**REVIEW** Smith & Sinclair Alcoholic Cocktail Gummies

Oh. My. Goodness. I just tried my little 2-pack sample of this that I got courtesy PopSugar Dabble:

That is from Smith and Sinclair and I would have taken photos of the actual candy but I ate them both! Hahaha! They were so good.

Here is the brand's site. Since I just got a taste of 2 flavors, this is going to be a very brief review. I can tell you that I don't normally like gummy-type candies. I have to be in the mood. These, however, have a much different texture from the Haribo candies I pick up at the store. These are much, much softer and they sort of melt as you chew them. 


The candies are rather large - about the size around of a silver dollar and as thick as half a marshmallow. They are coated lightly with sugar crystals and that's the first thing you taste. As soon as you bit into one, the fruit flavor hits and fools you into thinking this is regular candy. Count to three and the booze comes through loud and clear. It's not harsh but more the flavor strength of a mild wine or lady-like cocktail. That is trick number two. Maybe because I am a lightweight drinker, I got quite the buzz from the very first candy - "Mandarin Spritz". Of course, I didn't wait more than 3 minutes before I ate the second one ("Pineapple Bellini") although I ate it in small nibbles. Um, hello and I-luv-you-man. I felt as if I had had at least half a glass of wine.

I wasn't crazy about the very soft texture but these taste so good that I don't care. When I get more, I will probably keep them refrigerated until I'm ready for my treat. Talk about a sugar buzz...

When I ever try more of these, I will let you know how the other flavors are. For now, I can tell you that the Pineapple Bellini is my favorite of the two. It was sweeter than the Mandarin Spritz. I would say that if you like drier wine and drinks, the Mandarin would be for you. I am a sweet wine gal so that Pineapple was perfect.

What an idea, to pair alcohol and candy. Here's the thing: I wasn't joking about these packing a little punch. The alcohol content is 5% by volume. My lips felt slightly numb after eating both of them in rapid succession so, you figure it out.

As I mentioned, I got my sample via Popsugar Dabble, but you can go straight to the source and check out all their offerings. There are the cocktail gummies I tried, mocktail gummies, drink mixers, and gift sets. If you get some, I would make sure to keep them in a place where children don't grab any. They look exactly like candy and would surely be too much for someone young and lightweight.

Peace
--Free

UPDATE **REVIEW** Juvia's Place I Am Magic Foundation (Part One)

Here is the promised update: There won't be a part two of this post. No need. The Mali and Chad shades were hit and miss. Mali is a hit and Chad is a miss. Here is another swatch photo from a post I just finished (in place of continuing with the Juvia mess). Chad and Mali are 2nd and 3rd down.

Thank goodness, Mali works so well. It's not quite as "deep" or red as Khartoum but it works. With this COVID sitch, there is no more trading/exchanging of makeup online so... My friend who got the Chad and Mali agrees with me that I can use Mali well as a foundation and Chad as a contouring color. Main thing is, I will not be shopping ever again at Juvia's until I KNOW the exact color I want. They have a horrible reputation as far as I see online and their Trust Pilot reviews focus on the awful shipping issues. Their BBB profile has around 18 reviews to date and has a less than a 2-star rating. The shipping and tracking were great for me - I got those mismatched shades quick as a flash. I have no idea how they stay in business unless it's via their Ulta sales.

For more swatches,go check the Big Black Swatch & Shade post.

*************

I am conflicted. On the one hand, this Juvia's Place I Am Magic Foundation is the best ever foundation I have used. On the other hand, there is something about the 2 shades I've tried. Let's talk my the shades and view of the pros and cons of the foundation and the brand overall.

THE FOUNDATION

This is the foundation, packaged and unpackaged:

The top is a flip design and some people don't like it, but I don't mind.

I got one foundation in the shade of Togo (210) and the other in the shade of Kano (150). I was trying to get a match for the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in Khartoum because let's face it, Nars is priced way out of my range.

This is what Ulta's shade guide looks like vs the chart from the Juvia's site:

This is what my arm swatches look like:

Togo and Kano are SO much alike

I totally missed the mark, didn't I? This is why I hate trying to check shades from looking at photos. A shade swatch on my arm will not look the same as one on the arm of someone even slightly lighter or darker than I am. Also, you saw those shade charts from online; they just don't capture the shades that well.

~sigh~

Note About Skintones

Both shade charts come with notes about the undertones for each shade - such as for cool, neutral, or olive, etc.

