Support Small Businesses!

Saturday, November 26th is designated as Small Business Saturday by the US Small Business Association! So while you're out shopping, instead of hitting McDonalds or some other chain restaurant, choose a local mom & pop diner! Support the small businesses in your community!

You can also support small business online! I have my Perfectly Posh website, as you may know (if you aren't familiar with Posh, leave a comment with your email address! I would love to send you free samples!). But I want to tell you about some other women and men who also have their own small businesses! Links to websites are in blue!!

If you are looking for essential oils, let me tell you about my friend, Jill's company: Young Living. Young Living offers over a thousand essential oils (both singles and blends) that support overall health and wellness both physically and emotionally. Some of my Jill's favorite YL essential oils are the thieves blend, to support the immune system, RC Blend or the breathe again roll on which supports the respiratory system (must haves during the fall and winter months!), and the Pan Away blend which can soothe tired muscles after a work out or hard labor.  Thieves blend cough drops are also handy to put in your bag to keep your immune system at its best!

My friend, Micah, sells Modere clean living products. Modere offers similar products to Posh, in that they are free from harsh chemicals and other stuff you don't want to put on your skin. They also offer some weight-loss products, a full men's skincare line, even cleaning products!  I love that they offer dietary supplements and oral care products, and they also have great laundry soap pods that smell incredible!

My friend, Emily, is an Independent Designer for KEEP Collective whose mission is to give every woman the means to design her one of a kind life. "Living a happy life comes from always keeping in mind what truly matters: LOVE, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP & ADVENTURE. Each of our KEEPSAKES is a wearable touchstone, an instant reminder of the little things, the big things, and all things that make you unique." They have really cute charms that you mix and match to create custom bracelets, necklaces, key fobs, earrings....  If you're looking to create personalized, inspirational gifts this year, I recommend checking her site out!

Skip the Yankee Candle store this year! Quit the wick with Scentsy! My friend Gennell is a Scentsy Independent Consultant. Scentsy offers "wickless candles" which use a low wattage bulb in really cute warmers to melt scented wax. The wax doesn't get as hot as it would in a candle, so it's much safer (not to mention no open flame!) than a candle. And you're not left with an empty jar!! Scentsy also has really cute stuffed animals called Scentsy Buddies, which have a pouch in the back that unzips so you can put a scent pak inside - I love these with a French Lavender scent pak in them in the bedroom: so relaxing!!

Leggings are all the rage right now! I have a Legging Army website where you can shop online for women's and children's leggings in a variety of patterns. There's also a very popular company called LuLaRoe which is a very unique company. My friend, Ginger is a local consultant with a great Facebook VIP group. LLR only makes a few thousand pieces of each print and style. Independent Stylists bulk order leggings (children, tweens, and women's), dresses, skirts, shirts, and cardigans without knowing what patterns they will receive. These consultants keep stock at home, and host Pop Up sales in home and online in Facebook groups. Because no two consultants will have the same items in stock, they also team up for multi-consultant groups!

My life would be incomplete without Pampered Chef! My friend, Ronda, is a Pampered Chef consultant here in NW Ohio. Pampered Chef is a cook's dream! Cooking utensils, knives, bakeware, cookware, even spices and oils. If you know someone who loves to cook, give Pampered Chef a try this year!

This year, before you buy from Bath & Body Works, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Kohl's, GNC, or some other big box store, give a small business a chance. Shop small, shop local!

It's My Birthday!!!

As you are reading this, I am officially over the hill! Yep, today I turned "the big 4-0"! This past year a lot of things have changed!

I have been tobacco-free for a little over a year now! I have a new found love of food. I'm trying foods I never would have tried before (I love siracha, and hate falafel), and am enjoying cooking more, as well. Which translates into having a few more curves than I did a year ago, but that's okay! Women are supposed to have curves!

My skin has been changing, too. I don't know the science behind it, but as we age, the skin on our face changes. I've battled adult acne in places I've never had breakouts before. It's been interesting figuring out the right Posh products for my "old face" (LOL!). The Gender Bender charcoal soap and BFF exfoliating face wash used to work wonders for me. Then over the course of a few weeks, I noticed it wasn't working any more. Posh came out with the Olive My Love mild face cleanser, which I didn't think much of when I heard about it. It's an oil-rich cleanser, which made me think "um, I don't want to wash my face with oil!" Then my upline raved about it on our team page. So, I trusted her and bought one. WOW. It's awesome! It draws dirt and oil out of your skin, while cleansing and moisturizing at the same time. After I wash my face, I apply the zit zapper to any area that might need it, then apply the Never Grow Up Serum. This serum is amazing! I've been using it for maybe 6 months now, and I could swear it's reducing the appearance of my "laugh lines" around my eyes!

(Don't mind the mark on the bridge of my nose - that's from my glasses!)

I also got an unexpected promotion at my day job this summer! I'm an Electrical Controls Designer at my company's World Headquarters. I work for a Fortune 500 Architecture and Engineering Firm here in Ohio. With my promotion comes more responsibility, and requires more effort and less guidance, so I've got new opportunities to learn and grow!

