Clean & Clear Morning Burst Fruit Infusions Facial Hydrating Cleanser

When it was time to buy a new facial cleanser, I decided that maybe I would try something new. I have to hand it to Clean & Clear in that the entire Fruit Infusions line smells amazing. Seriously, amazing. I would have been happy with the scent of any of them; although, each one has a slightly different purpose.

The hydrating cleanser features pineapple, coconut, and açaí in a yellow pump bottle. It smells diving, really. I’m a big fan of coconut and pineapple and you can really smell those ingredients. I’m not sure what acai berry actually smells like and I can’t detect a lot of berry in the cleanser but I’m okay with that.

The pump bottle works well but it’s a little bulky when compared with similar products. On the bright side, its size and color make it easy to find in the shower, especially if you’re bleary-eyed in the morning. The pump dispenses the thick creamy cleanser almost too well. A full pump really gives me a lot of product so I try to only push it halfway down or so.

Because this cleanser is a cream, it feels a bit odd. I’m more a fan of foaming facial cleansers or gels. It doesn’t really lather as much as it spreads around and this makes my skin feel a little less clean but this may just be a weird personal habit. The bottle states that this contains strawberry seeds, which I assume are intended to be exfoliants. They are in there but there’s only ever one or two in each pump so it doesn’t feel very effective to that end. I would still use a daily toner or weekly exfoliator with this product.

At the end of the day, its effectiveness is the most important part and I am torn. I broke out a lot when I first switched to this cleanser and my skin felt greasy by the end of the night. After a few weeks, this has stopped, thankfully. I’m not dealing with any major break-outs. However, I feel like some of the Neutrogrena face washes I have used are just a bit more effective at clearing up my skin and in a shorter time frame.

In terms of hydration, I can’t complain. My skin feels soft — perhaps softer than usual — and hydrated enough but I always use a daily moisturizer so, even in the winter, my face isn’t as dry as other parts of my body.

So would I buy Clean and Clear Morning Burst Fruit Infusions cleanser again? Maybe. I’d probably like to try the other scents but I’m not sure if it’s worth the money if other products that I’ve used work at a better price.

Preparation: Mix the regular cake mix in a large bowl and the caramel filling in another. Fill a pan with the mix, pour the caramel mixture on top and swirl it around with a knife for presentation. Bake normally. This was easier than I expected and I only needed eggs, water and oil.

Texture: After cooking, the cake was fluffy like you would expect. THe caramel sauce cooked to a sort of gooey, glazed gel. This made the cake more interesting and is perfect moist enough that you wouldn’t need to add frosting. In my opinion, a drippy glaze — like the new ones by Duncan Hines — are perfect for this type of cake. I bought a regular tub of icing and melted some but you could probably also use those ice cream toppers.

Taste: This cake was okay. It was sweet but it didn’t really hit the nail on the head in terms of the flavors it was supposed to have. Now, I’ve never had an apple cake because but I would have loved chunks and caramel tends to be gooey more than gel-like. It was an okay cake but, to be honest, I had a few pieces before I forgot about it. I eventually wound up throwing the rest away.

Nutrition: Each box is meant to feed 12 with 18%  of total fat and 15% of your daily value of saturated fat. In my opinion, it’s not good enough to warrant those numbers.

Verdict: Next time, I’ll stick to apple slices in real caramel. Yum.

World's Best Cat Litter

Any brand bold enough to call itself the best had better have something awesome going on, right? So when I had a chance to buy some cat supplies from MrChewy so I included a 34 pound bag of the cat litter. I figured, if I was going to try it, I might as well go big. One thing I have to say, is that a bag that big sure is inconvenient. Pouring it into the litter box was a hassle and there was no way to easily open the bag or spout or what-have-you. It’ll certainly be easier as the bag empties. Who knows when that will be, though. According to the bag,  it should last us just over a month with four cats while that time increases to 72-days if you have only one cat.

It’s super easy to tell that this is made from whole-kernel corn. It smells like it. In fact, it reminded me of the times I’ve spent on a farm, feeding corn-based feed to the animals. It’s a strong scent that not everyone will like and it does not fade with time. There’s a scented version available, if you prefer. I was worried that the cats might not like the litter so I kept one box with the old, clay-based litter. It also looks differently from clay-based. The particles are a little larger and they’re definitely lighter. They seem slightly.. fluffier, in comparison. Because it’s not clay-based, there’s no clouds of dust for people or kitties to inhale, which is nice.

