Review: You Had Me At Jaguar by Terry Spear

Book Description

They're not the only ones on the prowl...but they're the most dangerous...

The United Shifter Force gives jaguar agent Howard Armstrong an impossible task—to protect fierce she-jaguar Valerie Chambers, when the last thing she wants is protecting. They're going international to take down a killer and he can guard Valerie all day long. But guard his heart? He doesn't stand a chance.

My Review

Val is an Enforcer for the United Shifter Force (USF) and when she gets sent on a mission to catch a jaguar shifter who killed his wife after he turned her into a jaguar shifter, the mission is harder than they thought it would be. 

Howard and his partner are sent to be Val's backup when she goes after a violent shifter. Howard has the hots for Val and wants to date her but she's not really taking to his flirting because she's much to engaged in getting the guy she is sent after. 

Howard and Val get closer as they go to find Bowie and kill him for murdering his newly turned mate. They make their way to Belize where they believe Bowie is hold up and where Val's parents who still work for the USF are also on a mission. 

Howard and Val are fun together but I liked Howard more than Val at times. I found myself being bored quite a lot while reading this book. I usually read pretty fast but this book took me a few days to read because I just couldn't get into it for the most part. Trying to find Bowie just took way too long and most of the things that took place while they were trying to find him just weren't exciting enough to keep me engaged. The romance was slow going at first and then all of the sudden, boom! they're in love. I had a hard time believing their feelings for each other because I didn't feel much excitement from them. 

The story wasn't a bad one, I just don't think it was for me.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Pippa and Neema*

"We're snuggling."

*Picture courtesy of Pippa and Neema*

"Do I smell snacks?"

*Picture courtesy of Pippa and Neema*

"I definitely smell snacks."

Apartment Life #90

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

For whatever reason my apartment manager had the maintenance guy paint the rocks in front of the complex, black. They had been rock color as you can see towards the bottom of the rock. The maintenance guy didn't even bother painting the entire thing, he left them looking like this. He pushed the smaller rocks up to the bigger rocks he painted but you can still see the bottom of the rocks aren't painted. 

These rocks look ridiculous. The least he could have done was paint it further down. I even waited a couple of weeks to see if he would come back and fix them and he hasn't. 

I also found out that our complex was sold and my apartment manager's last day is the 24th. After that we get a new manager and new maintenance man. All the residents were sent a letter with the new fees for things like renters insurance, eviction filing fee's, month to month rent increases and late payment fees. The rent is now due on the 1st with no grace period and all the older people on social security who don't get their checks until the 3rd are going to the manager and complaining. We're hoping that the new owners will chance the grace period until the 3rd with no late fees until the 4th for these people. We'll see. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Review: Target Beauty Box - July #TargetBeauty #TargetBeautyBox

Each month Target releases a new Target Beauty Box but supplies are limited and it's first come first serve until they run out. These boxes go fast so I try to grab one as soon as I see it being talked about on Twitter or fb. They are $7 a piece and usually well worth the price.

This is what was in the box...

Simple Sassy Sachet Moisturizing Face Wash. 

Simple Micellar Cleansing Water

Nexxus Frizz Defy Anti Frizz Sheets

Crest Kid's Anticavity Protection Fluoride Toothpaste- Strawberry Rush Flavor

Head & Shoulders Smooth & Silky Shampoo

Head & Shoulders Smooth & Silky Conditioner

Acure Radically Rejuvinating Day Cream Facial Moisturizer SPF 30

I wasn't sure I would like the strawberry toothpaste but it has a good taste and I love Crest so a win for sure. The Head & Shoulders shampoo and conditioner work so nicely on my long hair. It smells great and it leaves my hair soft and silky. another win! I've used Acure moisturizer before and even though it's a little greasy so I wouldn't use it on my face under my makeup, it is good for my chest, neck and arms. I haven't used the frizz sheets yet. 

