DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger Range

The best Christmas presents are often the most unexpected, so when a bumper box of treats arrived from DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger we were more than a little eager to see what surprises lay in store. With the wrapping out of the way we discovered an aftershave, two lip glosses, perfume and body lotion. So let’s get to it:

Tommy Hilfiger Dreaming: So this is quite cool, a combination perfume and lip gloss in one. The ideal handbag companion, or even pocket companion if you want to travel light. The lip gloss is a very strong pillar-box red which has the strongest colour we have seen in a long time. On the other hand the perfume is rather understated and we struggled to find a single tone that truly embodied the scent. It’s closest companion is a strawberry shot of alcohol which does at least act as a compliment to the lip gloss.

DKNY Twilight: Here we have a rather shocking lip gloss that looks more akin to eye shadow or nail varnish thanks to its strong silver colour. However this is only an illusion and on application the silver vanishes away leaving only a glittery sparkle on your lips. The sparkle can’t be seen in direct light but is there to dazzle people if you catch the light in just the right way.

DKNY Pink Lady: On the other hand the Pink Lady lip gloss does embody its strong shocking pink colour all the way to the lips. Possibly a little strong for some but no one could accuse you of being understated with this lip gloss. Oh and it does have a delicious taste of sweets so anyone the lips attract with be in for an extra treat.

DKNY Be Delicious Men: Finally a DKNY I can use! Arriving in the same stylish applicator as the other apple products in the range this time the bottle embodies a golden brown (which rather unfortunately resembles a rotten apple this time around but that doesn’t impact on the scent). Although a very manly scent it embodies a clean, crisp tone rather than that of a butch musky scent. The usual hues of apple, cucumber are there the same as in the female equivalent but wearing it just makes you feel clean. Very different to the rest of the aftershaves out right now.

DKNY Body Lotion: We finish off with body lotion of the best possible kind. Designed for every day use it has the perfect consistency, thin enough to spread, thick enough to rub in easily. It’s not quite thick enough to target dry skin, but is more of an all over fragrance to give your body a scent of apple, cucumber and on this occasion even a little mango.

Suck UK Cat Playhouse - Fire Engine

I've been sneaking pictures of my cats in to product reviews to see if anyone would notice and send them a product to review, and voila today we have the first product for them to test: a cat playhouse! Not just any cat playhouse, one made entirely from cardboard that resembles a fire engine. There's even pictures of cats all over the house and spilt milk all over the floor inside.

Inside we were greeted with the ultimate in flat pack cat furniture, a thin envelope containing all the pieces we would need to make the cat house. There's no need for any tools and you can pop all of the pieces together in under ten minutes. As it's cardboard some edges don't quite feel perforated enough to slot in to place and the ladder seems like a rather odd creation (in essence you have to fit a square in to a circular hole) but you'll get there in the end and once assembled the whole thing is sturdy. The only oversight at this stage is that one wheel is bent by default so it can't hold the same weight as the others. We found this getting bent during playtime and ruining the design a tad.

Once we'd set it up we actually didn't expect the cats to go anywhere near the truck, and yet to our surprise Pepper and Breena took alternate turns to jump through the hole and have a wonder around inside. Ingeniously there are flaps that you can lift up around the edges so there's a lot of potential to annoy your cat whilst they're in there. For example:



Or:



And even just left to their own devices cat carnage can ensue:



At £15 the cat fire engine is no cheap cat toy, but it is guaranteed to cause a stir next time you have the family around and our cats still jump in for the occasional play when we're around. Construction problems aside their house is still up and still staying together well. For those who want more you can even get a cat tank and cat plane to complete the set.

JML Tribod Review - Handheld Mini Massager

Littering a press release for a massager with tag lines such as "It's a mini massager and can be taken anywhere" and "you can use it on any part of your body" is always going to cause a few giggles and this is definitely the case with the Tribod. Not quite as mini as you'd expect it's actually the width and high of your average coffee cup so not quite discreet enough to tuck away in a handbag or sports kit bag.

Which is just as well as it's clearly not designed to be discrete. The massager is very powerful and as such emits a loud amount of noise (anyone sharing a flat or house be warned, this is going to raise eyebrows if people don't know what you're doing!). It also has three blue LED's on the bottom, so clearly JML aren't going for the subtle approach here.

