Mom Blog, Product Reviews, Giveaways | Angelica's Awesome Adventures: June 2011

June 30, 2011

{CLOSED} Kids do Summer in Style With Babiators {Review and Giveaway}

Living in the Sunshine State, sunglasses are a necessity between May and September. Why not add a little style to your child's selection of sunglasses? That's what Babiators are for!

Her future is SO bright...

...she's gotta wear shades. Even indoors.

We recently received a pair of Princess Pink Babiators sunglasses in a size small for Angelica, and she totally loves them. She calls them her "rock star glasses" -- even if she does look more like a miniature fighter pilot. We have many pairs of sunglasses for her, but she goes for these time and time again, and I'm guessing it's because of their style and comfort.

Angelica rocking her Princess Pink Babiators at a local splash park.

The perks of Babiators don't end there! They are also incredibly safe -- meeting or exceeding CPSIA and FDA standards for safety. Babiators are 100% non-toxic. they're made from rubber that's free of BPA, phthalates and heavy metals. The lenses are also effective UVA and UVB filters, which is great for children's eyes, which are more susceptible to the sun's rays than an adult's eyes.

I also love that the durability of Babiators. They're made from pliable rubber, and they BEND! How many times have you (or your child) stepped on a pair of plastic sunglasses and broken them? That won't happen with Babiators! They are so confident in their durability that they offer a one-year Wear and Tear Guarantee. (Note: If your child REALLY twists or bends them the lenses will pop out. They pop right back in.)

Babiators retail for $19.99, come in small (Ages 1-3) and large sizes (ages 3+), and in four colors: Black Ops Black, Blue Angels Blue, Rockstar Red, and Princess Pink. They can be ordered from the Babiators website, or from any of their Retail Partners. (Click that link to find a partner near you!)

GIVEAWAY!
Want to win a pair of Babiators for your child? Here's how you could win!

MANDATORY ENTRY: (this must be done for any other entries to count)
How many pairs of sunglasses does your child own?

EXTRA ENTRIES (comment once for each entry unless it says otherwise)

Enter the Babiators giveaway at The Life of Rylie...and Bryce Too!
Visit Babiators and tell me which size and style you'd pick.
Become a fan of Babiators on Facebook
Follow Babiators on Twitter
Become a public follower of Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Google Friend Connect (check the right sidebar to do this)
Subscribe to Angelica's Awesome Adventures by Email (Subscription must be confirmed to count)
Become an Angelica's Awesome Adventures Facebook fan (Comment with first name, last initial)
Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Twitter (@angelicasmommy) (Comment with your twitter username)
Tweet the following (CAN BE DONE ONCE DAILY). Comment with a link to your tweet.

Kids do Summer in Style With Babiators! Win a pair of Babiators sunglasses! http://bit.ly/lstuyt Ends 7/15 #giveaway

TWO BONUS ENTRIES: Add my button to your blog and send me a link to where it can be found.
THREE BONUS ENTRIES: Blog about this contest with a link back to this giveaway and send me a link to your blog entry.

Please leave your email address in your comment or make sure it is visible in your profile!

Contest ends on JULY 15, 2011 AT 9 PM EST. Open to US Residents only and the prize cannot be mailed to a P.O. Box. Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted via email. Winner must respond within 48 hours of the email being sent or another winner will be selected. (Please make sure you check your spam and junk folders frequently to make sure you don't miss out!)

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way. Babiators provided me with a review package for the purposes of this review and will handle prize fulfillment. Thanks to Babiators for providing the review package and giveaway prize! All content in this review is my opinion.

Got Toys? Thursday Toy Giveaway Link-Up, 6/30 {Linky}

Welcome to the Got Toys? Thursday Giveaway Link-Up!

This link-up is designed to promote your giveaways for children's toys and products! When I'm searching around the blogosphere for giveaways, I love having the chance to win something for my daughter to play with -- and she loves getting new toys! If you're running a family-friendly giveaway, especially for anything related to children's products -- toys, clothes, feeding products, gift certificates for places that sell children's products -- link them up!!

