Sheetar

Espionage Cosmetics Nexus – August 2016

By Sheetar 8 August 2016 7 August 2016

This month’s theme was, “Bedtime Stories,” and yet again, they find the neatest little corners of the theme to bring to life in two spectacular nail wraps. I had a feeling from a little spoiler earlier on that this shipment would probably include the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, but you really never know exactly how it’s going to be executed which is part of the surprise.

Paint The Roses Red – A glossy nail wrap with splashes of red painted on white roses, a nod to a song from Alice and Wonderland, designed by the marvelous Sam Skyler. In case you need an earworm, here you go! I do have a fondness for the somewhat more subtle nail wraps because I get a kick out of finding fellow fans at the weirdest times, much like how I found out that the gal who sells me vegetables at the farmers market is JUST as into Ghostbusters as I am when she saw my Ectoplasm nail wraps last weekend and we had a little nerd-out moment together. It’s like being in a secret, awesome club of glitter and geekery.
Emerald City Attire – Blue and white check sets the field for red poppies and a ruby-red glitter accent nail wrap. I don’t think I even need to go into how well this fits with the Wizard of Oz theme – it’s just perfect! Dorothy’s dress, and the field of poppies, and ruby red slippers, OH MY!

The nail wraps usually cost $10 each on the Espionage Cosmetics website, so the value definitely exceeds the cost of a month-to-month subscription at $15 per month. Subscribers then vote for their favorite of the two, and the winner goes on to regular sale on the website. That means Nexus subscribers get a super limited edition nail wrap that will never be produced again! I don’t think the September theme has been announced yet, but I’m psyched to see what they’re up to for next month. In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

Subscription Boxes

Loot4Fangirls

By Sheetar 7 August 2016 7 August 2016

This is a little late going online, but I think the Loot4Fangirls crate is still available, so for $65, you can get this awesome haul. If you want to use my referral link, click here!

I have a current subscription to LootCrate already, but lately have been skipping months that aren’t interesting to me. I’ll admit that my interest in geeky and nerdy fandoms is fairly narrow and specific, so the regular monthly LootCrates don’t always appeal to me, but it’s awesome to have the option to skip a month once the theme and franchises are revealed. I really love that LootCrate gives their subscribers that option. Anyway, once they announced the Loot4Fangirls, I KNEW I was going to be in, no matter what was inside. Geeky ladies are really starting to have bunches of products just for them in the world of nerdery, so it’s exciting to see LootCrate put together a box just for us! The dress alone would probably retail for about $45 based on other Her Universe dresses, so I know the value exceeds the cost of the box which, as a pre-order, cost me $54.99 plus shipping for a total of $58.29.

Women of Marvel Skater Dress by Her Universe – I was so glad to see this come in plus sizes. I ended up sizing up from my normal size and while the fit wasn’t perfect (too big on the top but the bottom half was fine), it’s the same level of imperfect fit I have with all commercial clothing. Apparently plus size gals are supposed to have err, huge tracts of land, and since I don’t, there’s a lot of excess fabric in the top that leads to gaping at the armholes and a waist that falls three inches below where it should. It’s a fairly easy fix for a nerd who also sews (take up the straps and a little bit in at the arm holes), so all in all, this worked out just fine and I’m super thrilled to have this included in the box! The fabric is a decent weight too and super comfortable with a pair of leggings. What a perfect print to have on a dress for a Fangirls box.

Borderlands Nail Wraps by Espionage Cosmetics – A brand I know and love, Espionage Cosmetics has largely replaced nail polish for me, so it’s great to see a nail wrap from them included in this box. While I’ve never played the Borderlands games before, this design, Moxxi, is exclusive to the box, super pretty AND glows in the dark. With a good top coat, the nail wraps typically last just about two weeks for me and have the bonus effect of keeping my nails protected and making them stronger in the long run.

DC Bombshells Wonder Woman Mini-Figure by Cryptozoic Entertainment – Exclusive to the Loot4Fangirls box was this cute Wonder Woman figure with metallic details. The original has yellow accents, but the gold was a special run just for LootCrate. Wonder Woman was one of my heroes as a girl, so it’s neat to have this figure of her in the box. The 1940s pin-up styling works really well too and makes this unique in the world of vinyl figures.

The Walking Dead Michonne/Carol Charm Wrap Bracelet by Love and Madness – YESS! One of my favorite shows and I love the charms on this. It pays homage to two of the toughest women in the show and was a perfect item to add to the box. The wrap style even has two extra buttons so you can customize the fit which is a nice bonus.

Star Trek Uhura Clutch Bag by A Crowded Coop – Probably my favorite item in the entire box, this clutch features the Star Trek 50th anniversary logo and even has a keychain with enamel charms showing Uhura and the Enterprise as well as three little fuzzy tribbles. Every last little detail on this is PERFECT and I cannot wait to take this out somewhere.

