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Premium Cinnamon Cookies

Vegans, those who cannot have gluten, and other health-conscious consumers will be happy to hear about Sun Flour Baking Company (based in Sacramento, California), which offers a variety of products that, like these cinnamon cookies, are wheat and gluten-free, contain no cholesterol or refined sugar, and are egg and dairy free. In addition, this particular variety has no trans fat or hydrogenated oil, and twenty-two percent of the ingredients used are organic.

Just Like Me Unflavored Unscented Lubricant

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!!! Those were my thoughts when I received a sample of Just Like Me Unflavored Unscented Lubricant. It did not take much coaxing for my husband to agree to help test this product. Just Like Me Lubricant definitely lived up to its name. This product provided the long-lasting sensation that is needed to ensure that sex is enjoyable for both partners. Packaged in a generous size bottle, Pure Romance provides enough lubricant to last throughout the night. Pureromance.com rates Just Like Me as one of the company’s top selling lubricants.

Art Cards

Fun and spirit cheering: I love these cards so much that I don’t want to give them away! They totally rock. Not only because the art design on one of the cards – a bird perched under a tree – is cute and effective, but also because its simplicity evokes a kind of ethereality. The art feels like a poem on a page.

Vintage Fabric Squares

Repro Depot has been bookmarked on my computer for over a year. Whenever I’m in a creative lurch, searching for some vintage, retro-theme inspiration, it’s the click I clack. Repro Depot is a fantastic source for vintage and new fabrics for anyone who appreciates a good Hula Girl print, or a wacky cowpoke scene on a yard of cotton. The variety pack of fifteen fabric sample squares I received was inspiring. It was like going to a fabric store, with the happy bonus of avoiding the grainy bolts of polyester.

Sports Ragtote

The Sports Ragtote is a six-inch long hard plastic case marketed as a tampon holder. It comes with a snap clip for attaching to things, and it’s made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. The company website asserts that it “will support 200 lbs. of weight” and is “crush-proof under most circumstances.” I squeezed the container as hard as I could, stood on top of it and even hurled it against a wall.

Large Format Book Journal

The handmade journal by Ex Libris Anonymous put a huge smile on my face from the first moment I took it out of the box. It’s most definitely one-of-a-kind, made from a fifth grade language arts textbook, complete with the ubiquitous and familiar “THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF:” emblazoned on the inside of the front cover. If you’re Isaiah D., Jamie, or Emily (1993), this book at one time may have been yours. But Ex Libris Anonymous didn’t stop there, they included pages of the textbook bound in-between the unlined, acid free paper.

Dust Me Pink Sensual Body Powder

The Pure Romance website looks like a page out of Seventeen magazine with pictures of giggly, freckle-faced women and hearts and cursive, all splashed in shades of pink. And while the company’s mission is serious—empowering women to express and explore their sexuality—the products have the same playful feel the homepage reveals. Pure Romance products range from light lotions to bondage accessories to vibrators, available in seven collections at prices that span a few dollars through $150.

Premium Chocolate Chip Cookies & Brownie Babies

Like pizza or sex, chocolate chip cookies are good no matter how bad they are. Considering these cookies are devoid of most everything that makes cookies so delicious, they’re not too bad at all. These are wheat, gluten, cholesterol and dairy free, as well as twenty-one percent organic. All of this translates into a snack that is both healthy and vegan. This box contains ten soft little cookies. Each one is about 1.5 times as wide as a Famous Amos cookie and twice as thick.

Mama-Ji Perfume Oil

If you're looking for a new fragrance, then look no further. Do these folks ever make scents! Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Mama-Ji perfume oil is very different from my usual Dior perfume. By the end of my first day wearing it, I couldn't stop smelling my wrist; one day later I purchased two others, eager to find out if their other scents are as addictive. So far Mama-Ji is still my favorite.

Coochy Rash-Free Shave Cream

I was immediately drawn to the shave cream from Pure Romance that promised a rash-free shaving experience. The bottle was well packaged and pretty in pink, the Pear Berry scent was sensational and the product lathered well. After reading the product’s background, not only does Pure Romance recommend this product for use on the personal area, it also doubles as a gentle hair conditioner. The Coochy Rash-Free Shave Cream guarantees a bump-free shaving experience. While rejoicing that I had received a two-for-one product, I began shaving.

