Glisten & Glow Bath and Body Products

Good evening, dear readers!  My last post was on purse essentials made by Glisten & Glow, and today I wanted to focus on some of Jill's other products.  As I mentioned previously, Glisten & Glow is the brainchild of my friend Jill, and she makes a wide assortment of customizable bath and body products to your specifications.  With 14 different products and a selection of over 90 customizable fragrances, you can mix and match to your heart's content and then some.  It can be a little overwhelming and so easy to go overboard and ask for every scent (wait, is that just me?), but it is so much fun having something special made just for yourself!  You can have the labels personalized as well, so naturally I asked for The Jedi Wife on mine.  :)

Body Spray

A pregnant woman has to get her "alcohol" wherever she can, and in this case, it is from my body spray!  I had it scented with Sex on the Beach, a yummy fruity blend of orange, cranberry and peach, and coincidentally the first alcoholic concoction I consumed when I turned 21.  This scent is delicious, and I've been wearing it every day since the package arrived at my house.  Something to note about this product is that it separates, but a quick little shake mixes it up quickly.  Due to its composition, it also has an interesting feel that I've never experienced with other body sprays.  It has an almost slippery feel, but it certainly doesn't feel greasy, and I have certainly not had any problems with any sort of staining on my clothes.  The closest thing I can think of to describe it to is silicone, but I know not everyone is familiar with how that feels either.  Sorry, dear readers, I'm trying my best here!  I can definitely say that it lingers longer on my body and clothing than any other body sprays I have used before, and I will be ordering another one soon!   

Ninja edit:  There seems to be some confusion about my mentioning alcohol in this segment.  To clarify, there is no alcohol in the Glisten & Glow body spray.  My reference to alcohol is purely based on the name of the alcoholic mixed beverage "Sex on the Beach".  I apologize for any confusion this might have caused!

Body Wash

I have to admit I was a little nervous about a body wash at first; I have discovered that the body washes I had around my house were way too strongly scented for me, and I was afraid that would be the case with my body wash from Glisten & Glow.  I spoke with Jill about my concerns and the scents that I tend to prefer, and she suggested Bamboo & Green Tea to me.  According to Jill, it is a lighter scent in general, and she used a light hand in spiking my bottle with fragrance.  I don't know what else to say other than I absolutely love it!  The scent isn't too strong and overpowering for me, and the body wash itself produces such a luxurious lather!  My skin feels nicely cleansed and the scent lingers for several hours after use.  I think this is going to by my go-to body wash for the next several months! 

Body Butter

Last, but not least, is the body butter that I also had scented in Bamboo & Green Tea.  While thicker than lotion, the body butter was much thinner than I expected it to be.  Up until now, the only body butter I have used was the extremely thick stuff from The Body Shop.  That being said, Glisten & Glow's body butter is whipped perfection.  I found that it absorbs very quickly into my dry skin, and it leaves my skin feeling soft and lightly scented for hours on end.  I'm not sure which part surprised me the most: that the formula is thinner than expected and yet it is so moisturizing, or that it is so moisturizing without leaving that disgusting greasy feeling on my skin.  Either way, my skin is left silky and smooth, and I couldn't be happier with this product!

Keep an eye out on Glisten & Glow's Facebook page and Bigcartel store for flash giveaways and awesome deals.  Also, check out Jill's Blog and use the tabs along the top to view these and other Glisten & Glow products.  One thing that I forgot to mention is Jill also sells nail polish from China Glaze to OPI to Essie, and don't forget my beloved HK Girl fast drying top coat.  Jill adds a proprietary ingredient to her bottles of this amazing top coat to make it dry even faster and not end up thick and goopy in the bottle.  Now for me to decide what scents I want to try next....

Have a great night, dear readers!  XOXO!

Glisten & Glow Purse Essentials

Good afternoon, dear readers!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and those in the east coast were safe during the storm!  I used to live in North Carolina, and I definitely don't miss the stress of preparing and then holding down the fort during hurricanes.  I have several friends in the north east coast, and I know a few are currently without power.  I am hoping that everything is remedied very quickly so that you all can resume your normal lives!

