Sirius Skin Sonic

I've wanted a Clarisonic for a while, but the price has been prohibitive, so when I saw a Groupon for something similar, I decided to chick it out. I read some reviews. All were positive. It usually sells for $50. The Groupon was for half-off, plus I had some Groupon Bucks, bringing the Sirius Skin Sonic down to $18.

I was very excited to try it out. And now that I've been using it for about two weeks now, I thought I would write about my first impressions.

The device is easy to use. It takes two AA batteries and each of the different heads pop on and off easily. It can be used wet or dry, but I only used it as part of my nightly routine, not in the shower.

I used the normal brush and my usual products. I followed the directions for use.

The results have been okay so far. The thing I've noticed most is how smooth my skin is now. I haven't seen a difference in my pores or acne scarring, which is something many people online raved about. I hope to see some improvement on that with further use.

The biggest downside I see is that you have to replace the heads every few months.

I will continue use and write an update in a month or two. If I'm enjoying it, maybe I'll slap down the money to buy the real thing.

The product: Sirius Skin Sonic

Keurig Brew Over Ice K-Cups

I am not a coffee drinker. I don't like it. It's bitter and makes me gag -- even the flavored stuff. So it actually made sense that my husband buy a Keurig single-cup coffee maker when it first came out about 10 years ago. He doesn't drink tons of coffee and is very particular about the coffee he drinks. Regular multiple cup coffee pots meant a lot of wasted coffee.

Plus, with the Keurig, I have the option of many non-coffee drinks, like teas and cocoas. Not to mention, I can use it to make a cup of hot water to brew my own favorite teas.

Now Keurig has K-Cups that you can brew over ice to make your favorite iced coffee and tea drinks. The best thing is that they are already sweetened, so it's just brew and go.

I was happy to try them when BzzAgent sent me some free samples to try. I can't tell you mcuh about the iced coffee. I gave it to my husband whose review was: "It's okay." but I tried the teas -- Half and Half (lemonade and tea) and Southern Sweet Tea. I normally like half and half -- or as we call it around Western Pennsylvania, an Arnold Palmer -- but I wasn't impressed with the K-Cup. It had that weird dehydrated, concentrated lemon flavor that I'm definitely not a fan of. When I buy bottled iced tea, I always go for teas without lemon. I really don't like that taste. (Fresh lemon I do like, though.)

On the other hand, I like the Southern Sweet Tea. And the reason I liked it was because it didn't taste so sticky sweet as typical Southern-style iced tea. It was perfectly sweetened.

My recommendation for brewing these K-Cups is different from what Keurig recommends. Keurig recommends filling your desired cup size to the brim with ice before brewing. I found that the tea/coffee overflows before it finishes brewing when you do it that way. I found if you fill your cup with ice only about two-thirds of the way, it won't overflow and you can always add more ice if you need it.

I also recommend waiting to drink you coffee/tea. If you drink right after brewing, it is lukewarm and not very good at all. Let the ice melt until it gets to the proper coolness for you. And, as I mentioned before, you can always add more ice.

Would I buy a box of these? Probably not. It's just as easy to brew regular tea and add ice and sweetener to you liking. But for those people who would like their iced drink on-the-go, it isn't a bad deal.