Sepia Saturday 275: Cables, Wires, Ladders, Workers
Kickstarted – Espionage Cosmetics
I thought it might be time to start reviewing Kickstarter rewards/projects on ye olde blog since I’ve funded a bunch of them recently and have so far been pretty pleased with the experience! I know it’s a risk, but it’s a wonderful way to support local or awesome businesses and get a little something in return.
The first one is Espionage Cosmetics’ Nailed It! But Wait… There’s MOAR! campaign. Their first campaign helped them expand their line and hire new employees (job creators!), and this new campaign was an extension of the first campaign with new nail wraps, fun designs and rewards. I missed the first one and had never tried a nail wrap, but loved the designs and couldn’t wait to jump in.
My Pledge: Zoe Washburne, $150 level (I initially pledged at a lower level and upped my pledge last minute as more rewards were unlocked)
The Goods: Goodie bag (bag, sticker, pin, humidor), t-shirt, 12 u-pick wraps, 1 random wrap, 5 Baker Street Wraps, 5 Lunar Phase wraps, digital wallpaper, add-on access, 1 month Nerd Makeup Box. (Image at top shows all but the Nerd Makeup Box)
Review: SUPER happy with how they handled everything. Communication was timely, the use of Backer Kit to manage selections made things REALLY easy and I never had a problem once during the process. Everything arrived in a shiny silver padded envelope, packed with a sweet thank you card signed by the team members which was a nice personal touch. There were regular updates on instagram and email about the shipping process so I knew when to expect everything. The last part, the Nerd Makeup Box, arrived just this past week and now I’m wishing I had signed up for more months.
This is already an established business with a solid customer base, so I wasn’t worried about the project not getting funded or items not arriving as promised. If anything, the value of the rewards far exceeded the cost, so I’m VERY happy with that (each nail wrap is $10-$12 on their website, so the nail wraps more than cover my pledge). The nail wraps are thicker than I had expected and pretty easy to apply. They peel off easy enough when you’re done with them (I can get a little over a week of wear on a wrap before they start to chip/wear off, but I’m a colossal klutz), and seem to do no damage to my nails. Each wrap set has 14 individual wraps to fit all sorts of nail shapes and sizes. The extra can be saved in the humidor (basically a waterproof, air proof bag) to be used later for accent nails or for an eclectic mix and match.
The last bit of the rewards, like I mentioned above, was the Nerd Makeup box, a new initiative launched with this Kickstarter campaign. This is a special trial before they go live to the public, so it was really fun to be included in this Beta test. They go into detail about the cost of the subscription for later months, but you always get four nail wraps which will ALWAYS cover the cost of the box regardless. The first box included these lovelies, my favorite of which is the cherry blossom one since we’re finally starting to see spring around here. Also included is a lip serum and mixing palate with instructions on how to mix your lip serum with mineral eye shadow to create fun colors.
Final Verdict: A+++++++++ would kickstart again. The company is amazing, they’re organized, run by women, and support and encourage fandom and nerdery of all sorts. While my kickstarter rewards will undoubtedly last me a long time, I can guarantee they’ve gained a new loyal customer as a result of the kickstarter campaign.
Sepia Saturday 274: Coal, Power, Horses, Carts
This photo is of an actual shovel in use at an unknown mine somewhere in Clearfield County, PA. The machine is a Bay City shovel – the company is still in business, though doesn’t make this particular machine anymore. Based on the photo type, this was probably taken around the same time as the others (maybe a year or two later than the first two). You can see the machine is pretty beat up and had probably seen better days, something I’d pretty much expect for a coal mine. This is likely one of the many machines Leon based his toys on, having seen his uncles and neighbors go to work in various mines. The most common type of mining done in that area is Strip Mining, in which the ground is stripped away from the coal deposit, leaving behind what looks like a large inverted cone shape in the earth. Driving around, you can still identify old strip mines based on shape alone – any perfect, unnatural slope with trees planted at even intervals was likely once a strip mine. Between the physical scars, the environmental scars, and the emotional scars (families who saw the loss of loved ones from accidents, black lung, etc), coal mining leaves behind a pretty dark legacy throughout Pennsylvania. For my grandfather at the time though, it was a thing of wonder to see machines that large move the earth with such ease.
Goodebox April 2015
April’s box is here already! It actually arrived on April 2nd, but I’ve been so busy, I haven’t found the time to blog about it yet. March disappeared so fast, and suddenly it was April and there was another fun box in my mailbox. The box is about gearing up for Spring and celebrating Earth Day this month with some eco accountability. They also talked about their beauty product container recycling program in conjunction with Terracycle which is something I hadn’t heard about before! Really a neat program and a great way to encourage recycling. We’re lucky enough that our program at home takes all kinds of plastics, so I can recycle almost everything and almost always fill the recycling bin before the trash bin. Anyway, onto the box!
