Let me start off by saying... I have been doing this for 5 years - reviewing products and getting Sponsored to review products.  I will say that my first Sponsored review happened by pure luck really... because I didn't intend for all of that to happen.  Prior to my first sponsorship review I had been reviewing products that I purchased with my own money.  One of the products I reviewed was called Beautylash MD - a lash growing serum that I paid $125.00 for out of pocket to increase the length of my lashes.  I documented it in a Series I called:  Lash Chronicles.  And documented the progress with photos and videos from Day One for the length of the treatment, about 3 months long.  I completed that series for that product after a year - as I had purchased several months worth of product. 

I was contacted by a PR company that had been doing research on Beautylash MD and they loved my reviews.  That was the beginning of my Sponsorship Career.  Since that PR company represented other companies, they asked me to review other products and that's how my name got out and other PR companies started contacting me as well.  Five years later and many many products reviewed under my belt and I am now contacted by companies that include endorsements from Celebrities and so much more.

So what are my Tips to becoming a great reviewer and being contacted for sponsorship?  Well, first of all... there really aren't any rules to live by, except to be Respectful and Honest.  I never knew what contacting a company for sponsorship was until the latter of 2011 when I was told by someone that they would contact companies to ask for reviews.  Her mentality was that:  "As long as I am the first person to review the product, I don't care who else does.  And, if I give them a positive review regardless, other companies will want to work with me."  Well - needless to say, I am not friends with that person any longer... because that goes against my entire belief, not only as a person, but as a consumer and as a business owner.  When reviewing products, I am completely honest with any product I review... whether positive or negative.  You need to think as a consumer.  The whole thought behind reviewers is so that the companies can get feedback to help improve their products. While it may not be great to have negative feedback, if they are a good company - it will help them to fix the problem for future consumers.  Another thing is to be respectful.  As a business owner, I will not tell you the number of emails I receive on a daily basis telling me that: "You should allow me to review your products because I will send a huge volume of customers your way.  What I do is the best."  Umm... okay, NO - next person please.  

I'll touch base on more about Sponsorship and Reviewing Tips in future posts... so stay tuned.  For now, I will close.

xoxo
Honey

Beauty blenders are all the craze now a days. Many companies have come out with their own versions... in fact... you can find some at your local drug store from some brands that have evolved.  My first thought of these was... "um, oh hell no" because the original beauty blender costs quite a bit.  In my opinion... I would rather buy a full sized MAC brush and build my brush kit even further instead of using a Sponge.  After waiting and waiting before jumping on the bandwagon... I decided I would take a look and see the different ones they had available.  

I found these 2 beauties on ebay at under $5.00 total.  I was pretty stoked and figured I would buy 2 different shapes to test each one.  This is not a review... just a little haul and my first impression, so to say. :)

As you can see in the photos above... They do increase after you wash/wet them as do the original beauty blender.  I have not used them yet... but am planning to do so and will definitely do a formal review.  But so far... they are soft, they feel like they would be easy to blend in my foundation and they are so inexpensive that I could stock up on several of these for my kit and personal use.  I will see how fast they wear down and if they are truly going to last up to high volume or if they can only be used for a little while before shredding or deteriorating like a normal white cosmetic sponge.  I'll be sure to reveal my results here on my blog or in a video when I have come to any conclusions.

If you have tried the beauty blender or any of the generic or cheaper versions of them, I want to know how you liked it.  Leave it in the comments below and tell me your thoughts.

xoxo
Honey

Have you heard of Miche Bags before?  (pronounced: Me - Chee).  This bag was created by a woman who managed to ruin a beautiful bag and had wished that she could have a bag that she could easily switch out.  She used her original bag as a prototype and thus became the original Miche bag.  These bags are beautiful and gorgeous and come in 4 different sizes.  Watch most recent video review and Giveaway... 
and enter to win a Classic Base Bag and 2 Shells. 

