Vichy Aqualia Thermal Rehydrating Gel Cream Review

Well, well, well, look who's back from the dead. I mean, from a long, unexpected hiatus. It's been about half a year since my last blog post, the longest hiatus I've had from the blog. Let's just say, it's been a very uneventful 6 months. I just made a few changes in my life, and had a lot of other things going on, and blogging was just in the background for me at the time. I'm happy to say though, that I am back, and hopefully I won't be gone for such a long time again! 

I'm always happy when I get the opportunity to review products through Influenster Voxboxes, especially skin care stuff! As I get older, I understand the importance of properly taking care of your skin, because you know, I plan to look like I'm 18 forever :) 

If you're new here, or maybe just haven't read any of my other Influenster posts, let me fill you in. Influenster is an amazing community where you can read reviews from people just like you, about products you like. Not only that, they send out free products to members to try and test out. Free products in exchange for your honest opinions? Sign me up! Or, sign you up maybe? Check out my previous Influenster posts, where I got things like Bite Beauty Lip Pencils, L'oreal Skincare, and even a Keurig!! Yeah you heard that right, a FREE Keurig. I also go into more detail of what Influenster is in that post, so be sure to check it out! 

Now, more about the product. The Vichy Aqualia Thermal Rehydrating Water Gel Cream is suppose to provide 48 hours of hydration to combination/oily skin. Straight from the website; it recharges dry and dehydrated skin using natural derived ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid, fortifying Vichy mineralizing water, and plant sugar mannose. These ingredients work together to provide you with fresh, dewy looking skin. It's also paraben-free, silicone free and oil free! 

The cream itself was like a gel consistency, and absorbed very quickly into the skin. It does have a scent, but it wasn't overpowering and didn't linger once it dried. 

I've been using this as my daily moisturizer for many a little over 2 weeks now? I've got to say, it's a good cream, but not the best. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's not so amazing that I would repurchase it. It did its job and it did keep my skin hydrated, but I mean, that was about it. I have very oily skin, with occasional dry patches. Using this product daily has vastly decreased the dry patches, and my skin was hydrated, but the oil produced on my face wasn't minimized. Of course the product itself doesn't say it minimizes an oily complexion, but I would've hoped it would help with the overproduction of oil. 

It definitely provides dewy looking skin when worn on its own, but as a person with super oily skin, I don't really need/want that dewy look at all! I'll still continue to use the product because it does keep my face well moisturized, but I probably won't be repurchasing it, as it doesn't meet my personal skincare needs!

Interested in the opportunity to receive and review free products?

Join Influenster today!

I received this product for free, complimentary from Influenster.

All opinions are my own.

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Revlon Mega Multiplier Mascara Review

Well look who's back and blogging again. Hey friends, it's been a while! I recently caught the blogging bug and decided to start reviewing products I've been receiving, and today, I'm back with another one.  I got the chance from Influenster to review the Revlon Mega Multiplier Mascara, and I have to say, this might be the first Influenster product I wasn't too impressed by! If you don't know what Influenster is; where have you been these past few years?! Free products in exchange for your honest opinions? Sign me up! Or, sign you up maybe? Check out my previous Influenster posts, where I got things like Bite Beauty Lip Pencils, L'oreal Skincare, and even a Keurig!! Yeah you heard that right, a FREE Keurig. I also go into more detail of what Influenster is, so be sure to check it out!  Now on to this review. I've tried my fair share of mascaras, so I would say I definitely know what to look for, for my own lashes. Now, just because I don't like this mascara, doesn't mean it won't suit the needs of someone else. 

So the mascara is suppose to provide length with the fibers inside, and it's also not suppose to smudge. 

You can see a few little fibers there. 

  Here is my lashes curled. If I don't curl them, they pretty much angle downwards. 

Their was very minimal to no smudging, and it didn't smear anywhere! It provided lots of length to my lashes, but within minutes, my lashes drooped downwards. The formula itself may just be too heavy for my thin, sparse lashes. Too many layers and it looked a wee bit clumpy. Personally, I didn't like this mascara much, but maybe paired with a volumizing mascara, and it would look great.

