Tazo Passion (Hibiscus tea with tropical flavors)

Well,  I just reviewed 2 Tazo teas, one bad and one good.  Let's see what the third one brings us.

Outsides: This one is another herbal tea with a crapton of ingredients:  hibiscus, tropical flavor (what the hell is this supposed to mean, Tazo?), citric acid and licorice (not again!), orange peel, cinnamon, rosehips, lemongrass and fruit juice extract for color.  Again, this is a nice,individually-wrapped foil sachet and the teabag is standard.  I brewed this in boiling water for 5 minutes.  The color is very purple and it smells a bit sweeter and more floral with a hint of cinnamon.

Insides:  First off, I don't see why Tazo thought the citric acid was necessary because the hibiscus already adds a bit of a sour kick to it.  If anything, I feel as though it hinders the flavor because you have this nice cinnimon and orange flavor and the tropical note of hibiscus, but drinking it, it's a little too sour.  I will say that i feel the licorice complements the sweet spices while not being in anyone's face.

Overall:  It's ok.  It needs improvement.

My Rating:  Try it (but only if you can get it for cheap/free)

Tazo is everywhere.  It's at Starbucks, in grocery stores, big box stores, drugstores and pretty much anywhere that sells coffee or tea.  Therefore, Ima be lazy and not put a website.

Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (Herbal Tea with lemongrass, orange and a lot of other stuff)

You know, maybe I was wrong about Tazo.  Maybe they aren't so bad after all.  I mean, I now like 2 teas of theirs, although I still think that they are overpriced as all hell.  And now I'm going to try Wild Sweet Orange, which sounds fruity but pleasant.

Outsides:  This tea has a laundry list of ingredients; lemongrass, blackberry leaves, citric acid (first thing that should be noted), rose hips, spearmint leaves, color (tumeric, riboflavin), orange peel, hibiscus flowers, natural flavors, rose petals, orange essence, ginger root, licorice root and licorice extract.  It's in a nice foil wrapped packet and is your standard tea bag.  I brewed this at boiling for three minutes before i tasted it (the second thing you should take note of since herbals should steep for 5 minutes).  The tea is a brighter orange and smells like oranges.

Insides:  I don't know if I can properly put my feelings on this tea into words, but I'll try.  OHMYGOD THIS IS F***ING TERRIBLE!  It's sour, and I like sour but this is undrinkable sour.  The licorice makes the texture of this drink seem very thick so it's pretty much a thick, sour mess.  It's just terrible and I don't understand how Tazo can call this SWEET wild orange.  Maybe the licorice is supposed to act as the sweetener but then it should be the third ingredient instead of friggin' CITRIC ACID!  Also, why do we have all these ingredients if you're going to bombard your drink with sour and licorice.  This is bad and I honestly can't imagine someone liking it without copious amounts of sugar and bad taste.

Overall:  No, just no.  Tazo, my lack of faith in you is restored.

My Rating:  Stay AWAY!  It's not even worth stealing.

Tazo is everywhere.  I often get my Tazo teas from the hospital cafeteria because it's "free" there.  

Tazo Refresh Tea (herbal mint tea with Tarragon)

As you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of Tazo.  I find that their tea seriously lacks in flavor or is just god-awful.  There are exceptions, such as their whole leaf teas, but Tazo as a company has just not impressed me.  That pessimistic thought aside, I was cleaning my backpack today, which is shocking for me, when I found this tucked in the same compartment as I put my make-up that I never wear.  My first thought was "Oh, that sounds tasty" and I needed a drink, so I fired up the Keurig and decided to give it a go.

Outsides:  I kinda ripped the label before I could read all of the ingredients, but it looks like there's only peppermint, spearmint and tarragon.  The sachet is nice and individually foil-wrapped, and is your standard tea bag.  I just stuck the bag in 8 oz of boiling water and honestly don't care about the time because it is an herbal.  It's a bit darker than your standard herbal tea and smells extremely strong for something that has been in my bag for 2 months.

