My 1st Product Review (Barielle), Cake Pops, & Flowers

So, the other day I was pleasantly shocked & surprised to receive an email from a Barielle rep, asking if there were any of their products that I would be interested to receive a free sample of in return for reviewing the product on my blog. OMG, free stuff!! Yay!

The hardest part was choosing from their wide range of products (check out Barielle's website to see what they have to offer), but I finally decided on a lotion since I've been trying very hard with my New Year's Resolution to moisturize as much as possible.

Now, I've talked about quite a few products that I use, but I've never done a "real" review, so please if there's anything that I'm missing or anything you're curious to know about this product, leave me a comment & I can go back & edit in more information.

In all the hassle of dealing with my broken comp, I had kind of forgotten about my free gift coming. I'd only responded back to the rep late Saturday night, so when I got a package Thursday, I didn't know what it was for a minute. Then I realized it must be the Barielle & I was impressed with the quick shipment. I've never placed a normal order with them, but I'm assuming they're equally prompt with their paying customers, and I think that 5 days is pretty good turnaround.

Here's my happy package:

I kind of got a kick that my PO# was listed as "blogging" LOL:

Even having narrowed it down to lotion, I still had a lot of choices, but in the end I picked the Deluxe Hand & Body Lotion & here's a pic of it both in & out of the box:

As someone who has allergies & sensitive skin, I know a lot of people are very careful & concerned with what goes into the products that they purchase. I took the kind of lazy way out & took a couple of shots of the box & bottle, ingredients & instructions:

Barielle's website describes this product as:

"A unique formula that will bring out the natural glow of your skin. This lotion also serves as a cleansing agent and odor absorber. Enriched oils and mango seed butter will leave your skin smooth and silky to the touch. Fresh citrus scent."

& I have to agree with all of that. My first reaction when I put it on, I literally said out loud, "Oh YUM!" This is the best smelling lotion I can remember using, and I am pretty picky about scent. The citrus scent is light, not at all intrusive, with a sweet hint of mango. It has a good texture, not runny but not too thick or gloppy either, and it goes on smooth & absorbs quickly. It does not leave an oily or greasy residue on my hands, they just feel healthy & well-moisturized.

I try not to let my hands get too dry, but I think you can still see the difference this lotion made in these before & after shots:

Now, the only downside to this product is the price. But it works so well it may be worth it. Normal price for a 6 oz. bottle is $22.00. If you order from their website, shipping fees go from $5.00 to $8.00, with orders over $60.00 having free shipping - right now they have an offer of free shipping on orders over $50.00. I've only had this for a day, so I can't honestly say if I'd pay the price to keep using it after this bottle is gone. Normally I'd dismiss a $22.00 lotion out of hand as being too expensive, but you really do get what you pay for. You're not going to find a moisturizer this nice for 5 bucks.

... I'm not sure if I should have like stars or a 1-10 ratings scale or what ... for now I'm just going to give this product 2 thumbs up.

So what did you think of my first review? Anything I missed? Too MUCH info? Let me know. Hopefully I'll have further opportunities to bring you more reviews & put any suggestions to good use.

As if this post wasn't long enough already ... I did some baking yesterday. I was tempted to give these guys their own post, but I think you all probably know it's more my style to cram everything I have to say into one post. PLUS with my old comp it's way easier & quicker to just do one. So, I give you my 1st attempt at making Cake Pops:

I made these to take to my grandparent's house, and brought a few of the extras in to work, where they were a HUGE hit. I think I made everyone's day a little brighter, put a smile on their face LOL. I got the recipe & instructions over at Bakerella's blog (Thanks for the link Brooke!) and if you have a sweet tooth I seriously suggest heading over there for a ton of great ideas.

These really were not that hard to make, although they were somewhat time consuming. I just used regular sandwich baggies & then ribbon to tie them closed with. I'd like to make them again, just because of course the first time you try any recipe you learn things to do better the next time around.

My main lesson was that the edible ink pens that they sell at Michael's SUCK. I'm going to be returning mine, because they were next thing to worthless for drawing on the cake balls. Bakerella recommends another brand, and you can see how nice her faces turn out. I had a whole page full of creative smiley faces that I didn't get to use because the pens just refused to work. I scrawled some basic eyes & mouth on about half & then gave up. They're just as delicious without a face LOL.

Last thing to share for this post are a few flower pics from the walk we took after dinner:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette