Spring It On!

Celebrate Spring with these products that bring on the springshine! And when you're done "shopping", take a minute to enter to win the prize of your choice from our gift closet!

Celebrate Spring with Maille Collection les Jardins Secrets des Chefs. A tantalizing selection of gourmet mustards crafted with herbs of the season that will transform your entrees from the ordinary to extraordinary. The collection includes Mustard with Carrot and a hint of shallot, Mustard with olives and herbs de Provence, and Mustard with beetroot and a hint of honey. Simply exquisite! $45 maille.com

For mascara junkies like me, RevitaLash Volumizing Primer and RevitaLash Volumizing Mascara is a match made in Heaven. The indigo blue primer moisturizes and conditions lashes and adds volume while it tames stray lashes. The water-resistant, buildable mascara is smudge-, flake- and clump-resistant. It intensifies each lash for maximum volume. $24 each revitalash.com

Haute™ Brush is an electric brush which straightens hairs in seconds, reduces frizz and can slightly curl ends. There's no need to even separate sections of hair, just brush through. Minimizes the damaging effects that can be caused by the heat of a flat iron. A must-have for traveling. $49.99 at hautebrush.com

Checkout Colorescience's® Sunforgettable® Brush-on Sunscreen ~ how convenient! The chemical-free, fragrance-free mineral powder sunscreen is water resistant up to 80 minutes and comes with an attached brush applicator. Available with SPF 30 or 50 in 5 shades which provide a hint of color. The .21-oz size lasts about 3 months. $57 colorescience.com

This chic Almond Amaretto Candle is from DecoBREEZE's DecoFLAIR line. The gold mercury twisted glass jar is antiqued and filled with an over-the-top scrumptious scent of almond biscotti, vanilla, crunchy almonds, spiced crystal sugar, and a touch of anise and raspberry. Oh my goodness! The scent is warm, inviting and addicting. The jar can be reused and the price is just $14.99! decobreeze.com. 

Create a living space that has the relaxing serenity of a spa with Guru Nanda's Ayuveda-inspired Essential Oil Blends. The collection includes 10 oil blends: Tranquility, Calming Sleep, Invigorate, Focus, Refresh, Relaxation, Harmony, Breath Easy, Loving Moments and Relaxing Touch. Hard to pick a favorite, they are all worth a try. $10.99 each at gurunanda.com

A sonic toothbrush is well-worth the investment for healthy gums and to remove bacteria and tartar from teeth. Toilet Tree's Poseidon Sonic Toothbrush has 31,000 sonic brush strokes per minute and comes with 3 brush heads: clean, soft and massage. The 30-second interval timing reminds you to move to the next area of your mouth.  We're equally thrilled with the chic and compact design of the induction charger. We think it's a fantastic value at $49.95 toilettreeproducts.com

For healthier teeth and a brigther smile, try Colgate's® Enamel Health™ Mineral Repair™ Toothpaste*. It helps teeth absorb essential minerals for healthy enamel and strong teeth. We love the Mint Burst flavor.  MSRP: $3.99 colgateenamelhealth.com. *Colgate-Palmolive provided products for review and giveaway boxes. 

Pecans fresh from the farm to celebrate National Pecan Month! The Taste of Pecans Gift Box includes four 8-oz. bags, one each of Seasoned, Cinnamon Roasted, Toasted & Salted, and Southern Praline. Ready for gifting for $35. A delicious treat for yourself or a loved one. Also sold individually or in 12-oz bags. pearsonfarm.com

Get glowing! Give your skin a new start this Spring with Elizabeth Arden SUPERSTART Skin Renewal Booster. It helps repair skin's outer layers, increases skin's radiance and ability to renew itself. Dermatologist tested and suitable for all skin types. $65 beautybrands.com

Rosalind Wise Gardens Notecards from Pomegranate are a lovely collection of cards in four colorful garden designs that capture the beauty of the season. Send an uplifting touch of Spring anytime of year. The boxed set includes fifteen 5x7" cards printed on quality stock paper and envelopes. $15.95 at pomegranate.com. 

