Physicians' Formula Sexy Booster Cat Eye Liquid Eyeliner

Hi! A couple of months ago, I won a contest held by Physicians' Formula to win their new liquid eyeliner. To enter the contest, each participant was asked how they get a good cat eye every time, and the best 500 answers would receive the new liner. I don't enter contests unless there's a possibility to review something new (and I actually have the chance to win something, Lord knows I enter these often enough and never win a damn thing lol), so when my answer was one of those selected I wanted to follow through with my thoughts on the product. I've never tried a Physicians' Formula product before but I've heard good things about the company, so I was interested in trying out the liner. Honestly, I'm kind of split on how I feel about it. 

What is it? Physicians' Formula Sexy Booster Cat Eye Liquid Eyeliner

Price: $9.95

Where can it be found? PF Retail Outlets

How does it swatch?

I wanted to get a close-up of the wand, but I wasn't able to get a good shot without it looking blurry with zoom. The insert photo is how the liner swatches with both thick and thin lines. The thick line is much darker and intense, but it skips a bit as you finish the line. For thin lines, one swipe of the liner produces the line on the right. It's quite a bit lighter than the line on the left and not as intense either, so in order to avoid the liner building up like at the bottom of the left line, I'd have a steady hand and just build up the intensity of the liner. Let the liner dry first though, or you'll run into one of the cons I'm going to mention in a bit. 

Pros:

--Cute container

--Felt tip isn't flimsy

--Easy to remove

I love the detail that went into the look of this liner. The little heel charm dangling off of the front was really cute. A cute package will get me every time. lol

Even though I've been using liquid liner for years now, if I don't use a firmer applicator I'll have liner all over the damn place. This liner has a firm felt tip and hasn't begun to flake on me, which I appreciate. I've had that problem with a couple of felt tip liners; they start flaking and shedding after awhile, which drags liner everywhere. I'd recommend this style of applicator to beginners because the applicator isn't a brush, so it allows for more control over the lines you draw. The lines aren't terribly sharp once you start using the liner on a regular basis, but I'll speak more on that later.

Finally, the ease of removal is both a pro and a con, the latter of which I'll also get to in a moment. I like my liner to stay put all day without me needing to reapply it, but I don't like having to scrub the skin off my eye to remove it when I'm finished. I don't have to do that with this liner at all. I use a CAS (cheap as shit) eye makeup remover and it still doesn't require a lot of effort on my part to get it off so imagine how much easier it would be if you use a great makeup remover. 

Cons:

--Not very dark

--Skips when going back over a line

--Smudges easily

--Doesn't create sharp lines

As for things that I could certainly live without, this liner isn't very dark. It swatches dark enough but sets your expectations a little too high, as it often isn't that dark once you start lining your eye. This might just be a complexion thing though. I usually have to reinforce this liner with another one on top of it, which brings me to the second con.

When I draw my lines, if I go back over it too soon the tip usually skips through my line so I'll have to use another liner to fill it in. If I have to rely on another liner in order for the first one to look good, there really isn't much point in using the first liner, right?

Even though the liner is easy to remove, this isn't really what I want mid-day if I even attempt to scratch my eye. The slightest bit of poking or scratching starts smudging the liner, so I have to be extremely careful with my eyes should they itch. I have to poke at my eye with a Q-Tip and even then, the liner still comes off a little bit. I don't mind being careful with my liner, but good grief.

Finally, the other reason that I have to go back over this liner with another one is because this liner doesn't allow for very sharp, precise lines. No, the felt tip isn't flimsy and I appreciate that, but it also isn't very sharp. The lines I draw with this liner are usually wider and a bit less precise because of the tip. (There's no way I can clean up that sentence, I promise. LOL) I struggle enough with making my lines even and the tip of this liner doesn't make my life any easier.

Overall, I'm not crazy about this liner but I do like it and intend to finish what I have. I think this is a great choice for those who don't go overboard with their cat eyes (unlike yours truly here) and don't need a thick or very dark line. It's probably a bit darker on lighter skintones though, so the color might be a personal gripe. If you're a pro with liquid liners, you'll be fine here too. Is it worth $9.95? For me, no. I've heard tons of great things about Physicians' Formula and I'm still open to trying out other products, but this one was a bit underwhelming for me, especially for the retail price.

