Folgers Flavor Coffee Enhancers

I recently joined Crowdtap a few weeks ago. I am still fairly new to the site so I am still trying to figure it out so I will do my best to describe what it is. Crowdtap is kind of like Influenster and PinchMe where you receive samples to test out for free and then provide them honest reviews. There are Crowds, Missions, and Polls. The Crowds are the brands which then is broken down to what category they fall under, such as beauty and grooming, creative concepts, financial savvy, etc. Missions are activities that you do on social media regarding those brands or products. Then there are the polls, which are basically surveys about the brand or product. For each one of these items that you fill out, you earn points towards winning gift cards to Amazon, Sephora, Walmart, eBay, etc. So far I have won several $5 gift cards to Amazon and Walmart. It may seem like that's not worth the effort filling out a bunch of surveys, but it does add up!

The first product samples that I received from Crowdtap to test out are the Folgers Flavors Coffee Enhancers. I was so surprised that I received 12 bottles in my box when I first opened it. This has definitely been the most generous sample I have tested as of yet. There were 3 of each 4 flavors, mocha, caramel, hazelnut, and vanilla. The bottles are 1.62 fl oz with a flip cap. Once you open the cap, you just squeeze the product out so that it squirts into your cup of coffee. I like to squirt it onto a spoon so that I know just how much I'm adding to my cup. On the label it says, "Add one squeeze to 5 fl oz o prepared coffee. Adjust to taste." I personally feel like one squeeze is not enough for you to really notice any of the flavor at all. I've stepped it up to spoonfuls, which is about two really long squeezes. This may just be a personal preference, but I like to drink my coffee sweet.

Apparently there are 24 servings in each of these bottles. I've gone through 1.5 bottles so far of the hazelnut flavor, and that was only about 4 cups of coffee. So maybe I do get a little too happy with these coffee flavor enhancers... But if you think about it, when you buy coffee at the coffee shop, they do add a lot of these flavor syrup/enhancers also, probably even more than my 3 spoonfuls.

Since I've only tried the hazelnut flavor so far, I'll focus on that part now. You definitely can smell the hazelnut after you squeeze it into your cup of coffee! It definitely made me feel like I was at the coffee shop, except I'm in the comfort of my home instead. I'm not very good at describing flavors at all... It tastes smooth and just like a cup of hazelnut coffee you can purchase at the coffee shop. I'll just leave it at that for my description for the flavor. I would definitely recommend these coffee flavor enhancers if you are a coffee lover! It's great for on the go also since the bottles are small enough to fit in your purse.

As noted above, I received these samples in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Maybelline #BetterSkinChallenge Foundation

The past 3 weeks I have been testing out the Maybelline Superstay Better Skin foundation. I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. Prior to receiving it, I took a prequalifying survey, which included a section with three different shades of the foundation. If I remember correctly I picked the medium shade out of the three. I received the shade called "Warm Nude." When I swatched the foundation, it seemed a little bit too light for my face. Once I applied it on my face it seemed to be a pretty close match to my skin tone on my face though. The product label also states that the foundation has SPF 15 and is oil free.

As of the packaging, the product is in a glass bottle with a plastic pump and cap. I think most foundations (drugstore and high-end) come in a glass bottle. Although the glass makes the packaging heavy, it makes me feel like the quality of the packaging is better - which makes me think the product would be of high quality also. The name of the shade is on a sticker on the front of the bottle and also on the ingredients list on the back so you won't forget what shade you have.

The actual foundation is quite thick, not liquidy or runny at all. So far I have tried applying this foundation with my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. The foundation sets pretty fast like the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation so you have to work it in quickly. I noticed that the foundation accentuated my dry patches, pores, and acne A LOT. It probably did not help that I applied a mattifying moisturizer prior to this application. This foundation can be layered to a medium coverage, I wouldn't say that it is high coverage since I could still see my acne scars through the foundation. I first wore this foundation without any powder to set it to get a true time frame for how it wears on my skin. I think I would categorize my skin as oily combination, so I usually always wear powder on top of my foundation. I also did not use any primer, concealer, blush, or contour products to get a true test wear.

