Start Reviewing Products (Part 1)

   As some of you may have already read in previous posts, I am a product reviewer. Like many of you, I would hear about people getting free makeup and more for their reviews when watching videos on YouTube or scrolling through my feeds on social media. I currently stay at home, and needless to say, my days aren't the most exciting. I wanted to get in on this! I started out by Googling 'free stuff', 'freebies', etc. All that got me was a lot of sites that offered amazing things from Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, and more but did nothing but selling my information to other sites which then in turn completely flooded my email, and I never got a single thing in the mail. I'm still cleaning out my inbox from a year ago. If you want to become a product reviewer, I'm going to show you exactly how and where to get started in this post and bypass all that trial and error.

   First of all, let me tell you a little bit about the kind of sites that I'll be listing and talking to you about. If you haven't noticed, companies are catching on to the ever-growing popularity and virtually free advertising that social media can offer. Think about it, when you try out that new Amrezy highlighter finally, what is one of the first things you do? You take pics and start posting on Instagram, right? What did you just do for the sales of that product? Not that it needs it, but you just advertised to your followers for Anastasia Beverly Hills. Companies the world over have caught on and they're using word-of-mouth (WOM) websites to push this form of advertisement to its limits.

   WOM websites have two ends of business that meet beautifully in the middle. Speaking of the middle, that's what they are- where consumers (us) and businesses meet and interact. Businesses contact these sites and the WOM site, in turn, goes to its users and supplies campaigns for the companies. I was just sent some products from Revlon for their ColorStay Brow kit campaign. I'll use these products, send the review to the specific WOM site, as well as pictures, and complete any other activities that are required. That, simply put, is a campaign. When you first sign up, you will be asked a wide range of questions such as your age, sex, race, income, interests, and hobbies. These are important because every site uses this information to find the campaigns that are best suited to your liking. If you're 18 years old, you probably wouldn't be interested in participating in a Depends campaign. I know, it wasn't the best example but I made my point. I should also state here that every single one of these websites is 100% free. You pay for absolutely nothing, all shipping costs are covered by brands and/or the website themselves, and at no point on ANY of these sites do you need any credit card information.

   The first site I want to talk about is Influenster. I'm a proud member of the Influenster community, and we are an amazing one! This is one of the largest WOM sites online, and work with just about every brand imaginable and boasts millions of users/reviewers. Influenster isn't just a site where you connect with brands, but they give us a platform to also interact with each other by posting and answering questions for each other. There are millions of reviews that you can access, as well as articles on the best of everything, awarded products, how-to's, and more! This website has a whole lot to offer, but it's definitely the one I recommend that you start out on. Because there is so much going on here, it will introduce you to reviewing and everything else that comes along with it. You can get started by clicking on the link and signing up! Make sure you leave me a comment if you do, and feel totally free to ask me any questions you might have. I'll go into Influenster a little more in a future post. For now, we've got to keep it moving!

Sign up with Influenster!

   The next site is Crowdtap, another favorite of mine! Crowdtap is extremely user-friendly. The way Influenster is packed with information coming at you at the speed of light, Crowdtap is laid back and couldn't be simpler to use. Again, when you sign up here, one of the very first things you will do is answer questions about yourself. You truly want to be completely honest here. There are no answers in this part of the process that will help you get more products! After that, you will be shown a list of the brands that Crowdtap works with and you will choose which brands that you want to review products from. One of the bonuses about reviewing on Crowdtap is that everything you do award you points, and for every 1000 points that you get, Crowdtap gives you a $5 gift card to Amazon. Another amazing thing about this website is that you also get to pick a charity that Crowdtap will then donate to from you in small increments.

Sign up with Crowdtap!

     That's it for today! The reason for this post is simply to help you get started, and if we go any further you will be overwhelmed! As I said, Influenster itself is a massive giant but will introduce you to every aspect of reviewing products that you need to know. If you're ready to get started now, your homework is to sign up for Influenster and spend a little time on there learning the ropes. I recommend that you read the Influenster 101 articles right off the bat to help you get on your way. 