Chances are, if you add your giveaway here, you'll get at least one entry -- from me! (If I haven't already entered!)

I'd also love it if you followed me on Google Friend Connect, Twitter, or Facebook to be reminded when this goes live each week. (This is not mandatory, just a suggestion!)

Aside from that, feel free to link up as many as you have! Oh, and enter some too!

PLEASE NOTE: Because this is a giveaway linky for children's products, any non-family friendly giveaways will be removed from the linky (this includes Eden's Fantasy and Pure Romance). This linky isn't for THAT kind of toys, my friends!

Thanks for playing! Good luck with your giveaways!

June 28, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: 365 Days of Angelica June 22 - June 28 {Linky}

June 22, 2011

June 23, 2011

June 24, 2011 -- Lukas Nursery's Butterfly Encounter

June 25, 2011

June 26, 2011

June 27, 2011

June 28, 2011 - oh, the drama!

(Days you may have missed: 365 Days of Angelica project.)

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, check out The Life of Rylie...and Bryce Too!, The Florida Hogans, and Shibley Smiles!

Tell Us Something Good - Pirate & Princess Party

It's Tuesday! Come tell us something GOOD that's going on in your life this week! The rules are easy...just make a post on your blog about something that made you smile this week, then come back and add YOUR "Tell Us Something Good" post to the linky below! If you want to share the button, you can grab it from the box at the top of this post too.

This past Friday we attended the Baby Boogie Bash Pirate & Princess Party at Amaya Papaya. For added fun, our friend Samantha brought her two little cuties, Aidan (age 3) and Peyton (18 months), and together, our three kids had a blast!

For those who aren't local (and therefore not familiar with Amaya Papaya), it's a local indoor kids playground that is locally owned and operated by another mom, so I LOVE to support them. The Baby Boogie Bash is:

The Baby Boogie Bash (East Coast) is a dance party featuring music from the 80's, 90's, and today. No Nursery Rhymes just real jams (appropriate of course) that will get your feet moving and booty grooving. We have scarves, hula hoops and music toys for the kids to use while they rock it on the dance floor. So grab the kids, put on your best dance SOCKS and come enjoy the disco lights, music and company.

5% of the proceeds made from each month's Baby Boogie Bash will go to benefit a local charity.

This month, the money went to Get Pumped, a local non-profit milk bank which collects breast milk for families in need (for example, if the mom passes away and the baby cannot tolerate formula, they provide breast milk for the baby from their milk bank). I'm pro-breastfeeding (even though it didn't work out for us) so I was glad that the proceeds went to Get Pumped.

Now, onto the fun! Angelica dressed up as a princess, and Scott and I dressed as pirates. Aidan was also dressed as a pirate, and Peyton was dressed as a princess. The kids seemed to have a GREAT time, and we danced, ate pretzels and mini cupcakes, and Angelica got her face painted (by another local vendor, Ooh La La Face Painting, also owned by a stay at home mom).

I haven't gone through all of the pictures of the fun yet, but I did come across this one when I was skimming through and I just think this is priceless...(and seriously, doesn't Ooh La La Face Painting do a fantastic job?)

My princess kitty!

Link up below with me and LeeAnn from The Life of Rylie...and Bryce Too! Let's spread the joy!

*Please note: This linky is only for those participating in Tell Us Something Good. You are welcome to link up a recent post about something good in your life, we just ask that you include the Tell Us Something Good badge somewhere in your post. We hate to have "rules", but we want to be fair to those that are participating.

June 24, 2011

Five Question Friday 6/24/11

Happy Friday! I've been off work this week taking care of some important business around the house (cleaning!) and trying desperately to get caught up on blogging stuff. You may have noticed a few reviews and giveaways go live over the past few days...so I'm making progress! But, today I am taking a Mommy/Angelica day. We're going to the Central Florida Zoo and then to Amaya Papaya for the Baby Boogie Bash Pirate/Princess Adventure! And maybe a few other fun things in between. I've been looking forward to this day all week!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

1. What is your current favorite tv show?
Current, as in, currently running? In that case, it's So You Think You Can Dance. All my other favorite shows just finished their season and since we don't have cable, it's hard for me to find new stuff to watch!

