June is right around the corner and Summer has officially begun! Get yourself into the island spirit with these 5 beautiful beach scenes for your iPhone. I hope every time you check your phone you feel yourself instantly transported to a sandy coast with crystal blue waters and unlimited margaritas! Enjoy!
Do you like to shop? Perhaps you work at or spend loads of time at the mall? Would you like to earn rewards for your favorite stores just for stopping by and get extra rewards for your everyday purchases? Well, I have an awesome app to tell you about! Shopkick is an iOS app that basically turns your iPhone and your local shopping mall into a scavenger hunt to earn “kicks” aka points you can redeem for gift cards or items instantly! Shopkick is essentially an ingenious marketing platform where brands and stores reward customers just for visiting the store. With a store based GPS, the ShopKick app knows when you have walked into Target and gives you points simply for walking in. So, now that they have you through the door, what else can they do to entice you to spend money by turning it into the guise of kick collecting activities? Well, you can also earn points by finding and scanning certain items in store. This is really where the scavenger hunt begins. For instance, I went to Target the other day with my ShopKick app in hand and went around the store looking at coffee creamers, gum, magazines and diapers all in an attempt to scan the item for extra kicks. Of course, the stores in question are hoping that you will find the item, like it and then buy it, but being that I am not in the market for diapers, it was easy for me to pass on the item. But other things, like new Healthy Choice meals and current issues of popular magazines really had me thinking that this app is a craft, crafty devil!
Okay, so you can enter stores for points, and scan items for points, but what about earning points for my purchases? Perhaps you went into Target to pick up a cute swim suite and not just to play a very odd high tech game of scavenger hunt? Well, in certain stores, you can link your ShopKick account with your credit card so that when you make those normal everyday purchases your actually getting extra kicks for those as well! And they do add up rather quickly! Granted, you may need to get over the whole “I’m giving the app my credit card information” weirdness, but after that you are actually earning some serious points.
Well, I signed up and I am getting kicks left and right, what can I actually get with these points? Good question! You can actually redeem your points for a number of items, gift cards to target, sephora, starbucks. Eateries like Papa Johns and Restaurant.com. Free RedBox rentals, magazine subscriptions and much more! Now, of course, depending on the number of kicks you have accumulated you will be able to redeem your points for bigger and better items. For 500 kicks, you can get a $2 gift card to Target, for 1000 you get $5. For 425 kicks you can get a free RedBox rental, for 1250 a 6-12 month magazine subscription. 75,000 kicks will earn you a Kate Spade purse, 125,000 a Kitchen Aid mixer! So, that is an idea of what the points will earn you, but how quickly can you get to 1,000 kicks, or 2,500? Well, let me give you a little personal perspective. When I went out to play my scavenger hunt at Target, I also hit the nearby mall. At just a few stores I quickly earned over 500 kicks and that was without spending money! So, if you are someone who frequents the mall, you may find that after a few shopping trips you have earned a $10-$25 gift card and that is without linking your credit card to your ShopKick account. Linking your card earns you even more points. For example, if you spend $75 in Old Navy, you earn 1,000 kicks! That’s a $5 gift card just for making your normal purchases and it can add up week after week.
Overall, I think ShopKick is a clever marketing app that helps drive revenue to stores in a high tech new age medium. For those of us strong willed enough to avoid the sales traps, this app could actually end up being a fun way to earn free stuff and a shopaholics best friend!
I have been on again, off again with beauty subscription services. There are loads of them out there that offer a variety of products from beauty product samples to full sized makeup products to clothing and shoes! You may already be familiar with Birchbox or Glossybox, two of the more popular sites, but others include Beauty Army, JustFab, and ShoeDazzle. Since I was interested in setting myself up with a subscription, I did a lot of research on the types of products you get from each company and the price associated with it. Last year, for a short period I had subscribed to ShoeDazzle but canceled my membership realizing that I wasn’t so interested in getting a new handbag or pair of shoes each month for the hefty $50+ dollars I was being charged for the service. I did like the items, don’t get me wrong, they were very stylish and the quality was decent, but did I really need a new handbag every month, or a new pair of shoes EVERY month? I did not! So, I jumped off the subscription service band wagon for a bit.
