Review: Roux Color Refresh Mask (Fire Red)

In just 3 minutes Roux Color Refresh Mask revives color, provides intense conditioning and radiant shine to color treated hair.

• Provides intense conditioning
• Revives color
• Adds radiant shine

Roux Color Refresh Mask in just 3 minutes revives color and provides intense conditioning while adding radiant shine to color treated hair. The Color refresh Mask is formulated to combat the effects of color fading or becoming off tone between color treatments.
Ionic pigments deposit color on color treated hair. AHA fruit acids will give intense moisture and close the cuticle to make hair soft to the touch with a brilliant shine. Color lasts 3-5 washes depending on hair type.

I am IN LOVE with this. I had never heard about it before, and was DYING to give it a whirl. I love how cheap it is. It’s only $4.99 (on sale for Oct for only $2.99) and there are 8 available colors;

• White Platinum 1002

• Pale Gold 1003

• Light Pearly Beige Blonde 813

• Copper 740

• Fire Red 600

• Burgundy 200

• Deep Chestnut 513

• Brown 411

I ended up getting the Fire Red, because I have always wanted to have red highlights in my dark hair- that I’ve lowlighted with black. This was a fun alternative to a permanent hair color, and I got to see if it would complement my skin tone.
This is supposed to be for refreshing your hair color in between salon visits. If I had red hair, this would definitely give me the tone I needed. I used it to put red highlights in my hair.
What you need is your color pack and some gloves. It doesn’t come with any, so I was lucky that we had been to the dentist and he gave me 3 extra pairs to put fluoride on the kid’s teeth.

Get an old tshirt and put it on. Wrap an old towel around your neck to prevent the dye from getting on your skin or clothing (even though you are wearing an old shirt).
Put your hair up in a half ponytail (top half up, bottom half down). Take the bottom part and split into 2 parts. Make one half of the hair lay on the right side, and the other on your left.
DYE TIME:

Take one side and spread the dye into it, then the other- making sure that you get all your hair strands. after you’ve gotten the bottom half completed, take the top half down and start on it. I always lean my head back and smear it backwards from the top of my head down. Then I part my hair and do the same as the bottom , starting with one side and working my way over.
After you have all your hair done, leave the dye on. The longer you leave it on, the more intense your color will be. I left mine on for about 10 minutes, but you can leave it on for 3 (which is recommended)  it’s up to you. I wanted a really REALLY vibrant red.

Make sure you use your old towel to wipe your face around your hairline, neck, and ears when you’re done.
I have previously dyed my hair a deep brown with red tones in it, and then put black lowlights in it. When I used this, it grabbed the non-black color and added mega red to it. I LOVE it.

You can definitely see the red highlights in it. The best thing about it is, that the bottles have these little caps that you can pop the top back on, so you aren’t wasting it if you don’t use it all. VERY GREAT idea. I wish at home hair dyes had this as well.

If you were to get one of these, which color would you choose? Would you use it to refresh your hair? Or use it like I did, to put color in your hair where there wasn’t before?
BUY IT: You can buy the Roux Color Refresh Masks at Sally Beauty for $4.99
Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, all products were sent for review purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely honest and not influenced in any way.

Thanks for dropping by,
Jessica

Review: It Factor Quick Blowdry Shampoo & Conditioner

Blow-drying my hair can be an absolute chore half the time. My hair is really long.. Even with a great blowdryer my hair can take 15-20 minutes to be fully dry without any wet spots.

That’s the reason I almost did back flips when I heard about IT! Factor Quick Blowdry Shampoo and Conditioner. It Factor Quick Blowdry Shampoo and Conditioner is a new revolutionary shampoo and conditioner duo that can save as much as 50% drying time.

This is available for both fine and coarse (thick) hair. It Factor uses a special VaporBoost SystemTM, which speeds up evaporation  by reducing the bond between water and the hair shaft. Once heat is applied, the water releases from hair more easily and turns into water vapor more quickly.

I ended up getting the duo pack for coarse hair, and absolutely loved every single thing about it! It is completely free of chemicals such as parabens, sulfates, alcohol, and sodium chloride.

AND it worked like a MAGIC cream, it really really did. My 15-20 minute blowdry did reduce by half. I didn’t do anything special except use the shampoo and conditioner. I even blow-dried it when it was soaking wet once just to see if it would work.. and guess what 15-20 minutes turned into 7-10.

