Monday, December 6, 2010

Test Tube New Beauty October 2010 loot!

I have been a member of New Beauty magazine's Test Tube beauty program for 3 shipments so far. My experience has been quite good and I always look forwards to trying the new products that arrive every three months.
For the month of October 2010 the following items were received:

*Clean antibacterial hand cream 15ml tube
*Slice of Live vitamin gummies for adults 28 count bottle
*Moroccan Oil Intense Hydrating mask 75ml tube
*Moroccan Oil treatment 10ml bottle
*Elnett Satin Hairspray 11oz bottle
*Colgate Total toothpaste .75oz
*Kate Somerville Cytocell 5ml tube
*Sothys Pore Refiner System 10ml tube (full size is 15ml and sells for over $50! this is a face primer).
*Talika Lipocils Expert 2ml
*Beauty Society Success perfume 5ml rollerball
*Bioelements Sleepwear cream 7.5ml jar
*Pevonia C Evolutive eye gel 15ml (full size product sells for $60+)

**There was also a Spalook "gift card" that is good for $20 off a $100 purchase.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the variety of items. The only small disappointment is that I did not receive the last two issues of New Beauty magazine with the Test Tubes. The magazine is always interesting to read and hard to find where I live.
I will try and post some reviews of the items I have tried from this list. So far I think this test tube is fun to try and would surely make a good surprise gift for a friend or yourself!

Urban Pear! Great meal and creative desserts.

Recently I took the time to eat a meal at Urban Pear.
I've been there several times before and the creativity behind the food is quite amazing.
You never know what will be on the menu that day-except that it is mostly local ingredients and house cured meats.
To start with I had the antipasto platter-that usually has some pickled vegetables,roasted garlic,Canadian cheese,olives and a type of meat. The only small issue I had with this platter was the meat was pretty much invisible- the sausage piece was around the size of a dime and there was two small slivers.
Not a huge issue,but just a bit odd.
I also consumed a very tasty soup that was quite rich with cream and had some nice smoky bacon- unfortunately I forgot to write down the name of that soup. The soups do change daily and all of them are quite creative and good. Nice sized portion too!
To end my meal I had a very unique, creative and tasty dessert. A butternut squash and apple cake, topped with a apple compote, homemade cheddar ice cream and a caramel whiskey sauce.
Just writing that description is quite  lengthy
The flavors of the dessert blended quite well and it seems like it must be a lot of work just to think of putting these items together.
The portion of cake was just the right size and enough for one person. The cake part was very moist and flavorful. The apple compote was good and there was a lot of apple and a good seasoning with that too. The cheddar ice cream was quite rich and a small portion the size of a small melon ball. That is a good thing as the combination of all these ingredients along with the caramel sauce was quite filling.
The restaurant was not very busy when I arrived to eat, it was a Sunday night and the restaurant had just opened for business. The waiter that served my meal was also very friendly and very knowledgeable about every item on the menu.
My meal at the Urban Pear was great and I look forwards to dining there more often.
Butternut squash apple cake,apple compote, cheddar ice cream, whiskey caramel sauce!









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