Well, how many people know their true undertones? For years, I thought I had red undertones because I look good in red clothes. Wrong. For one thing, I learned that other people think I look best in blue clothing. It's recommended that you check the color of your veins to see if they look more blue or purple or green. Apparently, mine veins are chameleon-like because they sometimes look blue, sometimes, purple and, every now and then, red.

I find it's better to check skin tone by which color metal jewelry looks best. Silver and white gold look better on me than any other kind. This is the way this site helps explain it:

Once you've determined whether you have warm or cool undertones, it's easy to find a metal color that will flatter your skin tone. People with cool skin tones look good in light or white metals such as white gold, platinum and silver. People with warm skin tones look good in yellow and rose gold, copper and brass jewelry. If you have a neutral skin tone, you'll look good in both white metals and yellow metals.

So, I am still in pursuit of the best shade for me. In the next 2 or 3 weeks, I will be updating this post with swatches of 2 other shades - Chad and Mali - because my friend has ordered those for me since I wasn't able to match better with Togo and Kano.

JUVIA'S PLACE SITE

It's a shame that such a great product is represented by such a lacking brand. I guess I should say the brand and the brand's website. Here is what struck me from dealing with Juvia's Place:

• CON: They really don't stand behind their product. There are no returns or recourse for damaged items. Basically, you buy it and, if it's the wrong shade or has gotten damaged in transit, too bad.
• CON: They don't respond to customer concerns. I emailed immediately after placing the first order to ask about a shade switch. Actually, I told them about the foundation I was currently using as asked if they could recommend one of two other shades. No response from them at all. The only communication is a notice that an order is received and that an order is shipped.
• PRO: On the plus side, the price is lowest at the brand's site - currently $12 vs the $20 and up I am finding elsewhere (Ulta, for one).
• PRO: The Juvia's shade finding tools try to be helpful. The problem is that a lot of users have no idea what their "undertone" is or they might think it's different than what's shown. 

So, I am so NOT a fan of the brand's site, but I would love to hit on the right shade of their foundation. It could be a beautiful thing.

By the way, I will be able to use the Togo and Kano shades but only as highlighters. I can use both as foundations but I have to add another shade on top to balance it out. I guess it's a good thing that these were on sale. Thanks to the Honey app, I got an additional savings discount. My friend will be ordering for the first time so she will get a deeper discount that I can't reuse.

Bottom line: I would pay double for the makeup if the brand were more customer-friendly. It's a first-class product put out by a low-class brand.

Peace

--Free

**SIFO** Citric Acid Is Multi-Use

This SIFO is another one that shows how a little bit of easy research can save money. Whenever I am tempted to buy a product, I try to find out what the main ingredient is. Oftentimes, I can just "go to the source" and skip paying for all the branding and hype. Keep reading and use your own judgment.

I have a Keurig that I got a few years ago on a deep sale and when I had some left-over gift certificate money. The thing is, the pods are so dang expensive. I finally got one of the really good universal filters and now I use the machine constantly. That means, of course, that I have to clean it all the time.

The water here is so hard that I can knock on it. I need to clean out the Keurig at least every other month so that it keeps running well. The problem with that is that the cleaning solutions are expensive. But you know me by now. I will always find a way to save some money.

This is what I got to clean the coffee machine:

That is a big old bag of Milliard brand citric acid. It cost $9 for the 2-pound bag. To clean my Classic model Keurig, I need to use around 1 to 2 tablespoons every other month. This is much cheaper than buying a ten-dollar bottle of "machine cleaner" that will give 2 uses per bottle. I was using white vinegar but that's around two dollars a gallon. The Milliards is a better buy for other reasons:

1. It doesn't have the strong odor of vinegar
2. It seems to rinse out of the machine better
3. It's better at softening the water - which should help with cleaning
4. I can use the Milliard on clothing stains (again, without the strong odor)
5. I can use it to keep produce fresher for longer
6. The Milliard is easier to store and use.

By the way, you can do your own research into other ways citric acid is used, but here are some uses I've seen mentioned online:

• In pharmaceuticals
• For cosmetic purposes (similar to retinol and vitamin C products)
• In hair treatments
• As a treatment for sore throats (don't ask me)
• To treat skin problems (I did use some with coconut oil as a quick lip scrub)
• To clean hard water spots
• In the dishwasher for hard water problems
• To preserve the freshness of produce
• Added to the wash or rinse cycle to soften clothes and assist detergent

My main use for it is to deal with the problems hard water causes for my coffee machine and dishwasher. The main ingredients in most of those expensive coffee machine cleaning products include citric acid and baking soda and maybe some hydrogen peroxide. I almost always have the baking soda and peroxide around. All I need to do is make sure to be careful I'm not mixing up any dangerous concoctions!

