Vitafusion MultiVites Review

The good people at Chick Advisor sent me a bottle of Vitafusion MultiVites to review. MultiVites are adult gummy multivitamins. I wasn't into gummy vitamins for the longest time because I felt like it was a tease to have just one gummy :P.

MultiVites are adult daily multivitamins.They are made with all natural colours and flavours and contain 200% of the daily required Vitamin D3 (which helps maintain strong bones!). MultiVites are also a good source of Vitamins B6 and B12, Folic Acid, and Pantothenic Acid. Plus they taste great! I found they were a good addition to my daily vitamin ritual. I found the gummy aspect convenient, since I could just chew it and didn't require a glass of water.

Vitafusion MultiVites are a great alternative to your traditional multivitamin. More information on Vitafusion products, visit www.gummyvites.com/vitafusion

To join the Chick Advisor Product Review Club, visit www.chickadvisor.com/productreviewclub

Perfect Summer Activity - KidsBowlFree.com

Looking for something to do with the kids this summer? Bowling is great! Not only is it great exercise, but it's indoors, and indoors often = air-conditioning!

KidsBowlFree.com offers kids 2 free games of bowling a day all summer long at your local bowling alley. All you pay for is the shoe rental. You can even add on a family pass for $24.95 USD - this allows up to 4 adults to play with the kids all summer long! There are participating bowling alleys all across Canada and the US. We are lucky enough to have one right around the corner from us in St. Catharines, Fairview Lanes (www.fairviewlanes.ca)

We took our first family trip to Fairview yesterday. I used to play there all the time when I was in high school. Mike had previously bowled in youth leagues when he was a kid in Toronto. Hudson had never bowled before, but Aislinn had gone once on a trip for school last year.

The visit only cost us $8 for shoe rentals. We chose a 5-pin lane with bumpers, but we had our option of 10-pin as well, and no bumpers. We figured we made the best choice for beginner bowlers.

Here is Mike showing Aislinn how to bowl:

SO GLAD we went with the bumpers because it would have been a disappointing game for the kids otherwise. This way they could focus on learning how to throw and other basics of the game.

The kids got the hang of it quickly, especially Hudson, as evidenced by the scores:

All I can say in my defence is that it's been a long time since I've played? I do much prefer 10-pin, so we'll probably try that with the kids next time.

One great thing that came out of this was that it was an opportunity to teach the kids about being a good sport and a bad sport. Hudson was bragging and rubbing it in Aislinn's face that he was winning, the first game, then pouting when he didn't do as well the second game. We all had a good sit down to talk about why it was important to win graciously, and just to enjoy the game and not worry about scores. We all had a much better time after that.

The kids had a blast overall, and I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to bowl all summer long.

For more information on the Kids Bowl Free program, visit www.kidsbowlfree.com

Little Life Box May 2014 Review

This is a bit of a late post, but as you can see from the lack of activity lately, life's been busy and I haven't been on much. I did receive a Little Life Box this month (well, actually 2 with the Mother's Day box), so let's check it out:

I received:

• Camino Organic Fine Chocolates Box (www.lasiembra.com/camino)
• Deep River Snacks Gluten-Free Kettle Chips in Original Salted (www.deepriversnacks.com)
• Go-Go Quinoa Puffed Cereal Choco-Puffs (www.gogoquinoa.com)
• EFFFI Gold Exclusive Skin Emulsion (www.efffi-e.ca)
• Ener-C Vitamin Drink Sachets (www.tryenerc.com)
• Mighty Leaf Organic Tea in Spring Jasmine, Breakfast, and African Nectar (www.mightyleaf.ca)
• Natura Cappucino Soy Drink + coupons (www.nutrisoya.com)
• OneCoffee Organic K-Cups in Sumatran (www.myworldinacup.com)
• Sow Good Face And Body Polish (www.sowgoodbeauty.com)
• Maison Orphée Unrefined Toasted Sesame Oil (www.maisonorphee.com)
• Brad King's Ultimate Calorie Burn (www.transforminghealthinc.com)
• Ecoideas Chlorophyll in Mint (www.ecoideas.ca)

One thing I will mention is that I received the same box for Mother's Day as I did for the regular box, differences being a different flavour of the Deep River Chips and a note in the MD box (ranty note: when the MD boxes were ordered [I ordered one for my mom and Mike ordered one for me] you had the option to have a personalized note written on a card inside the box. My mom received the personalized note; I received a generic "Happy Mother's Day". Mike was not impressed). Other than taking the specialness away of having a MD box, it worked out having both boxes the same because they were so good. You have no idea how happy I was to have a second crack at that box of Camino chocolates (which, btw, were beautiful and delicious).