- Suntegrity 5 in 1 Natural Moisturizing Face Sunscreen – 50 mL / $45 – (Sample is .25 oz, 7.39 mL, value of $6.65 by volume, or sample tube on website is $4.95) I am all about what this sun screen stands for! Physical blockers vs chemical blockers, absolutely! However, I would prefer it just being a sunscreen instead of being a BB cream as well. I still haven’t found a BB/CC cream I like since I don’t use foundation practically ever and don’t like the way it feels on my face. If it were just a sunscreen, I’d be fine with that, but all the extra functions that I don’t need/care for are lost on me (I’m usually running around getting dirty and have no need for a BB/CC cream on a daily basis – I pretty rarely wear makeup anyway). The tint I was given was “Light” which matches really well with my skin tone, but, it still feels bizarre on. I’m SO picky about what goes on my face if I’m using it all over because anything that feels like it’s there bothers me to no end, and at this point, I’d still stick with my SPF moisturizer over a BB cream like this. It just feels too thick and plasticky much like other creams that do the same thing. I am glad it was included as a sample though in my quest for a good everyday face cream, but it misses the mark. Make this in a moisturizer without the tint and I’d be far more interested!
- Portland Bee Balm – .15 oz / $2.99 – (Product is full size, full value!) LOVE the formula, don’t like the mint (but I don’t like mint in general, so..). It’s a thicker balm and really sticks around for a while which is what I like about beeswax based balms. I definitely prefer natural beeswax over mint, so I might have to try that out. Still, this will get used up in short order since the mint isn’t too overpowering and seems to fade away quickly, and I love the fact that they support beekeeping and beekeepers.
- Preserve Razor – 1 razor & 2 blades / $8.50 – (Product is full size, full value!) My first thought was, “Wait.. a razor? Weird..” But that quickly changed into, “Hey, a razor, made of recycled yogurt cups that can be recycled too!” Really a neat product to include in the box this month! It’ll no doubt be used, and I’ll probably end up keeping this in my travel bag since the packaging doubles as a case to keep it clean and dry. I didn’t get a chance to try them on my legs yet, but I can see this getting a good bit of use over the summer. Such a smart product all around. It looks like refills run around $5 for four cartridges which isn’t too bad either.
- Modern Minerals Mineral Eye Shadow – .17 oz / $12.50 – (Sample is .035 oz, value of $2.57) I’m already a fan of Modern Minerals eye shadow from another box, but this color, Starry Night, is out of this world! It’s an amazing metallic blue-purple that seems to change colors depending on the light and I cannot wait to use it for a nice evening out. I’m actually a big fan of the smaller container since I go through eye shadow pretty slowly, this is the right size to try out fun, wild colors without having too much hanging around.
- Gressa Treat Renewing Polish – 50 mL / $38 – (sample is 7.5 mL, value of $5.70) I already love Gressa for their lip colors, and the second I opened this container, I loved them for their skin products too because this smells AMAZING. I had to try it out right away and it’s amazing. Between the oils that smell so good, the coarseness of the scrub that REALLY exfoliates well, I’m impressed! A wee little bit goes a long way, so I can see this being worth the cost.
Overall value comes to around $25 depending on how you count the Suntegrity sample. It’s a rather low value for the box, but I’m happy with the contents and it still more than covers the $19 cost of the box. I’ll try everything for sure and will definitely use up the Gressa Treat in short order, plus the eye shadow sample that REALLY knocked my socks off. What’s really best is being introduced to new products I wouldn’t have found otherwise. I’ve been able to recommend products to friends who are looking for better alternatives, and that’s great – even if something doesn’t work perfectly for me, it might be just the thing for someone else.
Sepia Saturday 273: Bicycles, Long Skirts, Newspaper Cuttings
Hitting one out of three isn’t bad, right? And I get to post another one of my favorite photos from the trunk. I’m a little behind the schedule with this post for Sepia Saturday, but better late than never!
Pictured above is Earl William Powis Jr. (1922-2010) with a bicycle on August 24, 1930. A very exact date, and I actually know quite a bit about this photo! I presume it was taken by his mother, Anna (Plansky) Powis, who at that point, per the 1930 census, was divorced and living in Illinois with “Junior” as he was referred to on the census. She kept in close contact with my great grandma Olga Powis who was Earl Jr’s aunt, sister to his father, sending along many photos of Earl Jr. over the years.
Anna wrote on the back of the photo (shown at left), “This is not so good of him, but he likes it, said he liked it best even if the bike has a flat rear tire.” Kids, huh? The 8 year old Earl was more concerned about the state of the bike than how he looked in the photo! Olga likely added the identification at the bottom of the photo in pencil. There are MANY photos of young Earl in my great grandma’s collection so it seems like she and Anna (and Earl) corresponded frequently over the years even though Olga’s brother later remarried. Short and sweet again to wrap up another Sepia Saturday Tuesday!
