Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Olay Regenerist Review & GIVEAWAY



I am a huge supporter of Olay and have been using it since I am 12 years old. Whenever anyone asks me what I use on my face or tell me they would never know I was in my 40's I mention water, staying out of the sun and Olay as the reason!

My grandma swore by Oil of Olay and I would hear jokes about my "oil of old lady" bottle on my dresser all the time but well...it works and I don't leave the house without using it so when given the opportunity to review Olay Regenerist I was estatic. 



The box arrived looking beautiful in all it's black and red glory!



 When I opened it, there were two samples inside.




-NEW Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream & Lash Serum Duo
-NEW Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream


 
The Micro Sculpting Cream is wonderful. It smells great and goes on smooth and beautifully.  Even the bottle is glamorous.



 The second item was the Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream. One half is a


and the second part is the Lash Serum.


This is the first eye cream and lash serum product from Olay!

Regenerist Eye & Lash Duo benefits:

• Instantly thickens the appearance of lashes

• Firmer, smoother-looking lids

• Softened appearance of lines

• Younger-looking eyes that are brighter and firmer in just one week

What I loved about the products were how nongreasy they felt on my face. I love my moisturizers but seriously if it feels like I have moisturizer on my face, I am not a happy camper. They are light and lovely.

My lashes are in dire need of thickening so I am hopeful this works. I haven't used it consistently but plan on doing so.

One of Maria's Space readers will get a chance to try all these products out because Olay is giving one away.  Enter the Rafflecopter below before July 8th 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclaimer: I received a complimentary product for my honest opinion. No monetary compensation was offered.

Summer Break Destinations for the Traveler on a Budget



Summer Break Destinations for the Traveler on a Budget
Summer time can be a great experience of relaxing and getting to know your local area better. But an even more enjoyable option is to take a trip to another city and get to know an area you may have never experienced before. The following are some great places to go when you've got enough for a vacation but still want to be reasonable.

Chicago, IL


Image via Flickr by Art Hill

Chicago benefits from all of the upsides of being coastal except for the price point. While it isn't a cheap city, Chi Town does have a lot fewer European tourists in it than coastal areas. But there are still plenty of things to experience, like Montrose Avenue Beach. There are also tons of great museums, such as the Field Museum of Natural History, the Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. Many of the local museums have entry charges of $10 or less per person, and you can often find a hotel room in the $70 per night range. You may not even have to rent a car, as the train system in the city is excellent and inexpensive.

Manitoba, WPG, Canada

This is a great city to see and interact with enjoyable things on the cheap. You can interact with re-enactors at the Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, and see how life was in the 1800s around the Hudson Bay. You can also check out a baseball game at Shaw Park. You can often find a decent room for around $100 per night.

Dallas, TX

If you enjoy nature and want to get out of the arid environment for a while, the local aquarium in Dallas features a rainforest with South American wildlife. If you prefer your fun to be a bit more visceral, there is a Six Flags nearby that has both rides and a water park. As one of the faster growing cities in the country, Dallas has a bustling culture that brings high energy without being overwhelming. Finding hotels in the area in the $55 per night price point is reasonably easy.

Denver, CO

There is a lot to see and do in Denver that doesn't cost much. Browse around in the Tattered Cover bookstore. Or you can visit the Denver Art Museum and Botanic Gardens. Perhaps the least expensive of all is the sheer volume of physical activities you can do around the area, such as mountain biking and rock climbing.  You can often find a good place to stay in the $80 per night range.

Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik has a lot of things to do that won't break the bank. For instance, The Perlan or "Pearl" is a giant steel and glass dome that gives you amazing panoramic views of the area. You can also get free walking tours of the city, or check out Hallgrimskirkja -- dedicated to Leif Eriksson, the first Viking to set foot in the Americas. There are tons of Iceland hotels, and finding a place to stay from around $100 a night is pretty easy.
Breaking out of your summer habits is no reason to break the bank. The above are all great places to spend time on the cheap.

Bejeweled Frenzy The Card Game With Bling



Photobucket


If you are addicted like me to the online game Bejeweled you will love this new game from Hasbro. Following on the heels of Hasbro’s face-to-face BEJEWELED game comes BEJEWELED Frenzy (http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?R=24CF0BE0-5056-9047-F596-7693BE85FC6B:en_US). 

It’s a sparkly flurry of a card game that has you racing to match gems and build the largest stack of cards. Match three gems in a row on the cards to collapse your stack into one pile and collect Boost Gems to score the most points to win! The game comes in a travel-friendly case for easy grab-and-go play. It also comes with a link to redeem four rare gems that can be used in the BEJEWELED Blitz online game. To access the digital features, you must be 13 years or older and have a valid Facebook account. Additional terms and conditions apply to the digital features offer. 

The 411 by Maria and Goddess:




Bejeweled Frenzy is a fun, quick game and easy to play once you read the rules. Basically you are trying to have the most cards and the most gems to be the winner. Like Bejeweled you need three matching gems to collapse your row just like the online game.  Each player gets a card and there are two stacks of cards in the card holder as we were two playing. You can play with up to four players. Once you get your three in a row and collapse the cards into one pile you get to take the corresponding gem to your winning match. Each gem is worth 5 extra points so you want those gems besides the fact they are pretty.


Goddess and I played a few rounds the first night because she wanted to play "just one more". We have played the past two weeks at least 10 times and when her girlfriends came over last weekend it was the game of choice. We wish you could play more than 4 players but everyone had a great time. 




 
Have for with your family on Hasbro Game Night! Hasbro Game Night
Monopoly
Scrabble 
Twister
Yahtzee

Join the fun on Twitter 
Hasbro Game Night

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary game for our honest opinion.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Beauty Burst - Candy For Your Skin


My photos are terrible but what's not is terrible are these NeoCell Beauty Burst Candies!

