Baiden Mitten - Exfoliation product review

Why did I buy a Baiden Mitten? Earlier this month I was a bridesmaid in a wedding. Before the wedding, some of the other bridesmaids were talking about getting spray-on tans for themselves for the wedding. I've never gotten a professional spray-on tan before, so one day I was searching for information on them. What I kept reading was exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate before you get your spray tan. At one website, someone recommended using a Baiden Mitten to exfoliate, that it was miraculous. Well, I looked into it, and I suppose I was in an especially gullible mood, so I bought one. I have now used it over the course of a month, so I feel like I can finally speak authoritatively on the product.

What is a Baiden Mitten? It is a piece of fabric that fits on your hand like a mitten. The material is coarse, like a mild sand paper. What you do is soak in the tub for 10-15 mins, get out (don't dry off!), then rub your skin with the mitten. The mitten will exfoliate your skin. Then you hop back in the tub or shower, and wash off what the mitten exfoliated.





Do I like my Baiden Mitten? YES! A thousand times yes! Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I AM very pleased with it. I've used other exfoliation products that I thought were good, in which I could feel the results, the results being smoother skin. But what is so cool about the Baiden Mitten is that you can SEE the results. When I rub the Baiden Mitten against my damp skin, it forms these "rolls" of dead skin and impurities. Gross, yes, but also fascinating that all that ickiness could be on my skin and I not know it. And, yes, it is suppose to do that; I'm not especially dirty. Because all those impurity rolls come off, my skin feels incredibly smooth afterwards, smoother than any other exfoliation product I have tried. We're talking even my ankles, knees, elbows, and the back of my arms are significantly smoother. This especially impresses me because many other products have creams or oils in them which enhance the smooth feeling though temporary. But there is none of that with the Baiden Mitten, and yet it is still smoother.

Cons? The price. It costs $50. Again, I don't know what induced me to spend that much on an online product, but thank goodness I did. However, although it is on the pricey side, I'm assuming it will last a long time, unlike creams/scrubs which you have to replace frequently (plus scrubs don't work as well). So, I'm not too aghast at the price considering it's kind of an investment beauty item. The other con is that it is a rather long process, the soaking, the rubbing, then bathing/showering. But, you're not suppose to use the product more than once a week, so I guess it is a reasonable time commitment.

My tips: 1) Don't use it more than once a week. The second time I tried it only 5 days had passed, and I didn't get many impurity rolls. And while it still left my skin smoother, it was disappointing not to see the rolls as proof of it working. 2) The rolls get everywhere, so keep in mind where you stand in your bathroom when you scrub yourself with the mitten. 3) Careful when using it on your lips. Since lip skin is thinner, after I tried it on my lips, they were sensitive for a couple days.

Visit their website for more information, but keep in mind they have a very cheesy website: http://www.ancientexfoliation.com/.

Recipe - Tuscan White Bean Spread

From The Complete Vegan Kitchen

I tried this recipe on Thursday and was quite happy with how it turned out. It's the first recipe that I've tried from this cookbook. There are several other recipes I am anxious to try from the cookbook, especially their Sweet Potato Falafel.

I would call this recipe an Italian hummus. But, unlike hummus, white beans are softer and easier to blend than garbanzos. Plus, this spread doesn’t have any nuts/seeds in it (hummus has tahini/sesame seed paste), so according to my calculations, it is a lower calorie dip. The sage in this dip is what makes it. The cookbook suggests spreading this on Italian bread, topping it with roasted red peppers, fresh tomato slices, or grilled portabellos. I ate mine with Triscuits, and it was still very tasty.

Tuscan White Bean Spread

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups cooked white beans (Great Northern or cannellini)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 small onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

Sea salt

Puree the beans in a food processor. Put 1 tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and stir constantly until the onions develop a light, golden brown color. To the pureed beans in the food processor, add the cooked onions and garlic, lemon juice, and remaining olive oil. Puree all the ingredients. Add sage and sea salt to taste. Adjust the seasonings. Adjust the thickness with water.

