*** This is a sponsored post and I received free products in exchange for my honest opinion.

Zim’s Advanced Vapor Rub is an all-natural, petroleum-free formula that temporarily relieves cough due to the common cold; it can also be applied to sore muscles and joints for relief from minor aches and pains. It’s available in a jar or a tube with easy-on, no mess applicator.

This year has been particularly brutal here in terms of cold and flu season. Possibly the strange weather has been making things worse- this winter we’ve seen everything from the high 60s to the negative teens, sometimes within days of each other. Whatever the cause, everyone I know has been down with bugs that linger for weeks or leave and return seemingly at will.

I know I personally lost the better part of January, between being sick myself and nursing the girls back to health. Even weeks later, my cough sometimes returns and my voice (which I’d totally lost at one point) is still scratchy. So basically, this Advanced Vapor Rub couldn’t have come at a better time.

I opted for the large 4 oz tube, which has a neat built-in applicator that massages the product onto your skin without getting it all over your fingers. If you apply it to your chest, you can immediately feel the menthol go to work on your sinuses. I found that it did help ease my breathing, letting me sleep without coughing. It can also be used to help relieve muscle aches. Though the formula is non-greasy, it’s a good idea to cover the area with a dry, soft towel because the cream doesn’t really dry on your skin.

One of my favorite things is that Zim’s contains all-natural ingredients, including Aloe Vera, Arnica, Camphor, Coconut Oil, Eucalyptus and Beeswax. I have extremely sensitive skin, and have bad experiences with these topical relief creams in the past. One of them actually chemically burned my skin, creating painful blisters. I experienced no such issues with Zim’s.

This is definitely a useful product to have on hand!

One of you, my sweet yams, will get to try it out for yourself thanks to the generosity of Zim’s! Simply use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. This giveaway is open to the US only. The sponsor is solely responsible for delivery of all prizes. The winner will be  notified and have 48 hours to respond before someone new will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

adidas Men’s Soccer Cleats are some of the most sought after boots worldwide. adidas’ newest campaign, “There Will Be Haters”, highlights these boots and you can check out the video at: adidas #ThereWillBeHaters Video. After watching the cool video, go check out the boots in the There Will Be Haters section at adidas. com.

I am super excited about this new development over at Tea Collection. Their whimsical styles have long been among my favorite children’s brands, but NOW for the first time they’re offering styles in sizes 2T, 3T and 4T. It couldn’t come at a better time, since Little E. is wearing mostly 4T now and my nephew will soon be in toddler sizes. The same thoughtful, eclectic styling and design goes into these new items, just sized smaller so the little ones aren’t left behind.

In even more exciting news, Tea is offering a chance for shoppers to win a $500 Tea credit! Simply submit a picture of your little citizen wearing Tea’s India collection to be entered for a chance to win at Little Citizens Love Tea. How amazing would that be? Shop Baby Girl New Arrivals at Tea Collection and start daydreaming about how you’d spend your winnings!

• New toddler sizes with extra room for diapers

• Super-soft tees and tunics made to fit baby bellies

• Lap shoulders and keyhole closures that slide easily over newborn noggins

I’m always looking for THE perfect sugar cookie recipe. You know, the one that tastes good but doesn’t fall apart when you roll it out or gloop your cookies all together when you bake them. I can confirm that this one is a gem worth saving. And I am saving it here because I will have forgotten it by the next time I go on a baking spree.

NO-FAIL ROLL-OUT SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE:

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the vanilla and egg. In a smaller bowl, sift flour and baking powder together. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time to your creamy mixture until thoroughly blended. I like to do this by hand because honestly it takes just as long to clean off the mixer paddles. You do not have to refrigerate this dough. Roll out evenly on a floured surface and cut out shapes with cutters. I use a flat metal spatula to transfer cut-outs to ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until slightly brown at edges. Let cool completely before decorating.

I used a simple mixture of confectioner’s sugar and water to make a thin royal icing, then added color with store-bough icing writers and sprinkles.

For the cupcakes, I used silicone cupcake molds, which are so useful and easy. I thought the leftover candy canes made cute heart-shaped toppers, as well as some of the tiny iced heart cookies.

Here are my thoughts, I will probably expand upon them a bit as I go:

I absolutely agree that our society is wildly oversexualized in the media and images it projects, while divorcing those same images from any feeling of love or respect. And while I believe that women should be accountable for their actions and choices, I feel like you’re going down a slippery slope here. I HOPE you’re not implying that women who dress sexily deserve to be assaulted or raped, but that IS where that line of thought leads. You can see that in some of the comments, i.e. “If you dress like a hooker, don’t get upset when you’re treated like one.”

First of all, this is insulting to men. It’s basically saying that all men are rapists deep inside, being held back by the barest thread of moral code, ready to snap at the first application of a mini skirt.