Since it's my birthday, I'd like to do a giveaway!! Please leave me a comment to be entered into a drawing for a gift! I will send one (or two!) people something from this cabinet!

Perfectly Posh Products - What the heck is a Snarky Bar???

A Snarky Bar is a unique, aggressive exfoliating bar of soap. It's great for use on feet, and calloused
hands, or even rough patches of skin on the body.
Snarky Bars are loaded with shea butter, and chock full of vegan microbeads made from sugar, so it's environmentally friendly.
There are four different Snarky Bars in the current catalog (and there may be some retired ones available!)
Classic Pink Snarky Bar  is an awesome scent of exotic flowers and sandalwood. Hands down my favorite scent Posh has! It is, not surprisingly, pink.
Sorry, Not Sorry (how cute is that name!) has a fresh scent, described as fresh, frothy milk. This Snarky Bar is white in color. This Snarky Bar has oats in it, in addition to the microbeads.
The Dark Side (again, that name!) is a more masculine scent, described as musky amber and vanilla with an invigorating splash of citrus and melon. This one, again not surprisingly, is black in color. This Snarky Bar has dead sea salt in addition to the microbeads.
Raspberry Beret (pictured) is a sweet, fruity scent. I smell a lot of grapefruit with a hint of raspberry. As you can see, it has raspberry seeds in it, in addition to the microbeads.

I like to use the Snarky Bar on my feet in the shower, and also when I take time to pamper my feet with a mini pedicure (see my previous post about Posh Pedis) for more info. The Snarky Bars are fairly soft, so they can easily be cut into smaller pieces so they are easier to handle, and to extend the life of your bar. Store out of the spray of the shower for prolonged life of your soap!

A Day in The Life of a Perfectly Posh Consultant

Being a Perfectly Posh Consultant is tons of fun! I get paid to pamper!

I have a "9-5 day job," so I mostly work my Posh business on the weekends. I thought I'd share with you a typical Saturday as a Posh Consultant.

As soon as I get up, I hop in the shower. Posh sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner on my hair. Exfoliate my face with the fabulous Whole Lava Love volcanic ash exfoliator to exfoliate and draw out impurities, then wash with Pore-Fect face bar, loaded with tea tree essential oil to clean my pores. I exfoliate my body with one of our sugar scrubs (I have 4 different ones in the shower!), then wash with a {Chunk} bar or Posh body wash depending on what I want to smell like that day. Hop out of the shower, towel off, and apply a body butter to compliment the soap/body wash I used. Once I'm feeling pampered, I "open up shop."

 I fire up the laptop, coffee in hand, and check on orders in my Virtual Office. Emails get checked good month/week I make sure to give them a shout out and acknowledge them publicly.
next, then I take a look at how my team's sales are going. If someone has low numbers, I reach out to them to encourage them, and offer ideas on finding new customers if they are struggling, or to reach out to past customers to see how they are liking their products. If a team member is having a particularly

I like to check in with my customers who have made recent purchases to see how they are liking what they bought. If I've sent out samples in the past week or two, I try to check in with the recipient to see what they had tried, and to get their opinions on the products. Speaking of samples, I try to find at least three new people a week who have never tried Posh, so that I can pamper them with a few samples. Sample packs get put together, along with a personal note to the recipient about how to use the products, and why I chose those particular products (if they did not request specific samples), And package them up for shipping out on Thursdays. Why Thursdays? Well, There is a post office a few blocks away from the office where I work, and on Thursdays in the spring/summer/fall, most of the food trucks in the metro area here park a few blocks past the post office, so I treat myself to lunch after I drop off at the post office. It's my way of tricking myself into getting exercise over the lunch hour (it's about a mile walk down and back to the food trucks parking location). Sometimes it's tacos, sometimes a burrito, sometimes nachos from the Tex-Mex truck that has awesome hot sauce. Sometimes it's grilled cheese and tomato soup (gourmet, of course), sometimes broiled salmon sandwich with siracha mayo and hand cut fries, occasionally bacon mac & cheese from a truck specializing in fried fresh perch and gourmet grilled cheeses. And sometimes it's a veggie burger and hand cut fries from a truck specializing in "comfort food." There are other food trucks (Italian, Cuban, BBQ...), but those are the three I visit most often. Since I gave up tobacco just under a year ago, I've become a bit of a foodie, and seek out new foods to try often. I've been on a spicy food kick lately. Know of something I should try? Leave me a comment!

Once my team and my customers have been properly attended to, I focus on the other aspect of my business: social media. I plan out the week's posts - write a blog post for Monday (sometimes a few at a time if I get on a roll!), think about a possible Instagram (I'm @posh_megrich) post (that's one I'm still figuring out - I like words too much! Photos are harder for me), I think about Facebook posts for my business page, and I think about what kind of video I could make for my YouTube channel.

