Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Baby Eczema Bar Soap

One of the great products I got to try out from my Influenster Naturals Vox Box is this Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Baby Eczema Bar Soap. The bar is 5oz and retails for $4.99. This soap is made with organic shea butter, argan oil and extracts of Frankincense and Myrrh. Honestly the first thing I thought about was baby Jesus and the gifts the three kinds brought him when I saw Frankincense and Myrrh on the label. The soap is brown in color and has a very pleasant scent to it.

The label says "baby" on it, but this soap is ideal for anyone really. It is sulfate free and enriched with natural and organic ingredients such as African Shea, coconut oil and chamomile. According to the label it says "Shea Butter - deeply moisturizes and heals dry skin with it's high content of fatty acids and vitamins. Argan Oil - high in vitamin E, this rare oil softens and renews the skin. Frankincense and Myrrh - given as a gift of beauty throughout history, these precious extracts repair and rejuvinate skin" That all sounds outstanding to me!

I was interested in trying this soap out on myself, and my son and daughter. I have dry, itchy skin, as does my daughter. And my son has eczema. So reading the label I was sure that all three of us could benefit from this soap. I was right. It lathers easily and makes a nice, creamy lather on the wash cloth. It has a good, fresh scent that is not over powering and lightly scents your skin. I personally feel like my skin is less dry and itchy since I have been using it. I have noticed my children scratch less as well and my son's skin doesn't feel as sand paperish as it usually does. I am very interested in seeing how his skin does during the winter with this soap, as that is when his eczema gets the worst from the cold, dry air. I am fairly certain though, that this soap will greatly improve his skin during the winter months.

There is a whole line of products from Shea Moisture Baby that I am going to try including healing lotion and head to toe wash and shampoo. If you have a child with dry skin, or have dry skin yourself, I suggest you try out this bar for sure.

I would like to thank Influenster and Shea Moisture Baby for giving me and my family the opportunity to try out and review this great product.

http://www.facebook.com/SheaMoistureBaby

http://www.influenster.com

Unveiling my Influenster Naturals Vox Box!

The wonderful people at influenster have done it again. They have graciously selected me to try out and review a new vox box. This time it is a natural themed box, with all natural and green products to try and review. Here is a break down of the goodies I recieved:

The Original dish drying mat- retails for $4.99 - this is a fast drying, super absorbant mat for drying hand washed dishes.

LypSyl Intense Protection LypMoisturizer - retails for $2.87 -  an organic, Swedish beeswax lip balm and moisturizer.

EBoost - retails for $28 for box of 20 or $39 for a box of 30 - effervescent powders that mix with water to create a daily vitamin/energy booster drink.

CleanWell individual hand sanitizer wipes - retails for $29.99 for a box of 50 - all natural wipes that are safe for hands and faces.

Geodeo - retails for $5.99 for 2.3oz stick - all natural deodorant stick with detox complex

Nectresse - retails for $3.99 for box of 40 - all natural zero calorie sweetner that tastes like sugar, made from monk fruit combined with other natural sweetners.

SheaMoisture Raw Shea, Chamomile and Argan Baby Bar soap - retails for $4.99 for a 5oz bar - sulfate free bar soap for babies and children (and adults too!) especially those with eczema.

I look forward to trying these great products out over the next few weeks and reporting back on how I liked them. All of the products are exciting to me, but I am especially excited about the dish drying mat for drying baby bottles on and the bar soap since my son has eczema and itchy skin. Thank you Influenster for this great opportunity! :-)

http://www.influenster.com/

The Many uses of Ivory

My Mom voxbox from Influenster included many great and new products for me to try and review. One product that wasn't new to me was the bar of Ivory soap. My mom used to buy Ivory soap when I was a kid, but I haven't used it in my adult life at all. I am mostly a shower gel type of person, but I was willing to give the bar a try.
I used it simply as a bathing bar in the shower. Ivory soap still has the fresh clean scent I remember from when I was a kid. It washed off cleanly and although bar soaps tend to leave your skin feeling sticky afterwards, I didn't notice that sticky film feeling much from this bar. And of course, it is still so pure it actually floats!

I have heard that Ivory soap can be used for many other things besides bathing. I searched the internet and discovered that Ivory soap can be used as a stain remover by rubbing the bar on the stain...good for food stains and that pesky ring around the collar. You can shave the bar into flakes and use it as a laundry soap. Ivory soap is gentle and mild enough to use as a facial cleanser as well. One of the coolest things I found online is you can make a fun cloud of soap by microwaving a bar of Ivory soap...that is a fun science experiment to do with the kids. Just microwave for 2 mins on high and you get a fluffy cloud of fun for the kids to play with once it's cooled down.

I also saw a cool recipe to use this fluff and turn it into bath paints for the kids to play with in the bath. Since it's made from Ivory soap, you know it will wash away cleanly. And since Ivory soap is still the cheapest brand name bar soap on the market, you won't have to break the bank in order to try these fun new uses for it. Thank you Ivory soap and Influenster for re-introducing me to a product that after 125 years is still a good, go to product for my family.

http://www.influenster.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Ivory

imPress press on manicure

Another great product I got to try from my Inflenster Mom Voxbox was the imPress press on manicure by broadway nails. Now, it has been a long time since I have purchased press on nails, mostly because as a nurse I am not allowed to wear press on nails or artificial nails of any kind really to work. That said, I was still excited to try these out because who doesn't love to have pretty nails?

The color I was sent is "Stiletto" which is color number 060

They are a pretty shade that I would consider almost brownish in color.

The really cool thing about these press on nails are they are very simple to apply. The glue is already in place on the back of each nail. All you have to do is find the size that correlates to your natural nail, peel off othe backing and then press the nail into place. Quick and easy! The overall process took me about 10 mins to complete all 10 of my nails. Definitely good for a busy mom like me.

I really like the length of the nails as well. They are what I would call an active length. Not too long, and not too short. They would be really good for people who can't have long nails at work or have young children. According to the package these nails will last up to 7 days. I was not able to wear them that long due to my job. I did wear them for almost 3 days. I washed dishes, did laundry, scratched the dog, etc. and the nails stayed in place perfectly. I did not notice any lifting or pulling from the natural nail surface. My past experience with press on nails that you use traditional glue for I would have to reapply them frequently with normal every day chores. That was not the case with these nails. When I went back to work and had to take them off, they removed very easily. I was able to peel them off easily and they did not damage my natural nails at all. There was also no residue noted from the glue, which again is something I could not say from traditional press on nails with liquid glue.

These nails are available in over 30 colors and designs including french manicure and fun  patterns. They would be wonderful for special events such as prom or formal nights out and are very budget friendly at around $6 per package. Over all I am very impressed with imPress nails from broadway nails. I will definitely buy these again in the future and highly recommend you try them. Thank you Influenster and thank you Broadway nails! :-)

http://www.influenster.com/

http://www.impressmanicure.com/

Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies

The first product I am reviewing from my influenster Mom Voxbox is the Quaker Oatmeal soft baked Oatmeal Rasin cookie. These are new cookies from the Quaker Oatmeal company that come in a variety of flavors and can be found in the cookie aisle of your super market. According the enclosed card in my voxbox they retail for $2.69 for a box of 6, but I got a box of 6 from my local Wal-Mart for $2.19 a box.

This is the packaging for the cookie. Each cookie in the box comes individually wrapped which makes them very easy to send in packed lunches.

The cookie is a good sized cookie too. As you can see in the above picture, it is roughly the size of the palm of my hand. There are 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 27 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fiber to each cookie. Over all, not too bad stats for a cookie I think. Much better than when you get much smaller cookies and only get one to a serving size. Also Quaker Oatmeal is a company I trust for good tasting, quality oatmeal and granola products. They've been in the oatmeal business for a long time, and it shows.

