Put your hand up if you like receiving freebies. Now, give me a high five if you like reviewing them. ChickAdvisor is a fabulous brand that can hook you up with full-size branded products to test and review. That’s right ladies, full-size. Swoon!

Before getting into the nitty-gritty details of it all, what is ChickAdvisor? It’s basically a review platform that allows you to share your insights on just about anything. It’s a Canadian (yay!) advocacy platform that gathers reviews in the aims to develop better products and experience for the end user. They collaborate with household brands that we all know and already love such as Unilever, Nivea, L’Oréal and much more. Upon creating your profile, you’re set to start reviewing products by responding to a few questions and sharing your thoughts on the product, from quality, price, and effectiveness. The more you review, the more points you earn that will help you work your way up the ranks.

Every once in a while, you’ll get an email notification that new products are up for review. At this point in time, all you simply need to do is apply to be considered. If you’re lucky to be selected, you’ll receive an email a couple of weeks later informing you to expect something special in the mail. You also have a deadline to leave your review. So if you don’t review on time, you decrease your chances of being selected for a future review.

All that to say, every two years, ChickAdvisor hosts an event called ShowCase, which is an afternoon high-tea time inviting ladies to join them in reviewing products on the spot. Same premise, but it’s happening right then and there. There’s a Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver event, and the Montreal one occurred this past weekend and it was my first ChickAdvisor event, and certainly not my last. I attended with my sister and cousins, and must I admit, we go cray on reviewing free beauty products. I mean, who wouldn’t?

Upon arriving at the Loews Hotel, we signed in and impatiently waited to enter the room. Once the doors parted and revealing the round tables and food spread, we found a spot that we called ours for the next few hours and admired all the little gifts that waited for us on the table and our chair. An adorable mug with the famous chick in gold foil sat beside a black and gold branded compact mirror. You can catch my attention with anything shiny and glittery! There also sat a bag full of goodies on each chair, ranging from a lipstick to a nail polish. We’ll get back to those later.

The spread of food went on and on from one wall of the room all the way across to the other. In theme with high-tea, our eyes feasted on little sandwiches, scones, and macarons. Of course, it wouldn’t be an event without a photobooth.

In all, there were 7 products to review:

1. Simple Skincare’s facial wipes
2. The Estée Edit’s pore vanishing stick
3. Mary Kay’s semi-matte lipstick
4. L’Oréal’s voluminous Feline mascara
5. Hardy’s Stamp wine
6. Dove’s serum-in-oil
7. CND’s Creative Play nail polish

Stay tuned for the individual reviews on the blog!

It was a fun afternoon swatching lipstick colours, taking swigs of different wines and painting our nails, and being among girls (#girlpower). It was also nice to see different variations of the products, such as different shades of lipsticks and different types of facial wipes. We were able to swap products with our neighbours and try those.

We were encouraged to share our thoughts through our social media feeds as well as leave a review on ChickAdvisor.com. The best part, we were able to bring the products home! It’s $45 a ticket, but considering the food and products you get to indulge in, totally worth every penny. This is a fun event that you should take part in the next time it comes around. If you want to stay in the loop for opportunities to test out products, register now by clicking here!

Photo credit: Martine L’Image