Sheetar.com

Kloverbox April 2016

By Sheetar 29 April 2016 30 April 2016

April’s Kloverbox arrived today (April 29th) just before the end of the month. They had emailed about a week ago to let subscribers know the box would be a little late, and I appreciate that! On the other side, I feel like this box is consistently late and misses being timely for the holidays or events they’re themed on – this month it was Earth Day themed which, Earth Day was last week, April 22nd. Still, even with the lateness, it’s been a great box, so I have a hard time faulting them for the lateness when the contents are awesome (themed or not).

Love Snack Pouch – set of 2 / $11.95 – (Full sized product) AHH! I love it. It’s like they knew I needed something like this. Sometimes I’m out for photography jobs all day and need to stash a snack in my bag. I hate using plastic baggies, so this is the answer to my situation, and I love the color they gave me, a simple navy and white stripe pattern. I know these will be used right away! They say they’re dishwasher safe, but it looks like they’re easy enough to clean out with sponge or towel quickly too.
Go Green Miracle Balm – 4 oz / $17.99 – (Full sized product) We just had a very similar item in February, but balms like this are ones I use frequently (oh my poor dry skin), so I don’t mind to see the same product again so soon. It doesn’t have much of a discernible scent, maybe faintly citrusy, which is fine! It’s a rather solid balm, but it’s easy enough to scrape out a little with the top of my fingernail and smooth it on. Just a wee pea sized amount covered my hands completely, so a little goes a long way, and it doesn’t feel greasy either.
Kali Organic Tampons & Wipette – 1 set / $3 – (Sample sized product) I really don’t like getting feminine hygiene products in subscription boxes. Hate it, even. They can’t possibly know whether or not I have a period and what my hygiene preferences are, if I even can use tampons, and that’s just SUCH a personal thing.. I don’t know. I have absolutely no use for these. They’re apparently part of a subscription box for tampons and wipettes, but again, no use for that, so.. *sigh*
Goodnessknows Cranberry, Almond, & Dark Chocolate Snack Squares – 1 bar / $1 – (Full sized item) They’re delicious! Looks like you can pick up an 18 count box for $21.50 on Amazon.com, which seems kind of expensive for a snack bar. Still, the combination of ingredients is really delicious and I’m glad to have the chance to try them.
Preserve Razor – 1 set / $8.50 – (Full Size Product) This was listed on the product card as a Kloverbox Overstock item, so it’s a little bonus from their back stock of products. I had received this razor in another color from another box, but man, you can never have too many razors. I was just lamenting too that I needed a new one since the blade was going dull on the old one, so this actually comes in at just the right time.

The total of the box this month comes to $42.44 which is coming out to about average to low for this box which costs between $25 and $22.50 depending on subscription length. It’s also a 5 item box instead of the usual four. I’m really happy with the balm and snack pouch set, so the cost of the box is definitely covered.

Subscription Boxes

Goodbeing (formerly Goodebox) Spring 2016 Bonus Box

By Sheetar 26 April 2016 26 April 2016

Every once in a while, Goodbeing does this bonus boxes to clear out their inventory of old products. Even though I cancelled, I still love these bonus boxes, so I jumped on it the second I got the email. The box cost $20 plus $5 shipping, ten items included at least two full size. Not a bad box! I’d gotten everything in the box before except the Juice Beauty Moisturizer and the Gia blush, but don’t mind seeing the Balanced Guru set again – the Nourish Me oil is probably my Holy Grail as far as subscription boxes go this year. I’ll probably be trading out/gifting the Curandera oil since I really can’t tolerate the smell. The Natural tanner is going too (I’m fair skinned, so tan just looks silly on me), as is the Davids Toothpaste (Stevia and I DO NOT get along). Even without those three products, the Balanced Guru set covers the $25 total cost, so I’m good with that! Oh the blush is WAY too pink for my rosy cheeks, but I figure it can be repurposed as an eyeshadow so I’m okay with that. Here’s a quick rundown of the contents plus values.