PLUS- it is safe for color treated or permed hair, which is a plus. I hate when a shampoo makes my hair lighten up. This one did no such thing. PLUS I LOVE that they come in pink bottles. I am a sucker for pretty packaging.. lol.

They smell great, are VERY moisturizing, and make my hair super silky. The first day I got it, I jumped in the shower, blow-dried my hair and headed off to go pick my son up from school. The entire time I was there, I was sitting there running my hands through my hair.. I couldn’t help it! It felt like I had rubbed silky pearls on my head.. It was THAT smooth.. OH YEAH.

IT! had me at hello! And it can have you feeling just as great about it.. How long does it usually take YOU to blow-dry? Do you wish you could cut  your time down?

It Factor shampoo for fine and medium to coarse hair is $22.50 for an 8.5-oz. size and $22.50 for conditioner for fine and medium to coarse hair for a 6.8-oz. size.

It’s available at salons nationwide. Go to www.itfactorbeauty.com for locations.

Connect with IT! Factor:

On Facebook & Twitter

Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, all products were sent for review purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely honest and not influenced in any way.

Thanks for dropping by,

Jessica

Reduce: Waterweek Water Bottles Review

Look how amazing these reusable bottles are, Aidan really really likes them. I got them to put in his lunchbox for school. I love the different colors and designs on them, they are neat!

Of course you all know that my little man started Kindergarten this year. I needed to find him some reusable bottles for both his lunch and snack at school Sending 2 spring waters or juice pouch/boxes really puts a damper on the economy.

They came in a set of 5 colorful bottles are just hit a boy’s design extremely well. His favorite is the red skull one-although he likes to take the others to school as well.

Even I use an extra one while he is at school. I drink a lot of water and end up tossing tons of water bottles in the trash. Sometimes they end up there no matter how many times I stick them in the recycling bin thanks to my lovely 3 year old Adisyn.

We are loving the bottles. Not only does he get to take these colorful and COOL water bottles to school, I use one for myself and one for Adi when he is at school. They are VERY easy to wash (they are top shelf dishwasher safe). And because they are only 10 ounces they fit easily inside any lunch container, car cup holder, or cup cozy.

The bottles come with a holder that fits perfectly inside the refrigerator. I use my Mavea water pitcher to put water in all of them, stick them in the refrigerator and we are good to go. I have always disliked the taste of tap water.

They are free from BPA, and such a great way to get rid of water bottles and juice boxes. They have created 10 (5 for a boy, and 5 for a girl.) We chose the boy set of course. But the girl reusable bottles are just as cute. They also make a sports boy pack.

The waterweek sites states that using these instead of buying water in disposable bottles can save an average of $500 dollars per year. I am pretty sure that I am savinf more than this because Aidan needs one for lunch and then another for snack.. so that’s 2 drinks per day just at school that we are now using the reusable bottle for.

These can be used for tea, juice, soda, or water. Whatever you want to put in these, it’ll hold. No spills, no leaks, no mess. I love that we can also use these in the truck when we go places and I don’t have to worry about the kids spilling their drinks!

As you can see, each bottle has it’s own design, and they have 2 packs for boys, 2 for girls.  So no matter if you have a smaller kid or a bigger one, every child will love to find these in their lunchboxes.

They also have food jars! How cute would these be to send a snack to school?

They even have some 16 oz bottles that I am thinking of buying for myself. They are slightly larger than the kids bottles, and they also have different designs for each day. They have 2 choices of colors.

I am also thinking about getting these because they can hold hot or cold beverages, so coffee to go! YAY! Being greener his year was one of my New Year’s resolutions and how can someone NOT want to reduce their water bottle usage with these amazing bottles.. lol.

They have MANY MANY designs and different choices (even thermal bottles).. so go check them out!

 

You can buy them on the Reduce site, or they have them at target.com or amazon.com.

Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, all products were sent for review purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely honest and not influenced in any way.

 

Thanks for dropping by,

Jessica

Toilettree Bamboo Towel Rack Review

Bamboo Towel Rack by ToiletTree Products (3 Shelf Rack)

 

I have a very tiny bathroom and no where to stick my towels, and I desperately needed somewhere I could stick my towels. This was the perfect little towel rack to stick beside my toilet, so I can grab a towel before getting in the shower.

The towel rack arrived in parts, so it needed to be put together. I very much appreciated that the alan wrench that was needed to put it together came with it. It didn’t even take me 15 minutes to put it together by myself.