There were a few repeat brands: Camino obviously, but THEY'RE SO GOOD they can be in ANY BOX ANY TIME; OneCoffee k-cups (which I have a sneaking suspicion they're trying to clear out); Mighty Leaf Tea (different flavours this time); Ener-C, which I love for work anyways; Sow-Good, different product though.

One weird item I received both times - Brad King's Ultimate Calorie Burn. Now, I'm wary of all weight loss pills, since, well, c'mon. There's no magic pill. I also find it kind of insulting to include this in a MOTHER"S DAY box! It's like, "I love you Mom...but lose some weight." I dunno, it's supposed to give you energy, so maybe I'll use it when I'm back in class in September?

Otherwise, everything else I received was so good. Standouts (other than the Camino): the Maison Orphée sesame oil (I feel really luxe cooking with it), and the Natura Soy Milk, which tasted awesome, and I've bought a few times since trying it.

To subscribe to Little Life Box, visit www.littlelifebox.com

Good Things in the Mail - May 12, 2014

Here are some good freebies that came in the mail last week:

• Garnier Damage Eraser shampoo, conditioner, and hair mask samples (from www.garnier.ca - OVER) - I was able to try these products in the Influenster Mystery Box  so I know they're good :)
• SaveaLoonie.com tote bag (from sending in a hot freebie tip)
• Bolt Tape sample (from www.bolt-tape.com - OVER) - I'm excited to try this on my wrist (I have carpal tunnel syndrome), and I've used KT Tape before which is similar so I feel like I'll have success with this

What good things did you get in the mail last week?

Little Life Box April 2014 Review

The April Little Life Box has arrived! Let's check it out!

Nice springy tissue paper with a namaste postcard. :)

Lots of goodies! Here's what I received:

• Bare English & Co. Lip Balm in Vanilla Coconut (www.bareenglish.com)
• Camino Organic Milk Chocolate Bunny (www.lasiembra.com/camino)
• Lalma Herbal Teas in Sleepy, Javaslim-T, and Detox (www.viragesante.com/en/herbal-teas.html)
• Enerex Raw Phyto Proteins (www.enerex.ca)
• OneCoffee Organic Coffee K-Cups in Peruvian Dark (www.myworldinacup.com)
• North Coast Organic Squeezable Applesauce (www.manzanaproducts.com)
• Crunchmaster Gluten-Free Multi-Seed Crackers (www.crunchmaster.com)
• Zorah Sitala Organic Face Cream (www.zorah.ca)
• Now Organic Rawsome Whole Food Meal (www.rawsomewholefood.ca)
• Nature's Bakery Fig Bar in Apple Cinnamon (www.naturesbakery.com)
• Tonic by the Sea Purifying Cleanser Scrub (www.tonicbythesea.com)
• Land Art Chlorophyll (www.landart.qc.ca)

I'm first got to mention that most of the food items were devoured by Mike and the kids before I got a chance to try them. The kids were all over that chocolate bunny and the applesauce and Mike homed in on the fig bar. I managed to grab the multi-seed crackers, which were delicious. I need to track those down and find more. Mike and the kids loved their items. The teas were very good, definitely ones I would try again. I'm saving the the phyto-proteins and whole food meal for some smoothies, but I'm very excited to try them. I would also love to try the OneCoffee K-cups, but I have a Tassimo. Little Life Box was kind enough to send out an email to warn of this, they were actually a bonus item in the box. I'm going to pass them on to someone with a Keurig.

I LOVE the Tonic by the Sea  purifying cleanser scrub. It's a heavy-duty scrub, and I like that. The Zorah face cream is lovely, it smells herbally (is that a word?) and my skin felt tighter after use. I had actually been eyeing the Bare English & Co. lip balms at my work (Shoppers Drug Mart), so I was glad to receive one in the box to try. I really like it, the only think is I'm not a fan of the tube Iit's oval instead of round so it's kind of weird to put on (like a tiny deodorant).

