Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Colgate Optic White Toothbrush + Built-in Whitening Pen Review

I was sent the Colgate Optic White Toothbrush + Built-in Whitening Pen a few weeks ago from Influenster, these are my thoughts and results.


BRUSH. WHITEN. GO.



The idea is that you brush your teeth, whiten your teeth with the whitening pen that is stored within the toothbrush handle, and go.  Its supposed to be a convenient and quick way to get whiter teeth.  The package claims that you could see whiter teeth in just 2 days.


I found the toothbrush itself to be very comfortable to use, however, the handle was a bit on the bulky side (has to be large enough to contain the whitening pen) but not heavy.  The bristles were nice and almost felt like a massage for my teeth and gums.  Overall, good toothbrush.



The whitening pen pulls out of the base of toothbrush handle.  Turning the dial at the bottom of the pen dispenses the whitening gel.


The applicator is a soft rubber with little nubS, and the gel comes out of the center.  The recommend 2 clicks of gel for the top teeth and 2 clicks of gel for the bottom teeth.  I would say 2-3 clicks per row.  I applied the gel in circular scrubbing motions paying close attention to my gum line were I have the most discoloration.  The gel is supposed to adhere to the teeth and begins to work immediately.  

The problem I have is that I don't feel like it adheres to the teeth long enough to produce desired results.  When I close my mouth after application I can feel and taste the gel as is starts to come off my teeth.  The gel has a light minty taste, very similar to toothpaste, nothing horrible. 

So, you probably want to see the results, right?  I find that take before and after pictures can be deceiving or hard to compare.  If the two pictures aren't taken exactly the same way (light, angle, etc.)  the images can't really be compared properly.  So instead of taking a before picture and after picture, I decided I would only use the product on have of my teeth.  Here are the results,

NOTE: the AFTER is on the left and BEFORE on the right

To be honest, after using this twice a day for 3 weeks, I haven't really seen much whitening.  I would say maybe a shade whiter.  


You can see I have the most discoloration on my bottom teeth closest to my gum line.  When i started, the left bottom half of my teeth were a little more discolored than the right half.  Now, they are about the same.  This is probably where I saw most of a change, however, still very slight.  

Overall, I like the toothbrush and I also like the convenience of having a whitening pen built-in. , and I did not notice any tooth sensitivity.  However, I did not see any noticeable whitening effects.  Perhaps with continued use I may see a result, in which case I will give you guys an update.  But I just don't think these brush-on whitening products adhere well enough or long enough to the teeth for it to be able to truly do its job. 

Have you tried this?  What were your experiences and results?  What other teeth whitening products have you tried and which are your favorites?


*Product was sent for review purposes as part of the influenster.com program.

Friday, April 19, 2013

How To Get FREE STUFF!!! ➡ SWAGBUCKS

I'm starting a mini-series on my channel on my favorite ways to get FREE STUFF!!! I love getting free stuff and I know there are lots of you out there who do too!  All the things I will talk about are super easy, and usually reward you for things you are probably already doing anyway.

I'm going to start the series off with SWAGBUCKS!



Swagbucks is completely free to join.  You can earn swagbucks for doing everyday tasks such as surfing the internet, taking sureys, going shopping, and even printing manufacturer coupons!  Also, Swagbucks was nice enough to give me a code to share with you guys that will give you 70 swagbucks just for signing up!  And after you complete your profile you'll earn an additional 30 swagbucks.  That's 100 swagbucks just for signing up! So what are you waiting for?

To Sign up for swagbucks:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/LePooke
click "i have a sign up code"
use sign up code" LEPOOKE70 to get 70 extra swag bucks just for signing up! Complete your profile and get another 30 swagbucks! Cha Ching $$$




Tuesday, March 19, 2013

GRAZE - Box #6



Can you see cat legs in the background? hehe =) That's PJ.  My kittens seem to always be around when  I open up my Graze boxes.

I was super excited to see Toffee Apple in this box.  I've been wanting to try this since I first browsed the graze website.  Its dried apple with toffee sauce.


I love the combination of apples and caramel, and I assumed the toffee sauce would be just that, a caramel dip.  Given that I haven't really enjoyed much of Graze's dried fruit selection, with the exception of their raisin and cranberries, I wasn't sure I was really going to like the dried apple, but I was optimistic.  I was pleasantly surprised with the texture of these.  They were spongey, but in a good way.  Soft and really easy to chew, almost marshmallowy.  By themselves, the apples were yummy, but  dipped in the toffee sauce they were extra tasty!  As I suspected, the toffee sauce tasted like caramel and once we had used up the last of the apples I happily liked up the rest with my finger.  I LOVE this one =)


Next was the one of the savory options, Yaki soba- soba peanut, edamame beans, chili and lemon chickpea noodles and chili broad beans.


I was excited to try this because it had so many different components.  Overall, this flavors in this were good but I personally felt like there was too much going on.  The dried edamame beans were the most plain in the bunch, I don't really love dried edamame, the end up tasting a bit chalky.  The soba peanuts were good.  You could definitely taste the chili and lemon in the noodles, they were ok.  My favorite part was the chili broad beans, nice flavor and crunch.


Next was the Smoky Gazpacho dip- smoky gazpacho relish with wholemeal crisp bread slices.


