It's almost time for the November Free Stuff Giveaway at Allure!

It's that time of the month again! The November Free Stuff Giveaway at Allure starts on Monday! Here's a look at what they're giving away:

Monday Nov 3rd: Whish Shave Cream in Pomegranate 

Tuesday Nov 4th: Physicians Formula Nude Wear Touch of Glow

Wednesday Nov 5th: Not Your Mother's Volumizing Hair Powder

Thursday Nov 6th: Eyeko Liquid Eyeliner in Mocha

If you've never entered these giveaways before, you should give it a try. The first 500 to sign up each day at Noon EDT will win. I enter these every month & I've won a lot of great beauty products.

Just go to the Allure website http://www.allure.com/ and then click on the Free Stuff tab. It will take you to the page where you will see all of the products up for grabs. You can pre-fill the entry form but don't hit Enter until Noon EDT to make sure it counts.

And then....you sit back & wait. You won't know if you've won anything until a wonderful surprise shows up in your mailbox! And keep in mind that it is the manufacturer who will ship your prize, not Allure. So if you win it might show up in a week or it might take several months. But I think that's part of the fun. I love surprises!

I'm ready! Who else is ready to win some cool stuff?

So. Do you Bzz?

If you don't know about BzzAgent yet, then let me tell you all about it! It's a social marketing company that offers you the opportunity to test products & services in your own home & then asks you to share your experiences & opinions with your friends & family. You will do this through face to face conversations, Facebook posts, Twitter, Instagram & a lot of other ways.

I became a BzzAgent 3 months ago. It's free to sign up & the only thing they will ask of you is that you always give your honest opinion. Like all product testing sites, they will ask for your personal information. By telling them things like your location, gender, age, marital status & how many children live with you & their ages, they will be able to match you with products that are relevant to you & your family. You will be selected to participate in Campaigns based on your demographics & your answers to surveys.

Once you sign up, go ahead & connect your Facebook & Twitter accounts to BzzAgent. You will need these connections when you start sharing your feedback. If you have a MyPoints account, connect that too because that is where the points that you earn will be used. If you don't have a MyPoints account, go ahead & sign up for that too.

So. Now what?

Well, it won't be long until you will start to notice surveys showing up that will need to be completed. Once I had completed all of my initial surveys, my BzzScore went up to 3.5. It stayed right there until I got my first Campaign & started submitting feedback.

If you keep up to date on your surveys, soon you will receive an Invite to your first Campaign. That will be an exciting day! I was on pins & needles waiting for my first Invite. You will receive an email telling you to log in to your account to accept (or deny) your Campaign, but I never waited to read those because I was always checking my account just to be sure that I didn't miss anything!

Once you receive an Invite, log into your account & accept the Campaign by clicking the "I Want In" button. But don't wait too long! There are a limited number of spots in each Campaign & some of them will fill up really fast. Once you get into a Campaign, it will show up under My BzzCampaigns but will not be active right away. You will see the start date listed next to the product.You can go ahead & click on the "Learn More" button to see product information, tips on how the campaign will work & what will be included in your BzzKit.

Then....just wait for your BzzKit to arrive. If you don't want to stalk your mail carrier, you can go to "My Account" & look under the Shipments tab. Once your BzzKit ships, the shipping date will show up there.

When the day finally arrives that your BzzKit shows up in your mailbox, you'll want to dig right in to make sure everything that is supposed to be included is there & then you'll be ready to try out the product for yourself.

Once the Campaign start date arrives, you'll see that the "Learn More" button says "Bzz Now". So click on it & you'll see your Campaign Checklist. These are all of the different ways that you will share this brand. When you click on each Activity, you will see an explanation of what you will need to do in order to complete it. Each Activity that you submit will be rated & you'll receive points. Your points will show up under "My Account" on the MyPoints tab. You will need to accept these points before they expire.

But back to the fun part! Trying the products that you receive! You need to experience them for yourself before you can tell others about the product. Duh! And the #1 thing that you need to remember is that when you're spreading the word about these products & services, always tell everyone that you received the product free or with a discount from BzzAgent or the brand. When you're talking face-to-face, tell them about BzzAgent & about your campaign. When spreading the word online, be sure to use the appropriate hashtags as instructed in each campaign activity.

This is a great program & it's so easy to do! I love trying new products & I love to let other people know about something that they may not have tried yet. I share my experiences with the product. I share the coupons that usually come with each Campaign. I post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & I even got over being camera-shy & made my 1st video review of a product. I try to complete every campaign activity at least once. Some of them have a limit on how many times you can do that particular type of sharing. Others, you can share again & again. Just remember, the more you share, the higher your BzzScore will go & the more campaigns you will be offered.

So far, I've been invited to 8 campaigns. I've had the opportunity to try a wide variety of products. Just to give you an idea of some of the brands that are offered, these are the campaigns that I've worked on since I joined:

And, like I said above, my BzzScore stayed at 3.5 until I began completing my Campaign activities & earning points from the ratings for those activities. Now I'm very proud that my BzzScore is:

So. If you love to try new products, love to share new products with your friends & family, love to share on social media, then BzzAgent may be for you!

Why don't you go to their website & take a look. How will you know that you don't want to do it if you don't check it out?!! You can find them here: https://www.bzzagent.com/.

So. Do you Bzz?

So. Here is what I think about....Chapstick Dual-Ended Hydration Lock Moisturize & Renew

This is a Mission that I qualified for on Smiley360. I love lip products & probably have at least 5 or 6 in the bottom of my purse right now. I've also got a few on my nightstand, a couple in the bathroom cabinet, one on the coffee table & even a couple in a drawer in the kitchen! So I was excited to be accepted for this Mission & I patiently waited for the package to show up in my mailbox.