Of course, Spring hit again this year and I suddenly felt the need for new accessories and makeup! So, I began researching the popular beauty subscriptions, deciding that $10 a month for some beauty items was more feasible. However, I didn’t want to pay $10 a month for foil samples of hand lotion and mini bottles of perfume that I could get for free at any department store counter. So, I ended up choosing Ipsy and the My Glam Bag service. What drew me to Ipsy was the number of quality large sized samples or full sized products I saw their customers receive month after month. With Ipsy, each month you get a trendy little makeup bag filled with 3-5 products that have been customized to your beauty needs, preferences and colors. They offer a range of beauty products, from makeup, perfume, skincare, lotions, and hair products! You tell Ipsy your style and what types of items you want and they try to stay within your parameters. So far I have received one bag and it was filled with items that I actually LOVED! And the value of the bag was close to $60 and filled with multiple full sized items and large samples. You can see what I got in my bag in the video above! Overall, you can say I am very happy so far with my Ipsy subscription and I can’t wait to see what I get in June’s bag!
If you are interested in the Ipsy service, visit them online here.
For the record, this is not a sponsored post, I paid for my Ipsy subscription myself and have not been contacted by the company at this point in time. All opinions are my own and I hope you appreciate my honesty!
I really love Forever 21 because all of their products are affordably priced and trendy! I particularly love their jewelry because its soooo inexpensive! So, I just picked up a few cute pieces that I found at my local Forever 21 store!
The first piece that caught my eye was this twisted stud cuff that cost $5.80! I have been trying to build up my collection of bracelets and cuffs. I love silver and this pointed stud design is very edgy. Most of my current jewelry is rather girly, so I thought this harder look would be an awesome compliment to balance out my usual style.
The next item I bought was this set of two camden cross cuffs for $5.80. I like the mix of silver and gunmetal because, again, its more of an edgy look, but these are also simple enough to be worn with a lighter style as well.
Together, I definitely think these cuffs are awesome and edgy and will definitely compliment my wardrobe for the remainder of the Spring and carry me through Summer as well!
The next item I picked up was this long black and crystal Eiffel Tower necklace for $2.80. Yes, $2.80! That is precisely why I love Forever 21 Jewelry! Heck! It may not be the best quality, but for trendy items that you will wear for a season or two and then discard, you can’t beat the price! I love Paris, so I just had to pick this necklace up! I think I will wear it layered with some other short and dainty necklaces.
Okay, so, did I mention I am really into edgy style and accessories?!? I have never owned a two finger ring before and I was not thrilled that this is gold and not silver, but this mint two finger ring is pretty awesome and actually more comfortable than I could have expected. Again $2.80, so it was a no brainer!
I mustache you a question, but I’ll shave it for later! Okay, okay, this trio of novelty mustache rings may seem frivolous, but for $4.80 for the set of three, I COULD NOT RESIST! I love collecting mustache items, its so hipster, I know, but I can’t help myself! And I WILL wear these, probably with my other mustache ring…
Seriously though, what’s not to love about these rings? They are pretty unique and definitely a conversation starter. I love little accessories that are simple but interesting when you get together in a group.
So, this next ring is a little less interesting but no less unique with its Spike Ends for another $2.80. This ring should do well with my new cuffs, particularly the twisted stud cuff!
Overall, I think my Forever 21 Jewelry Haul was quite successful. I spent a few bucks but definitely picked up a bunch of items I will wear over and over again in the upcoming months! So, did you see anything that you liked from my haul? Or perhaps you have a few of these items yourself. Let me know what you think and how you wear your pieces for summer. Leave a comment below!
