2012 Holiday Voxbox Review: Kiss Nail Dress.

I'm in love! I received these Kiss nail stickers as part of my Holiday Voxbox from Influenster. I'm a novice when it comes to using nail stickers. Since I am a chronic nail biter, I decided to use the Kiss Nail Dress stickers on my toes. I do not bite my toes!

I was worried that my complete lack of experience would make it difficult for me to use this kit, but it was so easy to do.

Here is what my kit looked like:

3 sticker sheets and one file plus instructions.

Close-up of one of the stickers

The instructions were pretty clear cut. Pick out what size fits, press them on, file off the rest. Since I did them on my toes, I had to put them on with the square side down, and clip off the access with scissors.

Here is the finished product:

Overall, the look pretty good. I had a harder time with my right foot being that I'm left handed. Close up you can still see some of my nail on my big toe. I'm still very please with Kiss Nail Dress. It was so much easier than painting my nails and they look fabulous! Kiss Nail Dress retail for $6.99 and come in 18 different styles.

2012 Influenster Holiday Voxbox (unboxing).

I received my very first Influenster Voxbox on Christmas Eve.

Check it out:





Here is picture of a list of all the products. I will be reviewing each of them individually during this upcoming week. I did not receive the face mask.

Today's Tap.

It's been a while since I've done one of these. I have a lot of new stuff going on at Crowdtap, Expo, Influenster, etc.

What's new on Crowdtap:

• I finally hit 80 STARPOWER today. 
• I got picked for a new Durex sample share

What's new on Bzzagent:

• The Stella Artois campaign in still going on. I have yet to use my chalice. I plan on going most of the work for this campaign over Christmas and New Year's. 
• I got invited to Bzz For a Cause. Bzzagent will be donating $5,000 to whichever charity the most people vote for. I voted for St. Judes Children's Hospital. 

What's new on Swaggable:

• Not a heck of a lot. I have yet to receive the veggie wash or mango chips that were supposedly shipped out one month ago. 
• They gave the site a makeover. It looks a lot nicer now. It is also much easier to use. 

What's new on Influenster:

• I got accepted for my first voxbox! It is going to be the holiday box. From what I've heard, it is a box of hazelnut chocolates. Yum! 

What's new on Expo:

• I got accepted into my first tryology! It is for Glade. I have no clue what type of products I am getting. Based on the pre-qualifying survey, I'm guessing it will be scented candles of some kind. 
• I just filled out a pre-qualifying survey for Herbal Essences last night. I hope being in the Glade tryology does not hurt my chance. I love trying new hair products. 
• I have a bunch of new videos uploaded. I finally figured out how to use Windows Movies of whatever to reduced the size of my video files. Here is one of my favorite reviews for IAMS cat food:

Pawalla Cat Box Review.

When I first started this blog, I had no clue things like subscription boxes existed. I sort of just stumbled upon this website and I've been intrigued ever since. A couple of boxes caught my eye from the beginning. The Pawalla box was the first one that caught my attention.

"You will receive a monthly selection of all-natural wet foods, treats, supplements, toys, and more for your pet to enjoy. "  


I decided to wait until Cyber Monday to see if there would be any coupon codes available instead of joining right away. I'm always for saving money! I'm VERY glad I did because they had a 50% off code for my first box. I have four cats varying in age from 1 to 17. I decided to order the box for my 8 year old cat, Lilly. I figured the 4 of them could share all the goodies inside.

My box arrived yesterday. My very first subscription box. How exciting! I adore my cats so much that I'd rather order a box for them first. I really wanted to show them all how much I love them and Pawalla helped me do that. The box was a huge success!

As usual Roxie* is the first one out to inspect something new. I love the box they used to ship all my goodies in. It's pretty clear that this is a gift for my cats and what a great way to advertise. The package was addressed to Lilly which I thought was cute. I have a p.o. box though and the postal workers were not to happy about it.

The box is open! Roxie is sniffing out all the goodies.

The box included a lovely Happy Holidays message. I though that was a very nice touch. The cat and dog dressed up in Santa hats are so cute. Underneath that there was another sheet with a detailed list of all the products inside and a nice letter from the folks at Pawalla.

Roxie discovered the toy! Spot's Eco Natural Mouse is "catnip filled and made with unbleached, undyed cotton fibers and cotton fill. It is made in the USA by Ethical Pets.

I love that this toy is green and made it the USA. I'm all for supporting American businesses! The toy was a big hit with Roxie. As soon as I put it down she ran off with it in her mouth and I haven't seen it since. I'm guessing she "buried" it under my bed.

a lump of coal or a loofah? 