2. What's the worst haircut you ever got?
When I was in first grade, I took a pair of scissors to my own hair to give myself bangs. I was successful in that I then had hair in the front of my scalp that stood STRAIGHT UP. My poor mother had to fix that. I dread the day I get retaliation for that...especially since I have waited SO long for Angelica to grow hair!

The saddest part about that haircut? The next day, after my mom fixed the disaster I had turned my hair into, a girl who was my friend told me she didn't want to be my friend anymore because I had "ugly hair".

3. What was something that you did as a child that you thought you were so cool for doing?
Pshhhh, I'll just say it here and now. I was the nerdiest kid on the face of the planet. I didn't do anything "cool". I wasn't in clubs (except this one time in middle school I was in the Kiwanis club's Key Club, and then briefly in my freshman year of high school I was in Students Against Drunk Driving). I didn't play sports. I worked so hard, got straight As, took honors/AP classes and summer school to the point that I only had to carry a half schedule my senior year. So, if I had to choose something "cool" that I did as a kid, I worked so hard and enjoyed the benefit my senior year by getting to leave school every day at 11 AM....but, even then, I debated just taking some extra classes for "fun". But, instead, I worked a full time job.

4. Do you have any GREAT frugal family fun tips?
Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Buy it. Read it. Live it.

5. Would you drive across country if you had the money to fly?
It depends. With Angelica at this age? Probably fly and save myself the headache. Without her, or with her when she's older? Probably drive. It'd be a super fun adventure!

Sandbox Fun with CAT Tough Tracks Bulldozer {Review}

Who says trucks are for boys? Two of Angelica's favorite things are dirt and trucks, and thanks to the CAT Tough Tracks Bulldozer from Toy State Toys, she gets to have the best of both worlds!

The CAT Tough Tracks Bulldozer is a well-constructed sand toy that's perfectly sized for children ages 2+. When we got it and opened the box, Angelica was really excited to see her new "surprise".

She quickly grabbed the hat and we headed for the sandbox. (The hat is adjustable, by the way, which is great for the smaller-headed kid.)

A few weeks ago I bought Angelica a dump truck from the cheap toys section at the front of Target, but she was eager to cast that one aside in favor of her CAT Tough Tracks bulldozer. She immediately started filling the truck's shovel with sand.

And, because it looked so fun, I couldn't resist getting into the sandbox with her and playing. But, of course, since I'm the camera lady, I don't have any pictures of that so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The Tough Tracks line includes a CAT Dump Truck, CAT Bulldozer and CAT Wheel Loader, has an MSRP of $10 and is available at Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and Target.

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way but was provided with products free of charge from Child's Play Communications and Toy State for the purpose of this review. Receipt of these products at no-charge has no bearing on the content of this post, which is my opinion only. Make sure to read the Disclosure Policy page for full details.

June 23, 2011

{CLOSED} Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes: Delicious, Affordable, Vegetarian-Friendly Buffet {Review & Giveaway}

Once upon a time, in February of 2009, I made the decision to stop eating meat. Since Scott is not a vegetarian, that often means we have to compromise when dining out...myself moreso than him, since many restaurants are not necessarily vegetarian-friendly. Thankfully, Sweet Tomatoes (also called Souplantation in some areas) is one place we don't have to compromise!

I love dining at Sweet Tomatoes because it takes the worry out of choosing veggie-friendly foods. Ever go to a regular restaurant and try to find something vegetarian? A little secret I learned early on in my venture into vegetarianism is that most soups have a beef or chicken base...even soups you'd think are vegetarian, such as broccoli and cheese, french onion, and even straight vegetable soup. At Sweet Tomatoes, vegetarian items are clearly marked as such, so I never have to worry about finding meat in my food.