Davids Natural Toothpaste – 5.25 oz / $7.95
Curandera Remedies Kapalabati Cold and Sinus Oil .5 oz / $12.50
Poppy & Elle Hair Ties 3 ties / $4.20
SunTegrity Self Tanner .25 oz / $1.95
S.W. Basics Exfoliant .7 oz / $12
Gia Minerals Blush – 3 g / $18.75
Juice Beauty Oil-Free Moisturizer – .26 oz / $3.64
Balanced Guru Nourish Me Serum 1 oz / $22.99
Balanced Guru Tone It Lightly 1 oz / $9
Balanced Guru Face It Lightly – 1 oz / $10

The total value of the box is $102.98 which is pretty phenomenal. Even without the three products I won’t use, I’m still at $80.58 which is a pretty good return on $25!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 327

By Sheetar 23 April 2016 22 April 2016

This week’s Sepia Saturday featured a prompt image of a young Queen Elizabeth II and her sister. I didn’t quite have anything like it, but I do have a photo of a pair of sisters! This is another photo from the great Red Velvet Victorian Photo Album I’ve posted about before. I’m pretty sure the two girls are Kathleen Mary Rowe and Olga Maria Rowe. It’s actually kind of funny – I had run a bunch of photos through Picasa in an attempt to do some facial recognition and see what turned up. This one matched to Kate Battin, but it was much too young of a photo to be her. Kate married a man named George Thomas Rowe and had two daughters, so I figured this must be them! The photo does match up with photos of the girls when they were older too. Also, Kate was the only sister who stayed in England, so all of those circumstances combine to make me pretty sure these are my girls!

The photo itself is pretty neat from the maroon colored board the photo is mounted on to the gold lettering naming the studio, H. Hayman & Son of Launceston. The girls’ mother grew up in Lawhitton which is pretty close. As far as a date goes, Kathleen was born in 1905 and Olga in 1903, so if they’re about 10 years old, the photo was probably taken in 1915 give or take a year or two. The girls are wearing identical dresses and even have similar short haircuts, something I find a little odd for 1915. Still, it’s a great photo of the two of them, and one I’m glad my great great grandmother, Jessie (Battin) Powis saved!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 326

By Sheetar 16 April 2016 12 April 2016

A pretty easy prompt photo for this week’s Sepia Saturday! The prompt photo featured a series of portraits of a baby, and boy do I have baby photos since my great-great grandmother, Jessie Battin, was apparently obsessed with baby photos! There are a few that are identified, but many appear to be of friends – some may be family, but they’re unlabelled and baby photos can be so hard to match up to adult photos. In the above set are two labelled photos. On the left is Earl William Powis, born 15 October 1896 in Pennsylvania. On the right is Olga Mary Louise Powis, born 27 August 1900 in Pennsylvania. Even though they’re only 4 years apart, the photos were taken by different photographers and even used different gowns! The face on poor Earl just gets me though – what a grumpy little face he has on.

While I have lots of these old baby photos, I thought I’d finish off the post with these two. On the left is Harry Oscar Frederick “Fritz” Powis, born 1 May 1903 in Pennsylvania. On the right is an unidentified photo of two babies who I assume would be twins! It was probbaly taken around the same time as the others (late 1890-1910 or so) and was done at a studio in Pittsburgh, “J. H. Truxell.” All the photos here are from different photographers around central Pennsylvania – three from Coalport and one from Pittsburgh. So, to wrap it up, just a few old (over 100 years old!) baby photos to fit with the theme this week.

Subscription Boxes

Goodbeing (formerly Goodebox) April 2016

By Sheetar 15 April 2016 15 April 2016

Well, I think this is my next to last Goodbeing box. I cancelled my subscription last month when it became clear that the Rafiki bracelets were going to be a staple item in the boxes until.. well who knows. This just isn’t a product I want to see in a subscription box and especially not every month, and I’m really bummed about it because Goodebox had been my favorite subscription box! Since the rebranding and name change, I’m so sad that I can’t say that anymore, so it’s time to move on. That said, this box is one of the better ones of the last three with a good variety of products even if the value may be the lowest one I’ve ever received from Goodbeing/Goodebox. There’s also a cardinal subscription box sin – foil packets – so it’s still not a terrific box, but it’s better than the last two. Anyway, on to the contents!

