So here I am starting off with some products I love, some people I met from different companies that floored me, and well... some other companies that left such a bad taste in my mouth, I might just skip over their brand this Christmas season. Pull up a chair, get a pen & paper, because this is going to be a long one folks!
In random order:
Eucerin:
Holy swag bag batman! Full size products that make a girl feel soft and beautiful--SOLD. My favorite is the Everyday Protection Face Lotion, it is light, and feels perfect on my not so perfect skin. They also gave us a full size of the Daily Skin Balance Skin-Fortifying Body Lotion which I am sure to love this Winter when my skin get all scale like and dry. I am also a huge avid lover of their Aquaphor line, and snagged a lip repair that I am sure will also make my Winter days a bit easier. What I haven't tried and hope to in the future is their Baby collection. I am guessing if this brand can make me feel soft and happy, it can do the same for my little one. Thank you Eucerin!
Udderly Smooth:
I had fantastically nice roommates at BlogHer'10. One being one of my very favorite friends of all times, who gave me loads of stuff out of her awesome Udderly Smooth swag basket that she won from a twitter giveaway. Can I just say that I absolutely love their Shea Butter Foot Cream! It felt so silky, and fabulous that I wished I could fill the bathtub with it and plop my entire being in it! (you think I am kidding!--I'm not). I have also used their Udder Cream before prior to BlogHer and never felt let down by its results.
Jimmy Dean:
Dear Jimmy Dean, love your sausage and my encounter with "the sun", but I am going to go out on a limb here and say: the alarm clocks you gave to all of us were a waste of money. By the looks of the freebee room, I am pretty sure nobody went home with one. A coupon for free sausages would have been a better giveaway!
Kmart:
Thank you for giving us bags of toys without a pitch, and including fantastic coupons. Love the free toys but man did they fall apart easy!
Fisher-Price:
We were the first people at your booth, bright eyed and bushy tailed. We listened to your pitch about your company for well over 20 minutes. It was fun to see your new toys, and creations. Forgive me for sounding totally ungrateful over here, but when I took a spin on your cute wheel and all you gave me was a newborn diaper sample (for your information I don't even have a newborn to put it on), I am not going to lie, I found it to be a major let down. If you are going to give me 1 diaper sample that I can't even use while Hasbro gave us potato heads in our hotel rooms, playdough bags in our welcome bag, and free stuff at their booth, the least can do is either a) quit the pitch and my time, or b) use those samples many of us couldn't use and donate them to a cause for women that could use them. I would have felt much better about my time and your company if you had put a little bit more of an effort into considering this, or the fact you gave my fellow friends gifts for their kids and I walked a way with ... 1 newborn diaper for my 1 and 4 year old. Dude--not even a coupon? Note to self: while making Christmas' lists this year make note of who makes what, and for me I am going with the brands that respected my time.
Proctor & Gamble
I got mad crazy love for P&G after walking through their house in the expo center and talking to some amazing people. It started out with this interview:
Which I loved doing! And then I learned about how they are making a difference in their clean water, hence my participation in their Blogivation project this past August. This included a demo of their PUR packet which was designed to purify 10 liters of water from one little packet. It was amazing to see. Some of my favorite products I got from the P&G Home Away From Home that I plan to repurchase is as follows:
- Febreze Set & Refresh
- Olay Regenerist anti-age eye roller
- Olay total effects 7 in 1 advanced anti-aging body wash
- Vicks Vapor Rub
- I was also given a PUR water filter system that sadly doesn't fit on our faucet. However, I have used them before and love them. We are planning to get a new faucet in the near future and make great use of this!
- Swiffer Duster Huge crazy fan of this and the Swiffer wetjet (I did not get one of those too).
There were so many products that they provided for us. I haven't used them all, but if I do in the future and love them I will certainly post about it!
Arm & Hammer
Spinbrush Sonic AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. It came to us with a free tube of Advance White Brillinat Sparkle toothpaste. Never loved electric toothbrush before this, and now it is all I use.
Playskool/Hasbro
When We got our welcome bags we got excited over the little things we received (a free pack of gum, and a granola bar!), since it was our first BlogHer and had NO IDEA the amount of free stuff that was to come. However, that big "bang" gift out of welcome bag wasn't just a wee little sample of play-doh it was an entire bag/kit of it! I knew that if I went home with this, at the very least, my son would be happy! Playskool/Hasbro didn't stop there! As we also found Mr. and Mrs. Potato head laying on our hotel beds! (sadly they only put two to a room of three of us, but thankfully we found another one in the recycle room so that all of our kids would enjoy this freebie!). Now, you are probably thinking the giving stops there right? wrong. Hasbro was smart enough to realize they were catering to Mommy Bloggers who were away from their kids! So they set up a station to color postcards, write cute notes, and sent them to our kids! (how cute is that!) They also showed us their new products, AND gave out our fair share of free Weebles! Not to mention they were kind, considerate of our time, and I didn't waste my time spinning some wheel for a diaper! And of course there was this:
Eggland's Best
Seriously this is now the only brand of eggs I buy! We got to take a spin on this slot machine an win a prize! I picked the obvious FREE dozen eggs! Along with that I walked away with some great coupons, and they left with a new costumer. Since I have tried their eggs, I haven't swayed!
