I’m always looking for ways to improve my skin care routine. I’ve been vocal about the fact that I’m an exfoliant fan, so when I had the chance to try out a bottle of Menthe Blanche Microfoliator Cleanser by The Doctor’s Wife, I couldn’t pass it up. Now, what is the difference between an exfoliant and a microfoliant, you ask? According to this explanation on their site, it is a combination of microdermabrasion and exfoliation that is meant to be gentle enough for every day use. So, how does it work?

The first thing I noticed about this face wash was the peppermint extract. When I applied it for the first time, my face tingled…and I mean really tingled, to the point where it was really uncomfortable and I had to quickly wash it off. Given that I have such sensitive skin, I figured this would be yet another product that I’d have to cross off my list. However, the product didn’t cause any reaction on the skin afterwards, and on subsequent tests the tingling was manageable. I’ve actually been using it every night for a month now, and while it is a tingling sensation when I put it on, it doesn’t hurt anymore and it hasn’t caused any irritation or problems. I also wonder if part of the reason it tingles so much is because I use it in the shower – it advised using tepid water while washing your face, but my showers are warmer than that, so I wonder if the warm water makes the tingling sensation more prominent.

The texture of this is a very fine grain – it’s an exfoliating agent that you can use every day, which is really nice. They say you can use it morning and night, but I just use it at night and it works fine for me. Again, since I have sensitive skin, I don’t want to go overboard and I kind of like having a different set of products for both my morning and night facial routine. I’ve become a real fan!

The Menthe Blanche retails for $59 and is available on The-Doctors-Wife.com. It’s hard to tell how much is left because the bottle is opaque, but I’d say I’ve used about 1/4 to 1/3 of it with nightly use over the course of a month.

If you didn’t win our last rodent trap giveaway, don’t worry: This giveaway will be of interest to you! One lucky reader will win an Ultra PestChaser Ultrasonic Rodent Repellent Device, so read on!

Last November, I woke up one morning to find rat droppings in the doorway of my office. As it turned out, a rodent had made its way into the house and crept around that night. Although we quickly took steps to identify the spot they were getting in, repair the damage caused and set out even MORE traps, I was reasonably unnerved for some time afterwards, feeling paranoid that another rat might invade my space. That’s why I’m extra happy to have the new Ultra PestChaser, a unique device from our friends at Victor Rodent. This device looks a little like a boombox, but make no mistake – the rats in your home won’t be dancing for joy when these speakers pump out their song! This device emits a high-frequency sound that is only audible to rodents, and designed to be intolerable to them, encouraging them to get the heck out of Dodge.

The unit is fairly small, and plugs into any standard electrical outlet. It’s meant for indoor usage only, and the sound will not travel through walls or furniture, so it’s more of a one-room solution than a catch-all device. There is an optional LED light on the unit, but if you turn that off, you won’t even know that it’s on except for the slight electronic hum of the device running – you know, the same type of low buzz you hear anytime you plug an electronic device in. The sound which rats hear cannot be detected by humans, however you must never use it around rodent pets, ferrets, or rabbits; it’s meant to be safe around pets like dogs and cats.

Ultra PestChaser is meant to be a supplement to other rodent control strategies, such as traps. This would have been PERFECT for us back in November, because it would have given me extra peace of mind that rats weren’t going to be climbing all over my desk at night. It would have also been great for an instance we had where a rat was chewing the buttons off Jai’s computer mouse at night – it took several days to catch that rodent, because it kept escaping from our myriad traps! I’m going to keep it in storage and pull it out anytime we have rodent issues – I’ll plug it in whichever room I detect the activity and leave it there until the pests diminish.

One lucky Contest Corner reader will win an Ultra PestChaser, ARV $59.99! Entry is easy via the Rafflecopter form below:

Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway is open to residents of the continental United States, 18+, and ends on May 31st 2013 at 11:00 PM PST. We are sorry, but P.O. boxes and APO/FPO addresses are not eligible to win. Winner will be chosen through Rafflecopter the following day and notified via email. Winner has 48 hours to respond to our notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook or Pinterest. We hereby release Facebook and Pinterest of any liability. By entering this giveaway, you are releasing Facebook and Pinterest and understand that you are providing information to Contest Corner and the giveaway sponsor, not Facebook or Pinterest. Contest Corner is not responsible for late entries or entries lost due to technical malfunctions. Please see our Privacy Policy and Disclosure for further details on our site’s policies. A sample was received to facilitate this review.

The weather has been warming up here in Seaside, and we’re getting all the tell-tale indicators that summer is almost here: Sunshine, warmth, bugs all over the place… Summer will be here before we know it, so it’s time for me to amp up my sunscreen routine and be conscious of how much sun I’m getting. People joke about my “Computer tan” since I work indoors so much, but I still have to be very careful even if I’m not a full-time beach bunny! No joke, I still have tan lines from one burn that I got last year. LAST YEAR!

One way that you can help to shield yourself from the sun’s rays is with a hat. So I thought this Tropical Trends hat was a cute idea for garden work, days at the beach, or an afternoon luncheon during these sunny days! This is a classic floppy sunhat, and according to Hartford York, it has a sun protection factor of 50. Like many of their hats, this one is designed to be easily portable, folding up so you can tuck it into a bag before heading down to the beach. I think this hat is really cute and would make a good gift, too!

