Fabulous March Beauty Product Giveaway Madness

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Fabulous March Beauty Product Giveaway Madness

March 4, 2009 - Follow me on Twitter

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The original title was “Krazy Krizia’s Fabulous Beauty Product Giveaway” (Krazy refers to a popular perfume launched only in Europe in 1991 by the Italian design house Krizia. The perfume was called Krazy Krizia), but I decided to change it at the last minute because it was simply too long.

Just to make sure you don’t think I’m making this up, here is a shot of the perfume bottle:

That said, the original sentiments remain – all of these beauty samples that I have in my home are making me Krazy because I cannot keep up and I know for a fact that my resident product reviewers Eleni and Daphne are equally inundated with products to review.

Here’s a shot of the pile of products I have … see for yourself WHY I need help:

The idea came to me in December. After receiving more products to try and placing them on my top of my working area table, I realized there would always be more products being released than there were body parts to test them on and I’d have to keep finding bigger shopping bags to stuff them in until I could get around to trying them out!

Since the contest we ran in November for the 2008 Karmin Titanium Hair Straightening Iron in collaboration with My Hair Styling Tools was such a success, I thought of doing another contest.

This time around things are very different. This contest is not sponsored by any big company with deep pockets, which means that I’ll be footing the bill to ship these out to you or I’ll have to pay the handling fee for each package that is picked at a distribution centre (this will make more sense later on).

That said, I cannot in good conscience keep holding on to all of these products when I know there are so many of my readers who’d love to get them and who would be willing to send in exchange a review of the product they tried.

So, why am I giving away so many products?

Other than the fact that this long, arduous, grey and cold winter has made me lose my senses because I’m extremely low in vitamin D reserves since I’ve not seen the sun in so many months (this is a joke by the way … I’m as healthy as can be), I decided that this would be a good way for me to thank my many faithful readers.

Some of you have been reading my banter since the site launched in June 2007 and you keep reading every week.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, Eleni, Daphne and I simply have too many products to review and I thought that if I can get more of my readers involved, this might allow a few budding beauty writers to send me their comments on the products we gave them.

Finally, another reason is the economy. Since October 2008, things have turned sour for so many hard working individuals and that means that people have had to cut out a lot of little luxuries.

This might not be “Oprah’s Favourite Products Giveaway Show” or “Robin McGraw’s Favourite Beauty Products Show”, but this is from the heart to all of my readers. Rest assured that if I had the promotional budget Oprah and Robin McGraw have, I’d give each and every one of you something … but alas, I cannot (yet).

>>>>>> THIS IS NOT A JOKE, I’M REALLY (R-E-A-L-L-Y) GIVING AWAY ALL OF THESE PRODUCTS TO MY READERS<<<<<<

How will the contest work?

I will create one new post entry for EACH prize pack. You’ll need to go to the prize pack of your choice and enter a comment at the end of the post.

The comment that you will send us will be centred around President Obama’s “Yes we Can” speech. I think it’s safe to say that the world was injected with a sense of hope after that speech and I think in times like these, hope is the most valuable commodity anyone possesses.

So to win the contest prize, you’ll have to write three “Yes I Can” statements letting me know how you’ll make 2009 a great year for you and your family.

>>>> I’ve read some of the current comments and I’ve decided to keep it simple [Updated as of Friday, March 6th @ 9:58 am].

Simply leave a comment at the bottom of the prize pack you’d like to win and tell me in compelling words ‘why’ I should pick you as the winner of the prize pack.

Please don’t just leave one short line … these products are expensive so I’ll obviously favour readers who have put a little efforts in writing their comments

When do you get to see all the different prizes?

I have 22 gift packs in total and they will be delivered on the site two per day for the next 11 days. You can add your comments to gift packs you like as they appear on the site, or you can wait until ALL the gift packs have been featured on the site. They should all have been featured on the site by March 13th or so.

Go crazy (ladies and gentlemen)and participate because I DO NOT WANT TO BE LEFT WITH ANY MORE PRODUCTS AT THE END OF THIS CONTEST!!!!

What does this look like?

If you’ve selected a prize pack that you like, simply scroll to the very bottom of the page and locate the “comment” box and put in your three “Yes I Can” statements comment to let me know ‘why’ you should win the gift pack, and sign your first name and which city you are from.

VERY IMPORTANT: You’ll need to include your primary email address in the box that asks for it or else your entry won’t show up on the site AND I won’t be able to communicate with you. Don’t worry, no one else can see your email address and we have a strict “NO SPAM” policy so I won’t be selling or renting your email address.

>>>>>Here’s what an example looks like<<<<<

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“Yes I Can” statements for 2009 are:

1) I want to take better care of my health by limiting fast foods to once per week.

2) I want de-clutter my home and donate a few items I don’t need, have a garage sale and put others on eBay to generate a bit extra cash.

3) I want to donate $5 per week ($20/mo) to a charity that feeds the hungry.

Your Name, Your City

I should win this gift pack because:

“After years of putting myself second, I’ve decided to make 2009 the year I take care of “me” a little better.”

Your Name, Your City

>>> You can add more if you want and you can be as creative as you want!

I’ll read all of the entries and choose the most compelling entry for each prize pack (don’t let the theme stop you from being humorous … extra points are always given to readers who can me laugh)!

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Get your avatar on the site to leave comments!

If you want to leave a comment with an avatar (another photo you really like or that represents you) or a photo of you, just register at www.gravatar.com and when you leave your comment, there will be a little photo that appears near your comment!

You can choose any type of photos you want … look at an example below:

Who can participate?

