Peloton Bike | Review | Referral Code

You may have seen my post about my using the Peloton App and my Bladez Master GS bike {click here for the full post}.  I loved the set-up - it was super convenient and definitely a less expensive version if you already have a bike at home or can't afford the full Peloton bike.  {This post includes affiliate links.  Affiliate links are where I make a portion of sales from links used, which helps keep Beauty Freckled going.  Thanks for your support!}

Fast forward to October of this year and the movers broke the bike computer off my Bladez Master GS.  After having some trouble trying to glue it on, and trying to find a good fix, I started wondering if the Peloton bike was worth consideration.  Letting myself brew over it, I finally decided to take the plunge the week before Thanksgiving.

After ordering my bike on November 9th (two Fridays before Thanksgiving), I received it the following Wednesday.  I was lucky enough to have the actual Peloton team/van come out for my delivery.  Three great team members brought my bike into my basement, went over the entire setup (including measuring my seat for me), AND attached the Look Delta cleats onto the Shimano cycling shoes I already had (similary style here).  Great service, all around!  They brought the accessories I ordered with them, so I didn't have to wait at all.

Peloton in the corner of my finished basement

Accessories - With the referral program, I had $100 to use towards what I needed so I got the water bottle, cleats (since I had shoes), and a heart rate monitor.  If you are looking to buy a Peloton, I would love for you to use my referral code: 6WMYTY

Originally, I was going to order the bike during Black Friday.  Normally, their Black Friday deal is a free bundle of accessories worth $249 which includes shoes with cleats, mat, one set of weights, earbuds, and heart rate monitor.  They did run it again in 2018, BUT I am glad I didn't wait because so many people ordered that delivery times got very backed up and people waited weeks to get their bikes!

Let's talk about the bike!  After you set up your profile, you have the option of taking a beginner course or jumping right in.  You can take classes live, in real time, as they are happening in the NYC studio, or on demand.  The thing I love is that even if you ride on demand, you can still see your stats on the leaderboard and see where you fall during that ride.  The leaderboard takes into account your output and shows you where you rank in the pack of riders that have taken that particular class.

On Demand Classes

You can filter on demand rides by type or theme, by instructor, length, etc.  There are so many choices and styles, you will never get bored.  Playlists are available for preview, so if music is a big motivator to you, checking those out is a great way to see if a ride is for you.  The music styles literally are anything you could ever dream of, from decades (70s, 80s, 90s), to hip hop (try Alex's rides), to Broadway (Robin, Hannah, Jess), to rock, seriously the possibilities are endless and there's something for every taste.

LIVE Class Schedule for the week

The instructors are AMAZING.  I loved Alex so much I had a hard time branching out and trying others, but every single one is awesome and have their own unique qualities.  Robin, Hannah, Jess, and Cody are great as well!  Everyone resonates with someone for different reasons.

It's also not just a bike.  There are also strength training programs, lifting, walking, running, stretching, boot camps, even yoga and meditation!  The yoga is truly amazing, but I was already a Kristin McGee fan before! 

The Peloton Bike is amazing, and worth every penny.  The bike is so motivating, and I don't need to waste time driving to a gym, getting a locker, fighting for equipment, etc.  Everything is in the comfort of my own home.  Setting a new Personal Record (PR), getting a new badge for a workout, or the Century Ride shirt you will win for your 100th ride, will all keep you wanting to hop on the bike and workout more.

Financing is available starting around $39 a month, which is a great option!

Please feel free to use my referral code if you would like to purchase a Peloton.  You will get $100 off any accessories you choose and I get a kickback for use in their boutique!  Thank you so much!  Referral Code: 6WMYTY

Leave any questions you have about Peloton below and I will answer them!

Young Living Starter Kit Sale!

In honor of the passing of Young Living's founder, D. Gary Young, many starter kits are now 10% off.  If you've been wondering about essential oils or you just need a new diffuser, this is a great way to do either.

The Premium Starter Kits are the best bang for your buck and give you the total package right off the bat, including a diffuser and amazing samples.  The Premium Oil Kits are worth over $350 alone!