Have you tried this liquid liner before? If you have, what'd you think of it; were there any pros or cons that I left out? 

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February Favorites

Hi! I haven't done a Monthly Favorites post in quite some time; I think the last time I did one was back in November. Part of the reason is because in terms of my personal life/health, they've been on a decline so I wasn't making an effort to try out new things. The other part was because I've been focusing on the design elements for so long that the smaller stuff, like the Monthly Favorites, kinda slipped through the cracks. But I've finally got a few things to talk about so let's get started!

Carmex Strawberry Lip Balm, Maybelline Fit Me! Matte and Poreless Liquid Foundation

The end of winter usually has some kind of shit in store for me. Unfortunately, it's usually an infection of some kind, a cold or an allergy flare-up. When that happens, for some reason my lips either get a lot drier than they normally do during the winter, or I get a build-up of dead skin on them, which also dries them out. Regular Chapstick seems to sit on top of my lips rather than sinking in so I go for either Blistex or Carmex instead. It helps me year-round, but I use it the most during the colder months and it keeps my lips from looking like Tyrone's (shout out to all the Chappelle's Show fans LOL). While I was down with an infection last week, Carmex was the only thing on my face other than Vicks, ointment and vaseline. lol The strawberry flavor is aight, but I prefer the original. 

I'm going to talk more about the Fit Me! foundation in a review that should be up within the next couple of weeks so I won't go into too much detail here, but I've tried this a couple of times this week and I'm in love with it so far. I think it's replaced my longtime fave, the CoverGirl Clean Oil Control foundation. It's also replaced my CG Smoothers BB Cream because the formula is light enough for me to get away with using it for low-maintenance looks. It's been great on my skin so far and I'm looking forward to using it more often. 

No Rest for the Wicked by Dane Cobain

I was contacted by the author last month to read this book in exchange for a review, and I ended up loving the book. This is another book I'm going to go into more detail about in a separate review, but it was a great read. No Rest for the Wicked is Dane's debut novel, a supernatural thriller about a group of murderous supernatural beings, or Angels, exacting their form of revenge on numerous citizens of a small town. A disillusioned priest with some secrets of his own teams up with a young businessman to try and figure out what the Angels' end goal is. I really enjoyed this book, but you'll hear more about it in my full review. 

Snow Lotus Flower, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Snow Lotus Flower is a K-drama that I found on Netflix earlier in the month, and I fell in love. Two people find themselves afflicted by strange dreams, but while the man's dream seems to focus on romance, the woman's is more of a nightmare, as it always begins with her dying to save the man she loved. These lovers from 1000 years ago are reunited in current times, with the present paralleling the past in helping them figure out who the other is, but they also have obstacles in their way in the form of old/new enemies and trying to change the unhappy fate of their past love. I love mystical shit like that, so I ate this series up. I believe the English name for the series is Lucid Dream. 

I've been watching MFMM for a couple of years now, and in a move that surprised me, my sister ended up obsessed with the series when she watched it with me earlier this month. She was hanging out in my room, which is random enough in itself, and I happened to be watching Poirot. She liked the whole murder-mystery concept but I know that Poirot isn't for everyone, so I put on MFMM because the format is a bit lighter and that was all she wrote. It was fun watching the series again through new eyes and already knowing which parts were going to piss off my sister or make her happy. We finally finished the third series last night, and it reminded me that we still don't know if there'll be a fourth one, so um....I'm still waiting on some confirmation for Series 4, Australia! 

Skyrim: Legendary Edition for PS3, Virtual Town for Android, Megapolis

I finally got that damn Legendary Edition as a late birthday gift this month, and it's the only game I've played since I got it. There's nothing notable about the game that I haven't already said, but it's been on my mind so much that I had to put it on the list this month. 