Nick Jr. & Sprout
I lumped these two together because they are both two of my kids favorite networks! Sprout gave out some handy little things (a coloring book, puzzles, DVD's and a chance to win a birthday party with Barney!). Nick Jr. is a bit fuzzy but I know I got this:
Either way, my family continues to be a fan of both networks, and I love (especially Sprout) how they intertwine learning with entertainment.
JVC
I have been running for about year with my good ol' ipod headphones and growing frustrated with the fact they kept falling out. I was also frustrated with the fact that if they were not completely in, the sound was muffled, or weak. Luckily at the Mouthy Housewives Party I received these headphones in our gift bag! I just tried them this week, and let me tell you, an entirely different running experience happened! I particularly love running to Jay-Z, and I felt as if I was at his concert. The sound was crystal clear, and the headphones stayed in place no matter how hard I was pounding the pavement.
LG
Another AWESOME AMAZING parting gift from the Mouthy Housewives cocktail event, was the best vacuum I have ever owned. I am not just saying this since I got a FREE $400 vacuum delivered at my doorstep. I am saying this because my carpets have never looked better. Ok so warning, it is NOT light, but that's ok because it is AWESOME. The attachments are all connected, and it lowers on 3 levels to get closer to the ground for amazing pick up. The only bummer was no cord retrieval, but for clean floors--I'll take it! Tell everyone you know who is looking for a vacuum that this IS the ONE. Thank you LG!
Nestle Butterfinger
I love peanut butter, it brings me weak at the knees. For all the little samples being handed out, I could not pass up this one, because who doesn't love a butterfinger? They held my appetite in between meals while at BlogHer. I also got word that I will be receiving a special Halloween giveaway for my Blog! Keep tuned it for a chance to win!
Pillsbury
So yes, I poked the doughboy:
He was quite doughy! He didn't do his famous laugh for me though!
So Pillsbury--HOLY MOLY. The Sweet Moments Brownies! I think we are getting married! They gave out a free coupon to purchase a bag, and I also got a free coupon to purchase one of their Simply breads which were also full of yum! We also toppled over the dessert both they set up which was filled of yummy things to snack on! What have I ever had from Pillsbury that made me frown--nothing!
Assets By Sara Blakely
It's not often you get excited about something that is going to suck all your fat in and make you look a size smaller, but I nearly jumped for joy! I got two of these bad boys, and from the moment I wore my first pair I was declaring my love for them. Ok --so the down for is the after lines of sticking the sausage into the casing. And... alright I nearly hyperventalited while in the car driving what felt like an elastic band slowly sucking the life out of me, BUT (and a big BUT)---girls I LOOKED GOOOOOODDDD. Can't fit in a dress that is a size smaller then what you actually are? Assets has your back. (and all of that other unwanted areas that might be sticking out). A girls got to do what a girls got to do inorder to look good!
Crabtree & Evelyn
I got this item in a packed back I won through a twitter giveaway. It was tiny and I thought, "gosh who needs more samples". I was about to give it away to friends, and then I tried it. Believe me if I didn't think this product was OUTSTANDING I wouldn't be writing about it. My feet never felt better! Their 60 second fix for feet is the absolute best, and smells great! It is already on my Christmas list!
Diapers.com/Soap.com
Diapers/Soap.com have a huge following of loyal customers. I knew when I got a free $20 coupon with free shipping, it was a golden ticket. Instead of going with the "norm" and getting diapers in the mail, I actually bought something Addison needed: new shoes. That's right people I got FREE Robeez (on sale at the time for $19.99) all thanks to s Diapers.com!!!! I had a new pair of shoes for little girl with in days! Tell me that's not awesome! Diapers.com gives out awesome deals like this often, and for first time shoppers, their is always a discount!
Schick Intuition
I had the lucky invite to attend the Schick Intuition hosted by my very favorite blogger Heather Sphor:
Seriously I was a giddy school girl meeting her! I also got to get shaved by models:
Enjoy Cocktails:
And some lovely singing by Gavin Degraw:(which I wondered why Jewel wasn't singing--isn't that the entire theme song to their razors?)
And had an Amazing time with my friends:
Not to mention a gift bag which held my all time favorite razor that I loved even before this awesome party!
MCDONALD'S
What I loved about the McDonald's both was that they had a place you could donate "family time" toward raising funds for the Ronald McDonald house. I always love to see something that is giving back, and helping others. They also featured an entire board about healthy meals, and how fast food doesn't always have to mean mega calories! The best part of McDonald's being involved in BlogHer'10 was the infamous Cheeseburger Party! Who doesn't look fab with a golden arch bag on their head:
They even tossed in some free coupons for their new Angus Beef Wraps! If you want one, be the first two to comment with a, "I want one", and send me your info to my e-mail address posted on my other blog or in my bio!
There was so many other items I took home, have yet to use, or used and was like "eh" ok. There are also some I can't even remember, gave away, or donated to the recycle room. Regardless BlogHer'10 was a hit in the swag department! I can't imagine what it will be like if I get to go to next years in Cali, and trying to send all it home! I thank all of the companies for allowing me to try out their products, and hopefully I will be able to continue to feature some of their "best" in upcoming review posts!
ps. no August or September favorites thanks to spending that past two months trying out all of these things! We will be back in business this October! And don't forget first two comments that say "I want it" get a free Angus Wrap!