   If you're anything like me, you're an overachiever and one overwhelming website, for now, won't be enough for you! That's why I went ahead and added Crowdtap in today. If you get the hang on Influenster quickly and want to check it out, then go for it. Just keep this tip in mind. Influenster does take the dedication of time and effort. The more time you spend doing activities and reviews, the better your odds of getting chosen for campaigns.

   Again, make sure you comment if you sign up for either of these sites and let me know how it goes! If you have any questions, feel completely free to ask me and I will be more than happy to help you out to the best of my ability! Keep an eye out for a future post where I'll be telling you about a few more WOM sites- for now, I'll list/link some here in case you want to go ahead and check them out on your own (you'll find that some work better for you than others according to your taste)! XOXO!

• BzzAgent
• Toluna
• Home Tester Club
• Poshly

  

Cheap Makeup Knock-Offs from Amazon!

   Hey everyone! If you read my very first post, then you at least got the idea that I review products for several WOM websites. I'll be writing a post about reviewing: how and where to get started if you want to review products too! Anyhow, one of those websites that I work with gives $5 Amazon gift cards after every 1000 points that you reach. I let those gift cards accumulate to $30 before I just couldn't wait anymore to spend it. If you watch any beauty videos from gurus like MannyMUA or LauraLee, then I'm sure you've seen ones where they test out knock-off eyeshadow and highlighter products from apps such as hush. and wish. They sell replicas of popular makeup and run on average from $1-$10. Since I had free Amazon cash, I decided to do this little experiment myself.

   I started out by searching for the Retro Love palette that MannyMUA mentioned in his 'Original vs. Ripped-Off Makeup Dupes!' video. If you'd like to check it out, you can go to the video by clicking on the title; you can also just go directly to Manny's YouTube channel by clicking on his name above. Anyway! The Retro Love palette, $12, from Bad Habit is supposed to be a knock-off for the Anastasia Subculture palette that retails for $42 at both Sephora and Ulta. I mean..... I absolutely love this palette, but unfortunately, the knock-off was not available on Amazon. The search, however, did bring up results and I went from there!

   I have never heard of any of these makeup brands that popped up in my search results, but that was kind of the point, right? Before really getting into it, and finding something I actually liked, I took a glance at the brand reviews overall as well as the reviews on their products. I was actually kinda shocked at the reviewer ratings! Another thing I paid attention to was pictures. Most of the products had swatch pictures and let me tell you, wow! I literally refused to believe one of the swatch pictures of a palette that I ended up purchasing. Fast forward 30 minutes later and I had $50 worth of makeup in my cart, and it was literally about ten different products. Yes, when I say cheap, I mean cheap! I ended up sticking to three items: I Got You palette from Beauty Glazed $9.98, another eyeshadow palette that simply says 16 Color Eyeshadow Palette by IMagic $16.99, and a wicked highlighter for $2 that I can't remember the name of because I've misplaced the paperwork. I'll make sure to update it.

   Let me take a moment to tell you that a lot of these products are being shipped from overseas, and can take upwards of a month to come in. As a matter of fact, I'm still waiting on the highlighter that may not be in until March 28th. Also, I will provide the links for both these palettes but if you go to Amazon and search either of these, especially the IMagic palette, you will see a wide range of prices. This depends on the seller. Many different companies are selling the exact same products at very different prices. In my experience so far, regardless of which you buy from, you will get the same product but some may take longer than others to get to you and the shipping prices also vary. So just because you find a palette that is only $3, it won't make much of a difference if the shipping is $12!

   So let's start with the 16 Color Eyeshadow Palette by IMagic for $16.99. This one is the one.... the one whose swatch pic was just too good to be true. Another thing that I noticed in the pic online was that one of the pans of shadow that had been swatched looked like they had crammed their finger into it. Needless to say, this had me a bit worried about the consistency so I was very aware once it came in and was time for me to do my own swatching. OMG holla!!!! Amazed! Blown away! Okay, and it's waterproof?! It seriously is. Tested and approved!