It will clearly be marked who can participate for each prize pack of this contest. I know that I have readers from more than 40 countries, but since I’m financing this one, my dollars won’t allow me to reach my readers living far away. I do apologize in advance. With time and with more dollars, I’ll be able to reach out to more of my international readers!

>>> You obviously, MUST be part of our Beauty Match Insider. So if this is the first time you are visiting our site, you can join our free membership here: Beauty Match Insider!

>>> The heavier items such as shampoos and conditioners will be limited to readers living in Toronto.

>>> The lighter products such as makeup can go to readers living in the rest of Canada and readers in the U.S.

>>> I have also created some special prize packs that are quite generous and filled with some luxury brands for single moms (SINGLE MOM PRIZE PACK)! Now, I know I cannot verify if you are truly a single mom, but I ask my readers to be honest and not participate to win those prize packs if you are not a single mom. Women raising kids on their own have been particularly hit by the recent turn of events in the economy and this is my way of giving back to them.

What about shipping you the products?

* If you living in the Toronto area, a pick-up address will be emailed to you when I announce the winner.

* For those living in the rest of Canada and those living in the U.S. will receive their prize pack via ground service. Ground service is much more economical than air service and this will be a better option for me.

Send us a review of the product you tried!!!

To all the ladies who will be the lucky winners, I’d appreciate it if you had the time to write a quick review and email it to me and we’ll post it!

You’ll find full instructions guiding you. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a writer, you just need to be able to answer a few key questions and I’ll get one of my editors to clean up the copy and we’ll post it with your first name! We’ll use a product shot for the post, but if you feel comfortable sending us your photo, please email it to us.

If you remember, Robin (one of our Karmin flat iron contest winners) sent me a photo of her hair!

Here’s the post if you didn’t read it: Our flat iron contest winner Robin reveals her sleek new look!

Of course, you don’t have to do anything other than enjoy the products, but getting your take on the products would be great. Don’t worry, you don’t have to like the products … if they didn’t work for you … we STILL would love the review.

So for the next few months, we’re turning the tables and getting our readers to be the judge of a few products! I’ll be doing a lot more of these contest whenever I find myself swimming in a sea of products to review.

Contest open dates:

The contest is open from Thursday, March 5, 2009 to Thursday, April 2, 2009. I will contact the winners one week after the contest closes with instructions and I will make the final announcement on the Web site. I wanted to give as much time as possible for as many readers as possible to have a chance to win since there are so many prizes!

How many prize packs do we have?

We have a total of 22 different prize packs and they’ll be featured on the site over the next week, giving you ample time to figure out which one you like and which one you want to try to win!

This means that over the next few days, you’ll want to come back to the site as often as possible to see what’s new. I’ll send an email to announce the first and last day of prize-posting so you are aware and you don’t miss a chance to get your hands on some fabulous makeup, skincare products and lots of hair products!

Don’t forget to share this with all of your girlfriends!

Do share the big news with your friends and co-workers!!!

You can email them the link to this post and tell them to join our Beauty Match Insider free membership. They can join here: Beauty Match Insider!

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How to submit your review to Beauty Match

We appreciate the fact that you are willing to take the time to submit a review of the product you won during our Fabulous March Beauty Product Giveaway Madness contest!

In order to make it as easy as possible for you, I’ve listed some of the most important things you need to get back to us and I’ll have one of my editors clean up the copy and we’ll post it later on our site.

Sending your contest prize review to Beauty Match:

1) Your first name: We don’t post last names for privacy reasons.

2) Your city: San Diego, Milton, Las Vegas, Toronto, Vancouver … (you get the picture)!

3) Your photo: This is not compulsory. If you don’t want to be front and centre on our Web site, that’s fine, we’ll use a photo of the product you are reviewing.

4) Product name: Ex: CoverGirl four kit eye shadow in #255 Berries & Cream

5) How long did you test it?: One week, two weeks, etc.

6) Did you see any results?: Please describe what benefits you got from using the product.

7) Would you buy this product again? Yes or no?

#8) Would you tell your girlfriends about it? You can be creative here and add as many superlatives as you which, ex: I LOVED so much that I bought a bottle for all my sisters or I really didn’t like it and made it a point to tell anyone who would listen.

9) How many stars out of 5 would you give this product?: For example, would you give it 4/5? If so, let us know and we’ll replace your scoring with a few stars:

Would you like to contribute other stories to Beauty Match?

If you have other story ideas that you’d like to share with us, don’t hesitate to drop us a line and let us know. We might not be able to pay, but we’ll be happy to give you your 15 minutes of fame on our Web site!

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Here’s the list of links for each contest prize-pack … they will take you right to the post (I’ll update this section each time a new contest prize-pack is posted on the site):

Prize Pack #1: Cover Girl Makeup Prize Pack

Prize Pack #2: Mixed bag Makeup Prize

Prize Pack #3: Purple Spa at Home Prize

Prize Pack #4: Single Mom’s Luxury Prize – Black and Red

Prize Pack #5: Gold Spa at Home Prize

Prize Pack #6: Reddish Blonde with Lots of Volume Prize Pack

Prize Pack #7: Single Mom’s Luxury Prize Pack – Shiseido Gold

Prize Pack #8: Family Hair Care Prize pack

Prize Pack #9: More CoverGirl makeup

Prize Pack #10: Single Mom’s Luxury Prize – Bobby Brow Luxury

Prize Pack #11: Blondes-Only Pack!

Prize Pack #12: Single Mom’s Luxury Prize Pack- Shiseido Deluxe