Sepia Saturday 272: Tractors, Agriculture, Wheels
Another Sepia Saturday, and another great match for the prompt! I had posted this about a month ago on Google+ just for kicks because I liked the photo. In the photo is my grandpa, Leon Kitko riding a piece of machinery, a Clark CA1 Airborne Tractor. If I have my facts straight, this tractor is still hanging around albeit in a state of disrepair. The neat part about the tractor is that it was built during World War II for the purpose of being light and small enough to be able to be flown in by glider or even dropped by parachute to the ground to help clear land for landing strips for larger aircraft. It’s a pretty neat machine! I’m not sure how my grandpa came to own one though, but it was in working condition at some point as the photo shows. Grandpa wasn’t a farmer and I don’t think he had any real need for a bulldozer, but he was a tinkerer and mechanic who could fix just about anything, so I’m sure when the opportunity came along, he was more than happy to add this machine to his collection. The back of the polaroid is labelled, “Aug 1969, Leon and his bulldozer,” and was likely taken by his wife, Romayne. It’s a bit of a newer photo than the prompt photo and probably one of the most recent I’ve used for a Sepia Saturday, but I couldn’t resist since it was such a good fit. There are SO many in this series (more recent photos from grandpa’s collection) that I really ought to delve into them more, but we’ll bulldoze through them soon enough!
Petit Vour March 2015
Spring is slowly starting to creep in and overtake winter, and Petit Vour is celebrating the return of spring this month with a theme of, “Spring Dreaming.” We still have a bit of snow on the ground, but the tulips and daffodils are showing signs of life, peeking the first signs of growth out of the ground. The box contained four samples this month and while it didn’t absolutely blow me away, I’m pretty happy with the box!
- The Little Alchemist Cacao & Banana Face Glow – 30 g / $32 – (Sample is 30g, Full Value!) I was a little worried at first because I’m not into banana scented anything at all, but I can happily report that this smells entirely like brownie batter and not like banana at all! It’s hard to imagine, smelling this, that it’s not edible because WOW. It’s kind of spendy for a clay mask, but it makes for a nice addition to the box and is a fun product to try out.
- Juice Beauty Stem Cellular CC Cream – 1.7 oz / $39 – (Sample is .5 oz, value of $11.47) Not really sold on this. It feels thick and heavy on, and while it does a bunch of things from being a moisturizer, repair cream, being a sunblock, and the tint, it’s not something I could use everyday comfortably. It almost feels plasticky on my skin and I hate feeling like there’s something on my face. If I can feel like it’s there, it’s not the cream for me – I’m so minimalist in terms of makeup, so while this would be good for events and whatnot where I need to go full-face makeup, it would drive me crazy pretty quickly. I’m glad this was included so I could try it out without committing to a full size product since I was interested in giving it a go which really is the whole point of subscription boxes!
- Vert Mont Perfumery EROS Perfume – 10 mL / $35 – (Sample is 1.5 mL, value of $5.25) At first sniff, after applying a dot of the thick perfume oil on my skin, the Jasmine jumped out at me. Jasmine is probably my least favorite scent in the perfume world, so I was a little bummed. Going back after a few minutes, the Jasmine faded out and let the sandalwood and Patchouli take over which made this a HUGE win for me! The price is on par with my other favorite fragrance vendor, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and they have a sampler pack of all 9 fragrances on their website, so I might have to give those a try!
- Metropolis Soap Co Lip Butter – .15 oz / $7 – (Sample is .15 oz, Full Value!) LOVE this!! I’m not a big fan of mint, so I was happy to find that the spearmint is very subtle and fades away quickly with the lavender scent lingering on longer. I really like the formula too – rich without being sticky and seems to hang around for a while. I’m a lip balm junkie, so this is going straight into my everyday bag. I would LOVE to see more lavender lip balms from MSC.. Lavender and vanilla maybe? Huge fan of their products from the GoodeBox a few months ago, so this was a nice addition to the box.
The value comes out to $55.72 which is definitely on the higher end for this box! Really incredible value, and even though I don’t like the Juice Beauty cream, I’m glad I got to try it and it really rounded out the box for a good variety of products. LOVE the lip butter and face mask the most, and I’m eager to try out the other perfumes from Vert Mont since the EROS scent is growing on me and I’m a huge fan of essential oil perfumes already so this is right up my alley.
Sepia Saturday 271 – Horses, Rivers, Drinking
This was a pretty easy prompt for Sepia Saturday this week! It took a few seconds of thinking to remember this photo, another from the collection of my husband’s Dutch family. In the photo are Hilje “Hilda” Dijkema (1914-1997) and her sister, Ellechien Dijkema (1912-1974) on the horse. The back of the photo is labelled, “Ellie en Hillie,” but has no date. The majority of the photos in this album are from the mid to late 1930s, so I’d estimate the date around 1930 or even a hair earlier, maybe even taken around the same time as a photo from another Sepia Saturday post. The girls look to be in their late teens and the photo was most likely taken in northern Holland around Groningen. The girls are riding with no saddles, stirrups or anything, and in heels! As usual, I’m curious as to who took the photo – another sister perhaps? There are only two horses though, so maybe it was taken as they were returning home from a ride. As far as I know the family didn’t own a farm or horses, so they were likely visiting family or friends at the time. Whatever the circumstances, it’s a really lovely photo showing the closeness between these two sisters. They show up in a bunch of photos toether, likely since they were only two years apart in age. And now I’ll let this Sepia Saturday ride off into the sunset, until next week!