Tips:

1. Soak white beans overnight, and boil them yourself. Not only is it cheaper, the taste and texture is so much better, plus you avoid chemicals associated with canning.
2. The spread was easy to puree once I added the lemon juice and oil, so don’t feel like the beans have to be perfectly pureed at the beginning. They will have the opportunity to breakdown after you add the lemon juice and oil.

I wish I was in Carrickfergus...

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!! And what a day it has been! I tried a delicious new recipe, got a surprise package in the mail, and ate some Shepherd’s Pie and a side of kale like the good Irish lass that I be.

I’ll post the new recipe tomorrow; it’s a Tuscan White Bean Spread.

As far as the surprise package, my uncle sent me a microphone!!!! How random is that?! I’ve fiddled around with it a little bit already. You plug it into your USB drive and then can record onto your computer. It looks pretty legit. I can’t wait until this weekend to really play around with it. Looks like I have a new hobby whether I like it or not. Haha.

And the Shepherd’s Pie…well, I was lazy so I just bought a frozen Amy’s Shepherd’s Pie; it was tolerable I suppose.

In honor of St. Patrick, I would like to share with you my current favorite Irish song (yes, I know more than one Irish song). At least, it sounds Irish; I'm not exactly sure if it is indeed Irish or not. It's "The Testimony of Patience Kershaw" by The Unthanks. The song tells of the horrors of a coal miner, a female coal miner. It's haunting. My brother Jef introduced me to the song a couple months ago. Listen below:

Also, in honor of today AND the new microphone, I thought it would be appropriate to share some silly recordings that my family and I made of Irish songs the day after Christmas. We had SO MUCH FUN singing them! I would highly recommend adding some Irish ballads to your family traditions.

“Black Velvet Band”

This one is hilarious; it definitely has the crowded pub sing-a-long sound. The chorus is five of us: Uncle Phillip, my grandma (Gigi), my mom, Jef, and me. Pay special attention to Jef. His drunken, heavy Irish brogue is hysterical!

“Carrickfergus”

This is me solo. Don’t judge me too harshly; this was just my second take, and I don’t know how to edit music yet.

Let's get some medieval clothes

Over my brother’s Christmas break, he showed my mother and me the television show Merlin. It’s a twist on the story of Merlin, King Arthur, and Camelot. In the series, Arthur isn’t king yet. He’s the heir to the Camelot throne, young, early 20s, and Merlin is around the same age. Magic is outlawed forcing Merlin to practice his skills undercover, all the while protecting Arthur from peril. Naturally, we’ve become obsessed with the show. But I’m not writing this post to recommend the show. To be quite honest, I’m not sure I would recommend it. It’s rather predictable, and every third or fourth episode is painful to watch. The show is more of a guilty pleasure for us (and I gave up soap operas this year, so I think I'm due a TV guilty pleasure). I am writing to tell you of and show you the phenomenal clothes in the show. My mother and I just drool over the dresses! We’ll be watching the show, and I’ll realize that I have no idea what’s going on in the episode because I’ve been staring incessantly as Morgana’s dresses. Take a look!

But our favorite dress of the series so far is the one below. It belongs to the sinister Morgause.

Aren’t they spectacular?! These dresses are making me think of taking up sewing. Maybe if I start soon I could have a whole wardrobe of medieval clothes in time for the Texas Renaissance Festival in the fall. Hmmm…I will keep y’all posted!

My mother should be a DJ

I discovered over the last couple weeks that my mother has amazing taste in music. My dad, on the other hand, is having a love affair with blue grass music these days. Needless to say, this has caused some strife when he and I ride in the same car together. But, back to my mother, she recently learned how to buy songs on iTunes, so she has been downloading all these oldies. And WOW! are they great songs! They are so happy and infectious! They make me want to dance all over the house, frolic with butterflies, blow dandelions, etc.,. Anyhow, in case you don’t get a regular dose of Oldies music, take a listen to the songs below. You’ll be happier if you do!

“Happy Together” by The Turtles

“Those Were the Days” by Mary Hopkin

 “Dream a Little Dream of Me” by The Mamas & The Papas

“Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma” by Melanie

“Good Morning, Starshine” by Oliver

“What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?” by Barbara Streisand

“There’s A Kind of Hush” by Herman’s Hearts