Archive for ‘Product Reviews’
Scout by Bungalow Stylish Storage – Hang-10 Bin
Scout by Bungalow is an online store specializing in stylish storage solutions. I reviewed a Scout Hang-10 Bin and I wish we had about a dozen more. They look great on a bookshelf or as a stand-alone toy (or other storage) box. Scout storage boxes are strong, but lightweight enough that my toddler can haul them around himself. Our bin is soft enough for him to climb on and dump out without risk of injury. (Sitting inside it and then tipping over entirely is another story, but I digress.)
Some other fun uses for a Scout bin could include:
- Flower planting – The liner seems like it could be waterproof enough, or use it to hold potted plants on your patio.
- Garden or BBQ supplies – Outdoor storage.
- Magazine or yearbook holder – Prop it up on its side for a fun way to display your periodicals. (I bet you could even mount it on the wall for a cool floating bookshelf in your bed or bathroom.)
- Imaginative play box for kids – See our take on a play stove below.
- Craft caddy – I have a feeling our box will become kids craft supplies storage soon.
The Scout storage box I received looks similar to a kids storage box we have from IKEA, but the quality and durability is far superior. It’s also a lot cuter, with very vibrant colors. The box feels sturdy and holds quite a bit – Right now it is in our living room, housing a load of Duplos. I feel strongly that your home should be equally welcoming to everyone who lives there, meaning that Sebastian’s things are in every room of the house. An attractive box makes it more about the design – You don’t immediately notice that pretty box is full of blocks!
Here we used the Scout bin for a makeshift play stove. You can see how sturdy it is!
One Hang-10 bin costs $23, with their other size boxes at higher price points. Honestly, that seemed a little steep to me at first, but the quality is there. If you can afford it, these are definitely worth the price, and when you think that you could get three for less than $100, it doesn’t seem so expensive. (And like I said, they are much better than the cheaper ones I’ve seen elsewhere.)
The design I reviewed seems to be discontinued but I especially love this leopard-print bin from the Scout website. Some of their prints are cute enough to design a whole room around.
Want to buy your own Scout products? Use code freeship for free shipping on any order over $150!
I received a Scout Hang-10 Bin from Scout by Bungalow for the purpose of this review. All opinions here are my own.
Honestly Loving The Honest Co.
Awhile back, a friend tipped me off to Jessica Alba’s latest project, The Honest Company. Jessica Alba is best known for her movie roles (and her banging hot body, see: Sin City) but is now a celeb mama on a mission. While researching baby products for her two daughters, Alba quickly realized that there are little to no standards in place to protect families from toxins present in the very products marketed to moms of babies and young children. I’ve said it here many times and will continue to hammer it in: Some of the most trusted brands (Nestle, Johnson & Johnson) also have the most deplorable marketing and consistently poisonous products. Thankfully, Jessica Alba is using her fame and fortune to help families move in the right direction. Her line of baby and home care products are just ‘crunchy’ enough to be truly safe yet palatable to someone used to more mainstream products.
The Honest Company is now beginning to offer individual Honest products for sale, but it is primarily a subscription service. Sign up for one of their bundles – the Diapers or Family Essentials bundle – and every month you’ll receive a selection of awesome non-toxic items. The Family Essentials monthly price is fairly affordable (around $40 I believe), although the cost for Diapers is a little up there – But I may just be sticker-shocked because we cloth diaper. The coolest part is that you can do a free trial for just $4.95. It works like magazine sign-ups and other monthly services – You must remember to cancel on time, but really, how difficult is that. I did just the trial and it was easy peasy. That $5 is the shipping cost, nothing extra, and you get a good amount of stuff to try out.
The Honest Company have more products than I received to review, but here are the ones I tried:
laundry detergent – This laundry detergent is Free & Clear (meaning free of all dyes and perfumes) so it is probably cloth diaper safe but not confirmed. I used my sample on a load of regular clothes with no discernible difference from the All Free & Clear (or whatever brand was on sale that week) that we were using. The Honest brand is probably more environmentally-friendly than Tide, etc., so I’d recommend Honest if money isn’t an object. It’s always important to vote with your dollar, spending your money at companies whose values you support.
hand soap – The scent of Honest Hand Soap reminds me of Mrs. Meyers (a brand with amazingly fragrant natural products), and I love anything that smells like lemongrass. It’s also really gentle, so I would call this an above average hand soap. Our little bottle is almost empty, sitting on our sink, and it makes me happy every time I use it. – Ya gotta love anything that gives you that kind of boost throughout the day, especially after doing dishes!
