Bonnie and Clyde 2011 Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Week 5

The holidays are getting close, hopefully you're not waiting til the last minute to grab gifts. This week's gift suggestions are a bit more expensive than past weeks, but if you have someone important or special to buy for, these could be great options. My wife actually bought me the NOOKA watch shown below for our anniversary. I'll be doing a review on it soon, it's pretty cool!

Where to Buy
Phosphor Appear - You can purchase any of the Phosphor Appear watches on Phosphor's site HERE. 

Nooka Watch - Nooka watches can be purchased on their site (there's a million to choose from) HERE.

Holiday Countdowns

Sorry for the absence!

Sorry I haven't been able to post much lately. We got hit pretty hard with the flu the past couple weeks and we're just now recovering. I've got plenty more reviews coming up, so check back soon. Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive!

Bonnie and Clyde 2011 Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Week 4

This week's gift suggestions are great because you don't have to wrap them or spend time picking through products! How much easier does it get?

Where to Buy
Birchbox - You can gift a subscription through their site HERE. You can see reviews of some of my wife's past Birchboxes HERE.

Black Box - You can gift a subscription through their site HERE. You can see some of my reviews on my past Black Boxes HERE.

Holiday Countdown
63 days to Christmas
57 days to Hannukkah
64 days to Kwanzaa 

Review: Origins Skin Diver Body Wash

After a week of being sick and almost two weeks of dealing with sick kids I haven't done any reviews at all, so its definitely time to post one!   My wife scored me a few samples from origins about a week ago, but I haven't had time to look at them before now.  Tonight I figured I should check them out and try a few.

I tried the Origins Skin Diver body wash with the Origins facial scrub brush. The manager of the Origins store that spoke with my wife said that the Skin Diver body wash could also be used as a facial wash.

Origins Skin Diver Body Wash (used on face)

Men’s Face & Body Wash Product	Appeal of Scent	Ease of Use	Effectiveness	Skin Irritation	Overall Score
Origins Skin Diver Body Wash	3.5	5	5	0	4.5

On a scale of 1-5 (1 being poor performance, 5 being great). 0 means it did not do this at all.

 

I used the Origins facial brush (which I'll be reviewing in a later post) when I tried the Origins Skin Diver body wash. The body wash, made specifically for men by Origins, has active charcoal in it, which makes it a really cool jet-black color.  When applying it to my face it went on very smoothly. It felt like it cleaned my skin very well and didn't leave my face feeling dry or chalky after washing it off. There was some tingling on my skin when I first applied it and scrubbed my face, but it wasn't very uncomfortable and stopped quickly. Overall, I would say this is a good product and I look forward to trying more of Origins' products for men in the future.

Price
A 6.7 oz tube of Origins Skin Diver body wash for men sells for $19 retail.

Where to Buy
This can be purchased in any Origins store or on their website HERE.   

Bonnie and Clyde 2011 Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Week 3

This week's gift suggestions are great options. If a woman in your life owns more purses than you can count, a Concalma bag is a solid gift idea. And if you need to grab a gift for a gamer, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is the way to go!

Where to Buy
Concalma clutches, bags, and totes can be purchased directly from the Concalma website HERE. You can read an overview on Concalma, what they're about and the good the company does, in a past post written by my wife HERE.


Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 can be pre-ordered now from several retailers including GameStop HERE. You can grab it for a friend and for yourself!

Holiday Countdown
70 days to Christmas
65 days to Hannukkah
71 days to Kwanzaa 

Review: Wahl All Star Combo Clipper/Trimmer

I've found over the years that it saves a lot of money to cut my hair and both my sons' hair at home. We had purchased as Oster hair clipper a few years ago, but in the last few months it had all but died. I also found that after the first few times I used it, it never cut any of our hair smoothly or evenly. It pulled, got caught, was choppy, etc. My son was heading to kindergarten this year and the day before school started, we realized we hadn't gotten his hair cut. Given the fact that our Oster had pretty much died, we were faced with a decision--pay $20 plus a tip for a little boy's hair cut or purchase a new pair of clippers. We chose to invest again in a pair of clippers.

After comparing models, looking at price points, comparing attachments, etc., we walked away with the
ahl All Star Combo Clipper/Trimmer. I chose this model and package because of the following reasons:

• The clipper was professional-quality according to the rep
• It's said to be a better quality model than the comparable Oster model
• It came with a good variety of attachments that I could actually use (not 1/16th of an inch or some other random length)
• A personal trimmer was included in this package and given the fact that I have a full beard, this is something I use regularly

Overall, I found these clippers easy to use on my hair and on both my son's hair as well. I have moderately curly, thick hair and both my sons have extremely thick hair. The personal trimmer is great and comes with a handful of attachments that make keeping my beard neat very easy. Both are easy to clean after use.

Men’s Clipper/Trimmer Model	Ease of Use	Evenness of Cut	Avoids Pulling/Catching Hair (while clipping)	Variety of Attachments	Overall Score (Highest Being 5)
Wahl All Star Combo Clipper/Trimmer	4.5	4	5	4	4.375
Oster Aztec	2.5	1	0.5	2	1.5

On a scale of 1-5 (1 being a little, 5 being a lot). 0 means it did not do this at all.

