I Smell Pretty

Mother's day is right around the corner. My husband asked me what I wanted. Usually I say "don't get me anything." But this year I realized I would like one thing...a new scent. I am a scent junkie. I love all different scents, but lately I find, the more natural the scent, the better. After having my daughter, I could not stomach the synthetic fragrances that seem to be in great abundance in so many products.

Honoré des Prés has an entire line of all-natural fragrances. They have no petrochemicals, synthetic fragrances or perfumes and they are free of coloring agents and phthalates and any animal bi-products. They are all certified organic by Ecocert. They are 100% natural and wonderful. Created by master perfumer Olivia Giacobetti, there is an Honoré des Prés Natural Fragrances scent for everyone. I have been delighted with the five scents I have tried. Chaman's Party is a deep, woodsy fragrance that reminds me of church incense. Vamp A NY a bold tuberose with rum that is perfect for a night out. Nu Green reminds me of the garden at the height of summer when my mint mixes with the fertile earth. Love Coconut is a wonderful mix of vanilla and coconut without being too sweet. I could wear this one everyday. My personal favorite is the Love Les Carottes which is an unusual blend of carrot seed, vanilla and iris butter. I cannot imagine a more perfect and complete spring scent.
The scents from Honoré des Prés Natural Fragrances will grab you and keep you enchanted.
I adore the glass jar packaging of the edt's and the fabulous paper cup for the edp is witty and charming. which makes each scent feel like a special gift just for you. Go ahead, treat yourself to something naturally beautiful.

Hyland's Giveaway

When I first gave birth I was astounded at the numerous reports of the negative effects of children's medications. I vowed then and there to use homeopathic remedies whenever possible. Hyland's Homeopathy was founded by George Hyland in 1903. Hyland's has a large selection of homeopathic remedies. My "medicine" cabinet is chock-full of their products and with good reason.

The active ingredients in Hyland’s homeopathic medicines work by stimulating the most effective healing force known - the body's own natural defenses - and are therefore not heavy or overpowering. The medicines are virtually free of side effects and can be taken by nearly anyone at any time, from infants to the elderly, including anyone taking prescription medications.

We have used Calm's Forte to help our little one get a good night's sleep.
We could not have lived without Hyland's Teething Gel and Colic Tablets. We even used their diaper ointment and it worked naturally to get rid of painful rashes.
The entire family takes the Vitamin C before and after traveling to build our immune systems.

Now Hyland's has come up with a natural way to soothe coughs for babies. The new Cough Syrup tastes super sweet and yummy and is the only thing my toddler will take to soothe her tickling cough. It is all-natural and helps babies get their much-needed rest rather than being up all night coughing.

You can win your own bottle of Hyland's Baby Cough Syrup. Here's How:

Giveaway Rules:
This contest is only open to US readers. You must be 18 years or older to enter. You must be a Product Mommy follower. All entries must be received by 11:59pm on April 26, 2012. Please include your email address in each entry. Winners will be chosen at random. I will notify the winners on April 27, 2012 via email (please respond within 48 hours) and your Hyland's Baby Cough Syrip will be sent to you directly from Hyland's Homeopathic Remedies.

How to Enter: You must be a Product Mommy follower.


Extra Entries:
You must do the "How to Enter" first and be sure you leave a "comment" for each extra entry and tell me which one you did. Don't forget your email address too.
1.Become a fan of Hyland's on Facebook
2.Become a fan of Hyland's on Twitter
3.Become a fan of Product Mommy on Facebook
4.Become a fan of Product Mommy on Twitter
5.Subscribe to Product Mommy by email (top left of blog page)
6, Twitter about this contest (and leave a link to the Tweet)
7. Post this giveaway on Facebook (and leave a link)

A Toy Garden Stockmar Giveaway!

