Mickey Mouse

This post is mostly for my own sake, to help me remember in case I ever forget (I have a very bad memory people) but of course you're welcome to read as always.



Mickey was a male mouse I adopted from Petco exactly a year from today. I wrote this a while back, but have just finally decided to post it. Mickey was extremely shy, and terrified of being touched, but he was adorable and I was in love with him completely. I had tamed him to the point he would crawl on me while we played in the bathtub, something we did every day for a few hours.

 Mickey unfortunately, had a problem. Three weeks into our relationship, I noticed he was sneezing, he was also making "talking noises" little rattly noises that is.  He had been sneezing the whole time I had him, but you know, it was just some sniffles.... Until I found out it wasn't.

Mickey more than likely had a respiratory infection. According to the internet, these were very hard to treat in meeces. Because Mickey was still on the Petco 30 day trial period, I grudgingly took him there so they could treat him at their vet, as I was going on vacation the same week, and well, I couldn't treat him myself if I was on vacation.

The manager said they would take him to the vet on Monday (it was Friday) I was sad to leave him with those crazy people, who claimed he was probably sick because I was not feeding him one of their 20% protein block diets (very bad by the way, mice shouldn't have more than like 12-14% protein or they can get hot spots).

My vacation ended. I waited impatiently, calling every other day to see how he was doing. "much better" they said "no more sneezing" they said.

I was so excited to go and pick Mickey up after the excruciatingly long two week period. He was a lot bigger than when I had dropped him off. I payed the $4  re-adoption fee. I got into my mom's car. "sneeze" "sneeze" went Mickey. I looked at him in horror. Two weeks of medication hadn't worked in the least.

I kept Mickey for two more weeks, hoping the sneezing would recede or that he wouldn't start rattling again. Unfortunately he just got worse. He was more distant with me, he wouldn't climb on me like he had before when I played with him in the bath tub. He started scratching a lot, laying in weird places all sprawled out, and loosing fur around his eyes.

It was an extremely difficult decision to give up my little man, but after hard thought, I took him back to Petco with promises from the store that they would take him back to the vet.

"Do you want him back once he's treated?" asked the lady at the counter.
"No, no, not this time," said I looking sadly at the mouse as my heart melted into a lump on the floor.

Although Mickey was a terrible experience, I am still glad I had him for the short time I did. If I didn't, I would have never gotten Dapper. I researched so much about respiratory infections that I knew enough to take the risk when I saw that pitiful rat in the cardboard box.

Wherever you are Mickey, I hope you're still alive and doing well out there somewhere in the world.

Mickey's pirate themed 20 gallon tank.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanted to say happy valentines day! Hope everyone had a very happy day. Give your pets a kiss for me💗

Peace. Love. Rats♥

-MessyRat.

Wednesday Reviews: Pacifica Enlightened Lip Gloss

When I got this lip gloss in my Love Goodly Subscription box last December, I was a little apprehensive, as I don't really care for lipgloss, however, I was intrigued to try this Pacifica Enlightened Lip Gloss simply because it was from Pacifica, a brand that I have been idolizing for a while but too broke to buy much from.

If you haven't heard, Pacifica is a cruelty-free, all vegan cosmetic company that sales borderline luxury makeup. (What I mean by that is they are more expensive than ELF but way less expensive than somewhere like Juice Beauty).

May I start by saying that Pacifica's packaging of this product is so cute? Maybe I'm just super visual, but I really like the way Pacifica products look. 

let's take a look at what Pacifica claims about this product:
Supernatural shine, super smooth and non-sticky with nourishing hydration and long lasting natural color. Infused with coconut oil and antioxidants to help support superior lip health. Formulated without phthalates, parabens, sulfates, propylene, glycol, mineral oil, petroleum, peanut oil, triclosan, vegan and cruelty-free. It also mentions on the package it is "formulated without carmine, talc, parabens and petroleum."  

 I was pretty happy with the color of this gloss, which is called  Ravish. It's a good color for my light skin, looks naturally burgundy/reddish without being overpowering. It is really sparkly and shiny, which I don't personally care for, but looks quality.

Swatch ^

Unfortunately, that is about where the thrill of this product ends. Remember the claim this stuff was non-sticky? Well that was a big fib. Maybe I am just not used to wearing lip gloss, but this stuff is seriously sticky. A little bit like putting glue on your lips. Every time I open my mouth to speak it was like pulling open a sticky door frame. 