After about 4 hours of wearing this while I was out running errands, I noticed that my face was oily around my T-zone. This was not a surprise to me really since my face gets oily so fast. I just used the back of my hand to kind of blot the oil and it looked okay, not the best. I probably could have used some blotting paper but I didn't. At this point I really regretted not using a powder to set the foundation.

Overall, I would not recommend this product to those who have really dry skin. Even though I have oily skin, I do have a lot of dry patches from acne. I would recommend that you exfoliate your face very well and use a moisturizing moisturizer before using this foundation. As for the better skin claim, I don't think this is a false and gimmicky statement. I haven't noticed anything different or improvements in my skin. It would be pretty hard to narrow it down to this foundation to be the sole reason why anyone's skin is getting better, you would have to stop using your other beauty products. My skin is always all over the chart so I can never really narrow any faults down to just one culprit. If one product were to make me break out madly then I would definitely know for sure which new product I'm using is the culprit. However, for skin improvement, that's a little more difficult to pin point on.

May 2014 Birchbox: Freewheeling

My sister and I finally received our Birchbox this month. I've been so tempted to look at people's videos on Youtube but I resisted. Too bad my sister looked yesterday to see on Birchbox's website to see what we would get. I was pretty disappointed and after seeing the actual contents, I am still disappointed. Anyway, here's what we got:

May's box is called Freewheeling

 I thought that the design on the inside of the box looked so chic so I had to lay it all out. I used my sister's scarf as a background.

First of all, we got Harney & Sons Fine Teas in Organic Green Tea with Mint and Rooibos Chai Tea as our Lifestyle Extra. A full-size box is $9.60, since we only got two tea bag packets, they retail price for that would be $0.96. This is the first time I am trying to breakdown the price of what's in the box so I'm not sure if my math is right. I've seen other people post up retail prices of their items so I thought I would try it out.

Rooibos Chai - I just realized that the card with the list of everything misspelled "rooibos" as "roobios." I wouldn't blame Birchbox really, it's a tough word to spell.

 Organic Green Tea with Mint

Wish Shave Crave Shaving Cream - Acai Grapefruit

Full-size: $20, retail: $3

Noya Beauty Summertime Peach lipgloss

Full-price: $16, retail: $8

Color Club Art Duo Pen

Full-price: $25 for set of 3, retail: $8.33

Supergoop! Everyday SPF 30 with Cellular Response Technology

Full-price of a travel size bottle: $ 19, retail: $2.66

Lastly, there's a $25 off coupon for Kate Spade Saturday in-store and online.

So if you include the $25 coupon with everything, the overall value for this box is $47.95. Please correct me if my math is wrong for figuring the price of the sample sizes.

This is actually our second Birchbox. So far I would have to say it's been kind of disappointing. I mean, getting tea and a granola bar (April's box), really?! I remember we unchecked the boxes for sweet treats and savory snacks after getting April's box, but yet we got tea. Hopefully June's box will be better since it'll be summer.

Big Lots Haul #1

My sister and I went to Big Lots about 2 weeks ago. Here's what I got:

• Band-Aid Sheer Strips with Quiltvent Technology: There are 40 band-aids plus 5 extra sheer ones and 5 with prints, so a total of 50 band-aids for only $1.50! I grabbed another box also because it was such a great deal.  ($3.00)

The bonus/free band-aids with prints on them:

• Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips: This is the box with 14 face and nose strips. These are in the old packaging, but still good. At $5.50 this is still a pretty good deal as it is cheaper than at some other stores. ($5.50)

• Epielle Facial Essence Mask Collagen with Vitamin E: I decided to pick up 8 of these because I really liked how the first one I got worked. You can read my short review on it here Epielle Facial Essence Mask Collagen with Vitamin E Review. ($4.80)

• Epielle Facial Essence Mask Firming and Lifting with Vitamin C: There were also these masks with Vitamin C so I decided to pick up 2 to try out. I didn't want to grab too many just in case I didn't like it. ($1.20)

So this was a total of $14.50. I would say I got a pretty good deal for these items.

The pictures above were taken by me, please do not take it or reuse it. 

Epielle Facial Essence Mask Collagen with Vitamin E Review

I purchased this cotton face mask at Big Lots about a month ago, it just took me a while to make myself write up this review.