At $8.49/each (at our location), the price is most definitely affordable!

The abundance of vegetarian options is just amazing, and with their online nutrition guide, you can plan in advance to make smart choices. Here are some items I sampled on our recent visit to Sweet Tomatoes. Each one of these is meat-free and many are low-fat or fat free!

Cherry Balsamic Blue Tossed Salad, Green Chile Ranch Salad, Southern Dill Potato Salad (low-fat), and Aunt Doris' Red Pepper Slaw (fat free and vegan!) - with a side of beets (I <3 beets), vanilla nut coffee (YUM), and strawberry lemonade. Across the table you see Scott's caesar salad. NOT vegetarian -- caesar dressing has anchovies in it.

Santa Fe Black Bean Chili (low-fat - but with just a dab of sour cream, cheese, and chives) with Quattro Formaggio Foccacia

Blueberry muffin, Cherry muffin, and Cherry Nut Butter

My favorite DIY dessert -- chocolate brownie muffin (served warm) with low fat frozen yogurt!

Not pictured above (since the pan was empty when I went to the soup bar): Sweet Tomatoes has one of the best vegetable soups I've ever had! They call it Vegetable Medley. I recently got the recipe from the company and while it takes quite some time to make soup from scratch, it's pretty easy to make....and since it's so good, I want to share it with my wonderful readers!

Vegetable Medley
© Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation

VEGETABLE STOCK:
11 ½ cups water                                                               In a pot, combine ingredients and bring to a boil.
2 ½ cups V8 juice                                                             Simmer for 90 minutes with a lid. Strain broth
1 cup ½” diced celery stalk                                        through cheesecloth.
½ cup ½” diced brown onion
5 peeled garlic cloves – finely diced
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons vegetarian base
2 teaspoons table salt
½ teaspoon white pepper

SOUP RECIPE:
11 ½ cups vegetable stock                                           In a pot, combine ingredients and bring to a boil.
1 teaspoon canola oil                                                    Simmer for 10 minutes with a lid.
2 cups 2” long fry cut carrots
2 cups ½” cubed red potatoes
1 ½ cups ¼” sliced brown onions
1 ½ cups 2” long fry cut turnips
1 cup ¼” sliced celery
1 cup 1” sliced green beans
1 ½ cups cauliflower florets                                       Add ingredients to pot and simmer for 5 minutes
1 cup ¼” sliced green cabbage                                  with a lid.
2 cups 2” long fry cut zucchini                                   Add ingredients to pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
1 cup 2” long fry cut yellow squash                          Season to taste with salt and pepper.
1 cup corn
¾ cup peas
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Yields approximately 1 gallon.

And check out these nutrition facts! You get a whole lot of flavor for very few calories:
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 90
Calories Fat: 11%
Fat: 1g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 520mg
Total Carbohydrates: 14g
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 2g
Protein: 2g

If the items I tried today don't sound appealing to you, here's some more information on Sweet Tomatoes vegetarian options:

Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes Vegetarian Specials
Throughout the year Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation restaurants offer guests more than 45 different vegetarian options, many of which are also vegan, along their 55-foot salad bar and among their soup, pasta, fruit and dessert stations. The all-you-care-to-eat buffet offers something for everyone and is a great opportunity to encourage not only kids, but everyone, to try new things, whether they’re an omnivore, vegetarian or vegan. Vegetarian and vegan offerings are marked throughout the restaurant and also highlighted within the nutritional guide, available inside the restaurant and online, so guests can check out the choices before even stepping foot in the restaurant. And with a featured rotating monthly menu, which always includes a vegetarian offering, there is something new and exciting to try each month.

The current lineup of meat-free options is as follows (check with your location to find out for sure what's available):

June 17-28 Vegetarian Menu Offerings:

Cherry Balsamic Blue with Toasted Walnuts Salad
Southern Dill Potato Salad
Aunt Doris Slaw (vegan)
Sweet Tomatoes Onion Soup (vegan)
Vegetable Medley Soup
Curried Yellow Split Pea Soup
Spicy Garlic Alfredo Pasta
Mac & Cheese

Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation also offers to-go options from the buffet, as well individual take-home desserts, such as as these delicious lemon sugar cookies (also vegetarian)!

