Product 16: Tassi

So I raided the Schiller’s half off rack again. This time it was for a Tassi (which now is $7.50). I’ve been thinking about a Tassi off and on but never really gave it too much thought until recently.

So what is a Tassi? It’s basically a headband that will hold your hair in a very gentle way so you can wash your face or apply makeup without having stray hairs get into your face. It’s made out of microfiber towel that you can just tuck your hair into. It has a band that doesn’t leave creases in your in hair as a tighter elastics, headbands and barrettes tend to do.

I actually decided to try the Tassi in more then just washing my face setting. I didn’t bother to use it when applying make-up since I don’t apply foundation or blush so having loose hair doesn’t really bother me. One of the ways I wanted to try it first was to use it in my bath. I love to really hot bubble baths and to read for a while, unfortunately that also can allow some sweat to drip. Knowing the characteristics of microfiber, I had a feeling that it would do a great job of absorbing the sweat almost on contact. And in the end I was right. Another way, I ended up using it was after work or a long day. I recently got my hair cut short, so I can’t always pull it off my face after work in. It’s so easy to just pull it on and have a clear face for the rest of the evening.

I really enjoy my Tassi. It’s just a quick fix in the evening. I can use it in a variety of different ways. This will be one of the products that I will use around my house and maybe my closest girl friends. But it’s something that quickly worked its way into my one of my favorite products.

Book 16: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

In a recent book swap with one of the pharmacist from work, I had the pleasure to read the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This fantasy is unlike a lot of books written in English and in the fantasy realm.

So this book was not the easiest book to read at times. It’s incredibly dense in the 846 page novel and includes hundreds of footnotes. Yes footnotes to a fantasy story and these footnotes weren’t translations of foreign languages that are real or unreal. These were full fledge footnotes that were citing magical books and adding layer upon layer of the mythology of the book.

But I loved the tale of two magicians trying to bring magic back to England and after successfully doing that, they worked together to help defeat Napoleon and then had to worry about fairy magic as well.

The characters are not the typical heroes. They aren’t really the most sympathetic especially Mr. Norrell and his associates. They did some really shady things and would do anything to maintain their power over magic and the ability to get knowledge about magic. Mr. Norrell was a downright hypocrite by being anti-fairy magic but his greatest claim to fame before the end of the book was due to help by a magic. Jonathan Strange was much more likable until the death of his wife. But he had his flaws just like all people do. They aren’t all good and all evil. There’s a lot of gray which creates richer characters.

There is a formality about this book that I’ve never really seen in the fantasy/sci-fi/occult genre. Many of the characters are referred to by Mr. or Mrs. ______. Plus it had a feel of a textbook in some ways too. It was more then just the footnotes and the use of the formal titles. At times it would have the tone of a textbook but then it would casually go back into a more casual narrative.

I ended up enjoying this book. There were times where it was really dry. But then at others it was so magical that I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Product 15: Derma E Fragrance Free Body and Hand Moisture Theraphy

So for the first time in my blog, I found a product that I HATED. This wasn’t something that where there were things I disliked about a product yet liked it overall. I flat out hated it. So what is the product that I hate? It’s Derma-E Fragrance-Free Moisture Therapy Hand and Body Lotion.

So let me back up a little bit and start at the beginning. I was excited to see in the latest shipment of Derma-E that they changed up their sample packets-it included a couple new samples including my favorite Vitamin A and Gycloclic Cleanser and the hand lotion. I really wanted to sample both of these products but for different reasons. I wanted to try the hand lotion mainly because we don’t carry it. We have a limited shelf at Schillers so there is a lot of picking and choosing of products. The benefit of samples is that sometimes they can encourage us (Schillers) into carrying different pieces of a line. Plus I read in the Derma-E literature that they have an award winning lotion lines so I was curious what it was like.

I hated this Derma-E product first because of the scent. I should have known that it might have a scent since in bath and beauty products scent and fragrance are not the same thing. Fragrance is something that is added to a product (usually perfume or essential oils). If you have sensitive skin, you are looking for fragrance free products since perfume and oils can be irritating to the skin. Whereas scent will naturally exist and when you use natural products, you can’t always eliminate what a thing smells like. The product had strong aroma that I believe is from the Willow Bark since I do dislike that scent profile.

But then I put on the hand cream. It just felt awful. It wasn’t so much of a greasy feeling (although that was there) that I disliked, it was the gritty and dirty feeling that I hated most. For the first time ever, I washed my hands to rid myself of the hand lotion almost immediately after application. There have been hand lotions in the past that I dislike the feeling, but I never wanted to rid myself of the hand lotion immediately. So there was an extreme reaction to the lotion.

Thankfully I used a sample product. I learned for sure that I do not like the Fragrance Free Moisture Therapy hand and body lotion. It’s disappointing to find a product I dislike so much when so many of my favorite beauty products are from the same company. But that’s the benefit of a sample. Since Schillers doesn’t carry this particular product from Derma-E I don’t know the retail price off hand but guessing by the other things in their lines, that I’ve saved around $16 by trying before I’ve buy.

