I Won a Lush Christmas Pack!

I was ecstatic when Paula Joye, ex-editor of Madison magazine, launched her long-awaited web site, LifeStyled, a couple of months ago.  Even more excitement ensued when I found a competition on it...


My husband, Adam, is a huge fan of Lush bath bombs (I know, kinda foofy for a guy to like, but he's at peace with it). I'm somewhat partial to them myself, especially in gorgeous smells like cotton candy and Redskins. The competition on LifeStyled was to win one of ten gorgeous Christmas packs by answering in 25 words or less "why you deserve a Lush-cious Christmas".

Here's my entry:
I'd love to go ballistic,
It'd be such a rush,
To relax in soapy goodness,
Thanks to Life.Styled. and Lush!

And guess what? I won!

I received pack wrapped Japanese-style in the colourful scarf, with three ballistics and a soap. Beautiful!

If anyone's looking for me, I'm in the bath...

Pay It Forward Giveaway!

Hopefully you've heard of that inspirational movie, Pay It Forward, starring Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment. If not, get thee to a DVD store right away. Well, I LOVE WINNING follower, Ashley from After Nine to Five, is currently running a really neat giveaway and not only have I entered, the rules are I must run one myself!


Here's how it works. I'll be giving away five handmade gifts, one to each of the first five people who comment on this post and in turn post their own Pay It Forward giveaway. The rules are that the prizes must be all handmade by you and be sent sometime in 2011.


The gifts I'll be sending out will be (in no particular order):

1. A pair of earrings.
2. A cartoon I've drawn about you and your blog.
3. A greeting card I've created just for you.
4. A bookmark I've made about your blog.
5. A poem about you and your blog.

Don't forget to give me a way to contact you and include a link to your own giveaway in your comment. Now get cracking. Your time... starts... NOW!

What I've Won Lately

There's been no wins in sight lately, probably because I haven't entered much! After this months-long drought, I've won two competitions this week. Both prizes were makeup, which of course I'm swimming in already. No matter -- it's Christmas time, so they'll make excellent presents!


The first prize was a Napoleon Perdis lip lacquer in Lolita Lilac won from a scratchie attached to Shop Til You Drop magazine. I sent in my card and, I must admit, never expected to receive my prize (I'm pretty skeptical about this sort of promotion, having been burnt in the past). But hooray, it arrived this week and in a very pretty colour too. Joy to the world! : )

I also received some luxurious Dior goodies (pictured below). There's a funny story behind this actually. I'm a huge Scrooge when it comes to makeup. Most of it I get for free from a competition or magazine or it cost me about $5. Several months ago a Diorshow mascara lobbed onto one of my magazines and I absolutely adored it. Once it ran out I decided to splash out and actually buy myself one (at $52 a pop. Ouch!). When I went to the store, the hip-pocket blow was softened slightly by (a) a 10% discount that day at Myer and (b) the mascara being in Christmas box set with a makeup remover and eyeliner at no extra cost. Feeling pretty chuffed about this, I was even more ecstatic to learn they were running a raffle. And the rest is history. I won the raffle and received...

• A Dior Backstage Makeup kit, including Diorshow mascara, Skinflash radiance booster pen, makeup bag and mirror
• Dior Vernis Pink Porcelain nail lacquer
• 5-colour iridescent eyeshadow in Smoky Crystal
• Little Luxuries perfume set, including mini versions of J'adore, Miss Dior Cherie, Hypnotic Poison and Dior Addict 2

Santa and the elves will be delivering some fabulousness this Christmas!

And the winner is...

The winner of the Coles Myer gift card is...


SANDYBOTTOMS!

Congratulations, Sandy, and thanks to everyone who entered. : )

I hope you enjoyed checking out I LOVE WINNING. Look for further competitions in the future and in the meantime, I'll keep those hints on winning competitions coming.

Stay tuned for the next exciting roadtest...

Win a Coles Myer Gift Card!!

Enter I LOVE WINNING's first competition!


Last week, I ran a What Would You Like to Win? poll, asking readers whether they'd like to win a Candace Bushnell book, Coles Myer gift card, 6-month subscription to In Style magazine or Chanel nail polish. With a whopping 80% of the vote, the Coles Myer gift card was the clear favourite.


For a chance to win the $40 gift card, either:

• become a follower of I LOVE WINNING by clicking on the 

button to the right


OR

• comment on any post on the "I LOVE WINNING" site. Please leave your email address so I can notify you if you win.

Easier than Paris Hilton!

Entries close on Sunday, 25 April 2010 and the winner will be determined by random draw. Remember to pop by next week and check if you're the winner!

What Would You Like to Win?

I LOVE WINNING will be running its first giveaway!!! Trouble is, with so many lovely prizes out there, I need your help to choose. The nominees are...

The new book by Sex and the City author, Candace Bushnell -- The Carrie Diaries

$40 Coles Myer Gift Card

6-month subscription to fashion bible, In Style magazine

Pink Chanel nail polish

Your votes please!

His 'n' Hers Wins!

An unmarked package arrived today. Not wanting a "surprise" from a disgruntled customer at work, I checked for ticking noises. Finding it safe, I opened to discover these awesome DVDs!