Here is some information about the supplement: 
2,000 mg Collagen | No Lactose or Gluten
  • Collagen Type 1 & 3 For Firm, Smooth Skin & Strong Hair & Nails*
  • Hyaluronic Acid For Skin Hydration & Renewal*
  • Vitamin C:  Collagen Enhancer*
  • All Natural Formula Bursting With Delicious Flavor
Having beautiful & radiant skin has never been so easy- or so delicious.  NeoCell Beauty Bursts deliver high absorption beauty nutrients in delectable, gourmet soft chews.  Collagen Type 1 & 3 is the body's beauty protein & strengthens skin, hair & nails.  Hyaluronic Acid is know as "Nature's Moisturizer" & hydrates the skin.  Vitamin C is essential to boosting collagen in the skin.  Together, these three beauty nutrients work together to build beautiful skin from the inside out.

The 411 by Maria:

Man are they good. I feel like I am cheating when I eat one. It is like a nice, chewy piece of caramel like goodness, chocolatety mint piece of heaven. Little would one know it is actually good for them.

Stock up as you can and will want to eat 2-4 a day.




Disclaimer: I received a sample for my honest opinion.

My Favorite Child Proof Case For My Kindle


Marware Swurve Kid Proof Case for Kindle Fire HD 7", Pink

I have been using an awesome Kindle Cover since getting my Kindle Fire for Christmas. It is sleek and black IT also makes me very nervous when I hand it over to the kids. It is thin, they are young and play around so the stress of letting them use it outweighed my need to let them. There are some great educational apps that I want them to use but never really let them.
When we got the Marware Swurve Kid Proof Case, I slipped my Kindle in and handed it. off. My son used it first, "I can use it he asked? YES!" He said he liked how it felt in his hands. It is soft and cushioned so I can totally see why he loved it. It also makes the Kindle appear much larger which the kids loved.

My daughter loved the color and the shape. I also love the shape. Not just a rectangle. It is easy to put the Kindle in and take it out. All ports and speakers are assessable.

My only complaint is there is no stand for it. Many times we use the Kindle hands free while eating or brushing our teeth which means it has to either be held our lay flat. A little hard to view a movie or read when it is laying flat.

Great for apps and reading!

Disclaimer: I received this as part of a Vine Review Program from Amazon

Not Your Parents’ Scooby Doo



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What happens when the TV shows you grew up on are deemed by experts as “unsafe”
 By George Drinka, MD
In a flurry of articles published in the LA TimesUSATodayDeseret News, and elsewhere, journalists report a surprising finding as described in a recent article in the scholarly journal Pediatrics.

Certain popular cartoons, like “Bugs Bunny,” “Sponge Bob,” and “Scooby Doo,” seem to have a negative effect on children age 3 to 5. The same study describes a positive effect of other shows like “Dora the Explorer,” “Curious George,” and “Sesame Street.” Though the first group of shows is not actually named in the scholarly article, the lead researcher gets specific in a follow-up interview published in the Huffington Post.
What is the negative effect?
The effect is on children’s sleep. Kids who watch cartoons like “Scooby Doo” are more likely to experience sleep disturbance than kids who watch “Curious George.”
Why the difference?
Per the researchers, the difference is related to the amount of violence in the one set of shows versus the other. Old Scooby is actually quite violent, Curious George not so much. In “Bugs Bunny,” the characters are always slapping each other around. In “Dora the Explorer,” barely ever.
How was the research done?
Researchers at the University of Washington randomly selected families of kids age 3 to 5 in the Seattle area. They negotiated with more than 500 families to let interventionists enter these families, analyze their media viewing habits, and induce the parents to complete questionnaires about the sleep habits of their kids. About half the sample group was randomly selected to work to turn off violent cartoons and focus their kids on more educational and pro-social shows like “Sesame Street” and “Dora the Explorer.”
The intervention lasted 12 months. The children’s sleep habits were reassessed at six, twelve and eighteen months from the start of the intervention. Those in the intervention group, generally speaking, were sleeping better.
Were parents aware of the violence?
The difference in violence levels caught the parents unawares. After all, to most adults the violence of Bugs seems comic, not serious. Not so for kids, it seems. Children are more concrete, more literal, the authors of the scholarly article suggest. They are prone to seeing comic violence as potentially frightening, anxiety inducing, similar to how actor-mediated violence often impacts on older children and even adults.
Take-away lessons:
The authors draw two conclusions. First, due to the way the research was developed, they contend that watching more violent cartoons can cause sleep disturbance in young children. We’re not simply talking about correlation, but causation. Second, parents should be aware of these deleterious effects and act accordingly. After all, the researchers point out, poor sleep for children is associated with other ill effects like behavioral and emotional problems, later school difficulties and even obesity.
Should parents be alarmed?
Perhaps not exactly alarmed, since further research needs to be done to validate the study’s findings. But they should be concerned about the ill effects of media violence on their children. After all, there is an abundance of research that underscores this point in regard to other forms of media violence. Further, the problems with media violence on kids may begin very early in life, even in their cartoon days.
Finally, parents must be aware of their own desensitization to this violence. Many parents grew up watching the same or similar cartoons and are unaware of how it impacted on them. Slowly but clearly, media violence has crept into the lives of many American families. We see it as part and parcel of our lives, or at least our media lives. We even consider it a laugh.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Drinka, M.D. is on the clinical faculty of the Oregon Health Sciences University and in private practice in Portland, Oregon. He has published book reviews in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and has written for the New York Times Book Review. His column, When the Media is the Parent, is published online at Psychology Today.

Get widget
Dear Readers: At this time all giveaways on Maria's Space are for the United States and Canada unless otherwise noted.