When I went to scoop out the litter boxes the next day, it looked at though the one with the World’s Best Cat Litter was empty. I couldn’t smell anything other than the corn scent, either.  I was afraid the cats hadn’t used it. However, as it turns out, the fluffy particles are so good at clumping that it’s actually hard to see that the litter box has been used. However, when I began scooping, I realized the cats had been using it. Everything was perfectly clumped; however, the slightly bigger particles meant it took a little bit longer to sift through to separate the used litter. Nothing stuff to the litter box itself, though. I was getting sick of scraping muck from the bottom of the pan. Subsequent scoopings did prove that this litter eventually will stick to the litter box. Perhaps not as much as the litter I had been using but it will eventually stick.

What really surprised me, though, was hot the litter box looked after I finished. It looked clean, brand new. You couldn’t tell I hadn’t just filled it. Something in me is extremely pleased with that. It’s not just aesthetic, either. What it means is that there are no tiny clumps escaping the scooper and landing back into the litter box for the cats to walk on. I feel like their paws will be much cleaner with World’s Best Cat Litter. Of course, it didn’t remain perfect indefinitely but it always looks much cleaner after I scoop out the box.

After using this for a couple weeks, I do have a complaint. Like others have noted, the litter begins to smell a little sour after a while — like food gone bad. This, I do not love. In fact, it could use a little more power in terms of blocking smells in general. I think I’ll be buying a box of baking power to sprinkle in with the cat litter. Secondly, it’s so light that the tracks wind up tracking more of it, I think. There’s a rug by the laundry room door that catches most of it but I have to sweet the floor more frequently.

The smell issue really bothers me now; although, I can live with the sweeping. While World’s Best Cat Litter out-performs the others in some ways, it’s not the best.

Sometimes when I see a guy who is good looking and in glasses, I wonder how long he’s had them and whether he bought them from a site like Glasses.com or from his optometrist. I know a couple people, my mom and ex-husband included, who definitely didn’t take enough time when choosing their glasses and it shows. A badly fitted pair of eye glasses isn’t a deal-breaker but it always makes me wonder what a person was thinking and why he or she didn’t take time to get a second opinion or take more time to choose. That’s probably me being a little judgmental and it’s definitely tied to the fact that I still don’t have glasses myself – LOL.

So I added the MapleStory Adventures app and I’ve been playing. At first, I was kind of annoyed at its limitations but also intrigued at how they had made the MMO into a casual social-networking game.

MapleStory Adventures

Character design, for example, is limited. You can choose to either be a warrior or wizard. I went with magic. Gender aligns with your Facebook account and there are limited options for equipment and appearance, unless you pay for them.

The world map is a very scaled down version of the full game and you begin in Henesys, fighting stumps and slimes and the like. Most of the monsters are in appropriate areas; however, their levels are much lower than in the actual game. Fighting is based on a clicking mode; although, there are skills you can obtain as you level up. As you level, more maps open up. Each map has three quests for you to complete and it’s reasonable that you can wind up finishing all the quests on all the open maps and waiting to level to open a new map with new monsters.

Leveling uses the traditional EXP format but, rather than health or magic, you have “Energy.” Energy is used as you attack the monsters so it’s akin to MP. Monsters don’t really hurt you. Energy is re-gained over time or obtained through items, which you can get from completing quests or monsters drops. Friends can also help you out.

In fact, with MapleStory Adventures, you want to have a lot of friends who play — or a lot of cash to spend. You see, you will run out of energy and your option is to buy more with real cash, ask friends for items or wait. That’s right, every five minutes you’ll get five more energy. Doesn’t sound like a lot? It’s not. However, if you have lots of friends who play, you can get more energy and keep your wallet happy.

You can also invite your friends to come play with you. They’ll fight monsters and, for every friend you summon, you get a bit more energy. There is a skill, however, that you must learn in order to summon friends. Plus, if your friends are a much lower level, they won’t be much help at all. So I usually sign on once a day, use up all my energy and then invite my friends before using up all their energy. Then I’m done.

You’ll also want friends to give you skill permits, which are required to level up skills in addition to mesos that you collect from monsters. Friends are also beneficial because you can ask them for keys, which you need to unlock boxes that monsters drop. These boxes contain energy, money,  equipment or consumable items. Some boxes require no keys at all but you’ll quickly find your inventory filling up with chests if you do not have friends to give you keys.

The running theme here is the more friends, the better. In fact, I wouldn’t play this at all if you don’t have any friends who play it. A couple groups exist on Facebook that allow you to find more friends, luckily.

MapleStory Adventures includes this heart scale thing that you get when you help out friends or invite them to help you. It’s separate from the experience and energy guages and, as you play, you’ll level it up. Its effect is indirect, however. I’m not quite sure what it does.

