Pure Raspberry Ketones *GIVEAWAY*

This opportunity couldn't have come at a better time. I have been meaning to actually start my journey into weight loss for a while now, so when this opportunity presented itself, I drove in head first.

Raspberry Ketones are a fat burner and an appetite suppressor. There are no artificial ingredients, and it is made in the USA. 

The pills are rather large. Luckily for me, I've never had a problem with pills, so this was not a concern of mine. My husband, on the other hand, has a hard time taking pills, so he would not be able to take these. I am not sure if it's okay to break them apart and sprinkle them on something, but again, it wasn't an issue for me so I didn't look into it.

While taking these, I noticed a drastic decrease in my hunger. You must take these half an hour before eating, which was somewhat of a struggle for me. I'm used to getting up and eating breakfast right away, so I had to resist eating for a while. But once that half hour (or so) passed, I noticed I wasn't as hungry as I was before taking it. The recommended dosage is 1 capsule twice a day. I take 1 capsule three times a day, otherwise I'm a heavy snacker. I love my snacks, and it's really had an effect on me.

I also noticed that I'm a little more active while taking these. I may not be running around, but I'm definitely not content to just sit around. I have more energy to play with my kids, more energy to get things done around the house, including catching up on laundry.

For more information, or to order your own bottle, please click HERE.







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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Argan Oil for hair?

Have you ever heard of Argan Oil?

Argan Oil is hailed as the Moroccan liquid gold. The holy grail of hair care. It's claims include leaving your hair silky smooth, soft, and healthy. All without leaving your hair greasy or heavy. HSI Professional sent me a 2 oz bottle of Argan Oil for me to review.

So, how did it stack up for me? Well, I'd love to say it was amazing. All those claims completely backed up, but for me, it just wasn't so. I absolutely loved the smell of the oil, however, and it did leave my hair looking a bit healthier than usual. Unfortunately, I didn't see the tame-frizzing benefits that I was hoping for.

I used it daily, for a month, and still didn't see anything fantastic worth raving about. I have tried it while my hair was wet, dry, damp, before blow drying, air drying, etc. No major changes. Even after a few hours, it went right back to its usual frizzy, out of control self. 

I've also used it in Gianna's hair. She has great hair to begin with, so again, no major changes to report. If you'd like to check it out, you can go HERE and purchase some for yourself. 

Have you ever used Argan Oil before? What were your results?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Pet Urine Stain Finder UV Light

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.


Having a male cat, I'm always afraid that he might spray somewhere, and I wouldn't be able to find it. Fortunately, we haven't had this problem. He is neutered, so I'm not expecting it to happen. However, we have quite a few stray cats outside who HAVE marked up our porch and items we've had out there. Chairs, car seats, even our kids' toys have been marked. Those items, while not super easy to clean animal urine/spray out of, they are still cleanable. The porch and the outside of the house, on the other hand? Not so easy to clean if you don't know exactly where they sprayed! Enter this handy little UV light. It illuminates where the animals marked so that you know where they have been.

It's a small flashlight with 12 (very) bright light bulbs. Since it is UV, it emits a bluish light. Upon shining the light on a spot that an animal has marked, it turns the area a yellowish color. Unfortunately for where I used it, the carpeting made it incredibly hard to actually see where there was urine.

Top of the UV light

It has with 3 AAA batteries included, though I recommend putting new, better quality batteries in. If not, then you may have the same experience I had- flickering, varying strength of the bulbs, etc. Once I put new batteries in, it shone nice and bright. Still wasn't able to capture a picture of it, but it was definitely brighter.

I tried it on my front porch, and saw quite a bit of spots where the local strays have marked- my 'Welcome' mat, right under my mailbox, my husband's chair, random places on the floor and the wall of the porch. I then walked around the perimeter of my house, and noticed spots on the side of the house and on the sidewalk leading to the back. When I stepped onto the back porch, I saw just as many, if not MORE, spots back there. I also saw a large spot on the back door.

A friend of mine mentioned trying it inside the house for human urine as well. Since we bedshare with Gianna, and I know she's wet my bed a few times, I gave it a try. Nothing showed up. However, I do use my carpet shampooer when she's had an accident, so that might be why. The one room that REALLY lit up, was the bathroom. My son still has not perfected his aim, and we have lots of proof of that on the walls. Shining the UV light on those marks was repulsive! I knew it was gross, I just didn't realize HOW much he's missed the toilet. Unfortunately, we have textured walls, so cleaning them is kind of out of the question.

I've also used it on the carpets just to see what they look like. If you live in an apartment, or anywhere that others may have lived prior to you, I suggest NOT using the light! While I couldn't see anything on the carpet under a regular light, there was a lot to see with the UV light. It really made me wonder what exactly that could possibly be on my carpets. Although I'm sure I don't honestly want to know.



Overall, I really do like this light. Some of our outside toys that were sprayed came clean because I knew exactly where to focus the majority of the cleaning. No nasty cat spray smell lingered. If you have pets that like to mark their territory, this would come in very handy. You can purchase your own handy UV light by going HERE.




