Wine delivered to your door with Winc!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Winc for the review free of charge through the US Family Guide.**

I am not a very big drinker, and I am extremely picky when it comes to finding something I actually like but I do have family members that love a good glass of wine so when I was offered the chance to try out a box from Winc I agreed and knew it would make a few people happy. If you've never heard of Winc, it is a monthly wine subscription box that delivers four bottles of wine personalized to you based off of your Winc profile.

The first step to getting your wine box in the mail is to fill out a wine profile, the profile is quite simple to fill out and they ask a number of questions including how you like your coffee, if you like berries, how much you usually spend on a bottle of wine, etc. Since my husband was going to be the main person testing out and drinking the wine, I let him fill out the flavor profile. At the end of the short survey they also ask you to select how many red wines you'd like vs white wines, if you love both you would be sent two white and two red, however if you love red but don't mind a glass of white wine from time to time you could get three reds and one white. Before fully placing your order they will show you a summary of the wines they selected for you along with how much each bottle cost. If you see a bottle of wine you don't think you'd like you can easily switch it out for any of the other wines on their website. 

Which wines did we end up with? Our box included a 2018 Mercana Malbec, a 2017 Clink sparkling white blend, a 2017 Endgame Chardonnay and a 2017 Finke's sparkling Chenin Blanc. One of the wines we included in our box actually wasn't for us but for my step-fathers dad to enjoy over the holidays. The most expensive out of the four was the bottle of Endgame which goes for $28 if you are a Winc member or $32.99 for non-members, and the cheapest was the Malbec at $15 per bottle for members or $16.99 for non-members. 

After you place your order you can choose to receive text updates on when your wine ships. They will text you once when your box first ships, one the day before it is supposed to be delivered letting you know when it is expected to arrive and reminding you a adult 21+ with ID needs to sign for the box and a text when it gets delivered. I have not received any other text messages or promotions from them via my cell phone aside from the shipping update which made me happy they weren't trying to spam me. Now let's get into taste notes and our thoughts on each wine. 


 

2017 Endgame Chardonnay ($28 Winc Price); Our family eats a lot of pasta's and cheeses and this wine is said to pair well with fish, pasta with cheese sauce, cheeses and veggies. It has notes of apples, butterscotch, candied lemon and vanilla with a alcohol  percentage of 14.5%. This was actually the first wine out of the box that we decided to try out, it seemed to go over well with most who tried it and the whole bottle was finished which is a good sign.

2017 Finke's sparkling Chenin Blanc ($18 Winc Price); This wine pairs well with Thai, cheeses, cured meats and veggies. It has notes of green apple, honeysuckle, lemon and nectarine with a alcohol percentage of 12.5%. This wine was actually the favorite out of the four we received, it was slightly sweet and didn't leave a bitter after taste in your mouth. As odd as it sounds it went well mixed with a little bit of cranberry juice, I jokingly mentioned doing it to my husband so we decided why not and it actually wasn't bad.





2018 Mercana Malbec ($15 Winc Price); Pairs well with pizza, pork and BBQ. It has notes of plum, red cherry, spice and vanilla with a alcohol percentage of 14.4%. This wasn't quite as loved as some of the others and I think there is still a decent portion of the wine left in the bottle but it isn't the worse wine in the world either. Depending on your mood or if you have it with food vs drinking it alone you may have a different experience.

2017 Clink sparkling white blend ($18 Winc Price); Pairs well with shellfish, cheeses, cured meats and fruits. It has notes of candied lemon, green apples and white flowers with a alcohol percentage of 12.5%. I would say this was the second favorite out of the four wines we received, it had a unique taste that wasn't unpleasant and it had a nice fragrance as well. 




Over all we were pretty happy with our Winc box, since we don't drink often I do not see us personally keeping a subscription box like this but it would make a nice holiday gift for wine lovers.