Juice Organics Volumizing Shampoo & Conditioner – Set of 2, 10 oz tubes / $24 – (4 foil packet sample sets, total volume of 2.72 oz, value of $3.26 by volume) Arrrghhh foil packets! I can’t recycle these in my town, and would’ve honestly preferred two one-ounce tubes instead of foil packets. I guess it doesn’t matter either way since I won’t be using these. I have SUPER curly hair and the last thing I need is volume! I use products that weigh down my curls and keep them together, so this is the opposite of what I want to see in a shampoo. Oh well, they’ll go in the guest room goodie box.
MyChelle Sun Shield Clear Stick SPF 50 – .5 oz / $12 – (Full Size Product) PERFECT! Such a great time of year for this to show up, just as I’m getting back out to gardening and all kinds of outdoorsy stuff. Just the right size to stash in my everyday bag or set by the backdoor so I remember to actually put it on before going outside. The ingredient list is a physical blocker (Zinc Oxide) and a bunch of oils and butters, so beyond preventing sunburn, it also moisturizes like crazy to keep your skin hydrated. It’s even waterproof!
Meow Meow Tweet Tweet Makeup Remover & Cleansing Oil – 1 oz / $8 – (Mini sized product, actual value) A jojoba oil based makeup remover, something just perfect for me. I like using the oil cleansing method to remove makeup when my skin is super dry, and this is a nice mixture. It doesn’t have much of a noticeable scent to it, but that’s okay!
Han Eyeshadow – 3 g / $13 – (Full Size Product) I received the color, “Chocolate Bronze,” which is a warm brown color with a hint of gold shimmer. Really a lovely color – it’s a basic dark neutral that’s great to have.
Bonnie Pore Refining Rose Mask – 3 oz / $16 – (Sample is .7 oz, value of $3.73) You can tell there’s a rose scent in there right away, but then something else (willow bark maybe?) sets it off to smelling weirdly medicinal, oh and then the Jasmine (ugh, jasmine, my least favorite scent in the whole entire world). I’d probably like this better without the scent because the weird combination of the florals with whatever else is going on in there is really unpleasant to my nose, and it’s overpowering to keep this on long enough for it to dry. As a mask, it’s got some exfoliating bits in there, so it makes for a nice mask, but I’m almost glad this is such a small sample (maybe enough for two masks total) because I can’t stand the scent. The formula is a little more watery than I’d expect and it comes pre-mixed instead of in powder form. As far as the one I received, I don’t really need pore refining anyway and don’t have that need listed in my preferences – I have to assume that yet again, this was selected because of my age instead of my actual preferences.
Me to We Rafiki Bracelet – 1 bracelet / $10 (Full Size Product) The one this month was the Education bracelet in a pretty light blue color. Yet again, the cause is a good cause, I just don’t want the bracelet. Give me a card that says, “We donated $10 in your name,” and forget about the bracelet! These just aren’t my style, I don’t like them, and I don’t want them every single month. I want new and exciting things, not the same thing in every color of the rainbow.

Total value for the box this month is $36.99 which is extremely low for this box. Take out the bracelet (which, as they explained on Instagram is, “an added bonus it does not replace any items in the box”) and it’s down to $26.99 which just, and I mean just covers the cost of the box which costs between $19 and $21 depending on the length of your subscription. I actually had to do the numbers twice because the first time, I didn’t even believe the value was that low. Suddenly really glad I cancelled, but I wish I hadn’t sprung for the 6 month subscription in November. Why was this review so late? The box just arrived Wednesday of this week (April 13th). I had a tracking number and everything, but when I saw other people were receiving their boxes already and mine hadn’t moved from the pre-shipping stage, I contacted customer support who, in their defense, did fix it right away. I figure it might have had something to do my cancellation request but still having two remaining boxes on my subscription? I don’t know. Whatever happened, they did make it right, so kudos to their customer service team – I appreciate the quick response! So, that wraps up April’s Goodbeing box – I think I have one more left on that cancelled subscription to go before it’s done.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 325

