Back to School

It's back to school time!  I had the opportunity to spend a $25 gift card for The Children's Place and go buy anything I wanted to review so I bought stuff that would be good for going back to school.

If you've never been to The Children's Place, it's a cute store for kids.  I'm not a fan of Old Navy but it reminds me of an Old Navy in the way the store is laid out. The inside of the location I went to was not huge like an Old Navy but laid out nicely where you can easily determine where to go for each age group as well as boys and girls are split and each have their own side of the store. I think the quality of the products are better than Old Navy but the prices are very comparable. That's the part that surprised me most.  I thought this was going to be a specialty store where I wouldn't be able to get much with just $25.  What did I know?  I don't even have kids!

For $25, I feel like I got quite of bit and now some of the items I bought are even cheaper. I was able to purchase a backpack, a lunchbox, a hat, sunglasses and a headband.  Isn't this perfect for a young girl?  I had a little bit left on the gift card so I was able to buy my nephew Colton a pair of sandals that had skulls and crossbones on it as well.  All this stuff for $24.97!

The backpack and lunchbox are both durable and are of good quality materials.  I was given the gift card for review purposes but I would definitely go back to this store and shop for my nephew.  There are 7 The Children's Place locations in the Twin Cities as well as at Albertville Premium Outlet.

This young girl's package will be donated as a basket for my dad's cancer benefit on September 29th.

If you're interested in getting the backpack, it's currently on sale for $9.99!  Check out The Children's Place website for all their sales.  

Here's the description of the backpack from their website.  

• An all-season style in water-resistant polyester with polyester canvas piecing
• Easy-to-grip handle and locker loop
• Padded polyester canvas back panel and adjustable, fully padded shoulder straps
• Two zipper compartments, and lots of pockets for all her stuff
• Front pocket is sized to fit our coordinating lunchbox inside
• Heavy-duty polyester oxford bottom and easy-pull zippers hold it all together
• Do-it-yourself ID label
• Measures 16.5"H X 11.5"L X 6"D
• Imported

Overall Rating

4.9

Quality

4.9

Styling

4.7

Durability

4.6

Fit/Comfort

4.7

Value

5

6 of 7(86%)customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Brazilian Peel Review

I had the opportunity to try a product called Brazilian Peel.  It's an at-home, professional strength peel.  The one I tried was the acne peel kit. 

Here are the claims:

THE SCIENCE OF CLEAR SKIN


Clear + Prevent + Protect
The Antidote to Acne, Brazilian Peel Clear is an innovative two-step treatment program that clears and prevents acne blemishes, and protects skin from irritation, redness and aging.

Instantly unclogs pores & helps prevent acne

Reduces acne & visibly improves acne scars

Clinically proven to brighten, smooth & tone skin

Dermatologist tested to be safe & non-irritating

Scientifically formulated to hydrate & prevent over-drying skin

Easy to use, takes less than 1 minute daily, 10 minutes weekly

In independent clinical testing:

91% of users reported less oily skin

90% of users reported experienced a reduction in acne blemishes

89% of users reported clearer skin

83% of users reported smooth and soft skin
The Science of Clear Skin

Together, the dermatologic benefits of 25% glycolic, the antioxidant properties of natural açaì berry, the innovation of Q-Mag Neutralizer, and the acne-fighting properties of salicylic acid define the science of Brazilian Peel Clear, the Antidote to Acne.

Brazilian Peel Clear is formulated WITHOUT:

Sulfates

Synthetic Dyes

Petrochemicals

Phthalates

GMOs

Triclosan

 

The kit is a 4 week system and you start of doing a peel first.  It was kind of fun to do the peel because it gets warm on your face.  It tingled a bit but I left it on for the 10 minutes as directed and then washed it off with cool water.  My face still tingled for about 5 minutes after washing it off.  The kit comes with four peels and you do that weekly.

Every day in the time between peels, I used the Boost Pads.  The Boost Pads tingled and burned just a bit and had a similar feel of an over-the-counter toner.   

I repeated this process until the peels and pads were gone. What were the results?  I didn't notice that much of a difference in my skin after the process.  I do think my pores were cleaner though. I still had a couple of pimples throughout the process and didn't get any less than I normally would.  Overall, I think my skin isn't that bad to begin with so results may be better with someone who has problem skin. 

When I received this box, it retailed at Sephora for $79 but I see they no longer carry this exact product, however it's had rave reviews.  I do see that you can purchase just the peels now.  I've found this exact kit on other sites for $45. 

Healthy Surprise

I had the opportunity to review a Healthy Surprise box a couple of weeks ago.  What is Healthy Surprise?  It's a monthly subscription service that delivers healthy snack to your door that are all natural, vegan and gluten free.  Right up my alley!