face & body lotion – The Honest Company Lotion reminds me of Skin MD Natural, which I like a lot. I’m a fan of any lotion that works well on both face and body, and it’s really gentle. And non-toxic!
shampoo & body wash – We’ve tried a lot of baby body washes, and this one is about average although I especially love the vanilla scent. For the record, our fave baby wash is this one, although we are currently loving BabyGanics
healing balm – This is my favorite product of the bunch, and probably the only one that really stands out from other similar products I’ve tried. I love this stuff. The Honest Co. Healing Balm is USDA organic. Not sure if it’s cloth diaper safe but I’m sure it would treat rashes for babies in disposables. Sebastian has never had a diaper rash but I did use the Healing Balm on some scrapes on his chest as well as a dry patch on his legs that was bugging him. It is also the best thing I’ve found to treat a particularly dry & flaky area on my face, and it doubles as GREAT lip balm. I wear it to bed, or underneath my lipstick for a really smooth finish and muted color. Also good for elbows, cuticles, pretty much anything.
We cloth diaper, but did give The Honest Company disposable diapers a try. We received the ‘boy’ bundle (I’m not a fan of having to select gender versus individual designs, but whatev), which included several diapers in fun styles. There were some anchors, skulls, and the plaid design above. Honest diapers are on par with Seventh Generation in that they have less chemicals and are better than Huggies or Pampers… but they’re still disposables. I always feel a little bit dirty when I use them, but I did fall for these a bit. Sebastian doesn’t pee overnight but they did contain a big morning pee when Mama was too lazy to get out of bed right when he woke up.
I have trouble endorsing disposable diapers – It’s scary how much these held – but if you are going to go that route (or use them for a trip or daycare or whatever) Honest is a good brand to go with. The wipes are good as well. You know, they’re baby wipes. I generally use them for makeup removal and stick to cloth wipes for butts.
Overall, I found The Honest Co. products to be pretty great. The Healing Balm is the only one that really stands out, but all of these are a huge step up from the usual crap on drugstore shelves. I do wish that these would move into stores where they could get more visibility – As of right now, moms who don’t spend much time online probably won’t even hear about the brand. And I feel like moms who research products online are more likely to already be making healthier choices. But, baby steps.
I am not affiliated with them in any way, but Cool Mom Picks is currently running an awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway featuring a $200 gift card to The Honest Co. You can enter their giveaway here – It ends on Sunday.
This Nursing Bra is Sublime – Plus win one for yourself!
Bravado is probably my favorite breastfeeding company. I love that they sell only nursingwear – There is a place for pumps and compatible bottles, but I dig that Bravado focuses on fostering a skin-to-skin breastfeeding relationship above all. Their site includes a good amount of helpful breastfeeding info, and I love that they have a specific section dealing with the first six weeks of breastfeeding, which I found to be hands-down the most difficult period as a new mom.
I recently reviewed the Bravado Sublime Nursing Bra. The Sublime is a sexier bra, with elegant satin and gorgeous lace detailing, but still offers easy, full nursing access. Equally beautiful and functional, the Sublime Nursing Bra would make a fabulous Mother’s Day gift.
The Sublime isn’t as quite supportive as the Body Silk Seamless nursing bra I reviewed before, but it isn’t designed to be. I would choose to wear the Sublime underneath a slinky tank top or blouse, whereas the Silk Seamless would be better under a t-shirt. I’d recommend the Sublime for a mama who has established breastfeeding, doesn’t leak much and is ready to feel sexy again. It would also be a great maternity bra. Honest to blog, I love Bravado bras enough to wear even when not pregnant or nursing. So comfortable!
Sizing for Bravado nursing bras is really easy and customer service will assist you if needed – I’ve reviewed two Bravado nursing bras now and they both fit perfectly. For a new or busy mom especially, being able to simply place an order online confidently is a big deal.
(I reviewed the matching Sublime bikini panties as well, and for those I would recommend sizing down! I am definitely not lacking in the butt department, so given as the options are S/M or L/XL, I assumed the largest size was a no-brainer. Unfortunately I was wrong and they are too big for me. If you’re on the fence for Bravado undies, definitely go smaller.)
Bravado offers a variety of perfect bras for breastfeeding, nursing tanks in a variety of fun colors, and reusable breast pads.
Bravado 20th Anniversary Giveaway
This year, Bravado is celebrating their 20th anniversary of helping moms with breastfeeding tips and superior nursingwear! To celebrate, they are giving away two nursing bras (of your choice!) and a tank – Choose from three super easy entry options and enter here.
