***UPDATED REVIEW*** Tomoson

A while back, I did a quickie review a site (Tomoson.com) that works well for two groups of people: 1) for bloggers/social networkers who like trying products (for free) and creating social buzz about those products,  and 2) for businesses wanting feedback on and buzz about products.

Now that I have been using Tomoson, I can give you some more info from a blogger p.o.v.:

• Applying to review a product is super easy. Basically, you browse through the promotions available. You can even do a category view:

lotta choices

• The more social reach you have - by platform (ex: Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and sometimes based on how strong your reach is (ex: Google blog rank) - the more product choices you have. However, I am happy to say that some promos are open to almost anyone. (I'm still building my Facebook reach, dangit!)
• The variety of products is fantastic. There are toys and books and even furniture. Yep. 
• The process from applying, being approved, to receiving the product, has been lightening fast so far. 
• You get to communicate directly with the supplier via a message system.
• You get to rate not only the product, but also the business.
• Your (as a reviewer) are rated. Your ratings are based on your reach, authority and engagement. It's nice to watch your score rise, in a Klout-like way.
• You can view your status for every promo you've applied for. Also, the messages between you and the businesses are saved. You can sort the messages various ways as you follow-through a promotion.
• If you're like me and need to organize things to keep information straight, every promotion is tagged with an ID#. You can sort your reviews by application date, title, status, and so on.
• You will appreciate the sorting system because, once again, if you're like me, you're going to be trying a lot of products.
• It's fun and easy and more productive than just reading about some new product.
• You get a "due date" for each review which helps keep you on track.
• You can be honest!

I have not had any negative experiences with the process so far. Right this moment, of 14 promotions I've applied to, I have been approved for 5 (and pre-approved/accepted for the others), and I've received and started reviewing 2 of them. (You might have seen part one of the 3-part review I'm doing for Nature's Best Vitamin C Serum from Mystelic.)

I just started applying for products on May 5 and I've already got a steady list of reviews to do.

I really can't think of any negatives about this site. Okay, maybe having a a personal calendar for each user would be nice, but... I made my own!

If you are already doing reviews, or like sharing information with your blog readers or social network groups, I think Tomoson's is actually better than other Word of Mouth sites. I still love my BzzAgent and SheSpeaks, but they don't have nearly as many campaigns available. With Tomoson, you are pretty much only limited by yourself.

(I'm going to have to ask one of the businesses how they like Tomoson. If I get information, I'll post, so watch this space!)

Peace

--Free

Black Cosmetics: Great Strides & Great Failures

You guys know I love my membership at sites like SheSpeaks and BzzAgent. Like anyone, I enjoy getting to find out about and try new products, not to mention how much fun I get in telling you guys about them!

Here comes the "But" part of this post...

I am really disappointed that, among items featured on these "try-and-tell" sites, there are not more cosmetics and hair products suited for black women. If you ask me (and, yes, I know you didn't), the companies who produce products for black women are really missing out. (And when I talk about these products, I don't care whether or not they are black-owned or produced; I'm strictly talking from an end-user perspective here.)

When the BB creams became so mainstream popular that everyone and their cousin jumped on the train, I missed out. I'm still sitting in the station, waiting for a BB cream to come along that won't make me look two shades of ashy.

Now, here's the thing, I did a quick search of BB creams for black women. There are quite a few out there, but only a handful that come in a greater variety of shades.


BlackUp has some shades so beautiful, they make me want to cry. I'm going to have to get hold of some trial sizes of this. Now!

$39.50 for the CC cream

$42 for this foundation

See? My face was over here just craving that CC cream! Even at those prices, it's worth it to have a shade that matches and works well for your skin type. It's not like you're going to be buying it once a month or so, right?

I actually have some loose face powder by BlackUp. The powder was a gift, so I didn't go over and check the price, but... Guess what? It's about half a shade off from what I need. The person who gifted it to me had to choose from an online photo of the product. Wouldn't it be nice if I could have sampled a couple of shades first? Shade problems aside, that is some really good product.

Now, because of the average price of a really good foundation or CC (or BB or DD!) cream, it's really not worth buying a full-sized product without knowing the benefits. Even if a product matches your skin tone, you don't want one that leaves your face feeling dry, or looking un-natural. That's why reviews are so important. Reviews by people like you and me (and not some celebrity or anyone else most of us can't relate to) are key. We can compare value to price and quality. We can tell each other how well the product fits our "regular" lifestyle and budget.

No offense to Garnier (or Neutrogena, Covergirl, etc), but I don't fall into the generalized category of shades you've determined to be "Dark" or "Deep". I'm not Halle Berry or Queen Latifah. I'm closer to Lupita Nyong'o. There's usually no decent shade of foundation for me in the aisles of Walmart. Matter of fact, there are lot of women who have trouble finding a good shade of makeup in mass retail stores. Once not long ago,  I had a nice chat with a Caucasian lady in the makeup section at Walmart. She was having problems locating a shade for her peachy-tan undertones. She said that she had once found a decent product from one brand, but it was hard to find on local shelves.

~sigh~

Back to my point though: When are the black cosmetic brands going to get with the movement of putting there products out there for folks to try before they spend money or the wrong shade or type? When I find a good product, I talk about it, and then the people I've talked to talk about it. Word of mouth. Get it?

In late 2013, one beauty and personal care analyst was talking about the "boom" in ethnic cosmetics. It's true. I'm starting to see lots and lots of diversity in cosmetic products, but the producers need to look past the faces they see on the TV and movie screens. There are more shades to "ethnic" than "Medium", "Medium Deep" and "Mahogany". I'm waiting to see some truer-to-skin shades for women like me.

For the brands out there who do have a good range of shades, please start working with us consumers more by getting samples and trial sizes into the retail aisles. We "regular" folk will spend good money on good products - once we have a chance to see that they are good. And because we are "regular", we don't often hit up Nordstrom or Macy's; you'll reach us quicker at Target, Walgreens and Walmart. (Okay, maybe that last was just for folks like me!)

Ladies, for those of you who live in an area with better access to products, check out the stroy of DooBop. For the rest of you (and me), you can try looking for these brands:

• Iman Cosmetics 
• Black Opal
• Mac Cosmetics
• Fashion Fair
• Bobbi Brown

I'm going to leave you with some images. Shades, tones and hues...

Black Opal

Bobbi Brown

Flori Roberts

Iman got it right!

Iman

Peace

--Free

Word of (Sour) Mouth

A looong while back, I told you all about some of the word of mouth marketing programs I like(d). Two of them were my favorites: She Speaks and Vocalpoint. (It only took me a short time to not like Influenster.) As of now, I have to revoke my endorsement of She Speaks and Vocalpoint. I am doing this with regrets, but I try to be honest about what I do and do not like when I share things here.

She Speaks used to rely on their own site for trying out products and getting feedback. Things have changed. These days, every She Speaks notice I get requires me to use Twitter and/or Facebook to get involved. That might not bother some folks, but I don't want to be forced to use my other social networks. Since I refuse to use Facebook, I resent that so many online sites (from news to android apps and on) almost try forcing users to tie themselves to FB. I do use Twitter, but I didn't join Twitter to use She Speaks. I joined She Speaks for one reason and Twitter for another. Occasional use of Twitter to tout She Speaks is fine, but do I really have to always go to Twitter in order to benefit from my She Speaks membership? Maybe She Speaks ought to change their sign-up info.

My boredom with Vocalpoint probably comes out of their laziness. There aren't many exciting products to try and the site has become sort of ho-hum.

Since I am on this rant, I can tell you that I wasn't ever super-crazy about Influenster. Okay, that's a lie. I really liked the idea of Influenster. They presented themselves wonderfully. Then I joined and worked hard at getting involved with everything on the site. And... nothing. I got nowhere with getting any offers or additional invitations to be involved. It was all kind of a dud.

Maybe all of this is a sign that I should give up on any word-of-mouth sites. You all know how I love trying and reviewing products, but I can do that on my own. I refuse to give these dud sites my contact information so they can re-sell it. Okay, that is another lie. I don't mind giving up some of my information in return for the chance to get a discount on or try a product. I just don't like not getting anything out of the deal.

Lately, I've been considering doing promotions for samples on this blog. Of course, I don't know how Google feels about that, so I have to do some checking first. Until then, if any of you know of some good product try-and-review sites, let me know.

By the by: Bzz Agent is still standing (IMO) as a worthy site. It requires participation, but doesn't hold you hostage to Facebook or Twitter.

Peace
--Free

(Notice that, other than Bzz Agent, I didn't link to any of the sites mentioned in the post? They don't deserve the promotion.)

UPDATE: She Speaks emailed me about their Lancome program just minutes after my post today. When I tried to go and sign up - surprise, surprise, I had problems logging in. Go figure. Of course, they will contact me to say they fixed the problem, but it will be too late to join the campaign. This is the first campaign invite in months. Whatever.

She Speaks!

I don't often plug things, but...

She Speaks is a great place for the ladies to check out product reviews, interact with other members and try products (often for free). If you have a blog, you can also join their blogger community.

I belong to the site and really like the interaction and being able to try new stuff (for free! lol).

(Notice my nifty new badge here on the page)

Maybe I will see you all over there...

Peace
--Free