Category: review

October 1, 2013

How To Keep Your Personal Information Personal In a Social Media World #ESETProtects

Social media plays a huge role in my life. It is the number one way I stay connected to family overseas, friends from high school and network with new friends and bloggers. You can instantly share updates on your children, success stories and pictures. Sometimes without even realizing it we can share too much information and make information public that we may regret later.

Facebook is one of the largest social media sites that many of us use on a daily basis. If you are not careful about your privacy settings you can unintentionally share information not only with your friends but their friends as well! ESET shares with us their top tips on how to protect your privacy on Facebook. Our eldest son has already started to ask for a Facebook account even though he is not yet thirteen. He has many friends that have been allowed by their parents to join the social media site. We were firm with our decision that no he is not ready for a social media account. A certain level of maturity is required to safely manage a social media account and to prevent the sharing of inappropriate or unsafe content that will later be regretted.

Some key tips to remember when setting up a Facebook account:

Do not over share! If you give away to much information online it is easier for your identity to be stolen. Your friends and family members know you already – there is no need to share more than the basics.
Keep your private information private. Actively go in to your privacy settings and update them. You do not need to share every status update and photo in public mode nor should you want to. If you do not change your settings most of the updates you share will be public.
Update your Timeline settings. Did you know you can choose who can or can not see your Timeline? If you did not then you should look – you can chose to review posts that include your name, items posted to your timeline and so on.
Third party access – every once in a while check out who you have allowed to view your information (i.e. – birthday, friends, etc..). If you do not use the app remove that access they have.
Before you chose to log in with Facebook on some accounts or sites make sure you trust that site. You are giving them access to view your personal information!
Look at your Facebook friends. Every once in a while go through who you have added, accepted friend requests from, etc. Do you really know this person? Are you comfortable sharing information with them? If not then you may want to remove them from having access to your page.

Remember my post from last month about all the awesome features of ESET Smart Security 6? They even have you covered on Facebook with a Social Media Scanner! The scanner works to protect your Facebook and Twitter accounts from any form of malicious content. Pretty awesome, right?

Now that we have covered the basics of protecting ourselves on our social media accounts, what would you do if you were to lose your mobile device or laptop? I can not even begin to think of the nightmare that would bring! If you are like a lot of the people I know your mobile device is your calendar, it stores important dates/information, contact information, your social media accounts and so much more!

I was so surprised about how likely the chances of your mobile device or laptop being lost or stolen were. There are a few ways you can help to protect your personal information if your mobile phone or laptop are ever lost or stolen.

Password protect your devices. This will help to slow down anyone who may have stolen your phone (not to mention keeping your little ones out of your phone and posting updates on your behalf!).
Back up your devices. You can only really know the importance of this after losing all of your important papers or documents, pictures and so on. Safe yourself the hassle and regularly back up your devices.
Tracking software. ESET Smart Security 6 comes with tracking software that can help to locate your laptop. ESET also has mobile security for androids!
Do not tempt thieves. Be careful with your devices. Do not leave them out on a table and walk away. Guard your personal devices like you do your personal information.
Encrypt sensitive data or better yet remove sensitive data from your devices.

Have you had the online social media chat with your pre-teens and teens yet? What advice do you give them?

ESET is offering an incredible giveaway open to CDN/US residents! Enter now: a Rafflecopter giveaway

ESET Smart Security 6 is a PTPA award winner! Check out their full line of products here. Don’t forget to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: As part of the ESET Brand Ambassadorship I received compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own and I only support products that I love!

September 29, 2013

Purex plus Oxi #Review and #Giveaway

Laundry. The number one dreaded word in our household! Neither my husband nor I look forward to laundry day on Sunday. The piles are never ending and the stains are always there.

Finding the right detergent is quite the job! We need a laundry detergent that is strong enough to work on my husbands work clothes that are stained daily from working with steel to our eldest who seems to love to clean the dust off the school gymnasium floor! Our youngest is a whole new world of stains usually food and dirt stains. On top of that the laundry detergent needs to be gentle enough for our sensitive skin! Just a small order right?

I was delighted to be given the chance to try out Purex plus Oxi laundry detergent! Purex plus Oxi is formulated to work against over one hundred and one of the toughest stains your family can throw at it! Not only has it been tested against a wide variety of stains but it is also hypoallergenic – perfect for those little ones with sensitive skin (and big kids!).