And accountability, sure. If I dress with the intention of turning a man on, I can admit that and take responsibility for it. So when I’m dressed that way and a man starts chatting me up, I’m not going to throw a drink in his face. But when I say “Hey, I’m not interested.” and he continues to pursue me, which one of us isn’t taking responsibility? How far does accountability go? If I give a man an erection do I somehow owe him sex?

Secondly, it plays into the fallacy that most women and girls who are abused, assaulted or raped have done something to cause it. She MUST have dressed a certain way, flirted, teased, shook her hips provocatively. But the reality is (and statistics back this up over and over) that most assaults happen when women are in a much more vulnerable position, by men they know, while they are engaged in really naughty activities like…sleeping, walking, breathing.

There is also the issue of young girls and teens who are just exploring the power and limits of their rapidly changing bodies. To be told at such a vulnerable time that your body is a weapon, that the mere existence of your naked flesh is so overwhelmingly tempting that it must remain covered lest you raise up lustful thoughts in men- it’s just horrible to me.

Even leaving aside lesbians, who aren’t dressing any way, for any man, ever, I don’t like the implication that women only dress sexily to attract men. Perhaps we just want to revel in the beauty of our own bodies. There are days when I put on makeup and wear insanely gorgeous shoes or a pretty dress- when the only people I’ll be seeing that day are a bunch of girls under 18. I like how it makes ME feel, the lustful yearnings of the male gaze do not play a factor.

I always think that women are the harshest critics of other women, and the quickest to tear each other down. Before you do that, stop and think. There’s a deeper lie that you’re buying into. There isn’t only a straight and narrow path that females must follow in order to be worthy (of respect, of equality, of self-acceptance, of love.) We each contain vast and shining multitudes, infinite selves, eager to be known. When we stop trying to restrict others to our own limited viewpoints, and instead reach out and lift them, lift each other- blindly, frightened,  saying “I may not fully understand you, but I support you.”- THAT will be the day when male opinions cease to matter. A day when we can dance together unselfconsciously, hips too wide or too narrow, covered head to toe or naked as a newborn, each of us gorgeous and dancing, unafraid of which eyes may be watching, unafraid of the volatile mixture of judgement and desire we might find there.

I can’t quite decide if we’re the cleanest people who ever lived or the dirtiest- all I know for certain is that we generate vast mountain ranges of laundry. Anything that makes that task faster, easier or more efficient is truly a pure blessing. This new Purex® PowerShot detergent is one such blessing. The easy measure liquid laundry detergent features a no-spill bottle. In fact, it’s the only bottle that automatically dispenses the right amount of super concentrated formula with 50% more stain fighting power in every drop. Music to my ears, since we can also use all of the stain removal help we can get.

This was a total dream to use- it really couldn’t be simpler. You just flip open the top of the bottle and turn the bottle upside down. The mechanism in the lid pre-measures out the exact amount of detergent needed which you pour directly into the washing machine. BAM! Start the washer and you’re done.

Can I just say that clueless teens and husbands   no longer have an excuse not to help with laundry?

Our clothes came out fluffy, clean and smelling so fresh. I also didn’t get that panicky feeling you get wit some lesser brands, where you feel like you need to go back and add twice as much detergent to each load just to get everything deep-down clean.

Thanks to Purex, three of my lovely yams will get the chance to try the new Powershot out for themselves! Yay! It’s easy to enter, just use the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is open to the US only. Winners will be randomly chosen and have 48 hours to respond before forfeiting their prize. Each winner will receive a coupon good for a free full-sized bottle of the product.

For another chance to win, you can enter HERE directly from Purex. Three lucky winners will receive a new Whirlpool washer and dryer, plus there will be 300 winners of Powershot! Just by entering, you can receive a $1.00 off coupon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There’s a new Star Wars movie PLUS a new season of Star Wars Rebels, which means I will…er, I mean my kids will be dying to have a Rebel-themed party this year. Luckily Birthday Express has everything we could possibly need and more! Their huge assortment of Star Wars Party Supplies will have your little padawans in Jedi heaven.

If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, they offer a convenient Party In A Box.

I’m personally in love with the Darth Vader Stand Up. I can just see endless photo opportunities. If you have a photo printer handy, you can even send photos home as party keepsakes for kids to treasure.

They have tons of great items to send home in treat bags.

They also have lightsabers at pretty inexpensive prices. For smaller parties I’d be temped to get one for each child. For a larger gathering, it would be fun to just buy a few sabers and give them out as prizes to the winners of party games!

THE BRAIN BUFF’S APPROACH TO FITNESS

The Brain Buff’s relentless pursuit for self-improvement spills over to their physical being as well. To keep mind or body idle would be a sin in their eyes. Moreover, they likely recognize that the mind and body are inextricably linked. Plato may have been channeling his inner Brain Buff when he philosophized, “To succeed in life, man was given two means: educational and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection.” Now, if we can only get Brain Buffs to help spread this philosophy, the world will be one step closer to perfection, too.

