Stack 52 Exercise Ball Fitness Cards

I never thought that a deck of workout cards could be so much fun. These fitness cards from Stack 52 not only give you a serious workout, but they're very fun to use. I was very curious when I first came across these. I have never seen a product like this before. I think it's cool that you can choose any fitness card from this stack that allows you to get a good workout. It’s a fun way to mix up what exercises you do, great for someone like me who doesn't like doing the same things over and over and over. Except that there are very limited "Beginner" fitness cards. 

In particular, I need to work on my core, and there are only 2 beginner cards for core work, and both of them are crunches (different crunches). Not much variety there. As I get better, and feel like I can advance into more intermediate cards, there should be more variety, but for now, well, at least it's something. These fitness cards are a great way to customize workouts for yourself! Use either at home or in the gym. I've taken exercise ball classes and have a couple DVDs for home, but sometimes just want a different routine based on how I feel. These fitness cards are perfect for that! You can just set them anywhere nearby and flip through your selections as you go.

The deck contains 52 exercises (plus a wild card, instruction card, and mfg. info card), which are color coded into 8 colors according to muscle group, enabling you to quickly and easily create your own customized workout focusing on whatever area you want to work out. These fitness cards are a great way to take better advantage of our exercise/stability ball. I have had an exercise ball for a while and have used different charts to help develop an exercise routine. These fitness cards are a great addition to my workout.

I highly recommend them if you are looking for something a little different to do for your workout routine. I love anything that resembles a game so this is just perfect for me.

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The Benefits of Boxing

Boxing has become a popular sport for many. It's not surprisingly because it provides the best workout and challenges many of our senses and capacities. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Being punched over and over is not a very healthy pursuit, but if you can avoid being hit too often, training for boxing provides an effective workout. The tools used for boxing training such as heavy bags, jump ropes and hook and jab pads provide a fun, interesting and challenging workout that can increase many aspects of your fitness and positively affect your health.

Boxing provides many benefits and challenges. For example, it has the potential to turn lives around by providing focus and an outlet for pent up aggression. Boxing’s greatest benefit might be in the training and preparation needed to reach the fighting level.

Although a highly contested boxing match in itself may be stressful, training for boxing by hitting a heavy bag, doing pad work and working the speed ball provide a good outlet for stress. Intense exercise triggers the release of feel-good hormones called endorphins, which leave you feeling happy, confident and less stressed.

Bone mass normally peaks when you are in your mid-30s to late 30s and then, if left unchecked gradually declines as you age. Weight-bearing exercise and exercises that place a significant load through your bones can reduce bone loss and may even result in increased bone mass. If left untreated, low bone mass may develop into a serious medical condition called osteoporosis, which is normally associated with bones that fracture easily.

Boxing training is an energetic activity that burns a lot of calories. This calorie-burning effect can help prevent a calorific surplus and help with weight maintenance or weight loss. A 130-pound person who performs a 30-minute session on a punching bag will burn around 175 calories, and the same person would burn around 260 sparring. Combined with a calorie controlled diet, boxing training can help you maintain your ideal weight.

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The Benefits of Peanut Butter

Young or old, who can resist peanut butter? When paired with jam and made into a sandwich, this creamy, nutty spread takes us back to our childhood. It has a place baked into cookies, stirred into oatmeal, and blended into smoothies. Not to mention eating it straight from the jar. One wonders how such a simple, delicious creation could be so complex. Really though, it’s not supposed to be. Peanut butter should simply be nuts pulverized into a delicious mash—that’s it! Some of the benefits of peanut butter come from the food's healthy fat content. Peanut butter contains unsaturated fats, nutrients that lower the levels of harmful cholesterol in your bloodstream, helping to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Two tablespoons of peanut butter are what you should consume if you want to stay on the healthy end of the peanut butter consumption scale. These 2 tablespoons pack in 7 grams of protein. This is why peanut butter on toast makes for a great breakfast or mid-morning meal choice.

As a protein-rich food, when you eat peanut butter you feel fuller for longer. Additionally the protein is also good for building and repairing muscles, which is especially important if you work out.

Your 2 tablespoon serving of peanut butter not only packs in lots of protein but also gives you 2 grams of fiber. Adequate consumption of fiber is important for the healthy functioning of your body and of course you can get more fiber from other meals but peanut butter can help supplement this.

Peanut butter provides a source of manganese, an essential mineral. Manganese helps activate enzymes involved in removing toxic ammonia from your body, breaking down nutrients from your diet and protecting your cells from physiological stress. Manganese also contributes to tissue growth, supporting healthy bone development and wound healing after injury.