Insides:  Well color me impressed, this is some potent mint tea.  It has that hint of sweetness that most mint teas do and the tarragon is only evident in the beginning, but the mix of peppermint and spearmint really brings a lot of good minty flavor to this.  Is it revolutionary?  Not really since most mint teas taste like the same thing, but this one kicks it up a notch in terms of intensity.

Overall:  I actually recommend this if you want mint tea.  You could probably buy mint leaves cheaper, but this is a nice mix and would probably do wonders for a stomachache. 

My Rating:  Buy it!

Tazo is everywhere.  Starbucks, grocery stores, department stores, everywhere.  

Prestogeorge Herbal Red Pomegranate

I need to review more teas from Prestogeorge, but since I have about 20 teas from Zen Tea and 10 teas from Prestogeorge, Zen Tea has won priority (although, it's also because I just bought higher quality tea from Zen Tea and it's something I really need to do at Prestogeorge).  I'm not the biggest fan of Rooibos since to me, it's not complex enough on it's own.  Pomegranate is another story and I will gladly consume anything that reminds me of that fruit, plus the sweet and tangy taste with a hint of floral should do wonders for Rooibos. 

Outsides:  What's unique about this tea is that it's a blend of green and red rooibos, which I rarely see together.  It also contains safflowers, rosehips and, of course, pomegranate.  I brewed a teaspoon and a half of this at almost boiling for 5+ minutes.  The color is lighter than most rooibos teas I've tried but still that rusty orange.  It smells fantastic, juicy, sweet and tart.

Insides:  The rooibos actually serves as a nice base for all of the other flavors and doesn't hinder the wonderful pomegranate smell and flavor.  This smells a lot stronger than it tastes, but there is a hint of natural sweetness and a little needed tartness from the pomegranate.  There's also a slight floral flavor but it's more of a complement to the fruit than a flavor on its own.  I think this would go great with sugar and would make a nice iced tea.

Overall:  I've decided to change my thoughts on rooibos to not liking it unless it has some stronger flavor added to it.  This is a very nice blend and worth the extra dollar or so I spent on it compaired to the other rooiboses.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Prestogeorge is my local tea shop in Pittsburgh.  They deliver to other parts, but their shipping is expensive so I'd just look elsewhere for other tea.  

Zen Tea Ceylon Ratnaupra

Outsides:  This Ceylon Ratnaurpa is just ceylon tea and nothing else.  I brewed a teaspoon of it at near boiling water for 3 minutes and I'd recommend tasting it after 3 minutes to see if you like it and let it steep a few seconds longer if you want a stronger flavor.  The color is kind of a medium reddish brown and it smells very clean and a bit spicy with a note of breakfast tea.

Insides:  First off, this tea is going to be a bit more bitter than other types.  That's just the nature of it and I think the term used for this is a brisk taste.  This has a bit of a bready malty taste to it which reminds me a bit of wheat beer.  The body is less than the Darjeeling but still very full.  This has a nice aftertaste as well, a bit malty and a bit floral but actually sweet compared to the overall bitterness of the tea.

Overall:  It's good, but I'm glad I did this experiment because I found out that Ceylon is not my favorite black tea.  I still recommend getting a sample of something like this just to find out how much you like Ceylon versus other tea.

My Rating:  Try it!

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea retailer that specializes in mid to high quality tea.

Zen Tea Pu-erh Vanilla Mint

I kinda feel like I'm cheating a bit because I haven't really tried good Pu-erh yet (I have another Zen Tea sample sitting in my tea storage), but pu-erh is another tea that you're supposed to drink in multiple infusions and I just don't feel like doing that right now.  I also feel as though this is a great tea for around the holidays since it's a sweet peppermint and all.

Outsides:  First off, this one blatantly states that it's organic and fair-trade so it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling for supporting a good tea cause.  It contains pu-erh, peppermint, cinnamon (which seems almost contradictory to me), vanilla and the bane of my existence, licorice.  One annoying thing that Zen Tea did was not include how much of this you're supposed to put per cup, so I'm just going to assume that it's a generous teaspoon per 8 oz of boiling water.  This tea is DARK but smells fantastic, like candy canes and holiday cookies all rolled up into one.

