flipflop. The code is good through May 5th, and ladies, I cannot say enough times how much I recommend the body souffle. If it were legal for me to marry one of these, I just might. The site also has fun things for bridesmaids and if you haven't started thinking about Mother's Day yet, you may want to get on that.