Anyway. I did clean my coffee machine and it was easy. I also mixed some of the Milliard with water in a spray bottle to clean the hard water spots around the faucets. I added some at the start of the wash cycle (I always forget to catch the rinse cycle) and I didn't need to use a fabric softener sheet. My clothes seemed cleaner and they were most certainly softer - especially my dish towels.

The bottom line is, I don't have money to pay for unnecessary products. Remember when Dawn dish soap came out with its bleach-added version? Listen, I had been adding bleach to my dishwater for years because that's what my mama and her contemporaries did. The Dawn version just came in a cuter bottle and with lots of marketing. Whatever. It was the same thing with those pricey bottle teas that had fruit flavors added. I had always added some kind of fruit nectar or fresh fruit to my tea.

So, yeah, this citric acid is something that can be useful in all sorts of ways. Just use your common sense, do your research, and take your own risks. I'm no chemist or anything professional. I just try to be smart as I can on a thin wallet. Creativity is the broke man's best friend.

By the way, this is how I cleaned my Keurig.

1. Mix in 1 to 2 Tablespoons (per liter) right into the water reservoir of the Keurig (I have the Classic) and stir until dissolved. (I used 2 tablespoons this first time and will use 1 from now on.)
2. Turn off the Auto-Off feature. You're going to be running a lot of water in the next hour.
3. Make sure to take out any old Kcups before you start brewing the citric acid/water. You want to set the machine to brew a large amount of liquid.
4. Brew out the first couple of cups of liquid but on the third cup, don't let the liquid brew to completion. Stop the machine (I just unplugged mine) after the first little bit starts to flow into the cup.
5. Wait for about 10 or 15 minutes, then let the rest of the liquid brew out.
6. Now repeat until you have emptied the water reservoir. Refill it with fresh, clean water (no citric acid) and brew out that water until you get no more taste of the citric acid. It took another entire liter of clean water for mine to run clear.

And for anyone who has wondered about those universal coffee filters, I personally think the Keurig brand has the best one. I have used ones like this:

That was fine and I really liked it until I got the one from Keurig and this is one time I have to say I prefer the brand name item.

Now, I won't go back to the other kind. This one gives a much cleaner brew - without all the residue my cheap one let through. It also has a larger capacity for when I want to brew the largest cup size.

The bottom line here is that there are a lot of uses for citric acid. I might be a little slow sometimes but I know to use my brain instead of my wallet when I can.

Peace
--Free


UPDATE: I wanted to see an actual product before I added this little tidbit. The popular LemiShine Booster product you see in the stores? Read the ingredient label next time you see a container. The one ingredient on the bottle that was selling for over 5 bucks at my local store was CITRIC ACID.and fragrance. That's it, folks.

**SIFO** Dollar General Online & Multicultural Hair Care

UPDATE: 3/11/20
Well, the package arrived today. I never did get a tracking number or anything. This is worth the wait and slight lack of site organization:

Basically, I got all these products for under $20 - including shipping. If you ever do order from them, make sure to save your emailed and online receipt; the shipment only came with a packing slip. I'm not mad. I couldn't walk into Sally Beauty, Target, or Walmart and get this for $14 (which is what this cost minus shipping) so... Of course, I will do reviews on the individual products as I can.


UPDATE: 3/10/20 I placed my order on the 5th and it has been in "Processing" every since. Today, the order was marked "Complete" (which I take to mean that it has been put together for shipping. I have no tracking number yet and will contact DG tomorrow if I still don't have one.


We are talking products on Dollar General. Products for black folks hair!

Okay, so there are not just hair products for black people on the site, but something for everyone. I was absolutely shook by how many hair products are there and by those prices. DG actually has a "Multicultural Hair Care" Page. (I'm going to start using the term "multicultural" instead of saying anything else.)

Of course, I tried to do a price check of the same items on Amazon where I get free Prime shipping instead of the $4.99 that DG charges to my zip code. This is what I ordered from Dollar General. It's hard to see on the screenshot but the total for the 4 products came to just under $20 including tax and the 4- to-7-day ground shipping cost.

