Review: Key Power Flashlight Power Bank

This is another one of those purchases I’ve made that was acquired very quickly by my boyfriend. I had previously purchased a similar power bank with flashlight extension, but it was “too girly” for my boyfriend though he really liked the basic layout. When I received this power bank with built in flashlight, we charged it up right away, though it already looked to have a half charge of some sort because the flashlight did turn on.

He likes the metal body on the power bank. He plans to use it in his truck because he works an overnight shift and there have been times on occasion where he needs to check the fluid levels in his van and using his cellphone as a flashlight is just too awkward and the angle is poor. With this power bank, the light is super bright and it fits nicely in his hand, like a regular flashlight. Just to give you an idea of how bright this light is, he took it outside at night and tried seeing just how far the beam of light would go. It stretched a half acre across the yard and shone brightly into the woods next to our house. It would have kept going had the trees been further back as well. The beam of light is so concentrated that it was like a powerful little spotlight; much better than the competitor’s version I had picked up a few months ago. Well, let me tell you, he is thrilled with it.

Today, he went to New York City and he took this power bank with him. I have no doubt that he will use it on the trip because the train ride is fairly long and he likes to watch movies on long trips where he isn’t driving. This way, I know he will have a well maintained battery charge for his day trip. 3,000 mAh seems pretty standard for this size device and, while it’s not the largest power bank I’ve ever received, it is still enough to ensure 1 and a half or so full charges. These power banks are easier to travel with and the short USB cable that comes with it ensures a quick and decent charge each time.

Overall, this power bank is a good investment to have in case of travel and in emergencies. I believe this is a perfect dual-purpose option in the power bank competition and I would gladly purchase again because it is a decent price.

Please Note: I did receive this product at a deep discount in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. I also never guarantee a positive review on any product purchased in this manner.

Review: Comfy Solutions Down Alternative Pillows

These pillows are quite frankly, the best I’ve slept on in a long time.

Well, I just woke up from what has to have been the best nap I’ve had in a long, long time. Bottom line, the pillows you choose make or break a good nap and I’ve learned that the hard way. Unfortunately, if I would have realized it a lot sooner, I would have purchased these pillows on my own instead of at a discount in exchange for an honest review. When I get an item for review I never guarantee a positive review and will only post as such if I honestly feel the product meets my standards and the overall product description. I wanted to write the disclaimer first to explain to you how dead serious I am about these pillows.

For what I received today; two shrink-wrapped compressed pillows, I am wildly impressed. The pillows were wrapped up and boxed in an allergen reducing fashion and one that made for easy shipping. I loved this. It screams of a company that cares about their products. When I opened the box I thought, “how could there possibly be two pillows in here” but they quickly expanded into fluffy bundles of soft down alternative. Now, I love the scrunchability of down pillows, but I don’t like the feathers and the fact that down pillows make me itch. These pillows are marketed as firm, but they are really soft compared to the “rocks” I had been sleeping on. As a side sleeper, I love scrunching up my pillows, but the cheap ones from Walmart or even Kohl’s would lose their shape and take on a dense texture. These pillows are easily scrunched up, but fluff back up and smooth out nicely. They went right back to their original state.

Overall, I am looking into purchasing more of these hypoallergenic pillows and I will not be handing one of them over to my boyfriend as I had originally promised. I may be mean, but they are too nice to share. Two of them together make the perfect resting place for my head and I woke up feeling refreshed. I actually did not want to get out of bed I was so comfortable, and that hasn’t happened in a long time. I am looking forward to many more soothing and restful nights with these pillows. Sweet dreams!

Please Note: I received this deeply discounted product in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Evergreen Supply Tailoring Shears

These professional looking shears come in a nice hard case box with a plastic sleeve. They are very heavy and sharp and come with a layer of oil in between the blades to keep them operating smoothly and rust free upon receiving. I like the pointed ends, which make these very serious scissors that are not for kids. I also like the rubberized grip and, even as a leftie, they feel heavy yet balanced in my hand. The high carbon steel blades have stayed sharp with moderate use and on a variety of materials around the house, including paper and cloth. The cut is even and there is no resistance against the blades as it goes through the material.

These shears are the type of scissors that will be around for years and years, through hard use by the family. They will look great and feel great for years to come and I don’t foresee the blades dulling anytime soon. I have no had any issues with dull blades yet, even with cutting through paper. I like the angled blades that allow for flat cutting through fabric. It has always been important to me to keep the blades straight when cutting fabric laid out on a flat surface, as I had been taught, and with these scissors it is easier to manage the cut.

The price is exactly what I’d expect. For scissors that will last as an investent for a lifetime, I would gladly pay the price. I remember running off with my mom’s kitchen scissors when I was a kid and thinking just how much she would have loved a pair of scissors like these.

Please Note: I received this complimentary product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Pratico Stainless Steel Cups

These stainless steel cups were a huge hit with my boyfriend. He loves using them for smoothies and ice cold sodas. They keep the drinks colder for longer, like cans would, minus the actual can. It turns out that he prefers the metal construction, but cans of soda can get expensive when there is no sales going on. I wanted to review these in a last ditch effort to keep him from wasting a ton of money on canned soda when bottles were cheaper.