Next, I noticed the Fur_Zoff Pet Hair Remover. At first site I thought it was a loofah. I would hate to attempt using a loofah on any of my cats.  The Fur_Zoff Pet Hair Remover is "made from 90% post-consumer recycled materials, and it never wears out." I haven't used it yet but I'm anxious to try it out. I love that they have something in this box for me to use. I'm not about to eat cat treats even if they do look delicious.




Speaking of cat treats...I discovered a ton of great new cat products and treats in this box!

The biggest hit with my cats so far is, the PureBites Freeze Dried Shrimp. The Primal Freeze Dried Turkey treats were a bit of a miss with two of my cats. My oldest cat Blackie and my youngest Roxie really like them, but my other two would not touch them. It says on the package they are for dogs and cats. I could see dogs probably enjoying this treat more just because of their size. They were kind of large and difficult for my cats to chew. I have yet to test out the Greenies treats or Life Essentials Chicken Sprinkles. However, I can see all of my cats enjoying these.

I fed the Nature's Variety Salmon Formula to my cats this morning. I have to admit this food looks quite tasty. I was worried my cats would not eat it because they haven't liked the higher end wet food I've purchased for them in the past. My worrying turned out to be unnecessary  They all ran to the dish when I put it out and, the food was gone in under 5 minutes. It made me feel really good to feed my cats some healthier wet food for a change.




I am officially in love with the Pawalla cat box! I love discovering new products for my cats. I'm on a limited income and cannot always afford to run out and buy new things for them to try. It makes me feel good to spoil my cats a little bit. Before receiving my first box, I was undecided whether I would continue my Pawalla subscription next month at the regular price. Now I've decided that I'm definitely going to keep my subscription going. It made me cats happy and it is really is a great deal price-wise. I haven't totaled the value of everything in this box, but it has got to be over $26.

Two of my cats loved the Pawalla box so much that they take shifts guarding it.

Roxie guarding the Pawalla box

Lilly takes a turn guarding the box

If you're interested in joining Pawalla, sign up here. Your pets will thank you! They will also guard the Pawalla box and shoot you deadly looks if you try to touch it. :)

* I really do have three other cats. Roxie is the youngest and usually shows up first to inspect new stuff. My other cats are also a little camera shy.

Swaggable: 100% Pure body lotions.

I finally got my body lotion samples for review from Swaggable last week. After waiting over a month, I was starting to think I would never get them.

I got an envelope from Swaggable filled with 3 ketchup-sized packets of 100% Pure body cream.

Sour apple, honey almond, and coconut. 

I was honestly expecting a large sample size. It's kind of hard to review the moisturizing effects of a lotion when you only have enough for two applications.

The good:

• All the creams (except the honey almond) are 100% vegan and organic. 
• a large variety of scents available on their website
• very moisturizing 

The bad:

• The body cream is VERY greasy. The honey almond in particular was way too oily. I actually had to wash it off.
• The scents might not appeal to everyone. I personally love the smell of all the lotions, but I think they were kind of strong for some people. I liked the smell of the coconut cream even though I smelled like a slightly burnt coconut cake. The sour apple cream was especially strong. I didn't like smelling like a Jolly Rancher all day. 
• The price. $15 for an 8 oz. bottle. Way out of my price range. :( 

Overall, I liked the 100% Pure body creams that I sampled. I didn't like them enough to spend $15 on a 8 oz. bottle. They do have some nice gift sets available on their website. If you're looking for a nice gift for a vegetarian or vegan in your life this might be something they would like. 

Crowdtap: Healthy Choice Baked sample and share.

The folks at Crowdtap recently provided me with coupons for the new Healthy Choice Baked Entrees. I was able to print out two copies of this $1 off coupon. I also shared the coupon with my friends on Twitter and Facebook. Stop and Shop was running a really great sale on the entrees. I was able to get two of them for only $3 after the coupons.

They had two vegetarian options available, so it was an easy choice for me:

Fettuccini Alfredo Bake 

Four Cheese Ziti Marinara 

The first entree I tried was, the Fettucini Alfredo Bake.

Sadly, I did not fall in love with this entree. It was quite bland tasting. I know it is a diet meal, but it should still have some flavor. I was impressed with the broccoli to pasta ratio. This entree had a ton of broccoli in it!  The Alfredo sauce was just so BLAH. I do not see myself  buying this entree again. Coupon or not.


Next up, I tried the Four Cheese Ziti Marinara.

I enjoyed this entree a lot more! Even though it looked pretty gross (see second pic). The marinara sauce was flavorful and it had just the right amount of cheese.I would purchase this product again, if I had a coupon, and it was on sale.


Overall, I thought the Health Choice Baked Entrees were just okay. I think there regular dinners are much tastier.  I was grateful that they had two vegetarian options. I am curious how the meat entrees tasted. Have any of you tried them? How did you like them?


Thanks to Crowdtap and Healthy Choice for giving me this review opportunity!