If you're planning any Spring cleaning projects, the windows are no doubt on your to-do list. Invisible Glass® Aerosol Glass Cleaner is a soap-free glass cleaner that doesn't streak or leave a film. Use on windows, mirrors, and glass cooktops. The Reach & Clean Tool has a wedge-shaped pivoting head that make it easy to reach the tops of windows and windshields. It includes 3 washable bonnets. Both available at Walmart or invisibleglass.com.

Chic Giveaway! ~ One reader will win the prize of their choice from our gift closet!

To Enter: email chicgiveaway@gmail.com and include the following:

• "Spring It On" in the subject line
• your first and last name
• complete mailing address
• twitter id 
• facebook name 

*If you're entering our giveaways we ask that you follow us on the social media sites in which you belong. Links to our pages can be found here: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest 

We would love it if you would tweet this giveaway, here's a sample tweet for your convenience ~

#Win the prize of your choice from @ChicLuxuries' gift closet in their *Spring It On* #Giveaway Details: ow.ly/4n6AMG

Contest ends 11:59 PM ET  June 1, 2016.  Limit one entry per household. Winner will be notified by email and announced on our Winner's page. Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize. Open to US Residents 18 years of age and older. We received no compensation from any brand featured in this post, nor were affiliate links used. 

Nutrisystem Week 4

I can't believe how much I LOVE Nutrisystem! I had heard and read some not-so-great feedback and really didn't have high expectations. For me though, it's perfect and I can't thank the Nutrisystem team enough for this opportunity. Do I like ALL of the entrees? No, but I LOVE enough of them to have a wide variety from which to choose each day. 

This week's favorite is also my #1 favorite of all the entrees I have tried so far. It's the Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza {280 calories}... Oh-My-Goodness! It's juicy, flavorful, and positively scrumptious. Chunks of garlic chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and bacon in a creamy garlic ranch sauce. I heated it in the oven so the crust was extra crispy. Better than any frozen pizza I have ever tried and a lot better than many pizzarias. 

I upped my exercise regimen a bit this week by increasing the time on my bike, added in a few walks to the bay, and spent Earth Day gardening and volunteering in a community cleanup. The scale is still moving v-e-r-y slowly though. Hopefully the day will come when I look forward to stepping on it, but I'm not there yet. I'm enjoying the program so much though that I'm just going to focus on the journey rather than obsessing over the end result. It may take me longer than I expected to reach my goal, but I'll get there eventually. 

We are to have one lunch and one dinner on our own per week. I had lunch out this week for the first time since being on the plan and chose a Vegetable Quesadilla. I immediately noticed it was at least 2/3 larger than a Nutrisystem entree. In hindsight, I should have had half for lunch and taken the other half home for dinner. Had I done so maybe the scale would have budged a bit more this week. ~

Down .4 lbs. for a 3-week total of 8 lbs. It was a lesson I needed to learn and hey, a loss is a loss, right? ☺

For weight loss tips, inspiration, and daily specials, visit nutrisystem.com/nsblog and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter for giveaways and more. For delicious, low-cal recipes check out https://leaf.nutrisystem.com. 

Until next week...


Disclosure: As part of the Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program, I am receiving 12 weeks of Nutrisystem food in exchange for blogging about my weight loss journey. All reviews are my own.

Timex Twitter Giveaway

Tweet to Win! To celebrate Mom's Day, Timex is giving away their Miami Mini Watch. The watch is accented with Swarovski Crystals and has a silvertone case and stainless steel bracelet. So pretty! RV: $56 ~

Rules: 

RT one of our tweets about the giveaway and Follow @Timex and @ChicLuxuries on Twitter.

Tweet as often as you wish. Contest open to US residents only. Ends 5/23/16.

Potential winner will be contacted via an @ message on twitter on or about 5/24/16 and will have 48 hours to claim prize and submit mailing address via a direct message to @ChicLuxuries. If prize is unclaimed, a new winner will be selected. Confirmed winner will be announced on twitter and Winner's page. Prize to be shipped to winner from Timex's PR team. 

Beauty Brands Mother's Day Gift Ideas...and a Surprise!

