Not so Sticky Sweetness: Nektar Honey Crystals Review

  I love honey! Its such a natural wonder! I was very intrigued to see Nektar Honey Crystals in my Influenster Mom Voxbox. I can honestly say this was a new product, let alone ideal, to me. The pure, 100% all natural honey crystals are GMO free, naturally gluten free and made in the U.S.A.!
                                           

I have to say I  was curious ( & a tad skeptical) about any possible preservatives/additives so I contacted Nektar Naturals via their site. I received a prompt & friendly response assuring me there are no preservatives or additives used! YAY!!  The response was from none other than, the president & founder of Nektar Naturals Fine Foods, LLC- Jeremy Edelman . Another plus for this brand for me! I love a company that will connect with its consumer/clientele/customer (whichever name you bestow upon us) on a more regular basis.

Ok back to the matter at hand, my take on these curious lil' honey crystals. First I had to take a look. Appearance was good. You can see the tiny lil' beige specks in my picture below of the open pack of Nektar Honey Crystals. The smell wasn't bad either.

Now for the best part. I tried a few Nektar Honey Crystals by themselves. The texture was nice; quick to melt, not too hard. And the flavor was, to me, as yummy as the liquid stuff! A big big yippy was that there was no weird after taste at all with the Nektar Honey Crystals. Just pure "yumminess".
So I figure what the heck, let's get wild & add it to a cup of my Stash Tea! (You can get my full review on Stash Tea here.) One packet of Nektar Honey Crystals is equal to one teaspoon of liquid honey. For me, that is just about the right amount to add to my tea (not much on it being too sweet).  It didn't take many swirls of my spoon for all the lil' crystals to be dissolved. The flavor was tastey & mild. Didn't overpower the tea just added a sweet undertone.

I can't wait to get some more to try in many other nummies! I think I may try it in my oatmeal first! It is definitely an item I can see incorporating into my everyday routine, especially with 4 kiddos. The packs make it convenient & portable. The portion is a definite plus as well. Makes keeping an eye on added calories & sugar so much easier. Of course don't forget the fact that they're all natural!

And so the days of sticky are gone, enter the era of Nektar Honey Crystals!!

You can purchase the Nektar Honey Crystals at Stash Tea's online store as well as Englishteastore.com

Be a sweetie & like Nektar Naturals Facebook page here!


Disclaimor: I received this complimentary product from Influenster.com. I have not & will not be compensated for my time or opinion by either company(ies) whether it be monetary or otherwise. My opinions are solely mine based on my own experience testing this product!

Something Yum This Way Comes: Stash Tea Review

I have found many great complimentary products through the Influenster voxbox program to test & review. Stash tea (follow them on twitter! @stashtea) definitely goes on my products I loved & will continue to use list. In the Love voxbox & in my most recent Mom voxbox, I received two different sampler packs of Stash Tea, one of each in each voxbox. This is a unique brand of herbal teas that can be bought in select stores and online in the Stash Tea store.

If you visit their site, you can sign up for a newsletter as well as view & order their catalog. The variety of teas they have is quite impressive from green tea to a special Chanakra blend. They also offer their herbal teas in tea bag or loose leaf. My Superfruit Sampler box this round came with a double coupon. Useable on 2 boxes for a dollar off in store and for 15% off a $25 or more purchase at their online store! 

Now I do love me some herbal tea. The taste, the benefits and the fact that its essentially naturally enhanced water! I must say though I am a bit fickle when it comes to the brands I like. I enjoy a full robust flavor when steeped for the full amount. When I delved into the first box I received I was hooked! The variety, the crisp taste of the tea (no matter the flavor it was full on), and the aromatic experience sucked me right in! I followed them on twitter, liked their Facebook page, signed up for their newsletter & went out for some more!  When I opened my lovely Mom Voxbox I was so stoked to see a superfruit sampler! First I tried the Goji Berry Green tea. 

It fizzed when I steeped it which I thought was so neat. The flavor was a touch tart & very refreshing! The flavor I'm going for today is Yumberry Blackcurrant. WIth a name like Yumberry how can you go wrong?  These teas are great with a couple teaspoons of honey or a little sugar but they're as equally (if not better in my tastes) without any sweetner at all! 