The cookie itself was very yummy. It was chewy, had just the right amount of cinnamon and rasins and was satisfying. I think the 4 grams of fiber help to fill you up, while I loved the cookie and definitely would eat it again, I didn't feel the need to scarf another one right away.

After eating the cookie all to myself, I did feel guilty for not sharing it, since oatmeal rasin is my husband's favorite cookie and my kids just love cookies. So I went and got a couple of boxes from Wal-Mart. One box of the oatmeal rasin and one of the cinnamon apple oatmeal cookies. I haven't got my husband's review yet, but I got my son's seal of approval on the cookies. My daughter read the word oatmeal and ran away (oh the horror, a semi healthy cookie!)

Overall I would recommend these cookies to anyone who like oatmeal cookies. They taste good, are a good size, are affordable and come from a company that I trust. Thank you Quaker Oatmeal and thank you Influenster!

http://www.influenster.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Quaker

I am so very happy to have been picked for the 2012 Mom Voxbox from Influenster. What is Influenster you may ask? It is this really cool website that you can sign up on and earn badges. The badges help them identify which deomographics you fit into to test out products. They have several boxes a year that they send out to members to test out and then review and report back about the products. It is a free program and is awesome for us as the testers and awesome for the companies that want to get their products out into the markets.

So for mother's day this year, they had a Mom box. Yay for being a mom! As the busy mom of two and also pregnant with my third, I was very happy to be selected. So just what do I get in my mom box?? Here is a picture of what came in my box.

Here is the breakdown as explained on the post card inside the box
  
    Ivory soap bar - sold in packs of 10 for about $4.27 the bar that is so pure it floats! I remember using this bar of soap as a kid and look forward to trying it out. As someone who usually uses liquid body wash, I am interested in seeing how I like the feel of this soap.

   DenTek Comfort Clean and Fun Flossers - $1.99 to $2.99 for full packages....anything that makes flossing easier it great in my books....I am interested in seeing what my kids think of the fruit flavored kid flossers.

  Stash Tea superfruits tea sampler and Nektar sweetner - I LOVE tea...and love fruit.Very excited to try out these fruit infused yummy teas. And the Nektar sweetner is crystalized honey....I love honey as a natural sweetner so I am interested in seeing how well these work. Would be much easier and more convienent to carry packets of crystalized honey around than an actual sticky bottle.

  Quaker soft baked cookie - $2.69 for a box of 6 - I got an oatmeal rasin cookie to try out. One of my favorite flavors of cookies.

   imPress press on manicure by Broadway Nails - $5.99 to $7.99 per pack. Fun, easy to apply press on nails that are supposed to last up to a week. It has been a long time since I have even attempted to use press on nails so I am interested in trying these out.

I want to thank Influenster for allowing me to particiate in this program and giving me the opportunity to try out these great products! Check back for my reviews on each of these products as I go through each one.

http://www.influenster.com/

moms can have fun too

Today was a glorious,  beautiful fall day here in the Midwest. Temps right around 70 and breezy....actually a little cool for Labor day. I felt bad for anyone hoping to go swimming one last time today, it was just too cold. But it was a great day to take the kids to the park. So we got some lunch and went to the park nearby for a little unplanned picnic. It was nice and quiet there, we were the only ones there at this time. After we ate lunch, I was watching my kids slide and run around and I decided the swings looked particularly inviting. So I went and sat down on a swing. Then I swung just a little to test it out. My kids looked at me funny but decided to come over to the swings too. Then I decided to go full force swinging.....it felt wonderful. Just like floating back in forth in the wind and sun, almost like flying. I probably haven't sat on a swing in over 10 years (which my 7 year old seems think is forever ago). It was fun and refreshing. And I got to teach my kids how to pump their little legs just like me so they could swing by themselves too. All in all, it was a fun afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather God has graced us with.