January 2014 IPSY Bag

The Bag:

Pretty color, okay design, very stinky. I opened the pink sparkly package and could smell it instantly. Oh well. ;)

 Faith Aromatherapy - Tahitian Monoi Anti-Aging Sugar Scrub:

 Malin + Goetz Mojito Lip Balm:

Briogeo Deep Conditioning Mask:

 Elizabeth Mott Creamy Eye Pencil in Penny:

Proactiv Mark Fading Face Pads:

Most excited for: Elizabeth Mott's eye pencil - this is a beautiful coppery color! 

Least excited for: The hair conditioning mask, mainly because I'm pretty clueless when it comes to what and how to use products on my hair.

Music I'm Obsessed With: Top 4

Sometimes I get really obsessed where I'll repeat it over and over and over until I'm no longer obsessed with it. Totally normal.

Here's my recent TOP 4 (in no particular order because I'm horrible at ranking anything of importance):

1. RAC - Let Go ft. Kele, MNDR

2. Passenger - Let Her Go

3. Mikky Ekko - Kids

4. Lorde - Team

And there is nothing worse than hearing a song you dig and forgetting to Shazam it.

Things In My Cupboard: Strawberry Jelly Marshmallows

I bake a lot. When I'm bored the first thing I want to do is bake. So the other day when I was wanting to bake but wasn't willing to break my "don't shop until payday" rule, I was stuck, because I had no eggs and for the life of me I couldn't really come up with anything that didn't call for eggs - not even a boxed cake mix. I decided to scrounge my cupboards for what I could make using whatever I have in the cupboards to which I have lots of random candies and baking goodies. I came across these two items and thought, wow, they are both strawberry flavored and therefore I should combine them somehow! 

I found the Hello Kitty Strawberry Marshmallows at a Japanese Market in Chicago and the candy bar was FREE at Walgreens from my couponing daze! LOOK, there's strawberry jelly inside! ;)

Simple steps now:

I froze the marshmallows for a little bit and melted the chocolate! Once hardened, I rolled the marshmallows into the chocolate and then put them on a ziploc bag to set and that's all folks! Super simple, super silly, but they were pretty good! I liked the Strawberry chocolate a lot more than I thought I would (hence, why I did not eat the chocolate bar by itself!)

Super quick, super simple, super strawberry-y! 

P.s. I realize this doesn't constitute as baking. 

Goal for 2014!

Here are all my excuses (some ridiculous, but totally honest) that run through my head when I think about beginning to loose weight, change my diet, & exercise more:

Why loose weight when I'm going to eventually have another baby or two?
We're broke - so I could never join a gym; even $25 a month is out of our budget! 
I'm the pickiest eater in the world - surely none of my favorites are healthy options!
I love food too much. 
I love sweets too much. 
My baking addiction surely would be less fun if I couldn't eat them! 
I have no time to eat healthy. 
I have no money to eat healthy. 
I am too unorganized to eat healthy. 

...so, you see. All these thoughts have crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but today I am hoping to make a change. I always think, well come January 1st... why wait till then? Why not start tomorrow? And, I say tomorrow because I've already pigged out on some Reese Peanut Butter cups. I like to start on a new slate. I like to have time to prepare - maybe menu plan, research, get some ideas flowing. Download some apps. Read some inspirational stories, you know...

Here is my first few steps:

1. Download the app: My Fitness Pal. I seriously contemplated paying $60 for a 3 month membership to Weight Watchers, but I'm broke and the last time I paid that much money, I lost all motivation and wasted $60. Although, I don't have official experience with Weight Watchers, I have had experience in the past with MFP and enjoyed it. It's 100% free and has a large community where you can share recipes and get support.

2. Peruse Pinterest: The best thing ever. It's the easiest way to have organization when you want to plan something healthy for breakfast or dinner.

EDIT: 3. Purchase a Fit Bit Force -  I did this pretty spontaneously, but maybe I am a tad bit motivated? This was normally on sale for $129, but with a discount code that took off 15% and using a $100 Best Buy card that I won in a Twitter Party and $20 from a Visa Gift card I won in another twitter party, this was 100% FREE for me. No guilt there!

In a perfect world I would like to say that I'm going to throw out all my sweets and bad foods, but I'm a frugal lady and the idea of throwing out all this unused foods and sweets in the garbage is a little sickening.

So, yes. Time will tell. Anyone else have any 2014 resolutions/goals?

Product Review: Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa Mask

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.

I finally had down time. Down time from a busy, almost walking 11 month old, and a day off from all the Christmas traveling and visiting family. I don't know what it was, but this year, it just came way too fast and I KNOW that it has something to do with the fact that I had Truman this year. Last January - yes, my son is almost a one year old *weeps* .. But back to the holidays - they came so fast and are already half way done. The last week I had been super stressed. For some reason I could not for the life of me get myself motivated to wrap presents. It was like pulling teeth for me. I contemplated many things: showing up with unwrapped gifts, gift cards or even the easiest, most festive option: gift bags! My last 5 gifts I resorted to gift bags, because I just ran out of time and by Friday when we were scrambling to get all the things packed and make sure we didn't forget anything, I had felt like my head was going to pop off from stress. Sigh. So this product test came with perfect timing, because I was stressed and I needed a moment to just ... relax, even if that meant watching Britney Spears, applying a face mask on and sending scary shots to my friends, like the one on the left. ;) 