Virtual Town is a fairly new game from Last Day of Work, the folks behind the Virtual Families and Virtual Villagers games and it's probably the most developed and thorough game of the three. I'll be reviewing it next week sometime, but the gist is that you play mayor of an abandoned city and are tasked with the responsibility of bringing the town back to its former glory. It takes up a good amount of time to maintain and kills my phone battery in the process, but it's been a lot of fun to play so far.  

Snapchat

Nope, I'm still not actually posting anything to Snapchat. But I still like lurking other people's snaps. I already use Twitter for TNTs on Thursday so I usually don't bother with it otherwise, and getting on Instagram reminds me of both how infrequently I use it and how much I always end up missing while I'm gone. I don't think my life will ever be interesting enough nor will I ever have enough readers to warrant needing Snapchat as a blogger, but there's no saying I can't lurk on those who do. LOL

Pinterest, Black Past

I've been looking for some things for March's theme for the month, so I've been on Pinterest quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. There was absolutely no surprise involved when I discovered that it is still the place where to-do lists and blog schedules go to die. Several to-do lists have already fallen at Pinterest's feet, and I've been delaying the rest of my research that requires me to use the site because I know it'll happen again.  

Over on ATV, I hosted a Black History Month Spotlight and for many of the subjects I chose for the daily Spotlights, I found the information I needed from a site called Black Past. It's an excellent resource if you're looking to find out about Black achievements, notable figures in Black history, or comprehensive timelines of notable events. It was an invaluable reference point for me this past month, so I had to include it here. 

Spring cleaning, candles, soaps and body butters

Because the theme on both of my blogs this month is spring cleaning, I've had to immerse myself in everything spring related in order to find the material I needed for my posts. Here, it'll be a mix of DIY projects, tips and tricks, so I was looking for material that I could use to build a good post. Over on ATV, I'm focusing on old school spring cleaning tips, tricks and hacks, which left me with the challenge of finding some that have held up over time.

A friend of mine talked to me recently about trying to start a side hustle of making our own natural candles, soaps, lotions and perfumes. I've been dabbling in making my own candles for a couple of years now, but I've been curious about how to make the others so I've been researching the different base recipes for each of them.  

Children's medicine, Black History Month, puzzles, breakfast recipes, coffee drinks, DIY cleaners, apartments

Per usual for this time of year, I recently went down with a respiratory infection/chest cold that turned into a sinus infection within days, and children's medicine saved my life. lol Adult medicines both wreck havoc on my guts and are too strong for me (but I can down prescription and OTC ibuprofen without blinking, wtf?), so I have to take children's medicine when I catch anything. I now have an entire shelf in my bathroom cabinet dedicated to various children's medicines. But it helped me get better a lot sooner than I would have had I not taken anything, so I'll deal with the mocking. 

Black History Month isn't something that I usually go out of my way to celebrate quite like I did this year, but I just finished a month-long promotion on ATV to celebrate a few unsung heroes of Black History. It was one of the most educating experiences I've had in some time and I'm thinking about making it an annual addition to my blog's lineup. 

Both my sister and my uncle got me jigsaw puzzles for my birthday last month, and they've sent me on a bit of a spree since then. Many people, myself included at one time, find jigsaw puzzles to be frustrating wastes of time, but as I've gotten older I discovered that I actually quite enjoy them. They're challenging but a lot of fun for me to do and much like coloring, I find them to be relaxing rather than frustrating. I can't wait until I'm all caught up with everything else to get started on the increasing stack of puzzles waiting for me. 

Breakfast is both my favorite meal of the day and the subject of a business idea I'd like to pitch in the upcoming future, so this month has been about buckling down and getting some of the details hammered out. It's never not fun to look for breakfast recipes, but looking at recipes for purposes other than shoving the end result down my gullet is satisfying for another reason entirely. The same goes for coffee drinks; I've been teaching myself about the coffee world for about 10 years now and I still haven't learned all there is to know yet. This goes hand in hand with the breakfast recipes and I'm trying to research everything I need to know so I can develop the items I want. 

