There were a lot of interesting goodies in this Klout Perk box that came for Fair Trade month. I was surprised to see some of my favorite brands had Fair Trade products. I love Celestial Seasonings tea, but it was my mom who latched onto the Celestial Seasoning's Organic Green Tea right away. The Barkthins and Larabar made great snacks. Who doesn't love/need tote bags and this Prana one is sturdy and cute. I plan on sharing the Near East Quinoa with my friend Aprille who LOVES quinoa.
Klout and Moe's Southwest Grill sent me a box of goodies for Cinco de Mayo. It's one of the biggest boxes I've got from Klout. Stewie seemed to think it was for him.
Inside were sweatbands, towels, a t-shirt, a camel-back and Moe's gift cards. All for celebrating #cincodemoes on Cinco de Mayo with free samples of their new spicy guacamole.
Hugo really wanted to go to Moe's. He likes burritos.
Instead of Hugo, Tina and Liz joined me to make a real party! Welcome to Mooooooes!
Oscar and Hugo got a Klout perk in the mail! They were very excited to get a bag of Hill’s® Science Diet® Grain Free dry pet food.
Did they like it? The proof is right here. I was really interested in the fact that this Hill’s® Science Diet® Grain Free dry dog food is grain free. I have had suspicions that wheat is making the pugs skin itchy... seems like they lick their paws obessively when they have too much.
The size of the Hill’s® Science Diet® kibble is perfect for the pugs.
This is a small detail about the Hills dog food that I really appreciated... the dog food bag closed with a velcro seal. So nice!
There have been some great Klout perks lately. I was really interested to try this Oregon Cafe Mocha Latte espresso concentrate. It's so easy to make - 3/4 cup of hot milk with 1/4 cup of the syrup, and tastes so good! I heated my milk in my Aeroccino so my milk was nice and frothy. I like that it uses real cane sugar also.
Along the similar lines I also got a jar of chocolate Hershey's spread. What's not to like? Ooey gooey chocolate spread? I used mine on a banana. Delightful! I think it would be great on toast too.
With this bitter cold winter, what could be more appreciated than Ricola cough drops? I saw these everywhere when we were in Switzerland.
The singing box was a treat to open, but it wasn't needed to convince me of how affective Ricola cough drops are. The extra strength are so strong, I can't hold one in my mouth until it disolves!
I was thrilled when Ricola sent another batch of cough drops. I promised some for my dad to try, now I have plenty to share.
I was bowled over by all the goodies that came in the Klout perks Fair Trade box. I didn't know a lot about Fair Trade and didn't know there were so many products that were Fair Trade, many of which I can find at Wegmans.
October was #FairTradeMonth but it took me awhile to try everything.
This was the first thing in the box to go. Chocolate! Good.
I have had Honest Tea before and was excited to see it in the box. I didn't know it was fair trade. Love sweet tea and this is a good one. Not too sweet.
I quickly used up the coffee in our French press. It was interesting, when I ground the beans there were little papery shells left. Never saw that before.
I gave the Larabar to my friend Patricia at work and she wrote a review for me!
"Knowing that I eat gluten-free, Jenny offered me a chocolate chip cookie dough Larabar when she got it as part of a Klout perk filled with Fair Trade goodies. With 16g of sugar in a 1.6 oz bar, I've saving it for when I need a sweet treat. It can be really hard to find good GF substitutes for some things. The first granola bar I had after committing to a GF diet tasted like styrofoam. The Larabar was a vast improvement over that! It was very chocolatey and smooth and tided me over until dinner time. I have to say that it hit the spot on the sweetness factor, but it really didn't taste like old-fashion full-of-gluten cookie dough--maybe that's just too much too ask of an energy bar!" - Patricia
I haven't tried the tea bags or quinoa yet so maybe I should give those to Aprille for a review!
This summer I got a bottle of Blue Rhapsody from Essie as a Klout Perk. I kept putting off trying it, then I had a brainstorm of layering it over a coat of Mochachino. It was a gamble but I LOVE IT!
Now I am wondering what else I can layer the blue glitter over top?!
I was really excited to get a Klout Perk that was for the pugs! They were shipped three bags of Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Dog Treats. As you can see Hugo was smacking his chops at the mere thought of sampling these treats.
Hill's sent three kinds of treats. I knew they would tear into the beef jerky strips but wasn't sure about the veggie ones - Cranberry & Oatmeal and Pumpkin & Yam. Hugo made short work off all of them without blinking but Oscar snubbed the veggie ones at first. Then he saw Hugo chomping away he decided to make a go of them and then became a fan.
All the treats were a nice size and felt substantial. If a treat is small these two have a tendency to gulp them down, so I liked these. They had to carry they off and chew on them a bit.
