better than a maid.. + coupon code!

2 weeks ago, i bought randy and i a little present..

this little baby is the black & decker sm1620 steam mop with smart select technology.

i tried to win one from sometimes sweet, but that didn't work out.. so when amazon was offering it for $54.99, i jumped on it.

in our household, i am many things. randy's girlfriend. lilly's mom. and the maid. i do the vast majority of the cleaning in our place (i put randy on trash duty, but that's pretty much the extent of his housework responsibilities).

before the wonder mop, i would dust, use our swiffer dust vac thing to pick up all the lilly hair on the floor, and then use wet swiffer pads and floor cleaner to do the dirty work. but i felt like even after the wet swiffers, the floor still wasn't that clean. not to mention the swiffer refills add up after a while.. $$$

i hadn't really looked into other alternatives for wet-cleaning our floors before. i entered danielle's giveaway because i'll take pretty much anything that's free. but then the deal popped up on amazon, and i thought, why not?

i tried it out the day i got it in the mail, and i loved it right away. it was ridiculously easy to put together (randy wasn't home at the time, so i had to assemble it myself) and i love the fact that it only uses water - no special (or pricey) cleaners that you have to have to make it work.

i tried it on 2 small places in our apartment, and i was shocked at how dirty the pad was! i literally cleaned probably 24 square feet's worth of floor, and this is what happened:

can you believe how disgusting that is?? but i'm impressed that it picked up that much only using water!

the other thing i love about the steam mop is its reusable pad. my mop came with 3 pads, and since they're washable, i figured they'd last me a while. my only concern was that they're white, and as you can see above, dirt is black. so even though they'd be clean, they'd probably still look a little gross after being used and washed. so i popped the one you see above in the washer, and it came out looking like magic:

another thing i love about the steam mop is that it has a power cord. as i mentioned, we have one of those little swiffer vacuums, which i love as well. but, it has one of those chargeable batteries, which i don't love as much. our place is pretty big (about 950 square feet) and we have hard wood throughout. if the place is moderately dirty, the swiffer vac has a tendency of pooping out on me about half-way through my cleaning. at which point i need to plug it back in and try and find other ways to clean while it's charging, which takes utterly too long in my opinion. with the steam mop, there's no ticking time bomb to worry about. randy says he isn't as crazy about the fact that it plugs in, but he also doesn't use either the swiffer vac (for more than cleaning up his head shavings) or the steam mop, so he can suck it : )

anyway, if you're looking for an alternative to a mop + bucket, i highly suggest the black & decker steam mop!

**i just found out this morning that black & decker will be offering 20% off purchases of $50 or more on outdoor products with the code fallyard at checkout. hop over to their website to check it out! valid until 10/31.

alaina

review: origins

hi lovelies!

i bought some new skincare items from origins about a month ago; i have been hearing some really good things about their products in the youtube beauty blogger community so i thought i would check some stuff out.

here's what i got:


Zero Oil Deep Pore Cleanser. according to the website, this cleanser will help clear pores, eliminate excess oil, and reduce shine. it's a gel cleanser, so no surprises there. i use about a dime-sized amount and find it is definitely enough to work into my entire face. lathers like any normal cleanser. something worth noting is that when you first put it on your face, it smells like gummy bears; but once you start lathering it and really working it in, the smell changes to something like a lemon ricola throat lozenge. afterward face feels normal, clean but not that gross squeaky clean, and refreshed.






Zero Oil Moisture Lotion. according to the website, this moisturizer will reduce shine, refine skin texture, and create a smooth matte finish. feels like any standard cream moisturizer. unlike the cleanser, you don't get that brief gummy bear smell, it just jumps straight into lemon ricola. i don't really feel an instant mattifying of my skin, but it definitely isn't greasy or overly-shiny after i apply it. one thing is that the bottle is VERY small (it's only 1.7 oz so i should have expected it), but you only need about maybe a dime-sized amount to cover your whole face.
Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask. according to the website, this mask will deep-clean pores, absorb environmental toxins, and dissolve impurities. the instructions suggest that you open your pores by holding a warm damp washcloth to your skin for a few minutes before you apply the mask. i don't know what i was expecting, but i was surprised to find that it has kind of a gel-like consistency. i guess since it's a charcoal mask i was expecting something very heavy and earthy-feeling. it gives kind of a cooling feeling while on your skin. you definitely won't be able to talk very easily when the mask dries because it does harden. getting it off of your face once you're done takes a little more work than a traditional face mask, but it is actually surprisingly moisturizing. my face didn't feel dried out or frigid. it felt smooth and sleek.



i've been using all three products in conjunction with each other since may 9, so it's been like 24 and a half days (keep in mind professionals say that it takes the skin 28 days to react to a new treatment or regimen, so these are just my opinions thus far). i have very oily skin so when i was checking out these products, i paid close attention to what other people had said about them on the origins website. most people said that when using the zero oil line, their oil diminished dramatically, which is something i am definitely interested in.

i don't know if it is just a coincidence, but i have noticed that my oily-ness has been much more under control lately, though my dry patches have kind of been a little bit of an issue. i find that after i apply the moisturizer initially, i will find a dry spot and then have to go back and put more moisturizer on that one area. i am very picky when it comes to moisturizer - i want to feel like it's making a difference in my skin and really getting in there and, well, moisturizing! with this, i feel like it just kind of rubs around and then disappears, so i'm not quite in love.

overall, i really really like the cleanser. the lather is wonderful and it really does feel like my face is getting very clean without over-drying or making my skin feel tight. the moisturizer, i could kind of do without to be honest. maybe i'm just distracted, since i really want to try their vitazing moisturizer because of tiffany d's review. the mask i feel like i need to spend a little more time with before i decide that i can't live without it. so far, it kind of feels like any other face mask in terms of how my skin feels after i finally get it off my face.

also, word to the wise: if you have an origins near you and want to try some of their products, i strongly suggest going into the store so you can see what the stuff smells like before you buy it. i got a sample of the modern friction exfoliator with my order, and to me it smells terrible. i don't even want to smell it again so i can aptly describe to you all what the smell is, but it just was not for me. so if you're sensitive to smells of your skincare products, definitely try before you buy!

until next time..

<3 alaina