One of my favorite sites to shop on is A Toy Garden. The products are all so diverse yet with the same theme of simple, creative play. I did my first review of A Toy Garden when I began this blog.
In the winter there is nothing we love more than creating in our home. When the weather keeps us in, we still have fun. The Multicolored Beeswax Candle Making Kit is a great way to keep little hands busy while creating beautiful candles for home and hearth. I adore the scent of beeswax, and these candles are easy for little hands to make. My daughter was very into the fact that she could do this all on her own (I helped cut the wick). She was so into the beeswax, that I also pulled out the Stockmar Modelling Beeswax. It is easy to warm in hands and very pliable. It never dries out! The smell is so comforting and it is very therapeutic to play with. My daughter and I discussed Fall and what it means. To her, Fall means apples. She decided to make her own little wax apple with tiny green leaf. She then used more green to make an owl.
Want to win your own Stockmar Modelling Beeswax 12 piece set? Here's How:

Giveaway Rules:
This contest is only open to US readers. You must be 18 years or older to enter. You must be a Product Mommy follower. All entries must be received by 11:59pm on December 7, 2011. Please include your email address in each entry. Winners will be chosen at random. I will notify the winners on December 8, 2011 via email (please respond within 48 hours) and your Stockmar Modelling Beeswax set of 12 will be mailed directly to you.

How to Enter: You must be a Product Mommy follower. Leave comment after the post with your email.


Extra Entries:
You must do the "How to Enter" first and be sure you leave a "comment" for each extra entry and tell me which one you did. Don't forget your email address too.
1.Become a fan of A Toy Garden on Facebook
2.Become a fan of Product Mommy on Facebook
3.Become a fan of Product Mommy on Twitter
4.Subscribe to Product Mommy by email (top left of blog page)
5, Twitter about this contest (and leave a link to the Tweet)
6. Post this giveaway on Facebook (and leave a link)

Mohawk Valley Trading Company Raw Honey Giveaway

Honey is one of the greatest treasures that nature has to offer. In our home honey it is a religion. We use this liquid gold in our drinks, cooking and even to help with pesky coughs. For eons, honey has been used for coughs, it is a safe alternative to over the counter cough syrup especially for children and recent studies have even shown that consuming raw honey on a daily basis actually helps with allergies. Finding the right honey is the most important bit. Taste is everything.

The Mohawk Valley Trading Company offers the highest quality organic and unprocessed natural products they can produce. Their raw honey and maple syrup are pure natural and delicious.

Their raw honey is unpasteurized, unfiltered, unprocessed, unheated, unblended and is available in 5 varieties:

Wildflower Honey
Orange Blossom Honey
Apple Blossom Honey
Buckwheat Honey
Blueberry Blossom Honey

Raw honey contains all of the pollen, live enzymes, propolis, vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants, minerals, and aromatics in the same condition as they were in the hive. Our favorite is the Raw Apple Blossom Honey. It has a distinct apple-like flavor. Even better, Mohawk Valley Trading Co. lists the flowers the bees have gathered the nectar from to make the honey they sell. That means no artificial flavorings, and real pure taste. Our other faves are the Adirondack Wildflower Summer Honey and the Adirondack Wildflower Autumn Honey. The Autumn honey is fabulous on toast and the Summer honey works great in a lot of recipe favorites.

Mohawk Valley Trading Company is sponsoring a give away of one, 1# jar of their (estimated value $16.00 SHI included). Here is how to enter:

Giveaway Rules:
This contest is only open to US readers. You must be 18 years or older to enter. No P.O. Boxes. You must be a Product Mommy follower. All entries must be received by 11:59pm on November 29, 2011. Please include your email address in each entry. Winners will be chosen at random. I will notify the winners on November 30, 2011 via email (please respond within 48 hours) and your jar of Adirondack Wildflower Autumn Honey will be mailed directly to you.

How to Enter: You must be a Product Mommy follower.Visit Mohawk Valley Trading Company website. Leave a comment & link eg. (http://tenonanatche.com/raw-buckwheat-honey.htm) to the honey you'd love to try along with your email!

Extra Entries:
You must do the "How to Enter" first and be sure you leave a "comment" for each extra entry and tell me which one you did. Don't forget your email address too.
1. Become a fan of Product Mommy on Facebook
2. Become a fan of Product Mommy on Twitter
3. Subscribe to Product Mommy by email (top left of blog page)
4. Twitter about this contest (and leave a link to the Tweet)
5. Post this giveaway on Facebook (and leave a link)

Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay

Maybe some of you heard about the snow...on Halloween weekend! It was my first taste of being caught indoors, but we actually had some really fun things to do. We recently were lucky enough to get some Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay. With scents like Lavender, Geranium, Sweet Orange, Cardamom,Lemongrass, Chamomile and Bergamot, they are really a feast for the senses. Mama K's was created by Kari Erickson-Valenzuela, aka Mama L. She created her scented Play Clay for use with her own active three-year-old, Olimpia.

