Nasoya Shiritaki Spaghetti Noodles Review

Influenster was kind enough to send me some free Nasoya Shiritaki Spaghetti noodles to review.  Thanks Influenster!

The noodles are already soft in the package, so no need to boil water and wait for them to cook!

To prepare these noodles all you have to do is rinse them off (MAKE SURE YOU RINSE THEM OR THEY TASTE AND SMELL BAD!!).  After you rinse them thoroughly they are ready to eat, but I suggest heating them up. 

The package has the word "Spaghetti" on it and show a picture with a fork full of spaghetti, so I figured that the most logical way to review these noodle was by making Spaghetti out of them.  I plopped them in a pot with some Prego marina and got them warm on the stove.  Seriously the easiest spaghetti I've ever made. 

Next came the scary step.. trying it.  I was a little wary of this pasta imposter (lol), but it's free food.. who turns down free food?  Not this girl!  So I fed it to the kid. 

He loved it. 

So I fed it to the husband... and he said it was like eating worms.... and wouldn't let me take a picture of him.  He did swallow it though, so I figured I would try it. 

I actually ate this whole plate of food, but I was starving.  My husband was pretty accurate in his description of these noodles, they are squishy and slimy, kind of the consistency of a fruit snack.  I guess that's why my kid loved them.  They have a slight earthy taste, but I think that might be from not rinsing them thoroughly enough.  I think these noodles would be ok if you pan fried them in some sesame garlic sauce with stir fry vegetables.  If they had marketed it that way I would probably eat them again.  As spaghetti, however, these things are a slimy let down.  

One thing worth noting:  The package says these noodles keep you full longer than traditional pasta noodles and I found that to be true. I ate this pasta for lunch and I didn't end up wanting dinner that night because I was still full. So if you want to cook up some stir fry this might be a great diet food.  And it's 0 calories!

NYC Eye Primer Review

I'm taking a few minutes off from sewing to give thanks for my NYC eye primer.  I put my eye shadow on this morning and have had a crazy day since.  (I took the toddler to the DMV and the grocery store on the same day... bad choice).  BUT my eyeshadow is still in place.  And I'm talking sparkly drug store eyeshadow.  Hooray!! I give the NYC eye shadow 2 thumbs up!

I'm really excited to try this shadow that I got for free to review in my Influenster Vox Box this month.  If it is half as good as the primer then it is going to be awesome!

Influenster Vox Box Unboxing

I posted a while ago about Influenster, a website that sends you free products to review, and I am excited to share my Blossom Vox Box!  All of these products came absolutely free for me to review and share with you!  Here is what I got:

I am excited to try out the products.  If you want to try out new stuff for free too, check out Influenster today!

Stitch Fix Customer Service

It's no secret that I enjoy getting the occasional package from Stitch Fix. I love seeing what clothes someone else would pick out for me, and getting to try out new pieces in your home to see how they work with the other items in your closet is pretty awesome. 

Last month I got a stitch from Stitch Fix full of some pieces that I really loved, including this top:

Fast forward a month later and I am really bummed because after wearing this top twice it came out of the wash with a bunch of holes in it :(

But I e-mailed Stitch Fix and a few hours later they sent me a shipping label for the top so I can send it back for a full refund!  I'm still disappointed this top didn't work out because its cute, but isn't that great customer service?! I can't recommend Stitch Fix enough based on their customer service and how easy their service is to use.  

Mother's Day Craft For Toddlers

I have been racking my brain for a mother's day craft that I can do with toddler and that we can take on a airplane for his grammy.  I am excited to have stumbled across this post from The Educator's Spin on It.  I can't wait to try it out and share our results!

Ipsy May 2015 - Sneak Peek

Ipsy has released sneak peeks for the May 2015 glam bags!  I don't love the bag this month, I feel like if you're going to be seen with this bag then your makeup had better be flawless and I don't know if I can live up to that pressure.  Plus my life is a whole lot more than makeup.