I received this product complimentary from Influenster. 

All opinions are my own.

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Make Up For Ever Water Blend Foundation Review

Long time no see blog friends. Now that summer's here, I'm hoping to have a few more blog posts up my sleeve, considering it won't be as busy at work. I'll keep them short and sweet, so I will get them out in a timely fashion of course. I got the chance to review Make Up For Ever Water Blend foundation, courtesy of Glam Sense. 

The Water Blend foundation is a super lightweight foundation, made with 80% water, and enriched with pro-vitamin B5. The coverage is super sheer, but buildable, and it's almost like your skin but better.

I got the shade Y305 - soft beige, which was a tad too light for me. but would probably be great for in the winter time. 

I am more of a full coverage foundation girl, but I thought I should give this a chance. I have a lot of discolouration around my eyes, pimples here and there, and redness basically everywhere. 

This is three layers of the foundation. I couldn't use the blender they provided, I felt like it was smearing the product around more than anything. I ended up using my fingers to blend it all out, and a damp Beauty Blender to buff it all out. You definitely have to wait at least a minute before each layer, because the foundation moves if it's not fully set. Even with 3 layers, you can still see my pimples, and a little bit of redness. It definitely looks natural, but not the best of coverage for my skin needs.

Here it is with a setting powder. The foundation itself feels like I'm wearing absolutely nothing. It gives you a dewy glow, which I presume is sought out for in the summer months. The one thing I disliked though was the scent. It has quite the strong fragrant smell, a bit floralish. Not the biggest fan of that. I would definitely wear it on days I don't feel like wearing a heavy foundation, but want some coverage, considering I don't have perfect skin.

I received this product free from Glam Sense by Topbox. All opinions are my own.

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Free Samples - Elle Canada Spring 2014 Beauty Box

Another free sample box? YES! This was actually a sample box that I did not talk about in my How To Get Free Samples Post. I didn't post it because for some reason the link to the Elle Canada Beauty Box wasn't working, and still doesn't whenever I try to access it. It may be because I'm using Chrome so someone please let me know!

I think I may have registered through my Iphone sometime, and thats how I received one for this Spring. What the EC Beauty Box is, its a program created by Elle Canada that offers free samples and coupons to qualified people to rate and review FREE products!

So how do you qualify? Above, I imbedded a link where it says "Elle Canada Beauty Box" and when you scroll down the page, you just input your email and I believe they will notify you if you will be receiving one. From what I recall, but don't take my word on it since I have terrible memory, you have to fill out a survey which helps them determine if you're qualified for a free box. I wasn't actually expecting one this year and was super happy to see it in my mailbox. Thanks Elle Canada!

Here is the super cute box they give you! So pretty and chic. 

An overview of what I received in my box.

From what I seen, everyone has received the same products:

Covergirl Bombshell Volume by Lashblast Mascara - Full Size! ($9.97)

Satin Care with a Touch of Olay Shave Gel - Full Size! ($3.00)

Crest 3D Whitestrips (1 sachet)

Pantene Repair and Protect Shampoo and Conditioner (deluxe sample)

In the box was also a card and a mini magazine on looks you can create. 

This is the inside of the product card. It tells you what is the "seasons all-star products", also known as what you get in the beauty box.

Some of the products in the product card were not given, but instead they provided coupons for the following products:

$3.00 off any Olay Regenerist Luminous Products

$4.00 off when you buy any One Venus Razor System

+

$1.00 off when you buy any One Satin Care Shave Gel

$5.00 off when you buy any Vidal Sassoon Hair Colour Box

The real question is, why aren't you signed up for an Elle Canada Beauty Box? You get free samples, yes FREE. You will be seeing a lot of the word FREE in my blog posts, because I love getting FREE stuff! I love trying new products and I love companies who are willing to give consumers a chance to try their products before we purchase them. 