The Tropical Trends hat is available on HartfordYork.com for $25.

I am a member of the One2One Network and received a promotional CD to write this review. I am eligible for giveaway incentives for publishing this post. This article contains my Amazon Associates link.

If you were watching The Voice last week, then you caught a guest musical performance from Rod Stewart, singing “Finest Woman” with Team Shakira. The song is a cut from his latest album, Time, which dropped earlier this month. As the title suggests, this album is an introspective look back on the legendary rocker’s life so far, brought about when Stewart was preparing his autobiography, published last year. The album looks back on his path to success (“Can’t Stop Me Now”), tackles tough subjects like divorce (“It’s Over”), yet retains its optimism with hopeful, upbeat songs like “Beautiful Morning” and “She Makes Me Happy”. Fans are sure to be delighted in all good Time! You can preview the album below:

Track Listing:

1. She Makes Me Happy
2. Can’t Stop Me Now
3. It’s Over
4. Brighton Beach
5. Beautiful Morning
6. Live The Life
7. Finest Woman
8. Time
9. Picture In A Frame
10. Sexual Religion
11. Make Love To Me Tonight
12. Pure Love

Time is available now on Amazon and iTunes. Follow @RodStewart on Twitter for album news & updates!

I’m a big fan of scrambled eggs, because they’re quick, easy, and versatile. Over the weekend, I decided to whip a scramble using a carton of liquid egg whites that Jai had picked up. I usually add in a few “Extras” – whatever I have around – and since a jar of Dei Fratelli pasta sauce had shown up on my doorstep, I decided to add in a cup of that along with some carrots and seasonings!

Egg White Scramble

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions)
2 small carrots
1 cup Dei Fratelli Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce
1 and 1/4 cups liquid eggs whites
Salt & seasoning to taste (I used Zoës Kitchen)

Directions:

Add coconut oil to a frying pan and melt over medium heat. While the pan warms up, peel, wash and chop the carrots, adding to the pan. Cover carrots with salt and seasoning as desired, and cook until browned. Add the pasta sauce, stir, then pour egg whites on top. Scramble the mixture until cooked thoroughly – you may wish to turn the heat up a notch after adding the eggs. Serve and enjoy!

Yield: 2 servings – 166 calories per serving.

Notes:

The serving size for this assumes that it is being prepared as a side dish for two people. The calorie count doesn’t include the salt or seasoning, as I just put a dash in and wasn’t sure how to measure caloric count for a trace amount of seasoning. These could easily be omitted, however. With the carrots, sauce and coconut oil, this scramble had quite a sweet flavor to it!

This dish would be great for using up leftover pasta sauce after making spaghetti – in fact, this dish is a great way to use up all kinds of leftovers. The more veggies you add, the more you could bulk this up as a dish without adding a lot of calories.

“Pin it to Win it” Contest: If you’re looking for more tomato sauce recipes and want a chance at winning prizes from Dei Fratelli, then click here to check out their Pinterest contest running through May 31st.

Last year, I shared a recipe for Cocoa Coffee using Truvia Baking Blend. Now that we’re transitioning off Nutrisystem, I’ll be doing more baking again, so I was interested to try the Baking Blend in a muffin recipe as another way to streamline calories. I’ve spent the last week mulling over ideas for possible dessert/snack items I could bake ahead and freeze using what I have on hand. I liked the idea of a muffin, as it’s an easy, portable item good for brown bag lunches. I decided to modify a recipe I found on AllRecipes to better fit my dietary needs and what ingredients I had, and came up with these oatmeal-banana muffins:

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Recipe adapted from “Easy Oatmeal Muffins” on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup milk
1 banana
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
2 TBSP Truvia Baking Blend
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine oats and milk in a bowl and leave to soak for 15 minutes. Then add all remaining ingredients and blend together with a hand mixer until combined. Using a muffin pan with 12 liners, pour batter into each liner until it is two-thirds full. Place the pan into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until done.

Yield: 12 small muffins – 93 calories each

Notes:

This was quite a simple recipe. I made two batches this afternoon – the first one was cooked at 425 degrees per the recipe I was adapting, but the muffins got a little overdone. Baking at 325 worked better, however both times the muffins really stuck to the liners. This seems to be an issue I have with muffins – maybe because of the moist ingredients? Or perhaps I should be greasing the paper liners? If you have any suggestions I’m all ears!

Despite that issue, they taste really yummy! I couldn’t taste a discrenable difference using the Truvia versus normal sugar – I find that sugar substitutes usually work quite well in baked goods, and they sure save a lot of calories. I determined that each muffin should be around 93 calories based on the ingredients; some items in my kitchen weren’t labeled with caloric information, so I did a lot of Googling to get an idea of the caloric content. I think these will be a great pre-portioned snack for us…assuming that they last long enough to make it in our lunch pails.