Inside:  I know that Pu-erh is different than black tea but I'm going to revoke Adagio's Candy Cane Tea's honor of being the best black tea because this is fantastic.  Pu-erh doesn't seem to be as bitter as black tea and the mint and vanilla flavors come through so nicely.  The licorice is barely noticeable and is actually done right by having it act as a slight sweetener.  I'm going to include a picture of when I add creamer to it because the milk tea has this slight reddish tone to it which I think is very pretty.  Oh, and this is amazing with creamer.  It's like you're having milk and cookies with a candycane in there. 

Milk Tea Goodness

Overall:  I felt like I took a risk getting the 50 gram pouch of this but I'm glad I followed my instincts.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Zen Tea is a Canadian tea retailer specializing in mid to high quality tea.  

Zen Tea Tie Guan Yin, ofren called Monkey-Picked Oolong

Here I am with yet another Zen Tea purchase.  Tie Guan Yin is a common type of Oolong and what makes this one interesting is that you are supposed to do multiple infusions using this.  There are lots of different types of tea that can be used for multiple infusions but they work best with Oolongs and not the terrible ones. 

Outside:  The tea looks like little rolled leaves.  I brewed the tea at a 80 degrees Celsius (which might be a bit too low for this) and varied the steeping time depending on which infusion I used (you're supposed to add some time each infusion).  The first infusion is light but it gets a little darker each infusion.  The first one smells the most vegital while the second smells more floral and the third is a weaker floral.

Insides:  I'm going to divide this into the infusions.

First infusion:  The tea is very vegetative in taste with a floral note intertwining.  Overall, this is a light tea with a medium body and a slightly sweet taste.  It reminds me a bit of sencha except a bit heavier and with more of a floral scent. 

Second infusion:  This one is a LOT more floral and my favorite infusion.  Less vegetative than the first infusion but this one has a nice floral scent (my first thought was jasmine, but the bag says jasmine and orchid).  It has the same body as the first infusion but the tea is a little bit sweeter.  This is really a nice introduction to multiple infusions.  Also physically, the leaves are opening up so if you put a tiny bit of tea in the infuser, the tea has doubled or tripled in size.

Third infusion:  This is the first noticeable drop in flavor, but still drinkable and actually good.  The tea is light-bodied and there's still the floral scent, but no vegetative taste and yet the same amount of sweetness.  I won't brew any more infusions of this because it lost about a third of the flavor.

Overall:  I really like this.  It's a light floral with a medium body and you definitely get your bang for your buck.  Check it out.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea retailer that sells mid to high quality tea.  

SALE ALERT! Teavana Clearance Sale

Hey guys.  Have any money left from Christmas?  Me neither, but Teavana is having a nice little sale where a lot of their teas and giftware is 30-70% off.  Personally, I still think their tea equipment is severely overpriced even with the sale, but here's a few deals I found.

Cococaramel Sea Salt Herbal Tea: ( 2 oz for $2.00):  I'm a big fan of sea salt and caramel and even trying the Starbucks Sea Salted Caramel Late thing, think that it works well as a beverage.  I'm not so sure about the tea, but I'll review it.

Samurai Chai Mate ($1.55 for 2 oz):  After trying Zen Tea's mate, I feel the need to get some more.  Plus, the mild taste of mate should do a good job complementing the chai spices.  I hear that this is very popular. 

Lavender Dreams White Tea ($3.45 for 2 oz):  The most expensive one that I'm posting but the one I'm most excited for.  This seems like a nice fruit and floral medley and the Teardrop of Peony is probably my favorite flavored white tea I've tried from Zen tea.

Anyway, there's a lot more including herbal tea, a few more whites and greens and mates and a lot of equipemnt and gift-sets that still seem overpriced.  If you want to try Teavana, now is the time to do it.

