Thursday, April 11, 2013

Colgate Optic White Oral Care Regimen



A few of the items in my Sugar N Spice Voxbox from Influenster were the items included in the Colgate Optic White Oral Care Regimen. This included the toothpaste, mouthwash, and a toothbrush! I have used the toothpaste and mouthwash before, but not the toothbrush. I hadn't used it in a while however because I only bought it the first time because I got it for free.
  Before I say what I think of it, I will give a brief history of my oral care. I got braces when I was 9 and didn't get them off until I was 16. The orthodontist I had did not do a good job cleaning my teeth during that time, and it is hard to get them as clean as they should be with just a toothbrush when you have metal covering the majority of your teeth. When he removed the braces, my orthodontist told me that the enamel on my teeth had been damaged from the glue as well as from the teeth not being able to be cleaned properly in 7 years. He told me I would always look the way it did and just to take care of them as well as I could.
 Since then, I have been very self conscious about my smile. I have always wanted to go have professional whitening done, but have never had the money to be able to do it! I have used whitestrips with little to no success, and they are pretty pricey as well.
 When I started using this toothpaste, I didn't have much hope of it working like it said it would. I have pretty much just come to accept that my teeth are going to stay this way.
  I have been using this regimen faithfully for the last 7 days and have seen an improvement in the color of my teeth. I am really hoping as a little more time passes that I get even better results! I am going to post a before and after photo, even though it makes me cringe to think of people looking at my teeth because even the after photo isn't great! I am going to continue using this until my free toothpaste and mouthwash is gone, and then I will post another update to see if they look even better then. I am hoping this will continue to whiten my teeth to help me not be as self conscious.  I don't expect it to work as well as a professional whitening, but hopefully it will return some self esteem when it comes to my smile because I love to laugh!!!! :)

Monday, April 8, 2013

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector Oil Free B.B. Cream

Me and my girl getting ready for church! Doesn't my skin look great! :)
My newest campaign from Bzzagent is for Garnier. I got to try (for free) their Oil Free B.B. cream. Before this campaign I had never even heard of BB cream, let alone try it. So I was really excited to get to try something new. I was surprised when I tried it the first time that it was sooooooo runny!! I applied it with my hands so that it wouldn't get wasted by soaking into a sponge. I loved the coverage that it gave! It covered blemishes very well and really evened out my skin tone! It replaced my usual foundation as a great base for my other cosmetics. It really gave my skin a great finished and smooth look. I was a little surprised at how expensive this stuff is. On Amazon it is selling for over $16. That seems a little steep to me, but I don't typically spend more than 5 or 6 dollars on my foundation and the added SPF isn't that important to me. I also feel that they should have more shade options. I am very fair skinned and the light/medium was too dark for me. It wasn't so dark that it really looked terrible, but it didn't really match my natural skin shade. So, I probably wouldn't buy it again unless I could really get a great deal, but I will enjoy using my free bottle until it is empty!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Kroger Spring Dinner Campaign




So, this campaign was AWESOME! I got coupons for a free (Kroger brand) pork tenderloin, crescent rolls, refrigerated mashed potatoes, cake mix, and cake frosting.



     I have never made a pork tenderloin before. I don't usually buy it because of the expense, and I was so excited to try it for FREE! I decided to do something simple because I felt like anything very strong would overpower the flavor of the pork itself. So, I simply put it in the crock pot with some brown gravy and let it cook on low for 7 hours. It was so delicious! It was really flavorful and juicy! I had heard from many people that it can get dry, so I was really excited to find out that it was so tender and juicy and full of flavor. My husband and I both loved it!

I served the pork with the refrigerated mashed potatoes. They were good, but usually if I buy refrigerated mashed potatoes (which I only do if I have a coupon) I buy Bob Evans. These were not nearly as good as Bob Evans potatoes. They were kind of yellow, which I know isn't a matter of flavor, but it you enjoy food with your eyes first. They weren't nearly as creamy as Bob Evans potatoes! I did enjoy them and they were cheaper, but I have found many coupons lately for Bob Evans potatoes which makes them around the same price as the Kroger ones. I kind of think that refrigerated mashed potatoes are a waste of money when it doesn't take very long to make the flakes.



I didn't have time the night we made the pork to make the crescent rolls, so I decided to make them as appetizers for another night at dinner. I made pinwheels with the rolls. I put salami and Italian cheeses in some of them and put pepperoni and Italian cheeses in some of them. I heated some pasta sauce for dipping! These were so delicious! My husband LOVED them and asked me to make them much more often! The rolls were so flaky and buttery and made a great sort of crust for my pepperoni and salami. They definitely were just as good as the Pillsbury ones and they are cheaper, even with the coupons that I am able to find. I have already bought additional cans of these crescent rolls in order to make some more!












Lastly, I made the cake mix into cupcakes for today's potluck dinner at church! I bought white cake with vanilla icing. I decided instead of making plain white cupcakes, which I think is kind of boring, I would make m&m cup cakes. So, I added M&M's to the mix and then frosted them and put chocolate powder on top. They were delicious! The cake was very moist and the icing had great flavor! I was really glad the icing was very easy to spread, but it also wasn't too runny! I think they were a hit at the dinner! They even looked pretty! (I will include a picture)
 In closing, these are all products that we enjoyed, and I would probably buy all of them again except maybe the refrigerated potatoes! I can't wait to do another campaign for Kroger! I love these!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013