Season’s Box March Edition

 
Season’s Box is another monthly subscription service that I really love getting (this will be my 4th box). I agree that its a little pricey ($34.90/month) but I love that we get 3-5 luxurious full size seasonal must-have products for your home, body, and spirit that tailor to one season (Winter, Spring, Summer, or Autumn), or Seasonal Holidays and Occasions.

 This month’s theme was Spring/ St Patrick’s Day. This month’s box was curated specifically with eco-friendly and green products. They also included some spring must haves and items that will refresh and rejuvenate your home, body and spirit.

Now the luck of the Irish was with me this month because I was lucky enough to get two boxes this month. I wasn’t sure when I got them both on the same day what was going on but a quick email to the company to find out what happened and there was a glich. So lucky me.

The first box I opened up was this one:

 –Ecoverse Compact Umbrella from Shedrain. It comes in a little storage bag (like the one below) and its made from recycled materials (fabric canopy is 100%  PET soda bottles) . The handle is natural bamboo. This sales for $32.00

I haven’t used it yet since it hasn’t rained but I already have it near by in the house and the car to use just in case I need it.

Natural Incense Cones from Vance Kitira. I can’t even remember the last time I burned incense but I do have fond memories of my aunt burning them because she use to say that burning one left her apartment feeling refreshed and it helped her to relax. So when I actually burned the peach cassis (the one below) it brought back happy memories of her.

I got a package of 15 cones w/ceramic burner, in rosewood box. They sell for $7.00 Its available in 4 other scents: ocean, lavender, oriental lime and green tea (which is pictured above).

Organic Gourmet Tea from Octavia. Did you know that the Irish drink more tea per capita than almost anyone in the world?  I didn’t know that. I was thrilled to discover I got two different kinds of tea in the boxes. The first one is Emerald Spring and Irish Breakfast.

Pure green tea at its best! Sit back and savor this tea’s flavorful echoes of grass, wildflowers and late afternoon sun. The ancient healthy properties of this classic green tea will cleanse the body and refresh the spirit. High in antioxidants and anti-aging properties.

Emerald Spring yields a clear, golden-green infusion and has a clean, assertive, classic green tea flavor. 50g for $13.00

The Irish drink more tea per capita than almost anyone in the world. In celebration of this tea-drinking tradition, Irish Breakfast is a hearty blend of traditional black teas with a robust, malty character and a brisk, slightly smoky finish that satisfies well beyond breakfast. Add a splash of milk and sugar to this classic, full-bodied cup for a real taste of Ireland.

If you are looking our strongest, traditional, straight-forward, brisk black tea to start your day off on the right foot, this tea is for you! 80g for $13.00

I am so excited to dip into these teas to try them out. I love drinking tea and discovering new kinds and brands. What about you?

-Dublin Mint Irish Soap from All Things Herbal. All Things Herbal is a company that makes all natural and real soaps. They are all hand crafted using the cold process method. The use moisturizing oils (olive, coconut, palm and soybean), cocoa butter, shea butter, herbs and fragrances.

Both soaps are the Dublin Mint and they smell so good. There is spearmint, peppermint and rosemary inside this fantastic smelling bar of soap. The soaps are 4.5oz and they sell for $5.50. I did see some seasonal soaps that I really want to get and you only pay $5.95 shipping which is a pretty good deal.

 
So my thoughts on the box is that I love it. I always get things that I will use and this month is no exception. The total value of the box is $57.50 (x2 $115.00) and the box always pays for itself.
 
Even though Seasons Box shows what you are getting in the box I am always thrilled when it comes it. I love the goodies we get and everything is packaged so well as you can see and the theme is carried out very well in the presentation.
 
What do you think of the box this month?
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

MEME/ Sunday’s In Bed With……#42

The awesome blogger behind this is Kate from Midnight Book Girl   not only is she an awesome blogger but she is was one of my roommates for BEA. YAY!!