“Fangirls: A Coloring Book For Girls That Like Stuff” by Her Universe Press – Included along with the coloring book, designed by Katie Cook and Ashley Eckstein, was a set of colored pencils. It’s a substantial book with over 50 coloring pages of all types of fangirls and their interests. The addition of the colored pencils was a really nice touch!

The product sheet also included four stickers which was a nice little bonus, including a nod to Captain Marvel with the quote on the bottom center sticker.

Overall, I’m really happy with what arrived and would definitely be in for another Fangirls box from LootCrate. I’d probably even be interested in a Fangirls monthly box from LootCrate if they can swing it since this was really spectacular! Maybe even a quarterly thing? C’mon LootCrate!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 342-a

By Sheetar 6 August 2016 6 August 2016

Our Sepia Saturday format has changed a little for the month of August. Instead of one image per week, we have one image for the whole month and are welcomed to post as much or as little as we like during the month. It feels a bit odd for me to use one image as the source of inspiration for the whole entire month, so I think I’m going to go on-theme for the first post and then choose photos off-theme for the other three weeks. Our prompt image is a lovely, billowy wedding photo, and of course I have more than one wedding photo, but this one felt right to include this week. My photo here is of the marriage of Garret Fylstra and Gertrude Meyer on 31 March 1926 in Paterson, New Jersey. They were married by the Rev James Holwerda at the Christian Reformed Church of Midland Park, New Jersey. Our happy couple is on the left side of the image while their two witnesses, James de Waal Malefyt and Jessie Meyer on the right. Jessie is Gertrude’s sister and James married Jessie and Gertrude’s cousin not even a year prior. To make things a little more complicated, their cousin was also their step sibling since after Jessie and Gertrude’s mother died, their father married their mother’s sister who had also just lost her spouse. It makes for an interesting and complicated family tree but wasn’t something completely unheard of during that time.

Gertrude is my husband’s grandmother, and she lived to age 93, passing away on 4 November 1996. She outlived her husband by almost 30 years, and they had 9 children together, two of whom didn’t live past infancy. My photo may not be quite as billowy and romantic as our prompt image, but it’s a pretty wedding nonetheless!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 341

By Sheetar 30 July 2016 30 July 2016

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt featured a group of people touring a cavern in England. Well, here I have my grandpa, Leon Kitko, grandson of immigrants from England, who, having made his own canoe out of salvaged parts, is taking a tour of a reservoir somewhere in Central-Western Pennsylvania. I’m told he was rather pleased with himself for having made the canoe all on his own.

As you can see, he even figured out the rudder and motor all by himself too, and judging by the grin on his face, was having a great time puttering around with this canoe! I think you can see better in this photo how the canoe wasn’t all one piece originally and that it’s a variety of different pieces of metal welded together to make the final form. It wasn’t very pretty, but clearly, it worked!

Subscription Boxes

Glossybox July 2016 + Bonus Boxes

By Sheetar 28 July 2016 6 August 2016

My first ever subscription box was Glossybox which I ended up dumping since they really didn’t cater much to me. So why did I subscribe again? Last month they were offering a Buy-One-Get-Two-Free deal and it seemed pretty well worth it! For only $21, I got three boxes – one is the current July box above and the other two free boxes I received were the June Tony Awards box and January 2016’s box. Everything was shipped together in one box and arrived yesterday, 26 July 2016. I’ll post the other two below along with their contents, but first, the July Box!

Fango Essenziali Moisturize Sheet Mask – 1 mask / $7 – (Full size product) It’s a bigger packet than I expected, larger than my hand. I do have dry skin, so this should be excellent to try since it claims it’s a remedy for parched, dry skin. CHECK!
Glov Quick Treat – 1 packet / $5 – (Full size product) You can’t tell from the packet what it is, but it’s a microfiber cloth shaped to fit over your finger. It seems much like the Makeup Eraser cloth I received from the Benevolent Beauty Box this month, but sized for just one finger instead of a whole cloth. I’m glad it’s reuseable and washable and all, but this teeny little thing seems a little silly when you can have a whole cloth for not much more cost.
Leighton Denny Miracle Mist – 75 mL / $16 – (Full size product) I’m honestly pretty interested to see how this works. My nails are already painted so I don’t need to use it right away, but the idea that it might save me from my impatient self and help nudge my nail polish to dry faster is pretty appealing.
Too Faced Melted – .4 oz / $21 – (Sample size product, value of $8.40 by volume) I already have this exact same product and size from the Ulta 11 Piece Lip Sampler from earlier this year and I have no reason to have two even though it is a nice color, so this is going to be saved for a friend.
Nuxe Shimmering Huile Prodigieuse – 3.3 oz / $54 – (Full size product) The most expensive item in the box and well over and beyond covers the cost of the subscription. I’m not all that thrilled about it since it is basically a sparkly gold blend of oils. The sparkle doesn’t really show up on the skin since it’s a really fine glitter, but I noticed on the hang tag on the bottle that it can be used on hair too, and since all the ingredients check out, I think I’m going to use this to help give my dry hair a little boost on days I don’t wash it.
Eyeko Fat Eye Stick – 4 g / $12 – (Full size product) I received the color, “Satin,” and this product appears to be altogether discontinued – I couldn’t find it on the Eyeko website at all. The color is sort of a silvery bronze and has a decent shimmer to it. I’ll definitely use it, but I always feel like when they throw in discontinued items like this that it’s a bit of a cop-out – if I wanted another color of this, I couldn’t buy it since it doesn’t exist anymore.