As for today's post, I have a couple items by Glisten & Glow I wanted to share with you.  My friend Jill is the creator and mastermind behind the brand of luscious customizable bath and body products, and there is something for everyone!  From the basics like shampoo and conditioner to pampering products (I'm looking at you bubble bath and massage oil!), you can find something for all the men and women in your life!  What sets Glisten & Glow apart from other bath and body lines is that it is truly customizable.  Products are not pre-made and waiting to be shipped, and customers get to choose their choice of fragrance from a jaw-dropping list of over 90 scents.  Interested in a particular scent but think it may be too strong?  Talk with Jill and she'll scent it very lightly.  This feature alone has been a blessing for me since I am so sensitive to smells now.  Jill has very kindly provided the scents that I love but toned them down so I can still enjoy them.  Another feature of the brand that I love is that the labels themselves are customizable!  It is a nice touch that makes the products truly feel like they are yours, and you can stake your claim by having "All Mine" written on the labels.  :)  Can you tell that I am excited about the brand yet?

I have a few Glisten & Glow products to review for you, and I decided to break it up into two posts.  This first post I am going to focus on what I consider to be purse essentials.  Let's do this!

Beeswaxed Lips

First up is the Glisten & Glow Beeswaxed Lips.  I had to get the limited edition Pumpkin Cheesecake flavour, and it smells so yummy!  I'm a big fan of lip products, and this one did not disappoint.  A blend of beeswax, oils, and vitamin E, Beeswaxed Lips is very nourishing for dry, chapped lips, but it still feels amazingly light.  It is not thick, goopy, or greasy, and is a welcome addition to my bag.  Due to the nature of flavoring and scents, Beeswaxed Lips are not available in all the scents offered by Glisten & Glow.  Pumpkin Cheesecake is one of three flavours that are part of the limited edition fall lineup available in a jumbo tin, and Glisten & Glow offers other flavours in the standard-sized tin.  Due to size contraints, the Beeswaxed Lips labels are not customizable.  

Hand Sanitizer

Another essential for in my purse is the hand sanitizer.  Glisten & Glow offers this product in three sizes: 2 oz, 4 oz, and 8 oz; and the 2oz bottle fits perfectly in my bag.  With my education in microbiology, I am far from a germophobe, but hand sanitizer is a necessity now that cold and flu season is quickly approaching.  I have used a lot of different hand sanitizers, and the first thing I noticed about the product from Glisten & Glow is that is isn't quite as thick as some other brands.  Woohoo!  No fighting to get a too-thick gel out of the bottle!  I'm sure it seems petty to some people, but I find it irritating when I have to struggle to even get a product out of its container.  At best what it means is that it goes unused in my bag, and at worst, it gets tossed in the nearest trash can regardless of how full it might be.  Wasteful I know, but seriously, what is the point of holding on to something you don't use?  I digress, so let me get back to the review.  I love that I could get the product out on to my hands easily, and it was wonderful!  Another surprising feature was the finish it left on my hands.  If you use hand sanitizer, you know just how drying they can be, but this was not the case with the Glisten & Glow hand sanitizer.  My hands felt smooth if not a touch moisturized, and I dare say this is the perfect hand sanitizer.  Did you look closely at the picture yet?  If so, you may have noticed that the scent is Coconut & Lemongrass, a scent not officially offered by Glisten & Glow.  Yes, dear readers, yours truly can sometimes be a bit of a pain in the tuckus, and Jill graciously blended her coconut and lemongrass scents for me at my request.  I must say the combination is awesome, and I now want everything to smell like it!  As much as I love coconut, the scent is just a tad too bland for my liking, and the lemongrass adds the perfect touch of pizzazz to win me over.  Of course it may explain my sudden craving for Thai food....