Image source: 

http://betti2bootbeauty.blogspot.ca/2013/10/lets-get-naked-bare-english-co-lip-balms.html

Overall, another great box from Little Life Box! I've hinted to Mike that I would like the Mother's Day box, so hopefully I find that in my mailbox next month! :)

Honest Company March 2014 Bundle Review

First off, I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts lately. I'm right in the middle of exams so there's won't be much activity for the next week or so. Now to the review!

The Honest Company is an eco-friendly subscription service that specializing and baby and household products that was founded by Jessica Alba. They offer 3 bundles - Diapers & Wipes, Essentials, and Health & Wellness. The bundles start at $35.95/mth, depending on the bundle.  My first experience with the Honest Company was last November when I ordered two of their free trial bundles from their website www.honest.com. I received the Diapers & Wipes trial for my sister-in-law who was visiting with my baby niece and the Essentials trial for home. I really enjoyed the products I received, but with Christmas shortly after, money was tight and I kept pushing the shipment back (a really great option the Honest Company offers). I finally had March's Essentials bundle shipped out (and I am now finally writing about it!).

How the Essentials bundle works is that you can choose 5 household items for $35.95 + shipping, and add up to 3 additional items for a discount. The other bundles work a little differently - The Diapers & Wipes bundle is a month's-supply of diapers and wipes for $79.95. The Health & Wellness bundle is 2 vitamin products of your choice for $39.95 + shipping, plus your choice of up to 3 additional items for a discount.

I received in my Essentials bundle:

• Stain remover
• Dish soap in White Grapefruit
• Laundry detergent
• Dryer clothes
• Kids toothpaste

I was impressed by the quality of the products. All of them worked very effectively. The kids loved the toothpaste, and normally they don't care for any natural type toothpastes. Everything smelled so nice, especially the stain remover which is French Lavender scented, so relaxing.

What I really liked about the products is on the ingredients list on each bottle, each ingredient is explained beside the scientific term (e.g. Caprylyl/Myristyl Glucoside [Sugar-Based Cleanser]). It's nice knowing what is in each bottle and makes me feel more confident about the products.

Finally, a great feature of the Honest Company is their referral program. For every friend you refer that makes a purchase, you receive a $20 credit! That's half a month's shipment paid for! So to get started, here is my referral link and use coupon code INVITED10 to save $10 on your first order.

Good Things in the Mail - Feb/11/14

Today I received in the mail a trial pack from Healthy Essentials (www.healthyessentials.ca). It was part of a promo  the site ran in December 2013 where members received packs when they had friends sign up on the site.

I received samples of:
- Listerine Cool Mint mouthwash
- Neutrogena Men Triple Protect face lotion
- Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion
- Aveeno Baby Daily lotion
- Reactine Extra Strength Non-Drowsy Allergy medication
- Splenda Flavors for Coffee in French Vanilla
- Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Minis
- Tylenol Extra Strength eZtabs

They're all brands I know and love so I was happy to receive them. There is no referral program happening right now on Healthy Essentials, but you can earn points on the site with activities such as joining an advisory panel or printing and using coupons. Once you earn 100 points you can redeem them for a sample pack. I currently have 54 points!

IronKids Gummies Review

This week I won a bottle of IronKids Gummies Calcium vitamins from a giveaway on their Facebook page. I mentioned to them that I would be reviewing the vitamins after I received them, and they offered to send me an additional bottle of IronKids Gummies Omega-3 gummies. I was thrilled to win the contest, and I was even more thrilled to receive the Omega-3 gummies. I'm kind of a vitamin nut, and I was looking into omega vitamins for the kids anyways, so it was a treat to have an opportunity to try the IronKids gummies.

I've always been hesitant to try gummy vitamins, as I thought it would be a bit of a tease to only give the kids one "gummy bear" a day. Well, for the kids' age, they actually need to take 4 of each kind of vitamin every day! It seems like a bit much, but at least it seems a bit more like a proper treat. My kids actually don't have a problem taking vitamins, right now they take a Flintstones-type multivitamin, but for kids that aren't as keen on it, it is a great idea. The Omega-3 vitamins are actually the more gummy-like of the two types, as the Calcium gummies are actually more like fruit snacks. Aislinn preferred the Omega-3s, while Hudson said he liked both the same. Overall, I'm happy (read: the kids are happy) with the products, but with 60 vitamins per bottle and 8 vitamins used up a day between the kids, they will not last long. They retail for $9.99 each on Well.ca, but there is a coupon available on their Facebook page.

January Snackbox Has Arrived!

