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.

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

What I Got for Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I've been seeing a lot of "What I Got for Christmas" vlogs lately and am really enjoying their ridiculousness. Who knew people want to see what junk other people got? But seriously, it's sort of entertaining to see what people like:) In that light, I would like to introduce to you my Christmas 2016. Hope you enjoy seeing my junk:)

Firstly, I'll show you a few things I got in my stocking.

These are some of my candies. (I'm not showing you the ones I've already half eaten and are in the cupboard) the Chocolove xoxox is one of my very favorite chocolate bars. I don't normally go for chocolate bars; except maybe Hershey's. I'm pretty basic when it comes to candy. So when I found a "fancy" chocolate I liked, I was pretty excited.

Also, that Trader Joes Firework's bar? don't laugh it off. Seriously, my mom tried a piece of it and there was a mini explosion, it nearly started a house fire and she nearly choked to death. Try and your own risk.🔥

Next, I got this Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick. Burts Bees is Cruelty-Free (not vegan) and a Leaping Bunny approved company (although I think they have a parent company). I have been slathering this stick on my face and back like crazy the last week and I am pretty sure I'm seeing an improvement on my um.... large red freckles.

One thing that is no secret about yours truly is I LOVE pugs. Pugs are the best. Who could not like that hideous, wrinkly ball of ugly? (Ok like everyone I know but who cares). My Aunt and Uncle have two of those adorable, stupidly cute globs and I have always wished I could own one. Oh wait, now I do.

Okay, Moving on from the stocking stuffers. Another thing I love and collect is nutcrackers. See the little green guy in the middle? That is the one I got this year. He's a vintage cracker and I just think he is awesome. 

Oh P.S this isn't my whole nutcracker collection. Oh no. I still have at least 5 mini ones that are all hanging out on the Christmas tree. If you want, head over to my YouTube Channel to see my full collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol_NBdnOeI4

Staying with the toy theme (Because what is the point of Christmas if you don't pretend to be 5 again?) I got this Funko Pop 10th Doctor figurine. (which actually says it is only for ages 14+ lol) 

 He's really cute:) And of course, I already have the full sized 10th doctor sonic, Tardis alarm clock, Tardis Yahtzee and Tardis throw blanket. I think I maybe collect too much junk.... but you can't have enough Doctor Who stuff- can you?

Probably the most useless thing I asked for this year is this mini Rubix Cube. I asked for it because I couldn't figure out the normal one. I've already messed this one up and can't fix it. Go figure😝 

Taking a break from toys, I got this lovely moleskin notebook, which I am happy to announce is not actually made from the skin of moles (or the skin of anyone else for that matter). This moleskin is vegan, made out of cotton "oilcloth" whatever that is. 

Sorry about the photo quality, my SD card basically ate my pictures and I had to download a whole recovery program just to get them back.

Thanks to my wonderful sister I got these lovely airmail envelopes. I've always wanted some because they look so awesome in movies and everywhere else you see airmail envelopes. They are stripey and wonderful😍

Also sister goodies, I got this Ancor Wax Seal to go with my envelopes, and last but not least of her generosity was an AMAZING wooden rat stamp made by Rubber Hedgehog. I had been wanting one of their stamps for SO LONG and she got it for me without even knowing that. Sisters have psychic links man. 

 It looks like the boys!

Normally getting socks for a present is boring. I don't care much about my socks, and generally, don't care what they look like.  They are all in one great pile in my drawer (correction; two great piles, because I do sort long and short socks (only because my ankles started getting cold in the winter though)) also, I never match them up. Despite this, these socks kinda rock. they are cool colors, I can mix match them all I want, and look, look at the Ghibli characters! look at the mini Howl look at the mini Sofie!💗💗💗

Next,  I show you this awesome little book of postcards I got from my Yiayia. I LOVED the Fantastic Beasts movie. I now have a new favorite HP character. Newt Scamander. Anyways, these cards are very nice, and good for those not-so-artistic-days when I would rather color than make a whole drawing.

Also from my Yiayia, I am so excited to get some vests. They are family heirlooms (sort of?) that she was lovely enough to tailor so they would fit an 18-year-old girl instead of a something-year-old dude. 

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄Random happy trees!

Ok, stay with me, we are almost, almost done here. and I promise the last thing on this list is an exciting one. 

I got these three movies, which I'm ecstatic about because I love Audrey Hepburn. 

Breakfast at Tiffanys, Roman Holiday and Love in the Afternoon are just some of her good movies, although they are some of the best. If you haven't watched them, you must, MUST. That is if you like old sappy movies😄

Next, thank you to my wonderful friend and penpal from Japan (you know who you are) for my beautiful Christmas gift. It's so wonderful. Japan has so many awesome things. This little Christmas tree is collapsible and all the little ornaments are removable (even the star topper). This may very well be one of the bestest things I've gotten ever. ever. ever.

Okay, the Big Finale now. The thing you have all been waiting for. 

It's a bird, its a plane, its- a cardboard box? 

No silly it's a Love Goodly Subscription Box! They are a smaller subscription box company that delivers vegan, cruelty-free, and eco-friendly products to the recipient every other month. I am totally beyond words excited to try out all the new vegan/cruelty-free products. Best of all, I will be doing an unboxing on this blog; and as well I  hope to review all the items I get when time permits (Because school is about to start back guys😝) Anyways, hope you enjoyed my "What I got for Christmas"🎄 and also hope you enjoyed YOUR Christmas and/or other holiday whatever it was.

Thanks so much for tuning in. 

Peace. Love. Rats.♥

-MessyRat