Walmart Adventures

Since having our daughter we spend a ridiculous amount of time at Walmart more than I ever have and I WORKED there! The other day Lauren and I went as I had a small list of things to get.
When we go we tour the entire store and usually end up buying more than necessary but as the weather hasn't been that great it's a nice way to kill time.
We're cruising down the aisles department to department and I notice this lady in the same aisle, we go to the next department, same lady and she continuously appeared throughout our shopping trip.
I had convinced myself she was clearly loss prevention and we were being followed. On my list was batteries for our smoke detectors which only take certain 9 volts, so I had taken a picture on my phone of the batteries I needed. Lauren and I stood in the back corner of electronics and I fished out my cell phone from my open purse to double check the picture, I admit we looked super shady.
We continued through shoes and then the baby section where I picked up a few things noticing this same lady also in the baby section, she had a purse and no items to purchase which I thought was weird since we obviously had found lots to buy!
The batteries were prominently displayed in our shopping cart on our way to the checkouts as if to say "Look I didn't steal them!". We go through the check out and pay for our purchases. I make sure to keep the receipts in our bags just in case.
I take Lauren out of the cart and grab our bags, and as I'm walking through the exit doors with a few other people the alarm goes off.
Completely innocent I hear a little voice in my head yelling "RUN!!".
 I walk confidently to the car with Lauren in one arm, carrying our bags, half expecting this lady to confront us in the parking lot. Needless to say she doesn't, and I drive off to our next destination.

Clearly Walmart makes me a paranoid mama with a guilty conscious and I didn't even steal!

Lise Watier Hydrasense Review

I was really excited when I received an email from GlamSense telling me I was chosen to try a new Canadian skin care product!
Being right in the middle of a Canadian winter my skin is super dry or at least I suspected it was.
The Hydraforce Hydra-Protective Comforting Creme came with both the creme and this blue sensor that plugs into your phone and measures your hydration levels.

The Hydraforce product claims that the instrumental measurements will prove your skin to be 3 times more hydrated and 100% of women confirm their skin to be more hydrated. Basically you do a before and after by putting the little prongs on the blue circle onto your skin and measuring your hydration before and after you use the creme.
See my results below!

Although it definitely didn't increase hydration by 3 times, I did almost get a result of double. Which I'd say is a pretty good start! 

I'm sure if I continue to use the product I'll see great results!

It’s Your Turn! Test Your Hydration Events #GetInTheBubble

Are you interested in testing your hydration? If you are in the Toronto area, you can test your hydration at a local HydraForce event. Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, April 2nd, 2016
Time: 12PM – 5 PM
Location: AT THE BAY NEWMARKET

17600 YONGE ST. NEWMARKET.ONT. L3Y 4Z1

This event will also be taking place in other locations across Canada in March and into April. To find a location near you, more details can be found on the HydraForce site.

Will you be testing your hydration? Let me know your results and thoughts about this product line in the comments below! 

Who doesn't like free cash!?

I was having a discussion around Christmas time with a friend from work who has similar shopping habits to me, we were talking about our online shopping adventures and deals we were getting. She mentioned a website called Ebates which literally gives you free cash back for your online purchases.
That hyperlink goes directly to their website and gives you 5 dollars for nothing. (literally).

All you need to do is go on their website and search for stores you would already shop at, I spent a lot of money on Old Navy, Well.ca and Amazon and they all have varying amounts of cash back.

They also have bonus cash back specials occasionally, for example for Christmas on Old Navy I received 8% cash back on my purchases which worked well!

The picture shows the first amount I received in cash back, which you can either get in the form of a check mailed to your house or sent to a paypal account, I chose the latter which instantly added to my shopping dollars :) I truly can't say enough good things about ebates, it's so easy and if you are an online shopper like me it rewards you for purchases you would already make!

Rocking that Influenster Vibe.

Have you heard of Influenster? If not you should definitely check it out, use that little hyperlink up there and click click click.
It's another website that for a small amount of social media advertising ie. ""Influencing your friends" - get it? " you can get free products for testing purposes.
This website is a little more exorbitant, you answer the "snaps" about things that you like/dislike etc. to pre-qualify for campaigns fill out a pre-campaign survey and BAM !

A Keurig 2.0 shows up at your door! I tested it, reviewed it, loved it and now I own a Keurig that I literally paid nothing for!

The most recent campaign I've qualified for was for Huggies Diapers. My 7 month old daughter goes through a lot of diapers, and we're normally a Pampers family, BUT I'm willing to try these Little Movers on my own little mover and it's certainly great that these didn't cost a cent. In fact they came today on a Sunday which is slightly bizarre but hey I'm not complaining- shout out to Canada Post!

My husband is an Influenster member too hence the two boxes, who knows maybe we'll make a switch. It amuses me slightly that the testing for this product is done solely by my daughter. She can rock them tonight to bed, the true test of diapers. I'm definitely looking forward to my next campaign. Free is the way to be!

Not everything in life is free, but sometimes it is!

Lets talk about free samples. I've mentioned a few times now that I'm really into free samples, I'm into the free gift with purchase I basically LOVE FREE. I've scoured the internet and located two review sites that pay out in dividends. Free product to write a review and share your experience with the products on social media. So easy!
I just received a new product to review from BzzAgent that fits in pretty well with my blog so it only makes sense to mention it!



