Introduction To Swagbucks

Lately I've seen a lot of people asking about ways to make money from home. There's the typical avenues of sales such as Avon, Arbonne, Scentsy, Etc. But not everyone feels comfortable enough pushing products onto their friends/family/neighbors or even strangers in order to make an income... That's where Swagbucks comes in.

Swagbucks is a FREE to use site (they also have a mobile app for android, iphone, ipad and ipod touch) that pays you for doing things you likely already do online.

Such examples are:
Watching videos through the swagbucks page, answering surveys, doing searches through the swagbucks search bar (run by Yahoo! so you know it's legitimate) and playing games.

For each action you complete you get a certain amount of "swagbucks". 1 "Swagbuck" is equal to 1 cent. This doesn't sound like much, but it can build up quickly. You are able to cash out in a multitude of ways. The earliest cash out is a $3 Amazon.ca (or .com, if you prefer) egift card. There are other gift cards available too, restaurants, Starbucks, Lowes and Home Depot are just a few examples. My favorite way to redeem my swagbucks is for paypal cash, although the lowest cashout amount for paypal is $25 (or 2,500 swagbucks).

2018 Update: Swagbucks now allows purchases through "Mygiftcardsplus.ca" to qualify for swagbucks. So if you plan to buy gift cards as gifts, or for yourself - this is a great way to get cash back!

I have earned over $500 with Swagbucks in just over a year, and that's with infrequent use. For proof of payment I have included the Email confirmation from both Swagbucks itself and Paypal.

The guaranteed daily SBs are:
Playing the "Swag Jump" game. This is a guaranteed 10SB a day, with 2SB earned every other time you play, up to a maximum of 10SB.
Answering the "Daily Poll" this is a guaranteed 1SB a day.
Clicking on the "Deal of the Day" - 1SB. (All you have to do is follow the link, then close it. No purchase is required).

Additional ways to earn SB:

Shopping online through Swagbucks - Much like ebates.com, Swagbucks will pay you a percentage of your purchase back. These amounts range from 1% back as much as 10% back. Sometimes the rates are even better than ebates and you can cash out a lot faster. Just make sure you go through the Swagbucks "Shop" page to find the online store you wish to shop at.

Watching videos on the "SB Watch" page. Each playlist has a certain amount of clips and at the end will credit you with the SB (usually 6 videos - 1SB, 12 videos = 2SB, 20 videos = 3SB). 2018 Update: Swagbucks has changed the value of playlists. It is now 8 Videos - 1SB, 15 Videos - 2SB and 23 Videos - 3SB.
I will typically put the videos on play in a muted tab, so I can continue to work in quiet while still earning SB, the playlists tend to auto play but you can also help them along if desired.

Watching videos through the Swagbucks Widget. Within the widget there is a "WatchTV" option, that you can open and let the videos play through. Each video will credit 3 or 4%, once you reach 100% you will be rewarded 2SB. These videos also auto play, so you can mute the tab and leave it running to collect Swagbucks without putting in any effort.


Search Bar Wins - Not every search you make through the swagbucks search bar will give you SB, but each unique search has a chance to earn you money. My tip for this is to use the searchbar for as many things as possible. Say for example you want to go to your Gmail account. You'd type "Gmail" into the swagbucks search bar, and it would give you Gmail.com as a top result. That way you get to the page you intended to, but also get a chance to earn some money at the same time.

Swagcodes - Every few days or so Swagbucks posts a secret code somewhere on their social media accounts, and if you download the "SwagButton" widget (available for Firefox, Safari and Chrome) it will notify you of when the code is posted, and where to find it. These codes are typically worth anywhere from 3 to 5SB each, sometimes up to 10SB.

Answering Surveys - Swagbucks works in partnership with several well known survey companies, and will pay you to answer surveys. Mind you, you won't qualify for all of them - but I typically qualify for one per day. These surveys pay anywhere from 35SB to 110SB each. Be as honest as possible because if you are found to be providing inaccurate answers you can be banned from answering further surveys.


You Can Get Free Gift Cards For Shopping, Searching and Discovering What's Online at Swagbucks.com

If you are interested in joining Swagbucks, please do so through my referral link above, or through this link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/RadicalReviews . This way you will earn a bonus $5 when you earn your first 300SB! If you have any additional questions, please comment on this post and I will get back to you ASAP. I am always happy to answer them.

Review: Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base

The Essence I Love (Written as I <3) Stage eyeshadow base has a very liquid-y consistency, but I do feel like it has some moisturizing elements in it because my eyelids don't feel dry or tight when I apply it. The primer is a medium beige shade, but only comes in one colour option so be careful if you are very fair or have darker skin because the primer will be obvious on your eyelids until a shadow is placed on top.

The primer works well at enhancing certain eyeshadows, but if your eyeshadow is a lighter pigment - or possibly not very vibrant, the natural colour of the primer will show through and dilute the colour of your shadow.

The ultimate reason I don't recommend this primer is because even though it is ideal price-wise (I believe I paid $3.99 for mine at Shoppers Drug Mart), the quality just isn't there. My shadows always crease and fade within a couple hours. Still, it's better than not wearing a primer at all. So it's a good starting primer, but not ideal if you intend on making your eye makeup last more than 2 or 3 hours.

Tony Roma's Restaurant Review

This is a Review on the "Tony Roma's" Restaurant in London, Ontario

My grandparents come here once a year for their free birthday meal (a coupon deal you can register for through the restaurant). This year I was invited to go with them. I suggest going for lunch rather than dinner, as the meal offerings are generally the same but much more afforadble. The restaurant wasn't crowded, but certainly had more than half the tables full. Service was fantastic and the waitress was quite personable and attentive.