The reduced pricing runs from May 22 - May 25th, 2018 and includes the following PREMIUM kits:

Premium Starter Kit with Dewdrop Diffuser
Premium Starter Kit with Desert Mist Diffuser
Savvy Minerals Premium Starter Kit in Cool 2
Savvy Minerals Premium Starter Kit in Warm 2
Savvy Minerals Premium Starter Kit in Dark 1
Savvy Minerals Premium Starter Kit in Dark 2

If you saw my post about my starter kit here, mine came with the Desert Mist Diffuser and it's AMAZING!  11 different light settings, one of them looks like a candle flickering...it's beautiful!

Once you're a Young Living Member, you will get wholesale pricing at 24% off, and you can earn money back to use on more oils by signing up for Essential Rewards - which is like Amazon for Oils!  You also get bonus oils at months 3, 6, 9, and 12!

Ready to get started?  Click my direct Young Living link here, or send me an email!

Disclaimer:  Young Essential Oils did not pay me or provide compensation for this post.  All products were bought by me, with my own money.  Claims have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.  I am not a medical professional, nor should my statements be evaluated as medical advice.  Use essential oils as directed on instructions, labels, etc.

Sigma Dry'n Shape Tower® Face & Eyes

I've had my eye on the Sigma Dry'n Shape Tower for a while now.  If you read my last post about how I wash and dry my makeup brushes [if not, click here for the post] you know what my routine was, but since then I've changed it a teeny bit.  

{This post includes affiliate links.  Affiliate links are where I make a portion of sales from links used, which helps keep Beauty Freckled going.  Thanks for your support!}

I want my brushes to last as long as possible, so drying them facing down so the water doesn't get into the base of the brush is the best way to do that - enter the Dry'n Shape!

Sigma Dry'n Shape Tower® Face & Eyes
Claims from the Sigma website:
The PATENTED Dry'n Shape Tower® - Face and Eyes was specifically designed to completely dry and shape your most dense face and eye brushes faster than ever before while holding up to 44 brushes at once.

• Holds up to 24 eye brushes and 20 face brushes
• Includes 3 bases and 2 connectors
• Disassembles easily for compact storage
• When combined with Dry'n Shape Tower - Eyes can hold up to 92 brushes

Sigma has four versions of the Dry'n Shape: the eye tower (48 eye brushes), the face and eye tower (24 eye and 20 face brushes), the full set (two towers for up to 92 brushes), and the spa (built in cleaning pad, plus brush holders).  So there is a brush tower for every budget and makeup brush collection!

Sigma Dry'n Shape - Face and Eyes

The Dry'n Shape Face & Eyes was perfect for me.  As you can see, I have a variety of brushes on the tower from Elf to Real Techniques, to EcoTools to Sephora Professional.  I keep my Sigma Brushes in a brush roll for nicer occasions so those weren't dirty after this marathon cleaning session.  Minus two brushes from EcoTools with thick brush handles and my Tarte Kabuki brush, everything fit in the slots perfectly!

Sigma Dry'n Shape - Face and Eyes

I will eventually get the brush cleaning mat or glove to go along with this drying tower, but for now, I put a small squirt of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Lavender Soap in my hand, swirl the brush around in it, and rinse clean.  Then into the drying tower it goes!  If the brush is really hanging onto makeup (like a foundation brush), I swirl it around directly on a bar of Dr. Bronner's Bar Soap I keep in a travel soap dish just for this occasion.

All in all, I highly recommend the Sigma Dry'n Shape Tower for any makeup brushes you have.  It makes cleaning a breeze since you can just pop them onto the rack right after you finish washing.  The three tiers come apart as well for easy storage either in a bathroom or set of Alex drawers.

Young Living Starter Kit

One of the recommendations I've had for my fibromyalgia was to try some holistic methods such as vitamins and essential oils.  I've used a variety of oils from places like Whole Foods or Amazon, but Young Living has always been a company I've wanted to check out.  This week I finally got the chance to grab a Starter Kit, which I wanted to share with you all.

Below I've listed what came in my Premium Starter Kit, along with pictures, so you can get an idea of how many products you get all for $160.  The price may seem steep, but you get a full sized diffuser and 11 essential oils to start you out.  That's not including all the extras!