Trying out Dr. Elsey's Litter with Chewy.com

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Chewy.com for the review free of charge.**

If you are a pet owner then you know that pets stink and with indoor cats it is even harder because they aren't able to go outside to relieve themselves so they use a litter box. Unless you are cleaning up after them as soon as they use the litter box then sometimes the house might smell a little funky, however finding the right litter can make a huge difference.

Aleister has been having a great time reviewing new products from Chewy.com and recently tried out the Dr. Elsey's Clean Tracks Multi-cat strength kitty litter ($10.99 for 20lbs). Aleister is an only fur-baby, but he stinks up the bathroom as if there were two cats living in the house so we thought we'd test out this litter. 

Even before testing out the litter itself I noticed something about the product I didn't like, the packaging! This 20lb's of litter comes in a rectangular shaped box that has no handles or straps to make it easy to transport or lift up to pour into the litter box, thankfully I am able bodied but if someone such as my grandmother were to test out this product I know she would have a difficult time. The litter itself isn't too bad, the pieces are bigger than some of the litters I've tried which makes it to where there is little tracked around the house. Smell wise it seemed to do alright, the box says to scoop twice daily and dump the whole litter pan once a month. I didn't fully agree with the dump the whole thing once a month, the litter more or less stuck in clumps at the bottom anytime he urinated so when you tried to scoop it would just break up and the smell built up after about a week, so if I were to use this on a permanent basis I'd dump it once a week. Aleister didn't seem to have any issues with the litter, however I don't think we will be using this specific litter again. 

L'Oreal Rouge Signature VoxBox!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Influenster for the review free of charge.**

I recently received a new Voxbox from Influenster and I am pretty excited about it because I am always on the look for new lipsticks. The Voxbox I received features L'Oreal Paris and their new Rouge Signature matte liquid lipstick collection which retails for $11.99 ($9.99 at Target) and comes in twelve different colors. I received the shades "I Create" - A nude with hints a brownish hue , "I Rule" - A pink that is a bit nude & "I am worth it" - A deep red.




I am pleased with the product packaging, each tube holds 0.23fl oz of lipstick. The tubes are almost bullet like in shape and the container looks like glass but it is actually a thick plastic so even if you drop it, the tube won't break. The tube also features a tight seal to keep the product safe and the applicator brush is quite nice in shape and feel. The applicator brush comes to a triangular point which is a little fluffy and has grooves that help the liquid lipstick stay in place as you are pulling out the applicator. I liked how smooth the liquid lipstick we on and I was pretty pleased with the coverage I received from the product.




Out of the three I highly enjoyed "I am worth it" which is the red you see in the image above, I've worn it a few times with different looks including just wearing a bit of black liner and a polka dot headband for a kind of vintage/rockabilly look. My go to is "I Rule" shown in the second image above, it is more of a creamy pink that is almost nude and it goes well with both bold looks and subtle looks. I do not however like the "I Create", it didn't really go with my skin tone it had a hue I almost can't describe as it came out with almost a light orange hue that I didn't enjoy.

When I took the photo of the red shade above it was actually a day I was just messing around with my makeup and contacts so I decided why not take the shots for the lipsticks as well? My mistake was trying out the red first, once I wiped it off I found that it worked like a lipstain and my lips stayed a slightly darker pink color than my lips normally are so you could tell I had something on earlier in the day. It actually looked pretty cute and I wasn't unhappy with it, but you could see the color through the other two shades so I put off taking photos of the other two. I get about 3-4 hours wear out of each application before needing to re-apply. This is a lipstick that I see myself using fairly often and I look forward to trying out more shades when I find them in store.

Which of the three shades do you like the most?

Mini pamper pack giveaway on IG!

Giveaway Alert! From time to time I like hosting small giveaways on my Instagram page for those who follow me on the platform and I thought it was about time for a new one. This time I am giving away a small self pamper bundle that includes two face masks, a hair mask, a blackhead nose mask, a lip mask and a few small beauty samples.

So if you follow me on IG or want to follow me on IG head over to the post, [Here](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsnpw2wgTkX/) & enter to win.

