The Original Dish Drying Mat

This post is not going to be a product review, but rather about a product I've found that I'd love to try!

Bed Bath and Beyond has an exclusive product line called "The Original", which includes kitchen and cleaning items, and other items for your home and even your pet. 

I've never heard of this line, until some lucky Influenster members received The Original Dish Drying Mat in their Mom VoxBox this summer.  I wasn't one of those few selected to sample the mat, but the more I read about it, the more I want one.

 

The mat is made of foam, but is covered in a very high absorbency microfiber material that dries extremely fast.  It actually holds 4 times its' own weight in water.  It's cushiony, so it protects both your dishes (from being chipped on the counter or dish drainer), and your counter (from being scratched by rough or heavy items).  It's machine washable and is flexible so you can fold it up and store it when you're not using it.  It comes in two sizes, 16 x 18" ($4.99) and 18 x 24" ($7.99), and  it even comes in cream, green, gray, and red - it will match any kitchen :)

Currently I use a dish towel for glasses or other awkward items that don't fit in my dish drainer.  I don't really like it because I think it gets a little gross, and it holds the water and doesn't let the insides of the glasses air out very well.  It also wants to slide around my countertop, so I have to stick the edge of it under the dish drainer to keep it from falling off (I have very little counter space!). 

One reviewer of the product on Influenster mentioned all of the grime that tends to build up on a dish drainer over time.  It's really gross, and impossible to scrub off, even with bleach and a scratch pad.  This would totally eliminate that problem and the germs that come with it. 

We don't have a Bed Bath and Beyond near me, so I've never seen these products in the store and have never heard of them until recently.  Similarly, they also have a veggie drying mat, a boot and shoe drying mat, and a pet bowl mat (does your dog sling water all over the place when he drinks?  I think they're onto something here..).  Other products include microfiber cleaning cloths and a wrinkle release dryer towel. 

So have you tried The Original Dish Drying Mat?  Love it?  I bet there are other uses for it, too... do you know of any?

Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies

Recently I wrote about the Mom VoxBox I received from Influenster.  Another great product I received complimentary to test was a Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookie!

The cookies come in four flavors: Apples and Cinnamon, Banana Nut, Cranberry and Yogurt, and Raisins. They cost about $2.69 for a box of 6.  Each cookie is sealed separately, so they won't go stale. 

My cookie was the Raisins flavor. I devoured it pretty quickly, and I did not share!  It was soft and chewy and tasted delicious! I will definitely be getting some more of these to have on hand for snacks or packed lunches. They would be even more wonderful warmed up in the microwave for a few seconds.

For a cookie, these seem to be pretty healthy.  The Raisins flavor cookies have about 6 grams of fat, 170 calories, and are a good source of fiber, so they can fill you up more than other snacks. 

You can see more information and additional Influenster product reviews here.  They have 4 and 1/2 out of 5 stars!

Thanks to Influenster and Quaker for the chance to test another awesome product, for free.

ImPRESS Press On Manicure

I recently received another VoxBox full of goodies from Influenster.  This time it was the Mom Vox Box.  I received all of the products from them completely FREE for testing purposes.  If you haven't heard about them, check out their website.  You simply sign up, create a profile, take some surveys that earn you "badges" describing your lifestyle, then sit back and wait until they offer you a VoxBox.  Upon receiving your box, all you have to do is test out all of the products inside and then share your opinions with Influenster.  It's really easy and a fun way to try out new products that you might not have purchased.  Here's a photo of my Mom VoxBox:

One of the first items from my VoxBox that I tried was the ImPress Press On Manicure by Broadway. 

I was really excited that these came in my VoxBox because they aren't something I would normally buy just to try out.  I was extremely skeptical that these would even work at all.  Any press-on nails I've ever tried (especially that use their own adhesive, no nail glue) might stay on for an hour or two and then they start falling off as soon as you try to do anything with your hands.  Aside from that, my nails are pretty wide and have very little arch, so I have never been able to use artificial nails because they pull up on my nail beds and cause me extreme pain. 

My nails came in a nice lilac color (it might be Velvet Rope?  I can't believe I tossed the package without looking!).  They are a nice shorter length, and they are not super thick like a lot of artificial nails.  I also noticed that they are very flexible.  The adhesive on the nails is like a sticky gel, and there is a plastic covering that you peel off of the adhesive before sticking them on.  They are numbered by size, and there are 12 different sizes in the package, with 2 of each size (so 24 nails total).  They are pretty simple to apply - they come with an alcohol pad to clean your nail surface, and then you just press them into place.

My nails:

A few things I didn't like about the nails:

-While they are thinner than most artificial nails, I think they're still too thick.

-The edges were a little sharp/rough.

-I had a hard time peeling the plastic off of the adhesive, and it kept tearing and sticking to the gel.  It got on my nerves.

-For the price, I wish you could get more than one set of nails out of these, but you really can't.  The leftovers are pretty much useless.

What I loved about the nails:
-Of course, no drying time!
-The shine on the nails was really nice.

-They come in 36 different colors/patterns.  Lots of variety!

-They did NOT hurt my nails!  Not even a little bit.  :)

-They actually stayed on longer than I thought they would.  I applied them Thursday evening, and they lasted until Saturday afternoon.  I worked all day on Friday and I couldn't believe they didn't come off at work. 

-When it was time to take them off, they came off easily and didn't leave any crud on my nails. 

You can buy imPress Manicure at CVS, Rite Aid, Duane Reade, KMart, Walgreens, and Walmart. For a full list of online and in-store retailers, visit imPressManicure.com, where you can download an exclusive coupon and virtually try on all the colors and patterns!

Their suggested price is $5.99 for solid colors and $7.99 for patterns.  For me, this is too expensive to use very often but worth it for a special occasion or just a once in a while thing.  Overall, I think for press-on nails they are really nice and I'm glad I got to try them for free!  Thank you Influenster.