Giveaway Results: Congratulations, Arie!

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . December 17, 2010 . 8:13PM

Random number generator says we have a winner: Lucky number 5! Congratulations, Arie, you win the cool screwdriver! Email me your address to jillian at blueshelled dot com and I will get this out within the next week. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Thanks to all who participated and to all of you for reading blueshelled.com!

Giveaway: Husky Screwdriver Set

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . December 8, 2010 . 5:04PM

I’ll admit it, I’m such a girlie girl. Before the feminists beat me to a pulp, perhaps rightfully so, I’ll just say that I’m not mechanically inclined. I try really hard, but I’m just not there. So, when I find something that makes life easier, I tend to jump on it and grab it and hold it like gold. Therefore, giving away the freebie that Husky Tools sent me (*note to the FTC-this was a freebie*) to review makes me feel a bit like Scrooge.

Home Depot is offering a bunch of really cool tools for under $20 this holiday season. Being a really awesome company, they offered to send some bloggers some of the tools to review and giveaway (not review and keep–bah humbug) to their loyal readers. I got a super cool screwdriver set.

I’ll admit that when they said they were sending me screwdrivers to review that my initial reaction was “how on earth am I going to review screwdrivers? Don’t you just put it on the screw on turn it?” Yep. I’m crafty like that. When I got the screwdriver kit, though, I was like a kid in a candy store. It had all these cool little bit things. Every bit you could think of was in this kit (like 12 of them!). The batteries were included (YES!!!) so it makes an easy holiday gift. All I had to do was take the little paper out, which was thoughtful of them, so it didn’t drain the juice. I immediately started assembling and pushing the right and left buttons to watch the bits go back and forth.

And then…I did something that was decidedly male…I started looking for things to take apart. Oh yes. There had to be something in the house to take apart. And we’re just going to leave the story as to what was disassembled there because you really don’t need to know more about that. What I will say is that this screwdriver is AWESOME and I’m loathe to give it up (ARGH!). For $10, I’m considering putting it on my wishlist. Mom, are you reading this? Everyone needs a good screwdriver. If I hadn’t said I’d give it away, I might have actually given it to her as a gift. We love the freebies.

However, now I have to give it to one of you. One slightly used and gleefully toyed with screwdriver is up for grabs.

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before December 15, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you love about this time of year. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**I can only ship in the United States. I’m sorry to my International folks. I adore you, anyway.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me and my sponsors. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!

Freebies make me happy

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . May 19, 2010 . 6:23PM

Have I mentioned lately that I have the best sponsors in the world? The way to this girl’s heart is freebies. You buy me stuff or give me a freebie and I’m a happy camper. Restaurants that offer free toothpicks or mints to me get higher stars in my personal restaurant monitor than do those that don’t. It’s simple psychology in that people like to feel like they are getting a deal. My love language is presents and when someone hits that button, I’m a happy girl.

So, when my rep at SkincareRx.com, Mike, said “Hey, I’m sending you stuff, let me know if you like it,” I was over the moon. In the interest of full disclosure, my sponsor sent me the bag. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m giving you my completely honest review of the products contained within knowing my sponsor is probably going to read this, because I know, and they know, that not every product is right for every person or every skin type. You are going to hear me say that alot.

So, without further review, you wanna know about the stuff I got and what it was like. The beauty cache is a box filled with beauty stuff, some sample sized and some full sized. It is $29.95 and has a beautiful little case to put your new products in. Mine was blue. My products were not all the same as the pictured products, as some caches are different, and mine didn’t have the awesome little gift card because I’m a blogger and not a buyer. I used the products over the course of a month or so and used the skincare products on different weeks so I could tell if I had reactions to them.

Here is what mine contained based upon star review value:

Juara rice facial cleanser- 1.1 fl. oz. Holy wow. The best of the best. This stuff smelled amazing and cleansed my super sensitive skin without stripping it. I found myself looking online to see if they made a lotion in the scent. It only took a little and it was easy to use. It also made my hands soft after use. When I run out of the sample, which I haven’t yet, after a month, I’m going to be purchasing this. It is wonderful.

Jane Iredle Pure Lash Extender and Conditioner I have teeny tiny short, sparse lashes. Really? I have bald eyes. It’s true. The Telly Savalas of eyeballs. When I applied the extender/conditioner duo, I had lashes! It was amazing. A couple of things to note: It will feel like you have false lashes on. For some people, they can’t handle this and will fiddle with their lids. Don’t do it. You will just pull out your eyelashes or upset your eyelids. I was fine with it and I’m neurotic. Second, my eyelashes didn’t feel conditioned, but they didn’t feel brittle. For me, it was totally worth it. With this and my TooFaced Lash Injection, I had some serious peepers.

