Product Review: John Allan’s Slickwater Pre-Shave Solution

Good morning!!! Hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have been slammed at work all week and the day's have been going by pretty quick. However this week still feels like it's dragging. COME ON FRIDAY!

What They Say:

Many shaving aids foam and froth dramatically, but that doesn’t mean they’re offering your face protection through a shave. Prepping your face with a quality pre-shaving formula—one that sits directly against the skin—will ensure you’re safe from nicks, bumps, and irritation. True to its name, John Allan’s pre-shave solution creates a super slick and super protective primer coat, over which you can apply your usual shaving solution. Think of it like the Zamboni that smoothes and cools the shaving surface, allowing your razor to glide like Apolo Ohno.
Anti-inflammatory oat kernel and cucumber extracts teach touchy, post-shave skin to chill out, while tea tree oil, that wondrous Australian import with antiseptic powers, lends the solution a robust and invigorating smell. This “slick water” is indeed extremely slippery, but not at all oily.
This is something like a shaving base layer. After washing your face, apply a small amount of this solution to your chin, cheeks, neck, and upper lip before spreading your preferred shaving cream or gel on top of it.

My Opinion:

This product sparked my interest. My skin is pretty sensitive. So when shaving I know going in that it's inevitable I'm going to get razor burn. So it isn't a matter of if I'm going to get razor burn, it's more of a matter of how bad. You can forget electric razor's! So I was pretty excited to give this a try. Their description of the product said the "slick water was extremely slippery, but not at all oily". They are right, it doesn't leave your face feeling oily at all.

So did it do what they said it would do? Yeah I would say it did. I had minor razor burn, but it was a lot less than when I shaved without using the Slick Water. I used it as it instructed. Putting it on my face as a base and then putting the shaving cream over the Slick Water. I also ran out of shaving cream and just used the Slick Water to shave. It worked just as well without shaving cream.
Good product however a 2oz bottle of this product is $29. So for the price I think I'll just stick to regular shaving cream without the added step of prepping. I prefer to just lather and go, so this is only my preference.

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

Preview: August Birchbox Man Box

Good Tuesday morning everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! The August Bircbox Man is in and here's a preview. I didn't go online and see what was coming in advance. I kind of wanted to be some what surprised when I got my box. Let's see what's inside.

Birchbox Intro:

As your golf game can attest, the smallest of tweaks can lead to the biggest improvements. From the subtle tailoring of a T-shirt’s sleeve to a pinch of cayenne pepper in your barbecue dry rub, it’s all about the fine-tuning. Consider this month’s assortment a subtle draw on a towering tee shot to put you right in the middle of the fairway...

• Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm: I have droopy puppy dog eyes as my wife describes them so I'm always looking sleepy. Add a couple wrinkle lines here and there and I'm curious how this product will do.
• Kiehls Ultimate Brushless Shave Cream - White Eagle: With the size of this sample I'm not sure how many shaves I will get out of it but I'll give it a shot. It's says to use after a hot shower and spread sparingly over whiskers. Well as I pointed out before I get razor burn just looking at a razor so I usually lather up pretty good. We'll see.
• Marvis Classic Mint Toothpaste: My first thought was it's toothpaste. Nothing special other than the fact that it's Italian-imported. Let's see how this $10.50 toothpaste seperates itself from our Colgate.
• Barking Irons Brando Cut T-shirt: Alright here's my first gripe with Birchbox. When I signed up I went through the list of questions and one of them was shirt size. Not happy that it cut off at XL beings there's a good number of guys out there in the XXL category. I mean if you go in to purchase this shirt in Birchbox's store you can select XXL so why can't I pick that for my profile. So I got an XL and it's to tight for me to wear outside the house so I'm giving it to my Dad to wear. The tight t-shirt look isn't good for us bigger guys. Kind of bummed because I like shirts with a thinner material. I'm always hot and this material is awesome.

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

Product Review: Quirky Wrapster

What They Say
When you store your earbuds in your pocket or backpack, they typically go in neatly folded like a new pair of shoelaces, but come out looking more like a ball of dried out spaghetti. This small and durable plastic contraption is designed to keep your headphones organized and detangled as they go in and out of your pocket. The Wrapster allows you to wrap your headphones vertically so they’re neater and flatter in your pocket. A totally sweet and unexpected extra: when not housing your earbud cords, the Wrapster works as a stand for your iPhone in landscape mode. Thread your earbud cords through the two separate side tubes, and wrap the main cord around the center. Slide the wrapped-up headphones into your pocket. When you want to use them again, unwrap the main cord but leave the left and right earbud cords in the side tubes.

My Opinion
Alright so I like the idea behind this product. However I didn't find a need. Very rarely do I need to use headphones. So for me this didn't get much use. Now if I did this product would be great. To be able to wrap up you ear buds and stick them in your pocket without them tangling is awesome. Then it doubles as an iPhone stand. This didn't help me either since I'm a LG user. My phone didn't fit the slot and wouldn't stay standing. Now my wife on the other hand commutes home in the evenings. So she uses ear buds on during the ride. This really came in handy for her because she was able to wrap them up and just throw it in her purse. Whereas before she would throw them in and they would tangle around everything. Not that I would know because purses are dangerous. She also use an LG and hers is slimmer than mine but still wasn't able to fit in the stand either. Although it wasn't something I found a need in. I do recommend this product to those who us headphones on a daily basis. Good job Quirky!

You can find this product on quirky.com and it retails for $6.99.