The bamboo has an awesome natural look to it, which fits my bathroom perfectly. I love how light the bamboo is colored, and how well it could work in any decorating scene.

It is very sturdy and has held us really well. The quality is perfect, and because it’s small- it fit perfectly inside my small bathroom. I can use the top shelf for more towels or as a washcloth rack.

It is elegant and small, so this could literally be used anywhere in the home. When I first got it, I was thinking about using it as fabric storage in my craft room. It could fit tons of yards of fabric…

It could hold magazines, books, paper, kids clothes.. whatever-! I love it and am thinking about buying more to stick around the house..

While you’re there, you should check out their entire bamboo collection

Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, products were sent for review purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely honest and not influenced in any way.

 

Thanks for dropping by,

Jessica

Eco-bags Review & Giveaway

Going to the store with 2 kids under 5 is hardly an amusement park ride. They want TONS of stuff, they cry, they whine, and try and throw tantrums.. so- we only go to the store once a week if I can help it. If you’re a mom- you absolutely KNOW what I’m talking about. They don’t act like this every time we go to the store- but I don’t WANT to have meltdowns in the store because they want everything they see.. AND they have issues riding in the cart for a long amount of time.

So, because we have to buy a ton of groceries at a time (trying to save money AND gas) we end up using a lot of bags. I usually save the plastic bags, and craft with them- but I have so many at the moment that I could probably craft with them everyday of the year and still have more. I dislike those plastic bags. Not only do they not break down but they can kill animals. SO- with that being said, I introduce to you Eco-bags.

Eco-bags doesn’t just offer reusable grocery bags, they do it with STYLE. They offer a wide variety of bags, so no matter what you’re style or where you’re going shopping- you WON’T miss a chance to be able to use one of these beauties. “ECO-BAGS® – the original reusable bag,eco-friendly products and environmental updates – since 1989.” So they were producing Reusables before reusables were really in. This makes a difference. They weren’t just following the trend, they are REALLY 100% eco-conscious and want all their customers to be as well.

When you go to the grocery store, do you bring your own bags or use the ones they provide? The little plastic bags are EVERYWHERE. “Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide.* That’s quite a lot of bags that don’t HAVE to be used.
 
The bags I ended up getting were the 3 pack produce bags, and the Tropical Assorted Totes

The produce bags are awesome. Now I don’t have to find a plastic bag station in the grocery store aisle.. I have tried to recycle the plastic ones and use them more than once, but they are just so thin that it is virtually impossible after the second use.

These are also great for the farmers market. Usually the market gives us their plastic bags (that they’ve saved from the grocery store) or the paper bags. Now when I pull these out, I feel so great about not having to try and find a way to recycle yet another plastic bag. It’s better to buy fruits and vegetables locally
The produce bags make it SO much easier. Now I can just get whatever I need- put it in the bags (and can even store the vegetables inside my refrigerator in the bags). The plastic bags make vegetables and fruits rot quicker… so not only am I saving the plastic from going to the landfill, but I’m saving myself money because my items are lasting longer!

These bags are made out of lightweight, natural cotton (not bleached or treated with anything) that barely weighs anything on the produce scale. They can be washed in cold water, hung out to dry and reused over and over..

I love that they are decorative as well as eco-friendly. One has red decorated fruits, and the others orange and green. They are all 3 different sizes: Large, Medium, and Small.

The Large one can be used for an entire bushel of apples or oranges, or for potatoes or cantaloupes. The medium one can be for a basket of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries.. The smaller one can be for single items such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pears, or peaches. No matter what fruits or veggies you need; these bags are absolutely PERFECT!

They also have a drawstring on the top for closure, so that you aren’t just packing a bag that will spill what’s inside it. The closures also help to be able to hold it without it slipping out of you hands if you also had to get other groceries as well.

The Set of 5 assorted string bags are multi-tasking bags, When you’re heading to the grocery store- grab them, take them with you, and they make amazing grocery totes.

I love these bags and am glad that I never have to use a plastic produce bag again. You can buy the Tropical Assortment Totes 2 – 4 /$11.99, 5 – 9 /$10.99, 10 +/$9.99. As you buy more bags, the price goes down, which is a great thing!

When I opened the package and seen the amazing colors and quality—I was stunned. These don’t just look like reusable grocery bags, these are STYLISH, colorful, and will make you want to use them for more than just grocery shopping.