When it arrived I tore into it & this is what I got!

Smiley360 provided a #PutYourLipsFirst pamphlet with tips & instructions for completing the sharing tools that are required in order to get points & complete the Mission as well as a guide for making a great video for Bonus Points! I also received 5 coupons for $0.50 off Chapstick to share with my friends when I tell them about this product. And I got a full-size tube of Hydration Lock Moisturize & Renew so that I can experience the benefits for myself. So I opened it up & was ready to give it a try.

Check it out! This product is dual-ended. That's two products in one tube!

The blue end is Renew. It's made with natural products like Shea Butter which makes me like this product even more. I love the way Shea Butter softens & conditions skin and this end of the tube does make my lips feel really soft. The gray end is Moisturize. The pamphlet tells me that it includes antioxidant CoQ10 and Hyaluronic Spheres. Huh? I don't even know what that stuff is. But I do know that this end of the tube feels slicker than the other end & my lips feel really smooth after I apply it.

I checked out the price of this product on several websites this morning. CVS is on the high end with a price of $3.69. It's $2.99 on Drugstore.com and $2.68 at WalMart. Walgreen's has the best deal right now. Their regular price is $3.49 but it's on sale for $2.99 or get an even better price by taking advantage of their 2 for $5 sale. My friends who I shared these coupons with could get 2 tubes for a total of $4.50 if they shop at Walgreen's. That's only $2.25 each! Go here http://h5.sml360.com/-/83ln to get your coupon.

So. Here is what I think about the Chapstick Hydration Lock Moisturize & Renew:
It's a great product. Getting two types of Chapstick in one tube is really nice and I love the way my lips look & feel after using this product.

But....there is one thing that I would change about this product. The scent. There really isn't one. It just smells kind of waxy. I wouldn't want anything overwhelming. I mean, I don't want my lips smelling like fresh strawberries the way I did back in High School. But just a hint of a nice scent would really make this product pretty close to perfect.

So. Bottom line. I definitely recommend this ChapStick product.
Try it yourself. I think you'll like it.

You can follow ChapStick on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChapStick & on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChapStick. Check out their YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ChapStick & check out their website at http://www.chapstick.com/.

I received this product free for the purpose of my review. Opinions are 100% my own.

So. Have you signed up for Smiley360 yet?

I just discovered Smiley360 around the end of July. I'd seen several posts on Facebook about it but had no idea what it was. So I clicked on the link. I found out that Smiley360 is a product testing site where you can be chosen to try products in your home in return for sharing your opinion on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. I love telling people what I think!

So. I wasted no time getting started.

First, Smiley360 will need your personal information including your marital status, income & number of children in your home along with their ages. All of this will help you to get offers for products that are relevant to you & your family. And of course they need your mailing address so that they can ship packages to you each time you qualify for a Mission. I never knew I would get so excited to see an envelope or box arrive! But I'm always so happy to see that cute little logo smiling at me!

I got all of my personal info entered & sat back to wait. I must have checked the website a dozen times a day that first week while I anxiously waited to see what would happen next. And then....

Finally! My first qualifying survey showed up! I was so excited to get it but after I submitted my answers I just had to wait & wonder...Would I qualify? Was I the right demographic for the product? Am I worthy?? I really really really wanted to get my first Mission!

 And then....there it was! I qualified! All I had to do was go to my Dashboard & accept the Mission. I felt like James Bond! I got a Mission!

After I accepted the Mission, it showed up on my Dashboard right away & I could open the page to see all of the information about the product & what would be included in my Smiley Kit. I could also check out all of the Required Sharing Tools. These are the actions that are necessary to be completed in order to get the points to complete the Mission. There are also Additional Sharing Tools. These are optional but the more you share, the more points you get for the Mission. It all adds up to a better chance of getting offered more Missions in the future. So I always try to complete as many of the Sharing Tools as I can. A Mission usually lasts around 10 weeks so you'll have plenty of time to try the product & then share your experience with your friends & family. And anyone else who you can get to listen!

And don't forget to complete the Final Survey that will show up after the Mission has ended.

I've qualified for 9 Missions so far. To give you an idea of the variety of products that are offered for testing, here are the Missions that I've either completed or am still working on:

And that's about it. I check the Smiley360 website at least a couple of times every day just to be sure that I don't miss a new survey. I can't help it. I'm obsessive that way.

Go check it out & see if it's for you. It won't hurt to take a look around. You can find them here: http://www.smiley360.com.

So. Have you signed up for Smiley360 yet?

So. I finally took the plunge...

and decided to jump right into the deep end & start my own blog!

For quite a while now, I've been seeing Facebook posts about people who get free products & samples that they get to keep in return for providing their feedback in the form of product reviews.

Well, I wanted in on that! So I signed up for BzzAgent (www.bzzagent.com), Smiley360 (www.smiley360.com) & Crowdtap (www.crowdtap.com) a couple of months ago. I've had some great Campaigns, Missions & Sampling Opportunities from these companies, but I knew that in order to spread my opinions, feedback & product reviews to a bigger audience, I needed a place to post the product reviews.

So. Here I am!

I've got some Campaigns that I'm currently working on for BzzAgent:  Kroger Brand bath & beauty products, International Delight coffee creamers, Tony's Pizzeria Style pizza, Chobani Greek Yogurt Oats, Secret Outlast Completely Clean Clear Gel.

And some Missions for Smiley360: ChapStick Hydration Lock Moisturize & Renew, TAZO Chai Tea, 5-hour ENERGY shots.

I know it will take a while for me to get the hang of this blogging thing. But hey, I just made my first video last week so I know I can do this too & I know it's going to be fun!