Today's Tap.

Welcome to Today's Tap. Today's Tap is a list of all the new stuff going on with my various word of mouth marketing site accounts.

What's new on Crowdtap:

1. I earned enough points for a $25 Amazon E-card. The new cards go up on Monday. The site is going to be swamped! I really hope that they are getting a bunch of extra cards this month. 
2. I filled out my Old Navy Sweater Sample Share.

What's new on Bzzagent:

1. I got picked for my very first Bzz campaign! The campaign if for, Stella Artois Belgium beer. I'm getting a free Chalice. I'll be updating more as the campaign progresses. 

What's new on Expo:

1. I'm officially in love with this site. I've only been using it for two weeks, and I already have $30+ in Amazon gift cards. 
2. I have a Holiday Finds video pending. I'll post it on here as soon as it is live. 

What's new on Influenster:

1. Not a whole lot. I applied for some new badges and got invited to a hair voxbox survey. I hope I get accepted! I am a total hair freak.

What's new on Swaggable:

1. Nothing. I'm starting to think this site might not be legit. It's hard to tell because it is still in Beta. 

Old Navy Sweater Sample Share.

I finally got picked by Crowdtap and Old Navy for a sample share! I've applied to several Old Navy sample shares in the past and never got approved. :( I was particularly pleased to be chosen for this share, because I love sweaters.  My :( turned :)

Here is how everything went down:

First, I took a look at this website to see all the sweater Old Navy had to offer. I'm generally not the most spontaneous of people. I wanted to have an idea of which sweater I was going to pick out before I even went to the store.

I decided to take my mother with and we met at an Old Navy that is halfway between both of our apartments. For me this meant a 90 minutes bus ride. *phew* It was a really long ride, but totally worth the trip!

This was the sweater I was planning on leaving the store with before I even arrived. A sweater that is both a sweater and a hoodie? Yes, please!  The sweater hoodie was very warm and light but the color was just BLAH on me. I decided to try the same sweater on in a different color.

This color looked a lot nicer on me but still there was something missing. I did not fall in love with the hoodie sweaters like I was expecting to. While they were very comfortable, the color selection was rather limited.

I went back in the store to look around and finally found a huge splash of colored sweaters. I decided to try on the baby blue sweater because it is my favorite color.

YES! We have a winner. If only it was a hoodie! I love the color and the sweater is so soft. I can't wait to wear it out!

Meanwhile, my mother is looking around for her sweater:

She found the sweater she wanted right away and we had a little impromptu posing contest right in the fitting room. Who would you guys pick as the winner?

I tried really hard to channel my inner top model, but I think my mom won this one!

I would like to thank Crowdtap and Old Navy for picking me for this sample share. I haven't spent time alone with my mother in ages. It was nice to have an excuse to have lunch together and go shopping. Thanks!

New Expo Video: Tofurky Feast

My latest Expo video is up just in time for Thanksgiving!  They asked me to review my favorite Thanksgiving dish, so I decided to do a quick review of this amazing dinner kit. I'm proud to say that this is my 9th year being turkey-free on Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful for this amazing vegetarian/vegan kit!

Crowdtap: Old Navy Style Council

Look at what came in the mail today:

I got my free Old Navy Sweater coupons from Crowdtap! One is for me and the other, for a friend. I'm going to use them for a nice little mother/daughter shopping afternoon. I'm very excited! I haven't been spending much time with my mom lately. It will be nice to catch up and try on some nice sweaters. :D

I already have my eye on these Old Navy Sweater Hoodies. 

New Expo Thanksgiving Video: Things that I'm thankful for.

I have a new video up on Expo just in time for Thanksgiving.
 

Things I'm Thankful for

Today's Tap

 Welcome to Today's Tap. Today's Tap is a list of all the new stuff going on with my various word of mouth marketing site accounts.

What's new on Influenster and Bzzagent:

1. Nothing

What's new on Expo:

1. Another one of my videos went live

What's new on Crowdtap:

1. I advanced another level. Titanium! Woohoo!
2.  I got invited to the Ditch The Diet Challenge

Crowdtap: Ditch The Diet Photo Challenge.

I got invited to a new photo challenge on Crowdtap the other day and it is huge. The winner of the challenge will win one of ten tablets available. I really want to win so bad, that words cannot even express it! Anyhoo...since promoting is part of how they pick winners, I'm writing this post and fbing and tweeting the h-e-hockey-sticks out of it! I took this screen cap of the challenge page:

I basically have to take a photo of myself showing how I'm saying "no more" to fad diets. Hmmm...seems simple enough. Until you click through some of the links to see all of the official rules:

• I have a little less than 3 weeks to submit my photo
• I cannot depict a "healthy" lifestyle choice that is actually harmful. In other words, I cannot take a picture of myself puking up dinner. 
• Need 3rd party permission from anyone else in the photo.
• No nudity (well darn).