Book 15: Captain's Table The Mist

Much to my dismay, I found another reason too put down a good book on loan from an friend in order to read something that needed more immediate attention. In order to help make a square peg fit into the round hole for a writing contest, I went to read one of the prime examples laid out by the contest's moderator. He recommended a Star Trek Captain's Table books. I happened to have one from my late highschool/early college days (also when I was the biggest Trekker)still on my shelf: Captain's Table The Mist by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. So I immediately dove into the book once more.

Now the book is very entertaining. It's basically about how Captain Sisko goes to the Captain's Table (a bar set outside of time and space)and how he's retelling the story of how he met this race/confederation of races called The Mist. I say that last bit very deliberately since once he crosses over into Mist Space, you find out that there are more then one species that are ruled by the Mist government and there is the actual species called the Mist. Sometimes things like species/races/political labels get all muddled up like that.

Now this book is laid out in a specific where where it's one of the few series in Star Trek that one has something that is so completely devoid of space & time and it has things written in first person. Normally books are written in more of a third person perspective with limited omniscient (and the bar scenes are all written this way). Most of the story is a retelling of a story so it's in first person.

Rereading The Mist has been a good thing for me to do. It's actually helped me come up with ideas how to set a childhood tale in a bar (such a stupid thing to do in my eyes since 99% of the time, people tell stories of the recent past when drinking in a bar and never even mention about being kids-maybe something their kids did but not themselves), how to play with the narrative requirement and juxtapose the bar setting away from the events being told. Now rereading the story didn't help me as much as I would have liked with the first person narrative. But that's more because the contest I'm writing for has a first person present tense requirement which I'm struggling with. While I had some help in making it not sound like a diary, I'm still struggling with not slipping into past tense too much since The Mist was also fully in the past tense.

Now I will have to say this book was written while DS9 was still in production. So there are lines that seem exactly like the characters from the show. There has been little growth in them away from the series which is different from the books that I've been reading as of late since they had so much further character development from what was last seen in the show. So after reading so many newer Trek books, this book felt like going back to my roots and taking a refresher course rather then reading something new. It's kinda fun to see the growth in characters. Plus it's just nice to have the Chief be back.In all the books I've read this year, there has been almost no mention of him at all. Which is kinda sad since I've always loved the NCO engineer.

Letters 21 and 22

Sending some messages to a penpal



















Plus another one

Letters 18, 19, 20

Happy Birthday to a friend.


















Saying hello to a friend and talking about some plans























Saying hello to a friend using the last card of one of my favorite cards. I will miss this set but at least I have this gorgeous box as a keepsake

Product 14: Jack Black Lip Balm

Jack Black Lip Balm-Lavender and Vanilla flavor- with SPF. I quite frankly have mixed feelings about this lip balm although in the end it’s a good lip balm.

For those that don’t know, Jack Black is a great men’s line. It’s also a line not tied to the actor at all. They just happen to share a name. Jack Black is probably best known for their shave creams and their body washes. But gaining a large following that is actually crossing genders is the Jack Black lip balm. I will have to say I heard more than once “my girlfriend stole my lip balm” or “I need to replace my husband’s lip balm after losing it” in reference to Jack Black- you really don’t hear that with any other lip balm we sell and we sell tons of them (Relish, Burt’s Bees, Yube, Carmax, Crabtree and Evelyn and lots of others). In fact, people are now starting to say it’s one of the best lip balms on the market. So when it was decided to open up the newest flavor, I was really excited to try out the lip balm.

The lip balm is really heavy. That’s actually the reason I’m not really a fan of it. None of the other lip balms I use really have that weight to it when you apply it. So that takes a little bit to get used to.

The other thing I don’t always like about the lip balm is that you can feel it create a barrier on the lips. But that’s also a good thing. You can feel the moisture get locked into the lips so it really helps the dryness in a way I never really before. Plus at the same time, I’m sure the barrier is cause in part by the SPF aspect to the lip balm.

One of the nicest things about the lip balm is the fact I only have to apply it once or maybe twice a day. It’s not like other lip balms that wear off as the day goes on and you are reapplying it every few minutes to have comfortable lips. It is something that really lasts all day.

The weather has been extreme lately here in Pittsburgh so it’s taking a toll on my lips in additional to my own habit of picking at them. So it’s nice to know that the Jack Black will help to really treat the lips and help them heal. When they are really dry, this is the one that I’m leaning towards more then my Relish lip butter but for overall wear, I still find myself drawn to the Relish lip balm since it’s not as heavy on the lips and it also helps repair them a little quicker. But if you use the Jack Black, you aren’t likely to have those super deep cracks since they will always have that deep moisture.

I know this review is one of the less clear cut reviews that I done. But as I said, I’m not fully in love with this product although it really works. I can honestly say out of the lip balms on the counter (that I’ve tried): the Jack Black is a really good one but so is the Yube and the Relish. Now the Jack Black and the Relish retail at a slightly higher price than some of our lip balms at $7.50 but you are paying for a great product that lasts all day. Where Yube is cheaper at $5. Then from there I will go towards the Neutrogena lip and it’s a tossup with the Burt’s Bees lip balms (I used to love Burt’s Bees but it simply doesn’t work like it used to).