By Sheetar 9 April 2016 9 April 2016

Another theme for Sepia Saturday that feels like it was made for me! While my boats carry the flag of Holland and aren’t being rowed under a bridge, this was just TOO good of an opportunity to pass up. In the photo above, we see an “aakschip” or quite literally, a “barge boat” in a canal in Holland, with the photo likely taken in the mid 1930s. Hilje Dijkema, my husband’s grandmother, is the person in the checkered print dress on the left, the person at center is likely her sister Ellechien and the man in the dark clothes to the right is probably Hendrik. The barge’s name is the “Vertrouwen” or “Trust” and was built in 1926 for Hendrik Dijkema, my husband’s great-grandfather. Hendrik is one in a long line of “turfschippers” or “peat boatman” but the translation doesn’t accurately explain what that is – the Dutch is just SO much more efficient here! Basically, Hendrik ran boats up and down the canal that carried peat logs used for heating fuel. The boat was primarily based out of Uithuizen, but likely went all over Groningen on deliveries. The family was based out of Uithuizen and I know from paper records that they had various homes there over time. Before the Vertrouwen, Hendrik had another ship, the tjalkschip Ebenhaezer. There is a short series of photos taken around the same time, so I’m going to go ahead and post them all!

Likely taken on the same day as the photo at top, here we can see the barge’s name, “Vertrouwen,” painted on the back. On the boat we have, left to right, Hendrik Dijkema, Elizabeth van Eerden, Hilje Dijkema, and Ellechien Dijkema. Again, probably about mid 1930, maybe a little before 1935 – Hilje was born in 1914, so if I guess she’s in her late teens, it puts the window between 1931-1934 if we guess she’s between 17 and 20. They’re all standing or sitting on the area of the boat that would’ve been the living quarters. Further to the left of the photo is the cargo area where the peat logs would’ve been stored with covers to keep them out of the elements. Based on the leaves on the trees, this looks like it was probably taken in the summer.

One last one! again, same time period, and from left to right we have Hendrik Dijkema, Elizabeth van Eerden, Jantje Oosting, and Hilje Dijkema. Jantje Oosting married Hilje’s brother Albert Dijkema in 1934, which further helps solidify the timeline. Together, the three photos give us a little glimpse into their life aboard these barges. During the winter, the canals mostly close down due to ice, so while they spent their winters in Uithuizen, the rest of the time was spent on these barges going all over the northeast of Holland. They’re really precious photos and I’m so glad they survived and are here to tell their story.

Subscription Boxes

Espionage Cosmetics BOOM!Box April 2016

By Sheetar 8 April 2016 14 August 2016

Another month of awesome by the nerd misfits at Espionage Cosmetics! The theme for the BOOM!Box this month was, “Fabled,” and yet again, another box full of items that fit the theme perfectly! Dragons and unicorns and faeries, OH MY! Sam Skyler makes another appearance this month, but this time she designed the amazing dragon nail wraps and the EC BOOM!Box logo sticker. Then we have the completely all new lip serum and everything shadow, a sugar scrub, notecards, unicorn soap, and TEMPORARY TATTOOS! So much awesomeness in one box, how do they even do it?!

I’m going to do this post a little differently than the others to show off more of the products, so here goes! Click any photo to embiggen.

I totally got excited when I saw this in the mailbox this afternoon. HERE COMES THE BOOM!

Two nail wraps! Mystical Mane was featured in the very first round of the Nerd Makeup Box beta testing at the end of the kickstarter campaign and I’m glad to see it included again! I was saving the first one for just the right occasion, but now that I have two, no excuses. The second wrap is ValknjÃ¶ggr, Odin’s dragon. It’s an absolutely gorgeous work of art (the design on the inside of the package is BEAUTIFUL) and I really can’t wait to wear these. Also included, as usual, is a nail file.

