Simply Earth's November Box!

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Hello, my dears!

I hope you all had a very Happy Turkey Day, and a very safe Black Friday (if that's your thing - I'm more of a Cyber Monday kind of gal, I just don't do crowds)!  I've got a different kind of post for you today than my usual - I'm reviewing a super sweet essential oils sub box I received from Simply Earth! :D

You may have caught my unboxing video I posted a bit ago.  If not, the link is HERE to give you a rundown of what is contained in November's sub box!

I've been spending my spare moments over the last few weeks diving in and using these fun products and their recipes :)  I find the Happy Oil to be most pleasing to my senses, and the Christmas Blend is making me long for the holiday even more!!  I have to say, though, that the most fun recipe was for scented ornaments, and I enlisted the help of my two oldest munchkins for it :D

First, we made the dough.  Ethan (my oldest) helped me measure out all the ingredients, and I stirred it all together.  Now, this recipe is for scented ornaments, but since it isn't quite Christmas season in my house yet (we have a firm No-Christmas-Till-After-Thanksgiving rule), we opted to make scented aquatic life decorations instead!

After making the dough, I rolled it out and had them help me cut out shapes!  We wore gloves because I wasn't sure if the oil would have an adverse effect on our skin.  It's always a good idea to play it safe, folks!

After cutting out the ornaments, I used a straw to cut out circles towards the top so we could use string to hang them.  And then we baked them!

After baking them, they smelled awesome!! But as is usually the case with my kids (and admittedly, me), we couldn't leave them plain white.  My boys decided they wanted theirs to be red, so they painted one side using acrylic paint (which doesn't have a scent, really, and by only painting one side, we were able to smell the frankincense still).

Once that was dry, they picked ribbon to string through and decided they wanted their animals displayed in the school room :)

It smelled pleasantly in there for a few days!  Which was a welcome change from the usual little boy stink that sits in there after a long day of school and play :P

A few things I noticed about this ornament recipe:

1. As you're stirring your liquid ingredients, even over the heat level suggested on the recipe card, the dough forms VERY quickly, so be mindful of that!

2.  The dough is easy to work with, but when I used a silicone mold, anything with small sections (like branches on a Christmas tree) did not release the dough to me - so I had a Christmas Cyprus tree in the end O_o

3.  The scent is strong, but does dissipate after about 2 days, so if you're looking for something long-term, you won't find it with this recipe.

Other than the above mentioned things, this was a really fun recipe!  I wasn't sure what to expect with the dough, so it was a nice surprise that it was so malleable and easy to work with without crumbling apart after too much handling.  And I had already gone into it assuming the scent wouldn't stick around too much - most "scented" stuff I've made doesn't last a long time, just the nature of the beast.  I had a lot of fun making these with my boys, and would definitely make them again as Christmas gifts :D

And...well, most of my long-time readers know how much I love nail polish, so...

I painted mine in nail polish ^_^  OF COURSE I DID, c'mon now :P  They look *amazing* and holo and blingy :D  Aw yiss.

I decided to make "snowflakes" the theme for the other recipes I used from this box, and give them as a Thank-You gift to my sister in law for hosting Thanksgiving this year!  Here are my creations from the recipes included in November's box:

A Christmas Scented Air Freshener using essential oils and baking soda

Two different Christmas Blends to use in a diffuser

Holiday Home Scent Spray to spritz throughout the house

I cannot do bows, y'all.  They always look so sad.

I'm so pleased with this box, it was so much fun to dive into and experiment with everything!  I admit I have never personally seen something so innovative, using essential oils in such creative ways other than just in a diffuser, so this was quite a delightful experience :D

The November box is still available at the following link - if you use the code mommrsfreedif at check out, you'll receive a FREE diffuser with your order! (In order to get the free diffuser, you need to go HERE and add the one you want to your cart - then when you check out, after putting in my special code, it should remove the charge for it :D ).

CLICK ME!!

And here are some social links for you where you can follow Simply Earth:

Instagram

Facebook

I would love to know what you think of this box!  Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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The November sub box was sent to me by Simply Earth in exchange for an honest review.