These bags are easily compacted so they can be put inside a purse or a jacket pocket. They aren’t bulky and hard to take with you. I’ve had reusable  bags before, but they were never as fun as these are. They were also quite bulky in comparison to these, so I wouldn’t even remember to take them with me half the time.

I wasn’t taking them, so I was still bringing plastic grocery sacks home. Kind of defeated the purpose of having them in the first place. With these- they are easy to remember because I can keep them in the pocket of my purse at all times (all 5 of them).

AND these expand—they hold a TON of stuff.. They can max 40 pounds which is amazing for bag that isn’t a full blown tote. Because they are made of natural cotton, they are also great to take to the mall, the beach, or even walmart.

 I love that they offer not only a variety of colors, but they also have different sized handles. So no matter if you want a tote handle, so you can hang it from your shoulder and it hang by your side- or a shorter handle so you can have it up higher than your hip—they have it.

I definitely support Eco-BAGS effort to support local farms, as I am from Kentucky- and here there are a lot of farmer’s markets.

About the company:

“Eco-Bags Products, Inc. opened for business in 1989 with a simple goal; to produce quality bags at great prices so that “Reusable becomes a way of life.” We started with the Eco-BAGS® Brand Classic String Bag, a simple lightweight, expandable daily tote used in Europe for generations, long before paper and plastic bags.
We introduced our bags at the 1990 Earth Day celebration on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The bags were a hit. We sold out in four hours. Now, we carry a complete line of Eco-BAGS® Brand bags in natural and certified organic cotton, recycled cotton and hemp/cotton blends.
All of our canvas totes are available unprinted or custom printed for organizations and companies (minimums apply). ECOWEAVE® Brand Organic home goods and T-shirts are now available, too. Under the ECOWEAVE® Brand we produce organic cotton towels, loofah scrubbers and other home products.
Our T-Shirts are organic, hemp-cotton and recycled content, available to the trade unprinted or custom printed.

ECO-BAGS® Brand products can be found in many natural foods, gourmet, eco, grocery and drug stores. They are used as promotional tools and incentives for retailers, manufacturers and many nationally recognized non-profit organizations. Keep an eye on magazines and newspapers because ECO-BAGS®Brand bags are even starting to hit the world of fashion and accessories.”
Connect with Eco-bags on Twitter and facebook.

Use the code: 12Jess to get 15% off all web orders $30.00 or more

www.ecobags.com

Does not apply to shipping.

Minimum order for discount to apply, $30.00.

Good today through 10/31/12

Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, all products were sent for review  purposes purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely my own and not influenced in any way.

Thanks for dropping by, 

Jessica

Toy Review & Giveaway: Hot Dots® Jr. and “Ace” the Talking, Teaching Dog by Educational Insights

Based in Southern California, Educational Insights, is the manufacturer of playful products with serious educational value, including subject-specific classroom products, teacher resources, educational toys, and games. Our products are designed by seasoned educators and parents who know that, first and foremost, learning must be fun.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a parent or a teacher, Educational Insights make products that would be great at home and at school. We received the Hot Dots Jr., Kat the Talking Kitty, and Ace the Talking Dog.

Ace and Kat are chunky, 6" long electronic pens (3 AAA batteries required, not included), which are designed for little hands.

The cards come in sets of 36, and we received 5 packs in the Getting Ready for School to review which includes Shapes, Uppercase and Lowercase Letters, Colors and Patters, Lets Learn Numbers, and Learning the Alphabet.

Each of these packs have their own instructions at the top and are each color-coded so that you can easily separate the packs if they get mixed together. At first, we were only opening one pack at a time because I was afraid that they were going to get mixed up- until I noticed the color coding on the bottom.

This is a very innovative thinking on the companies part. Not only are they helping kids to learn- but they make it easy on the parents. My son started Kindergarten this year, and he has been having issues learning his alphabet and numbers.

This isn’t just “teaching” the kids, this is making the kids WANT to learn because it is fun and engages them. Each card has it’s own set of instructions at the top- so I read it to them and then we go through each one..

The pens are SO adorable. They buzz with excitement when you press them down on the paper. When the kids get the answers right the eyes on the pen will light up and it will encourage the kids.. When they get the answer wrong the eyes will light up red and say “Try again” or something along the lines. This way they know it’s wrong but yet don’t get discouraged and want to quit.