Finally it was time to put Purex plus Oxi to the test! We had a tough laundry week with lots of final soccer practices and tryouts, the Terry Fox run, work clothes from my husband and not to mention all the dirt stained pants from everyday fun out in the sun that had piled up so we were ready to go!

Purex plus Oxi has a light, fresh scent that both my son and I loved! We tested the bottle against my husband’s work clothes and it worked well at removing any residue left over from chemicals from work along with leaving a pleasant, fresh smell. It worked wonders on our kids clothes that were covered in dust, dirt from outside and food stains. Purex plus Oxi even removed the coffee stains from my scrub pants (for some reason I am constantly spilling coffee at work – I am so clumsy!).

A pretty awesome tip I found out? Purex plus Oxi laundry detergent is so powerful you can even use it to pre-treat your toughest stains! There goes having to purchase multiple bottles for laundry around the house!! All you have to do is pour a little bit of the Purex plus Oxi onto the stain and rub the stained fabric together using your fingers. Wait five minutes and add the clothing into the washer as usual. Pretty awesome, right?!

Purex plus Oxi is now giving you the chance to try out their stain fighting formula and put it to the test in your home! Enter to win two free product coupons for a free bottle of Purex plus Oxi laundry detergent! Two winners will each receive two free product coupons valid for a free bottle of Purex plus Oxi laundry detergent. This giveaway is open to Canadians only, 18 years of age and older.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Purex provided me with a sample of Purex plus Oxi detergent in exchange for a product review. However, all opinions expressed here are my own.

August 21, 2013

La Roche-Posay: Cicaplast Balm B5 #review

I was given an opportunity to try out La Roche-Posay new product Cicaplast Balm B5. I was pretty excited to try this product out as I suffer greatly from dry and cracked skin especially on my heels and elbows (not to mention the eczema all over!).

Cicaplast Balm B5 is designed to speed up the recovery of the skin from irritations, cuts and cracks. It can be used all over the body – even your lips! I loved the fact that it was paraben free, fragrance free and lanolin free. It is safe enough to use on infants and children. The perfect family product! No more buying different creams for different family members.

I can not believe I am even showing this awful picture of my heel but this was my before photo:

Awful isn’t it? I am cringing as I am uploading and looking at this awful picture! I suffer with cracked heels all through out the summer made worse by the love of my sandals that have little to no support.

I used the balm for just under two weeks, applying daily. I was really impressed with the rich texture of the cream and its quick absorption. You only need a small amount and it feels as though it creates a protective barrier over top of the skin. I could feel the difference in my heels within four days. Not only did they feel softer but the cracks were healing (which was a first!) and no more sandpaper sounding feet rubbing at night (my husband was grateful – he could not stand the noise!).

Here is a look at my heel now:

Pretty neat, eh?! I will definitely be purchasing this in the future!

Disclosure: I received a trial product at no cost but the opinions expressed are my own.

August 20, 2013

Mother Hen: Food for Your Family Just Like How You Would Make!

For the past three weeks, my family and I have been trying out Mother Hen products both on our youngest and immediate family (we babysit a lot!!). I had been hearing a lot of very positive comments about Mother Hen Junior food products and seeing their products in store but had yet to try their products – I usually prefer to prepare my own infant food for my children. When PTPA asked for parents to test out these products I was happy to give them a try.

Mother Hen products have their roots in Montreal founded in1994 and are based on three principles: healthy, high quality and food cooked just like at home. Mother Hen focuses on baby/junior foods as well as fruit sorbets for the whole family.

What stuck out the most to me with Mother Hen is their emphasis on quality. Each product you purchase for your family is: organic, natural, no additives and allergen free (you can find more info here). They have a wide variety of choices for your children inspired by European dishes – some that stick out in my mind the most are Beef Parmentier, Veal Ragout, Lamb and fruits and Parisian Turkey. Sounds delicious doesn’t it?!!

I love to cook my children their own food. When my eldest son was an infant I made all of his own baby food and froze it even though I was completing my undergraduate degree and working at the same time (which meant a good portion of my week was spent outside the home or studying!). I was worried about the ingredients in some of the baby food products and to be very truthful I truly enjoyed making his food (it made me feel good!). This has held true for my second son as well.

With my second son I have found not only am I in more of a time crunch, I had to re-purchase a good blender, containers, mixer, etc.. I did not realize how much extra work one little body could make in our family! My decision to provide our family with high quality foods did not waiver though.