Biglow Pomegranate Green Tea (K-cup Review)

This is one of two random tea K-cups that i just had sitting around and decided to review today.  I'm just going to be honest and say that I was never a big fan of Biglow.  I mean, you can buy it at Big Lots and for 20 cents more, you could get Twinnings, which uses a higher quality tea and actually individually wraps tea bags.  But this is weird because Biglow is one of the cheapest name-brand teas and Keurig sells some of the most overpriced expensive coffee.  Let's see how this turns out.

Outsides:  A standard K-cup (a few of them have little rings on the bottoms to prevent the liquid from dripping as fast, but those are mostly the espresso K-cups).  I brewed it using the 8 or 9 oz setting.  As you can see, the liquid is pink and not a green tea color.  Also, this thing smells like candy.  Not pomegranate, but like hard candy.  I'd actually be pleased if it tasted like this, despite me trying to be more of a tea snob.

Insides:  Well, this definitely isn't for the tea purists but it's actually surprisingly good.  The pomegranate flavor is nice and strong and gives a sweet and sour taste to the liquid.  The tea is weak and a tad too bitter, but the pomegranate flavor kind of overtakes that.  Ok, you can buy better quality for less money but for those people who want to have a few fruity teas around the house for their Keurig, this is not a bad option.  Congratulations Biglow, you have impressed me.

Overall:  Still overpriced as hell for what it is, but it's fruity and not offensive like some of the other ones.

My Rating:  Try it!

I don't feel the need to put a website here because Biglow is a brand of tea that can be found in the vast majority of supermarkets.   

Celestail Seasoning Lemon Zinger Herbal Tea (K-cup review)

So, I haven't done one of these in a while mostly because I just don't use any of my K-cups.  I got a Celestial Seasonings Tea variety pack and so, well, I need to drink them.  These have pretty much been laying on my counter since July.

Outsides:  A standard K-cup.  I brewed it like I brew all the other K-cups.  The liquid is red and it smells like fake lemon.

Insides:  This tastes like citric acid (the stuff that makes things sour).  Citric Acid and fake lemon flavor.  Now, I got this without any ingredients but it tastes drastically different from the zingers I've had from celestial in that it's more sour and doesn't have that sweet scent of rosehips to go with it.  That being said, this is not the worst tea I've had for the Keurig.  It's still pretty bad though.

Overall:  Just buy the normal Lemon Zinger and save 6 bucks.

My Rating:  Pass.

Celestial Seasonings and K-cups can be found in pretty much any grocery or department store.  They are expensive and the quality of the tea is....terrible, but they are easy to find so no link for you.  

Zen Tea Bamboo Integrety

Outsides:  This herbal tea containes apple bits, carrot bits, bamboo, lemongrass, verbena, ginger, sunflower petals and natural flavor.  I'm not gonna lie, the carrot sounds really interesting to me.  I've had carrot in drinks before but never in tea.  Anyway, I put 2 teaspoons of this in my mug and steeped it in 8 oz of boiling water for 5 minutes.  The color is a light green and it smells citrusy.  This also is a beautiful tea to watch steep because the liquid is almost clear and the herbal portion has so many colors in it.

Insides:  The box suggested that this would taste tropical but it's really very citrusy and fresh tasting.  The apple and carrot add sweetness to balance out the rest of the flavors such as lemongrass and verbena so although it's citrusy, it's not very sour.  This really tastes like fresh squeezed lime with herbs in it as well.  Although I wouldn't advise adding too much sugar, this seems like it would be a good alternative to lemonade.

Overall:  It's interesting.  Not amazing, but if you're into herbal teas then it's worth a try.

My Rating:  Try it!

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea Retailer (happy Boxing Day!) that specializes in mid to high quality tea.  

Zen Tea Jasmine Dragon Pearl

So, my last 4 days have cinsisted of 7 to 9 hours of baking cookies (we have at least 13 different kinds right now) and honestly, I need a break.  NO MORE MOM, I'M GOING ON A DIET!  Anyway, I need some jasmine tea to relax and this one looked interesting. 

Outsides:  The tea is just chinese Jasmine Green tea buds, but it's shaped like little spheres.  The instructions say that you can use 3 to 5 of these per cup, so I put in 4 big ones and one derpy looking bud in 8 oz of 80 degree Celsius water and just kept them there (I want to see if they bloom, which they kinda do).  The fluid is a very light orange (it almost looks pink to me) and have a nice fragrant scent of jasmine.