That screenshot is horrible so... I got the following items and this is how they compared to what I could find on Amazon. Keep in mind that various sellers carry the same products on Amazon and sometimes, you have to search out the best price/quantity.

The only product that comes out cheaper via Amazon is the Cantu Deep Treatment Masque and I don't mind because I won't use a large quantity of that particular item.

Even with the shipping charge, I came out ahead. With free Prime shipping,  I would have paid $35 and that is only if I could buy the 2-pk items as singles.

Now, I will have to wait to see how these items are when they arrive. For all I know, they might be boot-leggy products! I don't think so since they have the actual brands on the jars. We will see...

I will, of course, do an update once the products get here. The only negative so far is the slower shipping but I can live with that for paying such low prices. In the future, I will just have to make sure to restock my supply earlier than usual.

And I lied! I just remembered that the other very annoying negative is the Dollar General online site. I was not able to set up an account because the page just reloads. I was able to set up an account via the app. I think I will stick to using the app only from now on.

Peace
--Free

Somethin' Special is Really Special

UPDATE 3/6/20:

Well, I have to let you know that the prices just went up over at Somethin' Special. I was going to order some of the Hello Lemon Sugar spray and... Yeah, that won't be happening. It's gone up from $9 to $15. It's a small business but that price jump just put it out of my casual shopping range.

I still think the products are worth the prices - it is a small business, folks. I just can't shop there.

I just wanted to let you all know about this since I made such a big deal of showing those awesome prices...



I'm back talking about yet another fragrance resource. I think I cycle through my indulgences. The other month, I was all about my plants and wanting to do a tank or terrarium system. A while back, I was heavy into using the EC Blends wizard to mix my own ejuice flavor concoctions. I'm really happy that I'm out of my food mood for the moment! Now it's all about the fragrance. Really though, it's always all about the fragrance!

It was either on Reddit or Influenster that I first heard about Somethin' Special. This is right about the time that Glossier was disappointing the crap out of me with their on-again-off-again You fragrance quality. That You fragrance is the kind of thing that is either the best ever or the worst of the worst.

Anyway...

I took a chance on ordering some small sample-sized vials. This is what came in my first order of 3 sample scents that I chose:

Also, included free with my order were two "sniffles" - little cotton pads sprayed with my choice of scents to sniff along with an unexpected sample of a jar of solid perfume in Jasmine Musk. By the way, I think those sniffles are a super-cute idea.

So when I got this first order of 3 perfume oil samples (Lolita Lempicka, Angel Wings, and Hello Lemon Sugar), I thought it was really cool that there was a perfume solid sample on top of everything else. The samples were  $6 for 1/16 ounce.

 Considering that this is a small business, I think that's a reasonable price for the size. And remember these are perfume oil samples.

I LOVE the sample bottle so much

By the way, can I just say how much more I like the sample vials? So much better than those hard to deal with long cylinder type containers. The lid is a screw-on so I don't have to worry about it coming off inside my purse.

I chose 2 samples based on the scent descriptions but, surprisingly, the fragrance I fell most in love with is the one I got to test as a home fragrance.

This is probably the most unique scent I have ever sampled. It's a sugary-lemony-sweet fragrance that smells exactly like the Lemon Sugar part of its name. As soon as I smelled it, I thought using it in a warmer would be a waste of it. I now want the larger perfume oil or the roll-on to carry with me and the Everything Spray - which can be used as a room, car, house, etc. spray. These prices are awesome!

Recent Prices

The Angelic Wings and Lolita Lempicka scents are just as described on the site. Of course, I love a nice, powdery fragrance so I am partial to the Angelic Wings. But that Hello Lemon Sugar... that one is my thing.

Somethin' Special ( I keep wanting to type "something") aims for Zero Waste with its products and packaging. I know that some of you will really like that.

On top of all the scents featured, there is also a page of special order fragrances that I have gaped at over and over. Do check that out. I have my eye on the Prada-inspired scent of Candy.

Get over there and check out the entire site. There's more than just basic fragrance oils. I myself am perusing the lotion bars, body powders, etc. Tell your friends - especially folks looking for scents that are cruelty-free and vegan. I said that before, but I want to repeat it for my friends who have trouble finding good products with those labels.  And I want to help support the small businessmen and women.

Now I have to go because I need to order my Hello Lemon Sugar stuff!

Peace
--Free