Price
This package retails for $79.99, although it's currently on sale for $69.99 at Sally Beauty Supplies.
 
Where to Buy 
This is currently on sale at Sally Beauty Supplies (my wife has a membership) as well as other grooming and beauty supply stores. There are a number of different models available in Wahl's online store: http://wahl-store.com/

Bonnie and Clyde 2011 Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Week 2

This week's gift suggestions are perfect for anyone that wants to give an impressive, multi-piece gift without having to think too hard. Either could be given to a significant other, family member, friend, etc.

Where to Buy
Zoya's Gems & Jewels collection can be purchased on their site in sets or individually HERE. 


Barc Power-Duo Gift Pack can be purchased as a gift set on the company's site HERE. You can see my review of the Bar Bump Down Lotion HERE. *If you want a chance to try out the Barc Bump Down Lotion and Shaving Cream yourself, enter my Guys-Only Holiday Giveaway for your chance to win both products plus others!*

Holiday Countdown:
76 days to Christmas
71 days to Hannukkah
77 days to Kwanzaa

RIP Steve Jobs

Apple released a statement today confirming that Steve Jobs has died. I'm sure many of you agree with me that while his struggle with cancer was no secret and we knew this day would come, it is still a very sad day.

If you were a young adult during the rise of Apple, you've grown up alongside the amazing evolution in technology that has taken place, especially where Apple is concerned.

Steve Jobs has accomplished so much and he will surely be missed.

You can read CNN's article on his life and passing HERE.

Battlefield 3 Beta Review

I signed up for the open beta review of battlefield 3 the day it came out on Xbox, which is running till 10/10/11. Go download it quickly if you haven't already1  So far I have logged about three hours of actual play time and have gone from a level one to a level four private, unlocking two new guns, one new scope and one sprinter perk.  My initial thoughts are that the colors were very vibrant and that the maps are enormous!  As far as game play, I personally had to move closer to the flat screen to be able to see what was happening (this might be different in the actual game since this is after all, just the beta).

Once I was able to figure out the controls on the remote it was a bit more enjoyable to play. I have not used any of the new vehicles since they don't seem to be available on the beta version, but I am looking forward to flying the helicopters and jets that you can see listed along with what looks like a tank.  I think they really might be onto something with the new technology (frostbite 2) that they are using to make the maps far bigger and capable of handling such advance graphic.

You can pre-order the game before it comes out on 10/25/1--here is the link http://www.battlefield.co/battlefield3. I do not have any screenshots at this time because you have to agree not to take images of your screen when you sign up for this beta version, but maybe once the game comes out I can get a few. I am definitely going to pre-order my copy ASAP. This game seems to be worth buying.

Guys-Only Holiday Giveaway

And the winner is ... Brian Weir! Congratulations!

To kick off my holiday gift giving guide, I wanted to hold a giveaway for men-only. If you have a wife or girlfriend, you might have heard them talk about holding or entering giveaways on blogs. The problem is, they're always for women. Don't we deserve some free stuff now and then? That's exactly what this is all about!

The Prize

As I mentioned above, this is a giveaway for men and everything in this giveaway is perfect for you or the guy in your life. Here's what this prize consists of:

• The Art of Shaving - 4 Elements Starter Kit ($25 retail) Check out my review HERE.
• Billy Jealousy - 2 oz Ruckus Hair Forming Cream ($16 retail)
• Barc - 3.4 oz Bump Down Lotion ($22 retail) Check out my review HERE.
• Barc - 6 oz Shave Cream ($22 retail)

Who can enter?
This giveaway is opened to US residents only (sorry international readers). While the products in this giveaway are for men, if you are a woman and would like to enter this giveaway to win these products for the guy in your life you can do so.


How long will the giveaway go on?
This giveaway starts October 1, 2011 and ends November 25, 2011. That's the day after Thanksgiving, which is also Black Friday. While you're out there scrambling to get the things your wife or girlfriend wants, you have the opportunity to possibly score something for yourself as well! The winner will be announced some time after midnight via email as well as announced in this post.


How to Enter
I'm keeping this really simple all you have to do is complete the form below. Comments on this post are not considered entries. If you win this giveaway you will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours to claim your prize. If I don't hear from you within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen. Here's the form...

Bonnie and Clyde 2011 Holiday Gift Giving Guide: Week 1

This week's products are great because they're unique, affordable, and support small businesses. You can use them as small gifts, stocking stuffers, or swap gifts if you have a holiday gift swap in the office.

Where to Buy
Both products are handmade.

Honey Bee Holistics Natural Body Lotion can be purchased on the company's site HERE. My wife did a review on this lotion HERE and highly recommends them.

CleanJellyBean Fight Club Soap - The first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about fight club, so orders must be individually placed through custom orders by contacting CleanJellyBean through their Etsy site HERE.  The owner is great at shipping orders quickly. I did a review on this Fight Club soap HERE.

Holiday Countdown:
83 days to Christmas
78 days to Hannukkah
84 days to Kwanzaa