Dr. Scholl's For Her BzzCampaign!!!

Normally I'm a tom boy but there are those occasions that I like to break out the little black dress and stilleto heels and have some fun.  The worst part of that scenario however is those damned little shoes.  Yes they look great and make a person's legs long and fabulous but the wear and tear on your feet can make you feel like you are making a deal with the devil when you slip them on.  Thankfully this past week I was invited to BzzAgent's latest campaign... Dr Scholl's For Her Insoles!!!!  I get a pair of Dr. Scholls For Her Insoles and a bunch of coupons for other Dr. Scholl's products to use or share with my friends in my BzzKit when it arrives.  I'm sooooooo excited.

I plan to put these little insoles to the test.  Over the past few months I've been working as a substitute at the local school almost everyday and also as a preschool teacher two days a week and never get to sit down during the day at either job.  Because of that I try and wear my more comfortable dress shoes but after this Dr. Scholls Bzzkit arrives I'm breaking out the fancy uncomfortable heels and wearing them all day long.  If these insoles are all that they are cracked up to be my feet should be fine.  If however I have to slip them off part way through the day I'll be bummed out.  I have other Dr. Scholl's products in other shoes like my Whites (if you don't know what these are you've never worked out in the woods), which are my rugged, stiff, backwoods, work boots with a vibram sole.  When I first got my boots I had to break them in of course but after the initial break in I still had a few spots that rubbed the balls of my feet the wrong way when hiking off the mountains.  But once I put in some gel Dr. Scholls insoles in them they felt just like my old beat em up tennis shoes.  So I'm hoping that these Dr. Scholls insoles designed specifically for heels have the same dramatic effect. 

I'll let you all know what I think but I have to say I'm really looking forward to trying out this product for BzzAgent!

Live Below the Line Campaign

Most of the time BzzAgent gives us campaigns that give us something for free to try out but occasionally we are invited to participate in campaigns that either try to make people more aware of problems in society or to help those that are less fortunate.  Both my fiance and I were invited to BzzAgent's Live Below the Line Campaign and we're determined to give it our best shot. 

This campaign is a charity campaign so we don't get a kit.  Instead we are encourage to spread the word to everyone we know about world wide hunger and extreme poverty.  We are challenged to eat and drink each day for 5 days on $1.50 or less a day.  Not only that but we are invited to join a participating charity to gain donations to combat poverty.  Some of these organizations include:

• Shot at Life
• UNICEF
• The Global Poverty Project
• CARE
• Global Syndicate
• Malaria No More
• Rainforest Foundation US

Each of these non-profit organizations try their best to provide goods and services as well as training to those that need it in order to help people provide for their families.  So I strongly encourage each and every one of you who reads this to join in and show your support for these activities.  For more information on these partners go to http://livebelowtheline.com/us-partners.

Also you can

• Like Live Below the Line on Facebook to connect with others participating in this year's challenge
• Follow Live Below the Line on Twitter to get some moral support from the team plus other participants.
• Check out the Live Below the Line YouTube page to see videos from previous years. Great for some preparation ideas and what to expect.

Coupon Clipping Digital Style

Though I don't have a printer at the moment (my ol' Dell printer finally gave up the ghost) there are some incredible online coupons out this weekend.  All the ones I have were provided to me through BzzAgent and I tell you what... if you haven't joined this site you are really missing out.  I love being a BzzAgent and being able to get first looks on opportunities like this and I've even convinced my fiance and my nephew to join as well.  They have both gotten some great stuff as well.

First there is a coupon for Garnier Fructis.  As I mentioned in a previous post I've been trying out some of their new formulas and am loving it so far.  When I get a new printer I'm definitely going to print this coupon out and use it.  Just click the following link and I'll be sharing this BzzAgent exclusive $1.25 coupon with you all.  Enjoy.

Next up BzzAgent sent me a link for Childrens Clariton.  As an adult that has been lucky enough to outgrow most of my childhood allergies I can really feel for those little ones that suffer from the sneezing, itchy eyes, and all around gookiness (yep I'm claiming that as a word) that comes along with spring time allergies.  Just click the following link and you should be redirected to a page for printing out this particular coupon.  Hope the kids feel better soon http://bricks.coupons.com/Bstart.asp?o=98462&c=MK&p=Kx4bhfSE

Thats all I have for right now but I'll be sure to post others as soon as I get them.  Happy clipping!!!