Wow. I mean, wow. The Unicorn Soap comes from Digital Soaps and is a glittery Unicorn head. The scent is, “Green Apple Explosion,” and it smells wonderful – fruity and sweet. It’s a glycerin soap that’s both vegan and cruelty free. AND! April 9th is National Unicorn Day, so it’s also a time-appropriate item to include. There’s even a coupon code included for 20% off your next order from Digital Soaps. On the bottom is a pinkish red pot of Rosina Leckermaul’s House of Sweets Candy Cleanse, Strawberry and Basil sugar scrub. It’s a nod to the witch from Hansel and Gretel, so it fits in perfectly with the theme. The scrub smells positively divine and it’s going straight into the shower. I’ll admit that I almost took a second shower today just to get a chance to use this!

Next up is the Espionage Cosmetics Crest sticker to show everyone your love of the BOOM!Box. The logo shows off so many different facets of what Espionage Cosmetics is all about and I’m pretty amazed that Sam Skyler fit all that awesomeness into one logo! I’m thinking this may end up getting put on my tablet case. On the right are three stationery cards and envelopes. Did you know April is National Letter Writing Month? Now you do! Perfect timing for including this. Each card has a beautiful mermaid design and mermaid quote.

TEMPORARY TATTOOS! I mirrored the image so you can see the tattoo the way it would look on your skin. They’re a lovely metallic gold color with one side being a pretty, swirly design with fairies sprinkled throughout, and the other side has quotes about fairies. In case that’s hard to read, they say, “Think Happy Thoughts,” “No one is too old for fairy tales,” and, “All you need is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust.” Too cute. It’s like Tinkerbell herself designed these! Two packets of the tattoos were included so I have one to play around with now and another to save for a special event or something. I LOVE that there are two – sometimes I hoard stuff like this because it’s too precious to be used just because, so having two means I can save one and use the other right away!

OH BOY. There was a teaser for this on instagram and it far exceeded my expectations! A BOOM!Box debut item is the new Lip Serum on the right called, “Banshee.” It’s blackberry and champagne scented and is this lovely violet color. These Lip Serums are pretty sheer, so it doesn’t look like a super dark purple on, it looks like just a hint of a berry color on me at least. On the left is another debut item, a new Everything Shadow color, “Rumpelstiltskin,” a stunningly perfect gold. Both fit in with the theme perfectly. Also included is a mixing pot – the shadow and serum can be mixed together to create a shimmery, mauve lip color. Can you even imagine the possibilities though? I’m dying to see how Banshee works with the purple glitter BAMF! or the hot pink Clairvoyant Everything Shadow.

And that’s it for this month! Another stellar box by the Espionage Cosmetics team, and while I can’t quite figure out a value since some of the items are so new and different, I do know it’s well above and beyond the cost of the box which is $25-30 depending on the length of the subscription. Between the nail wraps, serum, and shadow we’re already at $36.50, so that covers the cost of the box without even including the other goodies. You can’t put a value on receiving exclusive and brand new items before they’re released to the public, and that’s part of the fun of this box – the surprises and special products that subscribers get to try first. In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

Subscription Boxes

Whole Foods Beauty Bag

By Sheetar 4 April 2016 4 April 2016

This is I believe the second ever Whole Foods Beauty bag. It’s not heavily advertised and is only available in stores for a limited time, coinciding with their Beauty Week promotion. This isn’t really a subscription item since it’s a one-off thing, but I’m pretty happy with the value since the bag only cost $15!

