Screw Starbucks, I'm opening up my own coffee house! (Torani Syrup review)

 SheSpeaks, one of my favorite social review and sampling websites, was nice enough to send me a couple of bottles of "holiday cheer" themed Torani syrup to try out and review!

A little blurb about Torani: Since 1925, 3rd generation family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 (!!!)  flavors in Regular and Sugar Free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies.  Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The Sugar Free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani flavored syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home.

I received a bottle of Torani Gingerbread sugar-free and Salted Caramel sugar-free syrups, together with some coupons and a little recipe booklet. I have to say I'm usually not a fan of sugar-free stuff (bad aftertaste), and I'm COMPLETELY addicted to Starbucks' regular salted caramel mocha, so I was a WEE bit hesitant to try and recreate this drink at home with sugar-free syrup, but there was barely any aftertaste and it definitely tastes like salted caramel, yum! I poured the syrup into some strong, hot coffee mixed with hot chocolate and milk, and finished it off with some whipped cream, SOO GOOD!

The Gingerbread syrup was a little strong on the Splenda side for me when mixing it with coffee, but I'll try it again when making whipped cream. Gingerbread whipped cream, how awesome does that sound? Or maybe mix it with some vodka to make flavored shots, yay!

UPDATE re: the vodka part: OOH YEAH THAT'S THE STUFF! (still an aftertaste, but a great way to get rid of cheap vodka!)

Thanks, Torani and SheSpeaks, for letting me try these syrups! (Disclaimer: I received the product for free in exchange for a blog review. The opinions are mine.)

Old Navy/Crowdtap Sample and Share!

As a member of the Old Navy Style Council on Crowdtap, I had a great time checking out all the sweaters with a friend at my local Old Navy store - such a great selection! From their Softest Sweater Cardis:

to this adorable sheep sweater:

- I believe I tried out about 20 sweaters (quite a workout), before finally deciding on the right one (the cardigan above, SO chic and versatile!).

I received one free sweater coupon for myself and a friend from Old Navy via Crowdtap. Thanks Crowdtap!