Ace Comic Con Glendale!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received two passes to the Ace Comic Con in Glendale in exchange for a review free of charge.**

It doesn't matter what fictional world you are a fan of comic con is a blast for everyone! This past weekend a convention called Ace Comic Con was in Arizona at the Gila River Arena for three days. The comic con featured a large number of vendors, different foods, celebrity appearances with photo & signature ops plus is also offered everyone who loves to Cosplay a chance to dress up. Tickets were $65-$75 for a single day depending on which day you went on, $125 for a three day pass and they also offered photo ops, autograph ops and VIP packages that ranged in price from $65-$645 for packages.

This year celebrity appearances included Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox, Michael Fassbender, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, David Tennant & More. The nice thing about Ace was that you were able to attend all the Q&A's no matter what type of admission ticket was purchased, the first half of the session we were able to sit and listen to a small interview with the stars then the audience was able to line up and ask questions if they wanted to. The only thing I disliked about the Q&A we sat in was that there we so many speakers in such a small area that there was a echo making it hard to hear both the celebrity speakers, the host and the fans asking questions. The celebrity speakers on stage were having a difficult time hearing as well and had to ask many of the fans asking questions to repeat themselves due to the speakers. You never know what is in store for Q&A's, sadly I had to leave before he came on but when Charlie Cox (Daredevil) was on Tom Hiddleston decided to join him on stage for a bit. It was crazy how far some of the fans came to enjoy the con and see their favorite celebrities.

Along with Q&A's they also had a number of interactive shows and live performances with artists including a thirty minute drawing class with Mark Kistler, A trivia contest, A costume contest, A live crayon carving session with @Mumblestohimself (you may have seen his work on Instagram) and more. Vendor wise there was a ton of art work and comic books with some sculptures, stuffed animals, clothing and more. Each time we visit a con or similar events we always look for a print or a piece of artwork to bring home, this time was no different we picked up a cute Stitch sketch by Jonathan Hallett which will be going on our wall once we buy a frame for it. 

  Photo Credit IG @lv_cosplay_sickness - Two Cosplayers as 
Magneto & Professor X with my husband as a Two-faced 
inspired Nightcrawler/Gambit.

It was nice seeing the assortment of costumes at the con, there is always a mixture of people who do their cosplay's exactly as the characters are and then there are others who have fun with it and put a mix on the costume or come up with a character all of their own. I saw a mixture of costumes from video games, movies, and comics along with people in steampunk and renaissance wear, some handmade some store bought but all fun to see. Everyone has a great time walking around taking photos with each other and appreciating everything the con has to offer. My husband and I attended the event and decided to dress as some of our favorite X-men characters, we didn't get to stay nearly as long as we had wanted. I wore a pair of high heeled boots that went fantastic with my outfit, however I didn't think about the fact that I don't wear heels often so after about four hours of walking around I ended up with some giant blisters on my pinky toes and needed to get out of my shoes so we went home but we has a blast at the con and look forward to future Ace events. Last year Ace hosted events in only four states so keep an eye out for them to head to your state or a state near you! I will post on my FB about any upcoming events I hear about but for now it is only the Phoenix event they have listed on their site.
 

Fangirls Review & Giveaway!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by FanGirls for the review & giveaway free of charge.**

There are a ton of products available that you can have customized to fit your interests, you can get a bag that has StarWars fabric or a pair of sneakers with a painting of your favorite Disney character so why not have some fun with your makeup packaging as well? A fun and creative shop on Etsy called Fangirls is making that a possibility by customizing some of your favorite makeup products with comic prints. Fangirls is run by artists Erin & Dara who create a number of fun comic inspired accessories.  Along with accessories they also customize makeup, at the moment they only have NYX makeup products but if you are looking for something different you can message the store owner to work out something custom (you'll just need to pay the price difference).



