Monday, February 22, 2016

Product Reviewing

I've been involved in product testing and reviewing for a few years now, and I've been asked many times about it.  I'd love to share with all of you the many places I review for, and some of the great things I've gotten to review.

In no particular order:

Bzz Agent -  I've been with Bzz Agent for a year now.  You are given surveys to see if a BzzCampaign is a good fit for you; once chosen, they give you the various tasks you need to complete the BzzCampaign.  They more quality posts you make the more likely it is you will be chosen for future BzzCampaigns.  My products have included Pure Via, Crest Pro Health, Children's Claritin, Secret Clinical, Barber Foods,  Welch's Refreshingly Simple, o.b. Tampons, GO VEGGIE, and Prestige for Women (including D&G and Gucci).

Smiley360 - I've been with Smiley360 for just under a year. They also do surveys to see if you qualify for missions.  If you qualify, they will give you different tasks to complete; each task is worth so many points, and you need to achieve a certain number of points to obtain the mission badge. This one took me a good three months of doing surveys before I finally qualified for one, so don't give up. My products have included Sleep Number (where I got a great new pillow!), o.b. Tampons, Goodness Knows Snacks, Nature's Bounty, Arm & Hammer, Vitafusion, Advil Sinus Congestion & Pain, Orajel, Hello Toothpaste, and Emergen-C.

Influenster - I've been with Influenster about 2.5 years. They are also survey based to qualify, they are a bit different though in that you typically receive a box of items instead of just one item.  They give you several tasks in order to unlock the overall box badge, and then to unlock the individual brand badges as well. Campaigns I've been involved in have been Colgate Total, Kiss Products, Rimmel London, Lidnt Lindor Truffles, Dr Scholl's, belVita, Red Rose, imPRESS Nails, Pilot Acroball, Colgate Optic White, NYC New York Color, Aqua Spa, Playtex, Blue Diamond, Muller Yogurt, Clear Proof, Penguins of Madagascar, Fruit Vines, Calvin Klein, Covergirl, Neutorgena, Sally Hansen, Biscoff, Hallmark itty bittys, Pure Ice, Cetaphil, Ore-Ida, Carefree, TastyKake, EcoTools, Celestial Seasonings, and McCormick Gourmet.

Crowdtap - I've been with Crowdtap for about 1.5 years.  As the name implies, they "tap the crowd" for social sharing on several different brands. Instead of just reaching out to you to see if you qualify for missions, you can join brands, answer polls, share media on your social media accounts, apply for samples, take pictures and more. This one is also a sample share product review site.  So instead of getting one item for you to try and review, sometimes they'll send 2-3 items for you to share with your family and friends. Then there are several steps you do to complete the mission.

Tomoson - I'm pretty new to Tomoson, only about 4 months so far.  You fill out your profile, and there are a ton of categories to browse of items to review, that you then apply for a chance to review.  Some are completely free, some you get a huge discount on, and on some you actually get paid to review.  So far I've only done free ones.   I do get offers to apply multiple times a day,  unfortunately most don't seem very relevant to me (lots of baby offers, but I have an almost 4 year old). There is a HUGE assortment of items to review.  It seems like they all have Amazon shops and they are looking for reviews on there.  It also seems like you're more likely to get approved for a review if you have Amazon Prime because they don't have to pay to ship your items. I've only gotten to try matcha tea and some essential oils so far.

Social Nature - I'm relatively new to Social Nature, just around a month or so. This one is geared more towards Canada, but there are some USA offers as well. It is also centered on organic, healthy, non GMO, natural, etc. products. When I've found USA offers, I've noticed it's been hard to find stores near me that carry the product. It looks like instead of sending you a product to try, they send you a voucher/coupon for that item for free. The one thing I've been able to try, Amazing Grass Green Superfood, was only because it directed me to their website and they are giving out samples.

Jungle Launch - I just joined this one VERY recently. Overall they've only been around for about 6 months now. They send you offers to sign up for, and then they will send you a code to redeem on Amazon to receive the item.  The one item I tried to sign up for had a bad code, and they ended up running out before they could send me a new one.  Unfortunately that's all I have to go on them so far.

PINCHme* I've been with PINCHme for about a year and a half.  This one is very different than the others- it's more of a product testing instead of reviewing.  You are still encouraged to share your thoughts with friends, family, social media, but it's not a requirement.  They offer sample boxes once a month, and it's based on your profile, I may have items offered to me that you don't have and you may have offers that I don't have. It's also a fastest fingers kind of thing, if you wait until a few days after the boxes open, you may not have much, if anything, to choose from.  They have recently introduced PINCHme PLUS where you get access to the items 24 hours early.  IF you are chosen for that month, you can pay $3.99 for access.  I've gotten early access invites, for free, twice.  It was nice not having to rush to fill my box, but I don't know if I would pay to have the early access, especially since it's mostly sample size not full size items. Boxes also take a LONG time to arrive.  I have gotten a ton of things from them though- Allegra, Gevalia coffee, American Crew, SheaMoisture, Olay, PureVia, Expo markers, NIVEA, Walgreens Well Beginnings, Luzianne,  NUTRO, GOLD BOND, Advil, Purina Pro, Scotch-Brite Sponges, DenTek floss picks, Enfagrow, Breathe Right, Beyond Grain Free, NUXE, Fancy Feast, ZzzQuil, Muse Natural Cat Food, Boon Snug Spout, and Truvia.

it Cosmetics - Social Toaster - I've just joined Social Toaster, and I'm still not quite sure what exactly it is! It looks like it's mostly for brands to help recruit SuperFans and promote their brand and products.  I know that it Cosmetics is one of those brands and they are doing a mascara giveaway for signing up, and what girl doesn't love mascara?! I'll come back with a better review of this one soon.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Totchos!

Have you made some of your own #OreIdaTotchos? I did! 

I used Ore-Ida Mini Tator Tots and they were perfect for Totchos! I cooked them exactly as the package said to, then I added some shredded mozzarella cheese, cilantro lime salsa, sour cream, bacon crumbles, and sliced black olives. It was pretty tasty! 




What kind of Totchos would you create? 

I received this product complementary for testing and review purposes, all opinions are my own. #contest

Ore-Ida Tots!

We recently got to try out Ore-Ida Tots thanks to a free coupon that came in my Influenster Jingle Vox Box! I have a little one, so that means he's a big tator tot fan. I let him pick out which tots we got and he picked out their Mini Tator Tots.

We loved that they were a cute, small size (perfect for little fingers to pick up!) , they were crispy and full of flavor.  We picked ours up in the frozen food section at Publix. Yummy! 

I received this product complimentary for testing and review purposes, all opinions are my own (and in this case, my sons too!).