Make Believe Not War Tank

My favorite new tank top comes from No Star Clothing. It is black with the slogan “Make Believe Not War” printed on a military helmet - a helmet that holds crayons. Swoon. All of my academically-inclined, left-leaning coffee-shop customers loved this tank top. One cynically suggested that the only way to make any sense of our current military endeavors is to, in fact, make believe. I think this tank top brought me bigger-than-usual tips and even bigger smiles. Certainly it doesn't hurt that it fits me perfectly, washes well and doesn't show stains.

Lemon Shortbread

When I saw there were cookies available to be reviewed—COOKIES—I jumped at the opportunity! I didn't do extensive research on the Sun Flour Baking Co. that makes the cookies. I just saw the words "Lemon Shortbread" and then went a little nuts. When the box of cookies came in the mail, I did read it more closely. Since I had no background information on the baking company, it came as a surprise to read such phrases as "No refined sugar," "Egg & Dairy Free" and "40% organic." I noticed that the Sun Flour Baking Co.

Vanilla Shortbread

The Sun Flour Baking Company has been making vegan cookies since 1993. The founder continued to experiment with the ingredients until he believe he’d found the best combination of natural, egg- and dairy-free ingredients needed to make stellar vegan cookies. I generally don’t mind vegan products, and I absolutely love shortbread, so I was excited to try Sun Flour’s Vanilla Shortbread cookies. However, the cookies were a disappointment. I opened the box hoping for solid pieces of shortbread and instead found small jagged pieces of cookie jumbled together in a box.

Clothing Labels

A business-sized envelope arrived in the mail with over a dozen samples from ClothingLabels4U.com. ClothingLabels4U.com is well aware of the importance of brand recognition in making clothing or crafts marketable and memorable; many of the labels they sent had their website and phone number advertised. They offer a variety of hanging labels, woven labels, care tags and logo tags. They come in paper, iron-on, stick-on and fabrics. All the samples I received were square or rectangle, though according to the website they can print die-cut designs. Sizes range from ½ inch to 4 inches.

Black Sculpture Lash Mascara

The Black Sculpture Lash Mascara made by Bésame Cosmetics arrives in an impressive display of packaging. The box is decorated with imprinted gold foil flowers, which match the exquisite gold tube adorned with floral scrolls full of high end mascara. The packaging itself would make this mascara an excellent gift to give or to receive. The mascara wand has a medium thickness of bristles, which will work for most any type of lashes. The mascara itself creates thick, dark lashes. I have blonde eyelashes so mascara makes a huge difference in my look.

Shea Butter Gift Set

Packaged in a cute bag, this little gift set arrived smelling great! After a long week at work, a few hours pampering were needed, and this set delivered a great scent and relaxation. Better than the scent is the feeling of soft and smooth skin that comes after a bath using the Botanical Bath Salts, a product that left this woman feeling great. Best of all, this is an all-natural product made from homegrown herbs and natural oils—no preservatives, synthetics or byproducts. A spa experience in a bag, I started out running my bath with the Botanical Bath Salts.

Massage Oil Candle

When I received this product in the mail, I knew immediately what it was because even the box it was posted in smelled good. Once I opened the package, the candle it contained filled the room with a lovely scent—and I hadn't even lit it yet. But this isn't just aromatherapy; this is a massage oil candle, featuring “Seduction Scent.” Encased in what appears to be either Aladdin's lamp or a metal gravy boat, this candle is just too cute. As a person who likes to decorate her house with foo-foo candles, I would have bought this for the packaging alone. And I get a massage out of it, too?

“No More Blood for Oil” Tee

No Star is a clothing company based out of Portland, Oregon, that came about due to the founders’ love of t-shirts and graphic design. No Star businesses can be found in thirty-one states and eight countries.

Cacao Nibs

When my Cacao Nibs arrived in the mail, I was entertaining some friends who were visiting. When they saw the arduous task ahead of me – reviewing chocolate – they kindly offered their assistance in testing the product. And they tested it very thoroughly – the four little tins were almost empty by the time they left. Made by sweetriot, a company dedicated to social responsibility, these pure Cacao Nibs are dipped in varying flavors of chocolate.

Basic Instinct Sex Attractant

Pheromones: gimmick or aphrodisiac? Pure Romance would tell you the latter is definitely the case. “Next time you are headed out, dab a little Basic Instinct behind your ears, on your neck, and wrists and watch as people are drawn to you!” the company’s website exhorts. I decided to put Basic Instinct Sex Attractant to the test. I applied it liberally and headed to the mall, where I was immediately approached by a man in the food court. It’s actually working! I thought. Turned out he was just handing out teriyaki chicken samples. They were good. I had two.