Now on to the 2 Simple products. I've used this brand before and even though they both work really well for what they're made for, they have a strange scent especially the face wash. I wouldn't buy this product because of the unpleasant scent is has even though it works good. The scent reminds me of an old wet towel that's been bunched up on the floor for a couple of days that your lazy kid left there and forgot. It's not a strong scent but it's not a scent I want on my face. The Micellar water has a strange scent too, different from the face wash but still not pleasant. 

So for the most part I was pleased with almost everything I got in this box. 

Did you get this box?

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A book for a review.
Heinz Mayonnaise from PinchMe.
A Personal Library Kit, $10 Amazon gift card (not shown) and Book Lovers Journal that I won in a blog giveaway.

Did you receive an freebies?

Review: Untamed Delights by Suzanne Wright

Book Description

Return to the sensual and feral stirrings of the Phoenix Pack as a woman who’s already bound to one man is tempted by a wolf who’s bound only to his nightly desires.

Cat shifter Mila Devereaux can’t help but see it as a betrayal. That her one true mate imprinted himself on another female was hard enough to accept. Struggling to be at peace with her loveless fate, she doesn’t fight the suggestion of entering an arranged mating. Then she meets Dominic, a pack enforcer with a notorious reputation. It’s in his very scent. This irresistible playboy—and delicious badass wolf—is making Mila’s fantasies come alive again.

Alarming, compelling, and heady with sensual energy, Dominic is an expert at making women shed their inhibitions. Now everything about him—his killer smile, his perfectly sculpted body, and his smooth-as-honey voice—is drawing in a captivating new catch. But for the first time in his life, Dominic is feeling more than a fling. He finds himself tantalized by a female who makes him think of forever. He wants all of Mila and won’t be satisfied until he has it.

As the passion grows wild, so does the risk. They’re falling in love in the shadows and secrets of their pasts. And it’s threatening to destroy everything Mila and Dominic are fighting for. And are destined for.

My Review

Mila is a pallas cat shifter, which are badass little cats who will tear you to shreds if you piss them off. Most other shifters think of pallas cats as crazy animals who should not be messed with. They might be small but they are fierce. 

Dominic is always having a fling with one woman or another and he's always making perverted remarks to those close to him. His sense of humor is weird but most people just shake their head at him and move on. Everyone knows that this wolf shifter is not looking for a relationship, just a one night stand so when he sets his sights on Mila she scoffs at him and turns him down, something he's not used to happening. 

When Mila finds herself in danger because of something her brother did, Dominic finds that he feels more possessive of Mila and her cat than he thought he would. Mila has plans to move to Russia and engage in an arranged mating with a shifter there because of a certain person she wants to be away from but she isn't expecting to feel things for Dominic. 

There's quite a bit of action because of the danger that both Mila and Dominic are in but that only added to the excitement of this story and it really showed both Dominic and Mila just how much they cared for each other when they other was put in danger or got hurt. It was fun to watch the relationship grow between them. I really liked the twists this story took because it kept me guessing as to who was behind all of the drama until the end of the book. 

I've enjoyed this series so much and thought that this story closed the series out nicely even though I am sad to see the series end.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Stolen Desire by Robin Lovett

Book Description

Koviye

My people call me the Sex God, but I, Koviye of the Fellamana, am so much more. I read their every desire and satisfy them with a mere touch of my hands. I’m sworn to share my powers, and this thing humans call monogamy is biologically impossible for me, or so I thought until I met the human, Jenie, Lieutenant General in the rebellion against our mutual enemy determined to destroy us. Now, as though Jenie has some power over me, I cannot think of touching anyone but her.

Jenie

I’ve dreamt of Koviye every night since I landed on this sex planet where every breath I take is an aphrodisiac to my blood. I am not fully human, I am part alien, and the planet has awakened my body’s instinct to find a mate. The next person I have sex with I will form an attachment for life, which is impossible for the Sex God. I have a rebellion to lead. Mating a polyamorous alien would ruin me. I can never have him, no matter how much I burn for him.

But I need his help. My best friend was taken prisoner by our enemies, the Ten Systems, and the only person with a ship fast enough to save her is Koviye. And all those dreams I’ve been having about him aren’t just dreams, he tells me. They’re real. He can dream walk, so if I can’t have him while I’m awake, at least I can have him in my dreams—as if that will ever be enough.