You get 13 of these yummy cookies for just $1.99!

Want to find out if there is a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation near you? Check their locations and menus page to find a location near you, and see what good food they're serving!

GIVEAWAY!

If you have a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation near you (you're so lucky!) and would like to go with a friend for FREE, you're in luck! One lucky reader of Angelica's Awesome Adventures will get TWO complimentary meal passes (does not include beverages).

MANDATORY ENTRY (Must be done for any other entries to count):
Have you ever been to a Sweet Tomatoes or Souplantation restaurant?

EXTRA ENTRIES (Comment once for each unless it says otherwise):

Become a fan of Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes on Facebook
Follow Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes on Twitter
Join Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes Club Veg for promotions and coupons! (Enter email address in upper right corner.)
Become a public follower of Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Google Friend Connect (check the right sidebar to do this)
Subscribe to Angelica's Awesome Adventures by Email (Subscription must be confirmed to count)
Become an Angelica's Awesome Adventures Facebook fan (Comment with first name, last initial)
Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Twitter (@angelicasmommy) (Comment with your twitter username)
Tweet the following (CAN BE DONE ONCE DAILY). Comment with a link to your tweet.

Delicious veg-friendly fare at Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation - win FREE dining passes @angelicasmommy http://bit.ly/lNGvl6 Ends 7/8 #giveaway

TWO BONUS ENTRIES: Add my button to your blog and send me a link to where it can be found.
THREE BONUS ENTRIES: Blog about this contest with a link back to this giveaway and send me a link to your blog entry.

Please leave your email address in your comment or make sure it is visible in your profile!

Contest ends on JULY 8, 2011 AT 9 PM EST. Open to US Residents only and the prize cannot be mailed to a P.O. Box. Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted via email. Winner must respond within 48 hours of the email being sent or another winner will be selected. (Please make sure you check your spam and junk folders frequently to make sure you don't miss out!)

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way. Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation provided me with a review package through the their PR agency for the purposes of this review and will also handle prize fulfillment. Thanks to Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation for providing the review package and giveaway prize! All content in this review is my opinion.

The Sweetness

I was always warned about the threes. I was told they're worse than the twos. (I also cringed upon hearing that). So far, though, I'm loving the threes.

Sure, she has her moments. We had a massive meltdown this evening because she skipped her nap at daycare, was exhausted, and I started the Lion King DVD at the wrong point in the movie. (Who knew that the beginning would be the wrong part?) But for all the tantrums and unique quirks the threes bring, they also bring what I like to call, The Sweetness.

Some examples of The Sweetness:

A few weeks ago she had refused to pick up her toys, so the toys "were given to the garbage man". She had forgotten about it until she noticed her Tag Jr was missing, and I reminded her that she hadn't picked up her toys so we had to "give them to the garbage man".

Her voice quivered. "But if I pick my toys up, the garbage man can bring it back, right?"

The next day, she found that her toys had returned (after being gone for two weeks) and that I had cleaned and rearranged her room, and she immediately clapped her hands and said, "Oh mommy, thank you SO much for putting my toys all away!"

Another example:

We were doing an alphabet puzzle, and she would take a letter away and then ask me which one was missing. I pretended to get it wrong almost every time, but the one time I got it right, she said, "Great job, Mommy, that's right! Give me a high five!"

Yet another example:
Yesterday I worked on some much needed cleaning, organizing and "redecorating" -- in the sense that I put up new curtains for our sliding glass doors and put out a new welcome mat since the one we had been using was pretty much wrecked.

After we got home from daycare, Angelica saw them and immediately proclaimed, "Ooh, I LIKE the new carpet!" and "Ooh, I LIKE the new window!"