I've received a few things so far for free The new Naked collection from Herbal Essences was one of my favourites!just a simple review and some sharing on social media and I get to keep it for trying it.

I got a shampoo, conditioner and a volumizing mousse and the things I enjoyed most was the smell. It was a mint grapefruit scent which sounds odd but realistically amazing. My hair smelt SO good. The products were free of all that nasty junk that usually is in hair products no parabens, and no silicons, it literally made my hair squeaky clean. I don't use it every shower because sometimes it's nice to have those natural oils in your scalp but once every third wash I get a deep chemical free clean. I even went out and bought my own bottle I liked it so much!

The most recent campaign is the COVERGIRL TruBlend Liquid Makeup. It comes in 14 shades and I picked the Natural Beige. Thing is I haven't tried it yet. I have NO idea how to apply this. I imagine I use a foam wedge brush type utensil but I don't even own one yet. In a bind like this I think I'll have to jump on You Tube and look for some tutorials. I'm sure I'll find a lady all about wearing makeup who will have a fancy little tutorial and show me how to go about putting this on my face. Stay tuned!

Getting My Nails Did!

I used to be a chronic nail-biter. I mean REALLY bad. I started a volunteer position at the hospital and a couple nibbles of nail with the bitter taste of the required lathering of hand sanitizer I had to use as I came in and out of the hospital daily made me quit the biting cold turkey. Since then my nails have grown like crazy. People constantly joke about my left pinkie finger being my 'crack nail' it's so long. Considering how long and thick they've become it's a surprise I'm not constantly painting them pretty colours, but not really a surprise if you know me.
I'm a member of a group on Facebook specifically devoted to Sample Subscriptions and trading the items you get and a couple weeks ago someone posted a link for Julep on the group page.
I've seen people talking about them for awhile but never really checked out their page. The post that got me moving to their site was a promo they were offering. Spend 48 dollars and use a coupon code "JETSET' and get this pretty travel caddy with a bunch of stuff in it for free. 138 dollar value.

I'm not one to pass up 'free things' so I jumped all over it! I found a package of the top nail polishes of 2015 added it to my cart and boom that pretty little set was free! I was VERY impressed with Julep other than the fact that I negated to factor in the exchange rate in my purchase Julep didn't charge tax or shipping and I didn't have any surprise duty charges at the door either! Within the week I had a pretty large box at my door with my fancy new polishes in it! 

This was an order I jumped all over in fact that same day I did my nails AND toes in fancy alternating colours and also did my daughters toes as well. 

Lets just say it's very hard to paint a 7 month olds toes, they do not want to sit still. But I was okay with doing it because these polishes are VEGAN! Yes you heard me. That bright teal on my thumb is literally my favourite colour so bright and dresses things up nicely. The travel caddy samples included a top coat and a base coat neither of which I used when I tried the polish which would explain why they were chipping within a few days. - My bad! 

Next time I will take the extra time to prep my nails better and use the two coats I received to blanket that pretty polish and hopefully it'll last a decent length of time, however long that may be. 

I did not subscribe to their Maven box this time around. I'm trying to cut my spending down a little bit as it nears to Christmas time and it seems slightly selfish to buy for myself when there's other people I could be buying for instead. Lots of people however rave about the subscription so I may have to check that out after the holiday season.

xo -

S

My Subscription Addiction

I REALLY like samples much to my husbands chagrin. So with that in mind I've joined a few subscription sites recently which I'm really enjoying. I would be someone you describe as inept when it comes to makeup application, but I've made a goal recently to be more 'girly'. Spending more time on my hair, nails, clothing AND wearing makeup- I literally wear none normally.
Enter Birchbox for 14.95 including shipping you get a nicely designed box filled with free samples from various companies.

The September box which was my first order as shown below, came with blush, body lotion, perfume, a great under eye coffee cream and a blow dry spray. As you can tell I literally haven't used anything in that month I don't blow dry my hair, I don't wear makeup, and I prefer body spray. But the box is pretty!

October was a cute pink spiral design, and came with Green Apple Peel Sensitive skin mask, Black magic mascara, Vasanti Cosmetics All Star 2 in 1 face and eye primer and Parlor by Jeff Chastain shampoo and conditioner. I LOVED the shampoo and conditioner it was gone within a few days. I definitely intend on using the skin peel, and probably the rest of the stuff in this shipment....well once I google how to use a primer.

November just came last week so I have yet to really dig through it. I love the design turquoise roses super pretty! This month came with Parlor curl cream - I may have to pass this along to a friend my hair is far from curly!- Templespa La La Lagoon Bath & Shower Gel, Fratboy shadow/blush, BioRepublic Pomegranate Crush Fiber Mask and the piece de resistance the reason I chose this particular box the LOC Tati shadow stick in Impress Me. The colour is basically a rosy gold so nice and probably will go well with my complexion!

November was actually my last order for now from Birchbox although I do intend to start it back up in the new year. I've decided to branch out and try another sample subscription. - I'll be back though Birchbox mark my words!
Hopefully I'll eventually start using this stuff otherwise it'll end up in a cozy spot in my bathroom closet where my good intentions of using pretty things end up for the rest of their shelf life.

xo
-S