Vivid White Toothpaste

I have to say that this is one of the few toothpastes that I have used that really seemed to have an impact on the overall whiteness of my teeth, and was definitely the cheapest. My teeth aren’t super yellow, but I have a slight caffeine addiction, and drink more Diet soda/coffee than I probably should.

The toothpaste that I used was “Vivid White Night,” and had a slightly sweet mint taste. I love having clean teeth, so I am pretty obsessive about brushing my teeth twice a day. After about a week of use, I saw some improvement, and people started to notice. I was pretty thrilled.

This toothpaste probably won’t remove heavy stains, or years worth of them, but I am fairly certain that it whitened my teeth by about two shades, enough to make me happy.

5/5 stars, for both their packaging and product. It was an excellent product for the price.

iPad: Why? Just... why?

I am an Apple fangirl. I’m posting from my Macbook, was overjoyed to hear that the iPhone is coming to Verizon, and have an iPod and an iPad.

I had been putting off the iPad update for ages, even though it offered multitasking, for one reason, and one reason alone: it turned the screen lock button into a mute button. I hate it. I really, really hate it. And frankly, I don’t understand it. I mean, has anyone who is in charge of the updates ever used an iPad for more than two minutes? The volume control switch will mute the iPad in the same amount of time as moving the switch, and doesn’t require removing a fairly important function. Or they could have made it an optional thing, allowing the user to set the function for the switch.

It is strange to me, because I am usually excited for the changes that they implement. Getting rid of the home button on the upcoming iPhone? YES, PLEASE! I would love to have a phone without any physical buttons, and my only issue with the iPhone at the moment is that I am afraid that I will get makeup residue embedded around the button (although I wear minimal foundation.)

Its just… they are a game-changing company. They combine functionality with incredible beauty and quality. I’m a poor, and unfortunately unemployed college student. My black Macbook is three years old — three years and three months to be exact, and yesterday a woman approached me and asked me if I liked my computer. She was shocked at how old it was. How many three year old laptops have you seen recently that are still eye-catching? It still works beautifully, btw. The only issue I have had is that the battery died, which is to be expected after three years of constant use, and it cracked itself on the wrist pad. It still runs fast, faster than my mum’s PC, which was much cheaper and is only a few months old. I can out-type it. I can’t out-type my Mac.

I bought the iPad for textbooks and basic sex appeal. I mean, a Kindle? You look at it and think boring. An iPad? It has been the most fantastic conversation starter. This term, I saved over $400 by purchasing e-textbooks. And that is $400 from the used textbook price — not brand new, perfect condition textbooks. I bought the 64g iPad, and it has already payed for itself. It is by far the best money I have spent in a while, and I am in no way hating on it. It is glorious, again, a game changer. I look at the other tablets coming onto the market, and they don’t compare.

The iPad is truly the perfect tablet. They managed to nail the perfect shape, size, and bevel width. All others fall short, and tend to look like a cheap knockoff.

I’m just trying to figure out why they have so little faith in the speed of the volume control, and why this isn’t a changeable setting. I would much rather have my music playing than have my screen moving while I’m trying to work on something.

MAC Blacktrack Review

Let me start by saying that I don’t usually wear a lot of eyeliner. I’m very pale, naturally. I truly can’t tan. I burn then go back to being a lovely shade of lightly chilled death. If I put on a bunch of liner, I have the unfortunate tendency to look exhausted.

Because I am so pale, I have to have a very pigmented black shadow. If it isn’t a dark, dark black, it looks gray and washed out, and not in a good way (although I love gray eyeliner, and that review will arrive on Tuesday of next week, if not earlier.)

I bought Fluidline in Blacktrack because I had read multiple reviews of it, and was looking for an intense black liner for a party.

I have to say that this is a fantastic eyeliner. I can apply it in a fine line, or in a thick, winged line for a smokier look, and it stays. And stays. And stays. I am not kidding. On the days that I go to class, I apply my makeup at 7am, and don’t get home until after 9pm. That is over twelve hours, with the rainy Oregon weather, a ballet class, and a zumba class between 7:40 and 8:40, my last event of the day. During the day, I don’t really have the time do re-do much of my makeup, and this product is perfect.

It will still be on, and unsmudged, when I get home. That is pretty amazing.

I will say that it takes a little bit of time to get used to applying if you aren’t familiar with brush-applied pigments or gel, and that a little goes a long way. It is a bit pricy, but it lasts forever. I’m not kidding.

I give the product itself 5/5 stars, because it lasts so long, even through a workout. The price is a bit of a deterrent, but it does last an incredibly long time, and provides an intense color.

I give the packaging 4/5, because it doesn’t seem like it would be portable. It has a screw-on lid, but I don’t feel like I can toss it in my bag. I feel like the lid might come off during basic transportation, and I am not that hard on my things. If it was a more secure fitting lid, it would get the full five. I like to be able to take my makeup with me, because I occasionally go out after Zumba, and I re-do my makeup after I shower.

L'oreal Feria Review

I recently purchased L’oreal Feria boxed dye from my local Walmart, because I was looking for a more blue-based black, and my local Sally’s didn’t have anything in stock. I bought Feria in “Starry Night” and followed the directions exactly. It fried my hair to a crisp. I mean, crunchy, dry, and frizzy. I used the conditioner that came with the dye, and yes, it made my hair soft, but damaged hair can be soft.

Let me give you some hair backstory:

I dye my hair every 4-6 weeks. I use a 20 volume developer, and I was using Clairol Black from Sally’s. Other than that, I rarely use heat tools, I only wash it every other day at most, and I coat it in coconut oil before washing it. My hair is babied, and was not damaged beforehand. In fact, I went in to have a trim a month or so ago, and the stylist mentioned how healthy my hair was.

The color was fantastic, I must admit. It truly is glossy and multi-dimensional, at least for the first two weeks. It is also frizzy, and tangle/breakage prone.

I truly wish that I could recommend this product to others, because the idea of it is fantastic, but I have to give this one out of five stars, and that one star only because the conditioner was pretty good. The dye itself was fairly bad smelling as well, although I am not overly sensitive.

I will not buy this product again, and I would not recommend it to anyone else.