wonderwhatif
Member Since: January 26, 2015Reviews
Tide Smart HE Turbo Clean Liquid Laundry Detergent Pouch
Like most other people, I usually buy the pod style of Tide for convenience, but this has converted me to the laundry detergent. I've never used the regular detergent before and I prefer it to a large degree. It washes my clothes just as well, if... +
Like most other people, I usually buy the pod style of Tide for convenience, but this has converted me to the laundry detergent. I've never used the regular detergent before and I prefer it to a large degree. It washes my clothes just as well, if not better, it's more eco-friendly and most importantly, it smells so much better.
I find a lot of laundry detergents have far too much scent and are either really pungent or really floral to the degree that I keep wrinkling my nose and then realising it's my clothes/blankets/everythiiiing. This stuff smells old-school, but that's not a bad thing. It smells like the laundry detergent your mother used to use, before mountains of fragrance was added to everything. In short, it smells clean, fresh and really pleasant without being overwhelming.
They've also taken all the stress out of it. You can use these to refill a regular bottle, but just as easily you can use them on their own, the spout pours easily and it has measurements for using it in tablespoons or cups (you must provide these implements though). The pouch is a lot lighter than one of those big bottles, I'll definitely be using this more in the future.
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Nestlé Smarties Twist N Pour Bunny
If you've read any of my other reviews, you'll already know I'm a big Smarties fan, so no surprise that I love these! What I didn't expect to love so much is the big tub. What a nightmare for someone who's on a sugar controlled diet, I thought! With... +
If you've read any of my other reviews, you'll already know I'm a big Smarties fan, so no surprise that I love these! What I didn't expect to love so much is the big tub. What a nightmare for someone who's on a sugar controlled diet, I thought! With the little boxes you can easily measure the portions, but they are more expensive with more cardboard packaging waste. I'll happily admit defeat though, because Nestle has done something quite clever.
The cap to the bottle is the measure. So you can easily measure a small portion of smarties. This might not matter to some, but for those who want a small calorie controlled treat, or can't have too much sugar, you can easily see how much you are eating and compare it to the nutritional info on the back. Genius.
If you eat a capful each time, this will last you around 16 servings.
The only thing I don't like is that you have to rip off the bunnies hat to get access, he looks a little sad and lonely without it!
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Institut Esthederm Esthe-White Brightening Youth Moisturizing Day care
Skin type: Aging, combination skin (oily nose, dry forehead) with dark under-eye circles. I'm always a little sceptical of overly expensive face creams and in the past they have not worked for me, so I was really happy with this brightening cream... +
Skin type: Aging, combination skin (oily nose, dry forehead) with dark under-eye circles.
I'm always a little sceptical of overly expensive face creams and in the past they have not worked for me, so I was really happy with this brightening cream from Institut Esthederm! It took me about a week's daily use to see any brightening effect or difference in wrinkles, but realistically, that's very little time for a cream to work. After the first use my skin felt very soft and nice and after around four days I noticed that effect lasting all day.
I apply it in the morning (as instructed) and the skin on my face has seemed much, much softer and smoother throughout the day. Furthermore, my skin appears to have a more even tone and after a week's use my under-eye circles have faded a little bit, even though I'm getting less sleep! This cream feels very luxurious, it absorbs within five minutes and a little goes a long way so the tub will last quite a while. I like that they include a little plastic spatula so that those of us who don't like dipping our fingers in the jar can transfer it to our face easily.
The fragrance is very faint to the degree that I wasn't sure there was any, but it's listed in the ingredients. To me, it just smells like that 'creamy' scent a lot of high-end creams have, so it shouldn't bother most people. Overall, this is a nice gentle cream that has really promising results!