The Name is Product Pomade I’m a freak about my hair. When I was younger, I was ok with not caring about my hair, but now? Totally different story. My stylist always comments upon how healthy my hair is. I like that positive feedback. I crave it. My stylist is hot. It makes me feel special. My low self-esteem demands that attention. So….I was leery about trying something with a name like this. And I was wrong. WRONG. It looks non-descript. It’s in a jar and it looks like it might need to be heated in a microwave. Nope. I put the amount of a pencil eraser in my hand, rubbed it together and magically it made my wavy hair into “naturally curly hotness.” My hair goes all the way down my back. This little jar will last me ages. And it held for 2 days without feeling the slightest bit crunchy or greasy. I hid my jar. Nobody touches my jar.

Bond No. 9 So New York Eau de Parfum Where perfume is concerned, I don’t like hard scents. My everyday scent is a lemon scent. Yep. I’m a clean, light scented girl. But holy jeepers, this is hot. Just, HOT. I wore it and felt like every man in the room was looking at me. I know, that was slightly creepy, but it smelled good. And it lasted all day. And it’s expensive, but a little bit would last a long, long time. And I want more.

Pharmacopia Lavender body lotion 1.8 fl oz For most of my life, I despised the smell of lavender, but lately, I’ve been craving it. I’m not sure why other than it soothes me. Most aromatherapists agree that the scent of lavender is meant to be soothing and calming and relaxing. Life has been hectic lately and all I want is some peace, so lavender it is! Now, I have to be honest in that I have a quirk. I HATE the way lotion feels on the palm of my hand. I’ll wait while you process that and give me a look like this: o.O However, I soldiered on and found that I liked the way this felt on my body. It was luscious, for lack of a better term. Silky and thick and I found myself enjoying the scent of it all day. The only reason it was down a star is because it took a while to sink into my skin and I did not like the way my jammie pants felt when up against it.

Kinerase Advanced Radiance Face Peel-3 day supply Peels scare me. Seriously. When I said I have sensitive skin, that was no joke. When I saw a face peel I seriously considered not trying it and just throwing it into the “neutral not gonna do it” category. But, I’m a strong, amazing woman who takes one for the team. Well, that and I was curious. It kills cats, but in this case, it made my skin look great! After 3 days, I was glowing. I’m pretty certain there is nothing radioactive in my diet, so it had to be the peels. And, best of all, my skin wasn’t itchy or irritated. The price is a downfall here, and I might be reluctant to commit to a peel. One of my peel sticks was dried up, as well, but I have no doubt that the company would send me a new one if I’d asked. Not a bad peel if you are looking to peel.

Marina Cosmetics Sea Perfected Lipstick in Beach Breeze The major problem I found with this lipstick is that it was a frost. I’m too young to do a frost well and pull it off and the coloring was a little off for me as a person. This is going to be where personal preference comes in. I still gave it 3 stars because it was a GREAT moisturizing lipstick and hours later, when the frost wore off, my lips looked good.

MD Skincare All-In-One Tinted Moisturizer Sunscreen SPF 15 – Light Houston, we have a problem. While this tinted moisturizer moisturized my skin, it had the same fatal flaw that I’ve found all other tinted moisturizers have: Light doesn’t really mean light. My pretty porcelain princess sisters will agree that light doesn’t mean tan. I’m very light skinned with yellowish undertones and often have to go with products made for Asian skin because light means light, not medium. For some people, this would be a great tinted moisturizer, but for me, it was only a three.

Colorescience Sunforgettable SPF 30 – All Clear Well, I’m fair skinned and I burned baby burned. I was red like a lobster after this on the half of my body facing the sun. It did not last a 3 hour little league game. But it did keep me from sweating, strangely enough?

Heliocare Dietary Supplement For The Skin- 10 day supply I didn’t notice any skin changes for the better, but my skin didn’t get worse, either. I couldn’t say that this helped or hurt. Maybe I needed a longer go with or it’s possible it didn’t work for me.

MD Skincare Hydra-Pure Vitamin C Serum full size product Out of all the products I received, this is the one I most wanted to try. I’ve had excellent luck in the past with products that contain Vitamin C making my skin just glow. The minute I applied this one, my skin burned so badly that my eyes teared up and I immediately started looking for a washrag to remove it. This is not for a sensitive skin person.

SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF I had a similar experience with the Phloretin CF that I had to the C-serum. When I put it on, it was fine, however, the next morning, my forehead broke out and I itched like crazy. For a week. Sometimes products just are not chemically perfect for your skin. This wasn’t for me.

VitaMedica Arnica Montana 30X 5-Day Blister Pack – 40 Tablets This is a really specialized product for people who are undergoing plastic surgery procedures and therefore I couldn’t review it. It helps decrease swelling and the discomfort from surgery. It gets a neutral star because I don’t have anything, good or bad, to say about it, but it was in my pack and I wanted to acknowledge it was there.

So, overall, the beauty cache was well worth it’s price to try the products alone. There were several full sized/close to full sized products in there and if you did the cost analysis, it was silly not to try them if there were several you might use. I was happy to find several things I didn’t know about and I’m pretty well versed in skincare and make-up. Thanks again, to Mike and SkincareRx.com for the opportunity to try this stuff and let you guys know about it.