I was browsing around the beauty section in the store for some more Epielle makeup remover wipes and saw these face masks. This was the second time that I saw them  in the store so I decided I would pick one up to try out. I thought if it's good then I could always go back and get more. The great thing about this mask is that it's only $0.60! Can't go wrong with that. I've seen packs of face masks (includes 5 masks) sold at Target for $5+. Also, I know the Korean brand My Beauty Diary is also quite popular.

This face mask was made in Korea.

It says to apply the mask after washing and toning your face. Then you can leave the mask on your face for 20-30 minutes.

I actually left the mask on for about an hour or a little over an hour. After removing the mask my face felt so soft! Since it didn't say anything about after removing the mask, I assumed that you don't wash your face again. It would have taken away the purpose of putting the mask on in the first place, I'm sure.

Overall, I loved this mask! For only $0.60 it did wonders for my face. Even though I have oily skin I think my skin still needed to be hydrated. I will definitely be picking up more of these on my next trip to Big Lots!!

The pictures above were taken by me, please do not take it or reuse it. 

Sunkissed VoxBox from Influenster

Here's a photo of most of the contents in my Sunkissed VoxBox that I received from Influenster. I know I should have taken a photo when I first opened the box when I had everything together, but oh well. I will keep that in mind in the future!

Not pictured are the pink Goody ribbon elastic hair tie and the Dr. Scholl's high heels inserts.

Olay Fresh Effects (BB Cream!) Skin Perfecting Moisturizer SPF 15 Review

I saw the Fresh Effects (Va-Va-Vivid) Powdered Contour Cleansing System reviewed by a youtuber a few weeks ago. I guess I must have heard about the BB cream also at some point, just that it probably wasn't something that was highly rated for me to remember. This is actually the first western or American BB cream I have tried. Yes, I know BB creams have pretty much been the craze over in the US for a long time now. I just never felt like I needed to purchase them because drugstore ones are pretty pricey, especially for someone like me who does not have a steady income or have money to use as I please. That being said, I do not purchase makeup or skincare products as often as those girls on youtube, blogs, or whatever other social media sites. Anyway, let's get on with the review.

Olay Fresh Effects (BB Cream!)

The packaging is in a tube like a toothpaste tube with a twist off cap. I personally am not a fan of this type of packaging. I would much rather prefer a pump as it is more sanitary and convenient. There is definitely a lot of product in this tube, 2.5 fl oz (75 ml). It would take me a long time for me to finish this tube. Based on prices I found online, it ranges from $10-15.

When I first tried on this BB cream, I noticed the scent. It's kind of a floral scent, not too strong. It's something that I think would be tolerable for most people. I did not notice the smell anymore after applying the product, which is fine with me. One big thing that I noticed is that this product did not provide any coverage for me whatsoever. I was still able to see my blemishes and acne scars on my face.

Before blending the BB cream on my hand

After blending the BB cream

You can't see in the photo before I blended the BB cream but I have a bruise on my hand where the BB cream is placed. In the after photo you can still see the bruise and my veins. As you can see, this BB cream provides minimum coverage if any at all.

Underneath the BB cream print on the front of the box, it says "Skin perfecting tinted moisturizer with sunscreen." I have not tried a tinted moisturizer before but I'm pretty sure this is one. I think they just labeled it BB cream because of all the rage about them. I know that the CoverGirl Smoothers SPF 15 BB cream was originally named "CoverGirl Smoothers Tinted Moisturizer." Other people have noticed that too, so I'm not the only one. I remember I've always seen it in the CG sections at Walmart and Target. 

So since this Olay BB cream provides no coverage for me, what I have been doing is, I apply this BB cream, then Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream, and then I either use Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme foundation or Revlon Photo Ready Concealer. Because I have oily/combination skin I need to apply powder also. I apply ELF Studio HD Powder and then Maybelline Dream Matte Powder. Even though this BB cream did not provide any coverage for me, I do see product on a makeup wipe when I remove my makeup. Although I think that's mostly from the other products I used. If I were to wear this BB cream by itself with no powder, my face would be oily in probably less than 2 hours.

Based on what I have heard about a variety of Asian BB creams and what little I have tried, they definitely provide more coverage than this Olay BB cream. I personally would not recommend this BB cream because of that. I would not purchase this product if I ever finish using up this tube.

I received this product in my Sunkissed Voxbox from Influenster. All comments and opinions are my own, I was not paid for this review.