June Beauty Quartet Box

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Happy Monday/Star Wars Day!  May the 4th Be With You, Always.

C'moooooooon, I had to!!  My whole family is crazy about the Star Wars movies, especially my brother :)

Today I've got a review of June's Beauty Quartet Box from Philly Loves Lacquer!

For those of you who don't know what this is, the Beauty Quartet Box is a subscription box that is available every two months with a pre-order open for 15 days the month prior to the release month.  There are four indie polish makers that contribute items to the box, typically one polish and one extra.  This month, the theme is "Grease" and the contributors are Philly Loves Lacquer (obviously :D ), Dollish Polish, Smokey Mountain Lacquers, and Gothic Gala Lacquers.

Let's take a look at the Philly Loves Lacquer contributions first!

PLL contributed two polishes - the first is "Summer Lovin'" - a lovely light pink creme with a holographic shimmer.

The second is a super fun dense glitter topper with pink holo, black flower, and other various sized and colored glitters.

These two polishes are really fun separately AND together!  They each applied very well, Summer Lovin' is opaque in 2-3 coats depending on how thick you apply it, and Had Me A Blast spread out nice and evenly with little clumping.

Next up is the Dollish Polish contributions:

Dollish Polish included a cucumber melon scented cuticle balm, and a polish called "Beauty School Dropout:"

Beauty School Dropout is a very, very light pink creme polish with pastel green and grey glitter throughout, as well as a light pink shimmer.  This polish is opaque in 2-3 coats, again depending on how thick you apply it.

Next up are the Smokey Mountain Lacquer contributions!

Smokey Mountain Lacquers included two polishes, the first being "Better Shape Up:"

You can tell she drew her inspiration for this stunner from the bright red lipstick Sandy's character is wearing in the end of the film when singing the Better Shape Up song!  This polish is a gorgeous red creme with a red and subtle gold shimmer throughout.  Opaque in 2 coats!!

The other polish contribution is her Holo Topcoat, which I layered once over Better Shape Up:

One coat was all that was needed to rainbow bling this polish out!  It's one of the best holo topcoats I've ever seen.

And finally we have the Gothic Gala Lacquer contributions!

She included a "Sex on the Beach" tropical scented non-drying remover, and "Wop Bam Boom:"

Wop Bam Boom is a ridiculously sparkly microglitter bomb polish full of holographic, black, pink, and other various microglitters!  This full-coverage beauty is opaque in 2 coats and applies very smoothly.  It dries slightly textured, so a good thick topcoat should make it nice and smooth, and really make that holo pop.

The Ups:  These polishes are so fun, and you can totally see the Grease inspirations in each of the polishes!  All the products are good quality - the non-drying remover is a favorite of mine because I love how good it leaves my skin feeling after taking the polish off, and you can see how hydrated my cuticles are after using the remover.  The polishes all had fantastic, easy-to-work-with formulas.  The only advice I have about them is to definitely make sure you let them get to room temperature before using them.  Here in Phoenix, it's been 90+ degrees all week, and was almost 100 the day I got the box.  If you open and use the polish too soon you could alter the consistency of the polish - so if it's really hot and you don't let them cool down, they could become REALLY goopy.  So, just keep that in mind ^_^

The Downs:  I don't have any "downs" about this box with regards to quality or value - for the amount and types of products you receive, it's a great deal!  The only "downs" for me was that some of the polishes aren't my personal favorites, but that's an opinion ;) 

Overall:  This is an awesome box!!  I love that it's not a sub box that requires subscriptions for months at a time.  It's really nice to have that "freedom."  I love the variety of products, and the quality!  A+ 

Because the boxes were sent out a little behind schedule to bloggers and swatchers, Philly Loves Lacquer is extending the pre-order period by five days, so you can pre-order the box from now until May 20th.  The subscription is $50 but limited to 50 boxes, so if you want it, I suggest you get it now!!  You can purchase is HERE.

So what do you think of this beauty box?  Have you purchased one of the Beauty Quartet Boxes before?

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Box sent to me for swatch and review purposes.  Opinions remain my own and are 100% honest.