Hey everyone! I recently filmed a what’s on my iPhone video for my YouTube channel and thought I would share for this Tech Tuesday! I hope you enjoy, and make sure to tell me in the comments what you have on your iPhone!
Recently, I downloaded a copy Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, by Sheryl Sandberg. Released in March, this informative and sometimes autobiographical book discusses and evaluates the way both women and society hold women back in the workplace, while also emphasizing and inspiring women to become leaders in the workforce in order to drive much needed social change. Although the book is highly geared towards uplifting and motivating women to push for higher goals in their work lives, it also spends a good amount of time dealing with the reciprocal relationship that men have in the domestic sphere. As women are held back in the workforce, so are men held back in the home, and in the authors opinion, society would benefit from an increased presence of both women in leadership positions and men assisting in domestic work and child rearing.
In Sandberg’s opinion, two major things need to happen in order for true change and gender equality to occur. First, women must “lean in” and actively pursue more leadership positions instead of allowing their careers to take a backseat to domestic life (child care, home life, etc) and secondly, men need to take a more active role in the home so that their wive’s do not have to “do it all.” Yes, it is very difficult for women to balance a demanding professional career and take care of the vast majority of home care, child rearing, meal preparation, but that isn’t the ideal ends as Sandberg so rightly argues. The ideal would be for men to pick up half the domestic work especially when their highly educated wive’s are bringing in their fair share of the household income.
I highly suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the equalization of gender roles. I also suggest this book to anyone who manages women in the workplace because it includes many studies that demonstrate that certain gender stereotypes are present in the workplace and managers should be actively aware of this so that they can equalize the playing field for their female employees. Overall, for me, this book was highly inspiring and actually made me think much harder about how high I want to achieve within my own career. Women can have a thriving career and domestic life at the same time, as long as they have partners willing and able to take up their fair share of the chores and childcare, and I think Sandberg’s message is an inspiring one for the future of women’s leadership.
Recently, I had been searching for a new camera app, one that would allow me to control the aperture of my images so that I could control the depth of field in my pictures more so that I could with my iPhone’s camera app. I found Big Lens, a $.99 app for iOS with high ratings and some great user reviews. Big Lens is actually quite easy to use and surprisingly effective at achieving the natural bokeh and blur effects I was looking for. It isn’t a camera app that you would use to capture images necessarily, instead its an editing tool to use with existing images. To show you how simple and effective the app is, I am using the sample image provided in the app itself.
As you can see from these three images above, you start with your selected image, then using the brush tool in the advanced* menu you highlight the area on your image that you want to remain in focus. Don’t worry if you draw outside the lines of the subject because you can use the “Auto” selection tool and that cuts out any overage by determining the boundaries of your subject and selecting just that subject. Once your area is selected as in image two, you move on to the next step which blurs everything that wasn’t highlighted and creates a nice depth of field effect in your image.
You can control this blur in the “Aperture” tool by selecting a smaller or larger F Stop. The smaller the F Stop the larger your aperture and the more blur you get in your photo. You can also use the “Filter” tool to add some great color and lighting effects, including Lomo effects similar to those found in Instagram and other popular filter apps. Finally, you can also adjust the “Lens” options which will help you create a nice natural bokeh effect Choose the desired shape of your bokeh from a selection of hearts stars and geometric shapes. To achieve the bokeh effect, I have found that increasing the aperture will make your bokeh more prominent in your image, but there are also some filter options that also assist with creating a nice bokeh.
* This app has a Basic and an Advanced menu. I am using the Advanced menu for this review because it gives the user more precise control over the effects, however, if you were to use the Basic menu, it gives you most of the same options, but instead of the brush tool for selecting your subject, you have a standard circle or linear blur option. All else is the same between the two menus.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the Big Lens app. For $.99 its pretty powerful and creates some nice depth of field and blur effects that are much more precise than what other popular apps offer. I like how I get some functions of a DSLR camera with this app that make my subjects stand out and product some great lighting effects as well. Definitely give Big Lens a try if you are looking for more advanced focus and blur controls.