I've been to Comi-con and similar events in the past and there are always a lot of fun booths with various wares being sold, but I never really buy a ton however I think if I stumbled upon this table there I'd have a hard time not buying everything. Makeup and comic books? Heck yes! I have quite a few superheros and comic book characters I love so for the review I suggested that she send a surprise palette of anything she already had ready. When my package arrived I opened it to find a Jean Grey palette that consists of four shadow colors: Blue, Black, Light Orange and Yellow. I had only expected the palette, but I found a lipstick as well that features Batgirl. The packaging I had looks a bit different than the newer packaging the store owner has switched to so the image below is a sneak peak at how the new packaging looks:

Now onto the makeup! Each piece is made using recycled comics which are color coordinated with the products. Each palette will feature colors that go with the character for example if you wanted a four color palette featuring Loki it might include a green, black, gold and blue. When purchasing a piece you won't receive what is in the listing photo as they are just used for examples of what you might receive, instead you'll be able to pick out a character you'd like.

I like that not only does the palette have comic prints on the outside but they also decorated the inside and the package cover that stores the palette. Looking over the piece I couldn't find any issues, there were no bubbles or corners sticking up that might eventually lead to the comic print being ripped off on accident. There was also no funky smells from the comic prints used or the products used to attach the comic prints to the makeup palette. I like the colors selected for the Jean Grey palette though I think a slightly darker orange may have worked a little better. Looking at the batgirl lipstick, I thought it was going to be a bright red but upon applying it I found it to actually be more of a bright coral orange, not something I'd typically wear but I actually like it!

PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner is going to win a coupon code for $25 towards any Fangirls product(s) you'd like!

This is open to US/Canadian Residents!! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 01/26/2019

 Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.
 
Giveaway entry question: Please leave me a comment letting me know which character you'd choose or tell me another product you like from their shop. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Thoughts on "Second Act"

**This is not a sponsored post, through another blogger I was able to attend an early showing of this movie and wanted to share my opinions on the movie.** 

 December was a bit crazy, my son and I were both sick for what seemed like the whole month and I kept busy with holiday related activities. During that time I was able to attend an early showing event for the movie Second Act featuring Jennifer Lopez,Vanessa Hudgens and Milo Ventimiglia. I was even able to get a few Second Act goodies before the show! I will be putting together a little swag giveaway soon with some of these items plus other items from events so be on the look for that soon. 

What is the premise of the movie? Here is a short description of it "Value Shop assistant manager Maya Vargas wants only one thing for her 43rd birthday -- a promotion. While her résumé may not scream upper management, her track record certainly does. Vargas is an innovator who listens to her customers and delivers results. When she loses the job to a college-educated candidate, Maya sets out to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as book smarts -- and it's never too late for a second act." 

I've seen several ad's promoting this as a Romantic flick however after seeing the movie I would not put it in the "romance" section, heart warming yes but not romantic. For the ladies wanting to see this movie mainly for Milo Ventimiglia I am sorry to say he doesn't have a lot of screen time in the movie, in total I'd say he is in it for less than ten minutes (even her boss has more screen time). Aside from it not being romantic I thought it was a pretty decent movie, it gave quite a few laughs and her journey is pretty heart warming at the end. I really enjoy Vanessa Hudgens in "The Princess Switch" so I was happy to see her in this movie as well, I thought she played her character well. Jennifer Lopez did a great job as well and she looks amazing as always! Both actresses did a great job but for me I think Leah Remini stole the show for me because her character would fit in perfectly with the "Bad Moms" characters and I love both the Bad Moms movies.

There may be a few spoilers in this next part! Maya (Jennifer Lopez) goes from being a assistant manager at her local grocery store to working at a big time company after her god son creates an over the top resume for her none of which is true. Though she works hard to prove herself and goes along with the fibs with quite a bit of help along the way, she ends up learning no lasting relationship can be started off with a lie and ends up having to make a big choice towards the end of the movie. She grows a lot as a person during that time and everything works out in the end (wouldn't be a happy movie if it didn't!). If you are a fan of Jennifer Lopez or Vanessa Hudgens and are looking for a good movie that will make you laugh this is a great movie to check out, but if you are looking strictly for a romance movie I'd look elsewhere.