These stainless steel cups have become “his cups” for at home use and he uses them for every beverage he consumes. I like that it came in a two pack, but would have ultimately preferred a four pack. Either way, they are well constructed, durable, and worth the investment. These cups will be around for a long, long time. In the time span that he’s been using them and with hard use, they have not dented or scratched in the least. I like that there is a lip on the outside of the cup. These would be perfect for camping as I remember having similar, less durable cups in my days as a girl scout.

If you have the extra room in your gear, these cups are well worth every penny. They are a little on the small side for his at home use, but it is still a pretty standard size. They are currently being sold as a five pack, so they will set you back a little bit more than the two pack would have for me, but I think five is a more reasonable quantity for these cups.

Please Note: I received this complimentary product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Review: RTGS LED Micro String Lights

These LED lights are bright and I loved all the colors they came in. They are a little on the expensive side, but they are waterproof and have timers built in so you can use them outside and at night. The battery compartment takes three AA batteries, so these pack a serious punch. I received four colors (blue, pink, green, and red) and they all look super nice when lighting up my purple glass vase with some silk flowers in it.

These will be perfect for the holiday season, when I am looking at purchasing a tiny tree and want to have some sort of lights on it. These fairy lights fit into vases and bowls and look very nice in many different applications. The battery compartment, as it takes three AA batteries is a little too large to fit in my vase, but the attaching cord is long enough to hide behind the vase and still have all of the string lights inside. Maybe a good twelve inches of extra cording from the battery pack to the first light. The batter pack has a hole in it for hanging and these would look very nice back lighting a picture or frame on a wall.

I was a little concerned about the wires being durable because they are so thin, but they seem fairly durable. As an added bonus, the seller on Amazon has a wide variety of colors and lengths for all their string lights. They look lovely and are great for craft projects.

Please Note: I received these complimentary products in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Review: Xanadu 24K Gold Serum

This serum was very perfumey; I wasn’t sure I could get over the scent. It is like an eau de toilette, only requiring a little bit to get the full effect of the scent. The page says it’s supposed to smell like roses and while it does smell floral to me, it doesn’t remind me of roses. I would not use this product with other heavily scented products, as it was very strong. Once it dried, I could still smell it, but it wasn’t too bad. It seems to be just when it was drying that it was overpowering. I loved that it had actual gold flakes in it. While I didn’t notice it making my skin look shinier, I thought the serum was very moisturizing and felt lovely. My skin was not oily or greasy with continued use and, with the hyaluronic acid, my skin retained the moisture from the serum. The serum is cooling and soothing. I have had less expensive products that have done just as good of a job as this, without the added glow that this serum offers because of the gold in it.

I had quite a few problems getting the cap off. It did not want to pull or twist off the bottle. I cracked the cap because of this. It’s not really a big deal, but for the price, I would have liked the cap design to function better. The bottle itself is clear glass and it comes with a pump dispenser instead of an eye dropper. It is a nice little bottle design; very professional and easy to dispense. I can’t honestly say that I would buy it again, but I did feel like the product worked well enough for me. I think the price is crazy, but with the gold flakes in it I can understand why.

Please Note: I received this complimentary product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Sentey X360 Amplitude Earbuds

I originally ordered these earphones for myself when the opportunity to try them out came up. However, I decided that they should really go to my boyfriend as he needed a new pair of earphones. When they arrived, he immediately wandered off to the bedroom with them to watch a movie and try them out. These earphones are much, much louder than his previous pairs. He had been using poor quality Walmart earbuds, or a pair that I had gotten for free, and they always wind up destroyed and he’s then dishing out another ten dollars for another crappy pair in stores. He is always using earphones on the go and at home. He likes earphones with built in mics so he can answer calls on the go as well. He says these earbuds have “good bass, no distortion, good volume, and a comfy fit.” When I tried these earbuds myself, I have to agree that it does have great bass and a very crisp sound for percussion and sound effects.

These earphones do not appear to have a gold plated jack like the box states, but the jack’s housing is larger than typical and looks pretty strong. It fits into his phone with the case on securely, but it wouldn’t fit into mine with my phone case on. It seems these earbuds work with certain cases and not others. The earphone piece itself isn’t as bulky or stick out as far as other earphones we’ve tried, and my boyfriend is very, very picky about this kind of quality. We did our usual test to see if I could detect any sound when he used them. While they were much louder to me and I heard sound loudly (the volume was turned all the way up), he couldn’t hear anything I said, so while other people can hear them, the user can’t hear any outside noise. To him, that is the true mark of a good quality set of earphones.

These earphones are definitely worth the price; especially with the built in mic. My boyfriend was often paying a similar price for earphones, without the mic, at gas stations, when he needed a fast replacement. I would buy these again.

Please Note: I received this deeply discounted product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Review: Cozyna Eden French Press

Cozyna makes a great french press! I’ve had the opportunity to try this press out and it passed the test of brewing loose leaf tea with flying colors.

