#PostPost Weeks 8 & 9

Well I totally forgot to o my #PostPost lat week doh!

(Un)Luckily I havent had much mail so not too much to upload

1. A nice little Clarins face cream sample

2.Win a proof version of this book - if ever I fall - from mumsnet

3. Review from vipon - car vent phone holder - seems pretty solid and I need one so hoping it works okay

4. Win - 2 free tickets for any day to the crafts show 16th-19th March at Brum NEC - I always enter these for my aunty (shes 70 and loves crafting and making cards with her friends but isnt good at entering herself! even though she spends a fortune on the mags) she's going to be taking her friend with her and they will have a lovely day out :)

Savvy Circle - Daz for Whites and Colours

Once again the people over at Savvy Circle have a great project running this time to try out Daz for Whites and Colours.

I am always super happy when I get chosen to take part in these projects because they are always really well put together - you generally get a full sized product to try out (win) plus samples to hand out to family, friends, colleagues and neighbours (sharing the wealth !) plus coupons (because once you try the products you usually want to buy them they are usually pretty good) and a comprehensive pack of information (the sciencey bit) all packed into a smart savvy circle baggy!

This project pack didnt disappoint

As you can see there was a big box for me to try out, 10 small 6 wash boxes to hand out, 10 50p off vouchers, some ask your friend sheets, the insiders guide and some props to do the Daz door step challenge!(I vaguely remember this from when I was younger) this was all packaged up in a classy savvy circle baggy and red tissue paper. It is just quality :)

When I opened my package the smell from the Daz was lush - it wasnt over powering it just smelled good and I couldn't wait to get started on washing - which is odd as normally I hate doing the laundry haha.

I chucked in a mixed load including my grey skinny jeans which I had splattered with mud - hello living in wet Wales! Various pairs of socks in a variety of bright colours, some burgundy tights, a green skirt and a multicoloured Marilyn Monroe top and a bunch of towels and other bits.

The clothes all came out clean which is good, they also came out smelling really nice which is better and the colours and whites both looked good.

My brightly coloured Marilyn Monroe printed top

The clothes also held the scent which was great - I love it when I get something out of my wardrobe and it smells good!

Once I had given it a trial I decided to give out my samples :)

Now I already had a few people in mind for my samples: My mum, my sisters, my uncle, my aunty, my neighbour P and my colleague in work and her grown up son - leaving 2 packs to give out to any other interested parties:) - and there is always people who are like hey what are you testing and can I get some!

LadyCat doing quality control 

I took my Aunty her sample round but it was raining :( (again!) so we couldn't do the doorstep challenge so we did the kitchen challenge instead lol

Aunty K very happy with her sample and already had a load in the machine waiting!

Aunty K was left with her sample, her ask a friend sheet and strict instructions to let me know how she got on.

I then dropped off the rest of my samples I had ear marked out for people.

The final 2 samples also found homes ( my friend with 2 small children who love mudpies! and another with a colleague with her own mini rugby team )

As always people asked me for samples but I had run out ! Sorry guys! But I was able to give out some money off coupons to themso all wasn't lost and they still got a great deal.

Going forward with the project I need to start getting those ask a friend sheets back to upload to the project site, and I want to do several more loads (including my fave Marilyn top!) to see how the colours stay with multiple washes :)

So far though colour me bright and impressed!

#Project 52 Week 8

I have been playing Snatch a lot this week which is great as it gets me walking around a lot :) If you haven't played then it's basically a game on the phone like Pokemon Go where you walk around finding parcels - you have to hold a parcel for 6 hours and then once it is secure you can open it and see what's in it - the parcel's can contain vouchers, coins or gems for in the game or actual prizes. If you find a golden parcel that contains a cash amount which you can claim through circle pay. Unfortunately players who are nearby can snatch your parcel so holding on to it for those 6 hours can be hard!

Anyways both m and the dog could do with taking more walks so this week we have done a fair few miles walking around to find parcels :D

Today we went for a lovely walk along the river but my phone was dead (probably due to the fact I have been using it non-stop to find parcels!) so had to take the pics of the extremely muddy hound from home!

Due to the weather the poor dog has had several washes and baths this week! But here he is after our long walk today all muddy and gross - and the after his bath pic where he is all fluffy and clean - Enjoy

Muddy Hound

Fluffy clean and blow dried hound!