Avoiding the artificial ingredients and cloying fruit and soda scents seen frequently marketed to children, she came up with a product that inspires focus and creates a calming atmosphere, all while encouraging creativity.
Mama K's Play Clay is a kid-safe clay with subtle aromatherapy oils to soothe the mind. Ingredients are basic and natural: they include certified gluten free flour, extra virgin olive oil, vegetable colorants and pure essential oils.

I love that the ingredients are 100% natural and suitable for kids with Celiac and Autism Spectrum disorders. The colors themselves are really soothing and not shocking, and the feel is just perfect. They are easy to mold into whatever shapes you want. I have never been a fan of some of the play doughs and clays available, so Mama K's is perfect for me. The scents are delightful rather than artificial. My daughter was hooked from the minute she opened the Geranium play clay and she (and my husband) played for hours. Maybe I imagining things, but it did seem to soothe and calm a cranky, indoor-bound child. I think this play clay does wonders for all of her senses!

Livin' Spoonful for Happy Snacking

I often write about trying to feed my family healthier foods. It can be a slippery slope. Now that my daughter is in school a few days a week, I am faced with snack-time. You would think this would be easy, but it always turns into a conversation the night before. My daughter is a good eater, but I also want her having something healthy. Her new obsession is crackers, crackers, crackers. She loves them with goat cheese brie (don't ask!) and with fruit spreads, and even alone. After looking at the unpronounceable ingredients on a cracker box from the market, I got to researching. I found Livin' Spoonful. Mommy and baby are happy.
Livin' Spoonful makes crackers that are gluten free and nut free. They use sprouted sunflower seeds that are naturally Gluten-Free. The sprouted sunflower seeds are packed full of vitamins and enzymes that usually get destroyed by most factory processes. This makes them very digestable. The crackers are dehydrated at very low temperatures instead of baking. Dehydrating helps to preserver the fragile enzymes and vitamins in the food.

You can even see pieces of vegetables in the crackers! Because we don’t add high heat, the ingredients don’t get chemically altered. It’s just like eating straight out of the garden!
Livin' Spoonful uses the highest quality organic ingredients available, sourced locally whenever possible. When you want exceptional flavor, you have to start with exceptionally good ingredients. Our vegetables are fresher and our carbon footprint is lower. And we’re contributing to our local economy.

They taste of these crackers really speak for themselves. With flavors like Pumpkin Pesto and even Pizza, you are sure to find a winner for your family. My daughter likes Coconut Curry the best, and I am partial to the Caraway Crisps. My husband thinks the best are the Sunny Garden Herb, he says it reminds him of being in the garden harvesting out crop rather than in an office all day. Hey whatever works right?

We have used these to replace those boxes of crackers with ingredients we cannot even pronounce. I know are bodies are thanking us.

Agape & Zoe Naturals

It was around the same time that I became a mother, that I could not longer stand the smell of synthetic fragrance. I know that making the switch to natural items and bodycare can be a tough one. It is hard to find scents and formulations you really like. I found Agape & Zoe while looking for a new signature, natural scent.

Agape & Zoe Naturals was founded when the owner/founder, Patricia Malemes, realized there were no natural perfumes or scents that pleased her and none that created and evoked the kind of emotion and feelings that her old perfumes did.

Agape & Zoe Naturals founder Patricia Malemes created a line of natural, safe, non-toxic, phthalate-free scents. You can find everything from solid scents, deodorants, candles, perfumes and colognes. My personal favorites are Faith (a blend of vanilla and tangy grapefruit) and Green (a blend of cucumber, mint and orange). My daughter is partial to Repose (a blend of lavender and vanilla). My husband even made the switch to Aftos, the men's cologne ( notes of juniper berry, lavender, the unique spicy scent of vetiver and bergamot). The scents contain organic grain alcohol and essential oils. I think they smell different on everyone who uses them (which I love!). I plan on picking up a few of the sampler sets for my friends. I think this is also the perfect way to introduce teenagers to fragrance, because everything is so light, gentle and natural.

These fragrances are as unique as their wearers, and as beautiful as nature wants you to be.