evanhealy Rose Geranium Facial Tonic – 1 oz / $8.50 – It smells really nice! I’ll admit I don’t usually use products like this, but I can see stuffing it in my bag for a quick pick-me-up on a sticky hot day. It’s not overwhelmingly floral either – I think the geranium tones down the rose so that it smells more earthy-natural than a flower shop.
Burt’s Bees Sunset Cruise Lipstick – .12 oz / $9 – At first I thought, oh no, a coral color. Corals just don’t work with my skin tone, but this tips just close enough to berry that it’s actually something I’d use this summer. The formula is really moisturizing and isn’t sticky or drying like other lipsticks – I’d almost go as far as saying it’s more like a heavily pigmented balm than a lipstick which I rather like.
Trilogy Rosehip Oil Antioxidant – 30 mL / $41 – (Product is 10 mL, value of $13) I took the value off the full dollar value on Amazon.com since Trilogy didn’t list it on their website. If I had gotten this 10 years ago, I would’ve scoffed – oil on my already oil slick of a face? What time can do to a gal! Now I see oils like this and just about jump for joy since my face more resembles the Sahara than a plate of french fries. The oil doesn’t have much of a scent to it, and just a small drop goes a long way, so the value is pretty good. To see if it actually has an effect on wrinkles, I’d have to use it for a good long while, but even if it doesn’t make a visual difference, the oil keeps my dry skin at bay and that’s enough to make me happy!
Weleda Skin Food – .34 oz / $3.50 – I’ve gotten this as a sample before, and while I like the ingredients and effectiveness, I can’t get past the fact that it smells like industrial orange-scented cleaning products to me. I’ll still use it on my feet, but this just isn’t a product I’ve come to like even after getting repeat samples of it. It’s a shame, because it does work, but the scent is a total deal breaker for me.
MyChelle Perfect C Serum – .5 oz / $44 – (Product is .17 oz, value of $14.96) It smells sort of vinegary which makes sense being that the active ingredient is L-Ascorbic Acid. I’m always skeptical of these anti-aging claims products make, but the ingredient list is really solid, so I’ll still use it!
Mineral Fusion Lash Curling Mineral Mascara – .57 oz / $18.99 – YES! Another cruelty free mascara to try. I’ve had SO much bad luck with mascaras that make my eyes puffy and itchy and clog up my eyelids, so I tend to try and find more natural oriented mascaras that don’t contain some of the ingredients that are known irritants (cyclopentasiloxane, I’m looking at you). It’s not as thick as other mascaras, but it really stuck to my eyelashes and created a thick effect in one application. Usually mascaras in the crunchy-granola category require two applications to really build up, but this was definitely heavy enough in one. Once it dries, it doesn’t feel heavy on either. Super pleased with this!
Acure Pore Minimizing Facial Scrub – 4 oz / $12.99 – (Product is 1 oz, value of $3.25) It’s a pinkish red colored scrub that I’m worried may stain clothing since it’s clay based. This is definitely going for use in the shower, but I do like it as a nice scrub. It smells really nice and is just about the right texture – not too coarse, not too mild.
derma-e Purifying 2-in-1 Charcoal Mask – 1.7 oz / $19.50 – (Product is .5 oz, value of $5.73) The small container probably has about two masks worth of product in it. That said, it’s a nice charcoal mask since it exfoliates while you wash it off, giving double the value. It also didn’t feel drying like some other clay masks.
Dr. Hauschka Soothing Cleansing Milk – .34 oz / $4 – This smells SO good. It’s a cleansing milk, so it doesn’t foam, but is really nice and gentle and smells like lavender. The result is that washing my face with this, my face feels hydrated instead of stripped clean and I really like that.
Riji Green Organic Cotton Bag – 1 bag / $11.99 – The outside of the bag reads, “hello, beauty,” and is a dark grey color while the inside is a pretty red and yellow print with a brightly colored tassel on the zipper pull. It’s really a nice bag and it may replace my current travel cosmetic bag, it’s just that nice.

Overall value including the bag is $92.92! Pretty damn good for the cost of $15. The real winner, for me, is that mascara, but I’m definitely going to use up everything. Trilogy is a new brand as is evanhealy, so I got to see new products from favorite brands as well as some altogether new brands which is excellent. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this bag again next year!