Once social media is taken care of for the week, I focus on personal growth. I have vast amounts of training available to me in my Virtual Office through something called the Posh Academy. There are videos there for new consultants to watch,  and answer questions about, to earn Posh Points to use to purchase business supplies, and even earn free business supplies for completing 30, 60, and 90 day milestones. I go back and watch these videos from time to time. I learn a new trick every time I watch them. They have also recently created additional videos for long time consultants who might need a little "pick me up" to inspire themselves again, or just want to soak up all the knowledge they can from other high ranking Consultants. All the training videos are made by Posh Consultants! I like to watch at least one video a week. I have a notebook full of notes from the videos I watch. I have post-it notes on top of my original notes for the videos I have re-watched!

Oh, and I do all this while pedaling on my desk bike, so I'm burning calories while I work! (Yep, that's my Fit Bit on my sandal. It helps me get an idea of how many calories I've burned)

Perfectly Posh Hot Pepper Sha-Bang Review

Y'all, watch this review on the Hot Pepper Sha-Bang. I'm not even kidding when I say it's crazy awesome. I was to the point that I couldn't even grip things properly, the pain/arthritis/whatever is going on in my index finger was so bad. Just watch my brutally honest review!





Get yours here: Hot Pepper Sha-Bang!

Perfectly Posh - Best Shower Ever!

I have a confession. Before I found Posh, I HATED taking a shower.  I still took them, but it was out of necessity, and they lasted 5 minutes or less. Now that I know all the wonderful things Posh has to offer, I look forward to a long shower. I have been known to take two showers on a Saturday or Sunday, just because I felt like it!

So let's talk about the Best. Shower. Ever.

I had a wax warmer on for about an hour, with a nice lavender scent in it, so the bathroom smelled I'm Turning Blueberry soothing face mask first, using a mask applicator brush.  Then set the shower head set to a rainfall intensity spray, and the water nice and warm, but not hot.
lovely and relaxing. I applied the

Stand under the water for a few minutes, then wash my hair with the End Mend Shampoo, followed by End Mend Conditioner which I combed through my hair and let sit. (After my hair dried, it was silky smooth!)

Now that my hair was being pampered, I rinsed the face mask off, then washed my face with the Olive My Love gentle face wash, followed by the Whole Lava Love for a nice exfoliation. My face was so soft and smooth afterward, I couldn't believe it.

With my face feeling pampered, it was time to focus on the rest of me. I used the  Love the Dark scrub from neck to waist for an all-over exfoliation which left my skin silky smooth. I moved on to the legs - again I used Love the Dark, but as a shaving cream! I rubbed it in until it turned into a lather of sorts, then shaved without rinsing first. This gave me a nice, close shave, by exfoliating before the razor hit my legs.

I didn't want my feet to feel left out, so I used the Rubby Scrubby exfoliating soap stick all over my feet to get off dead skin and callouses. The peppermint essential oil in it left me with a cool tingle, while my feet were nice and smooth.

Lastly, I used the Good Morning Beautiful {Chunk} to wash. I actually use a shower pouf with the {Chunk} - I just rub the soap on the pouf (which produces a nice lather, more than just using the {Chunk} directly on the skin) and then wash with the pouf. Rinse off, rinse conditioner out of my hair, and hop out of the shower!

Now it's time to moisturize! First I used the Never Grow Up anti-aging serum all over my face and neck to fight crow's feet and laugh lines from forming/getting worse. Next, I grabbed the Snuggle Buddy Skin Joy body butter which is a nice floral scent, but not girly at all, and not "old lady" floral, either. And there's just a hint of vanilla to it. Snuggle buddy from neck to toes! It soaks in really quickly, so I was able to get dressed right away without worrying that it would rub off on my clothes. By that time, the serum had plenty of time to soak in, so I used the Never Grow Up face cream to do double duty on the crow's feet and laugh lines. I may be turning 40 this year, but I don't want my face to look like I am!

I felt like I had just spent hours at a spa! But I didn't have to leave the house, spend a ton of money,  or put on any makeup!

Before bed, I will use the Call It A Night face oil on my face and neck, followed by the Goodnight Kisses lip mask, and the Warm Your Sole foot balm for some moisturizing and pampering while I sleep!

Want to check out any of these products for yourself? Click on the pink product name to visit my website, or email me at mrichards@bex.net and request a sample!

Perfectly Posh Product Review: Girl Crush Skin Joy Body Butter

This catalog transition, the body butters got a facelift! Posh kept the two base formulas and changed it up a bit. They added a foil vacuum seal, which allowed us to reduce the number of natural preservatives used. 

 

Girl Crush is the shea butter base formula, which is the thicker of the two. As you can see in the photo, it is very thick and creamy! The amount I have on my finger here was enough to cover both arms! This is going to be fabulous this winter when my skin gets dried out!

 

The scent is amazing. It's described as "a blend of apricot, orange, and a tart cranberry twist." I can't detect much of the cranberry, but the blend of apricot and orange is divine.

 

After putting this on my arms to check out the scent and feel, I have to say this is pretty awesome. My skin is nice and hydrated. I don't feel greasy at all! Like all the other Posh products, this body butter soaks right into the skin, rather than sitting on top of it like an oil slick.