Products!

I learned a bunch of cool things the last week I spent with my sister the Fabulous Babe. One of them is that when girlfriends get together, it is both fun and educational to swap information about products that each one has discovered and recommends.

The Fabulous Babe mentioned "chocolate covered Altoids" which doesn't immediately appeal. Apparently the Altoid itself was minimized so the whole thing could be a higher percentage chocolate. Dark chocolate. Word is that it's like a dark chocolate Junior Mint. I haven't seen them around here, and despite the recommendation, I don't think I'll seek them out either.

I myself have a couple of new products that I can recommend highly. Both of them come from my recent foray into Origins. I looked at the expiration date on my cosmetics, and was horrified how far past "use by" they were. Once I threw those away, I had nothing left--so I took myself to Origins to see what they had.

First new trick: a foundation brush. Put some liquid foundation in your palm, and use the broad, flat brush to apply to the face. The beauty of this is that you don't add the friction of your hands across your face--and for those of us with inherent redness this is an issue--plus, it feels so nice.

Second: "Underwear for Lashes." I love the look of mascara, but whenever I wear it I get raccoon eyes. Not so sultry. But with Origin's "underwear" it stays on. I just don't have the little trails of mascara dots running down my face. Of course, it could be that the Origins mascara just stays on better, but I just doubt that. They come in a set: the mascara and the underwear. Online they may sell it separately--worth looking into.

Other product: JetBlue. Jeez, living here in NorthWest land, we don't get many of the fine independent airlines, since NorthWest has a lockhold on all the gates at the airport. Allegedly. But I flew across country with my sister and it was totally painless flight. The seats were larger than I am used to and very comfortable. There was ample legroom: when the person in front of me tilted back the seat, it made no difference to my comfort. Plus, each seat has a small television screen--which is adjustable! There are probably 20+ channels to choose from, plus pay-per-view. When the person in front of me tilted back the seat, I just adjusted the angle of the tv screen and hey presto! Viewing optimized!

Plus, the crew were the nicest and most friendly I have ever experienced. Before the doors even closed, they made an announcement that they had headsets available. (For the audio on your tv of course!) "The headsets are free, but if you wait until we are in the air, they will be $10." The microphone clicked off and we were left to ponder that statement. Click. "Just kidding." Click.

The plane was small, and with the larger seats, the aisle was narrower, which led to being brushed by people going up and down (I had an aisle seat), but that was a sacrifice I was happy to make for the added comfort on a 5 hour flight.

A product that we do need? A "Do Not Disturb" sign for airplane passengers. It didn't happen to me on this trip, but there have been plenty of flights where the attendants have been insistent on asking if you wanted your bag of peanuts, and being asleep was not considered evidence that you would prefer to pass.

More products as I fall in love with them.