About Beauty Box Five

Beauty Box 5 is a subscription-based, beauty sampling program that delivers a box filled with 5 cosmetic samples to your door every month. Aimed at introducing women to new cosmetic products and educating them on best practices, Beauty Box 5 scours the market to find the best products for your lifestyle.

Every month you will get a box filled with cosmetic products selected by our beauty editor. You’ll receive a mixture of luxury, commonly known brands, niche brands, eco-conscious and even vegan brands. Your beauty box will include a selection of makeup, hair care, skin care, nail care, fragrances and beauty accessories.

The Mom Maven’s Thoughts

The monthly subscription for Beauty Box Five costs $12 a month. The retail value of my box was $39.92 so I do believe I got a good value.

The 5 products I received were:

• NYX Cosmetics Love in Rio Eye Shadow Palette- I loved the color palette but hated the eye shadow. The shadow went on very fine and I needed to apply several coats to get it to actually show up on my eyes. At $6.00 each I’m glad I now know I don’t want to invest in this brand of eye shadow.
• Body Drench Daily Moisturizing Lotion-I am a lotion junkie and I liked this lotion and its tropical fragrance but I’m not sure I’d pay $8.99 for a full sized 16.9 fl oz bottle.
• Ofra Cosmetics Sultry Lipgloss Plumper-I love this product! I love the deep, rich color and the fact that it plumps my lips a bit. The $12.95 price tag for 0.34oz is a bit steep for me but that product alone would make the $12 price of the subscription worth it for me.
• Clean & Clear Morning Burst Hydrating Gel Moisturizer-I have a regular moisturizer that I am very loyal to but I used the Clean & Clear for a few days of dry Florida winter weather and I really like it. For $6.99 for 3oz this may make a nice gift for my Foster daughter.
• Every Beauty Flexible Foot Smoother-This Florida girl lives in sandals and flip flops 10 month out of the year so my feet need all the help they can get. This great tool is only $4.99!

If you have some “extra” cash in your beauty budget I recommend signing up for Beauty Box Five. They offer monthly, quarterly and annual payment options so you can pay however it fits best in your budget.

Disclaimer: I received one box of beauty items to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

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We have tried several types of dog treats over the year and a half we have owned her. She is very picky and prefers to bury, aka hide them under Jordan’s pillow, instead of ever eating most of them. When she was asked to review Fromm Dog Treats from Chewy.comI did my research and made sure they were grain free and then agreed to give them a try.

About Fromm Dog Treats

Wild-caught salmon, yummy sweet potatoes, and veggies galore! Four-Star Nutritionals Grain Free Salmon with Sweet Potato Dog Treats from Fromm are oven-baked bites few pups can resist… and why would they want to? These treats are easy on the digestive system, and are loaded with nutrients that keep your pup’s skin and coat healthy and clean, and help with cognitive development, too! Four-Star Nutritionals Dog Treats are made in a USDA-inspected facility from human grade ingredients.

Mushu’s Thoughts

When the package arrived I opened it and gave Mushu a treat. She sniffed at it and licked it right away. Then she let it sit on the couch and she stared at it for a few minutes before gobbling it down. A few days later I gave her a treat and she moved it from place to place for a day and a half before eating it. The next day I found Mushu sitting on the floor in the kitchen staring at the bag of treats on the counter. I asked her if she wanted a treat and she did her “begging” pose, lying all flat on her tummy with her eyes looking up at you and her tail wagging, so gave her a treat and she took it to the couch and ate it right up.

Mushu seems to enjoy the Fromm Dog Treats from Chewy.com and I am sure we will be buying more in the future especially since the big 8oz bag is only $4.99.

Disclosure: We received a package of dog treats for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% mine or Mushu’s.

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About the Artist

Melissa started working with duct tape in April of 2010. Within days she had moved on from the usual large roses and started designing bags and other items. She came up with her first bestseller, duct tape rose rings, while bored in math class; her sister put them up in the Quiet Mischief Etsy shop, and the rest was history.

Melissa’s original jewelry has had a great influence both on Quiet Mischief and on the duct tape crafting world in general. Through Quiet Mischief she’s published two tutorials teaching how to make her duct tape rose and heart rings; combined these tutorials have been sold more than 1100 times. Her jewelry has also appeared in local and national articles in newspapers and magazines as well as on TV on the local news, and she has even bigger plans in mind for the future!

About the Duct Tape Ring

The ring is made from a multi-colored flower print duct tape. The ring is large measuring 1.25 inches long, 0.5 inches wide and 0.75 inches high. You can order the ring in small (sizes 1-8) and regular (sizes 6-15). I got the regular size ring and it was too small for my fingers. It fit my friend well so she agreed to be my hand model.

I wore the ring to church last Wednesday night and asked friends of all ages what they thought of it. Most of the adults liked it but said it was too loud or too big. The teens liked the ring but would prefer it in a solid color. The tweens LOVED the ring and at the end of the night I gave my ring to a young friend of mine.

Quiet Mischief  makes other duct tape accessories including corsages, hair bows, friendship bracelets and other rings. You can even purchase a tutorial on the Quiet Mischief site so that you can learn how to make duct tape rings. As a matter of fact, they have just kicked off their first Kickstarter campaign for “Not Your Usual Duct Tape Crafts-The Christmas Book“. If you would like to help them on their way please donate to their campaign at the link above. You can also follow Quiet Mischief on Pinterest and Facebook so that you can stay up-to-date with their creations.

Disclosure: I receive a duct tape ring in exchange for this review. I have given the ring away to a friend thus sharing the love. All opinions are 100% mine and my friends.