Both the cards and the pens are made with extremely high quality. The company knows that kids can be rough when using items; whether it’s playing or learning.. so this isn’t some cheap cards that are going to tear or a cheap plastic pen that will fall apart. My kids LOVE both the cards and pen, and so do I.

They love them because they’re fun, I love them because they are teaching my kittle munchkins while we have fun! Each pack of cards are packaged individually, so that multiple kids can play if they wish.

Before we got the Hot Dots Jr., it was really hard for me to sit down with Aidan and teach him stuff. He wouldn’t pay attention and he would eventually start to get tired and bored.. because it was just words on paper to him. The Hot Dots Jr is more like a game to the kids then a learning device.

It is well known that kids will retain information if it stands out to them. AND I know that this is true. When I was a kid- it was easier for me to learn something that was hands on then it was to cram notes and listen to lectures and so on..

About the Cards:

Learning the Alphabet Card Pack:

The first 26 cards (which are front AND back) has “Choose the letters that are the same as the first one.” Then it has A, a, A, a, A.. and in the row—it’ll have random letters and you match the letters that are in the row to the letter at the beginning.

The other 6 cards have a box with both the uppercase and lowercase letter in it- For example: Aa and then it has pictures of apples with A, A, a, c on the apples and you match both the upper and lowercase letters to the ones in the box.

Uppercase and Lowercase:

The first 28 cards of this pack have the kids match the uppercase and lowercase letters to each other. As you can see in the picture, It has The letter, a picture that starts with the letter and then two dots with lowercase letters beside them.

The last 4 has a picture to the right and 2 sets of uppercase and lowercase letters beside it. They look at the picture and choose the set of letters that go with the picture..

Colors and Patterns:

These cards are random. They either have a colored circle or crayon, or a non-colored animal or item. When it has a colored circle or crayon, the kids match up the color on the right with the color of the circle or crayon. When they have non-colored items or animals, the kids have to choose which color the item should be: Such as a pumpkin should be ORANGE.

They also have colored items and animals, where the kids have to match the worded color on the right with the colored animal or item on the left.

Let’s Learn Numbers:

The first 10 cards in this set have the kids to match up the same numbers that are in the row. If there are two 1’s in the row, they choose both one’s. Kat or Ace congratulate on both set of 1’s.

The last 20 cards have items such as animals, coffee cups, and basketballs. Some cards have each one separate such as 1 pig and they name 1 pig. The others have (as shown in picture) all the items at the top and the kids look at the picture at the top to determine how many items are in it.

Shapes:

These cards are random as well. Some have pictures of a shape and it will say find the circles, have a square and they find all the other squares at the bottom.

The others in the pack have which are the same and have 2 squares and a circle and the kids have to choose the 2 circles. The others (as shown in picture) have like a riddle to it.. green square, green square, blue square, green square, green square and then they choose the blue square. This is mixing shapes with colors.

I have seen tons of improvement from Aidan since we started the Hot Dots Jr. Learning. At first he wouldn’t want to sit down and learn the alphabet or numbers, and now he will come straight home from school and ask to play with his “Doggy Pen.”

I am very grateful to Educational Insights for sending Adisyn the Kat Talking pen as well. She and I sit and I teach her when Aidan is in school. She is only 3, so she only knows a few colors, shapes, and numbers—sometimes she would get them confused.. but as with Aidan—she has learned almost all her colors and more shapes as well.

So-as this “learning fun”, my kids adored it. They thought it was more of a game, which made it less hard on myself to get them to want to learn. Now it just comes naturally to them. It helps that the pens tell them whether they are right, or need to choose more carefully.

I am SO loving this. These are the packs for the younger kids, but if you have older kids who also need help- the packs show which kids would benefit from them. I really like that you can shop by age on the site! I have tons of fun just looking at all the cool and amazingly innovative products they have.

Here is the development plan of the pen (which I think is interesting.) Early sketches by Riley Wilkinson, the Creative Director at Educational Insights.

 

They even have an awesome Iphone app for Hot Dots Jr. So that your kids can play on the go!

Request a Catalog to see all the fun things they have!

Visit Educational Insights at their website or connect with them via

Facebook or  Twitter.

WIN IT: One lucky Made.By.Jess reader will with their very own Getting Ready for School Hot Dots Jr. Pack and choice of Ace or Kat.

 

Disclosure: This isn’t a sponsored post, all products were sent for review purposes only. The opinions in this post are completely honest and not influenced in any way.

 

Thanks for dropping by,

Jess