Author: Paul Eide (Page 32 of 36)

Product Review: Philips Norelco BodyGroom BG2040 Grooming Tool

August 15, 2012 / Paul Eide

How else are you going to review a men’s body grooming product than by shaving every inch of hair on your body with it? It would be easy to just do chest hair, write a review and call it a day, right? Wrong, Buster.

I’m talking about all body hair below the neck. I would’ve shaved my head and face with it, but the instructions explicitly stated, “Do not shave your head or face with this.”

The sleek design of the BodyGroom BG2040 really appealed to me. It was silver, like the medal Michael Phelps collected in his “signature” event, the 200 fly. It was literally two grooming devices in one that fits comfortably into the palm of your hand. On one end is the shaving unit, and on the other end is the trimming unit.

So I will break it down, body part by soon to be hairless body part. As you’re reading this, envision Marv Albert’s voice reading to you, lovingly, tenderly. “YES! And the FOUL!”

Chest

I am not a “bear” like this guy, and I’m not hairless like Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte either, but I need to trim my chest hair on occasion. The issue I’ve encountered with almost every product made specifically for men’s body grooming, however, is that in the case of an electric, it can never give you that shave down to the skin; stubble is almost always visible. No chick on earth is attracted to chest hair stubble.

So, my gauge for the success of the body groomer was based on this. I trimmed the hair with the trimmer, and the built-in “hair length selector” worked to perfection. Then, I flipped the BodyGroom around and used the shaving head and was immediately impressed, because it got the hair down to the root, leaving behind no stubble. Afterward, my skin felt like I had used a razor because it was so smooth.

Forearms

I have forearm hair and I’m not afraid to admit it. There, I said it. Not as bad as this guy, but not hairless, either. And I like a crisp, trimmed look because it feels great. The slightly rotating head on the shaving unit was perfect for getting the hair trimmed around my wrist and elbow, and it ensured an even shave from wrist to elbow as well.

Armpit

Shaving,or even trimming armpit hair sucks, but it’s something we just have to bite our lip and do. Using the trimming edge of the BodyGroom made it very simple — no hair was ever pulled or tugged. It took maybe a total of three minutes and I moved on with my life.

Privates

Now the part everyone wanted to hear, the “money shot” if you will. This was maybe the easiest experience I’ve had trimming down there because the BodyGroom doesn’t have any sharp edges or razors that could potentially cut you, nor did it tug out any hair. It was painless and very easy to use.

Cleaning the BodyGroom was even easier than using it; the little rotating head on the shaver popped right out so I rinsed it, let it dry and re-inserted. Additionally, charging it only took about 20 minutes, which gives you just under an hour of usage/battery life.

No matter your personal hair situation, you can benefit from the versatility and ease of use that the BodyGroomer provides. In fact, we’re so confident you’ll like it that Bullz-Eye is giving one lucky reader the new Philips Norelco grooming tool to try out. Click here to enter for your chance to win. The contest ends on September 5th and the winner will be notified via email.

Contests, Grooming, Stuff to Buy

Philips Norelco

Product Review: Verb Sculpting Clay

July 31, 2012 / Paul Eide

When I was a kid, there was no such thing as hair paste or sculpting clay. Your choices were Dep or Royal Crown Sculpting Cream.

Royal Crown Sculpting Cream came in this tiny circular canister with a metal lid. Inside, the cream resided, and looked more like a lubrication product for heavy machinery than a hair product. And once you applied it, it felt like lubrication product for heavy machinery. Your hair was basically plastered down to your head and it looked like you were always sweaty (like Don Cheadle) and needed to be smoking a Lucky Strike unfiltered cigarette.

And once it was applied, you wouldn’t dare run your hand through it, because it would be fully coated and moist by the time you got to the back of your head. Your look”(think wet, matted-down dog) remained the same throughout the day and left some really questionable ooze on your pillow.

A good paste is something that still eludes the majority of companies on the market today. Most of the pastes still don’t have the holding power that makes a paste, a paste.

A paste that comes out of a tube is straight up substandard — don’t even waste your time. It will coat your hair, but won’t allow any styling, and generally, your hair lays down flat after an hour or less after application. If you’re in a club or bar and you sweat even slightly, your hair will lay flat, like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Kramer switch to low flow showerheads.

But the paste from Verb is the real deal, the genuine article if you will. With Brylcreem, another old school product, the old slogan was, “A little dab will do ya.” And it would mat you down, but you wouldn’t be able to style or sculpt your hair.