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Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser
This is a pretty good cleanser that I'd be comfortable using daily! If I compare it to 'Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub' it does leave my skin slightly less soft, but it doesn't have the terrible smell that the scrub does, so I'd be more likely to use... +
This is a pretty good cleanser that I'd be comfortable using daily! If I compare it to 'Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub' it does leave my skin slightly less soft, but it doesn't have the terrible smell that the scrub does, so I'd be more likely to use this more often. It did leave my skin really soft overall and didn't dry out my combination skin.
I do wish the bottle had a 'lock' as travelling with it would be frustrating, but that's really a minor issue. I was impressed with this cleanser given the price point, it seemed to work better with my skin than some of the luxury brands I've tried. I don't love every Biore product, but this one was a hit for me!
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John Frieda Frizz Ease Dream Curls Air Dry Waves Styling Foam
This foam worked better than mousses I've used in the past, especially with air-dried hair. My hair is thick and naturally wavy, but short, with shorter sides and longer on top (this is where the waves form) and I usually only diffuse or dry my hair... +
This foam worked better than mousses I've used in the past, especially with air-dried hair. My hair is thick and naturally wavy, but short, with shorter sides and longer on top (this is where the waves form) and I usually only diffuse or dry my hair on special occasions, otherwise I let it dry naturally. Right away after drying, I could see it was a LOT curlier than when I just scrunch it and leave it to dry without any product. The curls were, however, a lot stringier looking/thinner than my natural thicker strand waves, but it could depend on your hair thickness. I prefer a thicker, more luxurious curl, but I was still impressed by how curly it made my hair. Overall, I'm pleased with this, but you should keep a few things in mind when using it:
- Don't overdo it. It says 2-3 pumps depending on hair length, for my short hair one was really enough.
- It does take hair a lot longer to dry with this product in it, if you don't plan to blow dry.
- Really only lasts the day, once you sleep on your hair you'll have to restyle/wash the next day.
Another big pro is that it's not crunchy like I expected, my hair felt very close to it's natural texture with no 'product' feeling in it. The scent is sweet, but not overwhelming, I'd use it again!
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Boost Fruit Flavored Drink Variety Pack
These fruit flavoured drinks from Boost are a very interesting product. They have many of the same nutritional benefits as some other Boost products you’re probably more familiar with, such as pudding cups or protein drinks, but because these are... +
These fruit flavoured drinks from Boost are a very interesting product. They have many of the same nutritional benefits as some other Boost products you’re probably more familiar with, such as pudding cups or protein drinks, but because these are fruit juice they have some key differences.
I find that the fruit juice, especially compared to the protein drinks that resemble chocolate milk, is much easier to drink and goes down faster. Drinking it through a straw in particular feels like drinking a regular juice box, and only takes a few seconds to finish. For this reason I think they’re much easier to consume if you don’t like the heavier and thicker energy drinks, but they’re also less filling as a result. Protein drinks can sometimes work as temporary meal replacements, and despite having very similar nutritional values, these fruit drinks certainly do not. If you try to use one of these as a meal replacement, you’ll be hungry again in no time.
The three flavours of fruit juice are quite similar to each other, but are different enough to be noticeable.
Wild Berry: The wild berry flavour is very similar to a “fruit punch” type of juice, very sweet and artificial but not bad.
Orange: The orange flavour only tastes a bit like orange juice from concentrate, and is pretty similar otherwise to the peach flavour.
Peach: The peach flavour does taste like peach fruit juice, and is the least strong of the three flavours.
All three flavours have an aftertaste that I have to assume comes from some of the added nutritional ingredients, as it’s very similar to the kind of aftertaste you get in protein drinks. It’s not too strong, and fades quickly.
Each box can be drunk with a straw, or opened and poured into a glass. Four packs of 6 gives you quite a lot of fruit juice to go through, and I would not recommend drinking more than one a day, as the sugar in each juice box is pretty high, as it would be in any fruit juice. As a way to bolster the nutrition found in the diet of someone with difficulty eating solid food, I would say these fruit juices are easier to stomach than heavier protein drinks, but less filling.