And here is the biggie:

•  "The photo does not contain any third party copyrighted material, products,
  trademarks, logos or otherwise violates or infringes (or may infringe) any
  copyright, trademark logo or mark (other than the Healthy Choice brand), that
  identifies a brand or other proprietary right of any person living or deceased
  (including but not limited to rights of privacy or publicity or portrayal in a false light) or entity, or is otherwise objectionable, will not be considered and may
  disqualify the Entry.  Therefore, clothing worn or props/items used in the Photo
  should not contain any visible logos (other than a Healthy Choice logo),
  drawings, cartoons, phrases, trademarks or other third-party materials."

I think the last rule is going to make things trickier. I have to figure out how to show myself giving up on a diet fad without showing a label. Most diets I can think of off the top of my head, have labeled products. I do have a few ideas bouncing around in my head, but I'm not sharing them. ;)

The challenge page also include a link to some Healthy Choice advertisements. I plan on using these for inspiration. I'm guess the tablet they show in this commercial is the kind the winner will receive.

Influenster review

I just joined Influenster this week, and I'm still learning the ropes. When you first sign up, you have to request an invite. Mine arrived maybe a day or two later. I honestly do not remember. I'm still trying to figure out what Influenster is all about. Here is how they describe it on the site: 

An exclusive online community where tastemakers and trendsetters (such as yourself) come to share the latest and greatest news, places, products, and reviews with each other. 2. The hotspot you just bookmarked on your web browser that turns your social influence into sweet rewards.

Basically, Influenster is a place for culture junkies to come together and share their unique opinions of products and experiences. Active members of Influenster get exclusive access to deals, promotions, and swag from brands that thrive off the input (the good, the bad, and the ugly -- they just want to know what's up).

Errr...There is a lot of slang but much of an actual description. I had to look around the About Us page a bit more to figure out how things work. Influenster gives you various tasks to complete in order to earn badges. The more badges you unlock, the more likely you are to receive review opportunities. To start off I had to connect my Influenster account with various social media sites, and write a review of the site. For these actions I will receive one of their badges. What do we get to review? Well every one in a while they send out product review boxes, that they call a Voxbox. There are many differently themed Voxbox available to review. The newest one is a beauty box filled with a lot of goodies for women to try out. It looks like it has some really nice products in it!

So far, I like the site. It seems simple enough to use. I haven't earned many badges yet. I'm interested to see how things improve as a complete more tasks. 

Today's Tap

Two more of my review videos were approved by Expo today. Both reviews were for Herbal Essences hair products. Both feedback comments told me to "record your video in the room where you use the product." I'm guessing that want me to film it in the bathroom, but not actually in the shower. I sure hope that is what they mean, lol.

I have to say, I'm VERY impressed with ExpoTV so far. It seems like it is much easier to earn and redeem points than it is on Crowdtap. You have to wait a week for the point to hit your account, but when they do you can redeem them right away. Crowdtap only puts Amazon gift cards up once a month now, and they run out ridiculously fast. I also like how the Expo folks leave feedback on my videos so I know what to improve on. I'm still trying to work on some of my camera shyness. I get really nervous when I'm trying to review products on my webcam.

What's new on Crowdtap:

1. I'm taking part in a discussion on Wet Wipes. I haven't posted anything yet.
2. I'm waiting for my Old Navy free sweater  coupons to ship
3. I'm less than 4,000 points away from level 13

What's new on Swaggable:

1. I'm waiting for my mango snack sample to arrive.
2. My body lotion samples are in processing.

What's new on Bzzagent:

1. Absolutely nothing. This site doesn't seem very active.

What's new on Influenster

1. Pretty much nothing
2. I'd love to be invited to review the Beauty Blogger VoxBox.
3. This site is very confusing. I have no idea how I'm supposed to earn new badges or advance.

What's new on ExpoTV:

1. 2 new videos were approved. Enjoy!

My first ExpoTV video is up!

My very first product review video is live on ExpoTV right now! In it, I review Air Wick Lavender room spray. I got a 4 star rating (out of 5) from the folks at ExpoTV. Not bad for my first try. :D

 

Notes: Next time do not mention the store where I purchased the item. Try not to say uhhh and umm too much in the future.

Welcome to Sharon's Tap!

Hello one and all. I have finally decided to start a new review blog. I'm not stranger to review blogging. I ran a young adult book review blog for two years. Sharon's Tap will have absolutely nothing to do with book review blogging. I will be using this blog to review products for some of the word of mouth marketing sites, that I belong to. Sites such as: Crowdtap, Expotv, and Influenster. I will be posting some of my first reviews real soon! Stay tuned and keeping tapping.