As for the wear of this product, I really haven't worn it enough to know exactly how long it lasts, but considering that my lips stayed sticky for a quite a while, I would say it lasted at least a few hours. 

Overall, I was a little disappointed in this product, however, seeing as I don't care for heavy lipstick, I will still probably use it sparingly when I want to wear a little something, as I like the color.

Thanks for tuning in!

Peace. Love. Rats♥

-MessyRat.

Wednesday Reviews: Cote Nail Polish.

Today I'm going to be reviewing something I got in my Dec/Jan Love Goodly Subscription box, Cote's nail polish in No. 37.  I previewed this in my Love Goodly Unboxing Post.

First off, though, because  I already kind of mentioned my views on the "Boom Chicka Pop" kettle corn in Weekly Favorites, I wanted to share with you guys a little (or more like big) something my mom got for me at BJ's the other day. I'm going to have BoomChickPop for the rest of my LIFE! I'm beyond happy. I'm rhapsodic. Thanks mom💗

Anyways.... on the review.

 Cote nail polish in No. 37

 

In case you didn't see my Unboxing post, Cote is a vegan, cruelty-free nail polish, made in the USA and free of the many toxins often found in nail polish, including formaldehyde (yuck!) 

This color was everything I was hoping it would be! It's such a vibrant red color and lays down nicely. I don't pretend to be a nail polish nerd but I was pretty happy about the wear of this product. It stayed for about four days, without a topcoat and with minimal chipping; (which is pretty rare for me seeing as I am always doing something with my hands).

 I was also really happy when I removed the polish. It came off really, really easily, and did no damage to my nails. 

The one downside to this polish  I would say is that it did leave a bit of a red residue on my fingers and nails afterward, but it didn't last long and so I found this not that big of a deal. Note: you will need to put two coats of polish on your nails to get this nice red color, the first coat ends up looking a bit pinky.  Here is a picture of how it held up after five nights:

If your interested Cote polishes retail for $18. See their website at http://coteshop.co/. They have a ton of awesome colors, so go check them out! (and no they don't sponsor me to say that lol).

Thanks for tuning in!

Peace. Love. Rats♥

-MessyRat

Wednesday Reviews: EVXO Natural Coverage Liquid Mineral Foundation

So I'm thinking about starting to do my makeup reviews on Wednesdays weekly (or when I can get to it lol). What do you guys think?

Anyways, welcome to my very first cosmetic review! 

I have been using the same foundation for so long; Covergirl Clean for oily skin. So long that I forgot how difficult it is for me to find new makeup. The struggle as been real- researching into the night trying to find SOMETHING cruelty free that doesn't have a bunch of chemicals... for an affordable price. with EVXO's foundation in Bisque, I thought I'd finally found it. Boy, was I disappointed.

For reference sake, let me explain a little about my skin. I have acne prone, oily skin. It's hard for me to keep makeup on very long because it simply melts off. One of my biggest mistakes when looking for foundation was not taking this into account, because like I said, I haven't shopped for foundation for a long time.

Anyway, on to the review.


First, let's look at the up sides to this foundation. It is vegan, cruelty-free, organic and all natural. The ingredients are so clean, and it is a small business, which I like supporting.
There are the claims EVXO makes about their foundation:
Vegan / Cruelty-Free and made with Organic Ingredients! Containing: Aloe, Chamomile, Thyme, and vitamin E. These ingredients keep your skin looking fresh and give the foundation a natural looking shine. 

•Amazing build-able coverage

•Free of pore clogging ingredients

•Smooth application with a beautiful dewey finish

•Evxo Foundation is available in 6 versatile colors. We have a color for every skin type!

Let's talk about the color of this foundation. At first glance, it looks loads darker than it actually is. I got this foundation in bisque which is the lightest color, because I am extremely pale. Fortunately, the dark color is only the way the formula looks in the bottle. On the skin this foundation looks phenomenal. It matched my pale skin perfectly, which is extremely rare for me because most foundations end up looking orangey. 

