Just a Hello

I don't have much to offer on the blogging front today. I am really tired, so am laying low for the night.

I did want to post something, though, just to stay in the rhythm and learn the habit of everyday blogging.

Here's a random photo. I took this with my iPhone in the Spring. The flowers were for sale in a grocery store, and their brilliant colors captured my attention right away.

Speaking of my iPhone, I'm blogging to you by way of the Blogger app right now!

Hope you all enjoyed your Thursday!

Happy Independence Day!

photo by Hryck

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!  I hope your holiday was full of family and hot dogs on the grill and fireworks.  And I hope you took more than a moment to remember the reason for this holiday!

Our day was fairly quiet.  Our extended family is spread out, so we did not spend the day together.  (Sad face.)  So my immediate family (Mr. Babycakes and the two Not-So-Little-Anymore-Cakes) had a leisurely morning with pancakes and quiet relaxation.  Ahhhh!  We did get moving later in the morning and ventured out for shopping and errands.

Our plans for attending the annual fireworks fell through thanks to intermitten thunderstorms and frankly because it was too darn hot!  It got up to 101F today, and none of us were interested in sitting out in the blazing sun to claim lawn space for a fireworks show.  Even sitting in a hot car to claim a parking space in our usual parking lot on a hill would have been unpleasant.  So we all voted to stay in tonight and each do our own thing.

I took advantage of our downtime to relax with a refreshing face mask.  I discovered these masks by Que Bella at Target (less than $3!) a couple of weeks ago, and fell in love with them.  This "refreshing pomegranate" peel-off mask is my favorite, but I have two others waiting in the wings:  a self-heating clay mask and a Dead Sea mud mask.  I can't wait to give them a try.  I'll a post a review of them here soon.

Well, as much as I have enjoyed this mid-week day off, it's back to work tomorrow, so I must get ready for that.  I hope you all have a great rest of the week.

A Review: ImPRESS Press-On Manicure

I am forever working on my nails: trying to grow them, trying to make them healty, trying to make them look pretty. I've tried everything from the yucky tasting liquid that is brushed on the nails to keep from biting them, to years of on-again-off-again acrylic "false" nails.

I have reached a point in my life when I've outgrown the nail biting, and can now enjoy the beautiful nail polish colors that are available.

I was excited to receive the ImPRESS Press-On Manicure in my Mom VoxBox from Influenster. This was something new I had not tried -- a flawless, no-dry-time manicure. Just what us moms and busy women need. Who can find the time for their home manicure to dry appropriately, right?

I sat down on a Saturday afternoon for my weekly home manicure, and decided to give the ImPRESS Press-On Manicure a try.

Right away I discovered that the product was very similar to the press-on nail products that have been around for ages, and not the nail polish strips that are all the rage now (and what I was hoping for). My hopes dimmed right away, because my experience with the press-on nail kits in the past has been less than stellar. The ImPRESS Press-On Manicure is supposed to last up to a week.

I moved forward with the manicure, as I wanted to give the product the benefit of the doubt and really give it a good testing.

Applying the nails was fairly simple. After laying out the size needed for each finger, I moved along quickly by peeling the adhesive off the back and pressing the nail onto my own nails. The entire process took about 10 minutes, including choosing the size of each nail.

One of the nails tore a bit while I was removing the adhesive. That was probably because of my heavy hand, but a good indication that the nails may not stand up to heavy duty use.

I also had a hard time matching up the sizing of the nails to my own fingers. I have small nail beds, and even the smallest sizes seemed to overlap my natural nail. Some of my natural nails were also a little bit longer than the ImPRESS nails, which gave me heart palpitations. I really didn't want to trim or file my own nails after I'd worked to hard to grow them out! But in the interest of the product testing, I did.

The color of the nails was pretty -- like a raspberry pink shade -- but was not really my color. There are 36 colors and styles to choose from, though, so I don't think I would have any trouble finding one that I would like.

In the end, I removed the nails after a little over 24 hours, but not because of the product. I had a meeting at work on Monday, and I didn't want to have to worry about whether or not a nail would fall off. To be honest, though, now I don't think that would have been a problem. The nails were a little difficult to remove. The adhesive backing seemed very strong, so I feel like the nails would have lasted up to a week as promised.

Overall I was fairly happy with the ImPRESS Press-On Manicure. I think I will go out and purchase it to give it a better try. I would recommend the product to my friends for a quick and flawless manicure.

Have you tried the ImPRESS Press-On Manicure? What did you think?



Hey, I did receive this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. But my opinions are my own.