Each book in the Planet of Desire series is STANDALONE:

* Toxic Desire

* Captive Desire

* Stolen Desire

My Review

This is the 3rd book in this series but this is the first book I've read. It says that each book is a standalone so I figured I would give it a try after reading that description. I was able to pick this book up and read it and not feel confused. 

Koviye lives on Fellamana and the planet itself exudes some sort of toxin that will slowly poison you if you don't have sex frequently. But Koviye is special on this planet because he has a special talent of a healing touch, so he is sought after. The people on this planet have sex frequently and with whomever they want. They don't believe in monogamy and neither does Koviye. He doesn't see that as even a choice for him. 

Jenie is half human and half alien. Since she is half alien it's her alien side that will require her to choose a mate at some point, sex will secure the bond with her mate and her species of alien mates for life and it's monogamous. She knows that being with someone like Koviye who can never stick to just one mate would destroy her. But the toxin on the planet starts to work on her and turns on her body's instinct to find a mate. The only problem is she's attracted to Koviye, a male that she can never have. 

Jenie needs Koviye's help to find and rescue her friend that was taken but the more time they spend together the more the attraction between them is sparked and once that match is lit there's no going back. These two were so hot together, wow. This is an erotic romance so I knew there would be plenty of sex but good grief these two should come with an extinguisher because they lit the pages on fire!

This starts off on an alien planet and ends up in space which was fun because so many interesting things happen while they're in space. I had a really good time with this book and plan on going back and reading the first two books because I want to see what else happened. This book was hard to put down and I love finding a book that I love so much I don't want to stop reading long enough to do anything else. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Darak by Cara Bristol

Book Description

Revenge is best served sweet with a hot, horned alien.

Free-spirited pastry chef Lexi Sutterman has discovered that true love is pie in the sky. The only thing more difficult than finding an Earth man willing to commit is pleasing her wealthy, hypercritical family who view her as a failure. So she’s given up on both, focusing her energy on her new bakery. Now that her uber successful little sister manages to nab a well-heeled fiancé, Lexi fights back by joining the Intergalactic Dating Agency. She plans to bring a huge, purple, tentacled alien as her plus-one to the wedding.

Darak of planet Dakon isn't purple or tentacled—he’s just seven feet of horned alien hotness. To get a woman on his world, a guy has to literally win the lottery. Tired of waiting for the Fates to send him a female, he joins the dating service to meet a nice Earth girl to call his own. He recognizes Lexi as his true mate, but realizes convincing her they’re meant to be together forever and not just a weekend will be no cake walk.

But when a sweet-tart pastry chef and a horned alien hottie fall in love, everyone might get their just desserts…

* * * *

Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides is a new science fiction romance series and a spin-off from the Alien Mate series. In the Alien Mate books, Earth women travel to planet Dakon to become the mail order brides of aliens. In this new series, the Dakonians come to Earth through the Intergalactic Dating Agency to find their human mates.

My Review

Lexi was never good enough fr her prim and proper high society mother. Nothing she ever did was good enough so she figured she would show up to her sister's wedding with an alien. When she signed up to the alien dating agency, she thought they would send her some weird looking alien that she could shock her mother with and then send him on his way. Lexi never envisioned that Darak would be gorgeous and nice. After meeting him, she almost calls off the wedding invitation but he comes with her much to her mothers dismay. 

Darak kept getting passed over in the lottery to have a female on Dakon when they came so he decides to travel three months to Earth and hope the dating agency can pair him with his mate. When the dating agency tells him he has a match he goes out with her and knows right away she is his mate but all she wants is a date to her sisters wedding, at least in the beginning.

They travel to her parents house where they stay for several days leading up to the wedding. In that time they get closer and they fall hard for each other. Darak is really likable, he's so attentive and sweet. Lexi is exactly right for him, so when they do decide they're going to do more than kiss, the sparks fly. 