Besides the color, the coverage was also fantastic. This foundation covered up all my acne, erased my large pores, and basically gave me a "blank slate" to put on the rest of my makeup. Unfortunately, this is where the problem starts. The only way this foundation achieves this fantastic finish is because it is thick- like the consistency of acrylic paint thick. I used two pumps to cover my whole face because it was so thick it was hard to spread it over my face. 

The thickness of this foundation only leads to more bad things. The wear. After about an hour wearing this foundation my face started to feel itchy, and my face felt like it was melting. Now this feeling would be understandable for the middle of summer. But I was wearing this foundation in late December. The weird thing was, the foundation actually was staying put on my face, it "looked" fine, but it felt horrible. So, if you want to look beautiful, and don't mind feeling like you dunked your head in a bucket of mud, this is perfect!

Ok, the last thing I have to say about this foundation for me was the worst. The smell. I am extremely sensitive to synthetic smells, and I prefer my cosmetics to be odorless. thank you. At first the smell of this foundation seems nice. It smells very much like marshmallows. I know right? funny scent for a face. After a few minutes though, I start getting tired of marshmallows,  It took about two hours for the smell to go away, and by then my head was hurting and all I wanted to do was remove the sticky, thick, smelly stuff from my face. I did keep wearing this foundation however, and kept applying it for about a week, assuming I would get used to the smell. However, I never did. I had a headache every day. I was trying to figure out what could create this strong smell and my sister pointed out to me the vanilla near the bottom of the ingredients. We believe that may be what created the strong odor.

 Ultimately, I wouldn't not recommend this foundation to anyone in my right mind.  I had to return this foundation due to my headaches, melty face and itchiness.  I really really wanted to like this EXVO foundation in bisque. I wanted to support the small company that was making quality vegan and cruelty-free makeup, however, it just didn't work out for me. 

I hope this review helps you decide for yourself about this foundation and weigh the pros and cons. 

Thanks for tuning in.

Peace.Love.Rats♥

-MessyRat

Weekly Favorites.

Hello!

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite things for the first week of 2017. I don't know about you, but I am actually excited about the new year and the opportunities that it presents. If I can survive my last semester of Senior Year than maybe it will end up being a good one!


First on weekly favorites are a couple of recipes, which are both veg/vegan-friendly. Trying to eat vegetarian can be fun but also frustrating, so finding food that is better than eating omnivorously is always fun😉

This is an easy pizza "recipe" that I concocted for lunch one day. We completely ran out of mozzarella so I went with gouda, thinking it would be better than nothing. Surprisingly the gouda was really good on the pizza, in fact I think I will be making this again when I need a good lunch idea. 

Another recipe I tried this week that turned out pretty good was this 3-Ingredient Vegan Crepes. This recipe is so easy to make it might as well be a boxed mix! I would not suggest, however,  trying to half (or if you're me, quarter) the recipe. (Hey, don't look at me that way,  I only wanted one crepe!) Although this made a good pancake, it was too stiff to call it a "crepe".  Next time I will probably not try to do that again😆 I have a feeling it was because it didn't have enough flax egg in it by the time I cut the recipe so much. Top with strawberries or whatever you like😊

My next favorite has to do with my ratties. Their cage has looked really drab lately, I just haven't been the greatest interior rat cage decorator of late.  I had a feeling I needed to get more toys for them- until  I looked in my stock of rat things and was surprised to find a LOAD of junk! Those rats must be rich because they sure own a lot of goodies🙄 So for the first time in a long time I took out almost EVERYTHING they had and stuffed it in their cage. Wow, what an improvement for the new year!

Sorry about how the bars cover up a lot of the pic, still can't figure out how to make my camera not focus on them🙄

Another of my favorites this week has been the Boom Chicka Pop! Kettle Corn. I got this in my Love Goodly Subscription box. (Go Here to see my Love Goodly unboxing post). This stuff is SO GOOD! And to think I wasn't even very interested in the stuff when I got it in the subscription! Fluffy popcorn, mildly salty with a very thin layer of slightly crispy sweet on top. This stuff vegan, gluten free, GMO free, and made with only 4 simple ingredients:
popcorn, sunflower oil, dried cane sugar, and sea salt. It's addictive. I've been saving the last few kernels in the bottom so I will still have some....