Stepping away from the "massage on the move" approach there is actually a lot to like about the Tribod, and it's only by shedding these initial preconceptions for a quiet/ discrete device that you'll discover them. If you're expecting to secretly massage an aching shoulder in the office, then you can forget it. If on the other hand you just want to relax at home, or surprise your loved one with a massage on a weekend away or just for the hell of it, then you're going to be ok (and only then does the portable factor really play a part).

You can tuck the massager away under the bed, and then use it to remove those aching shoulders, back, legs, thighs even feet. It's easy to turn the deice on and the blue LED"s really come to their own if you want to give a massage with the lights off, as you can clearly see your recipient without the need for angled candles, or bright lights. This is clearly the best use for the massager, and it seems this is what the lights were truly intended for.

The three prongs for massage do the trick, but are hard in order to allow you to apply the required pressure without straining yourself. This means the massager is at its best applied over a piece of clothing or with massage oil in place so you can roll the massager around easily. Used in this way the massager is almost perfect but it must be said that the rapid vibration of the handle can cause wrist ache for anyone giving out the massage. It's certainly preferable to sore hands from giving a typical massage but I found myself with pins and needles the majority of times I used it.

But this isn't about you, it's about the wonderful recipient of your massage. Or if you really want to use it on yourself, then it's for your aches and pains. Just promise me you won't use it at the office, people will talk....

Parissa Wax Strips, Hot Wax, Azuene Oil & Warm Wax Review

For the second of my 'unusual Christmas Gifts' I turn to Parissa and their range of waxing products which I was thankfully assured on arrival are for men and women despite the prevalence of women on the boxes, joy! I was also encouraged by the PR spiel to try a "boyzillian" which I'm not quite sure what that means but given my rule to try anything I'm sent it seems I will have to oblige my anonymous donors once again.

You may wonder why I am doing this. Especially given that there's an untold story behind my previous review of Veet for Men wax strips. Last time I waxed my leg in the name of reviews I didn't quite finish the job, I waxed a strip on my leg, wussed out and decided not to wax any further. Whilst this negated any more pain it did mean every time I went swimming for three whole months people thought my leg had been prepared for an operation. When the hair eventually grew back I felt somewhat relieved to be back in my ape like state purely so people would stop asking me my hospital date.

So Parissa's arrival on my desk signaled one of two things; 1 - PR reps have an odd idea of what constitutes a Christmas gift and 2 - a chance to finish the job and wax and entire area. It also gave me an opportunity to review some proper waxing in the form of their hot warm; no pre created strips here, the real hardcore waxing deal just like in a salon. Easy to prepare (two minutes in the microwave does it) and apply all it leaves is for you to find a willing accomplice to help with the tearing.

As usual Marie was on hand to supervise my challenge, making sure to apply the wax thoroughly and leave no hair unattended. Not quite sure what to expect she ripped the strip off and I winced just like before. Looking down on my leg tiny specs of blood signaled that "yes that did hurt" followed by a rather unusual feeling of "hmm they did work rather well", and "let's do some more!". But first the results:

Oooh
Aaah


Edged on by a somewhat bizarre fixation (is that what masochists feel?) we continued until my back became the source of a much heated debate. One flip over on to my back, and it became the latest target in our reign of waxing. Unlike the veet strips, I felt somewhat more attached to these (perhaps because a - they worked better and b - I wanted to atone for my wussiness last time around) and there was no blood this time around. We went for the wax strips on my back and they were as effective as the hot wax, although I must admit we struggled with some of the finer contours of my back. Well I say we, Marie tore the strips off like it was Christmas, reappling them to get every last bit of hair. If I didn't know better I'd swear it had something to do with me seeing the lads the night before.

And then relief came. it was over. My back was as smooth as the day I was born (perhaps smoother given the lack of birth fluids etc) and Parissa had been thoughtful enough to include some relaxing oil to soothe my back (another thing I can be annoyed at Veet for not doing...). The Azulene Oil was rather soothing, and by that point the shock of each strip had faded so the whole thing was relaxing too. Had there been a back massage thrown in as well I felt I might have drifted off to sleep in my living room floor there and then. Although you probably can't beat a professional, for a use at home kit I doubt there's anything much better than this. It's far cheaper than a salon and it actually made for a rather fun night... although maybe I need to get out more...

Little Hands Card Holder - Gamewright

Last week you had our guide to getting Christmas for free, and now we commence our own attempt, starting first with small gifts and working our way up. So to start the ball rolling, here's our first mystery product, very nicely wrapped up by Gamewright:

It's a card holder! But not just any card holder, one made specifically for the ages of 3 and above, allowing them to grip the cards with minimum effort, as well as fan them out without having to grow adult sized hands overnight.