Lexi's sister is a lot nicer than I thought she would be but their mother is just awful. I'm surprised they turned out as well as they did with a mother like her. 

This book had me laughing and smiling throughout. I usually like this authors books but I really liked this one. The characters were great and Lexi and Darak were so great together. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I no want stinky breff."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Fudgesicles are a great way to keep cool during the summer."

Apartment Life #89

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

I was walking Falcor the other morning when I saw this blanket move. Scared the bejuju's outta me too. Then I saw the guys face. It was one of the meth heads that used to hang out at the drug dealers apartment before he got kicked out. He laid down cardboard on the rocks and laid on that with his blanket. I thought it was just a pile of blankets or rugs or trash there and then it moved. Damn, scared me half to death. 

The the next day he moved and was sleeping a little further down the path. He's been hanging out across the street where some of the other drug dealers live. I found him passed out in front of a parked car about a week ago. Falcor barked at him and he woke up but was so high or drunk he couldn't even get up. The apartment manager has called the cops on him twice now but they just make him get up and move. One day he was so high and couldn't walk so the police called an ambulance and he was gone for a couple of days but he's baaaack. #DontDoDrugs 

On Thursday our apartment manager finally opened the swimming pool. One of the women from across the street decided she would take a dip and that didn't go over well with the manager who told her she had to get out and leave since she doesn't live her. The woman apparently told the manager, "You don't have to tell me to get out of the pool, I live on this street." The manager made her get out and leave and she must have told the people in the courtyard where she lives because they were over there across the street screaming at my manager calling her a bitch, that they should be able to use the pool. lol 

I suggest you go take a cold shower because the manager ain't letting you get in our pool. She closes the pool and locks the gate right before she leaves at 5pm and because she's not here on the weekends, the pool isn't open then either. Now she said that you'll have to come in the office and sign in and show that you're a resident before getting in the pool. The pool in in the same courtyard as the office so she see's everyone that goes in it. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Favorite Video of the Week

A friend on Twitter posted that this video was released and I hadn't heard it even though it's one of my favorite bands. I love this song and have been listening to it a lot this week. Listen to it and let me know what you think.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A coupon for a free 2 liter bottle of Root Beer.

A sample of Ester-C effervescent vitamin c.


Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: My Liege Of Dark Haven by Cherise Sinclair

Boom Description

Threatened by university cutbacks, Professor Abigail Bern’s only hope is to publish a provocative research paper–soon. Planning to covertly observe behavior in the notorious Dark Haven BDSM club, she takes a receptionist job. When the owner calls upon her to assist in a demonstration, she’s appalled. Then fascinated. Under the unyielding hands of the master known as my Liege, she discovers a need to be more than an observer.

Xavier’s new receptionist is striving to keep an emotional distance, and he’s intrigued. Although she’s intriguingly intelligent, beautifully submissive, and sweetly vulnerable, her defenses keep her on the fringe of life. As he draws her into truly participating, she, in turn, begins to fill his world.

Ever since meeting Xavier, Abby questions everything she believes about herself. She’s falling for the stern owner of Dark Haven, and he’s beginning to care for her…until the day he learns why she’s in his club.

My Review

A few months ago a friend posted on FB that this book was free on Amazon and I looked through my blog and couldn't find a review for it even though I thought I'd read it. It turns out I hadn't read this one even though I thought I had. So I got it and read it. Whew boy, this is one hot read. Hot!

Abby isn't happy with her boyfriend, Nathan wanting to throw some BDSM into their relationship. She's not into it, at least with him. Nathan was an ass so it's no wonder she wasn't into it with him. But there's about to be some big budget cuts at the University she works at and she figures a paper on BDSM would be sure to be what she needs to keep her job. When she gets to the BDSM club, Dark Haven she thought she could just go in, look around, study the people, write her paper and be done with the whole thing. Only her plans don't work out because the club isn't that easy to get a membership to anymore. So she takes a job as the front desk receptionist in order to gain access to the club not knowing that one of her other duties is to assist the Dom's when they need hands on help showing something. While I think most people would have been like, "Nope, nope get me the hell outta here." Abby stays because she needs to see what goes on so she can write her paper. She's obviously in over her head but Xavier, the owner and one of the Dom's in the club decides to show her the ropes...literally. 