As a vegetarian, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to order anything - since it is advertised as a steakhouse type restaurant. There are no "vegetarian-friendly" meals on the menu, but you can get a salad or a pasta dish made without the seafood or meat, which is what I had done.

I ordered the "Shrimp Scampi Pasta" without the shrimp, which they were happy to comply with - they even gave me the shrimp portion in a separate bowl for my grandmother which I appreciated - they really went the extra mile to provide the full value of the meal.

I wasn't expecting much, but the meal was delicious! The pasta tasted fresh, the sauce was more like a bruschetta which was unexpected, but delicious. The feta cheese was some of the best I've ever had, and the basil tasted home grown. For $12, I was expecting a lot lower quality - I was pleasantly surprised. Based on taste and presentation alone I would've expected to pay upwards of $20.

I nabbed a few of my grandmothers french fries - which were light and airy but nicely seasoned. These are the type of fries you WANT to finish, they could be a meal on their own rather than just a lackluster side dish.

For dessert I had an "alcoholic milkshake" - one of their most popular items. A shot of vodka and a shot of irish creme mixed into a vanilla milkshake with fresh strawberry sauce then doused in whipped cream. Absolutely fantastic!

I'll definitely make Tony Roma's a yearly stop for a special birthday treat!

National Geographic™ Owl Teaser Cat Toy Review

I just recently adopted two five month old kittens and was recommended a "teaser toy" in order to help them build trust with me. I bought this product for $8.99, I chose  a more pricy option as compared to similar products since I assumed it would be built with a more durable quality. With the brand "National Geographic" you'd expect a solid product, since the brand is so well known for their quality magazines.

National Geographic™ Owl Teaser Cat Toy

Within two hours my two kittens had already torn more than half the feathers out of it, causing a major choking hazard. I had to keep a close eye on them when they played with it. I considered returning it, but the store I bought it from (PetSmart) has a horrible return policy - so I was forced to try and make the best out of my purchase. I will now no longer purchase toys that can be dangerous when damaged from PetSmart.

A few short hours after that my kittens had torn the owl plushy portion right off the string and ripped it, thus making the toy absolutely useless. I had to throw it out immediately. For the price I paid I expected at least a few weeks of play, not a few hours. Absolutely disgusted with the quality - I don't think it should even be sold!

I can't recommend this product to anyone, for any reason. It has horrible durability, is unsuitable for playing and can be potentially dangerous if the animal swallows the feathers! If I could give it minus stars, I would. For some reason the "reviews" portion of the product on Petsmart.ca has been blocked... Not impressed whatsoever. National Geographic™ Owl Teaser Cat Toy

Country Market Crafts Indie Company Review

One of my News Years Resolutions was to take this blog more seriously and to post more often. Along with this, I wanted to start featuring some lesser known indie brands. So to start this year off, I’d like to introduce you to a wonderful indie bath and body company called “Country Market Crafts”. 

I stumbled across this brand while browsing Etsy and then started following them on Instagram. Country Market Crafts is run by a woman named Stephanie Thain, along with the help and support of her husband. Stephanie has an absolutely empowering story behind the creation of Country Market Crafts and I recommend you check it out on her Etsy profile.

Her prices are incredibly competitive and reasonable and that’s what drew me in originally. She also had a New Years coupon code that would save 10% off your purchase so I took the plunge and purchased a wide range of her products to test out and review. She runs sales every few weeks from what I’ve seen, but her products are definitely worth their regular prices!

I’d like to say I did message Stephanie on Etsy beforehand to ask about doing a custom order. Lately my skin has been really dry and flaky, so I’ve been using a ton of body scrub… But the scrubs I’ve been using are so abrasive on my hands that I can’t get the desired intensity without irritating or drying out my hands. I asked Stephanie if she could put her sugar scrub in a twist-up deodorant container, that way I could scrub as hard as I needed to without the issue of hurting my hands. She was more than happy to accommodate my request and together we came up with the scent and product. It's a sugar scrub in a soap base, fragrances with apple and cinnamon.

 My Custom Scrub - $10

Stephanie responded quickly and was incredibly lovely to chat with.  Overall she made me feel really confident about my purchase by answering all my questions and addressing any concerns. I asked her what products she would recommend I try to get a good impression of her product collections and together we curated a box of ten products. She has a couple more products I have yet to try, but if/when I do I will be sure to post reviews about those as well!

I made my purchase on January 1st and it was shipped out on the 3rd. I received the box three days later on the 6th. Shipping was $13.50 which I found a bit expensive, since Orangeville (where Country Market Crafts is located) is only a 30-45 minute drive from my house and I don’t believe the package was shipped via eXpress. Next time I’d probably make the decision to pick up my order instead of have it shipped. But on the plus side, I was not charged any taxes.

Overall, I’d give Country Market Crafts a 4.5/5. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was how expensive the shipping was! The customer service is personalized, friendly and timely. Stephanie was very accommodating with my custom request and her prices are very reasonable. Her products are free of parabens, cruelty free and vegan! If you’re into brands such as LUSH, I’d absolutely suggest you check out Country Market Crafts. I love supporting home businesses and this one was no exception.

You can purchase Country Market Crafts products from Etsy here: CountryMarketCrafts Etsy

Or Stephanie’s Personal Site, here: http://www.countrymarketsoaps.com/

Also, feel free to follow their social media to stay up to date on all new products and sales! Instagram 

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