Zeo's Review Roundup

This past weekend, I attended the Phoenix Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Expo, so expect some reviews to come through the week of new and new-to-me products I had the chance to try.

One of those products is Swerve, a new non-caloric sweetener.  They advertise as being a measure-for-measure replacement for sugar in baking, and it comes in both granulated and confectioner styles.  I checked out the ingredients at the booth, and noticed that it’s a sugar-alcohol-based sweetener, erythritol to be precise.  The booth rep reassured me that this blend was made so as to not cause the, ah, gastric distress other sugar alcohols can cause.  The only samples she had were little packets similar to what you get in restaurants to sweeten your coffee, so I accepted two and put them on my sugar bowl when I got home.

I have a long history with sugar substitutes.  I grew up in the aerobics-obsessed ‘80′s.  Little pink packets of Sweet’n’Low were ubiquitous in my household.  By the ‘90′s, saccharin had been demonized enough that little blue packets of Equal replaced them, and then in the ‘00′s, the little yellow packets of Splenda.  Nowadays, we also have the little green packets of stevia, or little orange packets of monkfruit.  

This morning, I decided to try the Swerve.  I usually use 2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee, so instead, I used the 2 packets of Swerve.  I took a sip of my coffee...and immediately winced.  I did try, but I ended up adding another teaspoon of sugar.  

It did help, in that I only used one teaspoon of sugar instead of three, but Swerve has the same problem most non-sugar sweeteners have: AFTERTASTE.  I took a sip of water after a few sips of coffee, and my senses were assaulted by this cloying, artificial sweetness.  A lot of “diet” drinks do that to me, especially ones with Splenda.  Sugar (refined white sugar) has a much cleaner finish, with no lingering aftertaste.  Even as I write this, an hour after I finished my coffee, I can still taste the sickly-sweet finish when I drink my water.

The small sample I received was not enough to test in any other capacity (such as baking), but from the effect in coffee, I’m not exactly willing to pay for a bag (a 12 ounce bag goes for $10 on Amazon).

Final thoughts: 1 out of 5 

I have a problem with humidity.  Normally in the desert, this isn’t a problem.  But if I’m in a building with little to no airflow, or if it’s monsoon season in Arizona, I overheat pretty quickly and start feeling slimy-sweaty and gross. I’ve wanted to find a foldable fan to stick in my purse for a while, and I found these at Dollar Tree a few weeks ago.

They are perfect.  And just $1 each.  I actually picked up two, one with purple sequins and one with silver sequins which isn’t in the picture.  They fit in my purse with ease, and there’s a little metal loop at the base that I thought about attaching to a caribiner to hook onto my purse strap.

They create a nice wind, which helps your sweat do what it’s supposed to do, evaporate and cool you off.  

They also have Brightly-Colored Folding Fans with Glitter, which come in orange, purple, pink, blue, black, and green, in case you want something more stand-out.

Given that it’s Dollar Tree, you may have to inspect the fans to make sure none of the plastic parts are broken, and to make sure there’s not too much excess glue on the fabric.

They’re a great way to keep cool, plus you can act out Princess Diaries scenes if you’re so inclined.

I bought two of these recently, in Ultra Blue Wave and Laguna Green Ombre.  Overall, they’re comfortable-ish.

I’m not too thrilled with what they call an empire silhouette.  The “waist” seam sits about halfway up my bustline, even when I’m wearing a bra, which makes the skirt fall direct from the peak of my breasts, making me look about twice as large as I am (which is a feat, given that I’m about a size 22).  Anastasia sums up my reaction to my reflection in this dress:

The waist seam is also a little itchy, even after washing, as the skirt is woven and the bodice is knit.  But, since it’s all-cotton, it’s nice and cool and breathable, which is good in Arizona heat.  Washing instructions say machine wash cold, then line-dry, with the skirt twisted to keep the crinkle texture.  I think if you didn’t care about the crinkle texture, then it would be fine to tumble dry on low or medium.  I just hung the dresses on a plastic hanger over the shower rod, with the skirts twisted and held together with a hairband.  They dried fairly quick, which is a plus since I bought these primarily to use as swim cover-ups when we go on a cruise next month, and as summer approaches here.  

The colors are bright and vibrant, and the patterns are nice.  

I bought these as I’m getting back into painting my own nails, and I wanted to try out some of the new products available for reducing the amount of overpainting.

The plastic is soft and thin, and I can see how they’re supposed to work, but I don’t think they’re compatible with my fingers and nails.  I have fairly short nailbeds, and it seems like my quick starts fairly low on the fingertip.  I tried to find the right sizes, playing around, but my nails are also fairly short, and tend to be wider at the top than at the base.  Trying to get the lip of the guard under the nail felt more like a torture apparatus than a helpful tool.

The design is such that it shields the top and sides of your finger; it won’t do anything for under the base of the nail, where I tend to shake and get polish, too. I wouldn’t totally write these off as useless; if you have nails more like the ones shown in the product pictures, or if your nails are longer than mine are, they may help.  