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Coppertone Travel Size Lotions, available in SPORT, Kids and Water BABIES, can easily fit in a purse, diaper bag or suitcase for on-the-go sun protection for the whole family. Coppertone Sport Lip Balm SPF 30 can easily fit in a pocket for on-the-go sun protection that also helps smooth and soften lips. Perfect for refreshing after a long flight or frolicking at the beach!

Sunscreen always costs more at tourist destinations. Now that Coppertone Travel Size Lotions comply with the 3-1-1 rule for carry on liquids, established by the Transportation Security Administration, you can buy tour sunscreen at home, save some money and know you are prepared before you leave home.

We have been spending a lot of time at Walt Disney World before the summer heat kicks in and the Coppertone travel size tubes fit in the outside mesh pocket of the backpack so that it is easily accessible to anyone who needs it. Even on overcast days Ron puts sunscreen on the sensitive top of his head that doesn’t have much hair left to protect it

Do you use sunscreen regularly? Will the travel size tubes come in handy for you? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Disclosure: I received product for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

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The post Fruitabu Fruit Snack Winner appeared first on The Mom Maven.

From their website:

There are so many ways for families to get real fruit into their diets.* Since 1976, our Stretch Island Fruit Co. leathers have been providing portable all-natural fruit snacks for entire families. We’ve grown since then and during that time, kids have taught us how to transform pure fruit into pure fun-how to smooosh. So far, we’ve flattened, rolled and squeezed real, organic fruit into FruitaBü® Organic Smoooshed Fruit® Flats, Rolls and Tubes. Stretch Island Fruit Company Original Fruit Leathers are an all natural, tasty fruit snack that you can stick in your pocket, backpack or lunchbox. It is a yummy fruit snack that can travel with you where ever you go. Every original leather is equal to half a serving of fruit. It does not get better than that, except for maybe a real piece of fruit. Enjoy!

First we tried The Original Fruit Leather in Autumn Apple and Mango Sunrise.They come in 10 different flavors: Autumn Apple, Abundant Apricot, Country Cranberry Raspberry, Harvest Grape, Mango Sunrise, Orchard Cherry, Pineapple Coconut Paradise, Ripened Raspberry, Strawberry Pomegranate Sunshine and Summer Strawberry and retail for $12.99 for a box of 30, or $0.44 each.

In our opinion they were ok. The fruit leathers are chewy but lack a strong fruit flavor. We compared it to drinking flavored water…if I want water I’ll drink it plain, don’t give me water with a hint of lemon flavor-that just makes me want to drink lemonade instead. Same thing with the fruit leather. They weren’t bad-they just didn’t have enough flavor.

Next we tried the Fruitabu Smooshed Fruit Rolls. These snacks come in Smooshed Apple, Smooshed Grape and Smooshed Strawberry. We tried the apple and the grape. We liked them both. We all enjoyed the stronger, more concentrated fruit flavor. The smooshed fruit rolls retail for $3.99 for a pack of 6 or $0.67 each.

If you are looking for ways to add fruit into your family’s diet, both of these snack foods are great ways to do it. They are both organic, low in fat and in calories. One great way to try them is to win them!

The Prize is pictured here: 4 fruit leathers and 2 fruit rolls.

How to enter:

Mandatory 1st Entry: Visit the Fruitabu website and look around. Then come back here and let me know something you learned about Fruitabu that I haven’t already listed in this post.

Bonus Entries: (after completing the mandatory entry)

• Use the tweet button at the bottom of this post to tweet this giveaway. Then get the tweet URL and post it in a comment. (You may do this daily)
• Subscribe to my feed-click on the orange heart in my sidebar. If you already subscribe that counts too-just leave me a comment letting me know.
• Fave this blog on MomFaves. Then come back here and leave me a comment letting me know you faved me and what your MomFaves user name is.

This giveaway ends Friday, July 10, 2009 7:00pm. Open to US residents only.

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From Popchips.com:

all the flavor.
where’s the fat?

Introducing an all-natural chip like you’ve never tasted before. We don’t fry it (unhealthy). We don’t bake it (undelicious). We take the finest ingredients, like wholesome potatoes, apply heat and pressure, and pop! It’s a chip. Then we use an artful blend of natural seasonings for a snack so tasty, crispy and dip-able, you won’t even notice it’s (we hesitate to say) healthier.

What’s out? More than half the fat of fried potato chips, trans fats, and cholesterol. All gone. For good. What’s popped in? Only what’s natural, tons of delicious, and plenty of crunch.

Popchips come in 7 different flavors, the four I mentioned above plus sour cream & onion, cheddar and parmesan & garlic. If you live out west you can find Popchipss in lots of stores like Safeway, Ralphs, Costco and Whole Foods. They are making their way east and I was glad to find out that they are available at my local Good Earth store. You can also get them here Popchips Original Potato Chips, 3.0-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)

Have you tried Popchips? What flavor interests you the most? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Each week you input that week’s spelling list and then your child can study his spelling words even when you aren’t available to dictate the words to them. We used it this week for our Bible class. My boys had to know the books of the Bible in order and be able to spell them correctly. I input they words, it just took a few minutes to set up, and then they used SpellQuizzer to practice the words. It worked great!

The SpellQuizzer website has some downloadable spelling lists that you can use over the summer for enrichment or homeschoolers could use them too. Since you create the spelling list in SpellQuizzer, it works with any spelling curriculum.

SpellQuizzer is very affordable at $29.95 and, since it is customizable it will last for years. If you’re still not sure if SpellQuizzer is for you check out their free 30 day trial. This is a great offer-you get to try it before your buy it.  Go to the website, download your free trial and check it out. If you think this is something you’d like to share with a friend please use the ShareThis button below to share it, stumble it, tweet it or Facebook it. Thanks!

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