But first a slight diversion:

Since I joined twitter last week I've been inundated with search engine tips, people's dinner plans and interesting coupons, but my favourite link was to a site called Kids Know Stuff which is a site of reviews by kids for kids. It's a bit cheesy "Pokemon Colleseum is so cool!", out of date and needs an adult to perhaps monitor it more, but it gets its point across well; 'adults, you really don't know how to review a product for kids'.

Which is why some of you may be looking at this thinking 'What's the point?' or 'What a waste of money!'. Without my own young able helper (where's a 'son of blagman' when you need him!) I too am a little lost in guiding you, but having held the device and played around with it I can clearly tell you that it work as an effective card holder at the very least.

It only takes a second with the device to see that there's a nice firm slot to shove the cards in to and that it can easily accomodate up to seven cards. The grip is strong enough to keep the cards it, but doesn't cause the cards to all come tumbling out as you try to remove one. Other than that there's not really much else to test.

So for parents wondering, why not give it a go? It clearly works, is easy to hold and if you really want to teach your child Poker at the age of three (or happy families) this is the way to do it.

P.S Jack Daniels cards in a childrens device? It'll help your grip at the poker table if you've had a few too many (but I didn't tell you that...). Adults Know Stuff too.

How to get Christmas for free

Blagging Christmas 2008

In this economy everyone wants to find ways to save money here and there and that one big expense is looming on the horizon once again: Christmas. To aid this festive woe we’re going to attempt for the second year in the row to get our entire Christmas for free. That means the tree, hamper, gifts, food everything!

But before I get started I want to arm you with the tools to get your Christmas for free as well. Every week from now until Christmas you’ll see me blagging festive products to give you the confidence to prove these tools and tricks work and in turn I hope that shapes your own belief in these techniques:

These tools aren’t limited to any country, or any one company. They build on having something unique to show companies that makes you attractive to them. There’s no scams at any stage and the principles are based on my book Blagman: Don’t Buy It, Blag It.

Free Christmas Tree
This is one of the trickiest products to get for free as it’s the one so many businesses make a lot of money from. There are however a few options.

a) Get started early: Approach companies in November and ask for any spare trees they have. In return offer to promote their product by putting it in your front room window with a sign for that company, promising to tell 100 friends in return or offering to hand out flyers about the company. Use good old fashioned bartering and think about what you can offer to get the deal.

b) Get a different tree: With Christmas tree sales at an all time high, that means other trees are at an all time low. Build on this by offering to take away old trees for free. Companies need to clear space for the festive trees so you’ll be doing them a favour removing any October trees they no longer need.

c) Give a reject a home: Not every Christmas tree is born perfect and like the October stock some can’t be sold and need clearing. Again offer to take these off the sellers hands, take the tree home and love it all the same.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: Free promotion and the ability to clear a lot of space that would get in the way of Christmas selling.

Proof that it works: Christmas Tree 2007

Free Christmas Meal / Free Corporate Get Together

There are several ways to get the corporate team together and get yourself something in the process:

a) Christmas Dinner: At most companies no one wants the job of organising a Christmas get together. It’s time consuming and causes major headaches BUT it is also a great way to get a free meal for yourself. Depending on your size of office you could be booking a meal for 20 or 200 and for any restaurant this is a going to generate them huge revenue. So approach businesses asking for deals, can they give you a free meal for your family if you book the office there? Can you get a free sample meal to test the quality? Will they throw in a free DJ if you book X amount of people? Remember that they want your business and your money, but they have to earn it.

b) Christmas get together: At work everyone has clients, or businesses that do work for them and the festive time is the perfect opportunity to build on these relationships. If you send a lot of money one company’s way, offer to meet for a Christmas outing and it’s likely they’ll pick up the bill (they’d be mad not to). On the other hand, ask your boss if you can take your biggest client out for a bonding exercise. Even if you don’t have an expense account the company should pick up the tab on the basis that you can build stronger links with your client.

Why companies should embrace it: Everyone wants to be on as friendly terms as possible with as many companies as possible. Showing them you are willing to reduce prices or give added bonuses will only strengthen these relationships.