The product from Verb not only allows for the ability to legitimately style your hair, but it doesn’t leave residue or become crusty. The thing that was really cool was the fact that you could re-style your hair throughout the day. Additionally, you (or your special lady) can run your fingers through it and it doesn’t feel sharp, crusty or unwilling to move.

How does Verb accomplish this? Perhaps the paste’s ingredients, which is “free of sulfates, parabens and even gluten.”

Another nice feature is that you don’t have to fully coat your head to spike your hair or sculpt any way you choose. I literally used enough to cover the tip of my index finger and that was enough to keep my look (think Blue Steel) all day. Which also means that you don’t have to buy the product constantly; one circular container would last you several months. And at just $12 per container, it is an absolute steal.

Check out the Verb Sculpting Clay in addition to other products from Verb.

Grooming, Stuff to Buy

grooming products hair paste hair products Verb products Verb Sculpting Clay Verb Sculpting Clay review

Product Review: Dreadnought Shaving Products

July 19, 2012 / Paul Eide

After the last product review I did ended up being somewhat of a dreadful experience, I’d be lying if I said a feeling of dread hadn’t since settled over me. I was really hoping the next product I tried wouldn’t lead me to another “dread” end. But alas, the shaving products from Dreadnought Shaving we’re anything but “dread” on arrival.

So, what is a Dreadnought? A “dreadnought” is defined as:

1) A person who fears nothing

2) One that is among the largest and most powerful of its kind

The Dreadnought Avenger Shaving Brush was a little piece of awesomeness I didn’t even expect. It was solidly built, but not heavy or cumbersome, and when using it, you could tell the impact it made right away. I followed the instructions and added a dollop of Dreadnought shaving cream.

The dollop was described as “almond sized” and I didn’t think that would be enough, but I did it anyway. I was amazed, as that small amount covered my entire face and neck and there was actually plenty left over in the Avenger Brush that I had to wash out; in today’s green world of limiting carbon footprints and“minimizing waste, I felt ashamed. And all I could think about was the old “Keep America Beautiful” campaign with the old Indian crying. But I moved on and was somehow able to proceed with my shave.

The shaving cream itself had a very masculine smell, yet wasn’t overpowering. The cream actually looked to be almost a gel-like substance compared to a typical shaving cream — sort of like how Dep hair gel is to today’s hair paste. I thought it may be too runny, but as I applied it to my face, it was the perfect consistency. Shaving was easy and smooth; it was like the shaving cream adapted to my facial hair (if that makes any sense), and I never had to go over an area more than once with my razor.

And while the shaving itself was smooth, the Post Shave Balm came in and really just felt great. When I read the ingredients, I wasn’t surprised that the dominant ingredient was aloe vera because my skin felt rejuvenated and revitalized. Some after shaves are loaded with water or glycerin, which means in about five minutes after applying, your skin needs another application to get that fresh feeling again. But with Dreadnought, my skin felt tight and crisp for a solid 45 minutes post shave.

The only thing easier than using the Shaving Cream and Post Shave Balm in concert was cleaning the Avenger brush. From the product description: “After using your Avenger, rinse the brush clean in warm water. Give it a little squeeze to get rid of as much water as possible, give it a good shake, [and] then rest on its base so it can dry out.” I followed the instructions, and by the next morning, the brush was completely dry and soft, like I had never even used it.

Between the Shaving Cream ($19.00), Post Shave Balm ($19.00) and the Avenger Brush ($15.00), $53.00 is incredibly reasonable for the shave that’s in store for you — especially when you consider that each 100 ml canister of shave cream will provide a total of 50 shaves, or roughly $1 a shave. The value of the product combined with the price makes it unbeatable.

I highly recommend all three products which can be purchased through the company’s website at www.dreadnought-shaving.com.

Grooming, Lifestyle, Stuff to Buy

Dread Nought Shaving Dreadnought Shaving Dreadnought Shaving products Dreadnought Shaving review grooming products Men's After Shave men's shaving shaving Shaving Brush shaving cream

Product Review: The Art of Shaving Products

June 29, 2012 / Paul Eide

Not all shaving products are created equal. No matter how they are marketed or what they cost, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that a great, clean shave is in store for the man using them. The products I received from The Art of Shaving unfortunately reminded me of this.