And an example with the cat:
I've mentioned a few times that Angelica really loves our cat, Mindy, and she is surprisingly good with her (and visa versa...for an 11 year old cat, Mindy is very tolerant of the three year old's antics.) The other night, she went up to Mindy, gently hugged her and said, "Oh Mindy, I just love you, you're such a cutie, doopie doopie doopie doo!"

And then, of course, there was tonight, which was a delightful combination of both The Sweetness, and the other thing that comes along with the threes, which is The Silliness.

Angelica: Mommy, how old are you now? (she knows I just had a birthday.)
Me: I'm 31.
Angelica: Noooooo, mommy, you're FIVE!

Oh, bless her heart. Last week I was eleventeen, and now I'm five. I'm getting younger!

A little while later we were singing The Wheels on the Bus song, and silly me, I couldn't remember how all of the verses went, so she was "helping". Did you know there's a daddy on the bus, and he says "I love you"? Has anyone heard that version of the song before? Because I hadn't, and I thought it was sweet.

And if all of that isn't enough...I have lamented for three years now that Angelica is not an affectionate kid. But the past few weeks she has been full of hugs and kisses and snuggles. I love it. I hope it lasts. She even gives "nose kisses" (like she rubs her nose on my nose) and will pat your back or rub your shoulder if you give her a hug.

Heart. My girl has it.

{CLOSED} Purex With Zout Gets the Stains Out! {Review & Giveaway} TWO WINNERS!

If you've got a toddler or pre-schooler, you may be thinking that stains are just a way of life. I can't even begin to tell you how many adorable outfits I've had to throw away because Angelica's spilled chocolate milk on it, or rolled in the mud and gotten some unknown outdoor stain on it, or done something to wind up with the mystery toddler stain. (You know the one I'm talking about...the stain that looks like couldn't possibly have come from anything in your house and yet there it is!)

I recently tried Purex with Zout, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed! This laundry detergent + enzyme remover gets out most toddler/preschooler-related stains (Yes, even the mystery kind) and comes in both Fresh Morning Burst scent and Free and Clear (both formulas are hypoallergenic, but the Free and Clear is free of dyes and fragrances).

Having used Purex with Zout, I can say that in most cases, these stains are history! (And if not, a good second run through the wash will usually get it out!) With its triple-enzyme power, Purex with Zout does a pretty good job of getting out most stains.

Click to enlarge

Take Angelica's white shorts as an example. I've often wondered why they make toddler clothes in white...and why I keep buying them. These shorts are no exception. Angelica wore these after we got home from her third birthday party. I gave her another cupcake that evening and she promptly smeared chocolate frosting all over the pants. And then they wound up in her hamper for a few days so the chocolate really got a chance to stain the pants.

I swear that's chocolate!

One time through the wash, without even adding bleach, and here's how the pants did!

Stain? What stain?

If that's not a testament to the power of Purex with Zout I don't know what is!

Want more information? Check out the Purex with Zout Fact Sheet (PDF).

Purex with Zout sells for around $7 in retailers such as Target, but two lucky readers of Angelica's Awesome Adventures will get a coupon to try it for free! Here's how to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY (this must be done before any other entries):
What do you think is the hardest stain to get out of clothes?

EXTRA ENTRIES (comment once for each entry unless it says otherwise)

Become a fan of Purex on Facebook
Follow Purex on Twitter
Become a public follower of Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Google Friend Connect (check the right sidebar to do this)
Subscribe to Angelica's Awesome Adventures by Email (Subscription must be confirmed to count)
Become an Angelica's Awesome Adventures Facebook fan (Comment with first name, last initial)
Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Twitter (@angelicasmommy) (Comment with your twitter username)
Tweet the following (CAN BE DONE ONCE DAILY). Comment with a link to your tweet.

Try Purex with Zout to get the stains out! TWO WINNERS @angelicasmommy http://bit.ly/kqsMgJ Ends 7/3 #giveaway

TWO BONUS ENTRIES: Add my button to your blog and send me a link to where it can be found.
THREE BONUS ENTRIES: Blog about this contest with a link back to this giveaway and send me a link to your blog entry.