Proof that it works: Paintballing day worth £600, Christmas Dinner

Free Family Entertainment
That’s the business, now for the pleasure. The family needn’t sit at home just because you can’t guarantee a booking for 200 people. There options will blag you a free day out for the family:

a) See a show: Those shows you see on TV with live audiences? Most of the people there got in for free, and what better way to amaze the family than with a day to see their favourite show for nothing? BBC Tickets, Applause Store, TV Recordings.com and Hollywood Tickets have got you covered for pretty much any show, any where. Or if you simply want to meet your favourite celebrities for free in New York visit Freenyc.net.

b) See the sights: Those random signs you see in your local neighbourhood for Salt Works, Museums, Galleries and Glass Making? Lots of them are free, and if you visit A Free Day Out.co.uk you’ll be able to discover them all.

c) See a (different) show: Free TV shows not enough for you? Check out Nec Group.co.uk to browse every show on at the NEC and discover hundreds you never knew existed that are all free in Birmingham. Likewise ECO.co.uk has you covered for the Earls Court in London: Take the kids to a toy fairs, the teenagers to a fashion show and the other half to an interior design event all for free.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: The more people you have at your show/ event the busier and better it will look to outsiders, which equals more people in the future.

Proof it works: The many examples above!

Free Gifts
What is Christmas without presents? Boring but cheap! So why not make it exciting and cheap with these freebies below:

a) Browse the web: You’ll be amazed what you can find by simply typing in a product name followed by the words “free sample”, “free product” or even just “free”. Cosmetics are the classic example andStyle for free.com lists hundreds of free samples. What’s more you can bundle the samples you get in a nice box, and it’ll look like a real sampler box worth £30. You can also find DVD’s, books, cinema tickets and more by joining our Facebook group or following me on Twitter.

b) Join a group: Like my Facebook group above there are ways to get products for free, by simply starting a group around a particular product. For example, starting a movie club is a great way to get free movies. If you can persuade a few of your friends to meet and discuss movies, you become attractive to a company. Why? Because if they give you a DVD for free, it encourages the rest of the group to buy it, plus any sequels or other movies by the director/ actor/ best boy etc. For a sample that costs them 50p to produce, they get a lot of potential revenue. Start a group, have fun with it and contact companies directly explaining the benefits of them sending you a product.

c) Be a savvy consumer: Christmas gives stores a lot of customers and little time to manage them. So you have a good opportunity to haggle, ask for free samples and extra offers on the basis that they really need to serve that customer over there… Keep asking questions, sound interested and if they have samples you will get them. (If you tie this in to your group, or an offer to market the product you’ll be even better at this.

Why Companies Should Embrace It: Giving gifts or samples away is a sure fire way to make a customer happy, beat the competition and get them coming back for more when the sample runs out. Every product should be given away in some small form and augmented with extra bits that can be purchased later.

Proof that it works: The 250 products I’ve blagged so far…

Christmas is an expensive time, but there are ways around it. I hope this helps those of you who wanted to save a few pound this Christmas, and I also hope this shows businesses more ways to embrace freebies and samples. Drop me an email using the link below to discuss your findings, I’ll discuss my Christmas journey soon too.

Good Luck.

Related Links:
Contact Me - mike @ blagman .co .uk
Blagman: Don’t Buy It, Blag It – The Book.
10 Tips to Blagging Success

£600 of Paintballing Free - Rednal Paintball Arena

If you see an offer for free paintball be very skeptical. Many companies will let you in for free and then charge for your protective gear, paintballs and everything in between. Knowing this all too well, when the invitation came from the folks at Gasp Design to join them for a morning of mayhem, it was with some relief to learn Rednal Paintball Arena offered to provide not only free entry for ten of us but also 600 paintballs each as well, a package worth nearly £600 for free.

Built around an old aircraft control tower the arena contains everything from a rocket to launch, an embassy to storm and trenches to get muddy in. Our day luckily coincided with rainfall the night before so we were ensured of a day of mud and squelching boots (which to be fair is always a bonus). We found time to play five games in all, and our team of ten (comprised of first timers, one expert player and the rest) was pitted against a group of 10-13 year olds and their fathers who seem to have played the arena every week for the entire of their lives. Eep.

Game 1: Our first game was simple. We had to work our way through trenches and an abandoned building to a bus and activate a detonator. As we slowly and nervously made our way to the building it became apparent that the key to winning was to have all your men in the building, a revelation that only became clear as five children appeared in the windows and fired at us repeatedly. Using a system of you pop up and shoot, then I'll pop up and shoot we were pretty outgunned, and numerous attacks from our team were rendered ineffective. Seeing a spare window we darted towards it and... I fell on my arse. Stumbling about I climbed through a nearby window and was quickly shot in the mouth-guard at the precise moment I went to say a Rambo-esque phrase. As I walked out trying to get the taste of paint out of my mouth, the team continued valiantly, but it was too late and the siren rang to signal our defeat. Kids 1 Us 0.