I was recently asked to be a Beauty Brands Ambassador. Beauty Brands offers salon brand and prestige cosmetics, skincare, body and hair care products and has over 50 full-service salon and spas. In shopping their site for gifts, I was amazed at all of the fantastic gift with purchase offers they have. Shop for a gift, get one for yourself...LOVE that! My purchases included the following Spring-themed finds:

First, Laura Geller's Color Luster Lip Gloss in Peach Sorbet, the perfect shade for Spring and Summer. High shine and super moisturizing, $19.

Next, Two Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara thickens, lengthens and curls lashes. Stays put without clumping or flaking until you take it off, $23.

NEST Fragrances Hand Lotion in Grapefruit is invigorating and delightful. Quick absorbing, it moisturizes, softens, and leaves hands delicately scented. A 10-oz pump bottle is $24.

I love their grapefruit scent so much I just had to get the candle as well. This is such a happy, lively scent to add a little Springshine to your home. The 8.1 oz NEST Fragrances Classic Candle retails for $40. This was actually the first item I added to my cart. Free samples were automatically added as were the following ~

The NEST Fragrances Votive Candle in a delicious citrus Tangerine scent, retails for $16 and it was FREE! 

Also included was this pretty Sloane Crossbody ... did I mention it was FREE? The crossbody is available in your choice of pink or white with a $40 purchase while supplies. This is a Mother's Day promo so hurry over to beautybrands.com and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Chic Giveaway! ~ In celebration of Mother's Day, we're giving one lucky reader the Sloane Crossbody filled with beauty samples. 

To Enter: email chicgiveaway@gmail.com and include the following:

• "Beauty Brands" in the subject line
• your first and last name
• complete mailing address
• twitter id 
• facebook name 

Sample tweet for your convenience ~

RT #Win the @BeautyBrands Sloane Crossbody on @ChicLuxuries #Giveaway Details: ow.ly/4mTTJ9

If you're entering our giveaways, we ask that you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Contest ends 11:59 PM ET May 19, 2016.  Limit one entry per household. Winner will be notified by email and announced on our Winner's page. Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize. Open to US Residents 18 years of age and older. We received no compensation from any brand featured in this post, nor were affiliate links used. 

Thank you to Beauty Brands for providing a gift card to help facilitate this promotion. 

Nutrisystem Week 3 ~ It's Time to Track

I'm LOVING Nutrisystem! Week 2 included pizza, cake and waffles and it sure didn't feel like I was on a weight-loss program. I was nervous all week though that I would gain back the 6 lbs. I lost because it seemed like I was eating much more than I typically do and definitely more often. 

To help me stay on track, I started using NuMi which is a weight-loss tracking tool. Simply enter the meals, snacks and beverages that you have each day, along with your activity, and NuMi will keep track of how many calories you have consumed and burned. I find entering a daily activity each day gives me the push I need to step away from the computer and get moving and helps keep me accountable. I've started riding my stationary or outdoor bike at least 25 minutes a day. Now that the weather is warming up, I'm looking forward to riding to the bay more often. 

I enjoyed so many of the meals and snacks this past week that it is hard to select just one as my favorite. There were also too many to list here so I'll save some for next week's post. Here are a few of my top picks from this past week ~ 

Lunch ~ Steak & Cheese Melt ~ 230 calories

Dinner Entree ~ Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast ~ 210 calories

Snack ~ Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites ~ 140 calories

The Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites are so amazing, if the bag was larger, I would have probably definitely finished it off. One of the many things I love about Nutrisystem is each item arrives in individual, portion-controlled packages which helps keep me disciplined. 

The average weight loss on the Nutrisystem plan is 1-2 lbs. per week. Okay, it's time to step on the scale ~ 

Down 1.4 lbs. for a total of 7.6 lbs. in 2 weeks. Happy to see the scale continued to move in the right direction this week. 

For weight loss tips, inspiration, and daily specials, visit nutrisystem.com/nsblog and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter for giveaways and more. For delicious, low-cal recipes check out https://leaf.nutrisystem.com. Until next week...


Disclosure: As part of the Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program, I am receiving 12 weeks of Nutrisystem food in exchange for blogging about my weight loss journey. All reviews are my own.