The last "favorite" of the week as to be the Warehouse 13 DVD's that my family got for Christmas. We used to watch this a few years ago until the newer seasons were not available on Netflix (you are evil Netflix!) and were crazed over it then. Because it dropped off though, we never saw the end of season 4 and were left hanging for dear life while some sort of orchid was about to destroy everyone on earth.😨 Why did we wait two years to buy seasons 4 and 5 so we could see what happened? who knows. Anyways, we are making up for lost time watching at least 4 at a time😜  but shhhh! we still haven't finished season 5, so no spoilers please!

Thanks for tuning in.

Peace. Love. Rats♥

-Messy Rat

Love Goodly Dec/Jan Unboxing!

The first week of January is almost over. It's snowing outside and everyone is advised to stay in their houses. It's a great day to be blogging. Today I want to share with you guys my first Love Goodly Subscription box.😚 Just for reference I am giving the value of each product, but the box itself is always $30

Here is how the box came. I like the big Love Goodly logo, it's very bright and happy looking. Everything was very tightly packed. Recently Love Goodly made their boxes smaller so that it would use less cardboard. Even though it was tightly packed, nothing was smashed.

The first thing in the box, is this. Love Goodly personally wrote the little handwritten Merry Christmas note. One of the perks of a smaller company😄

 The second thing is another note. This includes info on the box guest curator Emily Deschanel, a long time vegan and actress (She plays Temperance Brennen in one of my favorite TV shows Bones). The card also has a little info on Farm Sanctuary, the charity for this month's box. Every month Love Goodly donates  5% of each Box to some sort of charity.
...................................................................................................................................................................

Next in the box is this Facial Steam by Mullein & Sparrow. It's supposed to cleanse and open up the pores in your face; you heat up a pot of water, put some of the leaves in it and stick your face close to the steaming pot. This is probably one of the things I am less ecstatic about. I'm not really into "relaxing" facial products. With that said,  I read a little about the company Mullein & Sparrow and their values- to say the least I was impressed (read about it here).
I've  heard this can also be used as a tea, so I'm not sure if I might try it for that instead? Value $10

Next in the box is this Boom Chicka Pop Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn. This is a vegan popcorn snack. I honestly didn't really look at this stuff very hard when I first got it. Besides its pretty packaging, I wasn't too interested. In fact, at first I thought it was potato chips because I simply didn't look at it that hard😋 More on this later. Value $1.50

Cote is a brand of vegan cruelty-free, non toxic(ish) nail polish. The bottle says it is free of dbp, formaldehyde, resin, toluene & camphor. I didn't even know nail polish had formaldehyde in it! That's so wrong.😣 Anyways, I love this color that they sent, No. 37. My favorite nail colors are either black or red, so I was super excited about this polish. Value $18

Pacifica is a brand I have used and researched thoroughly. Vegan and Cruelty-free, they have a special recycling program and all their packaging is 100% recyclable. You can read about their mission here. Value $10

The last thing in this box was this MyChelle Perfect C Serum. This product is supposed to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Value $44 

Unfortunately, this product came damaged and was leaking when I opened it up. I wasn't worried though because I was already aware of Love Goodly's policy that they would send a new product if one was damaged during shipping. So we contacted Love Goodly and they were MORE than happy to send me a replacement. Did I mention how nice they were about it? They were more than helpful and super sweet. The replacement came super quickly in this adorable package....

Ok guys, that is all for this Love Goodly box. I hope you enjoyed the unboxing. I will try to work on reviewing the items for you soon, once I actually get a chance to try them all!

thanks for tuning in.

Peace. Love. Rats♥

-MessyRat

Don't Build your House on Sand!!!

The hardest thing for me going Cruelty-Free has been finding a decent foundation. Sure there are plenty of options, but when I started reading the ingredients the list went way, way down to, like nothing. I want a good foundation, it is the one makeup product that I am going to be slathering ALL OVER my entire face. If my foundation isn't any good, the attempt to find healthy makeup sort of disappears in the dust. Because of this, I was determined I needed to get 100% Pure's Healthy Skin Foundation, after all, from what little research I've done,  they seemed to be the only ones that were not secretly trying to poison me. Unfortunately, that small convenience comes with a hefty $45 dollar price tag.

