BIC Gelocity Pen Review

I love pens, all kinds of pens, and it's safe to say I may have a slight problem. Yes, I love pens, but gel pens hold a special place in my heart. I've bought so many sets, different brands, different prices, I love them all! So when I got the chance to try out BIC's Gel-ocity pens I was more than happy to. 

There were three colors that came in the set that I got to try out for free: pink, purple, and blue. I'm glad the sent colors that were a bit out of the norm because it's more fun using them. The pink was more of a hot pink, leading to a red. The purple was very dark, leaned real close to black. It was just a bit too dark for me. The blue was a turquoise color; not very dark. 

All the ink in the pens came out super saturated, no skipping, and it dried pretty quickly. If you run your hand across it right after writing you may get it smudge. I found it hard to get it to smudge though because it does dry quickly.You can refill these pens, but I didn't see refills for these colors. The grips are a bit hard, but not uncomfortable at all. I have smaller hands and find pens with larger grips to be hard to hold. The retractable part of the pen works great, no issues with that. 

I did try using them for my adult coloring books and they do work great, but not very good at layering. Because they don't really smudge I can't blend very well, but that's okay. I still think you can use them for coloring, if you enjoy using pens to color. 

Overall, they're great pens that I'll use over and over again. The ink writes so smoothly, it's just amazing. I know I'll have to fight the kids to keep them from leaving with them to school.

Disclaimer: I did receive a three pack of BIC Gelocity pens for free in return for my honest review.

Easy Off Oven Cleaner Product Review

gross roasting/broiler pan

I was sent a $5 Walmart Gift Card by Smiley360 in order to do this review. I had a choice between the different Easy Off Oven Cleaner varieties: Fume Free Trigger, Fume Free Spray, Heavy Duty, BBQ Grill Cleaner, and Cooktop Cleaner.

 My father pretty much lives alone so he cooks and cleans for himself. I know there are things that get neglected, one being the oven, so I decided I'd try and clean it for him. Well I don't know what I got myself into because wow, that oven was a mess! But before all this I had to head to Wal-Mart and buy some Easy-Off to try out. The $5 gift card was more than enough to cover the product and taxes. I can honestly say I don't normally shop at Wal-Mart. The lines are always horrendous and most times the cashiers are hard to work with. This is not a generalization of all Wal'Mart shopping, this is just about my own area store that I normally avoid like the plague.

Like I mentioned above there are 5 different varieties to choose from and Wal-Mart had all of them available. The first two are the same product just in different packages. Easy Off Fume Free comes in a trigger spray and regular can spray. This type of Easy-Off is better for every day use so your oven doesn't get bad enough for the Heavy Duty cleaner. The trigger spray can be used in more ways than the can spray and doesn't need gloves, but both are fume free and leave a light lemon scent in the air. The BBQ cleaner is obviously made specifically for your grill, and would be a must for summer time grilling. It is safe to use on all types of grills as well as stainless steal, and aluminum/non-chrome pots and pans. The cooktop cleaner won't scratch or leave a residue on your cooktop, and is safe for all cooktops. It also can be used on glass-ceramic, enamel, stainless steel and chrome.

inside back of oven, before and after

The last is Heavy Duty which is obviously for those really bad messes that you need a little oomph to clean up. Because it seemed like my dad's oven had never been cleaned I opted for this choice. Gloves are a definite must and I advise you to open up a window or door when you use it. Even with the door open the fumes were a bit intense. I can say I never really knew what the roast/broiling pan was. I knew there was a little handle at the bottom of the stove and some weird looking grill thing down there. By the way, that grill thing was filthy! It must had had years worth of whatever built up on it. I hadn't realized it was supposed to be blue-gray until I started cleaning it. One thing that wasn't mentioned is the time needed to clean anything other than your oven. I was left to estimate the time needed to clean the broiler pan. I sprayed it on and left it for 5 minutes and scrubbed it. I noticed it was still dirty so sprayed it again and left it for another 5 minutes. The results are fantastic, not really surprising, and so now I moved onto the oven. Again I can not stress the need for ventilation when using this. If you're oven is as filthy as my dad's was be prepared to use a lot of spray. Obviously that means you are going to have quite a bit of fumes in the air so take care so you don't breath it in. I covered my face while spraying the oven down and it was still pretty intense.