Xavier *My Liege* is big, formidable, intimidating and awesome! He takes a liking to Abby and even though he doesn't do relationships ever since his wife passed away 4 years before, he can't stop thinking about this woman. I really liked Xavier and Abby together and I liked the camaraderie of most of the people at the club. They really did seem like a big family or close friends. I guess you really get to know someone when you're all getting hot, sweaty and naked together. *Wink*

I'm not gonna lie though, for all the fun and great times I had with this story there were a few times that the story got real uncomfortable for me. Reading about someone being in pain or being humiliated is just not my thing.  

I did enjoy this story and was surprised it had somehow slipped through the cracks when I was sure I had read it at some point.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

Have you ever used silicone ice cube trays? 

I can't be the only one who's had a problem with them. Yes they work well but there's a weird white film on the ice when you use these. There's a weird smell and the ice takes on a weird taste as well. It doesn't happen with my plastic ice trays. I washed the trays, boiled them, washed after each use and the white film always came back. I ended up just throwing them away because it's just not worth the hassle it caused and the plastic ice trays don't cause a weird smell. 

I love my silicone cooking utensils like the spoons and spatula and they don't get a weird white film on them so it must be something about putting them in the freezer. I don't know but it was weird.

Review: Rescued By the Alpha by Anna Santos and Alyssa Breck

Book Description

He stole the bride but ended up rescuing his mate. 

Getting kidnapped was the last thing Fiona expected on the day of her arranged marriage. Yet, the unthinkable happens, and she finds herself trapped in a cabin with an arrogant but gorgeous male who claims he’s doing this for her own good.

Alpha Joshua needs to do what’s best for his pack. That means he has to steal the young woman inheriting the Greenwoods Forest and prevent her from marrying his worst enemy. If Gareth lays his hands on those lands, he will do whatever is necessary to destroy it and evict the pack of wolves that have used it as their haven for hundreds of years. 

Fiona finds herself in the middle of an ancient feud between vampires and werewolves. Finding out that the products of nightmares roam the earth isn’t her biggest problem. Her fake fiancé, Gareth, wants Fiona back, and he’ll do anything, including killing anyone who stands in his way. 

Joshua thought it would be simple to keep Fiona safe until she turned twenty-one and sold the land to him. But desire courses through his veins every time he looks at her. He wants to do more than protect her, he wants to claim her as his. When her fiancé uses all his means to get her back, the alpha must step up to defend his mate and prevent the evil vampire from taking her … again. 

My Review

Fiona's father had taken to gambling and drinking ever since her mother had died but he really messed things up this time by losing everything they had to gambling. Now she's agreed to marry Gareth so he can control the protected forest she stands to inherit when she turns 21 in just a couple of weeks. They don't love each other and she knows if he were an honorable man he wouldn't be making her marry him. Everything seems to be going great until she's kidnapped before she can take the marriage vows. 

Andrew and Joshua had the same father but different mother's. Joshua is the alpha of his pack and Andrew comes with him to help him kidnap Fiona before she can get married. Josh plans on keeping her safe in his cabin until he can get her to sign over the land to him but things take a strange turn when one of his own pack betrays him to Gareth. 

Gareth is a vampire and wants the forest for his own reasons while Joshua and his pack are werewolves and use the forest to let their wolves out to run and to keep them safe and hidden from humans. 

Fiona agrees to stay with Joshua when she reads a letter from her father explaining why Gareth wanted to marry her and why he helped get her out of the marriage she never wanted to be in, in the first place. 