Fame, Bend It Like Beckham and B-girl. I am fanatical about the original Fame. I went to the musical, bought the T-shirt, own the CD soundtrack and have the original on DVD. I totally sing the body electric, whatever the hell that means. I haven't seen the recent remake though, and will be correcting that immediately. Unsure who sent these to me, but I love them. Thanks anonymous benefactor. : )

This comes hot on the heels of Adam's debut winning success! He's picked up tickets to Green Zone, starring Matt Damon. It gets a good rap on www.imdb.com, with a rating of 7.2 out of 10. Being a girly-girl, I glazed over when reading the plot, only understanding "something, something... army intelligence... weapons of mass destruction... something, something... Matt Damon *drools*". So yeah, looking forward to a perv fest with possible actual plot and audio-visual pleasure along the way. Nice work, Adamski!

Here's to a few free cinemagic experiences!

Roadtest #4: Freebies and Samples

If it's freebies and samples you desire, the world is one big scavenger hunt! For my latest roadtest, I mixed treasure with pleasure.

Obsessed with all things Sex and the City, I was searching for a free Sarah Jessica Parker fragrance vial recently when I happened upon a wonderful freebies and samples web site: www.mysavings.com, which lists companies with current offerings and how to contact them. I ordered samples of Du Jour tampons, Purina cat food, Temptations cat treats, Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula, Artline pens, and Hugo Boss and Lacoste perfume.

Two weeks later, my lovely red Artline pen arrived, followed by Palmer's moisturiser sachets and a Purina kitten starter pack, with a detailed book about kitten care, collar and pack of cat crunchies, all shown in the photo above. Needless to say all persons and pussycats in our household are thrilled with this haul. And we didn't have to win a thing.

Other gems offered by companies include garden seeds, eye drops, shampoo, coffee, DVDs, cookbooks, T-shirts and washing powder. Several competition web sites, including compingclub.com, list freebies and samples found by members. Sifting through all the entries can be a bit of a trash and treasure free-for-all, but you are sure to find offers that interest you amongst the filler. It’s also a fun distraction for kids, as they’ll love being sent stickers, posters, activity books and other bits and pieces.

If you are really keen, you could select a few companies whose products you adore or are curious to try and email/write to them simply requesting freebies...

Example Letter:

Dear Lipton,

I have always enjoyed your black tea bags, but would love to try some of your new flavoured teas. Would it be possible to send me some samples?

My address is:

14 Freebie Terrace

FREEBIEVILLE  VIC  3030

Thanks,

Rebecca

It's like a funny complaint letter without the whinging or taking the trouble to be humorous. You just point blank ask for what you'd like. And wait for the treasure to find you.

We Won!!!

A competition on the Penguin Books web site recently offered a trip for two to America to celebrate Jamie Oliver's new cookbook. I entered twice, and Adam's entry won 1 of 20 runner-up prizes -- a signed copy of the book. Pukka!

Enter the competition and you and a friend could be off on a 9 day Trafalgar Taste and Sounds of the South Discovery Tour. This tour takes in sightseeing and dining across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Question:
In 25 words or less, what is your favourite Jamie Oliver recipe and why?


Answers:

Jamie's steak sandwich is the best ever,
Cooking his recipe's a worthwhile endeavour,
His sanga is hearty and unpretentious,
Because he's arty and conscientious!

Jamie's fish and chips are pukka,
It's Pommy grub turned Aussie tucker,
By containing a beer-a-licious stubby,
It's sure to go down well with hubby!

Ta-da!

Japanese Porn

So many memories from our free holiday to Japan, including a porn warning (or "porning") for weary travellers...

Our first night in Tokyo. 11pm in our quiet suburban hotel. My (now ex-) partner discovers the pay-per-view porn channel on TV and accidentally unlocks it. Me having the slightly better mastery of Japanese, he begs me to explain to the reception staff. Disbelief. I force him to trudge downstairs too. Surprising enough, the Lonely Planet guidebook doesn't include such common phrases as "I don't want to pay for the TV porn that my horny-yet-hapless boyfriend unlocked". I settle for various permutations of the Japanese words for "no", "sex", "television", and "money". Disbelief again, this time from hotel staff. They go to a translator web site. We type our request in English and the hotel staff are nodding. Relief.

During less hair-raising moments in Japan, we managed to capture some photos.

Prizes I've Won

The prizes I've won include:

• Kookai $200 clothing voucher
• 5-night trip for two to Japan, including flights, transfers, accommodation, 2-day pass to Tokyo Disney and entry to Studio Ghibli museum
• Trip for two to Melbourne for 1 night, including flights, accommodation, entry to 2 sessions at Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• $200 shopping voucher at local West Lakes Mall
• Dr Who DVD
• $400 Breville coffee machine from Myer Centre Adelaide
• Blackmores capsules and vegetarian cookbook
• Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker eau de parfum 50ml spray, with limited-edition DVD beauty case including all six seasons of Sex and the City
• Sex and the City DVD box set (yes, another one!)
• $440 BMW driver training course in a Mini Cooper
• Double in-season movie pass to The Break Up movie
• Mission Impossible 3 poster, cap and movie pass
• Morish nuts prize pack
• Bardot bikini
• Revlon Sunkissed Glow pack
• $1,000 Westfield shopping centre shopping spree and John Tucker Must Die DVD
• $1,000 and a year's supply of toilet paper

More about how I won these prizes and others later...