Glis-tics Cuticle Oil

The final product in my Glisten & Glow purse essential lineup is the Glis-tics roller ball cuticle oil.  Thanks to the dry weather in Arizona and doing a lot of polish swatching for my blog, I go through a lot of moisturizers for my hands, but cuticle oil truly is the best at nourishing dry, cracking cuticles.  Cuticle oils can be messy to apply and not something you want to deal with when you are out and about, but the Glis-tics roller ball is the perfect solution to this problem.  A quick little roll across the cuticles adds just the right amount of oil where it is needed and *gasp* no more getting oil drops on your clothes.  Bye-bye mess!  I can be a bit of a packaging snob, and the blue glass vials are so elegant and classy.  I feel like a million bucks when I pull this baby out of my bag, and I have to admit, that feels pretty darn good!  As for the scent, I decided to go with Sangria White Peach, Glisten & Glow's top selling fragrance, and oh my, is it delicious!  It may be a little more suited towards more people than my beloved coconut & lemongrass combination, and I can certainly see why people love it!  Now if only I can decide what I want my next scent to be....

Here are some links that you may want to check out:  Glisten & Glow's Facebook page, Blog (which also has links to Glisten & Glow products long the top), and the Bigcartel shop.

Until next time, dear readers, stay good, or just don't get caught!  ;)    

Fall Favorites!

I was tagged by the lovely Jess of Love for Lacquer to complete a list of my fall favorites, and I am all too eager to share with you.  Fall is arguably my favorite season: I love the cooler weather, pumpkin scented and flavored everything, and my all time favorite holiday, Halloween!

Favorite Fall Lip Product
I have been on a lip gloss kick lately, and my current favorite is Rimmel Stay Glossy in Captivate Me.  It adds a nice touch of colour to my lips during the day and an extra pop of colour and shine over lipstick in the evenings.

Favorite Fall Nail Polish
This one was surprisingly easy for me to choose, and I suspect that will never happen for me again!  LOL!  I have yet to feature this colour on my blog, and this is Glitter Gal Belgian Chocolate.

Favorite Fall Starbucks Drink
Pumpkin Spice Latte hands down!  I'm not a big coffee drinker in general, but I do love a pumpkin spice latte on occasion.

Favorite Fall Candle
This one is was difficult for me to narrow down since I love so many fall-related scents.  After some consideration, I decided that if I can only have one candle, I would want a Yankee Candle in Harvest.  The scent of this candle epitomizes fall with the warm spicy scents mixed in with hints of apple and pumpkin.  Yum!

Favorite Fall Scarf or Accessory
I am usually a big fan of boots when it comes to fall, but my feet are swelling because of the pregnancy so I can't really wear them right now.  I have added a few scarves to my wardrobe that I really love.  The first is black with grey and pink skulls that I picked up on eBay.  While I wear skull things year-round, I know not everyone does.  I have also picked up an olive green scarf and a purple and maroon scarf from Walmart.  A girl has to have options!

Haunted House, Haunted Hay Ride, or Haunted Corn Maize
I really want to pick option D: All of the Above!  I'm a big fan of any sort of spooky event, and I'm a little sad I'm supposed to be avoiding them right now.  If I had to chose one, it would probably be the haunted hay ride.  They are usually an interesting mix of spooky and relaxing within moments of each other, and I find them to be a little more family friendly.

Favorite Halloween Movie
There is no way I can possibly pick one movie!  I watch both cute family-friendly Halloween movies and horror movies throughout the month of October, and my choices change every year.  The only movies that I watch every October without fail are The Halloween Tree, based off the book by Ray Bradbury, and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Favorite Candy to Eat on Halloween
Hi, my name is Jen, and I am addicted to chocolate!  I love candy corn, but it is just a little too sweet for me.  I started mixing it in with a chex mix, and oh my, is that delicious!  I really need to get to the store so I can get some made this year!

What Are You Dressing Up As On Halloween?
I'm afraid there will be no costumes for me this year.  I'm really looking forward to dressing up the little one next year though!

What Is Your Favorite Thing About Fall?
Pumpkins make me inexplicably happy.  It doesn't matter if they are whole or carved jack-o-lanterns, there is just something about the plump orange roundness that makes me smile.  I have been known to spend hours in a pumpkin patch picking out my perfect pumpkin, and I love having them around the house.

I really enjoyed putting this list together, and I may have to do this again!  I'd love to hear about your fall favorites as well!  :)