With the tables turned to defense, our revelation over the usefulness of the building was rendered redundant as the kids stormed the building (all too aware they had unlimited lives and we, as defense, had one each) and flushed us out. The remainder of our team sat at the top of the bus, and soon found ourselves pinned down. The four of us lay there on the floor (and I apologise for not using names, but it's hard to tell who people are with smoke around you and everyone in identical masks) as we got shot at continuously for two minutes, If we tried to move another bullet went whizzing past our heads. Unable to get downstairs and defend the detonator, we heard the sweet siren of defeat but felt slightly relived we wouldn't spend the rest of our lives being shot at in a bus. Kids 2 Us 0.

Game 2: Still stinging will be feeling of defeat, we dusted ourselves down and returned to the field. This time our goal was to protect a flag in the building which we inhabited from the start (hooray!). We were unable to leave the building unless killed, which meant close combat, high impact shots and a fair bit of pain ... well only if you died that is. Sensing this four of us hid upstairs, in another moment of slight cowardice, but someone had to defend the second level right? Either way it felt good to be shooting the kids from the same position they had so badly bruised us only one round ago. Which was going great, until the combination of heavy breathing, gung-ho shouting, rubbish anti-fog spray and a cold day caused our visors to steam up. Unable to leave the building, or take our masks off, our upstairs team stumbled about only really saved by the good work of our downstairs team. It was a victory, if a blurry, disorienting one. Kids 2 Us 1

Switching to attack, and with clean visors again, we returned to the building to retrieve the flag. We had unlimited lives, so those high impact shots, were going to be hitting us more than one time. After the last few games, we had developed a sense of teamwork, and mainly stuck to a strategy of "If he can get over there without getting shot, so can I, I'd better follow him". For the other team it meant "Look there's three of them behind that tiny box over there" BANG BANG BANG dead, dead, dead. Not that they quite understood the concept of dead, as I raised my arms to confirm I'd been shot and was going back to the start I got shot twice in the hand and three times in the arm. Where is the honor?

As time slowly ticked against us we made a mad dash towards the building, with many of our team darting through windows. The flag was guarded by a central stairwell, at which they had two guards and we used a suppressing fire to pin them down. Looking at Leu and Mike's guns I soon realised they were only shooting air, likewise I had but a mere few paintballs left for the game. As we tried to think of a way around this, a loud bang was heard which ricocheted around the building. For a £3 flash bang it sure pakced a wallop. Coming to our senses, we saw our team mate Glen darting out of the building, flag in hand, taking bullets to the head and arms like no tomorrow. None of us were really sure what happened but back at the base, bruises and all, we confirmed he hadn't been shot in any critical places and won the game, Kids 2 Us 2.

Game 3:Order restored we went on to a game of launch the missile. This time running from behind the building to a missile and attempting to shoot it. Our attacking didn't hold water and the kids held back a point and on defense we likewise did the same. The setup was almost identical to storm the bus, but in the opposite direction and with more cover for the missile itself. Another good game, and more of the same. Kids 2 Us 2.

Game 4: We finished the day with Speed Ball, a close combat race to grab a ball and get it back to your goal. A bit like football but with added headshots. Our teams were divided as many of the kids had gone home (hopefully stung by the pain of a draw - and paintballs to the legs) so we split up. No buildings to storm this time, just a really fast paced game where a good angle could see you shooting the entire enemy team without them even seeing you. Our team won both rounds but by this stage we were having such a good time we didn't really care.

Game 5: With paintballs still to spare from our initial 600 we were asked to go in to the forest, shoot each other and not return until we'd used them all up. This was the most fun any of us had all day, and with the ability to shoot anyone on our team, several work colleagues were happy to shoot each other all day long, and the new team ethos we had formed on the day was quickly turned on its head in a sea of paint.

All in all, a fantastic morning was had by all, and I have to applaud Rednal Paintball Arena for being so generous. Likewise full credit goes to Gasp Design to arranging such an excellent day and inviting me along for the ride, some of them I knew before, some I didn't but none of that mattered when we got out on the field and carnage was had by all.... so why can I still taste paint?

Want me to come and review your day out or activity? Get in touch on mike@blagman.co.uk.