Halo Top Ice Cream

Let’s establish a few simple truths.

1.     Ice Cream is, by nature, delicious. It has to be. It is in its nature. It is required to be a tasty treat.

2.     Health food is not delicious. I don’t want to hear arguments. If you’re going to argue with me about this, kindly stuff your face with some kale before ultimately finding a pint of some ice cream so that you can live your life as our lord and savior Jesus Christ intended it.

3.     HEY! Did someone say PINT OF ICE CREAM?

That’s right! Who among us hasn’t come home from a long day and binged on a pint of brownie batter ice cream while watching standup comedians on Netflix?

Just me? Cool.

Well, trust me on this. Pints of ice cream are a delight until you get to the bottom of the container and realize that you’ve consumed upwards of 1.5 billion calories. Nothing ruins the bliss of ice cream like checking the nutritional facts on the side of the container.

Add this to the fact that I’ve started watching my caloric/sugar/etc intake because 1.) I want to be healthy and 2.) I need to fit into a super cute bridesmaid dress in December and you’ve got yourself a quick and easy recipe for ultimate self-loathing for one. (Note: Don’t loathe yourself for real. You’re beautiful and your body is a treasure. Don’t hate it. Shame on you. But not body shaming. This is a safe place.)

More fun facts, I was a vegetarian for five years and was pretty careful with my protein during that time frame. When you’re a vegetarian, you expect that you’re going to have a protein deficiency and you find ways to compensate. But after switching back, I just assumed that chicken nuggets were a decent source of protein and didn’t give it another thought. Once I started tracking my food, I noticed that I was eating waaaay under my protein goal and needed to find tasty ways to supplement.

Enter Halo Top.

I learned about Halo Top from an Instagram ad and it seemed too good to be true. But I was having a rough day and needed some ice cream in a big way, so I figured I would at least price it and find out.

The site has a handy locator so you can see if your store carries it, and it probably does. It’s just in that section with chia seeds and non-dairy ice cream (which is an abomination). The ice cream is priced comparably with Ben & Jerry’s, maybe a dollar or so higher if anything, but if you use Ibotta for your purchases, they offer a handy rebate that will offset that nicely. Plus, like you’ll find out if you search on social media, each pint (not serving, PINT) has 280 calories or fewer and at least 24 grams of protein. Note, this is as of October 5, when I’m writing this. I say this because the company has been teasing new flavors on social media this week and I can’t confirm protein/calorie counts yet.

But how does it taste? I was super skeptical about this. I mean, low cal ice cream? This has to be a cheap scam, right?

Wrong. It’s so tasty. It’s so, so tasty. I want to eat it forever. And it’s healthy enough that I can log it in MyFitnessPal without it yelling at me. In fact, all it does is praise my high-protein choice. Score!

I bought two flavors, mint chip and lemon cake. Lemon cake is a clean, soft flavor that is my new favor. Mint chip is similarly tasty, but admittedly not the most flavorful of mint chocolate chip ice creams that I’ve had (which is a hefty number). My goal is to taste test more of the flavors, but those are the only two I’ve got my hands on so far.

Final analysis: You need to try this at least once. Use Ibotta. Find a coupon. Do something. Just try this ice cream.

It’s tasty. It’s low cal. It’s high in protein. What more could you want in an ice cream?

Ulta3 Nail Colour

 I didn’t used to care about my nails at all. Then one day, my best friend introduced me to SimplyNailogical on YouTube, I learned quick cheats to do my nails in all kinds of fun ways (EASILY!) and became a manicure convert.

Because of my love of nail polish, my Ipsy bag typically includes at least one nail polish type product in it. For my first two bags, I received muted tones (soft pink, nude beige) so I was psyched to find that I had a glorious, fiery red in the September bag.

Full disclosure: I’m a China Glaze/ OPI girl traditionally because that’s what I can find at Ulta Beauty on most days for $10 and less and also, both brands go on super smooth. Ulta3 is an Australian brand (which I’ve found is true for most of the best brands, e.g. Fun Lacquer, Picture Polish, etc. What’s up with that, Aussies?). Typically I don’t get to try any of those brands because shipping is positively outrageous so I went into this prepared to be wowed and, quite honestly, inspired to spend all the money on shipping.

I slapped on some nail polish last night with the typical regimen, but I left out the top coat because, one, I wanted to see how it wore on its own and two, it was late and I was feeling lazy, to be honest. However, most of my nail polishes have gone the no-top coat route at least once and are good for a couple of days before they start to chip. Not so for Ulta3.

The chipping was immediate, the first bits sloughing off during my morning routine. As I’m typing this, three of my nails have at least half of the polish chipped off. That’s insanity. I’ve had drugstore brands that have lasted longer than that. The color is phenomenal, but that’s hardly helpful if the color won’t stay.

Tarteist Lash Paint Mascara

An ode to mascara.

Oh mighty mascara.

You raise my eyelashes so they can stand on mountains

And also so that they can pick up a stiff breeze on said mountains

Eyelashes for days.

Amen.

 

If you’ve discussed makeup at all with me, you know that mascara is my go-to and my number one staple. I got pinkeye last summer and was devastated not only because, you know, pink oozing eye, but also because it meant that I had to discard ALL OF THE MASCARA.

Imagine the joy when I got my September Ipsy bag and found Tarteist Lash Paint. I’ve used Tarte before; I have a liquid lip color from them and was excited to try out their mascara. When I put it on, I was instantly in love. My eyelashes extended to my eyebrows (note: exaggeration, not actual fact) and they were beautiful and thick. I was so pleased.

For about two hours.

Ipsy described the mascara as long-lasting, but this wasn’t the case for me at all. The days that I tried out the mascara were humid and hot and I sweated a lot. Unfortunately, my mascara didn’t run, it pooled. It gathered into a dusty line at the base of my lower eye and made me look like I’d lost a fight. My friends noticed it too. Argh!

I’m waiting for some mascara that I ordered from Mary Kay to come in and am using the Lash Paint in the meantime. To be fair, without the sticky humidity, I’ve not noticed as much gathering at the base of my eye, but it still doesn’t stay put.

Maybe it’s my body chemistry; I’m not saying this won’t work for everyone. But I certainly won’t spend money on this product. Tarte is still a great brand and I highly recommend their lip color. If you have a subscription to a makeup box or something like that, it’s worth using from time to time if you don’t need long wear. But that’s all that I can recommend myself.