I am SO excited about most of the things in my bag this month.  I AM GETTING THE IT COSMETICS CC CREAM!  Obviously I love that stuff.  It's really not full coverage but its a great cc cream that leaves you with natural looking skin and isn't really dewey or greasy like other similar products.  Plus its packed with SPF so its great for summer.  

I'm also excited to try the Briogeo conditioning spray and the St. Tropez One Night Only Body Glow Lotion. 

I'm not so excited about a foil packet of purple lip gloss, or another black eyeliner (I have a box of unopened eye liners). But who knows, maybe these products will be awesome and change my mind. 

All in all for only $10 I can say I'm pretty pleased.  It seems like Ipsy really stepped up their game with some high quality "Prestige" brands this month and I'm definitely getting my money's worth once again!

What did you get in your bag?

BoxyCharm April 2015 - My first Box!

I have been interested in beauty subscription services for a long time.  I hate spending a bunch of money to try a product out, only to find that I don't like it and that I have to go out and buy something else to replace it.  And I always feel really guilty for returning a product I have tried once so it ends up sitting in the makeup graveyard under the bathroom sink for a year before I finally throw it out.  Makeup subscription services are a great way to bypass all that - they send you makeup in the mail once a month to try and if you like it then yay! and if not, they sent you more than your money's worth so you don't have to feel bad about giving away a few items. So far I love Ipsy, dislike Birchbox, and am giving BoxyCharm a try for the first time today!

So let's talk about this month's box.  The box they ship it in is super cute.  It only comes in one package instead of a box or bag within another package like Birchbox and Ipsy, which I appreciate.  It's nice to have the fancy packaging that you can reuse, but I would rather them spend the money on better products and I also like that there is less stuff heading to landfills. 

 I opened mine at the mailbox because I was just too excited to wait!  Also it matches my nails so we're off to a good start. 

 Here's  a nice family photo of all the goodies before I tore into all of it :)

 They send you a nice itemized list of everything that you receive in your box, including the retail value and a description of the item.  It is really nice to have this quick reference because you can decide right away if it is the items you received are in your budget to repurchase them if you fall in love. I will say that the Revealed 2 Palette is pretty much always $20 "on sale."

 

I am really excited about this palette.  I don't own any palettes in these colors, and I love all of the rosy shades.  I swatched a matte and shimmery shade on my hand and they seem really pigmented and creamy.  I can't wait to use them on my lids!

The next thing I opened up was this Ofra Blush Stripes powder.  It is really creamy and pigmented, I'm just not sure if its something that I will reach for.  I do love that the powder part of the compact pops up and has a mirror underneath.  I plan to bring this with me when I travel this weekend because the mirror is really nice, we will see if I actually use the highlighter!

I am excited to have received this Vincent Longo eyeliner in black and brown.  Some people got it in purple and light blue, and I definitely would not have used that.  I don't love getting eye liner in subscription boxes because I have really sensitive eyes and there are only a few brands I can use, but at least these are colors that I like to wear. 

I have heard people rave about this Coolway Hair Lotion.  If you want to try it yourself you can use the coupon code "Boxy4U" on their website for a discount and a free gift!  My hair is all crazy today so I'm hoping this will help it out. 

The last thing in my box was the Harvey Prince Roller Fragrance in Signature.  I like that this is a roller ball, but I grew up with a mother who is extremely asthmatic and very sensitive to anything with a smell so I just never wear any kind of fragrance.  I might gift this to my mother in law because I don't care for the scent and I won't get any use out of it. 

All in all I am very happy.  I got some things that I never would have bought myself and some things that I am really excited to try.  I am especially interested in the eye shadow palette and the hair lotion, and even if those are the only two things I end up using in this box than it's paid for itself!  (The box is $21, and the combined price of those 2 items is $44!!) The total value of this box is 126.95 (using the sale price on the eyeshadow) and I only paid $21 to try it all out so I am ecstatic and with Mother's day coming up this weekend I could even use some of these things as a free gift (as long as she doesn't read this!).

Have you tried BoxyCharm yet?  What do you think?