Insides:  This actually works pretty well without an infuser because the leaves are very tender when brewed.  What really surprised me was how naturally sweet the tea is without sugar.  It has a light body and a delicate green tea flavor with a pleasant jasmine scent, but there's a sweetness to it which makes this extra special to me.  Plus, it's so fragrant that you can probably get away with using 3 buds.  Anyway, this is a fantastic tea to help introduce people to floral tea and for people who don't want to consume as much sugar.  I image that this is great cold.

Overall:  Apparently you can get this cheaper at the Asian markets, but this sample size gives you good bang for your buck and it's darn tasty!

My Rating:  Buy it!  

Zen Tea is a canadian tea retailer that specializes in mid to high quality tea.  

Zen Tea Earl Grey Blue Flower

 
So, I made a mistake.  For some reason, probably my own stupidity, I thought this was the same as Earl Grey Creme.  Well, it isn't.  It's just normal Earl Grey, which I'm ok with but I really love that Earl Grey Creme.  But, Prestogeorge seems to have something similar to that so I might not be out of luck.  Anyway, I'm sure this will be a perfectly good Earl Grey.

Outsides:  This tea contains black tea, bergamont orange and blue cornflowers, I feel as though the flowers are almost pointless because you can't really see them that well in the blue base, and they don't really change the color of the tea.  I brewed a teaspoon and a half of this in 8 oz of near boiling water for about 4 minutes.  The color is a medium orange like most Earl Grey teas are and smells strongly of bergamont. 

Insides:  I immediately added milk and sugar to this because the bergamont is too strong to drink on its own for me, but it goes great in milk.  The flavor is strong, citrusy and a bit spicy and floral, but there still is a noticeable tea flavor that pokes through so Zen Tea clearly didn't use the extreme bottom of the barrel when it comes to tea. I think this earl grey is actually well balanced, doesn't lose flavor in cream and yet doesn't taste like soap.  It's not quite as good as the Earl Grey Creme but it's pretty close to a perfect normal Earl Grey for me.

Overall:  If you like normal Earl Grey, you'll probably like this.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Zen Tea is a canadian tea retailer that specializes in mid to high quality tea and bringing the world of tea closer to your home.  

Bonus:  Lazy Christmas Mani

Julep New Years Mystery Box!

So, Santa came right on time this year and I got my Julep mystery box.

For those of you who don't know, Julep is a salon which sells monthly subscription boxes for $20 a month (which you can skip).  I'll have information for how to get your first box for a penny at the bottom, but they guarantee $40 worth of product in the box, which is a bit of an overestimate since I think they mark up their stuff at least twice as much.  But, the polishes have been good quality for me so far and if I see a product I want, I'll get the box.  Julep also donates a dollar from each box to Girlfriends, a women's charity and their nail polish is 4-free (their other stuff shouldn't have parabens and such but I saw it in the mascara). 

After stalking blogs trying to find out what everyone is getting, I'm going to assume that the vast majority of people's boxes are worth around 100 dollars.  Mine ended up being around $125, but I don't actually think the products are worth that much anyway, so I'm not upset that I didn't get a "200 dollar box" or anything. It seems like most people are getting a product and 5 or 6 nail polishes, plus 3 remover pads and 2 samples, so I guess I'm lucky that I ended up getting 2 products and no topcoats or anything like that (I have a matte topcoat and it cost me $1.50). 

Here's what I got in mine:
-Julep Sicilian Orange Foot Soak.
-Julep Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara
-2 sample packets of Julep Age Defying Hand Brightener.
-3 Polish Remover Pads
-A nail file
AND 5 POLISHES
-Cindy (Green Jelly with Gold glass-flecks)
-Georgia (Peach with a gold shimmer)
-Sienna (a foil that is probably best described as white gold, but is a light gold that's almost silver)
-Lauren (Classic medium pink.)
-No name New Years glitter (Brown, copper, orange and sliver glitter in a black base)

First off, I'm pretty happy with the products I've gotten.  I was afraid that I'd end up getting the Age Defying Hand Brightener (full sized) and a bunch of polishes that I could get at the drugstore or already had dupes for.  Thankfully, I got things that I'd use or find to be unique.