Medium Charity Night

I believe in ghosts, spirits and things that go bump in the night haha well maybe not quite but I do believe there are things that can't be explained and am open minded to the possibility that ghosts and paranormal stuff exists.

Last night me, my mum and big sister went along to a Medium night held to raise funds for a local Kitty rescue. It was pretty busy with a couple of hundred people there and we were all sat out at tables throughout the room. We had a table a couple of tables back and to the side.

The guy starts his act and I'm feeling pretty skeptical I have to be honest it all seemed a bit wishy washy to me -  a woman who liked wearing lipstick with tummy troubles - hell that's half the female population its called periods dude! Anyways I was quite bored to be honest until the guy suddenly zones in on me!

Great, because having a room full of people staring at me is just what I want - not!

Predictably I turned my usual glowing shade of red as I was handed a microphone and he asked questions - did this make sense did that make sense and so on.

Anyways he got a few things spot on which are not something you would necessarily guess such as the thing about my sister's dog - she's an old dog who is blind and doesn't go out for walks anymore - she liked to pace in circles in the garden. My sister has no ties to the cat rescue and there is no way they would have known that! There was also a few other things that were spookily right but then there was a tonne of bits that were way off - so I am at a 50 / 50 if it was real or not! Which is kind of frustrating for me as I like certainty!

I have been invited to another medium evening in a little town about 20 mins drive away in April which I am probably going to go to and see if anything comes through again :)

On the plus side I did win in the raffle :) A little black and white fleecey bag with a eye maske, blanket and travel pillow in - purrrfect for me with all the travelling I like to do :D

Savvy Circle - Head & Shoulders - Thoughts

So after a couple of weeks of using the new Head & Shoulders 3 Action Formula and getting feedback from the family and friends who tried the unlabelled version:

1. It smells amazing - it  doesnt smell like your usual anti-dandruff shampoo - sometimes they can smell a bit chemically - a 3 of the people doing the unbranded challenge thought it was Pantene  from the smell

2. A little goes a long way - you can use a grape size amount and it lathers through the hair really well - I had similar feedback from my trial buddies

3. You don't need to use conditioner every day - I found that it left my hair silky and soft without needing extra conditioner - I dye my hair a lot and it can show a bit of damage so I usually have to use conditioner every day

The only negative I found is whilst I dont have dandruff using this I did find I did find that there was a little bit of shampoo residue build up no matter how much I rinsed it - this became a couple of dried small bits which were easily removed and didnt leave anything behind.

Also as someone who regularly dyes their hair (in my case blue, green, purple etc) I have found that anti-dandruff shampoos  in the past have stripped the colour from my hair - when using this daily I didn't notice an increase in the fading of my hair colour.

Over all myself and my 6 testers were pretty impressed with the shampoo.

Rage Against the (blogging) Machine

I follow a lot of blogs across social media - I often follow links posted to blog posts especially from twitter - I may not read them everyday but every so often a post catches my eye and I trot off to read it.

I think in general most bloggers write some amazing posts - they spend a lot of time and energy on them particularly the 'professional' bloggers who have turned their blog into a (usually) 1 person home business.

The influence of bloggers has never been higher and shouldn't be underestimated - they can and do influence people - whether it be to try a new product, or to get involved in a campaign. Bloggers work hard and those with a massive following and who put out continuosly high quality content should be paid for their work and their collaborative posts.

But as Uncle Ben says With great power comes great responsibility (sorry couldn't resist a Spidey quote there). Which is why I really think that there is certain paid for content on blogs which really shouldn't be there - specifically posts promoting PayDay Loan companies (and other financial low lives!) and gambling.

Advertising agencies have super strict guidelines around both these products for a very good reason!

PayDay loan companies are notoriously bad for people who already have money problems or are in any kind of financial difficulty. They are an extremely expensive form of finance and can lead into a spiral of debt if they are given to someone who is unable to afford to pay the loan off in full and not be short the next month.

An example

Anne earns £1000 a month

Her disposable income after all essential bills are paid is £200 a month

Her car needs repairs which will cost £150 so she takes out a short term / payday loan because she has that as disposable income and she read on a blog that all the negative hype about these companies is just hype and that actually they aren't that bad.