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

Product Reviews: Quirky Cordies

I don't know whether to say Happy Monday or not. I mean who really like's Monday? Today I'm bringing you Quirky Cordies from Quirky.com. Hope you enjoy!

What They Say
Desktop cable management may not be sexy, but neither is rooting around on your hands and knees amidst the mounting dust bunnies under your desk looking for your fallen power charger. Cordies keeps all your power cords, phone chargers, and audio cables in order so you can plug in and unplug easily and quickly. Weighted but flexible rubber provides a solid grip for all your cords. A rubber bottom gives the Cordies module a solid hold on your desk. Thread all your cables through the 3.5-inch wide organizer and you won’t have to waste your time detangling them or retrieving them from under your desk. You can even stack cables on top of each other within the three individual loop spaces. If you have more devices than that, you may want to think about scaling back.

My Opinion
I really liked this product. You gotta like a product where you just open the box and it's ready to use. I've always had the problem of unplugging my cell from the power cord and speaker plug and having to pick them off the floor. Especially at work. Then you combine that with a usb for a scanner and a usb from a upc scanner and I'm always looking for wires. This really did make my life a lot easier. The price isn't all that bad either. Priced at $10 I'd say it's pretty good. Anyone with a lot of electronics this is a must have!

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

Product Review: CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense

Happy Monday everyone! Alright I agree no Monday is a happy Monday, but at least the day is almost over. Guy's I wanted to share with you the first product out of my Birchbox Man July Box. Sorry for the short review but it's hard to review a cologne in my opinion.

What They Say:

 The Italian fashion house known for its modern, architectural pieces takes the same rigorous approach to its fragrances. This stylish unisex sense is intense but also approachable, with a rich amber base. It translates from the boardroom to the bar easily and is sure to attract attention—the good kind.
Top notes of jasmine tea, middle notes of mother of pearl of hibiscus, and base notes of amber blend together to create a sensual, rich fragrance.

My Opinion:
I wasn't too thrilled with this scent. Now I'm not saying that the scent was bad. I'm just saying it's not a scent for me. It's a little too strong for my liking. I prefer a scent that is smooth and not too overpowering. This scent to me is right on that line of almost being too overpowering. You can purchase 100ml of this cologne for $140. If you combine the price with not being sold on the smell, I think I'll pass on this cologne.

Any guy's out there a member to Birchbox Man have any input? Even if you're not a member but have tried this cologne, please give me your opinions!

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

Product Review: John Varvatos Star U.S.A. Cologne

This product goes back to the my wife's June Birchbox, and is the reason I signed up for the Birchbox Man. Good advertising on the part of Birchbox!

What They Say:

Dads and younger brothers alike dig this dapper scent. Full size product comes housed in smoky glass with a spring top reminiscent of a vintage beer bottle. John Varvatos’ cologne, like his designs, exudes a combination of off-kilter downtown cool and elegant prep.

My Opinion:

I was excited to open the package and smell this cologne.  I wasn't disappointed at all!  It has a great smell that isn't too overpowering.  The thing I hate the most is an overpowering cologne. You know, the guy that walks in the room and twenty minutes after he's left it's just as strong as when he entered?  Their description for the scent was pretty good in my opinion.  I imagined something that wasn't overpowering and a smell that makes you think stylish.  That's exactly what I got.

I've heard the John Varvatos name with working in eye care I'm familiar with the Varvatos brand eye wear.  So right away without even smelling the product I knew this cologne was going to be pricey.  After trying this product I really want to purchase it, however once I saw the price I had to take a step back.  For a 1.7oz size product you're looking at a price tag of $55.00, and for the larger 3.4oz product you're going to pay $70.00.  Now for someone like myself that doesn't like dishing out that kind of money on something that isn't a necessity, this price tag is a bit discouraging.  However, I really like the product and this may be something that I wouldn't mind purchasing in the future. Especially since my wife loved it too.

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.

July Birchbox Man

Alright guys, it's finally our turn!  For a while now you've seen a bunch of women's products being reviewed on our site and now there's going to be more stuff for us!

I was excited about signing up for the Birchbox Man and now that I've received my first box I'm even more excited.  I'm going to try out the products and give my feedback once I get a chance to get to know the product.

Until then, want to take a look inside?

Here's what's inside the box:

CoSTUME NATIONAL Scent Intense:  I have to admit, I don't spend a lot of money on myself.  If it's something I could do without why buy it?  That's just me, but I know how much my wife likes when I wear cologne, so we'll see if this one is a winner or not.

John Allan's Slick Water Pre-Shave Solution:  I have sensitive skin so when shaving it's inevidble that I'm going to have razor burn. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this one works out.

Quirky Cordies:  Something that keeps charging cords and speaker plugs in one place without falling on the floor once I unplug something?  Nice!  I can tell you that this was one of the first things I opened and have began using immediately.  I love electronics, so wires and cords are usually lying around my work station.  So this one may be an instant hit with me.

Quirky Wrapster:  This product allows you to wrap up your headphone wires and doubles as a stand for your iPhone? Sounds good.  I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an Android phone so let's see how creative this product let's me get.

Supersmile Professional Whitening System:  I'll give it a shot. Let's see how good this is.

I'm exctied to get started trying this stuff out and sharing with you all my experiences.  Until then, guys, if you haven't been to Birchbox Man's website yet swing on by. Click here to sign up if you want to receive these products and others each month.

The Birchbox Man was purchased by me with my own money.  I am not affiliated with Birchbox Man or any of the brands listed above.  I am not being paid for my reviews and all opinions are my own personal opinions.