Another difference from the actual MMO is the homes. When you’re out in the world, fighting or visiting towns, you can click the button to go to your home. Here, you can learn spells to create items, such as potions or scrolls. Talk to the enchanter to use scrolls to improve your equipment and customize your home with different items. You can visit others’ homes and help them to harvest items there and speed up their item crafting. This helps your heart rating and earns you five energy. You can also access special areas, like holiday maps, from your home.

Nexon has just added a couple of dungeons to the MapleStory Adventures world. These are like obstacle courses, where you must move through the maps, collecting treasure and killing monsters, before the time runs out. This feature is only a couple of days old, however, but it adds some excitement to the grind. You see, MapleStory Adventures is much more mindless than Maplestory. This makes it a good game to play if you’re just trying to waste some time as you don’t need to be very involved.  It also makes it frustrating because there’s no one else to talk to and the limited game play means nothing will ever come as a surprise. It’s all programmed into the game.

Speaking of programming: the Flash interface can use up a lot of memory and cause your browser or computer to run sluggishly, especially if you’re doing a lot more in the background.

The bottom line: MapleStory Adventures is cute and reminiscent of the actual game but is no replacement. Unless you have many friends that play or don’t mind spending your money, you’ll find yourself grinding — when you have the energy — just trying to reach that next level. It’s good to waste time and addictive to certain personality types while others will eventually stop playing.

Orly Nail Defense

When I decided to treat myself with a haircut and nail polish, I opted for the buy-2-get-1-clear-coat Sally’s had going for Orly products. I may have used some Orly color in the past but I hadn’t used either if their nail protection products. I opted for the Nail Defense because it’s designed to protect nails, bonds layers together and prevent breakage. As someone who’s nails frequently peel, this seemed like a good deal. Orly advertises this as a basecoate on its website but I figured I would use it for both the base and top.

I like this so far, especially because I got it for free. However, it has a leg up over the Sally Hansen strengthener I was using in a couple ways.

1. It’s thinner and less gloppy. It’s super easy to use. My previous polish was even grew thicker, the longer I had it. I wound up tossing it well before the bottle was empty.
2. It dries a lot faster. This is handy when I just want my nails clear but even moreso when I’m going with color and I’ve already had to wait for two layers of that to dry. I’m impatient so I like this. It also means it’s less likely that I’ll smudge or otherwise mess it up as I’m waiting for it to dry.
3. It adds high shine.
4. It doesn’t dry out around the edges and start peeling after a few days. This was a big problem with my Sally Hansen polish. It was really noticeable and I’d have to remove all the polish and start over. However, I can worry less because it’s much less noticeable as it begins to wear or chip off and, when it does, I can add another layer without it looking like layers upon layers of polish.

Although it’s not perfect, my nails are growing longer. I’d had a little bit of peeling that lead to breakage but only on one nail. This is exciting because my nails are on their way to actually reaching the ends of my fingertips. Then I’ll use the rest of my Sally Hansen stickers. So, as a basecoat, I can’t complain.

It’s not stellar as a topcoat. It’s shiny and smooth over color but chipping starts as soon as it would with any other topcoat and, really, without any at all. Perhaps I am just hard on my nails. However, the thinness means that maintenance is a little easier and maybe I can cover up those spots and prolong the color for a bit more.

The quick drying has me sold more than anything else and I’ll definitely be checking out more Orly products in the future.

Sweet and sour chicken

I had such a craving for sweet and sour chicken the other day because someone in the building was cooking with peppers. My favorite has lots of peppers, pineapple and cherries. However, none of our local restaurants make it that way so I was hoping that I could find something in the frozen section to sate the hunger. I ran across PF Change’s skill version of sweet and sour chicken and, while it lacks cherries, it had lots of peppers and pineapple, too. I love skillet meals because they’re so quick and easy to make so here’s my experience.

Ease: Just toss it in a pan for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. It’s a little longer than some other meals but it’s perfect for lazy cook like me. The peppers and sauce were easy to smell during cooking.

Texture: I liked the chicken, which was bite-sized battered pieces, soft and without fat. The pineapples were sometimes a little tough and also quite large. In fact, they were large enough to make stabbing them with a fork a little difficult. I would have loved to see them smaller. Sadly, the peppers were a total flop — literally. They were mushy and lifeless, lacking that awesome peppery crispness. The onions were of a fine texture but I avoided them.

Taste: The major downfall of this meal is its complete inability to taste like sweet and sour chicken. The sauce was nearly tasteless and the pineapple was so overly sweet that it overpowered the other elements. I couldn’t taste the peppers at all. The chicken was okay.

