Okay, so I kind of loathe those fake telemarketers. You know the kind. The ones that call you and cheerfully scream in your ear, “HELLO! Guess what!? YOU have won an amazing FREE trip to Hawaii!” Like out of nowhere somehow God picked me to go to Hawaii for free, by doing absolutely nothing… I only have to give up my phone number, birth date, names of family members, social security number, bank account routing numbers, and my first born son. I am normally like, “Dude, lose my number… I’m not your type,” because I know as well as all of you, that free is not free. Free should make you think twice… Because if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck… it’s usually a duck.
On that note, I found a duck that’s not actually a duck (hmm, I may have just botched that saying completely haha:)). A free thing that really is free. I think it was at the end of my senior year in college when my beyond fabulous roommate, Kristen, introduced me to Influenster. She told me it was a website where you go on and review products and they will send you free stuff. I set her straight and told her that nothing in life is free, then I tried it.
She was exactly right. Influenster is a program where you take surveys, and review products, and in return Influenster will send you voxboxes, which are boxes of samples of products (and sometimes full products!) to try and review online. It’s all about your network. You receive a voxbox, and you complete a campaign that Influenster posts to your homepage. It usually has tasks such as: *Go on Ulta.com and review this product *Hashtag about this product on your Instagram *Answer a question about this product on Influenster. It’s so easy peasy it’s ridiculous.
I started really using Influenster last year. With my job as a flight attendant, there are times that I have extra time that I don’t know what to do with (What a problem…). So last winter, whenever I was bored I got online and did an Influenster survey. It took me less than ten minutes max, then I would log out and continue with my business. It was taking those initial surveys that landed me my first voxbox. If you qualify for a voxbox, Influenster will send you an email asking you to take a quick questionnaire to ensure that you are the right person for the job. 95% of the time, If I took the questionnaire I was chosen for the box.
My first box was all full products. It included: 2 sinful colors gel-tech nail polishes, 1 Soap Box Coconut Shampoo with Shea Butter, 1 Soap Box Coconut Conditioner, 1 Boots Botanics Organic Hydrating Day Cream, 1 Not Your Mothers Whip it Up Cream Styling Mousse, 2 Yogi Tea Packets, and 1 16oz bag of Sensible Portions Veggie Straws (My roomies and I devoured those the first night.. Not even joking).
Since my fist voxbox, I have received something free pretty much every few months. I was a part of the Kerastase Paris Campaign and I received over $60 of free Kerastase Paris Hair Products.
Just this past month I have been reviewing for two new campaigns: Mark Jacobs Beauty and ZzzQuil Nighttime Sleep-Aid. I have absolutely fallen in love with the Mark Jacobs Glow Stick Luminizer ($42). It’s a portable highlighter, and I put it on the other night for the first time before we went out dancing at the new upscale dessert bar, Kandy Bar in Charlotte (so fab by the way). It was the perfect finish to my night makeup routine! I never would have known that if Influenster hadn’t sent it for me to review because I have never used a highlighter.
I have been so happy with Influenster, and it really has turned out to be a gold mine. And here I thought it was a duck 🙂 (quack)… I know it’s hard to believe that free is really free, but you can with this program. It has been so easy, and I have received hundreds of dollars worth of products for a few quick reviews. I didn’t even need an easy button!
There is a catch, you do have to be referred to start using Influenster, but lucky for you all I actually do love you… So here you go.
By the way, there is no personal gain by writing this blog post. I have literally just been so impressed by Influenster that I felt like I had to post about it. I hope you love it as much as I do! So… what’s your social??? Just Kidding 😉
xoxo,
Megan Marie
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