Plum Sculpture Lash Mascara

The mission statement of Bésame Cosmetics is “Effortless Beauty and Elegant Style,” and upon opening my package of plum colored Sculpture Lash Mascara, which was my first experience with the company, the packaging alone delivers on their intent. Sculpture Lash Mascara is their latest product, and it comes in two shades, plum and black. The etched, gold case is eye catching and would add elegant style to even the most fashionable of make-up bags. As for effortless?

Viona Echo 15 Laptop Case

I live in New York City, where fashion and muggings reign. So what's a girl to do if she wants to keep her laptop safe and fit in with the fashion elite? Lexie Barnes knows. You wanna know why? Because she's from Chicago, a town with these same two afflictions. Her solution? Make products that look a little too cute to hold anything of value. That way would-be thieves are fooled into thinking that the flowery bag you're carrying holds only femme-y items, like lipstick and tissues, and won't bother you.

Kitty Spank-Her Paddle

The Kitty Spank-Her Paddle is a 13” paddle from Ruff Doggie Styles’ line of "sexy kitty" designs. The front is made from pink suede and has black stitching outlining the design and filling in the cat’s facial features. The back is pure black leather with no details. The cat’s tail is the paddle’s handle. At not quiet 1½ inch across, it’s a good fit for my small hand. I like the way my little finger or my thumb (depending on what side I’m using) fits in the curve of the tail. The Kitty Spank-Her is well made.

Carnival Diabolique Perfume Oil

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is the purveyor of assorted lotions, potions, and oils. Carnival Diabolique arrived in a small amber vial. Seeing as I was about to go to an event that I suspected would be attended by an individual with whom I have been flirting sporadically, but who apparently lacks the insight to realize that I am instantly and entirely adorable, I decided to test the allure potential of the concoction. I twisted off the black cap and applied sploshes behind my ears, on my nape, wrists, behind the knees, ankles, belly, top of mons pubis, and a dollop in my belly button.

Stefani Handbag and Wallet

Though I'm not a girly girl, I still have more purses than chairs, and I can always find room for one more. That said, I am picky. My ideal purses and bags must be roomy but not bulky, funky but not too strange. This mod-inspired canvas tote from ChicCosas (retail price $58) will go with any outfit and be appropriate for any occasion. It measures about 14”W x 10”H x 4”D - enough space for everything you shouldn't stash in a regular-sized purse, but want to anyway.

pStyle

I don’t often say that something I bought has changed my life, but the pStyle has done just that. This 7¾ inch plastic device lets female-bodied people urinate while standing up and without dropping their drawers, which means I can urinate discreetly while working in my garden without worrying that my exposed butt will offend the neighbors.

NACLA Report on the Americas (Mar/Apr 2007)

Free thinkers must support the independent, alternative publications in this country as a protest against mainstream media’s skewed priorities. Inevitably, news is slanted. With an independent publication, the chance of reading the unvarnished truth is enhanced. If you wish to embrace diversity and heighten your understanding of our neighbors “South of the border,” read the NACLA Report on the Americas.

Color Me Pink

The other day I was walking through a department store when a scent stopped me in my tracks: my mother’s makeup, a lá 1978. I recognized the smell as one-part foundation and one-part lipstick, two contraband goods I spent hours poring over in a locked bathroom, dazzled by the possibilities of a new and improved me. At the time I was only ten, forbidden to wear the barest hint of blush or even paint my nails, as some of my friends did.

Berg's Queer Foot Porn

If you’ve lost your sense of humor about sex lately, Berg's Queer Foot Porn will help you get it back. Women are indisputably objectified in mainstream pornography and are constantly told what’s sexually acceptable—leaving little room for reality or a holistic view of sexuality. In a subversive effort to retaliate, Berg and her co-authors created a site full of campy, voyeuristic galleries of foot pornography.

White Willow Facial Toner & Lip Repair Butter

Who would have thought that facial toner would be the next new application for aroma therapy? The fresh scent of this toner will have both you and your skin feeling divinely invigorated. Suki says white willow is the holistic anti-inflammatory for every type of skin. Simply mist the toner onto your face after cleansing. It’s also been proven to treat poison ivy. Imagine that. Rose petal, chamomile, calendula and tea tree infusion, extracts of white willow, comfrey and rose...

Elevate Difference

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