Servings: Two moderately sized servings. Maybe three if you stretch it but a hungry person could easily finish off the entire bag. It’s probably more reasonable when you consider that Americans tend to eat their portions too large but it’s definitely a lot smaller than any portion you’d get from a restaurant.. and it was more expensive than many of the skillet meals I do like.

Nutrition: A Single servings is 380 calories — not too bad. It offers more than a third of your daily sodium intake and a fifth of your daily carbs, which may not be problematic, depending on your diet. Read more here.

Verdict: Slightly cheaper than going out to eat but the reason I bought it — fruits and veggies — were disappointing. The serving size is a little small, too.

The cylindrical glass jar is plain and clear and you can see the red of the vanilla passion fruit on top and a creamy colored bottom on the bottom for the Hawaiian breeze. I really enjoyed the first half of this candle and it burned quite evenly, which is always a plus. I burned it for several hours — I’d say four to six — for two days before the mixed scent started filling the air and it was also quite enjoyable. The burning wax made for a subtle change that was interesting but not sense-assaulting.

After the candle burned down to just the Hawaiian breeze, I was a little less impressed. It wasn’t horrible but the smell of wax was more noticeable and the scent of the candle itself was a) not quite what I expected from using the air freshener and b) just too weak to do a good job at fragrancing the air.

Still, for a small jar, the burn time was impressive. I’m not sure if it was quite 22 hours but I did burn it for at least 16. It burned cleaner and more evenly than I expected and the first half really made the open area in my apartment smell good. My nose didn’t become used to it so that I could no longer smell it. I would probably purchase it again but not all the time. I’d rather wait for a coupon or sale before I buy the Haiwaiian Breeze & Vanilla Passion Fruit candle from Glade.

Clothing and Accessories

• Channing & Co
• Smart & Sexy Lingerie
• Big Bad Sexy Wolf Costume

Entertainment

• The Hunger Games

Food

• Danon Oikos
• Bertolli Chicken alla Vodka & Farfalle

Health and Beauty

• Pure Romance Products
• Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion
• L’Oreal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes
• Bath & Body Work Warm Harvest Apple Fragrance Mist

Tech

• Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots
• Otterbox Commuter for Evo Shift
• AirDroid

You’ll notice that I didn’t mention any products in terms of housewares. 2011 did not offer a lot in that category that knocked me off my feet. I would also like to make a special mention of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011. Although I reviewed it on the last day of 2010, I really enjoyed using it. I didn’t realize how much until it expired.

What were your favorite products of last year?

MrChewy is a website you would use if you have a pup or cat and want to buy treats, cat litter or certain pet medication. I was contacted by a staff member to do a review and was provided with a $50 code to purchase some items and review the website and experience.

The website is cleanly designed and super easy to navigate. It took me a single click before I was browsing the treats. Mr Chewy offers high-quality brands like Greenies and ZiwiPeak. I bought a couple Greenies packs for the cats to enjoy and headed over to check out cat litter. I used most of my $50 to invest in a large bag of World’s Best Cat Litter because I’ve heard so much about it.

One thing that I really like about Mr Chewy is the option for free shipping when you spend $49 or more. That’s a couple bags of cat treats and a large bag of cat litter, for me. This is a great solution because, while you can buy cat litter or bulk pet food online, shipping is often astronomical. With my items, I was able to qualify for free shipping. I placed my order at nice and early the next morning it was on its way to me.

Despite the shipping being free, Mr Chewy uses quick shipping. Mine took a few days at most and was delivered via FedEx. The website does split up some items. For example, my bag of cat litter was in its own box because it was so large. I imagine that large bags of food would ship in a similar manner. It makes sense and I can’t complain but you should be aware, if you prefer things to ship in one box.

My only sort of complaint is that it seems like there wasn’t a lot of tape on the big box with the litter. Nothing had come open but it was starting to sag from the weight. Another piece would simply have made it feel a little more secure.

I had a positive experience with Mr Chewy and I would use them again. If you do use them, you can sign up to have scheduled deliveries and save money off your first order. This seems pretty cool, if you can afford it and want to make sure you always have surprises.

The one downside to the website is that the focus is so limited. While the brands are quality and there are multiple options from some brands, there overall catalog is limited and you really could only use it for food, treats, meds and litter. I can see why someone would shop at a retailer with a bigger selection because of that.

However, Phantom really, really, really likes the box. I keep trying to take a picture of him in it but he’s so excited, it turns into a silvery blue blur. He’s happy. I’m happy. Mission accomplished.