Young Living Premium Starter Kit

with Dessert Mist Diffuser

The Premium Starter Kit Includes:

• Dew Drop Diffuser

• Premium Essential Oils Collection

• Lavender 5-ml

• Peppermint Vitality™ 5-ml

• Lemon Vitality™ 5-ml

• Copaiba Vitality™ 5-ml

• Frankincense 5-ml

• Thieves® Vitality™ 5-ml

• Purification® 5-ml

• R.C.™ 5-ml

• DiGize™ Vitality™ 5-ml

• PanAway® 5-ml

• Stress Away™ 5-ml

• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment

• 10 Sample Packets

• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Business Cards

• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Oil Bottles

• 2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples

• Product Guide and Product Price List

• Essential Oil Magazine

• Essential Edge

Top Tray: Young Living Essential Oil Collection

Bottom Tray: NingXia samples, rollerball,

Stress Away, sample bottles, Share It cards, oil samples

I'm super excited about the Lavender and Stress Away for relaxing (hello, rollerballs!) and the PanAway for my fibromyalgia.  Updates will be included here as I try these out more!

Check out Young Living online here.  If you would like to sign up for your own Starter Kit, I'd love for you to shop with me via my affiliate link here.

Leave any questions you have below.  I would also love to hear your favorite Young Living products to use, or any diffuser recipes/combos you love!

Disclaimer:  Young Essential Oils did not pay me or provide compensation for this post.  All products were bought by me, with my own money.  Claims have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.  I am not a medical professional, nor should my statements be evaluated as medical advice.  Use essential oils as directed on instructions, labels, etc.

Disney World Haul - September 2017

We went to Disney World in Florida in October of 2017 and I wanted to share our family haul!  I will try to share the shops or places we got them at if possible as well.

If you're a Disney fan, check out JAMBeauty89's channel, who does a lot of Disney Vlogs and Hauls on YouTube.  I saw a few of these items in her hauls, so I had to scope them out while we were there.  Check out her channel here if you're a Disney or a beauty channel fan and her husband Tyler's travel vlogs on his channel here.

Monsters University Hat - Adult (The Chapeau Hat Shoppe - Magic Kingdom)
Minnie Mouse Sparkle Hat - Kids (Outpost Cart - Entrance, Animal Kingdom)
Chef Mickey Cookbook (Main Street Confectionary {connected to Chapeau} - Magic Kingdom)
Elsa and Anna Flip Doll (The Puffin's Roost - Norway Pavilion - Epcot)
Lady Stuffed Animal (The Marketplace - Disney Beach Club Resort)
Olaf Mug (The Puffin's Roost - Norway Pavilion - Epcot)
Disney Pin Lanyard (The Marketplace - Disney Beach Club Resort)
Pooh and Tigger Pin (Pin Cart - Canada - Epcot)
Lady and the Tramp Pin (Pin Cart - Canada - Epcot)

Elsa Flip Doll, Olaf Mug, Chef Mickey Cookbook

MU Hat, Mickey Hat, Pins and Lanyard

While walking around the Grand Floridian before our reservation at Cítricos, we stopped in at Basin White and picked up three of their Bath Bombs.  They smell amazing and I am waiting to use them in our new house we're building.

Mickey - fresh scent with Mickey Mouse confetti
Birthday Cake - sweet scent, sprinkle filled
Wishes - sandalwood, freesia flower, & champagne

I meant to grab the Mickey Pumpkin Mug, and I regret not getting it now.  I was going to order it on the app, but it sold out before I got a chance.  Next time!  The few items from the app we did pick up were:

Sully Mug
Mrs. Potts and Chip Ornament
Collapsable Measuring Cups
Mickey Hand Measuring Spoons
Pocahontas Fashion Play Set

Let me know below what your favorite purchases and hauls from Disney below.  Also, I love finding new Disney Vloggers so leave your favorites below!

Thanksgiving Craft | Kids Thanksgiving Hand-some Turkey

After seeing some cute Turkey day crafts on Pinterest, Baby Beauty and I decided to make these Thankful Thanksgiving Turkeys the other day, so I wanted to share how we made them.  The method I used below makes four sets of Tom Turkey.