HOWEVER, nutritionally these have so much sugar that I wouldn't recommend them for anyone other than the elderly or those who cannot eat solid food well. Diabetics should avoid.
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B&O;Play H9i wireless bluetooth over-ear headphones
These B&O;Headphones do some things extremely well, but fall flat in other areas. I’m actually surprised by how bad some of the features are in these headphones, because the overall comfort and audio quality are superb. For this price point, and... +
These B&O;Headphones do some things extremely well, but fall flat in other areas. I’m actually surprised by how bad some of the features are in these headphones, because the overall comfort and audio quality are superb. For this price point, and considering how good the audio and comfort is, some of the additional features built into this product really drag it down.
AUDIO QUALITY -
Right away I noticed how great the audio quality was for these headphones. Bluetooth headphones are always going to be fighting an uphill battle for audio quality, as they are basically a digital reproduction of the music you’re listening to, and the technology to do so is still not perfect. Nonetheless, B&O;are probably the best on the market, with a very crisp quality to the audio that makes it feel very authentic. Whether I was listening to classical music, audiobooks, podcasts or Top 40 radio, everything sounded great and I never felt like I would have been better served by a non-Bluetooth alternative. Compared to other luxury headphones I've tested, the audio is a minor improvement.
COMFORT -
I have a large head and sometimes headphones can be a little tight, but thankfully this pair has no such problem. They can fit very large heads with room to spare, and the padding on both the headphones themselves and the bridge is soft and comfortable. After using these for several hours in a row, I didn’t notice any tightness or discomfort. It even breathed well, so my ears weren’t left feeling clammy or sweaty. When it comes to comfort, these are by far the best headphones I've used, with no pinching or tightness over long term use.
FEATURES -
All the additional features is where these headphones really fell apart for me. I’ll go through them one at a time.
TOUCH CONTROLS - The touch controls found on the side of the headphones are iffy at best, and a real pain at worst. These include tapping to play/pause, swiping a little circle to turn volume up or down, skip songs, or turn on/off things like the noise cancelling. The only one that worked regularly for me without any issues was tapping to play/pause. Every other option, despite hours of experimentation, was either extremely difficult to make work (like the skipping) or virtually impossible (adjusting volume). The manual included, as well as the app that can be downloaded, provide little to no instructions for anyone struggling to make these features work as intended.
AUTO-OFF/ON - The auto-off/auto-on feature that is meant to pause your music if you take the headphones off, and play again when you put them on, is so poor it actively hurts the use of these headphones. Anytime I tilted my head a little while listening to music the headphones would pause, forcing me to unpause them manually. The few times I tries to use this feature to my advantage and took off the headphones, it failed to pause at all. Previous B&O;headphones I have used that included this feature were similarly broken. You cannot turn this off via the app. It's a huge problem because if you are having trouble with this feature acting buggy, or like to move around a lot while listening, this feature is not something you can get rid off. Other luxury headphones I've used allow this to be turned off. and speaking of the app…
The app that is meant to be paired with these headphones is useless. This app gives you a little tutorial in the various touch controls, but no actual instructions for how to make them work if you’re struggling. Even worse, you cannot skip a step if you have trouble with it, so when my headphones would not auto-pause after taking them off I was forced to cancel the tutorial altogether because it would not allow me to proceed. In the app proper, the only thing you can do is customize the audio profile (more bass, less, etc.) and listen to some built-in audio streaming that is as bare-bones as possible. You cannot deactivate the poorly implemented smart features or touch controls, which leaves your headphones crippled by a terrible suite of “smart” features.