This box’s value comes to $102.40 which is pretty damn incredible. Outside of the liquid lipstick, I’ll use everything in here, and would’ve used the lipstick too if I didn’t have the exact same color already. Now on to the bonus boxes which I’ll keep short and sweet with no individual reviews, just a product list and value.

Glossybox January 2016 Bonus Box #1

Royal Apothic Cream Creme – 1.25 oz / $14 – Full size product (in scent, “Venetian Grove”)
MeMeMe Lip Glide – 1 stick / $12.50 – Full size product (in color, “Playful Peach”)
-417 Foot Nourishing Cream – 3.4 oz / $18 – Product is 1.7 oz, value of $9 by volume
Beautiful Nutrition Lemon Rinse – 13.3 oz / $10 – Product is 2 oz, value of $1.50 by volume
Emite Diamond Heart Primer – 35 mL / $29 – Product is 15 mL, value of $12.43 by volume

Total value of $49.43. The Lip Glide is the wrong color for me (too coral/yellow toned), the Lemon Rinse has no-no ingredients for curly hair, but I like everything else.

Glossybox June 2016 Tony Awards Bonus Box #2

Sinful Colors Nail Polish – .5 oz / $3 – Full size product (in color “After Dark”)
Tan Towel – 10 towelettes / $27 – 2 towelettes, value of $2.70
Icona Milano Emotion Allowed Mascara – .34 oz / $19 – Full size product
LA Splash Lip Gloss – .2 oz / $18 – Full size product (in color, “Red Carpet”)
Sebastian Whipped Creme – 5.3 oz / $20 – Product is .9 oz, value of $3.40 by volume
Sebastian Dark Oil – 3.2 oz / $48 – Product is .06 oz, value of $.90 by volume
Caolion Pore Pack Duo – 1 set, 1.75 oz / $30 – Product is .4 oz total, value of $6.86 by volume

Total value of $53.86. I’ve heard terrible things about the tan towel, plus I don’t use fake tanners anyway. The two hair products both contain no-no ingredients for curly hair, and the mascara contains cyclopentasiloxane which irritates my eyes. But hey, at least I’ll keep the nail polish, lip gloss, and will try the pore pack? See, this is part of the reason why I stopped my subscription with Glossybox.. So many boxes had products I couldn’t/wouldn’t use since I’m just not the intended audience. Oh and the lip gloss appears to be a discontinued item – I can’t find it on the company’s website.

Overall, for $21, I got all that, even if a bunch of the products are complete misses. Thankfully July’s box had a super high value because if I had received the other two boxes as the primary box, I’d have been rather disappointed. The first spoiler for August is up already, and I’m interested enough to let the subscrption ride for one more month. If you enjoyed my review and wanted to send me some referral love, here’s my link!

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2016 – Week 10

By Sheetar 26 July 2016 25 July 2016

Still playing catch-up, but here’s One Local Summer week 10! I had originally looked up recipes for Polenta Pizza, and came up with a recipe that had that name, but it much more resembles cornbread pizza than polenta pizza. I figure once you add anything other than water and butter/oil to cornmeal, especially when the extra ingredients are flour and baking powder, it ends up being cornbread and not polenta. Still, for cornbread pizza done in the cast iron skillet, this was pretty decent! I think the blue cheese and chorizo actually worked out well with the cornbread base so it wasn’t a traditional pizza on top of cornbread. The quick jolt near the end of cooking under the broiler was really key to really bubble the cheese on top, and the crust ended up with a nice, crunchy bottom (not burnt, just nicely well-baked). The leftovers are even good!

The recipe came from here (http://www.simplehealthykitchen.com/skillet-margarita-polenta-pizza/) and let’s forgive them for the misspelling of Margherita because even though the recipe was a little misleading, it was still good and cooked up as specified!