I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** ADOVIA Dead Sea Salt Soap

Usually, I am very reluctant to use bar soap. I've heard all the claims, "Won't dry your skin out!" or "Super moisturizing!" and so on. For me, they've always dried my skin out terribly. But when I saw this soap available for review, and read about it, I decided to give it a try.

Before trying it, I was expecting the same result as every other bar soap I've ever tried. I was expecting my skin to feel tight, itchy, and dry. But I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it's all the minerals in the soap, maybe it's the Dead Sea salts that are exfoliating my skin, but it felt amazing!

There is something familiar about the scent that I just can't put my finger on. I recognize the smell, I am sure that it's the same scent as soap that I have used as a child, but I'm not exactly sure. It's not unpleasant, however.

Excuse the horrible picture of myself. This is before using the soap. My skin is really dry, and oftentimes, it's flaky and peeling. Even with lotion, it's constantly dry. 

The first thing I noticed about Adovia Dead Sea Salt moisturizing soap is that it doesn't create a lot of lather. As much as I appreciate not having excessive bubbles, it was kind of hard to think of it cleaning my face without the lather I'm used to. The second thing I noticed was that, while using my hands to wash my face, it felt like my skin was tightening and drying out. My hands kind of "skipped" over my skin, indicating that it was taking grease and oils off of my face. But I couldn't help but think it was overly cleaning- removing ALL moisturization from my skin. The last thing I noticed was that my face felt lighter, more airy, if that makes sense.

Not a lot of lather. Made me think it wouldn't clean my face as well as it claimed to.

When I rinsed it off, again my hands "skipped" over my skin. I started to think that maybe I made a mistake by giving this soap a try. I didn't have high hopes, despite really wanting to believe that it would feel good. However, once I fully rinsed it off, and pat dried my face using a wash cloth, I noticed immediately that my skin felt different. It felt lighter. Really clean. My skin looked amazing, as well! Nice and clear, smooth, no rough, dry patches, no flaking skin. Within 5 minutes, the feeling of tightness went away, and it was super soft! I did not use any other lotions or moisturizers after using this soap.

My skin seriously looks so much different!!

I absolutely love this soap, and have used it twice daily since receiving it. Every time I use it, my skin feels softer and softer. I don't see any dryness any more, and my complexion is much more even. The only warning I have for this soap is, make sure you don't get any of it in your eyes!! I made the mistake of not rinsing it off all the way before opening my eyes, and man did it burn! Keep a towel or wash cloth right next to you so that you can wipe your eyes before you open them. You can purchase the Adovia Dead Sea Salt soap on Amazon.

Have you ever used Dead Sea Salt soap? If so, what did you think of it? If not, would you consider it?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Nail Cones

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

I love to paint my nails, but I absolutely hate how the nail polish gets all over my skin. So, when I heard about Nail Cones, I was really excited! Finally, a product for someone like me! I couldn't wait to get my hands on them.

They came via USPS in a cute pink envelope. Nothing fancy, no extra unnecessary packaging. Nail Cones usually come in a pack of 60 (4 sheets, 15 cones on each). However, since this was just a sample for review purposes, it was one sheet.

Each row is a different size (which I didn't realize until after I started applying them). The neat thing about the sizes is that each size has a different amount of ice cream (all three for small, two scoops for medium, and one for large). So, it's fairly easy to tell what size you're using.



To use these, you need to make sure your fingers and nails are washed and dried. If they're dirty or wet, the Nail Cone may not stick as well as it should, leading to nail polish being on your skin instead of only the nail. Once your fingers and nails are nice and clean, and dry, peel off the size you need. Place your nail in the center cutout, with the ice cream scoop under your nail. Take the sides of the Nail Cone and wrap it around the outside of your nail so that only your nail is exposed. Once you have done that with all your nails on one hand, you're ready to paint your nails! Don't worry about going super slow to avoid mess-ups. The Nail Cone, if applied correctly, will keep the polish on your nails. Once you have achieved the desired shade (one coat or more), allow it to dry fully before slowly removing the Nail Cones off your nails. Then do the same for the other hand.

As you can see from the pictures below, I used different sizes because I wasn't aware that there were three different sizes on each sheet. The top left picture shows the small size on my pinkie. It was a little big, which made it a bit difficult to apply it correctly. The top right picture is my ring finger and a medium size. As you can see, it was way too large. I did leave it, however, because I liked how I could overlap it at the bottom of my nail, which I could not do with the small on my pinkie. The bottom left shows all the Nail Cones and my freshly painted nails.

Unfortunately, these Nail Cones did not work for me. I really do love the idea, and wanted them to work for me. As you can see from the last picture above, there is still lots of polish on my fingers. I admit I was a little less careful than I usually am, but I wanted to test out these Nail Cones. If there were another smaller size, I am sure this wouldn't have been an issue. A friend suggested I try these out on my toe nails, but I couldn't get them to fit my toe nails either, even with the largest size.