I found my January Snackbox in front of my door when I returned from dropping the kids off at school - finally. I was sent the tracking info when it shipped, but the tracking stopped somewhere in Richmond, BC (I'm in Ontario), so I wasn't sure where my box was (thanks Canada Post!).

This was my first Snackbox (http://www.getsnackbox.com). It is a subscription box of healthy snacks, and is priced at $39.95/mth + tax ($33 + $6.95 shipping) or less per month if you buy a 3 or 6 month subscription. I received mine for $15 less with a coupon code for new customers, and they sent one with my box for me to share with new customers as well: HEALTHYSTART967.

Let us open the box, shall we?

Not as pretty as my Little Life Box, but I WAS spoiled by that. On top there were coupon cards for Snackbox (as already shared) and Panty by Post (save $15 using coupon code GIFT15), as well as a mystery gift card to Trend Trunk (referral link) that could be worth up to $250 (mine, sadly was worth $5).

Now for what's inside:

Things are looking good! Let's line things up a little better so we can see everything:

Lots of tasty treats! This is what came in the box:

- HomeFree Mini Vanilla Cookies

- Larabar ALT Fruit and Nut Bar in Peanut Butter

- Annies's Homegrown Bunny Grahams in Chocolate

- Nature's Bakery Stone Ground Whole Wheat Raspberry Fig Bar

- Veggie-Go's Mountain Berry Spinach Fruit & Veggie Snack

- Brothers-All-Natural Apple Cinnamon Crisps

- Beanitos Original Black Bean Chips with Sea Salt

- RW Garcia 5 Seed Rosemary & Garlic Crackers

- Kiju Organic Juiceboxes in Mango Orange and Pomegranate Cherry

- Theobroma Organic 72% Dark Chocolate x2

- Nature's Path Organic Dark Chocolate Chip Chococonut Granola Bars (box of 5)

- Guayaki Brand Yerba Mate Drink in Revel Berry

I just want to say yay! Everything is milk protein-free! I can actually eat it all, even the chocolate!

There's a lot of great stuff there for the kids as well, which makes me happy. I'll be packing them the Kiju juice boxes in their lunches tomorrow. We've had them at Starbucks quite a few times and they love them. We are also a big fan of Annie's and Nature's Path, as well as HomeFree's cookies since they had them in the Little Life Box. I'm hoping the apple crisps are good, I'm usually a fan of apple crisps but I bought some terrible ones at Shopper's Drug Mart recently (the brand is ThreeWorks as a heads up), so I'm a little tentative. I'll have Mike try them first. :)

I have one complaint -  the yerba mate drink came dented.

I was not super impressed. Mike has me freaked out that dented cans have botulism, though I don't know if that's true or not. Wiki Answers had mixed responses on that. I will be firing off a complaint email to the company though.

Despite the can, I was really happy with the food selection in the box. One thing worth mentioning is that according to fellow blogger Canadian Subscription Box Addict (cdnboxaddict.blogspot.ca), this month's Snackbox was valued at less than the regular monthly subscription charge. I will probably hold off on ordering more boxes until I see if the next few boxes are higher valued. I don't really want to be losing money on what I order.

SURPRISE UPDATE!

I heard back from Snackbox regarding the can issue and they had this to say:

"I'm so sorry about that! We will send you a new Snackbox today."

What-the-what?! How awesome is that! They really went above and beyond as I was totally not expecting that, maybe a credit at the very most. It was way better than Ipsy's generic response to the face-burning towelettes:

"Thank you for your email. We're so sorry you didn't love the towelettes in your Glam Bag. We do appreciate your feedback and encourage you to review this product and all of the other products you received by visiting your "Glam Room" on ipsy.com. We will certainly take it into consideration as we continue to plan our Glam Bags for this year."

Snackbox even sent me a coupon code to share with you guys:

 This feels like a real blog now! My own coupon code :). Anyways, based on Snackbox's fabulous customer service response I will continue to subscribe and look forward to sharing future goods.

HomeFree: http://www.homefreetreats.com/
Larabar: http://www.larabar.com
Annie's Homegrown: http://www.annies.com/
Nature's Bakery: http://www.naturesbakery.com
Veggie-Go's: http://www.nakededgesnacks.com
Brothers-All-Natural: http://www.brothersallnatural.ca
Beanitos: http://www.beanitos.com
RW Garcia: http://www.rwgarcia.com
Kiju: http://www.kijuorganic.com
Theobroma: http://www.theobromachocolate.com/en/home
Nature's Path: http://www.naturespath.com
Guayaki: http://www.guayaki.com

January Little Life Box Has Arrived!

