Another product fail...

Have you heard of Dots Gloves? They claim to be "The iPhone glove. Warmer and more precise than ever." - gloves that you don't have to remove in order to use your iPhone (I assume they would work with any touchscreen device). Naturally, I was intrigued and had to have a pair.


The website is not organized very well - it took me forever to find the page that explains how to measure for your glove size. There are choices at the top of the page: Shop, Exclusive, Information, & Contact. When you click on "Information", you find 4 additional sections: Sizing, Glove Care, Shipping & Handling, & Return Policy. You would think that the measuring information would be under sizing, right? Wrong. This is all it says: "Dots Gloves are available in two standard sizes, Mens and Womens. Mens size fits hands medium to large. Womens size fits hands extra small to small. The gloves are knit such that they will accommodate a range of variably sized hands."

And if you click on "contact", it takes you to the information page...because there is a contact form on that page. This is new. When I placed my order, I found the measuring info on the contact page - which was a separate page from the info/sizing page. I only found it because I was going to email them to ask about the sizing.  I measured my hand and according to their sizing chart, I needed a medium. Wrong. They were way too wide in the palm & fingers, yet the fingers were also too short. Which is odd, because I have short fingers. Now they say the womens' gloves fit extra-small to small hands - they were very large on me and I do not have small hands.

They also claim on the site - "Thumb, index, and middle fingertips operate iPhone with skin-like responsiveness." Um, no. I tried and tried and tried, but could not get the gloves to work. Even if I pulled the fabric tight so that they were more fitted, I still could not use my iPhone with the gloves on. Plus, they were downright fugly. Seriously.

Once you place an order, there is very little communication from the company. You get one email that is just an invoice from their Paypal shopping cart/checkout. There is no information about when the order will ship - and you do not receive any further communication from them about your order/shipping. I received my order about 10 days after placing it. Of course, they charge priority prices, but ship first class.

I emailed customer service when I couldn't get the gloves to work & asked if they had any suggestions. I received an automated response saying "You will receive an answer to your inquiry shortly". Let's see - that was about 3 weeks ago. Still haven't heard from them. Way to keep your customers satisfied!! Oh - and there weren't any "dots" on the fingertips of my gloves, so it's no wonder they didn't work.

I sent the gloves back on Nov. 16. According to delivery confirmation, they were delivered on Nov. 19 - so let's see how long it takes to get my refund...

Here are some pictures of the fugly gloves:

Dots Gloves - don't bother! Save yourself some time, trouble, & money. I'm going to be out the outrageous shipping fee, but hopefully, I'll get my money back for the gloves.

I'm checking out these now:

Etre Touchy gloves - $32 (ship from UK)

Freehands - $35

Texting Dots - $4.99 (stick to any gloves)

Definitely leaning towards the $4.99 dots to stick to my current gloves, LOL!

What a waste of money...

I don't usually get too upset over products that I don't like, but these really, really annoyed me!

Have you tried the new Downy with scent pearls? I love Downy's original "April Fresh" scent. I've used it for over 20 years because I love it so much. Heck, I even buy the 197 load bottles. That's why I was so upset over my last purchase. The bottle said "NEW", and next to that, it said "with scent pearls". The fragrance was listed lower on the label - and it said "April Fresh" - no "new" beside it. So I assumed that the scent was the same & the only thing new was that they had added scent pearls. WRONG. This stuff doesn't even remotely smell like Downy's original April Fresh scent. It smells so bad that it made my laundry room & kitchen stink. And it's one of those scents that makes me want to gag. Even Buddy (who never notices anything) came upstairs and said, "What's that nasty smell?" - actually I think his language was a bit more colorful, but I'm paraphrasing here.

I emailed Downy customer service, and to their credit, they did send me a coupon for a free container of Downy. I hope it's good on the 197 load size since that's what I'm replacing - the coupon does say "any size". So I hope I can find one of the "old" bottles. But I wasn't pleased that they didn't admit to changing the scent. They just said "we added scent pearls - you may want to use less or try our fragrance-free version". Well, they may have added scent pearls, but they weren't APRIL FRESH scent pearls. And the original April Fresh scent is the reason I use the product, so no, I don't want the fragrance-free version. Seriously - if they discontinue the original scent, I will buy another brand. I'm still trying to get over the fact that they discontinued the lavender scent, which was my favorite for sheets.

And then, I opened up the Tarte emphasEYES eyeliner that I got at the end of May - and it was completely dried out!! I only used it a few times and it was stored tightly capped. It's so dried out that it's cracked! WTF?? I can probably add some eyeliner sealant to it to rejuvenate it, but who wants to mess with that? And I shouldn't have to, should I? So this liner probably only lasted 2-3 months because it's obviously been dried up for awhile. I definitely won't purchase any more of these!

That dent you see in the liner is where I pushed as hard as I could with the handle of an eyeshadow brush - it barely dented the stuff!

And while I'm on the subject of products that don't work well/I don't like - there's the Murad Essential-C Eye Cream. I got a sample of it at some point - I assume from Sephora - and decided to give it a try. It has a fairly thick consistency & is a little greasy - but the worse part is the smell. Ewwww! It had a date on it, and it wasn't expired, so I guess this is how it's supposed to smell. It reminds me of dry cat food. Not on my list of favorite scents. In the end, it didn't matter, because my super-sensitive eyes didn't like the stuff anyway. I ended up with eczema everywhere I applied it.