Messy picture for a messy product.

Company, Shipping, and Communication

On November 1st, I ordered a “trial box,” a single box of Otaku Tea’s teabox subscription service.  I learned about Otaku Tea back in July, when I ordered their tea cup and infuser set through Amazon Review Trader.  FWIW, the set is currently listed on Amazon as “Unavailable,” and “Product Under Review.”  My cup arrived with a shattered infuser; perhaps others had the same issues.

While looking up information, I found the website and learned about the tea subscription boxes.  I had to wait until I had the money to spare, but then placed my order when I could.

There’s very little information about the company online.  Through my searches, I found about 2 blog reviews and a handful of Instagram posts about the boxes.  The Facebook page hasn’t been updated since October, and the official Instagram hasn’t been updated since July.  This leads into my issues with delivery.  As mentioned, I ordered the box on November 1st.  My credit card was charged the same day, and I received the automated confirmation email.  Nothing was said about how quickly the orders ship.  I ended up tracking down the owner’s Instagram and leaving a comment on one of her posts, asking about turnaround time.  She told me individual boxes ship weekly.

Fast-forward to November 15th.  Still no shipping confirmation, no other communication.  I sent a message via Otaku Tea’s online contact form, requesting information about the order, when I can expect it to ship, etc, and gave them a deadline, after which, if I had not received any information from them, I would contact my credit card and dispute the charges.  Two days passed with no reply, so I bypassed the form and used the contact email instead.  I received an apology, an excuse about an overloaded inbox, and an offer to send 2 boxes at no additional charge.

Another week passed, and I received a follow-up email after Thanksgiving that the box would go out ASAP.  Finally, on November 29th, I received a Priority Mail box with the above teaboxes.  

So, now for the review of the actual product.

The Otaku Tea website description:

Deluxe OtakuTeaBox Includes: 24 kettle sized TeaBags filled with 2 Flavors of Tea, 1 Otaku Tea Cup, Seasonal snacks and Japanese candies, lucky stars & stickers. All delivered to you once a month when part of our subscription plan! ^.^

The actual boxes felt like lightweight bakery boxes.  

My boxes did not contain the tea cup, which is fine, as I already have 2, one minus the broken infuser.  

The “lucky stars,” origami stars, were used almost as filler, as well as a LOT of odd dried flowers.  We couldn’t recognize them, and just threw them out as we went through the contents.

Stickers...well, @prismatic-bell and I agreed that they didn’t really fit the theme of the box.  Two of them were overtly sexual, one was amusing, one was Classic Anime, and one was...drug themed?  They were NOT our cup of tea, no pun intended.  PB brought up a good point: the seller didn’t know the age of the recipient.  Someone could have bought this for a twelve-year-old, and that child would have been subjected to Spider-man grabbing his crotch, or a stoned Ninja Turtle.

Seasonal snacks and Japanese candies: each box contained 4 gel-cups, a box of Green Tea Pocky, a box of chocolate cream Pejoy sticks, a handful of Japanese hard candies, and a handful of Pixy Sticks.  The seller, in her last message, said she waited until after Thanksgiving to send the boxes to make sure they had the “freshest ingredients.”  With that in mind, I was surprised to find out both boxes of Pejoy were three months past their Best By date. 

The actual tea: One box contained “Darjeeling Black” and “Japan Sencha Green.”  The other had “Earl Grey Black” and “Lady Grey White.”  You can see in the picture that the tea bags are packed in clear pouches, four kettle-sized tea bags per pouch.  The tea bags look to be fold-and-close bags, not heat-sealed.  I’ve tried the Darjeeling and the Sencha so far; both work well in my 50-ounce teapots.  The tea is nice, but...it doesn’t seem anything unusual or out of the ordinary.  

The box also had a printout with “how to brew tea” and “where to watch anime and play games.”  Prismatic Bell had more input on the anime list: three sites were listed, but of the three, one was legal and the other two were both sketchy (and virus/malware-riddled) bootleg sites.  The game sites looked like they were all emulator sites.  

The left hand, with the No More Breaks, has a lot of chipping and stress cracks in the coating.  The index finger’s coat is nearly half gone, and all the other fingers have the strange fex marks a millimeter or so into the nailbed, under the white.  I’m going to paint another layer overtop the existing shellac, and maybe remove it all tomorrow for a fresh coat.

One of the last things I bought before abandoning ART was a 6-pack of different nail care formulas.  I’ve been only half-heartedly using them, because I thought the directions called for taking them off completely before putting on a new coat, and since I was only putting on a single coat, they were flaking off by the end of the first day, and I really didn’t think using acetone on my nails daily would be good for them.

But I reread the directions, and only one of them specifies that, so I’m going to try this again.  I’m using “No More Breaks” on my left hand, “Calcium Gel” on my right.  The first time I tried the No More Breaks, it had washed/chipped off the top edge of my nails within hours, and all of my nails that were any significant length had cracked and broken.  I’m trying a double-coat of both formulas to see if that helps the wear issue, and I plan to update/refresh the coats daily.