Ingredients:
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Cornmeal – Mill at Anselma
Smoked Chorizo – Countrytime Farm
Tomatoes – Jack’s Farm
Basil – My Garden
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow Farm
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Egg – Deep Roots Valley Farm
Non Local – Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Baking Powder

Subscription Boxes

Benevolent Beauty Box July 2016

By Sheetar 25 July 2016 25 July 2016

July’s Benevolent Beauty Box arrived in the mail today! I have to say, I’m pretty happy with this box yet again. There’s a good selection of items, and even though the highlighting powder broke in shipping, the product is all still in there, so it’s no loss. Hey, it’s super hot, the mail carriers don’t exactly treat every box like glass, and it’s powder anyway, so really, no big deal. I was able to press the pieces back into the compact, so even though it might not look perfect, it’s still the same product. The lip glaze was the spoiler product this month and I’m SO SO glad I got the bright red color. Anyway, before I go on too much, on to the products!

Mirabella Mineral Highlighting Powder – 7.5 g / $40 – (Full Size Product) I received the color, “Glowing Coral,” which is a peach sort of tone. I’m not big into highlighters since I don’t generally do a full-face foundation and this is a touch too sparkly to be using as a highlighter, in my opinion. However, I think the color would make a great eyeshadow base since it’s just a wee bit lighter than my natural skin tone, so it’s not going to waste! It did arrive in pieces, but again, with the heat and being jumbled around in shipping, it was bound to happen, but at least it all stayed in the compact and didn’t spill all over and was easy enough to press back into place.
Makeup Eraser Mini – 4 pack / $30 – (Single cloth value is $7.50) I love the idea of a nearly infinitely reuseable and washable cloth for removing makeup, but why does it have to be pink?! In case you missed it, pink is my least favorite color in the world and I go out of my way to avoid ANYTHING pink. Still, I’m eager to see if this actually works using just water, no soap, to remove makeup which will be especially great around my eyes since I tend to be super sensitive to nearly everything. I’ll be sure to post an update here after I have a chance to give it a try!
Plain Jane Beauty Conceal Stick – 2 mL / $13.95 – (Full Size Product) I received the shade, “Moonstone,” which is really just a hair too light for me, I think. It might be okay once we’re back to winter pale, but during peak summer, it’s just a little too light. It does work though as an under-eye concealer and it contains tea tree oil, so if you’re using it to cover blemishes, it helps to get rid of them at the same time.
Face Atelier Lip Glaze Petite – 7.5 mL / $17 – (Full Size Product) I received the color, “Mystique,” which is this beautiful perfect stunner of a red. It goes on much like lip gloss, but the pigmentation is really incredible and not like a gloss at all. I’m absolutely loving this, and it’s definitely my favorite product out of the box.
Earth’s Beauty Shea & Aloe Lipstick – .14 oz / $15.95 – (Full Size Product) I received the color, “Summer Quartz,” and it’s a shimmery nude-ish pink that goes on very sheer. It means it’s a rather nice everyday sort of color that won’t be too much, plus with the moisturizing ingredients, it feels really smooth on.
Medusa’s Makeup Eyeshadow – 2 g / $8 – (Full Size Product) I received the color, “Electro Purple,” and hooboy is it purple. It does go on lightly and isn’t as pigmented as it seems in the container, but it builds up nicely if you want a super crazy purple. There’s LOTS of glitter in this too!

Overall value is $102.40 for a six item box which is pretty incredible. The box costs $29.95 for a month-to-month subscription, so the value is amazing in comparison to the cost. Super happy this month, looking forward to see what’s in store for August!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 340

By Sheetar 23 July 2016 20 July 2016

For this week’s Sepia Saturday, something a little silly! These photos were in a group of photos that appear to have been taken during my paternal grandpa’s senior class trip in High School in about 1951. The senior class of the Beccaria Coalport Irvona High school (commonly known as BCI) went on a trip to Washington, D.C. in 1951 just before they graduated. We even have the class photo taken in DC as well as a newspaper clipping that mentions that says, “Seniors returned home Thursday night from a three-day sightseeing tour of Washington, D. C.,” in an article dated Saturday, 2 Jun 1951.

Boys will be boys, right? I can be pretty sure my grandfather took both of these photos since he’s not in either of them, but the painting of flowers on the wall confirms they were taken in the same room, probably a hotel in Washington, D.C. They’re all likely classmates, though I’m not sure exactly the names of the boys since the photos aren’t labelled. I could probably figure it out by going through his yearbook, but it would be hard to be completely sure. Either way, it’s a nice fit for the prompt image, and what I’m sure was a fun night far from home for these kids who had probably never left their small coal mining town before. Looking forward to next week!