   Before I go into these, I do want to talk about the consistency of the shimmers. Remember the swatch pic I was talking about? Well, the shimmers are a bit delicate. You definitely don't want to do any pressing into them, but they'll easily hold up to gentle use or brushes. The pigments in all of these shadows, especially the shimmers, are unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. Ever. The shadows blend out very nicely, except the shimmers. I found that you need to apply these with your finger due to the 'creaminess' to get it packed on like you would want it. After that, however, you can use a blending brush to easily soften up the edges. These shadows lasted all day and through sleeping in! They truly are waterproof/sweatproof. I give these 4/5 stars. I only take away a star because of how delicate the shimmers are (which really isn't even an issue).

IMagic Professional Cosmetics

16 Color Eyeshadow Palette

$16.99 or less

Click here to purchase

   The second eyeshadow palette I purchased was the I Got You palette from Beauty Glazed for $9.98 and has 18 shades. This one is supposed to be a knock-off of the Huda Desert Dusk palette that retails for $65. This company has some of the highest starred reviews when it comes to unnamed makeup on Amazon. Seriously, I don't think I saw a single product from them that had less than 4 stars. Now how many people actually reviewed it is another thing. It was able to be shipped quickly as well. After swatching the first palette, I was kind of disappointed in this one. The IMagic was so insanely pigmented, nothing would have made me happy after it! The next day, however, I decided that I was going to try it out when I put on my makeup and I was actually really happy with this one too. The colors aren't' super duper pigmented, but they aren't weak either. They're your average eyeshadow. The actually blend beautifully, I'd say better than your average eyeshadow. It lasted throughout the day, but I took it one step further. I slept in it to really test out its staying power. It did not last til morning hahaha. This one gets 4/5 stars from me!

Beauty Glazed Cosmetics

I Got You eyeshadow palette

$9.98

Click here to purchase

   So there you have it- my opinion on two knock-off palettes from two no-name makeup companies selling on Amazon. As soon as my highlighter gets here, I'll let you know how it is! By the way, I literally just got a package in the mail- the Revlon ColorStay Brow kit as well as the Revlon Salon Slant Tweezer. Keep an eye out for my review on it coming soon, and until next time make sure to follow me on Twitter and Insta, and leave comments about what you'd like to see on my blog!!!


 
 

Nice to Finally Meet You!

   This is the very first post on my very first blog, and what better way to start off than by introducing ourselves so that we can see if this is even going to go anywhere between the two of us? Hi, my name is Kim! What's your name? Age? Sign? Single? Do you drink coffee or tea? Good to know! Now let's keep it moving. I want to say out right that my peak creativity level has already plateaued for the day. I think clearest late morning after about four cups of coffee, not at 4:00 pm after having NO coffee for hours. Let me also take this opportunity to mention that I'm a mom to a little girl and a young teenage boy- who is hovering over my shoulder reading everything aloud to the rest of the house. Needless to say, it's hard to concentrate.

   I am in my mid 30's and also the very proud owner of two Rat Terriers who, I swear, may very well be the best dogs that I have ever owned. I've been married, and divorced by the age of 24. I found someone soon after, and we have been sharing our lives together, for better or worse, ever since. I'm from Ohio, the heart of the Midwest so they say, a place that can be cut right through the middle and separated into either very northern or very southern accents and ways of life.

   This is just an intro to myself and my blog, so I'm trying to keep it short and sweet. I love beauty, being a mom, and learning to live. I have lived 34 years to date, and I. HAVE. LIVED. Things have been rough; I've seen and been through things that most people luckily will never have to. I've started to find the light at the end of the tunnel... the place where the tunnel opens up into the light-filled world beyond it. Before I step out fully into the sun, I wanted to pick some new friends up along the way.

   I also get review products. If you're interested in getting free products to review, I recommend trying Influenster. It's a fantastic community and doesn't focus on any one area. You can review the best products in home, beauty, health, baby, food, and more. If you sign up, let me know what you think! I'll write a post about it soon. Also, since this is brand new, I'm very open to comments about what you would like to hear about! In the meantime, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Twitter through the links on the home page!