We picked up three boxes of Mother Hen products to start with: Parisian turkey, chicken cacciatore and pear puree. The boxes ranged in price from $4.99-6.99 and were easily found in the frozen food aisle at Walmart (in their own little freezer apart from the other products). What I did not realize when I picked them up was each fruit box contained six individually packed containers and the meat products had four! What I had originally thought was a bit pricey actually works out on par with the other organic baby products which can range from $0.99 (on sale) to close to $2.00 (I used Walmart to compare these prices but I am sure you are all more than familiar with the high price of infant/junior food!).

The container sizes were perfect for our little testers – each container contained a perfect amount to give to both of our testers without wasting any of the food. It was easy to remove from the box, warm up and serve. What impressed me the most was how similar the food was to anything that I have made for my own family at home – from the fruits to the meat products (although my children would never have tried pork and leeks before this!).

I really felt comfortable, happy and impressed that the food I was serving to my children was of high quality with no additives. You can taste the real flavour of each product. They loved every bite. I could not have been more happy with our trial of the Mother Hen line of products.

Growing up we drank a lot of fruit nectar drinks and we made an experiment using the pear and mango purees. We watered them down slightly and created our own fruit nectar at home out of fruit and water!

In case you are wondering what the infant meat puree’s look like, here is veal (yes – veal!) puree:

Here is another little tip for picky eaters. As your child grows and you are worried about their intake why not try using one of the meat and vegetable purees (like the chicken cacciatore) as a sauce on pasta or even on top of another grain like rice. This was the only way I could ensure my eldest was having an adequate intake of vegetables and meat when he was little.

You can purchase Mother Hen products at Shoppers Drug Mart, Metro, Walmart, Fortinos, Longos and many other retailers. To preserve the high quality of their products they are frozen so make sure you check out the freezer section (or in Shoppers Drug Mart’s case they are in a little freezer chest in the baby aisle). Shoppers Drug Mart even has buy one get one coupons out for their products right now!

I was very excited to find out that Mother Hen received the PTPA winner seal! It is definitely very well deserved!

You can find Mother Hen on Facebook and Twitter – make sure you connect with them! Also check out their website, they even have a healthy recipe section!

If you have not yet signed up to be a parent product tester make sure you do. I was very happy to be able to participate in this product testing and have in turn found an excellent product that I will continue to purchase! This is one of my favourite things about PTPA – finding excellent, high quality products recommended by the best people able to give advice – other parents! You can sign up here.

August 19, 2013

PercyVites: An Interactive and Exciting Way to Send E-Vites

Recently I was given the opportunity to try out the PercyVites website and create my own personalized e-vites. I was really excited to be able to participate in this opportunity through PTPA Media and even more so because our son’s second birthday was coming up!

I love birthdays and parties – to be very honest I love any reason to celebrate and be given the opportunity to plan and organize a party. I love the thrill of choosing a theme and carrying it out from start to finish.

Both my husbands and my own family are scattered all over Ontario and through out several continents so it is not feasible for us to be able to mail invites to each and every person we want to. This usually results in us sending out a text message to family close by or an email if needed. I can not even begin to describe how much I hate doing that – I love invitations as they set the mood and excitement for the party to come.

PercyVites are unique personalized video invitations that are delivered to your invitation list by email. They incorporate popular licensed characters into a video clip with your child’s photograph and all relevant party information.

I loved how simple the site was to navigate through. My two year old and I sat down and he had to have Caillou! So we made our choice and quickly began to go through the pages to set up the invite; choosing our event date, details, email addresses, etc..

Our final invite came through to our email looking like this:

We were able to send them out to everyone in our family, including our family that live overseas! This was a first to be able to include them and they were very grateful for this. We had such rave reviews from everyone that received an e-vite. They had never seen something so neat and interactive before. They loved how his picture was included and the whole video clip in general.

I loved PercyVites because:

PercyVites site was easy to navigate and enter the information.
At $0.99 an invite you can not go wrong!
They are eco-friendly! No wasting paper and they save you money on having to purchase stamps.
I loved the personalization. It was nice to know that each person that received an invite felt included and welcomed.
My child’s image was included in the invite! He loved being in a video clip with Caillou!

PercyVites have been awarded the PTPA seal as well! Very well deserved!

You can follow them on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Have you signed up yet to be a parent product tester with PTPA Media yet? If not sign up here now!