** Baby life has come with a great many gadgets, some of which have been awesome and some of which have been awful. My plan is to share my experiences with various items as they happen, but since I’ve already admitted that sometimes my plans fall through, we’ll see how it all works out At the very least, there will be one post in the series! **

When I was pregnant and registering for a baby carrier, I had no idea what baby-wearing was. All I knew was that when my parents needed to be extra maneuverable or have their hands free, they used some kind of front carrier when the babies were little, and then a sturdier backpack style carrier when the babies got bigger. That seemed practical and made sense, so I figured we’d do the same.

When I started doing research to choose a particular carrier, though, I quickly found that there are a LOT of people who take wearing their babies very seriously, which means that baby carriers are a big business. There were WAY more kinds of front and back carriers than I’d ever thought, and that was just when I was at Target! Once I started looking online, I found even MORE options (and lots of them were REALLY expensive! Apparently, using a baby carrier was something people did for more reasons than making grocery shopping easier, and they were willing to pay for it!) I also found a lot of VERY opinionated people online, but I wasn’t looking to join their movement. I just wanted the kind of carrier nice, normal people bought when they didn’t want to push a stroller through a crowd.

I ended up registering for (and receiving, yay, thank you!) a Moby wrap (which was AWESOME when Nathan was tiny and wailed any time you tried to set him down. I absolutely recommend them for newborns!) and an Infantino soft-structured carrier (which J primarily uses and seems to have no complaints with!) We reached a point over the summer, though, where neither of those options were really meeting my needs. The weather was warm, so wrapping Nathan to my chest with yards of thick cotton was impractical (Nathan is already a SUPER hot sweaty baby! I have to remember to dress him in fewer layers than I wear or else he gets so hot his glasses steam up and water drips down the lenses!) and I found that the Infantino wrap didn’t size down enough to be comfortable on me for very long (I’m not sure how petite women would use the product, because it sure seems sized for a man!) Nathan was in an in-between phase where he couldn’t sit or stand on his own, but he wanted to be upright and able to look around at things. He was also teething and was super clingy, so he’d freak out if I put him down. I started looking again into different kinds of baby carriers, and very quickly got overwhelmed by the different options and how expensive they all were (even buying the simplest carrier used would be $50-100!) Which is when fate stepped in and a wonderful friend sent me the carrier that her son had recently outgrown

Enter the Maya Ring Sling! I was already interested in ring slings because they are made of a single layer of material (so Nathan wouldn’t overheat as quickly), they were adjustable (so I didn’t need to worry about fit or either of us outgrowing it), and most importantly, they allowed you to carry your baby on your hip (instead of just your front or back) so I could see Nathan, he could see me, but he wouldn’t be right in front of me and in my way all the time (wearing your baby is great and all, but if what you want is to read your email, putting your grabby baby closer to the computer than you are is NOT a good idea!)

There was a little bit of a learning curve when it came to assembling and putting the sling on, but the first time I got Nathan into it, he promptly put his head on my chest and conked out I got caught up on my deskwork one-handed and nobody was crying, which is my definition of success!

Since then I’ve used it a good deal, primarily when we are just wandering around somewhere. It wouldn’t be good for things like grocery shopping (where I need to be able to bend down to get stuff off of the bottom shelf) and I wouldn’t wear it to go hiking in the mountains (or anything extra strenuous) but for any situation where I’d like to just carry Nathan on my hip but would appreciate some extra back support (window shopping, hanging out with friends, waiting at the doctors office) it’s PERFECT! Nathan is always totally willing to fall asleep in it as well, which conveniently means I can snuggle him if he’s tired and cranky while we’re out and about, but when he falls asleep, my arm and back don’t cramp up from supporting all his weight!

It also turns out that once you have it on, you can attach toys to the rings! SCORE!

He fell asleep in it recently when we were at a food expo, and I found myself an unwitting baby-wearing educator. A woman saw me with Nathan and told her friend, “Oh look, it’s one of those wrap things I was telling you about!” (I’d covered up the rings with a burp cloth while Nathan was drooling/sleeping, so she couldn’t see them). I removed the cloth to show her the rings and explain about wrap carriers versus ring slings and the pros and cons of both. I left that experience and thought, “Huh, I think I just became a baby-wearing advocate! When did THAT happen?” It’s funny how life works out sometimes!

I still get overwhelmed when I look at different carriers (and I still think the costs are outrageous!) and I couldn’t tell you why a Maya ring sling is better/worse/different than any other kind of ring sling. What I CAN tell you, though, is that we use it all the time, and there are a lot of outings we probably wouldn’t be able to go on right now if we didn’t have something like this. (Thank you, Missy, for your beautiful sling!) It might not be the solution for every baby or situation, but for us, it’s awesome!

CoverGirl Blast Makeup – Eye Shadow and Lip Gloss

** I am a BzzAgent which means that companies send me coupons and items to use and review. This review is my honest opinion of the products given to me.

I really thought I’d hit the jackpot with this assignment, because CoverGirl is such a big name brand, and I love makeup. The product looked cool in concept, and I was eager to try it. Unfortunately, I was incredibly let down.