And now onto the reviews:

Julep Sicilian Orange Foot Soak:  So, I knew that I'd end up getting a product in my box and if I had to pick a number one thing i wanted, it would probably be the pedi-cream or just the pedi-set in general.  My feet are terrible and I've put forth a resolution that I am going to take care of them and at least make them so they are manageable.  Ok, this isn't the pedi cream but this would encourage me to soak my feet and scrub away those calluses.  I think the thing that impressed me the most is that there are actual pieces of orange peel in this scrub and how wonderful and natural this smells.  I'm sure this isn't going to be the end-all-be-all of foot soaks, but I'll post a review of it as soon as I use it.  I haven't used this yet but I'd probably pay $7 to $10 dollars for this, but it actually costs $26.

Julep Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara:  Another thing that wasn't exactly on the top of my list but am glad to get anyway.  I actually don't like black mascara.  I enjoy going for a softer, more natural look and honestly, my lashes are pretty long so black mascara makes them look cheesy so I'm glad I got the brown mascara.  Plus, it's a pretty big and pretty great mascara from the few times I've used it.  It does a good job seperating and defining my lashes and keeps them curled, plus it adds length through little fibers.  I actually really like this mascara and will use it often.  Apparently this mascara retails at $24, but I'd say it's worth about $15 since it is bigger than normal and doesn't have the annoyances of most drug store brands I've tried. 

Yep, this is my crappy eye swatch.  Thankfully, my lashes look pretty good.

 Julep Age Defying Hand Brightener:  The reason why I didn't really want the full-sized product of this is because I'm 23 and still don't need something for age yet.  I did use one of these to test it out though and will tell you that you can probably use the amount in the sample packets 2 or 3 times.  The lotion is thick and absorbs really well, but smells like soap, which isn't the worst thing it could smell like but is definitely not something I'd purchase.  I can't tell you much about how this will work over time because I only have 2 packets but it seems like a good but not great hand lotion, so proceed at your own risk.  Since these are tiny foil packet samples, I'm not going to put what I would pay from them, but a full-sized bottle of this stuff retails at $32, which is ridiculous.



Julep One Time Use Nail Polish Remover Pad:  This pad is supposed to have enough remover to get all 10 finger and even remove glitter.  Well, it doesn't.  I was removing my previous manicure with this and it did about 5 fingers before completely drying out.  I still have 2 left so I'll keep them in my purse, but if i need to remove glitter polish then I'll just buy some remover.  These pads retail for a dollar each but they work about as well as CVS pads, so 50 cents is what I'd pay for them.

Julep Nail File:  I didn't get the crystal nail file so I'm a bit sad, but I'm sure this'll work, especially for my toe nails.  I don't think you can buy this on the site so we'll say this is worth a dollar since it seems a bit better than the ones they sell at Big Lots.

A few general notes about the nail color:  I ended up using 2 coats of each although I'll put individual notes on opacity.  All of the brushes were long and thin except for the mystery glitter, which has a much thicker brush.  I had all of my complaints on the bottles and brushes on my intro box review, but it boils down to the handle is a bit too long so you have to be quick with your brush.  Overall, I thought the formula was good for these but will make note of them during the individual colors.  These polishes retail for $14 but I think a more appropriate price for them is around $6.50. 

Let's start with my favorite:

Julep Cindy:  I...LOVE...THIS....GREEN!  It's a lime green jelly base with gold glitter or glass-flecks or something and it's just super sparkly without being over the top crazy.  I have a few shimmery greens like this (such as Sinful Colors Show Me the Way), but this is what I want all of my shimmery greens to be.  The formula was great and you get pretty good coverage after 2 coats or one thick one.  Anyway, this one's awesome and makes the box really worth it for me.