I'm going to be doing a post this weekend as the entry to a Spring Cleaning series that I started, and the first one focuses on various DIY cleaners and whether or not they work. I don't mind cleaners with chemicals in them, but I also enjoy the ability to make a cleaner with absolutely no chemicals that does the same job. Affordability isn't really a factor; I just wanted to see which of the recipes I could honestly recommend for those who'd like to try their hand at chemical-free cleaners. 

I'm still on the quest to move out and get my own place, but it's hard doing that on a fixed disability income and having a family to take care of at the same time. I promised myself at 20 and every year after that that I'd be in my own place by 30. In less than a year, that deadline will be on me and of all the promises I've ever made to myself, it's of the utmost importance to me that I keep this one. 

What documentaries did I watch this month? Spanish Lake

This documentary premiered on Netflix recently, and I'd been actively avoiding it until last weekend. Small confession: I haven't actually finished watching Spanish Lake. I have a really hard time with racially charged documentaries, mainly because the subject itself isn't an issue I need to be educated on. It hits a little too close to home for me, literally and figuratively. I've dealt with racism, both subtle and overt, for just about my entire life, and it's never too far from my mind. Watching a documentary about a bunch of ignorant people doesn't rank too high on the list of things I find entertaining, but I thought it'd be something that I could challenge myself to finish. Despite my own struggles with finishing it, however, I do still recommend the documentary because it does raise some intriguing lines of inquiry that you could discuss with others. Films like Spanish Lake both provide insight to those who would still like to insist that racism isn't a thing, and it gives a painful, uncomfortable glimpse into the opinions of those who'd really rather not have us around. 

I'm working on trying new things for March. I say this often, but I mean it this month. I always mean it, I just don't get to follow through very often. This time I'm going to try to make sure that I do. I hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you soon!

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SBS: Walmart Beauty Box--Winter Edition

What is it? Walmart Beauty Box is a seasonal box service featuring a collection of products normally sold in Walmart stores. This one was the Winter edition, a collection of products meant for the colder months

How much does it cost? The cost is $5 per box but supplies are limited and there is a deadline to order the box before it becomes unavailable

Sign-up and ordering: Sign-up was fairly easy, especially because I intended to order the Fall box and got there too late, so I put myself on the reserve list for the Winter box instead. lol Sign-up in general isn't complicated, though. Make sure you are on time for the box you'd like to receive, and register for the site. The site is specifically for the beauty box, so you should be included in the next round of boxes that go out. If you want to order the next season's box, you change that in your subscription settings. It's really simple. 

Delivery and cancellation: Delivery came around the normal time sub boxes go out, around 1-2 weeks. I believe it came with the regular post, and both the box and its contents were in perfect condition. Cancelling is a one-click function (I love those) and went through on the first try. I haven't gotten harassed by emails trying to get me to sign up for the next round of boxes; all contact has stopped. 

Purchasing products you received: Very easy; all products in the box are sold both in-store and online in full sizes

So what came in the box?

So as you can see here, a lot of what I received were sample sized items. For the most part I didn't mind because most beauty boxes are full of sample-sized products and when you get to the prices, many of the full sizes cost more than the entire box. There were a couple of products in here that I wouldn't be able to get a good read on because the sizes were too small for me to use them more than twice, but overall the sizes were okay. Now let's break down the box. 

Pure Silk Shaving Cream in Raspberry Mist, $7 for 8oz.

I'm normally not very particular about shaving creams and the like; I usually just shave with my shower gel or a conditioner. I've used this a few times now though and I really like it. The raspberry scent isn't overpowering and doesn't even last past the shower, which I like. The lather quality is great, I've noticed that the the areas I shave are a bit softer between gardening treatments (lol), it isn't difficult to wash off and a little product goes a long way. The nozzle must have come loose somehow during shipping, so it popped off the first time I used it. I replaced it, but now it sprays excess product no matter how lightly I press the handle. As for the shaving cream itself, though, I love it and would definitely use it again.









Dial 7-Day Moisturizing Lotion, $4 for 21oz.

This was the one product that I'd actually used before, as I have a half-full 21oz. container of Dial 7-Day lotion sitting in my bathroom right now. It's half-full because I disliked it so much, I couldn't bring myself to finish it so I bought a different lotion. It didn't work for 7 hours, much less 7 days, and I didn't like how greasy my skin felt afterward. I'll use it once I run out of my regular lotion, but it definitely isn't my first choice.