I have searched around my local stores & have found a few varieties at Wal-Mart & Kroger. For the more unique flavors & styles I'm going to have to rely on there great online store! 

Stash Tea has been blending premium teas since 1972 so they've worked on perferction & have pretty much reached it! All their teas are Kosher-certified, all natural ingredients & of course gluten free. I have had them both hot & cold and love them equally at either temp. 

You can purchase it at most grocery stores, coffee houses, club stores, mass merchandisers, and natural food stores.

So a quick recap of where to look for Stash Tea info. Check out & like their Facebook page here. Follow them on twitter here. Check out their site here. And lastly but not leastly, follow their pins on pinterest here.  

Give them a try & enjoy! 

Disclaimor: I received this complimentary product from Influenster.com. I have not & will not be compensated for my time or opinion by either company(ies) whether it be monetary or otherwise. My opinions are solely mine based on my own experience testing this product!

And the Mom Voxbox is here! Quick Take

So yesterday I received my much anticipated Mom voxbox! It was chocked full of goodies! I will be fully reviewing the new products in their own blogs & giving a quick recap & links to posts about previously experienced products right now!

                                   
I received another set of Broadway Nails imPress press-on manicure. Lovely purple shade! These are great, fast, & fun nails! You can check my full review of them here.
These last a decent length of time if applied properly. My 2 best tips for application & ut-most stay power... 1) press them on firmly & hold firmly for at least 25 seconds. 2) do not immerse your hands in any amount of water for at least 30 min. Just to be clear these are not requirements for application just my tips from experience. ;-) And they also came with a great $1 off coupon.

                                             
I also got another sampler box of Stash Tea. I will definitely have a review up either today or tomorrow giving all my take on this brand! This one came with a double coupon. Good for a $1 on 2 boxes in store and 15% on a $25 or more order online
                                        

Along with the Stash Tea I received some Nektar Honey crystals. My first experience with this product & I will give you a full on take on it in the next few days!

                                         
A bar soap I received was Ivory. Used this before & love that its 99.4% pure (no dyes, no heavy perfumes & such). I'll give a more in-depth take on it in the days to come.
                                           

Got two travel packs of Dentek floss picks. One for grown ups (Comfort Clean Thin Silky Floss in Fresh Mint) & a Fun Flosser pack for my kiddos. Another product that I have plenty of experience with & I'll unload my take soon!

                                            
And the final little goodie I got was a Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. First time trying this & I'll let you in on my tastey thoughts (& those of my boy-o's) soon!

                                                       

A sweet little testing project & hope y'all enjoy my take on these & more soon!



Disclaimor: I received these complimentary nail products from Influenster.com. I have not & will not be compensated for my time or opinion by either company(ies) whether it be monetary or otherwise. My opinions are solely mine based on my own experience testing this product!

A Couple Hot Weather Tips...

I'm always looking for good tips for health, beauty, around the house & well for about anything really. Recently I came across 4 that caught my attention. Now, I've only used 2 of these so please do let me know if you use any of these & they work or don't!

The first thing I knew I wanted to tell you all about was this spiffy lil' idea I came across in all You magazine. Spring and summer are the ultimate outdoor times. Parties, cookouts, just hanging with the family, gardening, just so many things to do outside. The article discussed tips for fun helpful tips for having outdoor dinner parties & such.

Okay okay on to the actual tip.  Take cupcake liners, turn them upside down, place a straw through & then place in your drink. The cupcake liner becomes a cheap, cute, easy lid to keep all the pesky flying guests out of your drink. Easily found to match most themes, inexpensive & cute- gotta love it!

Tip two for this time of year came in an email from a friend.  It can be used on people & pets. Bugs of all sorts come out when the sun shines & the mercury rises. Ticks can be an extremely dangerous pest. If you or a pet happen to get bitten by a tick, take a cotten ball soaked in dish detergent & hold over the tick. It should release its bite & back out within a few seconds of exposure. Tried this once with one of our dogs & it worked!

