A Simply Enchanted Life

Violet Vox Box

Inspired by this season's dark, moody florals, the Violet VoxBox is for the beauty queens of Influenster Nation. And, as surely as winter comes, we know that under layers of snow, spring violets still grow. Take a peek inside the Violet VoxBox - and discover the next big thing!

I wanted to change things up a bit and take a minute to review each of my influenster items collectively but also individually. There were some really great products in this box and I definitely think it deserved its own blog post so without further ado...

Sally Hansen Triple Shine

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was sent the Red Snapper color to try. I have to say that I really love how this polish goes on. It's creamy but it doesn't gel so fast that you're smudging or causing an uneven surface in the nail. I love the shine and I really love the color.

However, I noticed that this polish chips really fast. I tried it on three different occasions and each time it chipped in under an hour. Then when I started to remove the polish is where the biggest disappointment came in...

This stuff smears so badly that it literally made my fingers look as if I'd chopped a finger off or something! I used so much remover trying to get all of the staining off but it has to just wear off and it also stained my nails! I had to repaint them immediately to cover up the now red hue to my nails. I think that Triple Shine has promise but it needs a little work!

Not Your Mother's Clean Freak

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my gosh! This stuff is amazing! I really can't rave about it enough. I'm a busy mama and this stuff saved my hair so many times.







My daughter was also a

Rockin' NYMCleanFreak!!!

huge fan. Check out how shiny and pretty her hair is and it's definitely a NYMCleanFreak moment!


I've definitely stocked up on another can of it and I have raved to everyone about what a great product it is. The only thing I wish is that there were different fragrances to choose from but that's a small minor detail and not that huge of a deal. On a scale of 1 to 10 on how great this is? It's a 20! If I get to try no other product this year; I'm glad that I got to try this one!

SoyJoy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to say, my children enjoyed this bar. I however did not like it. Why? Quite simply; I do not like bananas and that was the flavor I was sent. Perhaps I would like another flavor. I cannot say for certain as I was a bit squeamish about the texture as well. Thus, I'm not sure if I will purchase in the future to test my taste buds! I'm giving this a B because my kids did eat it. I'm not giving it an A because when I asked if they would eat it again I got, "maybe" as a reply. I think it just needs a little work on flavor and texture and it would be a hit

Goody® Athletique

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall this headband does what it says. It is a moisture wicking headband and in that regard it does what it says it'll do.

But...it's ugly! *whines and stomps* I know, I know, if it does what it says it'll do then why am I whining about how it looks? I guess I would like something that is pretty and doesn't automatically make me think of a boring ole jockstrap...okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but you totally get me...right? (psst...I've never worn a jockstrap lol!)

It also kept slipping. I'm thinking it was too large for my head but when I tried to tighten it up then the velcro pulled on my hair and I disliked that. I had to use hair clips to keep the headband from sliding around and if I'm having to use clips then it's pointless to have to wear a headband! 

4 stars for doing what it claimed to do. I would like to see some improvements on the looks and performance before I would consider buying this particular style of headband again.  


This was a complimentary gift from the Influenster Program! I was not required to write a positive review. The views and opinions I have expressed are my own.

Catching Moondrops by Jennifer Erin Valent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



“I’d grown quite fond of the wind since Miss Cleta had taught me the secrets of it. “It’s the breath of God, Jessilyn,” she’d say, lifting her face to greet it. “Just listen to it talkin’ to your soul.”
― Jennifer Erin Valent, Catching Moondrops

With wonderful quotes like that it isn’t hard to see why I loved this series so much. The characters are also likeable and they make you want to read about them. You'll want a peaceful resolution but I don't think I can put into words the powerful event that brought that peace. Two words: Beautiful and Soul-stirring!

I grew up in the South and this series just felt so authentic. There is a lazy little feel to it with the sleepiness of southern living thrown in. While the south is known for hospitality though—we can also be pretty doggone stubborn.

Stubbornness and hatred led to sad times and such a sad history being explored and I wish I could say that racism has been completely abolished but sadly it does still linger. Luckily it isn’t as prevalent as it once was but books like this help us remember so that we do not repeat history. I guess like the book points out, it isn’t a racism problem; it is a heart problem and folks need good solid reminders of the pain and horror that hatred brings.

This author captures all of that and she does so beautifully that this series is definitely in my top-ten for 2013.

Jessi has grown up and at 19; Luke is finally looking at her as a woman. It is all she has ever dreamed of but when her best friend also finds love—Jessi’s world once again is turned upside down.

The white folk in the town haven’t really forgotten that the Lassiter family took in a, “colored girl” and to add insult to injury there’s a new doctor in town; one who offends people because of his color. Top that off with a few young boys who are bent on stirring up trouble with the white folk in the name of social equality—their reasoning was correct but their method was all wrong as is often the case with issues like this. You can’t really go about acting silly and stirring up trouble when you want to mend broken fences.

The Klan is no longer concerned about lying low and when a young boy is killed—Jessi’s heart is hardened even more against God and everyone else. She’s just angry! She’s angry at the Klan, maybe even angry at God because how could he let stuff like this continue to happen?

I don’t want to go much further than this because the book is so good I want you to read it for yourself to see the resolution but let’s just say between Gemma, Mr. Lassiter, Luke and Ms. Cleeta, there is a lot of wisdom that you can take away from this series.

I challenge you to pick this series up if you’re into Christian Historical Fiction. You will not be disappointed! I definitely will be reading again in the future and I will also be eagerly awaiting future works by the author.
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Jennifer Erin Valent is the 2007 winner of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest and 2010 Christy Award winner for Fireflies in December. She lives in central Virginia, where she has worked as a nanny for over fifteen years. A lifelong resident of the South, her surroundings help to color the scenes and characters she writes.
www.jennifervalent.com.

Untamed Heart, An by Lauraine Snelling

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I’ve really liked other works by this author and I wanted to like this book because the cover is absolutely stunning.

Unfortunately, my expectations really fell short. I've actually put off writing this review because I was hoping that maybe I would come to view it differently.

I’m kind of disappointed in how this one worked out. I just wasn’t expecting to dislike this book so much and I don’t think I’ll read the rest of the series.

The everyday chores and tasks took up so much of the book that I was bored and exhausted just reading it.

I found myself skimming entire chapters simply because I didn’t care who washed the dishes or cooked the food or sheared the sheep at that point.

Then her terrible luck with romance? Sheesh! She went from having no man to being madly in love to having no man to having another man! Oi! I just wasn’t impressed.

Ingeborg is on her family’s seter with her relatives doing a god awful amount of chores—I’ve yet to figure out why all the children are up there doing all of this alone as it wasn’t explained.

Anyway, she happens to meet a handsome and injured traveler during her time there and falls hopelessly in love with him although with all the chores she was doing I really have no idea how there was time! It seems they went from no romance to talking marriage.

Then, after a billion more chores her family returns home and she gets word that her injured traveler has even more misfortune and dies. At this point there was already such a lack of romance that I was groaning but nevertheless the story continues!

Ingborg at that point agrees to marry a widower so that she can be a mother to his son and that’s pretty much the end of the story!

I wish I sounded more optimistic and had more to say but with the lack of a true romance and the fact this book could have been used as a handbook on how to do farm chores, combined with all the phrases and words that I couldn’t even read (and the lack of a glossary of terms) this book just wasn’t a hit for me.

I will read other works by this author but I just don’t think I’ll even worry with this rest of this particular series!

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Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has seventy books published.


Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.


As a sought after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply ... if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.