Neutrogena Healthy Skin Boosters Facial Cleanser, $7.84 for 9oz.

I've used Neutrogena skin products a few times over the years but it's usually a bit out of my cheap-o price range. My favorite Neutrogena product is the makeup remover wipes because they remove my makeup without me having to rub my eyes to oblivion, the ingredients don't burn my eyes, and the wipes don't dry out my skin. If you're in the market for new makeup wipes, give those a test run.

As for this facial cleanser, I like it. I don't have high standards for my face cleansers; as long as they moisturize and clean my face without giving it the squeaky, stripped-down texture I'm fine. This cleanser has white tea and vitamin E in it, so the smell is very light and fresh. A little of it goes a long way, which is another thing that I like about it. It was very gentle on my skin and didn't dry it out. I didn't see any change in the appearance of my skin, but it was a bit softer when I used it repeatedly.






NSPA Exotically Creamy Coconut Body Butter, $5.21 for 6.76oz.

I'm in love with this body butter. I'm partial to coconut-scented products so I was excited for the scent, but it smells a bit more like cocoa butter than pure coconut. No matter to me though, I still love it. The thicker consistency leaves my hands looking and feeling moisturized without that greasy sheen or slick texture, so this was good for the tail end of winter, when my face and hands were still really dry. I love the size as it makes it easily portable for most of my purses.







Pantene Pro-V airSPRAY in 2, $5 for 7oz.

The first thing that I liked about this hairspray was the scent. It didn't have an alcohol-heavy scent, something I hate about a lot of hairsprays. This reminded me more of those salon sprays, which smell softer and more floral to me. It doesn't make the hair crispy or hard to manage but kept everything in place. It didn't flake after a few hours, and it wasn't difficult to brush my hair out at the end of the day.














Goody Slideproof Silicone Elastics, $3.24 for 15 elastics

I initially wasn't impressed when I saw these elastics in the box, but they've grown on me. What I liked about these elastics were the little silicone spikes going around them because they gave the elastic a bit more traction in the hair without tangling it. They didn't have much give, though, so I can see someone with very thick or curly hair not being able to get much use out of these without them snapping. I didn't have wads of hair tangled in the elastic, or more commonly the metal binding that mine have, when I took my hair down and it felt secure in whatever pony I'd styled it in.

Smaller Samples:

Ken Paves Volumizing Shampoo, $12.98 for 8.5oz. and Volumizing Conditioner, $14.98 for 8.5oz. 

I believe I got two usages out of both the shampoo and conditioner, and I really liked them both. My hair was softer and a bit easier to manage while it was drying, which I appreciate since I've chopped most of my hair off. The remaining hair is all Natural, so I wanted something to keep my hair soft and tangle-free as it dries.

Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Moisturizing Cream, $18.73 for 1.7oz.

To be truthful, I didn't use this cream. There was only enough in here for one usage and that's not really enough to give me more than a first impression, so I didn't use it.


J by Jennifer Aniston Fragrance, $28.47 for 1oz.

Jennifer Aniston gives me laidback, breezy ocean vibes. I know that sounds weird, but word association brings that stuff to mind for me where she's concerned. I mentioned that to say that I would expect a fragrance with her name on it to be crisp, clean and smell of the ocean. Before you praise my sense of intuition (lol), the promo photo for this fragrance is her at the ocean, it wasn't a stretch to see her inspiration on the scent notes. There weren't any scent notes on the sample and I'm shit at describing scent notes on my own, so bear with me. It actually smells a bit more like cologne than I expected it to; I do get a hint of musk, but it brings the crisp, ocean notes together with a bit of floral without making one scent more dominant than the other. The musk also carries a woodsy undertone. See? I'm shit at describing scent notes, but I do like it. If you'd rather hear about the perfume in a more eloquent way (and I recommend you do lol), check out the description for it at Kohl's.