Eating peanut butter also benefits your health due to the food's niacin, or vitamin B-3, content. Like manganese, vitamin B-3 supports your metabolism -- it helps carry out chemical reactions involved in the breakdown of nutrients into useable energy. Consuming foods rich in niacin also promotes healthy cell communication, regulating your cells' growth and development into mature tissue.

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RxBar Protein Bars: The Real Food Goodness

The simple "real food" ingredient lists on this nutritious snack food brand are a truly welcome sight named RxBar Protein Bar. We found the flavors to be pleasant and true to title, loved that they didn't use any added sugars / sweeteners, and thought that each weighty RxBar Protein Bar was quite filling without packing in unwanted calories. But the taste plus texture did become a little thick and unctuous at times, which I find can happen with egg white powder.

Though relatively hefty, each flavor contains just 6 or 7 ingredients that are almost too easy to read: dates, egg whites, almonds, figs, and dried fruit, nut butter, coffee or chocolate – depending on the flavor.

Each RxBar Protein Bar houses the equivalent of 3 egg whites, 1/2 fig, 2 dates, and 8 almonds or peanuts. We split one of each flavor to taste the whole range:

Coconut Chocolate – Pleasant mellow cacao flavor that isn’t too sweet and has just subtle coconut notes. It’s very chewy, almost like a Tootsie Roll vibe!

Chocolate Sea Salt – Still on the chewy side but much softer than the Coconut Chocolate (or any of the flavors) with a touch more sweetness and some serious intensity.

Mint Chocolate – Perhaps my favorite flavor, this one was just a touch softer than the cacao flavors, but not as tender as the Chocolate Sea Salt. Generous dots of mint throughout added sweet interest.

Coffee Chocolate – By the name I was expecting more of a mocha taste, but my taste buds said straight up coffee. This herbal tea lover wasn’t a fan, but if you love the bean, give it a go. It’s a very chewy bar, like the Coconut Chocolate.

Overall, I loved the ingredient list of RxBar Protein Bar, much like ones I make at home, and found the flavors to be pleasant and not too sweet. I also thought these RxBar Protein Bars were a good nutritional value, providing both energy and satiety.

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Tresemme Keratin Smooth Infusing Shampoo and Conditioner: Love Your Tress

Tresemme Keratin Smooth Infusing Shampoo is one of those very few cosmetic hair cleansers which claims to be with low sulfate shampoo. I have used Tresemme shampoo before and was quite impressed by its hair fall range so thought of trying this keratin smooth range since my frizzy hair was turning even more frizzy and dry. So I was in search of some new hair cleanser which will help me in detangling my frizzy hair making them appear smooth and silky.

Don’t let unruly frizz get the better of you. Use the Tresemme Keratin Smooth collection to get smooth, more manageable hair for up to 48 hours. So get ready to say so-long to frizz with the latest salon innovation!

Infused with Keratin, the Tresemme Keratin Smooth collection is specially formulated to leave hair sleek and shiny while eliminating frizz. Silky-smooth, gorgeous hair has never been easier to achieve!

Tresemme shampoo comes in a nice sturdy red colored plastic bottle with a flip cap which is quite easy to open and close as well. This bottle is slightly big in size so I might not carry this with me while traveling. However I even saw the one in smaller size which I think would a perfect company in travel. The texture of this shampoo is very smooth like its name and it lathers very well leaving a nice soothing fragrance which liners for quite long.

Tresemme Keratin Smooth Infusing Conditioner when used with the shampoo nourishes each strand to leave hair smooth, shiny and manageable. The system transforms your hair, making your hair gorgeously sleek with less frizz, smooth and easy to style.

This Tresemme Conditioner comes in a similar packaging as that of the shampoo but has completely different color. The shampoo is in red bottle whereas the conditioner is in absolute white colored bottle.  On a first look I thought these bottles are from different variants of Tresemme since I have always seen same color and design bottles of same variant. But this was something unique and likeable since it clearly differentiates the two bottles. Otherwise normally we need to read the name while taking shower. Once I used the conditioner instead of shampoo while in a hurry which later made me realize my foolishness when I saw my hair oily sticky instead of the bounce as expected after the first day hair cleansing.

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Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar: The Sweet Eyeshadow Palette

I'm up to my eyelids in CHOCOLATE! I finally swatched my new Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette and I'm in love! If I had to sum up this Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette in one word, I would choose the word QUALITY. In comparison to last year's Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette, this one is sleeker (thinner & less bulky), the eye shadows are creamier and the majority apply exceptionally well (except for a couple). Too Faced has also engraved the names of the eye shadows ON the palette. The original palette only had eye shadow names printed on a clear sheet overlay. Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette has the same awesome chocolatey scent and mirror!

Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette contains sixteen eyeshadows, and it is described as a “deeper, warmer version” of the original Chocolate Bar palette. (Why couldn’t they have gone for a deeper, cooler-toned version instead? The first was certainly warm-toned!) Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette is decent overall with a few shades that could be better, but most had a soft, silky consistency that wasn’t too powdery but remained blendable. The formula here is thinner rather than really buttery or dense, but only a few felt dry and thin.

Original Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette

If you’ve purchased the original Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette recently, you may have a thinner version than the ones released initially. If you bought several months back, this palette is noticeably thinner (but the rest of it is the same, so they’ll stack). The magnetic closure felt weaker on the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette, which makes me a little wary for traveling, but it seems like it should be okay. Two larger-sized eyeshadows contain less product (0.07 oz. compared to 0.10 oz.) while the standard-sized eyeshadows remained the same (0.03 oz. each). The larger-sized eyeshadows look like they’re not as tall and are just wider than the standard-sized but keep the heights the same.

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Anastasia Contour Kit: Highlight Your Colors

This Contour Kit from Anastasia Beverly Hills seems to be popping up everywhere lately so I had to try it! The Contour Kit comes with three colors to highlight and three to use for contouring, all in one small, easy to travel with palette. It’s great for both personal and professional use so I can see why this appeals to so many people. The colors of the Contour Kit are great for almost everyone, though as someone with fair, neutral/cool skin, I had a hard time with most of these colors. I’m not sure this would work well on deeper skin either because it’s very matte and the contour colors are mostly warm. Anyone who is in between should find this palette easy to use, though. 

There are two highlight colors in this Contour Kit (Vanilla and Banana) that are perfect for under the eyes and for areas like the chin, top of the cheekbones, down the center of the nose, etc. Sand is a shimmery color that’s more for a highlight on the top of the cheekbones. The three contour colors are pretty basic shades for contouring and are usable for many skin tones, but may not make much difference if you’re pale/fair, and may be far too light if you have dark to deep skin. You’ll have to play around with these a bit to see which you like and what works best for you.

The texture for all of these is smooth and finely milled, so they’re easy to blend out. That’s a good thing too, since they’re all highly pigmented! Some of these do seem excessively powdery, though, which makes it feel like you’re wasting product. All of these colors but Sand are matte and wear well… For the contour colors, I got an average of 8-10 hours of wear before I noticed any fading. Same for the highlight colors, too. Sand only gave me 7-8 hours of wear before it began to fade but that’s understandable since it’s a shimmery color.

This Contour Kit also comes with a how-to insert that’s helpful for beginners, so that’s a plus if you’re just getting into contouring/highlighting, or if you just need some tips and reminders.

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Beautyblender vs. Kabuki Makeup Brush

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and pick myself up a Beautyblender Original Makeup Sponge. This product has been raved about for months, but I always thought "hmm, it's a sponge, it can't be that great, can it?" So here I am, a week into buying it and let me just say that old me was very silly, this product is definitely a must buy, but is it better than a foundation brush? Well, let me tell you my experience.

I have been using Kabuki Makeup Brush to apply my foundation for a long time so I thought it would be best to compare both these products.
PROFESSIONAL KABUKI MAKEUP BRUSH
I pump a few drops of foundation onto my hand and then apply it from my hand onto my face starting at my chin and going in an anti-clockwise direction around my face. When using my Kabuki Makeup Brush, I find it quite a quick task, I apply a moderately even base and I have okay coverage.

I do however, find it difficult to get the Kabuki Makeup Brush into little creases like the skin at the corner of my eyes or around my nose, I usually have to use my fingers to get good coverage on these areas. I also find it that sometimes the Kabuki Makeup Brush may leave brush lines on my face which is not a good look at all!

BEAUTYBLENDER
I apply with my Beautyblender in the same way as I do with my Kabuki Makeup Brush, by taking the product from the back of my hand. I press down the product into my skin with the Beautyblender which gives better coverage and avoids any brush strokes or lines.

The only problem I seem to have with my Beautyblender is that it is hard to apply product right under my eyes as I don't want to push the Beautyblender right into my eyes as it is dangerous and would most likely hurt very badly.

OVERALL
I definitely think Beautyblender wins this round and I am sure to be buying a load more, but of course I am still up for trying different brushes to do my foundation with.

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