Julep Georgia:  This one made me apprehensive when I first took it out, but is unique and a nice spring to summer shade (when my skin will get more light).  There's a gold shimmer in that peach color that really turns it up a notch and makes this weird pastel color a bit more wearable for me.  The formula was ok.  You need 2 coats to even out the streakiness that the first one brings.

Julep Sienna:  So, this a an interesting little foil in that it looks like it's 2 parts silver and one part gold.  I actually really like it this way and think it makes it more wearable (with a pattern or stamp or something) than normal silver or gold.  If you do want to wear it on it's own, you need 2 coats but the polish was pretty shiny after the first one so you can probably use it for a slightly transparent stamp.  The formula was really smooth too.









Julep Mystery New Years Glitter:  An interesting mix of brown, copper, silver and maybe some orange glitter in a black base.  I really like it.  It kinda reminds me of the inside of a change purse.  It dries matte so you'll need a topcoat but OH GOD, THE SPARKLES!  Anyway, there is a weird new brush on this and it makes applying this glitter a bit more annoying than it needs to be.  But, the formula is good and surprisinly, it only needed 2 coats for full opacity but you can probably use a thin coat for layering.

Julep Lauren:  This is one of your more basic pinks that isn't too bright or dark or pastel or neon, but I have pinks like this (lots of them.  One even smells like raspberries).  I think this one is a bit lighter than most of the ones I have though so that makes it a bit more wearable from winter to spring.  The formula on this was solid and less streaky than Georgia, although I felt like i still had viable nail line after 2 coats so maybe do a thicker 2nd coat or three coats.







Here's a price breakdown from the Julep Website:

26 + 24 + 3 + 5(14) = $123 (for a $20 mystery box)

And here's how much I think it's worth.

10 + 15 + 1.50 + 1 + 5(6.50) = 60

So, I still made out good in the end.  Plus, I can buy an 8 oz or whatever foot cream at Sally's for 7 bucks so guess it's not a big deal that I didn't get my must-have thing.  Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my box and if anyone wants to join Julep for a penny just to get these mystery boxes, here is my referral link or you can type in 7383222 for the invitation code.  There are a variety of codes to get your box for a penny (I've seen PENNY2012 and JULIPVIP) and Julep is a subscription service but you can skip boxes you don't want and just get the mystery boxes,  Anyway, have a happy holiday whether it be Christmas or Yule or Kwanza or no holiday at all! 

Zen Tea Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate is extremely fitting for Christmas Eve.  It's a relative to a holly plant, is often shared by people in South American as they sit around a gourd and drink from metal straws called a bombilla (my source here), and has a stimulating effect on heartrate much like caffeine does.  Mate is also supposed to contain vitamins and minerals, so theoretically, it's healthier than coffee (but that can be said about a lot of things).  Anyway, I need this today so let's drink.

Outsides:  Yerba mate is just yerba mate, and I don't have a gourd so I guess my authenticity is out the door.  I got it in Zen Tea's sample size and have to say, this is a pretty good size and can easily make 10-15 cups of this.  One thing I did wrong was that I used near boiling water when apparently (from Wikipedia and not the directions on the packet), you're supposed to use hot water and not boiling, but I let it sit for about 5 minutes (1.5 teaspoons in 8 oz).  The color is greener than a typical herbal blend but still that same shade of yellow.  It smells like a light green tea.

Insides:  Well, it's not bitter so that's good.  This drink has a medium to light body with a sweet and slightly planty flavor (kinda like green tea).  Another thing is that this yerba mate seems to be very mild in flavor, especially compaired to something like coffee or energy drinks.  I went and added some sugar to see if any new flavors would be brought out and with that, this drink tastes like the Dilmah Ceylon Green Tea or Lipton Pure Leaf Green tea.  I like it and am curious to try some of the fruit flavors.

Overall:  If you don't like coffee or energy drinks but still want to get your caffeine in somehow, try this out. 

My Rating:  Try it in general.  I'm probably going to get some from Prestogeorge, but Zen Tea still has a decent price on this.

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea retailer specializing in mid to high quality tea and has a wide variety of teas around the world.