Oven door, before and after

It says on the can that all you need is 5 minutes for it to get to cleaning. Well I know that oven is going to need more than just 5 minutes. I feel like a horrible daughter knowing that my dad was essentially cooking in a death trap. That oven looks one step away from igniting on all the grease and going up in a big ball of flames. So this review couldn't come at a more better time for me. I knew going into this I'd be in for the long haul. I also wondered why the men in my family can't seem to find time to clean their ovens. My brother's oven is not as bad, but certainly was getting worse before I went by to clean it. I thought it would be a hard job, but thankfully with Easy-Off it was just that - easy! I sprayed the oven and left it to sit overnight. The next day I got a little hot water and started scrubbing. I was amazed at how dirty the oven was, and how easily the built up grease was coming off. I changed the water a few times and kept at it. The oven was looking great! There were just a few spots that had some build up still, but I can spray those down at a later time.

Overall, I'm totally impressed with Easy-Off Oven Cleaner. It definitely will continue to be used in my household and my father's house as well. I'm actually going back to get the fume free to keep at both houses to use on a regular basis. Easy-Off Oven Cleaners are all under $5.00 in my area and are totally worth every penny!



Disclaimer: I was sent a $5 gift card to Wal-Mart to buy this product for free. I was provided it by Smiley360 and Easy-Off for this review. All opinions are my own and no further compensation was given.

Wet Ones Product Review

 I was chosen by Smiley360 to do a review on Wet Ones Hand Wipes. They sent me an awesome kit that included a 24ct box of single hand wipes - perfect for on the go, a travel pack of 15 wipes, and a tub of 40 wipes all in the limited editions Citrus Scent. I was also sent some coupons to share with family and friends so they could try out Wet Ones for themselves. With so many kiddos in my family those coupons were definitely appreciated! I of course shared some wipes with my brothers so they could try them out with their little ones.

If you'd like a chance to try out some great products for yourself and your family then check out Smiley360 - Click Here. It's a great program that puts you in touch with a lot of great brands waiting to hear your opinion.

My Review:

I grabbed the box of single hand wipes and started stuffing them into my kiddos bags. I've seen how they eat at home, I can only imagine how messy they get at school. I like that they're easy to open, even for the youngest. The hand wipes are really large, larger than other hand wipes I've used. They were really moist and didn't dry out too quickly. They were able to clean up the messiest of faces, especially after eating one of my chocolate cupcakes. I really didn't want to share, but sharing is caring - right? Kids will always get messy, so it's great to have these single packs handy if you don't want to carry the tub around. The wipe has a nice soft citrus scent to it, not very strong at all. It also didn't dry out my skin, so I know it was gentle on his. It doesn't have a huge alcohol type smell to it either, like some other wipes tend to do.

Next was the tub which took a little work. I found it a little difficult to get the wipe into the top part. Once I threaded it through I then had a problem of keeping it to pull the next one up with the one I was going to use. Not sure if that makes sense to everyone, but bear with me. After several attempts I finally got it working. I just used the extra wipes to clean up the counters and tables so they wouldn't go completely to waste. You probably won't have as much trouble as I did, I'm sure I was doing it incorrectly. Either way these wipes were more like the size of baby wipes. They had the same scent as the single packs and the larger pack. I love these tubs and find them super handy when all you have is one hand to use. Yea, try chasing a one year old around trying to wipe his face when he absolutely wants none of it. Good luck!

Wet Ones Hand wipes are anti-bacterial so they kill 99.99% of bacteria, wipe away grime, and get nice soft hands. They use aloe so that way you hands stay nice and soft and don't get all dried out. They're hypoallergenic as well so they're pretty gentle on your hands. Have a kiddo with sensitive skin? No problem! They also make a special Sensitive Skin wipe that is extra gentle. They are hypoallergenic, alcohol- and fragrance-free! All varieties of Wet Ones are readily available at most grocery and big box stores and are pretty affordable. So head to your local store and find them for yourself - you'll be happy with the results.



Disclaimer: I received this mission kit from Smiley360 for the sole purpose of doing this review. All products contained in this post were given to me for FREE in return of an honest review. All opinions are my own and no further compensation was received.