Centrum Vitamint Multivitamin in Cool Mint, $11.96 for 120 mints

I really wasn't sure how to review this since it's a multivitamin, so there are no immediate results. I'd have to start taking them on a daily basis for a couple of weeks before I could give a definitive opinion on how they work.

I enjoyed this box. It was a great box for those looking for new hair, skin and body products. There was no makeup to be found, though, so if I had to list anything I wish was different about the box that'd probably be it. I don't know how any of you are with shopping at Walmart, but usually when I'm in the beauty department, I already know what I want so I don't look at other stuff. I've seen most of these products in the store before, but I always pass them up for my tried-and-true products. What I like about this box is that it can introduce you to those items you unintentionally pass up while you're in the store, and if you'd like to purchase them there's no rigmarole to go through; you can just go back to the store and get them. I also like the concept of bringing subscription boxes, which for the longest time were inaccessible to many people on budgets (and many still are), to a drugstore level in name brand, affordability of the box itself and full-size availability of the products in the box.

All of the products I tried are affordable, they're by brands that are, for most people, household names, and the box itself is well-priced. Everything about the process has been extremely easy; one of the easiest box services I've experienced by far. The like/dislike ratio of the products was a bit higher than with other boxes, which I also liked. I don't have any complaints with the pricing, purchase, delivery and cancellation of the box, and other than wishing there was some makeup in there, I have no complaints with the contents of the box. I'm open to ordering the Walmart Beauty Box again. Have you ordered the Walmart Beauty Box before? What were your thoughts?

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My Favorite Childhood Shows

'Ello! I know it's been really dry with reviews around here, and for that I'm sorry. When I tell you that my finances are dry, they're like celibate-for-years dry. LOL That was one reason I wanted to do the weekly posts, so that I'd have something to post, even if it's not a review. Those will hopefully be coming back within the month. Anyway, even though my birthday's over, I wanted to keep things light this week, so I thought I'd talk a bit about some of my favorite childhood shows. I was born in the late '80s and while I definitely remember some of those shows, for the most part I'm a '90s kid. The list probably reads a bit like a TGIF/Snick mashup (because it totally is), but these are some of the shows I loved the most. Enjoy!

1. Hey Arnold!

Wikipedia

This show, by far, was my favorite childhood show...and is still one of my favorites today, despite the fact that I'm now pushing 30. For a short, gangly child whose 'cute' days had long since abandoned them, I identified quite a bit with Helga and her prickly exterior. Personality-wise though, I've always been more of an Arnold so I understood him as well. We were all the same age and my 4th & 5th grade classes were pretty similar to Arnold's class, so for me this was the definitive show of my childhood. The show also introduced me to the awesome tunes composed by Jim Lang, who was responsible for the jazz sounds throughout the series. It's still one of my favorite shows and I have no shame in admitting that I still watch it regularly.

2. All That

Wikipedia

All That was like SNL but for kids, and I was in love with this show. This was where I was introduced to Danny Tamberelli, Kenan and Kel, Amanda Bynes, and the chick that I really, really wanted to be my older sister, Lori Beth Denberg. She just seemed like that older, sassy sister I wished I had, but I was quite fine with settling to watch her on tv with the rest of the cast every week. All That was good, clean (if not a bit campy, now that I think about it) fun, it was age-appropriate and had a lot of variety, which I really enjoyed.  

3. Legends of the Hidden Temple

Wikipedia

This was mah shit! You really weren't a true '90s kid if you didn't watch Legends of the Hidden Temple and feel with absolute certainty in your heart that you could smoke all the teams on the show by yourself. Olmec was a creepy ass spirit trapped in a rock, Kirk Fogg was the obligatory friendly host that you realize (once you get older) looked totally over the whole damn thing by the 2nd season, the prizes weren't all that great, and the Temple Guards were the scariest bastards I'd ever seen in my life. They were the stuff of many a nightmare for me, but I still wanted to go on that show so badly it drove me crazy. Even though I knew Olmec wasn't real, I thought the Temple Guards were. LOL So I wasn't a bright child all the time. Repeats of the show aired on Nick GAS back in 2005, but they took it back off tv not long after and I haven't seen it since. But you know what? I'd still watch it today. lol