The total cost of the loan to be repaid is £200 with charges.

If she pays the loan she now has NO income for the month.

The likelihood is that she will either

A. Pay off the loan in full and then borrow again in order to have money for the month
or
B. Partially pay off the debt and roll it over to the following month: so Pay £100 which takes the debt down to £100 plus the rolling £50 charge so she still owes £150 and the following month will be in a similar  situation.

Either way the loan isnt going to just cost her the initial £50 in fees it's going to cost more and if she becomes reliant on these loans she is basically spiraling!

As for gambling? I have seen a certain well known blogger lets call her Bloggie promoting a variety of gambling sites. Her blog contains affiliate links to the sites so everyone who signs up through her she earns a bonus to play on the sites which depending on the site this could be anything from £5 up to £50 per sign up and deposit of a new player. Whilst this isn't the same as actual cash in the hand if she is still then getting to spend money on the sites for free and to possibly win which leads on to my real issue with this - Bloggie writes up a wonderful review on the gambling site - she also posts her winnings on the review making it seem like it's a sure thing to win. As well as the review she as done she also posts her winnings with screen shots all over social media - just withdrew another £500 from XYZ site if you fancy a go use my unique code for a free fiver etc etc etc

So you then have Anne again - Anne's struggling she doesn't have a huge amount of cash but she reads Bloggie - has done for a while and trusts her reviews - not only that but Bloggie is posting all these amazing things on Facebook and twitter about her wins AND she's offering a free trial on the site so hey why not give it a go? Anne creates an account and plays with the free code she is given and shock oh shock she wins only £10 but that's pretty good right? Within 2/3 games she's doubled her starting money and thinks hey this is actually easy - of course she can't withdraw that money she has won because in the small print of the sign up there is the minimum wagering clause and a bunch of other things. But she is feeling pretty confident now and has a bit of a buzz from playing. She knows it is possible to win - she's just done it - if only she had been playing with actual money like her buddy Bloggie she could be withdrawing that money right now!

So Anne fueled by her confidence that she can't fail to lose decides - I'll just deposit a tenner if I lose it's only £10. She plays ad she wins a bit but nothing massive and after a bit her £10 plus all her winnings have gone. But she is certain she is due a big win soon after all Bloggie won loads and she had won some small amounts, I mean okay she had then spent those winnings but a big  win is due right?  Fast forward a bit and Anne is now spending more than she can afford chasing her losses and spiraling!

Some people might say so what? Anne''s an adult - in both these scenarios she had a choice and she chose  to go down those paths and that is absolutely correct she did BUT her  decision - that first step in the direction of spiraling downwards was influenced by reading a post made by someone she looked up to, she thought she knew and she thought was advising her to do so.

This is why I have personally decided that any blogger who I follow on any platform who advocates or posts these type of collaborative posts I will unfollow. I am sure it wont bother them, the loss of one small follower with an even smaller blog will be like a drop in the ocean but at least I know that I am not going to be responsible for increasing their influence even a smidgen and for me that's important.

NB Yes I know that not all short term loan companies are run by Satan and not all gambling sites are the digital equivalent to crack and that not all bloggers who promote both are in it simply for the cash some of them actually believe in these companies and genuinely enjoy these sites and those who are in it for the cash have bills to pay which are more important than morals and blah blah blah

#Project 52 Week 7

There is a lot of love on social media for furries in the pet brigade - dont get me wrong I do love my 4 cats and the dog but other pets are often over looked especially in the comping world - there's always things like tummy tuesday or caturday or sundaysnoozeday and so on where people can enter their usually very cute furry pets to win prizes. But hey - not all pets are furry :) We are very fond of our corns and corn snakes are the ideal pet for newbies to the non furry pet stakes. They generally have a pleasant temperament, are easy to handle and easy to look after in general. Most corn snakes are captive bred and come in a range of stunning colours. Some colour and pattern combos are highly sought after too!

My family have always had all sorts of pets - my sister currently has a dog and a tarantula, my niece has 7 or 8 different species of lizard - in the past we have had everything from tropical fish to birds to rodents to stick insects

So in honour of all those non furry pets out there I give you Emi and Morfa our beautiful corn snakes