So I decided to do some more research to find a more affordable foundation. This post is basically just info on the foundations I researched. It isn't a comprehensive guide, just my notes from what I learned while searching. The most important thing I found out that the holy grail of foundations 100% Pure (or so I thought) actually itself contained some ingredients that were not-so-happy. Don't get me wrong, it's still probably fantastic stuff, just with some poison in it (lol).

P.S. I've only put 100% Pure on this list to give you a guide as to what a "good" foundation looks like, before showing the cheaper ones.

P.S.S. What I basically mean when I listed "Good Ingredients" is that these were made by something natural like a plant. I have not researched if all of them are actually good for your skin, although some of them are.😀

100% Pure Healthy Skin Foundation $45

Red Flag Ingredients: 15% Titanium Dioxide, ((bad if inhaled) Moderate Cancer Hazard . Inorganic compound. This ingredient is found in almost all the cosmetics I've searched, especially the lower end ones) 10% Zinc oxide, (moderate concern for organ system toxicty. not good to breathe).

Good Ingredients: Aloe, Peach, Apricot, Coco Bean, Goji Berry, Acai, Pomegranate Oil, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, White Tea, Coffee cherry, Maquai Berry, Muscadine Grape, Mangosteen, Acerola, Elderberry, Grapefruit, Honeysuckle, 

Downsides: Price. 
Upsides: Vegan (some products) Organic, Free Returns. Comes in 8 colors!



Pacifica Dreamy Cover Bare Faced.  Price $17


Red Flag ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 21%, Silica: (also know as quartz. Silica dust is dangerous if inhaled. low/medium concern.) Parfum, all natural: (Means perfume, none specific, sort of like saying "natural flavors") Caprylic/capric Triglyceride (low hazard but a suspected environmental toxin).

Good Ingredients: JoJoba Esters, Chondrus Crispus (red algae used as thickener in food) Centifolia Flower Extract (extract of the flowers of the cabbage rose).

Downsides: Is sold on Amazon for $19 instead of $17 (Pacifica website) and it only comes in only 3 colors.
Upsides: Pacifica is a Vegan, Cruelty-Free company and all their packaging is 100% recyclable.

Physicians Formula Natural Origins CC Cream $8.54

Red Flag Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 3.9% Zinc Oxide 1%, Diisostearate/polyhydroxystearate/sebacate (no info on this substance) Magnesium Sulfate (this is talc also know as talcum powder) Beeswax (not vegan).

Good Ingredients: (Orange fruit water) Jojoba seed oil, Water, Lemon, Agave Leaf Extract, Sunflower Seed Oil.

Downsides: Not vegan, only comes in 2 colors.
Upsides: Affordable, organic, all natural

Physicians Formula Tinted Moisturizer $10.95

Red flag ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 5%, Talc, Aluminum, Alcohol SD ((denatured with organic lavender oil)  Moderate hazard, low cancer hazard. Moderate birth defect hazard. But significantly smaller than the risks from drinking alcohol. Bad to eat).

Good Ingredients: Orange Fruit Water, Water, Jojoba Seed Extract, Sunflower Seed Oil, Hemp Seed Oil, Shea Butter, Olive Fruit Oil, Indica Seed Butter, Avocado Oil.

Downsides: Not vegan company, (not sure if this particular product is vegan?) only comes in 2 colors.
Upsides: Affordable, organic, all natural

EVXO Liquid Mineral Foundation. $24.99

Red Flag ingredients: Stearic Acid, most often an animal ingredient, although considering this is an all vegan company, I doubt it is. It can be found in vegetable fats as well. It can be irritating to the skin though.
Boron Nitride: (an inorganic synthetic that can leak into the skin).
 (*May contain titanium dioxide, zinc and iron oxides).


Good ingredients: Aloe (first ingredient)  Squalane (natural moisturizer)  Vitamin E, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Lavender, Goldenseal. Water, Chamomile, Shea Butter, Olive Leaf Extract.

Downsides: more expensive.
Upsides: Vegan, cruelty-free, 90%  organic, gluten free, for sensitive skin. Comes in 6 colors!!!


Well, hope this helped anyone looking for a foundation. Personally, I am going with the EVXO, I was excited to find a cruelty-free, vegan foundation half the price of 100% Pure, and its first ingredient wasn't Titanium Dioxide! Yay! Now I just have to find a decent powder😛


Thanks for tuning in.

Peace.Love.Rats♥

-MessyRat