The lip gloss was the better of the two products, but I’d say that it was average, at best. The gloss was lightweight and not overly slick (you don’t always want super shiny lips during the day!) It ended up looking nice, but nice looking glosses are a dime a dozen. You have to have something more than that in order to stand out! They advertise that it has an angled tip that is supposed to be better for application in some manner. The tip worked fine, but I didn’t think it was any better or worse than any other applicator I’ve ever used. My biggest problem with the lip gloss was the amount I ended up consuming. I’ve got big lips and I smile and talk a lot, so it takes a fair amount of product to keep my lips from drying out. My initial complaint was that not much of the product came out of the bottle, so I’d have to apply the gloss on one lip, re-dip into the tube, and then apply the next lip. That was just annoying. Then I noticed that the gloss seemed to disappear quickly, so I’d need to apply again. As you can kind of see in the picture, there isn’t much left in the tube. I used the gloss infrequently for maybe a month or so (I have about four glosses in my purse, and when I needed gloss I’d just reach into my purse and use whatever I found. So I wasn’t even CLOSE to using this product exclusively) and look at how much of it I used up! (I should mention that I was given a full size product – that isn’t a trial gloss or anything). It was a decent gloss, but it would have to be substantially cheaper than a competitor for me to use it, simply based on how much more of it I’d need to use. What a bummer.

The eyeshadow was an epic failure. I’m a big fan of cream eyeshadows, and I use them enough to expect some degree of creasing when you use them. This eyeshadow went on pretty smoothly and looked just fine (well, I got sent the super blue color, but I’m not evaluating the color here! Just the way they color blended and was able to be used). My issue with this product was that it was too slippery – there wouldn’t be an issue if it dried to a powder after it was applied, but while the slipperiness allowed for easy blending, it meant that the moment I left the house, it all ended up in the crease of my eye. It didn’t just bunch up in the crease and leave the rest of the shadow in place, either – I think all of the product slid from it’s original location and gathered in a big pile. We left the house, went to a restaurant a mile away, and when I went into the bathroom, I had a huge line of blue in the center of my eye and no eye shadow anywhere else. I have nothing positive to mention about this product. In fact, I saved it just so I could take the photo for this post. After I took the picture, guess where it ended up?

I was really disappointed that such a well known brand had struck out in such a massive way. If someone gives you the lip gloss from this line, I hope that it works out well for you, but if they give you the eyeshadow, you might as well toss it in the trash right now.

I’ve recently learned (the hard way, of course) that with hair straighteners (or flat irons), you get what you pay for. Some things in life you can skimp on and get away with, and some things you really just need to splurge and be done with it.

The BAD
I chopped my hair all off a few months ago (the reasons for which I plan to blog about some other time!) and since my hair is naturally wavy/curly, a flat iron was a necessity. I didn’t want to spend much money though, so I bought at Ulta what I thought would be a good cross between price and quality: the Andis Tourmaline Inferno. It was only $25, so I should have known there would be a problem eventually

In defense of the product, it worked really well at first – it heated up quickly, got really hot, had really smooth plates with rounded edges, and I liked that you could lock the plates closed (it made it SO MUCH easier to store. Sometimes the simplest things can really rock your world!)

HOWEVER! After about 2 months, the coating on the plates started to peel away. Just a tiny bit on the edges at first, but as it gradually got worse, my hair started snagging on it and so I’d end up with hair all over the counters when I was done getting ready for work in the mornings. No bueno! After three months enough of the plates had eroded that I decided to go with something new.

I give it a 2 out of 5 stars (I’m not going to give it a 1 on the off chance that mine was just defective, but it still ended up pretty badly, so I think 2 is being generous).
 

The GOOD!
I decided this time that it would be worth it to invest in something that would last me a long time (I’ve used the same curling iron for more than 10 years now, so once I have a styling tool, I don’t replace it until it breaks!) Now, anyone who follows these kinds of things knows that the CHI straighteners are the most raved about of all time, but they are REALLY expensive! (Just looking on Amazon I saw one that was over $400!) and I think they usually run for $100 and up in stores.

So when I went to Ulta to get my haircut, I asked my stylist for a recommendation, worried that she was going to try to up-sell me to something ridiculous. And she did, of course, recommend a CHI, BUT it turns out they were having a PHENOMENAL sale on them that day! (I got it almost half off the usual price!) So if anyone needs a new flat iron, head to Ulta NOW!

Now, I bought it just yesterday, but I can tell you that after one day of use, I am a very satisfied customer! (To be fair, I thought my old one was good at first too, but I’m pretty sure this time will be different! If it’s not, I promise I’ll post an update). It heats up SUPER fast and gets SUPER hot (beware of burning your fingers!) It’s similar to the one my stylist has used on me before, so I know that it’s possible to make my hair straight as a board (I hate the way that looks, but I know it’s possible!) and I know from my own use of it that it also does a great job of adding some volume and flipping the ends under. The box says you can curl your hair with it too, though I don’t know how (they were having a product demonstration at the store today where I could have learned, but I didn’t feel like making the drive again!) The plates are SO smooth that my hair had gone through them and come out the other end all smooth before I realized I’d even pressed the plates together! I did my hair SO fast today that I amazed myself. I do wish that it had the same plate locking feature that the old one had because it and the cord are already all tangled up with the cord of my blow dryer, but I’ll find a way around that. 

I have to admit, also, that I’ve always felt that having a CHI straightener was a kind of status symbol, so I was really excited to join the “cool people” club Also, it’s so cute! I wanted to post a link to a picture of it but I can’t find one that is exactly like mine. (Every place online seems to make up their own names for the same product, and I just got annoyed and quick looking). This one is pretty close though, so just picture it a shimmer-ier color, and there you have it!

I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars, to possibly be upgraded to a 5 if, three months from now, it still has the ceramic coating on the plates