Please leave your email address in your comment or make sure it is visible in your profile! Contest ends on JULY 3, 2011 AT 9 PM EST. Open to US Residents only and the prize cannot be mailed to a P.O. Box. Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted via email. Winner must respond within 48 hours of the email being sent or another winner will be selected. (Please make sure you check your spam and junk folders frequently to make sure you don't miss out!) Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way. Purex provided me with a review package through the Purex Insiders program for the purposes of this review. Thanks to Purex for providing the review package and giveaway prize! All content in this review is my opinion.

Quality, Earth-Friendly Products at EcostoreUSA.com {Review}

In our house, we're big fans of eco-friendly products. I, for one, consider it one of my purposes in life to leave the Earth a better place than it was when I got here, so if a product can reduce my carbon footprint, it gets two thumbs up in my book. Products that are also wallet-friendly get bonus points.

And that's where EcostoreUSA.com comes into play! They offer high-quality, affordable, eco-friendly household products for many different purposes. They also work with Healthy Child, Healthy World, a non-profit organization which seeks to help parents protect their children from harmful chemicals. I love this! The last thing I want to do is subject Angelica to any of the harsh sulfates and other petrochemicals in other household products.

I was fortunate enough to be able to review their Pure Oxygen Whitener and Coconut and Vanilla Body Wash.

Pure Oxygen Whitener

The Pure Oxygen Whitener is a color-safe clothes whitener/brightener made from plant-based ingredients...and is probably my new favorite laundry product. It's super concentrated, so two tablespoons will do a whole load of laundry. It has the Healthy Child, Healthy World seal, so you can feel good about using it on your baby's laundry. My baby is now a pre-schooler and I think she gets dirtier now than she ever did as a baby, and having used this product on her laundry a few times, I can testify that it works.

The big test was Angelica's car seat, though. We've been doing a lot of trips to the park, picnics, and other outdoor activities. As three year olds do, Angelica got filthy and brought the filth into her car seat...along with some juice box and cracker spills...so in just a few weeks it went from clean to looking like this...

Can you say...eww?

I took apart the car seat and ran it through the wash with the Pure Oxygen Whitener. I also mixed some of it into some warm water to wipe down the straps. This was how the car seat looked when it was done.

Hey, it's practically like new again!

Usually I dread having to clean her car seat because I have to wash it a couple of times to get all of the stains out...this took one wash and just a few minutes of wiping down the straps and our two year old car seat practically looks like it's fresh out of the box. It works, it's eco-friendly, and at $12.00 for 35.3 ounces, it's affordable, too!

Coconut and Vanilla Body Wash

I will pause for a moment here and say that I do not have any photos of this product in use, so you'll just have to trust me when I say I've used it. I'm really not keen on taking pictures of myself or Angelica in the bath and posting them all over the Internet. :)

That said, I love this body wash! It also has the Healthy Child, Healthy World sticker, so I feel good about using it on Angelica as well as using it myself. We both have sensitive skin and I've been able to use it without any problems.

One thing that concerns a lot of people with sensitive skin is fragrances in products, which can be irritating. The fragrance is from certified organic essential oil, so it's non-irritating (in my experience, anyway), and smells wonderful. It's a very delicate scent, but the smell is reminiscent of coconut sunscreen.

Like EcoStoreUSA's other products, the Coconut and Vanilla Body Wash is also free of sulfates, artificial dyes and other preservatives, so it's Earth-friendly and skin friendly. And, at $8.00 for 13.7 ounces, it's also budget-friendly!

Like what you've read? Check out EcoStoreUSA's full line of eco-friendly baby care, bath & body, household cleaning, and pet care products.

You can also find EcoStoreUSA on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way but was provided with products free of charge for the purpose of this review. Receipt of these products at no-charge has no bearing on the content of this post, which is my opinion only. Make sure to read the Disclosure Policy page for full details. A big thanks to EcoStoreUSA for providing the review package!