Garnier Fructis Here at Last!!!

For the past several weeks I've been waiting for my latest BzzAgent campaign product to arrive and yesterday it finally did.  BzzAgent offered me the opportunity to try out one of Garnier Fructis' new formulas.  I could choose between "Sleek and Shine" and "Triple Nutrition".  If you know me well then you know I also have issues with endless split ends so I went with the Triple Nutrition formula which endorsed itself as being ideal for dry and damaged hair (yep that would be what my hair is right now).  The information in the BzzKit and on the product packaging claims that I'll see an improvement in my hair within the first weeks use and I plan on putting that to the test.  I want my nice shiny healthy hair back and maybe this is just the product to do it.

I tried it out for the first time last night and I have to say that so far I'm pretty impressed.  First the scent is terrific!!!  Its subtle and fruity.  Second I was encouraged at how rich the formula was and how good it felt when in my hair.  I could feel the strands of hair being coated but not weighed down both by the shampoo and conditioner.  Also it takes very little product to work up a nice lather which isn't always the case in my house since we have the worlds hardest water.  The shampoo rinsed out cleanly and didn't leave any kind of a residue behind and the conditioner left my hair super smooth and easy to brush through.  NO TANGLES!!!  I didn't go through my usual motions of styling my hair and just let it dry naturally and I found that my hair was much softer than usual and stayed that way without get oily or frizzy or any other thing that it usually does.  Now of course this is only one days use and I have 6 more to see a difference like it claims but I have high hopes for this product!  I'll let you know how the remainder of the test goes.  Its ever so scientific.... lol.

Last Few Days of the Smarterer Campaign

For some reason its felt like this particular campaign has been going on FOREVER. Not that its a bad thing but I keep going back to my BzzAgent account hoping for something new and different to try. I started the Smarterer campaign with an open mind and at first thought it was kind of fun to go and take this quizzes, but I have to admit that once the newness of the idea wore off I struggled to want to go back and take more quizzes and see how I scored against others. Each week I got a new email from Smarterer saying they had new quizzes for me to try out and I did go back to see what was available but it was just more of the same stuff and my interest faded pretty fast. I know a few of my friends went and checked out the site and in the end felt the same way. There has to be something else going on for this website to be successful in the long run. As I've said in my previous blogs and reviews this is pretty much just a great site when you are bored and looking to waste some time. I'm not saying I'm disappointed with my experience because at times it was fun but it just didn't have the staying power or the draw to keep me coming back all the time.

Pantene is Coming!

I just got an email a few days ago from Shespeaks telling me that I get to try the new natural fusion Pantene line of shampoo and condition and it should be arriving in the mail any day now. This is super exciting since I use Pantene products and love them so I'm always up for trying something new that might be even better. So now I just have to wait for them to show up in my mail box. I'll let you know when I get them and what the details of the product are when it gets here.

BzzScore Finally Launched!

Ever since I became a BzzAgent two and a half years ago, progress as a member had been monitored by a function called status. Starting at "solitary bee" and working your way up the honeycomb strata, you could gain status by bzzing about products they sent you as campaigns and reviewing products you used on a daily basis in their bzzcapes and frogs program. I know this must all sound strange to those of you who haven't become agents, and I must admit it was a little convoluted for those of us who were agents as well. It all seemed kind of arbitrarty and you never knew how you stacked up to other agents or if you really were progressing in a way that you would be invited to new campaignes any earlier than anyone else.

So BzzAgent did away with bzzcapes, frogs, and even status itself and launched the new BzzScore which is a numerical evaluation of the work you as an agent have done since entering their program. This evaluation is based on your participation in campaings, the quality of information you provide others when you bzz about products, and how active you are as an agent. If you become lazy and subpar your score goes down while if you really participate and in general have fun while being an agent the score goes up.

Its a rating based on a 0-10 scale so when I first checked my score this past week I was really hoping for a 10 but was sad to see that after so long I was only an 8.2. The break down is 0-2 BAD (why are you even bothering to be a BzzAgent), 2-6 OK (you are giving it a good showing and keep up the work you are doing), and 6-10 AWESOME (you are kicking butt and taking names). Now this is nothing to be ashamed of by any means and it really motivates me to participate even more than I do. Even with an 8.2 I know I can do better. So thanks again BzzAgent for lighting a fire under my behind and making me want to do even more for your program! Hope all the other Bzzagents feel the same and we can make BzzAgent even more awesome!