I received a box from the good people at The Art of Shaving that included several samples of both the Pre-Shave Gel and the After-Shave Lotion, but no shaving cream.

The first thing I noticed about the Pre-Shave Gel was that it was very thick — thicker than anything I would normally use. After mixing it with water, it was thinned out somewhat, but overall the consistency remained. It was so thick, in fact, that you could comfortably use the gel as a shaving cream if you don’t have a very thick beard to begin with. Since no shaving cream was included, I tried it two different ways:

1) I substituted with some shaving cream I had on hand.
2) I shaved with just the Pre-Shave Gel alone.

Shaving with just the Pre-Shave Gel wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t that smooth or pleasurable, either. I had to go over the same area multiple times. Afterwards, it felt like a film still remained even though I had shaved all required areas.

Shaving with another shaving cream was rather similar to the first method; I just didn’t notice much of a difference. The ease of shaving was not increased and my skin still felt like there was some residue left on my face. Even after rinsing off and splashing water on my skin, I wasn’t crazy about the after effect and I didn’t experience that cool, refreshing, “clean face feeling” I normally would after a shave; it felt rather slimy, actually.

Using it made my skin a little softer, but it wasn’t noticeable in terms of an immediate, tangible effect. I could tell something was on my skin, more along the lines of a lotion, but it didn’t make me stand up and take notice like some other products had in the past.

So, I was understandably hesitant about trying the After-Shave Lotion. I tried it anyway and I really couldn’t tell the difference between the Pre-Shave Gel and the After-Shave Lotion, other than the Pre-Shave Gel was clear versus the vanilla color of the After-Shave. I looked at the ingredients and I wasn’t that far off in terms of similarity; Water and glycerin were the main ingredients in the After-Shave, while they were the second and fourth most prevalent ingredients in the Pre-Shave Gel.

If I would’ve had the shaving cream, maybe the entire experience would’ve been different, perhaps even pleasurable, but as it was, I wasn’t crazy about it like I was about some other products I’ve tried.

On the plus side, both products required a minimal amount of cream, because once they were mixed with water, they covered the entire surface area of my face. But as for quality, I just wasn’t sold. Both products really seemed to be more generic than I was expecting.

For more information on The Art of Shaving, and for additional products, check out the company website at www.theartofshaving.com.

Grooming, Stuff to Buy

shaving shaving products The Art of Shaving The Art of Shaving product review The Art of Shaving products

Product Review: Celsius Calorie Reducing Drink

June 20, 2012 / Paul Eide

Just when you think you’ve seen or heard of every angle to pitch a so-called energy drink, you hear another one. “Drink this to enlarge your wiener.” “Drink this to make women want you.” “Drink this to be (insert celebrity here).” But here’s a new one: “Drinking a can of Celsius will actually burn calories, just by drinking it.”

“Yeah right,” I thought. I grew up in the Tony Little and Body by Jake (or Body by “Joke,” as a former boss in the fitness industry used to say) era of amazing fitness products that showed results within milliseconds of actually using them.

It sounded too gimmicky, so I looked at the research (which was easy to find on the company’s website), and I was pleased to see that there were seven specific studies which definitely meant the product wasn’t hiding things, making outrageous claims and then heading for the hills.

According to one study, consuming a single can of Celsius burns an average of over 100 calories in the following three hours, and the average person experienced an increase in metabolism of 12% in that same period. An additional study stated that over a 10-week period, men and women who used Celsius showed 93% greater fat loss, 50% more muscle gain, 62% better cardio fitness and 32% increased endurance compared to the group drinking the placebo.

The core of Celsius is its formula called MetaPlus, which is a blend of ingredients designed to work together to increase calorie burning over a three-hour period, specifically. The mix itself is a proprietary blend made by Celsius, but it also includes healthy ingredients lime Green Tea, Ginger, Caffeine, Guarana (not to be confused with the Santana song “Guajira”) and vitamins B and C.

There are eight different flavors of Celsius available: Sparkling Orange, Wild Berry and Cola are all carbonated; Green Tea Raspberry Acai, Lemon Iced Tea, Strawberry-Kiwi and Outrageous Orange are all non-carbonated; and there’s an Apple Orchard Blend which is naturally sweetened and non-carbonated.

Fitness, Food & Drink, Sports, Stuff to Buy

Celsius Calorie Reducing Drink Celsius Calorie Reducing Drink review energy drink Fitness Drink