Once again, if you're interested in getting an Elle Canada Beauty Box, just click the link right here. Wait for the email and hope they pick you for the next upcoming box!

Do you enjoy saving, getting coupons and free samples? Comment below and let me know! I have many websites, ideas and surprises up my sleeve!

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Free Samples - My Samplesource Haul!

Hello, sorry for the lack of blog posts lately, I've been super swamped with a bunch of birthdays the past two weeks and didn't have time to schedule or write any posts! No more slacking though, time to get back on track !

Today's post is about my free sample haul from Samplesource.

To quickly sum up what Samplesource is, it is a company that provides consumers with a "try before you buy" sample program, where seasonally they provide free sample bundles! Yes, you read that correctly, FREE SAMPLES. If you want to learn more about free sample websites and such, read about it here on my How To Get Free Samples Post.

I actually was suppose to get three sample boxes because I ordered one to my home, for my mom's work, and my boyfriend ordered one too, but I never received the one to my house yet which was weird. Depending on how you answer the quick survey before ordering your samples, your sample choices varied. It also depended how quick you were to order your free samples, since they are limited. It took about 4-6 weeks for my packages to arrive.

Samplesource box 1: This one is from my mom's work. Since I took long to order this one, I received less samples, and a smaller box.

For this samplesource box, I received a total of 6 products:

Quaker Oats Harvest Crunch Quinoa Granola Bar - I have tried this bar before from a previous sample box, and I LOVED it. They're super delicious if you're a fan of quinoa, they taste super chocolatey and yummers. 

Sunlight Dishwasher Oxi Action Pod - I don't know why I got this product, because I don't recall answering that I had a dishwasher. Anyways, it is just a dishwasher pod to use with a dishwasher. 

John Frieda Frizz Ease Thermal Protection Serum - Its always nice to get hair products in these samples, I enjoy trying new hair serums.

Snuggle Boosters - a scent booster you add to your washer load to add a nice scent to your clothes. 

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Correct Treatment - Since I do have a chunk of blonde in my hair, this treatment will hopefully work well for me. 

Hershey's Whole Almonds Chocolate Bar - Who doesn't love free chocolate?

Samplesource box 2: This is the box that arrived to my boyfriend's house. As you can see it is a lot bigger and I got a lot more samples. 

For this box, I got a total of 10 products!

I'm going to re-list the products I already got, and then go into detail with the other ones.

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Correct Treatment

Snuggle Boosters

Sunlight Dishwasher Oxi Action Pod

Quaker Oats Harvest Crunch Quinoa Granola Bar

Hershey's Whole Almonds Chocolate Bar

John Frieda Frizz Ease Thermal Protection Serum

Twistos Asiago Baked Snack Bites - I've tried Twistos before, and they are literally croutons. Super yummy but I'm not a huge fan of them.

Quaker Oats Warm and Crunchy Granola - great for a yogurt topping!

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream - I think I've tried this before but I was never a huge fan of the scent. 

John Frieda Smooth Start Shampoo, Conditioner, and Styling Creme - I love when companies give you samples of the shampoo and conditioner, and its even better when they offer a styling product to go with it too!

I hope you enjoyed my Samplesource post, did you get a chance to receive any free samples? Do you know any other sampling websites? Let me know down in the comments! 

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Free Samples - How To Get Freebies

If you watched my most recent Youtube Video, I did a little glimpse of my sample (hoarding) drawers.

Well today I am going to teach you the basics of how you can acquire free samples!

A little background info on how it started for me. About two years ago I started to watch the show Extreme Couponing on TLC religiously. I thought that it was simply amazing that someone could use so much time looking for coupons to save money on groceries! Me and my brother do the grocery shopping for ourselves, and I thought it would be a good idea to find awesome coupons so we could save a couple bucks. Unfortunately, the coupon laws in Canada are way different than in the United States, which refrain people from using the same coupon more than once, and we aren't able to double coupons in most grocery stores. While my dream to be an extreme couponer ended, I discovered something better. FREE PRODUCT SAMPLES.