Needless to say, I won't be repurchasing.  :-)

If you can't say something nice...

I know I shouldn't be, but I am constantly amazed by the number of rude people out there. I'm talking about people who don't know how to voice their opinion without being obnoxious.

I'm all for speaking your mind - as a matter of fact, I think that most of the time, it doesn't pay to be quiet. But there are definitely times when you need to stop and think about what you're getting ready to say. Ask yourself if it's really necessary - or if there is a way to word it so that it's not offensive - or if it's going to make you look like an uneducated, immature ass.

For example, if you read someone's personal blog and you disagree with something they write about - before posting a comment, you should probably ask yourself if the comment is appropriate. After all, it's someone's personal blog - with their personal opinions - and their personal observations. It's not the gospel - it's not the law. So should you really make a comment telling that person that they are wrong/shallow/ridiculous/vain? Or would it be better to say something like "I feel differently" or "I see it this way" or "This is my opinion"?

There's a lot of truth to Thumper's father's advice - if you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all. You can be nice and still have a different opinion. I have no problem with opinions that differ from mine. Opinions - we all have them - we all have a right to ours - and that's the way it should be...Amen. But insulting me on my blog is like coming into my home and insulting me. Would you want me to come to your house and insult you? I would like to think that your mother taught you better. Or perhaps she did, and she would be just as appalled at your behavior as I.

So if you make a comment on one of my blog posts and it's rude, insulting, or otherwise disrespectful - don't expect to see it posted. That's why the comments are moderated. Please take your nastiness elsewhere. On the other hand, if you have a well-thought-out comment to make and you're respectful in your wording, I have no problem with posting it for everyone to see. I know not everyone will agree with me and I wouldn't have it any other way. Variety is the spice of life!

My readers are awesome - but over the past couple of days, I've had people appear out of nowhere just to make rude comments. I don't know these people - they've never commented on my blog before - and apparently they're just signing up for an ID just to make a rude comment. Nice, huh?

I apologize for the need for this little soapbox rant. We now return to our regularly scheduled program. I'm going to go listen to Nirvana's "Lake of Fire"...

FTW and major fail...

You know how some things are just so awesome you have to tell everyone about them? And then there are some things that are just so annoying that you have to tell everyone about them? Well, here's my current win/fail list...

These things totally rock...

1) Amazon Prime membership and free 2-day shipping! Yes!! And Amazon gets extra points for having just about anything I could ever want. The membership is $80/year, but it doesn't take long for it to pay for itself.

2) GAP - for their in-store exchanges!! Yay for doing price overrides to give me the price I paid online for an in-store exchange!! (I was worried because I read online that GAP makes you do a return & then repurchase, but in doing do, some people lost their online discounts).

3) Swagbucks - by installing their toolbar and using them to do internet searches I would normally do anyway, I've earned enough Swagbucks in the past 3 months to redeem for three $5 giftcards for amazon.com!!

4) Slacker Radio - thank you for offering such a great service for free!!!!

5) my blog readers - you guys are the best!!

And the MAJOR FAIL list...they all suck...

1) Rhapsody - they make it virtually impossible to unsubscribe from their service; after trying to unsubscribe for 6 weeks, I finally had to get my credit card company involved before I could get my Rhapsody account canceled. Shame on you, Rhapsody!!

2) iGive - you think you're doing a great thing by shopping through them so money is donated to your designated cause; but when you try to uninstall their annoying shopping window, you can't - none of their solutions work, their customer service people are condescending, and their final solution (in a not very nice email) is for you to allow them to remotely connect to your computer in order to remove it. Hmmm. Let me think...NO.

3) the truck driver who was on 237 earlier this week driving 20 mph (speed limit is 55) and weaving all over the road - he was TEXTING!!! While driving an 18-wheeler!!

4) the elderly lady who I let out of the parking lot - 4 lanes of traffic, and she stops in front of me with her turn signal on to get into the next lane. No merging, no slowing down - dead stop. She held up traffic for at least 5 minutes.

5) Sonya Kashuk bristle hair brush - yep, the one that was supposed to be similar to the $126 Mason Pearson brush. It *might* be great if you have thin hair, but it won't even brush completely through my hair. Grrrr. All I can say is thank goodness it was only $15.

Don't bother if you have thick hair!!

What are some of the things that you love/hate?

Cupcake fail. Bummer.

I made cupcakes again this week, and thought I'd try a new recipe. I'm still searching for the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe - because this one was a huge cupcake FAIL. How disappointing to work for 2 hours on something, only to find that you could've made a better cupcake from a box mix!

I followed the recipe exactly - and there were a lot of reviews saying how it was such a good recipe and that the cupcakes were so moist. I didn't find that to be true at all. The texture was odd, the cupcake stuck to the liners, the middles of the cupcakes were concave, and the tops got entirely too brown. Major, major disappointment.

I've spent a lot of time debating whether or not to post the recipe/recipe link. I don't want to bash someone's recipe. So I think I'll do this - if you want to know the recipe/recipe link, you can email me and I'll tell you - but I won't publicly post it.

Here are my poor little failed cupcakes - at least the buttercream frosting was tasty. Normally, cupcakes would only last 2-3 days at my house. These poor babies will go stale before they're eaten.  :-(

I liked the Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe that I used from Billy's Bakery - it was very light, but moist. I should've stuck with that one, LOL! If you have a to-die-for vanilla cupcake recipe, I'd love to try it.