Living Green With Jerinda: Good Earth Beauty Natural Organic Shampoo and Insect Repellent

Thank you to Good Earth Beauty for providing complimentary all-natural shampoo and insect repellent product samples for us to base this review upon. All opinions expressed are my own.

Good Earth Beauty is a company that specializes in selling products that are safe: natural, organic, and never tested on animals. Their commitment to safety is obvious when you see their products. They carry products from many well-known brands like California Baby and some lesser-known ones too and they even have their own brand. Good Earth Beauty was kind enough to send me two of the items from their store to try out.

The Shampoo Wheatberry Cream Restorative is a Good Earth Beauty Exclusive product that carries their brand name. This shampoo helps to restore and moisturize hair using natural ingredients such as aloe vera and olive oil with a “scent that is reminiscent of morning dew and a fresh meadow.” This shampoo does leave my hair very soft and supple and I have noticed a definite increase in shine and body, that is for sure. Also, it only takes a little of the shampoo to get a nice, rich lather which is another plus. I’ll be honest and say I do not care for the scent. I think it smells too “grassy” and it just doesn’t suit me. That is a personal preference though and doesn’t deduct from the fact that this shampoo does, in fact, restore and moisturize hair. If you like more earthy scents, you probably would like it. I double checked all the ingredients as well, which are fully listed on their website, and all are completely safe. This is a great shampoo that I would buy in another one of their scents for sure.

The other product I received was Bug Mist Natural Insect Repellent made by Medicine Flower. This bug spray contains many essential oils such as lemongrass and cedar and is very effective! We’ve used it several times now and didn’t see any biting bugs on any of us. The ingredients are safe as well and can be used on children without worry. It smells great, is free of pesticides, and it really works well without all the added chemicals. We are very happy with this bug repellent and will definitely keep it in mind for when we need to purchase more.

You can see these all-natural products and all that Good Earth Beauty carries on their website, www.goodearthbeauty.com. The Shampoo Wheatberry Cream Restorative comes in an 8 oz. bottle for $15 and the Bug Mist Natural Insect Repellent comes in a 4 oz. spray bottle for $11.89.

Living Green With Jerinda: An Organic Sun Spray for Protecting Hair & an Effective All-Natural Bug Repellent

Thank you to Fairy Tales Hair Care for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon. All opinions expressed are my own.

My family spends a lot of time outdoors, so any products that help to protect us when outside is useful to us. When Fairy Tales Hair Care offered us some products to try out, I was excited to see how they worked. Fairy Tales is a company committed to good quality products for affordable prices that are free of harsh chemicals, toxins, paraben, pesticides, and sulfates.

CoCo Cabana Spray can be used before any outdoor activities for protecting hair from being damaged by the hot sun. It also includes vitamins and minerals to restore softness and shine to water or sun damaged hair. This bottle is convenient to take to the beach or pool and works every bit as well as they say. The extracts and vitamins in this spray really leave our hair feeling soft and not at all damaged from a day of swimming. This is truly a “must” in our swim bag and we use it every time we swim to keep our hair healthy.

Bug Bandit is a natural, yet super-effective, bug repellent that uses lemon eucalyptus, soybean, citronella, peppermint, and rosemary oil along with cedar bark to repel mosquitoes, flies, fleas, gnats, and other biting insects. When we used this spray, we didn’t have any trouble with bugs around us. The spray is not greasy or chemical-smelling, so I was happy to use this on myself and my kids and was very pleased with its effectiveness.

Both of these and all the other Fairy Tales brand products can be purchased on their website, www.fairytaleshaircare.com. The CoCo Cabana Spray comes in an 8 oz. size and retails for $9.95 and the Bug Bandit in an 8 oz. size retails for $13.95.

Giveaway & Review: EcoSMART Organic Insect Repellent [CLOSED]

I received a bottle of EcoSMART Organic Insect Repellent to test out months ago. I have been waiting all this time for the mosquitoes to come out to play where I live. This finally happened about mid-June.

This insect repellent is produced by EcoSMART, a retailer of various types of organic pesticides. Made mostly from organic plant oils, this formula is said to keep bugs away for hours, including mosquitoes, ticks, and gnats. We do not normally spend time outside during evening hours in the summertime, but we did attend a cookout on Father's Day this year. This was the perfect time for me and a few other volunteers to try out this EcoSMART insect repellent.

To apply, we just needed to shake the bottle well and then spray it on our skin and clothing in a sweeping motion. When there was a breeze, the mist had a tough time making it onto its target, but otherwise it was easy to apply. The scent from the natural oils was strong. I do not recommend applying the spray somewhere that is not ventilated. On that note, I did receive some comments that the scent was very pleasant. Even though I applied the spray away from the group, everyone in the yard could smell it.

I am not the average target when it comes to mosquitoes. They are especially attracted to me. Before it even got dark, they started to come out of hiding. Even though I had applied the EcoSMART to my skin, I still had mosquitoes landing on me. I did not get bitten, however. I am thankful for that, but I would have preferred that they did not land on me at all. None of the other people who tried this insect repellent complained about insects landing on them, so perhaps the results are different for everyone.

If you would like to try this or other EcoSMART products, you can find them at the EcoSMART Shop online and at other retailers, such as Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, and your local supermarket.

Thank you to EcoSMART for sending us a sample bottle free of charge to base this review upon and for providing a second bottle for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a 6oz bottle of EcoSMART Insect Repellent.

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to Continental U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the selection of EcoSMART products. Then leave a comment telling me what product(s), aside from the one reviewed in this article, you would be interested in trying. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, blog about this contest linking back to this post AND EcoSMART.com . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry, "like" EcoSMART on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)

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10)

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!