When you have pugs you expect to have to dole out a lot of treats. I like that these are all natural, with no corn, artificial colors or flavors. They also have lots of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Everything a growing pug needs.
Here is a review of a product I got as a Klout Perk pretty early on. It was a selection of Proxi products.
I started using the dishwasher tablets right away but had other body washes to finish up before I wanted to open up the Proxi one. There was also toothpaste... but I am dedicated to my current toothpaste, so Aaron used it instead.
As you might have guessed, Proxi products have hydrogen peroxide in them. They make dental, personal and home care products. The hydrogen peroxide helps clean and breaks down to just oxygen and water. Very green and sustainable.
Dishwasher tablets - these work great! Especially considering our dishwasher doesn't work great. There isn't any additional scent which I like. They get the dishes clean and don't leave any weird film or residue.
Body wash - the cucumber and green tea wasn't my favorite scent... I like fruity fragrances for my bath products, but it wasn't bad. What I really liked was how much it frothed up. It almost seemed like the bubbles crackled! Didn't dry out my skin either.
Toothpaste - Aaron reports that it has a fresh taste and left his teeth feeling smooth and clean.
Overall I liked everything I tried and I really like their green and sustainable features!
I love fall. I especially love when the fall drinks hit Starbucks. Salted Caramel Mocha is my all time favorite.
Now they have salted caramel cake pops!
I have been getting a lot of Starbucks Klout Perks lately. Can't wait to try this bottled Frappuccino!
I just got the first shipment in a round of of Starbucks Klout Perks. A can of Starbucks Refreshers... raspberry pomegranate. When I was traveling recently I got a packet of the Refreshers Via mix. I didn't like it as well as the Refreshers you get freshly made in Starbucks but it was very convenient to pop a packet in a bottle of water on an airplane. I was curious to try the canned version compared to the fresh and the Via powder.
I would say it doesn't taste as good as getting it fresh at Starbucks but it is peppier than the powdered version. Since Refreshers have green coffee extract aka caffeine, it makes a nice afternoon pick-me-up for when you don't want another cup of coffee. I know a few people that like caffeine but don't like coffee that would appreciate these also.
I was already and essie fan but I was super eager to get one of the new essie mirror metallics polish in the mail as a Klout Perk! I knew I would love it even before I arrived. I like SHINY when it comes to my nail polish! They really did get a nice sheen to these metallic polishes!
I got a bottle of Nothing Else Metals. Love it on my toes. Can't stop looking at them... I will be sorry when sandal season is over. As Mary-Irene says "This color will take you right into fall!"
A few weeks ago I got a pack of Aveeno Ultra-Calming Makeup Removing Wipes. I am really particular about facial cleansers. Most leave my face super dry and tight feeling. I was willing to give these a try though. I was pleasantly surprised. They don't have an overwhelming scent and they don't leave any weird greasy feeling behind. The best thing is they didn't dry out my skin.
They are super handy for traveling. These would be a must have for camping! I have to say these are now part of my skin care routine.
A lot of Klout perks arrived in the mail while we were in Hawaii. Aveeno Ultra-Calming Makeup Removing Wipes, Essie Multi Dimension Top Coat and the Bing Summer of Doing Kit.
I realized what I really like about Klout. I love getting the Perks in the mail! It's like having a generous pen pal. Now I need to get down to trying these goodies.
A couple weeks ago I got a Klout perk for a discount on Chloe + Isabel jewelry. Typically I don't pay much attention to the perks that are just discounts but I decided to take a look at their online store.
Some things were pricey but there were also more reasonably priced items and with my discount in hand, I couldn't pass up this necklace. It's so simple but unique and goes with anything.
I like the necklace but what I really loved was the experience. The necklace came in a really cute canvas bag stamped with the adorable Chloe + Isabel birds logo. Tied to the necklace was an orange felt bird. Note that even the clasp on the necklace has a tiny metal bird attached. Such good attention to detail!
I have my favorite local shops for jewelry (FAHSYE!) but if I had to get a gift that would be shipped to a friend out of town on short notice the presentation chloe + isabel provide makes them a great alternative!
A few weeks ago I got a Klout Perk shipment of Lipton Tea & Honey mix. To be honest, I don't care for artificial sweetener... even diet sodas taste odd to me, so this wasn't my favorite. If you do like diet drinks however, I think you would love this mix. It's so convenient with the little pouches you can take with you to the office or on the road.
We always had Lipton tea in my house growing up. My mom made it for my dad's lunch bucket. My go to Lipton product is the Lipton Cold Brew. I love the giant bags... it only takes two for a carafe of tea. If I want iced tea fast, I follow the directions. If I want the tea a little stronger I use hot water from my electric kettle. Add some simple syrup and mmmm sweet tea for summer!