Joshua is such a nice guy who truly cares about Fiona and when they stop fighting the attraction they feel for each other, it's fireworks! These two were hot, sexy and adorable. There's a couple of great twists during the story that I didn't see coming which just made the story even better. For a novella, this book packed quite a lot of story. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #88

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

A couple of days ago I heard a loud fight going on 5 doors from mine, across the courtyard. I took the dog out front of my apartment complex and the police showed up. When I heard the screaming and yelling getting louder and the police yelling for someone to get on the ground, I stayed out front until the yelling stopped and I figured things had calmed down enough for me to walk Falcor back into the courtyard and go back in my apartment. I always have my camera on me when I go outside just in case something like this happens because you just never know when a fight is gonna break out around here. But I try not to take a lot of pictures of the police officers themselves while I'm outside because they get really mad when you do that and I'm not gonna be on the wrong end of that mess, so I just take pictures of the police cars most times. My brother likes to ask me why I don't stand out there and film the police and my neighbors and, well, that's why. 

On the 4th of July we heard a few gunshots but nothing around here caught on fire so that's good. 

Then on Friday night when California had the 7.1 earthquake we here in Las Vegas definitely felt that one. I was sitting on the couch and yelled at Ken that we were having an earthquake but it took a few seconds for it to register with him. My place shook for a while but nothing fell off the shelves. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Review: Birchbox Subscription Box

A couple of years ago I had a subscription to Birchbox but I didn't really like it back then so I cancelled it. But the boxes have looked better recently so I decided to start getting it again. 

I decided to sign up for a Birchbox subscription box. It's only $15 a month and this month's box came with 6 products. 

In this box was...

Air Repair moisturizer.
Benefit Cosmetics mascara.
CLEAN Rain Eau De Parfum.
Luxie Beauty 239 precision shader brush.
Oribe thickening hair spray.
Winky Lux eyehadow- in the shade frothy.

The mascara and eyeshadow are great. I've never tried either of those brands but I like them both. The perfume smells really good. I'm always up for another makeup brush and I didn't have this one. The moisturizer is a good one and it's not greasy and didn't break my skin out.

The only thing I didn't really care for was the thickening spray for your hair. I don't use hair spray and this didn't feel good in my hair at all.

So for the most part I like everything I got in this box.

The box itself is like a little drawer with a tassel on the outside to pull it open. Back when I first got this subscription box it was $10 and came with 5 things so it is a little more expensive now but I still like it. 

Do you get this subscription box. 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A tote bag and oven mitt from Hidden Valley Ranch Ranchology Rewards program.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Dashing Diva Gloss Ultra Shine Gel Strips

A couple of weeks ago I received this free pack of Dashing Diva Gloss Ultra Shine Gel Strips. I don't normally wear nail polish because my fingernails grow in weird ways and have strange grooves in them. But I wanted to see how these would work so I let my nails grow out and tried these gel strips. 

I looked on the Dashing Diva Website and saw that these strips cost $9 a pack and they have an assortment of different colors and designs to choose from. 

The ones I have came with two strips of solid colors as well as accent nail colors. There's 34 strips in all included as well as a nail file. 

So you can see I did let my nails grow out a little bit. It says to wash your hands with soap and water and dry them. I did that. Then you find the right size stickers for your nails, peel them off and apply them to your nails and press down. Then you take the file, fold over any excess and file it off. 

This is my left hand. It was actually easy to apply them and file off the excess.

Even though my nails curve in strange ways and have weird grooves in them I was still able to apply these stickers to my nails. 

It says they can last for up to 14 days and they lasted me 9 days on most of my nails. I think that if I didn't have the weird bumps in my nails and they were flat like normal nails, these would have lasted longer. But 9 days is pretty good for having them last through doing dishes, cleaning, showering and normal everyday activities. 

I like the different accent nails that came with this kit too. The solid color is nice and so are the accents. The instructions say that you just have to take a drop of cuticle oil or nail polish remover to the sticker by your cuticle and peel it off but I didn't even need to do that, they just peeled off easily when I went to take them off after 9 days. 

I still have enough of them to apply them one more time so I probably will. I would buy these and think they lasted a good amount of time for the price you would pay for them. This is easier than painting them, waiting for them to dry and then having them chip after two days. I will definitely be getting more of these. 

Disclosure: I was sent a free pack of these gel strips but all thoughts and opinions are my own.