Topbox July 2015 contents and review!

Hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying the warm weather!
I have not done any Topbox reviews lately as I had some computer issues (broken laptop) and some injuries too...
But I plan to catch up with my reviews eventually...

One small issue I have with Topbox is that I have been subscribing since the very first box and lately the items are quite repetitive. Mascara almost every month, nail polish, eye liner, Arden skincare (yet again...).
Now I do eventually use my samples,but lately could not use any eye products as I had a lot of contact lens problems. My eyes were super irritated and even the sun bothered me a lot.
I seem to be fine for now after not using anything at all in my eye area and use only single use eye drops,so it must be my allergies acting up...

Finally I will just get to the contents of my July 2015 Topbox..... 

JULY 2015 TOPBOX!

*BareMinerals Lash Domination Volumizing Mascara: sample size 1.5ml $3.00/ full size 10ml $18.I do not use mascara every day, at most a couple times a week. Will try to use this soon...



*Blinc eyeliner: sample size 0.7g $3.25/ full size 6ml $26.
I like Blinc products and own their eyelash curler. I did not know they had a eyeliner,but have heard so much about their famous mascara-yet have never tried it.
This sounds really neat- a eyeliner that "peels off" with water and some pressure. I will try this soon...


*Elizabeth Arden Ceramides Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum: sample size 7 capsules $9/ full size 60 capsules $74.
This is a generous sample size and trial with a week's worth of capsules. I'm pretty sure I've tried these many times before and they seem decent. I already like a different product that comes in a similar format from another brand (a 10% vit C product).
But I will try this out for a week and report back...



*OFRA Cosmetics Universal Eyebrow Pencil: full size "sample" 1.13g $13.
This pencil looks like it will last me quite a long time. I naturally have very dark brows and do not really use anything on them. I will try and use this pencil a few times this week and see how that goes.



The total value of my samples this month was...........$26.25
That is good considering the cost of my box is
around $13.
As long as it is not pouring rain this week,I will use my samples and report back.

Topbox info card.


Did you receive a Topbox this month?
What did they send you?

Ottawa Night Market at Lansdowne Park 2015 photos!

The Ottawa Night Market is one of the first festivals held at the newly renovated Lansdowne Park.
The "night market" is also on for one more day, Sunday July 19 from 2-8 pm.
I was there on the Saturday evening and it was very crowded and there were quite a lot of food tents to check out, but the lines were quite confusing- it was hard to know where to line up and where to pick up your food.
Also a bit hard to tell what kinds of dishes were being sold. There were signs mostly with "Asian text" and the price shown in Canadian dollars.
There was also, oddly enough quite a lot of non-Asian food for sale- like Greek food,Churros,Gelato. frozen custard, blooming onion and potato stand....
There was also a lot of tents selling grilled items and the air was quite smoky due to this.
A lot of places has grilled squid and lamb and there was even Balut for sale.
I saw one guy eat one of those eggs with the baby bird in it and kind of unfortunately said "interesting food,but I do not eat eggs with baby birds in them", but if you like them then good...
I do not eat much meat,and there is a lot of animal products I do not eat,but if other people want to eat them.
Well the Balut was only $3,that is all I have to say about it.

Grilled squid at the market!

I did not get around to trying the squid, it was hard to know where the line started and the lineups were also very long and did not seem to be moving.
The squid was served on a stick and in a paper bag. Watching the workers cook was interesting though.

Oyster omelette!

The oyster omelette seemed like a interesting dish to try,but I did not feel like having eggs. Also,I do not really eat oysters. But if someone gave me this dish I would eat it.
Usually I eat omelette with mushrooms or mushroom and cheese or a vegetable version.

Sign from omelette stand.

Shrimp cakes with fish sauce.

I did buy some shrimp cakes with fish sauce. This was from a Vietnamese table. These were served at room temperature and had vegetables with a shrimp on top. Not too sure what the entire filling was, there might have been eggs in it.

Sticky rice with coconut, sesame and peanut.

After a long walk around I ended up going back to the same table and buying some sticky rice with coconut,peanut and sesame seeds. I think the rice had green tea on it also.
I eat a lot of Vietnamese food,but the place I go to does not really have desserts,so this was interesting to try.

If you have the chance, check out this event. It is free admission and outdoors.
It is also cash only and there are bank machines on Bank st and Whole Foods does cash back also.
The market was neat to attend,but they really need to have more organized lines and maybe some explanations about the foods. I know maybe what half the foods were and the rest,well the signs were not in English,so that did not help me as I was not there with anyone who reads other languages.

Does anyone have any recommendations for what other foods to try. I can always go back Sunday for lunch or dinner....