Over the course of a week, I have sent two messages to see if they offered a children's size, but they have not yet responded to me. Hopefully, they are just busy and not able to respond to messages at the moment.

If you are interested in purchasing some Nail Cones of your own, or if you'd like more information, you can find them HERE.




I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Shandali UltraSport Travel Towel

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

The Shandali UltraSport Travel Towel is an interesting product. It is a microfiber towel that is extremely lightweight, yet extremely absorbent. I was excited to try it out as part of my two towel showering system. I, honestly, did not have high expectations for it. Once I took it out of the package (from Amazon, so you know it was excessive!), I thought it was way too thin, and way too flimsy to do any good. Also, I was always told that microfiber should not touch the bare skin as it could potentially cut you, due to the sharp fibers. However, this towel is incredibly soft and smooth. It feels great against my skin!

While it is incredibly thin, don't let that fool you. I ordered the Medium size (24" x 48") because I have long hair. I was hoping the towel would cover my hair completely so that I could make this my permanent hair towel.

My original designated "hair towel" is thick, and would take forever to dry. Sometimes, it'd still be damp when I took a shower the following day. Which would then lead to it smelling musty, and my hair if I forgot to bring a new towel in the bathroom with me. With the Shandali towel, I don't have to worry about that. It dries very quickly (usually no longer than 30 minutes, in my experience). I hang it right on the back of the bathroom door.

My only real complaint thus far is the fabric loop. The first time I hung it up, it started to rip a little. While the towel was wet, it still wasn't heavy enough to cause the loop to tear like this. My guess is that it likely came like this. I failed to check it directly out of the package, so I can't say for certain. While some people may consider the loop an important piece of the towel, to me, it wasn't a big deal. It wouldn't stop me from recommending it to someone.

It held up well in the wash, with very minimal shrinking, if any at all. The color didn't bleed, and it didn't fade with one wash. Washing instructions say to wash in cold water and tumble dry low. For some reason, my washer doesn't wash on cold, so I washed it on hot. I also used the high setting on my dryer.

Overall, I really do love this towel. While I don't find it to be big enough to use as a beach towel, it's perfectly acceptable as a shower/bath towel. It would likely be perfect to dry a car after washing it. Though there are cheaper options.

You can purchase your very own Shandali UltraSport Travel Towel here.


Already own one? Tell me what you think about it!







I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

**REVIEW** Alphabet Flash Cards by Educational Toys Planet

Recently, I received a pack of Alphabet Flash Cards by Education Toys Planet to try out with my kids and review them for all of you. While I did receive them for free, all opinions are 100% my own and not swayed in either direction by any outside influences.

These Alphabet Flash Cards are recommended for ages 3 and up. My youngest is 2, so I thought I would try them on her. The first thing she did when I opened the shipping package was yank them from me and try to get right into them. As you can see from the back of the pack, she really just wanted them! I also used them on AJ because of his mix up with certain letters.

The cards are bright, and eye catching. They provide excellent visuals to help with letter recognition. What I really loved about them is the rounded edge. The pictures have the rounded edge in the upper right hand corner. When it's in the left, the letters are shown. It makes it a lot easier to sort them and organize them by letters, or by pictures. There are both capitals, and lower case cards. Most cards I have purchased in the past only have one or the other, never both.

The pack also comes with these three index cards for quick reference. I used these with my son by pointing at random letters to see if he could recognize them quickly. I also called out random letters and random words (pear, cake, sun) to test him as well. Goose threw him off, as he thought it was a duck. It's understandable. They really do look similar on these cards. For Gianna, I pointed and she told me what each picture was if she was able to.

There was also a parent card with ideas on activities to try with your child. We did a few of the activities, but Gianna was just too young to really understand. AJ's attention often roamed, so it was hard to do it for long.

While I would love to say that they really did help her, I can't say they did. I think it may be because she is just too young to grasp the concept of letters. She was able to identify quite a few pictures. Just not able to get the letters correct. So, I did work on them with my 6 year old. AJ struggles with a few letters, and often mixes them up (B and D, G and J, etc). These cards helped him to see the letters and associate them with certain words. In just two weeks time (20 minutes each day, 5 days a week), his letter recognition has improved. He still mixes certain letters up, but not nearly as often as he used to. Not only has his recognition improved, his spelling has as well. He will take the index cards, and study the words then ask me to pick a few out for him to spell. So, I consider this an extra perk. Definitely a positive!

In general, I would agree that these cards are more for children older than 3. I will continue to work with Gianna as long as she shows interest. AJ still plays with them and asks me to quiz him, so I will continue to do that with him as long as he would like to. It's a great way for him and I to spend some one-on-one time doing something that he enjoys.


Feel free to check them out using the links above, or jump right into their site by age recommendations:

For 3 year olds

For 4 year olds

For 5 year olds


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.