Don't Waste Your Money Alert: Mega Bloks Halo Wars

It's been a long long long time since I had a "don't waste your money" post. This is one I need to pass on, especially to anyone with a son who loves Halo Wars.

My son wanted Santa to bring him a few of the new Halo Wars (what he thought was Lego) sets from Mega Bloks. So, Santa brought him three (all on sale haha). What a major disappointment. These sets are made after the vehicles from the popular Halo Wars video games. And, they look pretty cool. I just wish that Lego had created them instead of Mega Bloks. What a waste of time and money these sets are and I swear I shall never purchase another Mega Bloks product again.

I'm the one who usually puts these sets together...I actually enjoy it. But the Mega Bloks sets I hate. Whoever designed the bricks should be fired. There are so many elements of the sets that just don't go together well and constantly fall or pop off. The bricks don't click together easily like Lego products do. Every time I completed one part, another would pop off or come apart. It takes alot of pressure to get the bricks to connect with other bricks. If I had trouble getting these things together, imagine your kid. My son was so upset after I got one together, he'd try to play with it and it would keep coming apart. The only good parts to these sets are the little mini figures, nothing else. I think they glued the pieces together in these photos.

Now, granted, Mega Bloks sets cost alot less than Lego sets..now I know why. They are very cheaply made. I'd much rather pay the price for Lego. I know that Lego produces a quality product even though they cost more. I highly recommend, no matter how much your kid loves Halo, to avoid wasting your time and money on these Mega Bloks products. Get them some Halo Action Figures instead.

Now Showing....Cool Jewelry!

Lately I've been finding some good marketing ideas from new Indie etailers I've come across on Etsy. It's cool to see how some of these stores are making products with unique ideas and concepts. This time it's jewelry from Now Showing Studios on Etsy. Melanie, the genius behind the designs, has taken the idea of movies and combined it with jewelry to create a really cool product. She's taken snippets from DVD movie rental cards (the ones that are behind the cases when they get rented out) and transforms them into some really neat pieces.


She has them separated by genre in her shop. Like Anime, horror, Cartoon, Sci Fi etc and you can find necklaces, earrings and bracelets. She adds coordinating beads and things to make the pieces even more one of a kind. Especially the necklaces.





This is the necklace I picked out and in case you can't figure out the snippet, it's from the Power Puff Girls. I just thought it was cool :-). I like how she uses bits and pieces so you have to sometimes think to figure out what movie it's from. Some are kind of obvious like the one below...and if you can't figure out what movie it is I can't help you.

I also was lucky enough to get a pair of earrings and some of her bracelets. The bracelets I got are memories gone wild for me...she uses those black rubber bracelets that I had a ton of in the 1980s..love them! And the earrings I got were from a Hello Kitty movie...each one is a side of her whiskered head :-).

There are just so many jewelry stores on Etsy now and it's almost mandatory that you come up with your own unique ideas to help you stand out from the crowd. I like what Melanie has done with this store. It's very unique and it's a clever idea. The pieces range from $15 to $30 and if you have a movie buff to buy for this Christmas, this might be that unique gift you're looking for! You can click the links in this post or just click on the Now Showing banner in my Shop Shop Shop section and you'll be taken straight there. Happy shopping!

Dress Me Green

Sometimes, finding a really good organic or all natural product can be difficult. And, people need to know that using natural facial care products will not produce immediate effects like those chemistry lab produced stuff. So, you need to use them for awhile before you will see and feel the results. That's why this post has been so long in coming because I've been using Dress Green's products for a few months now.





First I tried the Pure Hydration facial cream as I always need a good rich moisturizer. And, this is definitely a good rich moisturizer. It has definitely helped my skin from getting more dehydrated and dried out due to all the weather ups and downs the past few months. It's got alot of good stuff in it like White Tea, Irish Moss, shea butter, pomegranate and evening primrose oil. The fragrance is light if at all. You won't notice anything overbearing in smell. It's good and thick but goes on smooth and easy with a good absorption rate. My face didn't feel heavy or greasy, just smooth and hydrated. It's $8 for a 2 ounce jar but that jar lasted me a good month or so. Compared to some of the other things out there, this was a good price and a good product.





After I finished that jar, I gave the Calming and Clarifying face cream a shot. At the time I bought it, my skin was acting up...breaking out etc so I thought this would be a good time to try this one. Again, a good thick moisturizer. It's not heavy or greasy and no overbearing fragrance. This one has even more goodies in it including apricot seed oil, cocoa butter, tea tree oil, clary sage, licorice root extract (which is also in my Avon product that helps reduce my dark spots), green tea, and Goji Berry. There's alot more in there but you can go to Dress Greens's store and read it for yourself. The price is the same, $8 for a 2 ounce jar and I still have plenty left and I bought it back in October.





Dress Green has other products I've yet to try like perfumes, body lotion and scrubs but from what I have seen with these two products I have tried, I like what I see. The quality for the price is fantastic. Can't go wrong here.