I'm so lucky to be reviewing for Miche again this year and to be providing yet another giveaway.  I asked for Black shells so that I wouldn't be receiving the same shells I have received or purchased before.  I am positive that you will enjoy these as much as I love them. :)

If you are interested in learning more about Miche or to join their team - please go to this link and check out all the things they have to offer: http://www.michebag.com.  Be sure to keep up to date with all things Miche by liking their fan page: Become a “fan” of Miche® at http://www.facebook.com/OfficialMiche and following them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/michedotcom.  This is my favorite way to keep up with new releases and to see the monthly shells they roll out.  Let Miche know that Honey sent you :)  For information on Miche's wonderful Work From home opportunity - especially for stay at home moms, visit: For information on Miche’s amazing http://www.michebag.com/join-us

FTC:  These bags were sent to me for review and consideration for my honest and unbiased review.  My review is honest, unbiased and truthful and I have not been paid to provide this review for you.

I LOVE Watches.  I'm a huge watch collector and cannot live without a watch on my wrist.  This is a great watch to have a part of any collection.  Check out my video below for the complete review and stay tuned till the end for the Giveaway. :)

I am seriously behind in this series that I promised my friend Krystal I would do. lol Last week was seriously crazy... several Bridal Trials and ICC Madness. lol  But I did get it done.  I will be doing this as tips and tricks come along and will be posting them.  I have gotten awesome feedback on them and will continue to do them as I find time to Vlog... so stay tuned for more.  I will also be posting some tips on my Blog here if I have some time. :)

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions on anything in particular. VIDEO IS BELOW.
xoxo
Honey

I have done several reviews for Candycolorlenses.com.  I am also someone who purchases from them consistently with my own money.  I love their customer service, their website's ease of use and of course... their affordability.  They offer a wide range of lenses for anyone's taste and with Halloween just around the corner... now is the perfect time to get you some awesome lenses. 

Check out the video embedded above... and enter to win a $30 Credit to use on Candycolorlenses.com.  I've included past reviews I have done on Candycolorlenses.com and have several more available on my channel from last year. :) 

You have just under 24 hours to take advantage of this awesome deal. I was so excited to see this and I jumped to the opportunity to purchase a set for me.  One, I love my brushes... and two... I've been wanting to replace my blush palette that I broke last year.  Yay - score.

Head on over to: http://www.bhcosmetics.com/steal-of-the-day and pick up your awesome deal.  I will be filming a Haul video when it arrives. :)

*I was not paid nor am I an affiliate of BH Cosmetics.  I am sharing this post as a way to inform others of this great deal.

Let me start off by saying that I failed vlogging the last 3 days... and I didn't do it on purpose.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were so crazy... I tried - but just couldn't swing it.  So - I figured I would sum up a few things in a blog post... while I think a video might be a little easier to understand - this will have to do at the moment.  I'll do a few more videos through the weekend. :)

Let's talk about how I manage 3 different jobs, besides being a Full Time Mommy.  I have 3 Home based businesses.  I am a Professional Wedding & Portrait Photographer, a Freelance Make-up Artist and of course, I am the owner of I-Candy Couture.  

Let's start with the Photography portion... Ho'onani Photography (ho'onani in Hawaiian means... "to beautify")

Photography is a Full Time Job... as any photographer will tell you, especially those that edit their own photos... it is one of those jobs that doesn't end when you leave the shoot.  Organizing a photoshoot is important to insure that you get all of the work done properly and on time.  I love being a Wedding Photographer... it allows me to be creative and capture my favorite things... "Love!"  After a photoshoot - I do 2 important things... I first and foremost import all images from the shoot (some where along the lines of 200 - 4000 images at one time) onto my External Hard-drive.  I have 2 - 2 TB hard drives for holding my  images.  As a photographer, I also have an online storage site that hosts my images in the case they get lost as well as keeping them on DVD for safe keeping.  This may seem tedious - but it's required to host and keep your clients pictures for so many years legally.  Editing pictures can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to edit them all, depending on the number of photos.  I edit all images for color balance, lighting and quality.  Some images will have extra graphic editing done to them for its added effect and coolness like vignettes or HDR, etc.  If I have a huge Photography shoot, like a wedding - I usually work on it about 10 minutes a day - otherwise, I will be so tired of it, it can really bog me down and I'll not want to look at it any longer.  I'll continue this until all my shoots have been edited and processed.  I'll then post on my blog, produce a DVD for the client or prepare a custom hard cover book for them.  Simple but tedious... and definitely time consuming.  But it's a form of art - like all my businesses, it is fun and exciting :)  When ever I am doing advertisements, etc - I focus on those the same time I do for all my other jobs... this way - I am in Photoshop or whatever the program and already editing to have it done.  Killing several birds with just one stone.