A little rough in places.  Four stars.

I've been getting into coffee and the brewing process more and more. These are my first Vietnamese style coffee makers.

First impression: the lids still had some polishing compound on them. The main body of the coffee maker was smooth, but there was some oxidation on the inside. The upper filters were not as smooth, with some of the punched-metal holes still having sharp, protruding pieces underneath.

These do not come with any sort of direction or guidance, so I had to turn to Google and the internet to find out the grind, brew time, and the like. The medium-fine grind I tend to use for most applications is a little too fine; when tightening the top filter, grounds seep up through the top filter holes and are pressed through the bottom filter. I ended up with a lot of grounds in the cup. The French-press coarse grounds, however, were too coarse. No matter how much I tightened the top filter, the water just ran right through the grounds and came out very weak. A middle ground (no pun intended) is needed.

The coffee that came through with the medium-fine grind was nice other than the grounds in the cup, and I always approve of adding sweetened condensed milk to things.

Helps keep my skin soft and smooth.  Four stars.

I bought this to use both on its own and as part of what I use in a fruit mask maker. In both applications, it left my skin soft and smooth. I have keritosis pilaris, and getting SMOOTH skin is often a challenge.

The serum is thin, and takes about half a dropperful to completely cover my face and neck. It soaks in quickly, and works well in tandem with a moisturizer. I like how my skin feels after using it. It's currently almost 12 hours after my last application, and my skin still feels soft and smooth.

It blends well in the mask maker, and doesn't leave a residue in the machine.

Soft and secure.  Five stars.

My old bath mat was getting a little grubby, and was never really comfortable. It was hard, the suction cups didn't work, and it slid around the tub, causing more of a slip hazard than not having one in the first place.

This mat is worlds ahead of that one. The silicone is soft on the feet, the suction cups are nice and grippy, and the texture on the mat is super. It's a little short for my tub, but other than that, I love this. My feet love it, and I love feeling like I am not going to slip and fall in my shower again.

Great little battery.  Five stars.

I've been stocking up on portable chargers. It's great to be able to throw one in my bag when I'm heading out for the day and know I won't have to search for an outlet when my phone starts running low.

This charger is just a little over my actual battery capacity. It charged from half to full in about an hour, plugged into a wall socket. It charged my phone from 30% to 100% in a little over an hour. It's smaller than my other batteries, so it doesn't take as much space in my purse.

While charging my phone, it did get a little hot, probably because its small size means the case does most of the heatsinking.

It does not have a button to check charge level; you'll have to plug it in to see how charged it is.

Good coverage.  Five stars.

Fun little machine.  Five stars.

I've been intrigued by sheet masks for a year or so now. When I saw these machines, I knew I had to try one.

First off, this machine is not a juicer. You have to provide your own juice or other fun additives. I picked up some natural juices at the grocery store since I don't own a juicer. The instruction booklet's reverse side is "beauty booklet" that tells you the different properties of some fruits, vegetables, herbs, teas, grains, etc. The machine comes with 30 "collagen peptide" tablets; I haven't found the refill tablets on Amazon yet, but I have found them elsewhere on the web (Aliexpress, ~$25 for a bottle of 60 tablets). The collagen tablets are what turns the juice, water, and additives into the mask.

The instructions are poorly translated, probably with an auto-translator, but the images are clear and easy to understand. Using the provided measuring cup, add 60 ml of water (I use filtered water). The machine will beep when it has the 60 ml. Then add 20 ml of juice/extracts/oils/additives. The machine will beep again when those 20 ml are added. Break a collagen tablet in half, drop it in, replace the plug cover, and press the front button. The machine will beep loudly for 30 seconds when it's ready, five minutes later. You press the top button, and release the cooked mask goo into the forming tray.

The mask itself feels like a thin sheet of gelatin. If your surface isn't level, your mask won't be even. They suggest using the little knife to smooth out the unevenness. I prefer carefully picking up the tray and gently rotating it to even out the goo, then setting it on a more level surface. Once it's cooled and congealed, use the little knife to loosen the edges and release it from the tray. I've found it's best to put the mask on where you're planning to hang out while wearing it, to reduce the chances of it falling off.

I don't really know how long you're supposed to wear the mask. I basically go until I can't stay still anymore.

Tips I've figured out: 1. Go slow. Take your time. The machine won't start heating and mixing the mask until you press the button, so if you're excited and tipping into adrenaline overload, go ahead and stop, breathe, gather your thoughts before continuing. 2. You don't have to outflow the cleaning water into the tray. Since you're supposed to clean the machine right after making the mask, move the tray to a level surface and let it cool while you start the cleaning cycle. When the cleaning cycle is over, outflow the water right into the sink. 3. Figure out what you're doing while wearing the mask ahead of time. If you're going to read in bed, make sure your stuff is there. Put a towel over your pillows to catch the drips. 4. Take a selfie and freak out your friends.