5 Things: some to love, some to shove.

This is not a sponsored post.

Okay, so I wasn't going to enter any contests. I ended up entering TWO contests. Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is giving away a year's supply of Ben and Jerry's , my go-to third trimester essential food item. And this blogger is giving away a SIGG water bottle, which I really want but don't want to spend $20 on. And I just realized that I've been sitting here listening to the same song on repeat all day. I don't even like this song.

Anyway, I've been trying a lot of new stuff lately, some things I just stumbled across and others that I read about on other blogs and was curious about. Here are my reviews of these items.

1. Pond's Clear Pore Strips. My nose has been looking like a strawberry lately so I wanted to get some Bioré pore strips, which I haven't used in a long time. The Pond's variety was a dollar cheaper, so I picked them up instead.

The directions said to wet the smooth side of the strip with water, then apply it to my nose. One tiny problem. Both sides were the exact same texture. I held it up to the light to see if perhaps one side looked different than the other, but they were identical. So I chose a side randomly, wet it, and stuck it on my nose. But then the outside felt sticky, so I hastily turned it over before it could dry.

I kept it on my nose for about twenty minutes, until it was rock hard, and peeled it off. With the Biore strips you can see all sorts of gross things stuck to the strip that had been in your pores. With this one? Nothing. If I could at least be sure of which side was the correct side I'd have a better idea of whether or not this is an effective product, but I'm going to go with ummm... NO.

2. Aquafina lip balm. I loooooove lip balm. I started out with cherry Chapstick as a teenager, then branched out as I got older. I especially love lip balms that tingle, like Burt's Bees and Carmex. I have lip balm stashed everywhere, and if I can't find some when I need it I get twitchy.

No matter how seemingly great or expensive the lip balm may be though, my lips tend to peel and dry out quickly. Brad says they do that because I use so much lip balm, but I wasn't buying that. I even tried the Mary Kay lip mask, but it didn't help. So I'm constantly trying new lip balms, looking for the one with the perfect texture, the perfect flavor, the Neo of lip balms that will make my lips stop peeling.

I have found it at last. I bought a 4-pack of Aquafina lip balms at Wal-Mart for only $2.44. They're made with jojoba and almond oils, and rather than just sitting on your lips and sort of lubricating them, this stuff actually moisturizes and softens them. The first lip balm I've ever tried that managed this. There are four flavors in the pack: regular, raspberry, citrus blend, and wild berry. The only flavor I don't like is the wild berry, because wild berry and mint just do not mesh. Otherwise I highly recommend this lip balm.


3. Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber. I am not the sort to buy these silly cleaning products. I do not own a swiffer, or an automatic shower sprayer (too dry for mildew here) or a disposable toilet scrubber pack. But after reading about this on several blogs I decided to give it a shot.

Cleaning the bathtub is my most loathed chore. It generally requires a series of toxic cleaning products and at least an hour of my time, so I rarely do it. As a result, my bathtub stays pretty disgusting, which I hate.

They should have called this thing the Bathtub Messiah. It took all of thirty seconds to swipe this thing around my bathtub, and it looks better than it did when we moved in. The last bathtub I saw this clean was on display at Lowe's. One word of warning. The fumes produced by this product could knock an elephant flat at twenty paces, even in the very short amount of time its use is required. So if you own a scuba kit you may want to employ it. If you don't, turning on the fart fan will have to do.

4. Skin MD. It's very dry here in New Mexico's high desert, and I'm constantly applying lotion. So I became very interested in Skin MD, a shielding lotion which claims to "exceptionally enhance your skin's hydrating and protective abilities."

I find it to be most effective to put it on over another heavier cream for regular use, as it seals the other lotion in and keeps it from drying out. But what's most remarkable about it is its regenerative qualities. I wore a new shirt one day, and the armholes hit me the wrong way, rubbing me raw and chapping the skin. I put on some Skin MD, and the chapping, which would normally take at least a few days to clear up, was gone the next morning. Amazing stuff!

5. Trader Joe's Refresh shampoo. I bought this because I was low on shampoo, and I happened to be at Trader Joe's when I thought of it, and this stuff happened to be only $1.99. I normally use Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo. I know Suave is supposed to be the red-headed stepchild of hair care, but it's honestly the only shampoo I've ever been satisfied with.

I really wanted to like this shampoo. It has natural stuff, it's citrus-y, and it's orange, and I like to have orange stuff in my shower. It makes me happy.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be buying this shampoo again. The citrus smell is so subtle as to be nonexistent, and my pregnancy nose is so sensitive that I had to walk out of church on Sunday because I couldn't take all the comingling odors. So if I can't smell it, there's simply nothing there to smell. In addition, it's a very thin shampoo, only somewhat thicker than water. It doesn't lather well. My hair's only shoulder-length and is not thick, but I have to lather three times with this stuff to get my hair clean. Sorry Trader Joe, love your store, but your shampoo sucks.

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