Midnight Book Girl

Sundays In Bed With….is a meme I’ve started to share the book we’re spending the morning in bed with, or the one we’d like to stay curled up in bed with all Sunday if only our busy lives would allow! For fun, take a picture of the book in your bed, or simply write up a post or comment below sharing your Sundays in Bed With book. Quoted from Kate’s blog.

Is it really that time for another Sunday’s In Bed post? Where is the time going?

Sadly this morning I wasn’t able to stay in bed to read because I had to be up at 6.30am to get ready to take Michael to the arena for 7:15am. He had a 8am regional game to play. Sadly we lost our regional game. Man oh man what a game it was, the kids played so well and worked hard. It was nice because the other team was equally matched in size and skill to us. We lost 1-0.

 

Anyways enough rambling on, here is what I was reading this morning:

This was a book I picked up at BEA last year and I am really enjoying this.

What are you reading today?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Swapping with a Facebook Friend

When I am not doing my normal every day things (laundry, cleaning, cooking etc) I am either reading, getting blog work done or hanging out on facebook.

I am in a Canadian Swap group on facebook and over the past few months I have gotten into doing swaps. I tend to stick with local swaps only because its so much easier to do then packing and shipping it out.

My March swap partner was someone local to me, Rebecca (she lives roughly 15 minutes from me) and I was excited to meet her because we have been talking for a little while now. We were finally able to nail down a night to meet because I have been swapped with hockey.

We met at a mall that is close to me and I got there a little before Rebecca did and I only went into one store and that was Lush because I wanted to buy an Easter bath bomb. I was surprised at myself for only buying that.

After meeting we went to Starbucks to sit and talk. I have to say that meeting and talking with Rebecca it felt like I have known her forever. We talked about anything and everything. We noticed that Starbucks was starting to clean up so we decided to do our swap.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous at first, then overwhelmed when I peeked into the bag and then felt totally spoiled. Rebecca was a fantastic swap partner and it was like she was able to read my mind as you will see below in my comments.

 This is what the swap looked like when I spread it all out. Doesn’t it look amazing?

 I loved that Rebecca included some other kinds of goodies in the swap. The Play-doh spring eggs was instantly claimed by Michael when I got home. I love that he still loves Play-doh. The other cute item is these shoes post it notes which you can never have too many posted notes right?

 I was so thrilled when opened these nail polishes because they were both ones I have been wanting. The first one is Essie Tart Deco which is the best spring color and Fergie’s Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 I also got this little brush (which has now found a home in my son’s hockey bag, I guess he must of nabbed that as well), cute little hair clips which is something I have been thinking about getting but never did, Macadamia Oil (hair treatment), sample of La Roche Posay anti aging sensitive skin fill in care, sample of Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honeysuckle eau de toilette spray (love the Green Tea sprays), L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche eyeshadow in the shade Snooze Addict (it was so funny because I got Rebecca almost the same one but I got her the more nude one from L’oreal), Burberry Body Tender sample (I have been wanting to try this one out awhile now), sample of Vichy liftactiv CxP Total and Etude House I miss You lotion. (something else I have been wanting to try for awhile now)

 EOS duo lip balms in the flavors of Strawberry Sorbet and Passion Fruit, (love eos lip balms, i have them all over the house), The Balm Balm Shelter tinted lip gloss in the shade dream girl (its a very nice nude shade), two Cover Girl jumbo gloss balms in the shade watermelon twist and cocoa twist (this has been my latest obsession, I love these balms) and Baby Lips lip balm in Coral crush.

 
Finally the yummy goodies Rebecca included. Michael pretty much claimed the kinder eggs, eggies and mini eggs but thats okay I don’t mind sharing with him just as long as he left me with the Aero peppermint chocolate.

Thanks so much Rebecca, I loved meeting you finally and hoping we can get together very soon. Thanks for the fantastic swap, its like you really do know me.