Mother’s Day is almost here, so to celebrate, Contest Corner & NOVICA are giving away a $50 gift code for mom to treat herself! The winner will be emailed the code on Sunday morning, just in time for Mother’s Day! Read on for your chance to enter!

I’ve featured NOVICA here on Contest Corner several times – you’ll recall that my favorite serving tray came from them several years back! Mother’s Day is one of the biggest holidays for NOVICA – they have a whole section of gifts just for mom, with everything from jewelry to sculptures. But what really caught my eye was the hand-blown glassware:

I received a $50 gift code to pick out an item with, and I chose this set of 6 martini glasses in Sapphire Blue. I really love the bold color and the fact that you get enough to use at a medium-sized dinner party. These would be an ideal gift for the mom who is a hostess & foodie – or for a housewarming gift or wedding present (Which is what I got it for)! I ordered it 11 days ago and it’s still in transit as it’s coming from Mexico – it should be here very soon and I’m looking forward to receiving it!

Since Mother’s Day is on Sunday, I decided to host this as a special flash giveaway just in time for gifting! The winner of this giveaway will receive their code on Sunday morning, just in time to print out and tuck into a card or email over to mom if she lives far away. Give your mom a shopping spree at NOVICA to pick out whatever she wants!

One lucky Contest Corner reader will receive a $50 gift code to NOVICA, delivered via email. Entry is easy via the Rafflecopter form below:

Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway is open to residents of the continental United States, 18+, and ends on May 11th 2013 at 11:00 PM PST. NOVICA cannot ship to APO/FPO/DPO addresses. Winner will be chosen through Rafflecopter the following day and notified via email. Winner has 48 hours to respond to our notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook or Pinterest. We hereby release Facebook and Pinterest of any liability. By entering this giveaway, you are releasing Facebook and Pinterest and understand that you are providing information to Contest Corner and the giveaway sponsor, not Facebook or Pinterest. Contest Corner is not responsible for late entries or entries lost due to technical malfunctions. Please see our Privacy Policy and Disclosure for further details on our site’s policies. A sample was received to facilitate this review.

A problem that I’ve been noticing in my wardrobe lately is that every single hoodie I own has a broken zipper. I have about 4 hoodies that won’t zip up properly anymore, so it’s been on my list to get a new one. I love hoodies, for wearing around the house with PJs, as a light jacket, or for working out, so it’s basically a daily-wear item for me. So when I was offered my choice of complimentary hoodie to review from Free Country, I was immediately interested to see if I could find a suitable replacement.

After checking out the selection, I decided to get this Women’s Crescent Fleece jacket in Twilight Rose. I picked this one because it seemed the most lightweight, soft, and had a lot of pockets. Plus, you know pink is always my calling card!

I have to admit, this isn’t a style I would typically choose for myself. I tend to go for quirkier designs and lighter fabric, rather than outdoorsy. However, I think this looks pretty good – a little boxier of a cut than I normally like, but it works. I love the fleece fabric – it’s a good one for spring, since it’s warm without being too much. The jacket is so soft – the perfect cozy thing to wear on a chilly morning down at the beach. I also really appreciate the zippered pockets; I like having a secure place to store things like my iPhone, especially since this is a good active jacket too. I have worn it in the gym, but it’s a little thick for working out with weights – I think this is more of a jacket for spring hiking.

I’ve washed the jacket once and so far, so good! This jacket lived up to and exceeded many of my expectations, so I’m very happy with it – it’ll be getting a lot of wear for sure. One note on the size, I ordered an XL and it fit just right – a little bit of room, but not overly baggy. I wear about a medium in most tops at the moment (I’m 5′ 4″ and 128 lbs), so keep that in mind when ordering – they’re a tad on the small side.

The Women’s Crescent Fleece by Free Country is available on FreeCountry.com for $35.

Randy Rogers Band serve up classic down home country rock on their new album, Trouble. The album has cheeky CD booklet of the band posing in faux mugshots and “Wanted” posters, tying in with the theme of the record. Singing about misadventures on tracks like the single “Fuzzy” and the lively romp “Trouble Knows My Name” featuring Willie Nelson, there’s a mischievous Southern grit weaving a thread through the album. There’s several rocking anthems on here, including a slick pop-rock-country fusion in “Don’t Deserve You”. But this record has a softer side, too – “One More Sad Song”, “If I Had Another Heart” and “Never Got Around To That” are just some of the ballads you’ll find.

Trouble was released on April 30th and is available on iTunes and Amazon for $9.99. You can keep up with the band on Facebook, Twitter, and RandyRogersBand.com.

Popcorn is a go-to snack for Jai and I – we just love it! So when a complimentary bag of Southern Recipe Cheesy Cajun Popcorn showed up on our doorstop for review, you better believe we were ready to do some thorough taste-testing. This spicy, cheesy popcorn is the newest snack from this company, known for its pork rinds and cracklins. We loved the seasoning on the popcorn ; it really does have a hot kick to it, courtesy its red bell pepper powder, which goes nicely with the cheese. Between the two of us, that bag was GONE in short order of receiving it!

I’ve never noticed these products in my local stores, probably because I’m in Oregon – but if you’re not in the South, don’t worry! You can order a whole case of this popcorn online for $23.76.