I was so excited when I received my package in the mail.  I opened it up and here's what I saw:

There are several different size boxes you can subscribed to. Healthy Surprise sent me the Healthy box, which normally costs $66 a month with free shipping.  I think this is a great sized box for a couple of people and will last awhile.  The website says it's for 2-6 people.  They also have a smaller box called the Starter box which is $33 plus shipping.  They also have a Large and Super box too.

So what did I get in my box?  It was so fun to pull out so many snacks from the box, most of which I had never heard of before.  Here's the breakdown of snacks:

• Bare Fruit Granny Smith Apple Chips
• Skinny Crisps Cinnamon Crisps
• Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax
• 2 bags of Gone Nuts! Spinach Pesto nuts
• 2 bags of Gone Nuts! Lemon Thai Curry nuts
• 2 bags of Home Free Vanilla Cookies
• Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut Bar
• Happy Hemp seeds
• Hail Mary Pecans- Orange Rosemary
• Oskri Coconut Bar- Cherry

So what did I like?  

I really liked the Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut bar, Hail Mary Pecans-Orange Rosemary and the Oskri Coconut Bar-Cherry.  I thought all of these were really great tasting.

I also liked the Home Free Vanilla Cookies.  They taste very similar to Nilla Wafers.  The Skinny Crisps are also good but a little too dry for me.  

Some of the goodies are just ok to me.  The Bare Fruit Granny Smith Apple Chips are fun to snack on but didn't have too much flavor to me.  The Gone Nuts! Spinach Pesto nuts are very pesto-y.  I love pesto but you can only eat a few of these nuts at a time.  The Gone Nuts! Lemon Thai Curry nuts are much better to me.  I like the added lemon but I wish it was Thai Curry Lemon instead of Lemon Thai Curry.  

I haven't tried the Happy Hemp seeds yet.  I just happened to buy a bag of hemp seeds a week before the box came so I'll probably save the bag I have for now.

I was most excited about the Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax but I didn't like them.  Why?  Because there's too much of a taste of fennel seed.  I hate fennel seed.  I did give them to M to enjoy though and he seemed to like them.  If you like pizza and fennel seed, you'll really like these. 

Being that I hadn't heard of many of these brands before, I decided to see if I could find them at Whole Foods.  I found a few of the brands I was able to sample but not necessarily the exact same products.  I found the Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax, Gone Nuts! (not in the flavors I received) and Two Moms in the Raw. (not the product I received)  These snacks were expensive in the store so I can see where the $66 a month for this size box is justified.  Hey, it costs a little more to eat healthy!  

Would I subscribe to this monthly service?  Absolutely!...if I had the income to do so.  Right now I'm on a tight budget so it's not in my budget to do so.  I will definitely consider it in the future though.  If you do not have access to a high quality grocery store such as Whole Foods in your area, you're interested in eating healthy, all natural, vegan and gluten free snacks and you have a little extra cash to put towards your monthly food bill, this service is for you.

What I can offer you today is a discount!  Healthy Surprise is offering my readers the opportunity to try one of their boxes for $5 off the normal price.  Just enter the code, JANUARYBABY at checkout to reflect the discount.  Enjoy! 

Tiny Tillia

Have you heard of Tiny Tillia? It's a company by Avon that carries high quality baby and children's items as well as for mom.  I picked out some items and they sent them to me for review. 

I picked out something that would be good for a girl, a boy and for mom.  The first is this dress.  When I first opened it, I didn't realize it came with little bloomers until I looked in the dress.  It has flowers around the bottom of the dress and then a cute little mouse in between the flowers. This dress is adorable and would be cute on any little girl.  It ranges in size from 0-3 months to 18-24 months.  And it's on sale right now for $14.99!

Cute!

The next item is perfect for either boy or girl or anyone.  When I received this blanket, I couldn't believe how soft it was.  It's a two sided blanket that measures 30' x 40".  While it looks cute below, I think it's even cuter in person. This blanket was given as a gift to a little baby girl that was born very recently.  This one is on sale right now as well for $14.99.

I know the perfect baby for this blanket!

I picked out this next outfit with my nephew Colton in mind.  The shirt is perfect for summer and so are the pants as they are convertible pants.  The bottoms can be rolled up for a shorter look.  This comes in sizes up to 4T.  This is currently on sale for $24.99.

Perfect for my nephew Colton

The last item I had for review was this super cute diaper bag.  It's cute enough to be a purse and can be converted to a tote bag after your done using it as a diaper bag.  There's compartments for your keys, wallet, cell phone and it also comes with a wristlet.  There are areas to put sippy-cups and bottles and it comes with a removable changing pad.  This retails for $40 but is currently on sale for $29.99.

An awesome diaper bag

Even though I don't have kids, I spent some time on the Tiny Tillia website looking at all their products and I find them to be completely affordable with many cute items and a wide variety of items such as toys for playtime and bathtime, accessories, clothes for babies and toddlers and skincare products as well.  They have almost everything on sale right now for a limited time.