Staying on the bug issue, I want to relay some possibilities for natural mosquito repellents. With 4 lil' boys I'm always looking for safe, effective ways to keep them bite free. I haven't tried any of thes combos out so again if you do please let me know! I read about these on about.com

Take any of the following essential oils & add to either an oil base (such as cooking oils) or witch hazel. Add 10 to 25 drops of essential oils to 2 Tbsps of the carrier, then either spritz or rub onto you body and/or clothes. I would suggest only basing it with witch hazel if you're going to spritz onto clothing. The article said it was best to reapply after an hour & after being in water. The list of oils were: cinnamon oil, lemon eucalyptus oil, citronella oil, castor oil, thyme oil. It's definitely worth a try!

My final tip is in regards to dry summer hair. This tip came from an article on the Woman's Day magazine website. Use half a cup of honey (a natural humectant) on hair for 20 minutes. If hair is super dry add an egg yolk to the honey before applying. When you're ready to rinse add 1-2 Tbsps olive oil to ease the mix out of your hair. Rinse with warm water. Another tip which comes from myself & my mom, follow with a cool rinse (even after conditioning) it closes the cuticle on your hair locking in more moisture!

Summer & spring constantly have fun stuff to encounter & I hope these tips can help everyone have an even better time!!

My Palmolive Fresh Sponge Goodie Basket (via Influenster thanks to Colgate)

   Yay! So I received my goodie basket I earned doing the Palmolive Fresh Sponge challenge for Influenster!

Included in this delightful little entourage was a sweet little Palmolive pot holder! Love it! With my four boys cooking happens a lot & never can have too many of these!

Also was thrilled to see some Softsoap Pomengranate soap bars! Love the smell & cleans wonderously! Already us the body wash ;).  This is really a yummy smell! Really should give it a go!

And of course love the Softsoap Pampered Hands foaming hand wash! Got the "scentilating" Tangerine Treat!  The foam is rich, only needing one maybe two pumps. It cleans great and leaves your hands feeling silky & moisturized!

Finally but definitely not leastly, the Colgate Optic White toothpaste! I am uber excited to try this out & will do a review after using it for about 2 weeks. I will have pics & all and let you lovely people in on just how optic it is!

So that sums up my "uuuhhh-Mazzzing" (of course done in a lovely sing song voice!) goodie rewards! Great products & fun testing!
Hope you enjoyed my quick take on these products! The Mom Voxbox is on its way & I'll have more Influenster reviews to come soon!!! Oh & some craft blogs too!
DISCLAIMER: THESE PRODUCTS WERE COMPLIMENTARY & EARNED BY BEING AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE INFLUENSTER COMMUNITY. I HAVE RECEIVED NO MONETARY OR OTHER COMPENSATION FOR MY TIME OR OPINIONS FROM INFLUENSTER OR ANY OF THE BRANDS. MY OPINIONS ARE UNBIASED AND SOLELY MY OWN!

Mom Voxbox Here I come!!

   This is one happy chic right here! I qulaified to test an Influenster Mom Voxbox!  Very soon I will have great new Influenster voxbox products to chat about!
    We, the Influenster community, recently had a twitter party to discuss the upcoming Mom Voxbox. We got various clues as to what we'd be fortunate enough to test. I must say that as a mommy to 4 wonderous lil' boys (ages spanning from 1 yr to 8 yrs), I am uber excited about the organizational tool that was hinted at!! After all life can be chaos at any time, add kiddos to the mix & well... ha ha you can imagine!
    I'm sure all the goodies will be as wonderous as I have experienced with past voxboxes. This will be my fourth voxbox & I can honestly say I have not tested a single product that was a total flop. Some haven't been my thing but they've all been good products.
    Keep an eye out on my blog for the upcoming reviews! Plus I'm going to possibly do a giveaway soon!! Being my first and all, it will probably be completely unsponsered but hey still awesome free stuff!!
    Oh and check out the Influenster Facebook page!

UPDATE: THE BOX WILL NOT HAVE AN ORGANIZATIONAL TOOL BUT A BEVERAGE, MANICURE, SOAP, SNACK, SWEETNER, & ORAL CARE PRODUCT TO TEST!

DISCLAIMER-CHECK IT OUT: And as always I have been chosen to test these COMPLIMENTARY products by being an active Influenster Community member! No monetary or other payment has been given or offered to me by Influenster or the brands I've tested!!