Just Combing Through

If any of you have children with long hair, curly hair, hair in general...then you know how hard it is to get a brush through those baby locks. Young children have beautiful hair but it can be a bear to comb. I try to use natural products to care for my daughter, and detangler is no exception. I found Babo Botanicals while doing research to find a pleasant-smelling, effective detangler. Babo Botanicals is the first-ever nature-based line of children's products that specifically targets different types of hair, scalp and skin needs of children. Founded by Kate Solomon, a hair care industry veteran, after having her own child. She realized children have different hair care needs, and the line has something for everyone from dry,tangled, or unruly hair, to extra-sensitive, lice prevention and cradle cap. Solomon worked with botanists at an organic farm in upstate New York to create the Babo Botanicals line. The line is named after her sons "security bunny", Babo (how cute is that?!). The formulas are all 100% plant-based. The products are all:
*sulfate and tear free
*free of artificial fragrances and colors
*free of parabens, phthalates and chemical preservatives
*Formaldehyde-free
*Silicone and alcohol free
*1,4-dioxane free
*allergy nute oils and mineral oil free
*Vegan-soy and dairy free
*Biodegradable
*color-safe (so mom's can use them too)
*Allergy, dermatologist and clinically tested
*Hypoallergenic
*All packaging is recyclable

We got to try two of the conditioning sprays and loved them! The Berry Primrose Instantly Smooth Detangler smells like fresh-picked berries. It is a blend of Certified Organic Nutri-Soothe™ rich in vitamins and anti-oxidants combined with Chamomile, Watercress, Kudzu and Calendula. It really does the trick with keeping away frizz and is perfect for getting the tangles right out. My daughter actually lets us brush her hair now. I even use it on my curly hair and to liven up dry hair and it works beautifully.

The Cucumber Aloe Vera UV Sport Conditioning Spray has plant-based conditioners that help combat UV damage and dryness, and UV Filter Wild Pansey helps resist effects of chlorine, salt and sun while organic Aloe Vera and Cucumber revitalize and replenish moisture. We use this before swim lessons and after and even to protect our tresses on the beach. I love the fresh cucumber scent of this one. This is especially helpful for mommies who want to protect colored hair.

We are huge fans of this line. The scents are kid-friendly and fun (no boring old lavender here), and the formulas are safe. Take a peek a the bottles of product in your bathroom...and make the switch to something safe, and good for your child and your family!

rms beauty...Naturally

Many cosmetics lines claim to be "all-natural" and "organic", and then you read the ingredients and shudder. rms beauty is finally the real deal! Makeup Artist, Rose-Marie Swift was experiencing health issues and her body contained large levels of toxins including Aluminum and Lead. Through questioning, she realized it was her work with cosmetics that was causing this. She decided to do something about this, and in 2008 she launched rms Beauty, the first truly organic color cosmetics brand in the world.

My cosmetics routine changed greatly when I became pregnant and then a mother. I started to pay more attention to what was touching my skin, and that went into overdrive when my toddler started getting into everything. rms beauty is natural, not only with the ingredients used, but in the way they wear. I cannot stand heavy makeup, so this line is perfect for me. The products that I have been lucky enough to try, are all winners.

The "un-cover" up is a melts right into your skin covering flaws, without looking heavy. It actually heals your skin. I have very dry patches under my eyes in winter, and this not only got rid of them, but covered my "less than eight hours sleep" dark circles. I even use it to cover blemishes.

The lip2cheek is perfect for that natural glow. It comes in an array of colors. I found the pigment to be just enough to give me a glow, and it seemed to work with my skin rather than sitting on top of it. One quick dab on my cheeks really lasts all day.

The cream eye shadows are also 100% natural and come in six different shades. They are moisturizing and a little goes a long way. They are perfect for dry eyelids and instead of accentuating wrinkles like most shadows, they hide them, giving you a youthful glow. No crazy glitter in these, just a nice subtle, youthful, glossy look.

My favorite product is the living luminizer. It looks amazing because it is not sticky, greasy or glittery. I use it on my brow bones, and on top of my cheeks (works wonderfully with the lip2cheek). It gives me that glow that makes it look like I am well-rested.

rms beauty does not use any genetically modified ingredients. This is a line that has done the research and knows what is not only good for your skin, but good for your health. Looking your best should never be at the cost to your health.