As always, I love receiving a Vox Box from Influenster. They are 100% free and have a mixture of fun stuff inside. One of the products in Influenster's Violet Vox Box was the Montagne Jeunesse (Don't ask me how to pronounce it, because I have no clue, so we'll abbreviate to MJ) Dead Sea Mud Spa Mask:

I don't know what my deal was but going into opening this little package, I was envisioning it to be a clay substance, like a cream or something, but then pulled out this:



I don't ever recall using something like this so got excited! I love to try new things and this was new to me! The directions:

1. Cleanse - I had just taken a shower so I had a cleansed face. 
2. Apply - I thought it was kind of fun applying this to my face! I didn't know what to expect so just sort of molded it to shape my face. Here's some lovely and MOST EXCITING photos that I made my boyfriend take!:

3. Relax - For 10-15 minutes and so I set my timer for 12 minutes, because I can never decide! And in those moments of relaxation, I watched I Am Britney Jean. 
4. Massage - What? I had no idea I needed to massage, so I completely skipped this step, oops.
5. Rinse - Check! 

Afterwards, I noticed an immediate change in how my skin felt - silky smooth. No, really! It did! I may or may not have used a face mask from this product line, I don't recall, but for what it was intended to be, it worked and I am pleased. Plus, it smelt AMAZING. 

And a little side note that makes them even more awesome:

Montagne Jeunesse is known by consumers for the premium quality & affordable beauty treats, packed with the most delicious natural ingredients.  Our products are never tested on animals and are manufactured with the minimum impact on all forms of life. Our company ethos is the “Conservation of Energy, Protection of Animals and the Environment.”

Thank you, Influenster & MJ for the chance to try this product out. As a mother, you often don't shop for yourself anymore so this was a great treat! ;)


For more information on MJ, follow them on Twitter, Like them on Facebook and visit their Website!

Like to Sample Free Products? Try Swaggable!

I can't really pinpoint when I first became obsessed with getting freebies or sampling products, but sometime this year, it happened - hardcore. One of my first "freebie hunting" sites, Vonbeau.com, first introduced me to the wonderful website that is Swaggable.

What is Swaggable?

Swaggable is a website that offers everyday consumers the opportunity to try out new products, write reviews and help spread the word on the products being tested. In my opinion, it's a great marketing strategy. What better way to get your product out there than to send out samples to those people who matter most? 

How does it work?

Step 1: After signing up, you browse all the categories - 8 in all including categories like Snacks, Cosmetics & Beauty, Kid Products & Pet Supplies. After clicking on a particular item for more information, you click "Want It" which alerts whoever that you would like to sample and review this. Just because you "Want It" doesn't mean you will get it! By having the "Want It" feature, it allows Swaggable to match you with products you really want. 

Step 2: At some point - you never know when - you'll get an email notifying you that they've found a sample for you to try and you need to accept it. From my experience, once you accept it, you will see that the status shows "Gathering Invites." This means that Swaggable is still looking for people to sample this specific product and the status won't be changed to "Shipped" until they've found all or enough participants (I don't know for sure). I have noticed that the time between when you accept an invite to actually receiving the item can take some time, sometimes a month or so! To me, this acceptable because I will never complain about a free sample or free product to try. 

Step 3: Then you are surprised to receive a package from Swaggable with your product! You sample and write an honest review - simple as that! 

It's important to follow up on the reviews, because they won't allow you to accept a new invitation to try a new product without completing the review for the one product you last were sent. I think this is a perfect way to get a review out of someone! 

I have been a product sampler (is that what we're called? ha!) for Swaggable since .... thinking hard... maybe April and have already reviewed 11 products (and 3 coming down the pipeline "gathering invites) ranging from a bar of soap, to (the most amazing) Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle to some baby lotion. 

Definetely check it out if you love sampling products and reviews! They are a great website and more interest=more products to sample! It's a win for everyone! ;

Here's a video of that tells there story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbAaIJoRC-Y

Happy Sampling! ;)

December 2013 Ipsy Bag

Wow, what happiness I felt when I saw the shiny pink packaging envelope waiting for me in my mailbox the other day. I had subscribed before for a almost a year, but financial considerations had to take place and IPSY got the cut, well... I allowed myself only ONE monthly subscription box, and since Walmart's Goodie Box had stopped sending out boxes, I decided to put my $10 (yes, only $10!!) elsewhere!

Of course, there was a wait list, because this is a very popular beauty subscription. Luckily, I had been following a blog that devotes it's time to reviewing the trillions of subscription boxes (My Subscription Addiction) (I was way obsessed with them last year, but now I've simmered down a bit and have chosen one to continue on with) and she mentioned how you could 'Skip The Waitlist' and it was all over from there! So, anyways on to a great December bag:

The bag:

Be a Bombshell One Stick in the color Girl Crush!

 Pop Beauty Eyeshadow Trio in Smokin' Hot!

 Julie Textured Nail Polish in Sugar Plum Fairy!

JCat's Lip Pencil in Red Rose. 

I must say this is a lovely color, right up my alley, and drawing that heart it was smooth and glide so nicely! 

Mirabella Eye Blender

I don't think I could ever be disappointed by an Ipsy Bag mainly because I love all kinds of makeup and most of the stuff is brand new to me. The value of each bag exceeds well over $10, so I highly recommend this bag to anyone who is obsessed with makeup. Even if you have you to wait a bit on the waitlist, it's worth it, BUT, I googled how to SKIP the Waitlist and this is what I found directly from the Ipsy website! So good luck! ;)