Next - let's talk Make-Up Artistry...

Unlike Photography - freelancing does not really consist of doing a massive amount of editing... however, both of my businesses work hand in hand because many of my Photography clients are also those that I do makeup on.  Probably the most time consuming part of this business is packing my kit.  I am a whole-hearted believer that if you can do a Makeup Trial on someone... schedule it.  I practically include this in all of my Bridal bookings because it allows me to test out several different shades of makeup and then knowing exactly what I need to bring to the gig without packing a 25 lb or more kit.  If I don't have to bring all of my foundation colors and already have their set tones for a gig... I'm a happy camper.  For me... preparation is key when it comes to Makeup.  The less I have to bring on a gig and the more prepared I am... the easier and smoother a Makeup gig will go.  I try my best to schedule my Trials during the time their event is going to take place or earlier in the day to allow for the lighting to be optimum so that I know exactly what I'm dealing with. 

Last but not least... is I-Candy Couture.  I would blog about blogging and YouTube vlogging but I figured I'd concentrate on the other businesses that keep me pretty busy as well. ;)

This particular job is probably the most time consuming.  ICC consists of the sale of both cosmetics and jewelry items and we have just made the transition to going all "handmade/handcrafted" so it does take up a little more of my time.  Which is one of the reasons why I joined my ICC Page and Honeygirlsworld Page on Facebook together, so I wouldn't be going back & forth and updating both.  My day for I-Candy Couture consists of starting it off checking my emails... do I have any orders, email correspondence or other pertaining to ICC and if so - I answer them.  All orders are then printed and placed in my "incoming orders" folder where I go through every day and pull orders to process.  The thing about ICC is that all orders are made when you place that order and select to buy from us... so nothing is premixed or premade.  That means that when your order comes in, it will get processed in the order received.  After I do this in the morning... I will then go ahead and start working on the orders as they arrive.  Mixing of pigments, lippies, etc. are all made during the day to insure that I can 1) see what I'm doing and 2) this allows me to spend time with my family in the later part of the day.  No orders are processed after 1pm daily unless we are super crazy... but I do my best not to work into the night.  I think that it is not only difficult for me to see - but also unsanitary because you never can truly see what you are working with.  

After each order is made... they are packaged and prepped for mail out.  I do not like to work on weekends unless I really have to - so I try to get all of this done through out the week.  I do my best to do packaging of cosmetics during the day and make jewelry during the night if time permits.  I tend to find that I'm a bit more relaxed and my creative juices are working well enough for me to come up with new designs.

In the afternoon is when I do my best to update Facebook, Twitter, etc. with new products, details and fun stuff.  Now that my blog and honeygirlsworld is in sync with ICC's FB page - it allows me to be able to spend time on one page and tackle all of my tasks from that day. If there is one advice I could give anyone with regard to balancing 2 or more different FB pages and still have blog, youtube, and all the rest... join them together if you can.  It has made my life so much simpler and I am truly enjoying it. 

While I'm sure this was not as helpful as I thought it would be... it still will give anyone an insight into some organization... while I do lack in that department tremendously. lol  I hope to touch base in the next few days how I organize my product reviews, etc.  And, maybe how I organize my timeline during the day so you can see how I try to balance it out.  While I don't go full throttle on my schedule like I should... this is a great guide to kind of keep me in check. :)

I'll chat with you all later. :)
xoxo 
Honey

Please note that I am an affiliate with Eyeslipsface.com