STYLE -
These are surprisingly plain. It's not a bad thing, but I'm partial to a bit of flash/style, so the plain black isn't my favourite. However they are perfect for those who like a more muted style, or want headphones that don't look unique at first glance. The leather is genuine, so if you're vegan or don't buy leather products, you'll want to skip these, but for everyone else they are classic and good quality, just a bit plain.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS -
These headphones are a tragedy. They provide great comfort and amazing audio in a stylish package that is lightweight, but all of that is completely ruined by the smart features, none of which have been implemented well. After several days of using these headphones exclusively, I was so happy to never wear them again. Listening to a good book or great music is ruined when you never know when they are going to pause randomly. On average mine paused 6 times every 30 mins of listening, that's every five minutes.
After the first ten times you try unsuccessfully to use the touch controls to swipe to the next song or turn up the volume, you’ll never use those features again. The smart features ruin this product so badly that I would never want to use these again, nor would I want to inflict them on someone else.
It's a huge shame because when it comes to audio quality and comfort, these are king, but I cannot justify recommending them until the smart features are improved.
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Spigen Google Pixel Tempered Glass Screen Protector
Firstly, let's talk about the flaws. It would be really easy for me to complain about the biggest one, that the protector does not cover the curved edges (this is basically impossible with a tempered glass screen protector) and only juuust fits over... +
Firstly, let's talk about the flaws. It would be really easy for me to complain about the biggest one, that the protector does not cover the curved edges (this is basically impossible with a tempered glass screen protector) and only juuust fits over the width of the screen. The truth is though, this has been an issue with every single screen protector I've bought (all from different brands) so I'm used to that at this point. It does make installation a little tricky as you can't line it up perfectly, so if you're a perfectionist it can stressful.
However, other than that this is a really, really good screen protector. For this price, to get 2 tempered glass protectors is really good. Apart from trying to line up the sizing, they go on really easily and I had only one medium bubble that easily smoothed out. I do wish that they'd put in the instructions to use the 'dust removal' sticker, as I was so focused on following them exactly that I forgot to use those and ended up with 2 tiny pieces of dust underneath. So heed my advice, DON'T FORGET THE STICKER PART; it's not in the instructions.
One thing I absolutely loved about it is that they include 2 protectors and also give 2 alcohol cleaning wipes and 4 dust removal stickers. I've lost count of the amount of protectors that have 2 protectors, but only include one wipe and one removal sticker, leaving you struggling to clean your phone when attaching the second one.
This protector is crystal clear and also doesn't seem to fingerprint or 'rainbow' smudge.
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John Frieda Frizz-Ease Daily Nourishment Leave in Conditioning Spray
Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. It didn't leave my hair greasy, but I feel it did not feel or look as nice as when I use a usual conditioner. My hair is short, thick and naturally wavy, so perhaps this is best suited to straighter styles? I... +
Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. It didn't leave my hair greasy, but I feel it did not feel or look as nice as when I use a usual conditioner. My hair is short, thick and naturally wavy, so perhaps this is best suited to straighter styles? I noticed it didn't really calm my frizz at all and my hair felt a little limp and sad with less shine.
One thing I did like about it is the scent, it has a lovely sweet, dreamy, apple style scent. For those with curly hair like me, I'd recommend the Dream Curls line over this.
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Jergens Shea Butter Deep Conditioning Moisturizer
This Jergen's lotion is a pretty good everyday lotion for those who buy other brands at this price point, it does as good a job as any of them. It's moisturising, but if you have severely dry skin or irritation, this might not be enough for you. For... +
This Jergen's lotion is a pretty good everyday lotion for those who buy other brands at this price point, it does as good a job as any of them. It's moisturising, but if you have severely dry skin or irritation, this might not be enough for you. For most people with regular or slightly dry skin, it's going to work well.
I have to say that I like the texture and scent more than many lotions I've tried at this price point. I'm partial to a thick lotion and this one is quite thick, unfortunately, that does mean you need a little more to go around, but I find it's a lot richer and moisturises better, faster because of this. I also really like the smell, it has that classic 'shea' butter smell I've smelled in other products that are shea scented. Might be a bit perfumed for some, but I enjoy it.
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