 
Just and FYI about the mini eggs, did you know that if you microwave them in a bowl or on a plate for a few seconds you will get a melt in your mouth treat? Its the only way we eat the eggs now. Its one of our favorite Easter treats.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Lip Factory Inc the March Edition

One of my favorite beauty box subscriptions came in yesterday and I am always so excited when the mail man delivers this monthly package to me. This box is bascially ripped open as soon as the door is closed.

The price has increased a little and here in Canada I pay roughly $27 (shipping and the exchange rate) and I honestly love this subscription and have no plans to cancel any time soon.

This month is all about the lips.

Here is what I got:

 I love the way they ship out the boxes and honestly love how everything is packaged inside the smaller black lip factory box. On the flip side of the card it tells us what products we got this month.

Did you know that Lip Gloss was invented by Max Factor in 1930?

 I was so thrilled with all the lip products they sent because there has been some items that I have been wanting to try that aren’t available here.

So the items I got are:
-be a bombshell in in the shade Sugar Lips
-L.A Splash diamond lip gloss in the shade Forbidden
-Korres Liquid Lipstick in the shade Raspberry. This is a water-based formula for intense colour and long lasting creamy texture
-Designer Skin Lip Shimmer in the shade Perfectly Perfect
-NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in the shade Hera
-Ofra lipstick in the shade Berry Sexy
-Dermalogica Renewal Lip Complex sample

I got two bonus items and the first item is a Lip Factory Inc lip brush ( I think everyone got this) and CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine 100% Natural Mint balm.

I have swatched the products for you and the first one is with the corresponding products. This was taken at my desk.

 This is another swatch taken with more light.

I have to say some of my favorites right now is the be a bombshell, Designer skin and the NYX.

What do you think? What would you be interested in?

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copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Swapping with another Canadian Blogger (UPDATED)

Today was one of those days that I was feeling blah and its due to two things, one is that I am suffering with a sinus cold again and the other is Montreal is under a snow storm warning. We are suppose to get roughly 30cm of snow. Plus its been cold again with temperatures reaching below 0 here.

I am honestly so over with winter now and really longing for Spring to come. I had hoped with the warmer weather we were getting a little while ago that things would be changing but I guess not. Hopefully it will start warming up sooner. I need Spring.

Thankfully I got an awesome package in the mail today that cheered me up.

I am part of a swap group on face book that involves Canadians and this was actually my first time taking part in one that required me shipping something out. This was the second swap I took part in.

I was so happy when I found out who my swap partner was going to be, its Stephanie and she blogs over at Fun Size Beauty . You should go over and check out her blog and let her know I sent you over. She blogs about anything and everything. I have been enjoying the time I spend over there.

Here is what she sent me:

 I was so happy that I was home when my mail man rang the bell for this. He sometimes is the gentlest with packages when he puts them between the doors.

 Everything was wrapped up in pretty tissue paper and stickers. I loved this because it was like Christmas morning. I couldn’t wait to open all the little goodies.

So here is all the goodies I got from Stephanie:

In the bubble wrap pouch was: samples of Henriksen pur perfection night cream, Kiehl’srosa arctica youth regenerating cream, Garnier intense 7 days lotion, TRESemme split end shampoo & conditioner, amd a Marcelle day cream. There was also a handful of candy, a chocolate bunny and mini eggs.

Which BTW if you mircowave the desired amount that you want for a few seconds you will get a melt in your mouth treat. Yummy!

Now onto the other make up goodies Stephanie sent me:

-Cover Girl lip slicks (tinted lip balm) in the shade Daring. Its a very deep berry shade and at first I was like wow that is dark but its actually a sheer color. Its very moisturizing on the lips. I think this will be something I will use alot.

-Revlon brillant shine nail polish in the shade Magnetize (#140). Its a silver metal polish and I will be using it this weekend when I apply my new nail polish for the week. So when I do that I will come back and edit this post.

-Essence 24 hour Stays no matter what volume Mascara. I have heard alot of amazing things about this so I was so happy when I saw this. I am going to resist opening this one for now and hopefully I can hold of. I know its going to be hard.