If you’ve been following my Makeup by One Direction posts over the past year, you’ve probably noticed this brand has become one of my favorite new offerings for the tween and teen beauty market. The One Direction Tour Case is the coup de grâce, the perfect touch to tie together the whole collection. You’ll also remember it from my Christmas picks, where some readers had the chance to win a case of their very own.

I wanted to mention it again and give a deeper look at the contents, because if you missed it over the holidays, this would make an awesome spring birthday gift. It’s definitely something any 1D fan will want before the warm weather gets here and all the tours and music festivals start. Featuring 45 shades of eyeshadow- just to begin with! – this box will be the source of endless looks and glamorous inspiration.

The shadows range from shimmer, matte and creme to full blown glitter, The shimmers have everything from pale highlights like the silvery Spark and the copper-ish Sequin, to bold pink Poseur, to the electrically charged Glacial blue. The mattes are slightly more subdued as in the lavender Harmony and terra-cotta orange Dusk, but still bold with colors like the dark green Irish Luck and oceanic Surfer Blue. The glitters shine like the open sky in shades from the silver Cityscape and white Lightening to the dusky pink Twilight, deep blue Summer Rain and glimmering black Galaxy.

Two eye pencils in Strobe white and After Midnight black can highlight or smudge to a deep smoky-eyed perfection. To finish off your eye look, or to help highlight your hair, they include Electroglam Hair & Lash Mascara in Powerhouse Purple.

There are three nail colors included, white Strobe, black Street Punk and shocking pink Rebel, along with three chunky glitter confetti top coats: Blue A Fuse, black Graffiti and pink Star Struck. For your lips we have two Rock Star Jumbo Lip Crayons in Red Handed and Power Pink. One of my favorite aspects of the 1D makeup has been the UV-reactive items. Here they’ve included the UV-reacting Liquilights Glow Gloss in Backstage. They’ve also included two UV glitters: orange Voltage and pink Shock. There’s a cute and handy little UV light so you can see what your finished look will be before you get out on the dance floor.

The case itself is my favorite part and what helps lend rock-star appeal to this collection. How sweet is it to have your very on makeup tour case? If you’ve been collection the other One Direction makeup as it’s been released, you’ll have plenty of room to store it all inside. The sturdy case is black with silver trim. It latches at the top and folds out to open completely. Inside are two stacking trays which fold upward on metal hinges, leaving a nice storage space for larger items underneath. They’ve included two pages of heavy-duty stickers from your favorite states and countries that you can apply to the outside of the case to give it an authentic world tour effect.

One of my dearest friends and I were just discussing this topic the other day.  While I love the look of false lashes, the sheer amount of time and effort that goes into wearing them just isn’t feasible for me, except on special occasions. Most of the time, a quick glossy lip and a brush of mascara have to suffice.

Being a curious kitty, I have tried a LOT of mascaras in my time, from super-high-end-ridiculous to bargain-bin-cheap. Despite whatever wild claims they make, they generally don’t do much to make your lashes  fuller, longer or thicker than they actually are. Some put up a more convincing facade than others, while most just end up being a clumpy mess.

So am I cursed with the mostly natural look for daily wear? I think the answer is NO, after trying Lashem. This ultra-cool product consists of a two-sided tube with a wand on each side. The first side is a white primer that contains tiny fibers that attach themselves to your lashes. There’s no visual trickery here, you can actually watch your lashes becoming longer and fuller. I recommend applying this with a sweeping upward motion on all your lashes at once, then going back with the tip of the brush to add more individual length and volume to each lash.

After you apply the primer, you turn the tube to the second side, which contains a volumizing mascara that includes a lash enhancing serum which helps improve the natural look and health of your lashes over time. The mascara is paraben free, smudge proof, clump free, prostaglandin free, cruelty free, hypoallergenic, and made in the USA.  I would apply this in a similar fashion to the primer, in an allover sweeping upward motion to lift and separate lashes.

I was truly amazed at the visible improvement in both length and volume of my lashes in just a few minutes of application time. I had to try not to blink while the mascara dried because my lashes were brushing against my cheeks! I also think the primer helps make the mascara less harsh on your eyelashes. With many normal mascaras, I’ve noticed if I use them every day my lashes start to look a little tired or more sparse- not so with this formula. The mascara removed fairly easily with the eye cleansing cloths I like to use.

Overall, I was so pleased with this product and will definitely be adding it to my regular beauty routine.

Lashem is available in countries all around the world at retailers including stores like Nordstrom.com, Walgreens.com, Beauty.com, and Pharmasave in Canada, and other beauty supply stores, as well as on www.lashem.com.