The whole press comes apart for easy cleaning when you turn the knob as a screw top. The filter, plunger, and pitcher spout all come apart. I had no issues getting the thing apart. The glass beaker is nice because you can see exactly when your tea or coffee is finished brewing, it just comes with a warning not to plunge too fast because the hot liquid might spill out. The plunger was easy to push down on lightly and my tea was perfectly strained. There were no bits of tea leaf floating around in the beaker.

I made just enough tea for one cup and, if you’re looking to make a lot of coffee at one time, this really isn’t the way to go. However, it does make a good brew. Just add boiling hot water and see. My tea was darker and more flavorful after steeping this way as opposed to microwaving the mug of water. All in all, my first french press experiences were easy peasy and I had a great time. Now, I can make expensive coffee beverages that are more flavorful and full-bodied than just brewing in the standard drip coffee maker.

Cozyna’s glass french press also makes me feel kind of like a mad scientist-barista. The press is exquisitely beautiful and well crafted. The price is comparable to a cheap, low-end coffee maker. Yet in the end, you don’t have to mess around with disposable filters that can collapse and leave grounds in your coffee.

Please Note: I received this complimentary product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Two Meows Cat Litter Mat

My little brat cat, Austin, usually gets a kick out of throwing his cat litter out of the box when he hurdles out of it like an Olympic athlete. I was often having to sweep up a pile of cat litter every day, sometimes a few times a day because I don’t want it getting all over the rest of the floors in the house. But what do I do? Most other cat litter mats are too small to cover the area that he chucks litter onto and I wasn’t about to spend more money on something that I knew wouldn’t work. When I was approved for this campaign, I was needless to say, pretty hopeful that it would work out.

This cat litter mat is huge! Maybe a foot and a half wide and a foot long. The dimensions are more than adequate for any sized box you may have. The texture of the mat is a soft, spongy silicone-like fiber and the color makes litter undetectable unless you’re really examining it. This was perfect. Even if Austin still throws litter out of the box, it won’t be skittering across the floor. I wont have to see it other than flipping the mat over the box and shaking the stray bits if litter out. It is cute and paw shaped, but I really don’t think it’s necessary and it would work just as well if it was a regular square or rectangular shape.

You can find this cat litter mat on Amazon here and at a price that is well worth it if you’re in a situation like me. You can let your little Olympian fuzz-ball be free to “catify” the box, but maintain your sanity when it is time to clean up.

Please Note: I received this complimentary product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Review: Magnesium Ease

According to WebMD, magnesium, responsible for regulating many functions of the human body, is fairly easy to come by. However, the standard American diet yields poor rates of mineral and vitamin absorption through diet alone. Magnesium also affects the inflammatory fighting response of the body, which lowers the risk of major chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease. It can help prevent high blood pressure in those with prehypertension and prevents complications in pregnancy. So why doesn’t magnesium get more credit? Severe magnesium deficiencies are rare, but it is still possible to feel the effects of lowered magnesium levels.

Magnesium Ease is the easiest form of magnesium delivery that I have found yet. I soak in epsom salt baths regularly, but find the effectiveness of this treatment requires a lot of repeated bathings. I use Magnesium Ease in between salt baths to keep my inflammatory responses down. However, it does sting quite a bit on dry or irritated skin as the magnesium chloride battles the bacteria, though only temporary. My problematic skin, from acne to psoriasis, is not as inflamed or irritated with magnesium treatments. The palms of my hands are actually almost back to looking normal.

My blood pressure has also dropped quite dramatically and rapidly; at least 10-20 points on the systolic and 10 points on the diastolic. My blood pressure, which I have to take medication for, was stuck in the prehypertension stages for years. Now I am delighted to report that it is back in the normal, healthy range. My blood pressure has been stabilized solely due to topical magnesium; I have not changed any other part of my routine, diet, or weight. My anxiety has been greatly lessened, again without change to any existing routine factors. And no more headaches or body aches! I had been battling chronic migraines, headaches, and body aches for the last four months and I am happy to report that they have been greatly diminished or even nonexistent. I used this product after hauling several bundles of newspaper and mailer inserts into and out of the back of a delivery van, something which usually has me crying in pain after I’m finished. I was able to get right to sleep and, when I woke up, I wasn’t in any pain. It was quite remarkable to me.

I am in awe over how effective this product has been for me. I’ve gotten my life back and I feel so much better than where I was a few months ago. I am sleeping better and am happier with each passing day. I also like that this topical form of magnesium is pretty safe and, while is doesn’t beat a diet rich in magnesium, even a few sprays can make a difference.This topical form absorbs quickly, provided the layer is thin enough, and I like the spray application. You can feel the textural difference of this spray against your skin, it applies like water, but is ever so slightly slick or even sticky while drying. This bottle will last me a long time and, if you’re looking for convenience without the time consuming bathing, I think the price you pay for this product is well worth it. I would certainly purchase it again when I run out.

Please Note: I received this deeply discounted product in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.