This blog post is to help you learn how to receive product samples from companies who are willing to give them out. These are my personal, favourite and convenient ways that I get free samples from companies.

Lets start with the basics. The easiest way to get beauty samples is from beauty stores.

Sephora
1) a. My favourite time to buy anything from Sephora online is when the have the mystery bag of samples.

These usually happen around Cyber Monday, or even at random times. Not only are you getting a bunch of awesome samples, you are also getting a cool drawstring bag! Most of these sample bags occur around the holiday season, but I've seen some come randomly too. Best thing to do is to be subscribed on their emailing list.

2) b. Another way to get free samples from Sephora is to ask them.
Not a lot of people know this, or maybe they do, is that you can ask associates for a sample of a product so you can test it out before you buy it. You can ask for samples for foundation and usually they'll give you a 10 day sample. This can be applied to counters in The Hudson's Bay and Mac stores too. You just have to ask! Its better for customers to try a sample of a product first to see if they like it, than them buying it, returning it and the product having to be thrown away.

Most, if not all of the samples in my "beauty sample drawer" are from Sephora. I actually do most of my Sephora shopping online because you can get three free samples with your purchase, and sometimes they even have promos going on to receive mystery sample bags, which are my favourite.

Couponing Websites
3) My favourite way of finding out about free samples are Coupon/Freebie Websites. The three sites that I follow everyday are:

• Save a Loonie
• Canadian Savers
• Canadian Coupons

These websites keep me updated with current sales and promotions going on in stores, and whenever there is a freebie going on, I receive Twitter text messages from Savealoonie.com. These websites let you in on information regarding which brands and companies are currently offering deals and free products at the moment. Doing this guarantees my opportunity for free samples. I know, it sounds crazy but if you want to have a chance at free stuff, you gotta be prepared!

This is my sample drawer. Most of these things were acquired through the websites above.

Sampling Programs
4) The last way I receive samples are through sampling programs. What I mean by this is that I get sample boxes, from places such as:

• P&G Brandsamplers - Procter and Gamble (P&G) is the company that offers us great products such as: Tide, Covergirl, Crest, Always, and Febreeze. Every year they have coupons available on the brandsaver website, and they also offer their Brandsaver Sample Box. These boxes offer various samples from detergent, shampoos, and sometimes beauty samples. In order to get these samples and coupons you have to make an account on their site.
  
  (UPDATE 04/15/14): Accoring to Savealoonie, P&G is no longer offering the Brandsampler boxes! Which SUCKS since I posted this literally just yesterday and I read about it today haha. BUT the okay news is that you can still get FREE SAMPLES from P&G on their website: www.pgeveryday.ca . You are required to make an account on the website and read through articles and product reviews. Basically you have to get involved with the website now and you will get products based on your preferences, rather than a box full of goodies, you will get a couple things based on what you like. In a way this is a great way to target the right audiences, but who knows maybe they still will have more brandsamplers in the future! If you would like to register to learn about more products and get free samples, here's the registration link (End of update).

• Sample Source - is a website that offers free samples of products for consumers to try before buying. Similar to the P&G Brandsaver boxes, they offer seasonal boxes (spring, summer and fall) where you get a bunch of samples to try. You make an account with them, and when they have a box available (which you should keep a look out for) you fill out a survey and usually based on what you answered in the survey, they give you options of free samples of those products! 

Here is a photo of all the Crest white strips I have got through various boxes. Sample Source usually has similar products you get from the P&G Brandsaver, which is good and bad. 

Here is an overview of what kind of shampoo and conditioner samples you can get. Sometimes they offer shampoo and conditioner sachets so you won't always get bottles. 

A lot of other ways you can get free samples are through magazines and Facebook pages of brands and companies. You just got to keep a good eye out for them. I hope my post will help anyone in their hopes of starting a sample collection! Its a great way to start trying new products or you know, becoming a hoarder like me.. haha. 

Do you have any awesome tips to getting free samples? Please let me know!

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