4. Boy Meets World

Wikipedia

Boy Meets World introduced me to the first two couples that I 'shipped.' Cory and Topanga had that textbook young love that I just loved to pieces, and I couldn't see either of them with anyone else. I was in a state of constant envealousy (envy & jealousy) whenever Topanga was onscreen because her hair was the business. But later in the series, Shawn and Angela get together as well and if you paid attention, that was a slightly darker romance than the cookie-cutter story of Cory and Topanga. I can't mention BMW without mentioning Mr. Feeny because he was by far my favorite character on the show. He was a cranky, shade-throwing man who was there for none of Cory's crap in the earlier years of the show and I loved him. He was also great for dropping random nuggets of wisdom from time to time. I believe this was part of the TGIF lineup, and I even got my mom to start watching a few episodes with me once they hit high school. I don't watch Girl Meets World and it's been a mindf*ck to think about BMW being considered 'old school,' but it does make the child in me happy to see a show I loved being resurrected for a new generation. 

5. Gullah Gullah Island

Wikipedia

This was a really underrated show that I used to watch as a kid. Gullah Gullah Island was another clean-cut show that focused on teaching kids about a number of things, usually in the form of a song that the kids would sing along with. It was a really peaceful show from what I can remember, and I liked that. Even though I admit I don't remember too much about it, I can remember singing along with some of the songs (I still remember all the words to the theme song lol), I remember that the show thrived on color, as all the sets and things were colorful, and I also remember that the primary focus of the show was learning. Gullah Gullah Island made learning fun, and I loved that. 

6. Family Matters

Wikipedia

A lot of people write this show off as being "The Urkel Show," but it was actually quite forward-thinking for its time and audience. I read an article a couple of years ago that mentioned all the great topics that the show covered and it really opened my eyes. For a '90s show with a young adult market, we were shown the truths of gun violence in schools, racial profiling, AIDS, and gang violence, just to name a few. The biggest and probably most common theme on the show, however, was bullying. Yes, many of the bully-themed situations Steve found himself in were lightened in favor of putting a comedic spin on things, but that was the great thing about the show. They tackled a lot of adult topics in such an insightful way and made them easy for us to understand. On a random note, that Fresh Prince-esque switch-up of Harriette wasn't fooling anyone. Aunt Viv went from being cocoa to caramel, and so did Harriette. I wasn't pleased. But the nerd finally did get the girl, and if nothing else it gave creepy dudes everywhere hope that if they stalk, harass and bug the girl they like long enough (and also have a chamber where their 'super-hot' alter ego comes out at will), they'll get her. 

7. Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Wikipedia

As an adult, some of the stories I remember from this show are laughable, but as a child all of them scared the ever-loving shit out of me. Only Tales from the Crypt and Temple Guards (...and the Undertaker, for wrasslin' fans) scared me more. What I liked about Are You Afraid of the Dark? was the campfire setting because it really did help to set the scene. I also liked that sometimes, you'd see a familiar face or two in the story being told that week. I wanted my own Midnight Society, but in the desertland of Texas where we're under constant fire restrictions, it just wasn't gonna happen for ya girl. lol

8. Ren & Stimpy

Wikipedia

Oh, the levels of inappropriate this show was for children. This show was the subject of many arguments between a 9-year-old me, my uncle, and my mom, who immediately banned me from watching it. I can't watch it today as I now find it to be immensely stupid, but back in the day I thought this was hilarious. My uncle and I had an agreement that if he was watching Ren & Stimpy, and I just so happened to be in the vicinity at the time, and I was so tired I just had to take a seat on the couch and rest while he watched the show, that I could do that and he wouldn't tell. In said agreement, however, I had to give my word that he was released from all responsibility should I get caught. LOL Since we were already in the doghouse for another show that's further on this list, we figured we wouldn't push it. I believe the last time I saw Ren & Stimpy, it was on Adult Swim. And that's exactly where it should be. lol

9. Tales from the Crypt

Wikipedia

This show--and its skeletal host--gave me all the creeps. And I loved it. It usually came on past my bedtime, but if my mom felt like being lenient that week (and after making me promise I wouldn't wake her up with nightmares that I caused by begging to watch the show), I got to watch it when it aired. I broke my promise more than a couple of times, but I enjoyed every minute. It was probably my first time experiencing jumpscares, and they were a glorious discovery. LOL Apparently, M. Night Shyamalan is reviving the series, so if all works out let's see if they can successfully recreate the jumpscares I looked forward to so much as a kid. 