Kid's Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

copyright BeautyFreckled

Materials:
- 1 Glue Stick - we used Elmer's Disappearing Purple
- Construction Paper - 1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 purple, 1 brown, black, 1 white, plus 2 sheets more in a color of your choice for the backing
- 1 Sharpie

Kid's Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

copyright BeautyFreckled

Instructions:
- Fold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple pieces of construction paper into fourths.
- Trace your child's hand on each color of the rainbow down towards the bottom.
- Cut out the hands.
- Draw Tom the Turkey on the brown paper and cut him out.
- Draw slightly bigger eyes on the white paper, and smaller pupils for the eyes on the black paper.  Cut them out.
- Draw Tom's feet on orange paper and cut them out.
- Assemble each Tom Turkey by fanning out the colors as his plumes behind him, and have the child glue them to his toushie.
- Cut out a heart shape from a piece of construction paper folded in fourths, and glue it to the back of Tom, covering the back of the hands.  I think this looks cute as his back "tail feathers" and kind of acts as his bum.
- On the heart, write who or what they are thankful for - we liked to write names like Grandparents, or Cousins, or Godparents that related to who we were gifting them to.
- Don't forget to add your child's name, their age, and the year they made them so you can watch their little hands grow over the years.

Kid's Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

copyright BeautyFreckled

Your Thanksgiving craft is complete!  Now go eat some Apple Pie (and try it with a piece of sharp cheddar - it's a fun family tradition of ours).

Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook | Review

If you browse your Facebook feed, you are sure to have noticed how recipes by Skinnytaste are shared and reposted a ton.  You may also be a fan of the original blog by Skinnytaste.  I got a chance to check out a copy of the Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you.

{This post includes affiliate links.  Affiliate links are where I make a portion of sales from links used, which helps keep Beauty Freckled going.  Thanks for your support!}

The cookbook is broken into these sections: Healthy Mornings; Chilis, Soups and Stews; One Bowl Meals; Zoodles, Squashta, Pasta, and Sauce; Taco Night; Poultry Mains; Meat Lover Mains; Fish and Seafood Mains; Meatless Mains; On the Side; and The Sweeter Side.

The whole idea behind the cookbook is that the recipes are ones you can either make FAST (like on a weeknight or in a pinch) or in a SLOW cooker (which most still don't take long to dump in there).  Not to mention, all these recipes are healthy since that is the brain child behind Skinnytaste - big on flavor, not on your hips.

Our family made the following recipes from Skinnytaste Fast and Slow:

Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls
My husband is a huge fan of Mexican food...to the extent that eating Chipotle doesn't scare him in the least, even after all of their negative experiences lately.  So when he said he was craving a burrito bowl, I knew just the ticket!


Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
When my husband thumbed through the book, he picked this recipe as once he was especially interested in.  

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff (Hamburger Helper dupe)
Early in our living together days, we usted to make Hamburger Helper a lot.  It was quick, it was easy, and it was cheap.  Well let me tell you, this was just as easy to dump in the crock pot, didn't cost a ton, and was a hundred times more delish.  Plus it doesn't have all the cruddy additives in it.

Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff

Slow Cooker Hamburger Stroganoff

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Give my husband anything super spicy and he's in heaven, so this was one we had to try out too.  We put them on flour taco shells instead of lettuce leaves, and they still were great.  This is the great thing how you can customize any recipe in this book.

The Skinnytaste Fast and Slow Cookbook is simply amazing and I can't wait to keep cooking my way through it.  All of the recipes we tried were definite keepers, and none of them tasted "skinny" or like we were missing out.  We will definitely be working our way through this, cooking up a storm.  I plan on getting her first cookbook, The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor, as well.  I will certainly update the blog on that one as well.

I also wanted to mention, there are a good number of vegetarian recipes in here.  I am not a huge meat eater and found these to be very adaptable as well.  For example, for the burrito bowls, I made the meat for my husband but kept mine strictly veggies.  Keep that in mind if you are vegetarian/vegan and make each recipe your own!


A huge thank you to Skinnytaste for sharing a copy of your new cookbook with me.  I can't wait to see what you come up with next!  Check out Skinnytaste's cookbooks on Amazon here and on their blog here.

Disclosure:  Skinnytaste sent me a copy of Skinnytaste Fast and Slow free of charge for my honest review.  I was not otherwise compensated, paid, etc to state my opinions or say nice things.  All my reviews are 100% honest and the above opinions are solely my own.