Win a Sublime Nursing Bra from Alternative Housewife
Enter here (on this post) to win a Sublime Nursing Bra from Alternative Housewife! Leave a comment for each entry below – Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.
Entry Options:
* Mandatory entry: Either follow Bravado on Twitter or like Bravado on Facebook (You may do both for one entry each.)
* Sign up for the Bravado newsletter
* Follow Alternative Housewife via RSS feed
* Like Alternative Housewife on Facebook
* Tweet about this giveaway (Include a link to this post. You may tweet once per day.)
* Share a link to this post on Google+
* Share a link to this post on Facebook
This giveaway is hosted by Bravado and is only open to CA/US residents (Quebec/Florida excluded, sorry).
Giveaway ends Mother’s Day, May 13th, at midnight PST. Winner will be chosen randomly and contacted by me, so be sure to leave a valid email address with your comments. (Email addresses will not be published.) I have received products from Bravado for the purpose of this review but all opinions here are my own – I genuinely love this brand!
Give your mood a boost without toxins – The safest scents for home and body
“Fragrance” is a largely unregulated term, with the sweet smell of many products actually being the most toxic component. Companies aren’t legally required to disclose what goes into their fragrances, so it’s no surprise that many commercial perfumes, home sprays and air fresheners are full of unsafe chemicals. Toxins in home and body fragrances are bad news for anyone, but especially bad for expectant mothers and children. Chemical fragrances cause harm to the skin and respiratory system, and can have a lifelong affect on the various systems of little bodies. Scents are specifically designed to linger, so it’s especially important that we choose safe fragrances for use around our families. Fortunately, there are healthy alternatives that will let you enjoy mood-lifting aromatherapy without the dangerous side effects.
Fragrance for body
A Perfume Organic are hand-poured perfumes out of Manhattan. The scents themselves are certified USDA organic, and the packaging is not only recyclable, but is embedded with flower seeds for you to plant and enjoy. A Perfume Organic products are also fair trade, vegan and cruelty-free. The brand offers five scents to choose from, or select the sampler pack to mix and match your own signature scent. Prices are comparable to department store fragrances but much better for your family and the environment. — If you act within the next 24 hours or so, you can pick up these fragrances at a great discount through my affiliate LovingEco.
Harvey Prince is my favorite fragrance brand right now. I was lucky enough to review their line of non-toxic scents and I am a legit fan. My favorite scents are Ageless, Eau De Lite, and Coupling, which are rich enough to wear alone and also smell amazing layered. You can read my Harvey Prince review here.
Essential oils are another healthy way to wear fragrance. Pure oils should always be diluted in neutral carrier oil such as coconut oil or organic body oil, and can be applied to pressure points (I like wrists, neck, and on my hip bones) for a highly therapeutic fragrance. Grapefruit and other citrus oils can offer an uplifting effect while scents like lavender are known for their calming properties.
Scents for the home
Those home air “fresheners” you see advertised on television? Toxic toxic toxic! I refuse to review brands like Glade on this blog for a reason – Because they’re disgusting! There are healthier brands you can try – Method
Adding plants to your home will improve air quality and flowers will give your home a natural, fresh scent. Avoid naturally toxic plants (duh) and keep even safe botanicals out of reach of small children – It only takes a few minutes of boredom before they’ve ripped off every leaf and petal in classic “loves me, loves me not” fashion.
Create your own home spray. This Freshen Up spray from The Well Daily uses white vinegar and essential oils. If you’d rather shop than DIY, scroll down on their page for some healthy aromatherapy options you can buy, including these aromatherapy diffusers
- – The Well Daily is a website and daily email I discovered recently. Browse the site or sign up to have a fun wellness tip delivered to your inbox each day. I highly recommend it!
Brew fragrance on your stove top. Boil orange peels in a large pot along with a handful of cinnamon and cloves for an aroma that will fill your entire home.
Burn non-toxic candles. I am obsessed with candles, but they are not necessarily a safe fragrance option. When shopping candles, high-end versions are typically safer – Definitely avoid the dollar store for candles, although you can find some cute glass candle holders for cheap! Candles that produce soot around the rim are actually releasing that carcinogenic soot into the air.
If you are a candle lover like me, don’t fret – Inform yourself with this great post on avoiding toxins in candles and go on enjoying your scented candles guilt-free! Your best option is 100% soy or beeswax candles, which are safe and clean-burning. I personally love-love-love Bluecorn Naturals soy candles.
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