10. Eureeka's Castle

Wikipedia

To be honest, I don't remember anything about this show anymore except for the theme song and that it had muppet-like characters on it. I was around 2 when it first started, so I don't fully remember what it was about off the top of my head. I do remember loving the ever-loving shit out of this show, though. There was hell for the adults to pay if I couldn't watch Eureeka's Castle. 

Honorable Mentions:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Wikipedia

My brother and I drove my mom insane with this show as kids. My brother is 5 1/2 years younger than me, so he'd wait for me to run home from school so we could watch this together. He gave mom hell if she tried to watch something else when he knew I was on the way home. The boy couldn't even tell time back then so to this day I have no idea how he always knew, but he did. We collected the dollar store playthings of the Rangers and tried to imitate them a bit too much. I was always either the Pink or Yellow Ranger, my brother was always either the Blue or Black. My brother admired the White Ranger and I wanted to marry him. LOL Looking back on it, it was a really corny show and I completely understand now why my mom couldn't stomach more than 2 minutes of it. But it was great to us then. 

Captain Planet

Wikipedia

How many of you late '80s babies still remember the opening lines to Captain Planet's theme song? This was another show that I loved, and I spent quite a bit of time during recess trying to recreate the show with friends. I went to a number of elementary schools and I can remember playing this at more than one school, so I'm guessing I just kept finding the nerds in my classrooms.

Pop-Up Video

Slate

This was a show during my later childhood, but it, and VH1 for that matter, did a pretty good job taking care of those awkward transitional years between kid and tween to teen. Reality tv hadn't yet oversaturated our networks, and as a result VH1 was oftentimes the older and tamer, if not a little boring, older sister to MTV. Pop-Up Video was a great source for finding out the most random stuff about a video or an artist, most of which wasn't necessarily important but was certainly fun to know. It was also an awesome example of shade-throwing, which happened often depending on the artist and song in question. This is a show that both my mom and I miss dearly. ha

Figure It Out

Deadline

Hey, how many of you remember when Nick started selling slime in stores? Figure It Out, the Nick game show that featured most of the faces from All That, helped popularize the stuff and became something I added to quite a few Christmas wishlists as a kid. Figure It Out was another example of good, clean fun (unless one of the older kids threw in a very rare sorta dirty joke), in the form of guessing the very random talents of the various guests. The crowd would be in on the talent but the panel wouldn't, and the guessing challenges commenced from there, with the panel trying to, well, figure it out. lol At some point throughout the game there'd be a Secret Slime action and if Danny Tamberelli was on the episode, it was usually him getting slimed, but I lived for it regardless. 

Beavis & Butthead

Another inappropriate show for kids. But on the flip side, it introduced me to a number of things, namely MTV, Mike Judge, Nirvana and grunge. It also created the clusterfuck of cult classic ridiculousness that was Beavis & Butthead Do America, which I watched with my uncle. The brief resurrection of the show a few years ago resulted in one of my absolute favorite episodes, Werewolves in Highland. This show was stupid yet culturally aware; accurate in a really ridiculous way, and showcased some awesome ass music to boot. This was actually the other show that I was talking about earlier that my mom banned me from watching but as evidenced by the fact I watched the movie with my uncle, I did what I wanted, even then.  What I'm actually saying here is that I got grounded and he got bitched out. lol

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me this week! I'm working on some Spring-related posts and book reviews, and I hope to have some other types of reviews up here really soon. I just wanted to get that out since I've been doing so many Things-related posts this year. But back to our topic, if you're a '90s kid too, what were some of your favorite shows growing up? Would (or could) you watch them today? See you soon!

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