-Essence Quattro eye shadown in #12 Purple Day. The shadows are about the size of a loonie and there is a purple, magenta, a light silver and a darker silver. Very pretty colors.

-Finally another Essence Ready For Boarding palette in the shade 01 Beauty On Tour. Its got 6 shades and they are in silver, yellow, mint green, blue, gold and copper. Very pretty colors.

UPDATE!!!

To my surprise I got this cute little package from Stephanie. I have never tried Indie Polish before. Its a Canadian business that you can see here if you CLICK ON THIS

 There are mini polishes (5ml ) in the shades Sweet Heart, Teal Tidal and Wonder Lust

About the Polishes:

Sweet Heart is a great over coat polish or with 3+ layers a great stand alone polish. It’s made up of beautiful high grade red holographic glitter!

Nailpolish is made using a 3-free base and is cruelty-free. NO Dibutyl Phthalate, NO Formaldehyde and NO Toluene.

Teal Tidal: (available) Teal Tidalis a mix of HIGH GRADE holo (holographic) teal microfine glitter, larger round teal glitter and teal diamond glitters. It can be worn as an over coat or a polish

Nailpolish is made using a 3-free base and is cruelty-free. NO Dibutyl Phthalate, NO Formaldehyde and NO Toluene.

Wonder Lust: (I think there is only one available in this size) Wonder Lust is a SERIOUSLY sexy color and no matter how I went thru the 15-20 pictures I took in an attempt to capture it’s beauty it’s hard to see the purple and gold shift and teeny tiny holo glitters. It’s BEAUTIFUL and really shows off in bright sun.

The purple gold shift color is a mixture of mica’s that actually work against each other to make this neat illusion. Than I added just a tiny bit of 008 holo glitter to pick up on the purple. I LOVE this polish. You will too!

All product descriptions were taken from the sellers etsy shop.

I am so happy that my first mailed swap went so well. I won’t be taking part monthly just because it will get expensive in shipping but I am thinking perhaps four times a year.

Have you ever done a swap before?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Supporting a Local Author

Today is the day that I get to share some exciting news with you guys, my readers. I have known about this for a little while now (a little over a month) and to keep this under wraps has been really rough because I wanted to tell you about it.

This has been the year of friends I know becoming authors (published ones). I am so happy for them and just want to support them all and I think you should to.

Today, one of my local book blogging friends, Linda has her first short story, The Blind Side of Control published on NFTU.co.uk so you should click on that link and go and read her short story.

CLICK HERE TO READ BLIND SIDE OF CONTROL

Place you can find Linda at:
http://www.lindamc.com/
https://twitter.com/lindamcnguyen
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3275660-linda-m-c-nguyen

Congrats Linda and wishing you much success with this. I really think you need to have a book next. What do you say?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

MEME/ Sunday’s In Bed With….#41

The awesome blogger behind this is Kate from Midnight Book Girl   not only is she an awesome blogger but she is was one of my roommates for BEA. YAY!!

Midnight Book Girl

Sundays In Bed With….is a meme I’ve started to share the book we’re spending the morning in bed with, or the one we’d like to stay curled up in bed with all Sunday if only our busy lives would allow! For fun, take a picture of the book in your bed, or simply write up a post or comment below sharing your Sundays in Bed With book. Quoted from Kate’s blog.

Is it really that time for another Sunday’s In Bed post? Where is the time going?

I can’t believe how fast this month has gone by. Only two more weeks left and its Easter.

This morning I did manage to get some reading done because we didn’t need to be anywhere until 10am when Michael does his Faith First classes. There was no hockey games this weekend (that will be next weekend and the following two weeks as well) and it felt good to stay in bed and sleep.

I am suffering with a sore throat and a sinus thing again. The weather here in Montreal has been crazy with a warm week and then back to -0 and below. Its been very cold here and we are suppose to get another snow storm this up coming week so that will be fun…….not!

Anyways enough rambling on, here is what I was reading this morning:

This was a book I picked up at BEA last year and I am really enjoying this.

What are you reading today?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.