The wholemeal crisp bread slices tasted like toasted wheat bread.  They were very light and crunchy, not flavor.  The smoky gazpacho relish was definitely a good compliment.  When I first opened the package it smelled like bbq and it tasted kind of like barbecue sauce too.  It had a nice sweetness to it but also had that smoky quality.  I felt that there wasn't enough relish to go with the bread slices.  Because the bread didn't have much flavor, it required a good dip into the relish.  I was really surprised by how fresh the relish tasted, Ir really liked it.


Last was Scrumptious Blueberry Swirl- blueberry yoghurt raisins, raspberry cranberries, and blackcurrants.


I've had the raspberry cranberries and blackcurrants before and like them.  The Blueberry yogurt raisins were really good!  They had a nice tang from the yogurt coating and went well with the sweetness of the raisins.  It definitely had a berry quality to it, but I wouldn't say I noticed a specific blueberry flavor. This was a nice one!



If you would like to try Graze for yourself, check out their website 
Graze isn't open to the public yet so you will need an invite code.  Here are ours 
GCM166YDor HGF2M9FD

Monday, March 18, 2013

GRAZE - Box #5


This is my 5th Graze box.  I am still enjoying this service and look forward to the boxes every week.


This box contained all new snacks that we haven't tried yet.

The first one we dug into was the Mango Lassi- Yogurt coated peanuts, pumpkin seeds and mango.



I think this might have been the first graze snack we tried that we felt was all wrong!  Nothing about this combination of flavors made out taste buds happy.  The dried mango lacked flavor and the texture was tough and chewy.  The pumkin seeds were plain.  I had high hopes for the yogurt covered peanuts, I like most yogurt coated things and I like peanuts, however, it just didn't work for me.  I can see where they were going with the Mango Lassi idea, mango and yogurt, but this was just disappointing.  TRASHed for sure.


Mango Chutney- fruity mango chutney with black pepper dippers.


This, I enjoyed.  You could definitely taste the black pepper in the black pepper dippers, it gave the puffy rice cracker a nice bit of spice.  If you don't like pepper I wouldn't recommend this, but I liked them.  The mango chutney was a nice compliment because it was sweet and slightly spicy.  It had some indian spices as well that gave it a great flavor.  I actually had another packaged of graze's My Thai and I preferred dipping those rice crackers in this chutney as opposed to the sweet chili sauce.


We were excited to see the Pomodoro Rustichella- cheese croutons, tomato, basil and oregano almonds,  and mini tomato breadsticks.


So far, we have really enjoyed the "bread-like" selections from Graze.  This one was also very good.  The cheese croutons didn't taste very cheesy to me, but was still very tasty.  The tomato breadsticks reminded me of a pizza.  Have you ever had Combos before?  The cylindrical cracker with different fillings?  Well these tasted like the pizza flavored Combos to me.  The almonds were nice as well, definitely had an italian taste to them thanks to the oregano.


Lastly, Honeycomb Flapjack- rustic rolled oat flapjack with honeycomb and milk chocolate.


Graze's flapjacks are outstanding, but definitely some of the more caloric snacks in their range.  This one was also very fresh, moist, and soft.  This is probably the sweetest flapjack they have.  I was really hoping for some pieces of honeycomb throughout but I honestly couldn't taste any, that was a bit disappointing.  Also, oddly enough, I couldn't taste much from the chocolate drizzle.  Though it doesn't really hold up to the name "Honeycomb flapjack" its still rather tasty.



If you would like to try Graze for yourself, check out their website 
Graze isn't open to the public yet so you will need an invite code.  Here are ours 
GCM166YDor HGF2M9FD

Thursday, March 7, 2013

GRAZE - Box #4



This is my 4th Graze Box and I am still very happy with the service.  It's $5 a box, and you now have the option to receive a box every week, every 2 weeks, or every 4 weeks.  This box had three new snacks and one that we had in a past box.  My Thai came in Blake's box and we didn't really like it so we TRASHed it.  But I was too late to update my account and I was sent My Thai.  We'll still eat it, but I will be TRASHing it on my account as well.


Summer berry Compote with wholemeal shortbread.


It came with 3 pieces of the shortbread and they were good.  Like other shortbread, in my opinion, there isn't a whole lot of flavor.  These in particular definitely had a wholemeal texture, slightly sweet with a bit of a salty after taste.  The summer berry compote was really good.  I could taste a raspberry and strawberry.  The combination of the shortbread and compote was really tasty.  I think I LIKE it.


Honeycomb Crunch- milk chocolate honeycomb, almonds and raisins.


When I saw this on the site I immediately marked it as "Love" because I really like honeycomb.  The raisin and almonds aren't anything special, but still good because I enjoy both.  The milk chocolate honeycomb added a nice sweetness and crunch.


The honeycomb tastes to me like a burnt caramel honey, nice and sweet but with a bit of a burnt sugar taste.  The chocolate coating was a nice touch as well.  All together this was a nice sweet snack.  I will be rating this as LIKE 



Marvellous Macaroon- Amaretti drops, almond slices, coconut flakes and white chocolate buttons.


This to me tastes like both a French Macaroon and Coconut Macaroon.  The amaretti drops are little almond flavored cookies that have that cherry-like taste.  The almond slices are basic.  The coconut slices are nice because they larger and a bit on the crispy side.  The white chocolate buttons are nice too.  I like popping a few of each ingredient in my mouth at once and it has a nice flavor combination.  We'll be leaving this as a LIKE 


If you would like to try Graze for yourself, check out their website 
Graze isn't open to the public yet so you will need an invite code.  Here are ours 
GCM166YDor HGF2M9FD