I come from a long line of women who don't "do" makeup. My mom couldn't have taught me if she wanted to. My younger sister went through a phases of funky bright eyes and fishnets, but none of us could even tell you how to use mascara. Fairly recently, I've noticed how my age is catching up to me, along with some genetic dark circles (you'll get to see those later...). Earlier this month, I went to see the amazing Max with some girl friends who insisted on making me up before we went. I looked cute! I was excited. What bummed me out was getting the stuff off my face afterwards. I was excited to try covergirl when I got the email from influenster that I was selected to receive the voxbox. Inside the voxbox was two new products: Plumpify mascara and oh suagr! (I adore the name!) lip balm. I played around with them both, and found that they are both amazing. I think I may have found my brand after not searching very hard!
covergirl pumpify mascara by blastPRO
I'll be totally honest here: every other time I've worn mascara in my life, someone else has applied it to me. Including my wedding day, and the Max show referenced above. I was totally nervous for this. I youtubed a few videos to see exactly how it was done (while my husband tried not to laugh at me as he got ready for work) and decided to give it a go. Either I have a natural talent for not poking my eye out, or the new larger brush that comes with the plumpify mascara is really amazing (I vote the second one is more likely). I can't promise I did it perfectly (scroll down and see for yourself...) but I thought it looked decent. You could definitely tell they looked darker and fuller. The best part? When I got a bit on my eye lid, it wiped right off with a baby wipe! Easy removal is a must for me after one particular day I spent looking like a racoon. I liked that when I pulled the brush from the tube, it wasn't gunky with extra mascara. it went on smoothly with no clumping and did not make my eye lashes feel heavy or weird.
covergirl Oh Sugar! in sprinkle
Now, lip balm I can handle. I spent most of the 90's up to my ears with bonnie bell chapstick. This lip balm is made with grapeseed oil, avocado butter, and vitamins C & E. It goes on smoothly. It's subtle yet cute with a hint of sweetness. The shade I got is called sprinkle (I am loving everything about this product name!) and it's a light subtle pink that I adore. Other shade names featured on the information card: jelly, punch, and cupcake. What's not to love??
As always, keep scrolling for some fun photos I took during my sampling time! I've also included a link to the mascara ad, as it features Katy Perry and makes me happy.
My newest crowdtap adventure (more coming this month--I've had a great sampling month!) is fast acting Advil® Film-Coated. I've been an advil fan for quite a while (I do have a tad of a bias towards Ibuprofen products as I feel they work better than acetaminophen and other pain killers) and have tried the fast acting film coated a few times before. What was improved this time, was that I didn't get heart burn (I had had that issue the first few times I've tried it). The film is a bit sweet, which makes it go down more pleasantly. True to its name, it works fast. I took some in response to a headache and it went away quickly. I normally feel like all Ibuprofen products are equal (and have a cabinet full of walmart brand to prove it!) but I feel like this product goes above and beyond and is worth the extra price vs. generic. You can also often find coupons in the paper and online (bonus!).
Next up this month: splenda no calorie sweetener, granulated from crowdtap! I am not a huge fan of sweeteners. I've tried, I really have. While I can appreciate some recipes (I made some amazing not-so-naughty egg nog one year that came out amazing!) I have found that mostly, unless you get lucky or prepare something just right, they leave a funky taste. This box said right on it "tastes like sugar" so I decided to test the theory. I had a taste right from the box! And while I wouldn't say the taste is exactly the same, it wasn't bad! No gross after taste (which I thoroughly expected after a straight up taste!), it actually tasted good, melted in my mouth, and the texture was fun (think of fluffy snow candy). One of the fun optional parts of the challenge was to make some recipes using granulated splenda. I opted to do two of the three, with some minor adjustments:
Baby Spinach 'n bacon salad
The first one I did was the baby spinach 'n bacon salad (recipe here). We skipped the croutons and red onion and added in some cheese. I was nervous about the dressing at first because it smelled very mustardy when I was preparing it. However, it ended up being a nice vinaigrette with just a touch of mustard. It was a pleasant dressing with a nice taste. I just had to bring some over to my mom and step dad, who raved about it when they tried it. It was my first time making my own dressing and was very pleased with both the recipe and how it turned out (scroll down for more images!)
peppermint-mocha delight
The second recipe I tackled was the peppermint-mocha delight (here). Since we are a keriug household and my husband had already got a coffee when I did this, I prepared it a bit different. I put the splenda/milk/extract/chocolate mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time as if I was melting chocolate for my molds or dipping. When it was a nice smooth mixture, I put the cup under the keriug and brewed a cup. I skipped the whipped topping. It was smooth with just the right bit of sweetness. As a mocha fiend, I've always bought my mocha coffees since I feel the flavor add ins never are good enough. This recipe was pretty much perfect! I'm excited that I can now make my own mocha coffees at home. It was also quick and easy to do.
Overall, granulated splenda is by far my favorite sweetener. I can't wait to explore more recipes. Scroll on down for more photos! ;)
handy pour spout and a glimpse of the fun texture
ready to make salad!
making dressing
sampling!
"I love it!!!"
someone isnt too sure ;)
bowl o' salad
working on my chocolate mixture for my peppermint-mocha delight
Welcome back :) November by far has been my most active sampling month! This time, I got to sample Cottonelle's clean care toilet paper from crowdtap. Cottonelle is promoting the fact that Clean Care Double Roll now has 35% more sheets than Charmin's Ultra Strong Double Roll. As someone who tries to save wherever I can, 35% more sounds great to me. I loved Cottonelle before this announcement, I buy it whenever I can get it for a good price (which actually happened to be last week on amazon...check out my stock up photo below ;)) as the quality is really good and I love how the rippled texture makes everything feel cleaner (check out their youtube page here to see some of their #GoCommando ads!). One of the fun photo challenges for this sample was to unroll one of the rolls (208 sheets, if you were wondering!) to see how much 35% more looks like. So with the help of an eager two year old (read: I bribed him with candy to let me photograph him!) we discovered a roll can completely cover a toddler, as well as fill up an underwear bin (check out those photos below!). Overall, this is one of my family's top toilet paper brands. Keep scrolling to check out the photos!
PS: As a side note, if you're not a savvy Amazon shopper, the Ibotta rebate website has a $1 rebate when you buy Cottonelle at target this week :)
When I got word that crowdtap was sampling out Kleenex cool touch tissues inspired by Frozen, I knew I had to apply right away! My four boys are OBSESSED with all things Frozen. In fact, when I opened up the box the Kleenex came in, they were immediately grabbed out of my hands by my two youngest (the older two were watching a Patriots game with Poppi). I was rather excited when I saw the were cool touch Kleenex, as I normally buy the cheap kind (or if we have lasting cold, I'll grab the lotion kind). What a difference the cool touch makes! They are enriched with coconut oil and aloe. They felt thicker & higher quality when I pulled them out of the box, however the real difference came when I put one over my face. They literally feel cool to the touch! I can imagine how helpful that is when your nose is red and rubbed raw from a lasting cold. After I had my younger ones pose for some photos, my five year old put a tissue on his face and said 'oh! Comfy!" I've had to put these up on the shelf in the bathroom so that they are used for real nose issues (cold season IS coming, after all!) and not for playing. Overall, regular Kleenex can do the job-but grab the cool touch version to help out your nose! It's well worth the extra price. ;) As always, scroll down to see some cute photos of my sampling helpers!
Hi folks! Next up on the list of November sample share's is Johnson's baby bedtime products (moisture wash, bubble bath, and lotion), part of their three step routine, courtesy of crowdtap! My product tester was my two year old who was really excited about a bubble bath until I went to wash his hair ;) Here's a break down of what we we thought:
Johnson's baby bedtime bubble bath: Joshua was exited about the purple bottles (scroll down for an adorable photo of him hugging the bottle!). He is just learning his colors and purple seems to be his favorite so far. I like that it created more bubbles than our usual bubble bath-yet disappeared before it was time to get out, so we didn't have to rinse them off. It smelled nice, as the whole set does. It smells similar to regular Johnson's products, but I like it a bit more. It was gentle on his skin and made for a fun bath.
Johnson's baby bedtime moisture wash: Superficially, I loved the purple color and sheen.It lathered and rinsed well. It can be used on both hair and body, so that's how we used it. Joshua freaked when it was time to rinse his hair-but it rinsed well, which is always a plus when dealing with a child who does not like water over his head! Nothing is worse then rinsing out hair and finding more suds when you're done! Like I previously mentioned, I love how these product smell!
Johnson's baby bedtime lotion: Joshua wasn't too into the lotion (I'm pretty sure he was still mad at me for rinsing his hair out!), but he had fun when I dabbed it on him. It has a nice feel and smell. I would actually use it on myself. It left our skin feeling soft and pretty.
Overall our experiences with Johnson's baby bedtime products was positive. We enjoyed it and will continue to use the products. Scroll down for some adorable photos of our testing!
bzzkit! Juice sample, fun sandwich container, and coupons to share!
Welcome to November! There seems to be more sample shares this month than there has been lately, so look forward to hearing from me more this month! :) My first sample share for November is from bzzagent: Welch's refreshingly simple juice. We got the strawberry raspberry flavor, which was the one I was most excited to try when I checked out their site. The fun thing (for parents, anyway!) about this juice is that there are no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives and no high fructose corn syrup. My kids would argue that the real fun part is the taste, as they guzzled down glasses before school this morning and just tried to steal my glass as I was trying to drink some. The taste is sweet like you would expect from a fruit juice yet not overbearingly so. The blend of strawberry and raspberry is very pleasant. My only complaint is that it doesn't come in a fun juice box size for the kids to bring to school (currently available in 8 oz cans and 59oz bottles). Overall, we were very pleased with Welch's juice and will be adding it to our shopping lists! Keep scrolling for some fun photos of my kids sampling!