Today I received my first Little Life Box. This is a subscription box available from http://www.littlelifebox.com that features eco-friendly products. There are different options for subscribing but one month is $19.99 +$3 shipping and it is available in for the Canadian provinces only. There is also the option when you order to receive a Female or Male box.

I just want to share how nicely wrapped it was when I opened the box:

There was a nice little thank you note on the back of the postcard as well. After I destroyed the tissue paper there was:

Goodies! It actually doesn't look like much until you take out the literature and line it up all nice as such:

Look at all that awesomeness! I love the variety of products that came in the box:

- HomeFree All Natural Gluten Free Mini Double Chocolate Cookies

- Ek Chok Organic Chocolate Spread with Vanilla

- EcoTools Tapered Blush Brush

- Amazing Grass Organic Wheatgrass and Green Superfood Drink Powders

- Genuine Health Greens+ Whole Body Nutrition Nourishing Superfood Drink Powders in Natural and Natural Acai Mango

- Mighty Leaf Tea in Green Tea Tropical and Chamomile Citrus

- Aroma Crystal Gardener's Dream Cream

- Ener-C Effervescent Powdered Drink Mix in Raspberry, Lemon Lime, Tangerine Grapefruit, and Orange

- Epsom Gel Massage Lotion

- John Masters Organics Evening Primrose Shampoo for Dry Hair and Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner

- Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa Face Mask

- Sow Good Men 3-in-1 Natural Shampoo, Shower & Shaving Gel (not sure why I got this in the Female box but Mike can enjoy it!)

Overall quite a bit of loot! I'll update as I try them out, but so far, I'm already a fan of Montagne Jeunesse's masks, I've bought them many times before and they are really nice. I try and do a face mask every 2 weeks or so, so I may have to plan a Spa Night for Aislinn and I sometime soon. 

I'm drinking the Green Tea Tropical Mighty Leaf Tea right now and it has a nice subtle flavour to it. I don't taste the harsh flavour that you cometimes get from green tea and the tropical flavour is not overwhelming, which is good or bad depending on your preference. I also currently have the Aroma Crystal Gardener's Dream Cream on my hands right now. It's a thick, luxe feeling lotion and my hands feel soft right away. The only thing is that my hands reek of eucalyptus right now, but that's actually a good thing as I have a nasty head cold right now and it's clearing me up. 

I love the Ecotools Tapered Blush Brush. I've needed a good blush brush for a long time and this one is fabulous. It is so soft and it's the perfect shape for blush application. Plus it's only $6.99 on the website which is really decent for a brush like that! The John Masters shampoo and conditioner were great, the shampoo had a nice lather and my hair felt really nice after, I just found the samples didn't have enough for my thick hair. Mike didn't like the Sow Good 3-in-1. He said it left a weird coating on his hair and scalp and did not want to use it again.

I loved all of the drink mixes. The best tasting one was Genuine Health Greens+ in Natural Acai Mango. It tasted really tropical and fruity. The ones I will definitely buy again though are the Ener-C mixes. They gave me a nice boost of energy and tasted like flavoured Perrier water. The kids loved the HomeFree chocolate chip cookies and I loved the Ek Chok spread. It made me really really happy that there was no dairy in it, being milk protein intolerant, and it had a nice rich taste to it. My only complaint was that there wasn't enough of it :(.

I'm really, really happy with this box. Everything in it is something that I would use, or someone in the family would. I'm especially pleased there are so many drink mixes as I like taking those to work with me. I will definitely be ordering a box again next month.

HomeFree: http://www.homefreetreats.com/

Ek Chok: http://www.premierorganics.org/ek-chok/

EcoTools: http://www.ecotools.com/

Amazing Grass: http://amazinggrass.com/

Genuine Health: http://www.genuinehealth.com/

Mighty Leaf Tea: http://www.mightyleaf.com/

Aroma Crystal: https://www.aromacrystal.com/

Ener-C: http://tryenerc.com/

Epsom Gel: http://www.epsomgel.ca/

John Masters Organics: http://www.johnmasters.ca/

Montagne Jeunesse: http://www.montagnejeunesse.com/

Sow Good: http://sowgoodbeauty.com/