It’s no secret that I have fallen in favor of the StudioPress Genesis Theme Framework and child themes over the past year and have been working nearly exclusively with the themes. Eco-Office Gals has been redesigned on the Enterprise Child Theme and I am finally happy – third time IS the charm!

StudioPress has been rolling out several new child themes lately, including the Social Eyes Child Theme.

One of the great benefits of Social Media is the ability to meet people where they are. On Facebook? Over at Twitter? No problem.

Social Eyes is an elegant and easy way to assemble a stunning home for all of your Social Media work, and to expand it with your own unique take on what’s going on.

What could be a better fit for a giveaway on Eco-Office Gals then a perfect merge of paperless outlets to promote your small business – WordPress, StudioPress & Social Media! That’s right! Brian Gardner – Founder of StudioPress – is donating a copy of Social Eyes (or child theme of choice) to one lucky Eco-Office Gals Facebook Fan and upon request, Eco-Office Gals will install it on WordPress for you! If you have been looking to upgrade to a great premium theme, here is your chance!

Eco-Office Gals wants to reach 1,000 FB fans. A tall order? Maybe – but we are talking about winning the best premium theme of 2010 valued at $79.95 plus install.  So, the requirement to win – you MUST be a fan! Go to our the Eco-Office Gals Fan page and “like” us. Then comment here that you did.

Already a Fan? Then you’re one step ahead of the game, just comment here that you are a fan, who you are on FB and you want to win the theme.

Extra entries – Like or share this post on Facebook, recommend the EOG fan page to your friends on FB. Heck, send your twitter followers to our FanPage. No one wins until we hit 1,000 fans – so the more ways you send people to “Like” us the quicker your chance of getting your hands on this theme!

Leave a comment below for everything and anything you do since the winner will be picked from the comments, upon confirmation that you are a FaceBook Fan.

* A few obvious details for the winner, you must have a domain purchased and a self-hosted WordPress.org platform installed. Theme is for personal use only and may not be resold. Theme is installed out of the box free of charge – customization is not included. If you don’t have any of the above upon winning, Eco-Office Gals can assist with the details, but it is not included in the winnings. Good Luck!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Giveaway: Like Eco-Office Gals Win Studiopress!

This holiday season I discovered Kiss Naturals. I really love their kits and if you have little ones like me I know you will, too! Kiss Naturals makes DIY kits which come with everything needed to make your own natural lip gloss, perfume, soap and bath fizzies. A bit about Kiss Naturals:

At Kiss Naturals, we believe that Nature got it right the first time. We don’t add fillers, additives, dyes or synthetics to any of our products. We simply use Nature’s ingredients in their purest form.

I reviewed the lip balm kit. My girls LOVE “chop stick” as they call it. However, I have heard horror stories about the crud that can be found in the stuff you buy from the store and half the time I can’t stand the synthetic scents. The kit includes:

A fun all-natural do it yourself kit that makes 10 amazing lip balms! This treat for your lips contains 2 bottles of pure essential oils, Shea butter, Safflower oil and Beeswax in pre measured bottles. You simply melt the beeswax, safflower oil and shea butter (on stovetop or in the microwave) then once they melt get creative and start adding the essential oils of your choice! A great treat to make at birthday parties or to share with friends and family!

Lip balms are ready to use in 30 minutes!

Our kit came with orange and peppermint oils. I’m a sucker for peppermint so I was as excited as the girls to get these made! This was really easy to put together. I have to recommend you may want to use some disposable bowls for this. I’m sure you can clean everything up, but it is a bit of a greasy mess. The beeswax took a tad longer to melt then directed in my microwave, but I’m sure that will vary. Finally, don’t take your time with the final pour, the balm starts to harden up quick, as soon as you add the flavor you need to have the containers ready.  The end result was 10 little containers of lip balm that we love to use. The girls gave a few away to friends and grandma and we kept the rest. I want to try a few more of these kits for sure!

Kiss Naturals is letting one of my readers win a kit of their choice to try as well! With the count down to Christmas coming up, I won’t promise Marie will have these out in time – although, mine arrived in about a day. If it doesn’t get there in time for Christmas, no worries this will still make for a fun project during the holiday break.

Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit Kiss Naturals and comment here on which kit you would love to buy if you won.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @kissnaturals on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from Kiss Naturals and comment 5 times that you did! Don’t forget to use the coupon code! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 12/22/10 at 8am EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry for each one of the above that you do and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US & Canada residents only. Thanks!

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

And the winner is..

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gift Giving: Kiss Naturals

One area of our home that is not green is our kitchen cabinets. I confess, our plates, cups and travel mugs… they are littered with plastic. With 3 kids in the home and a husband that walks out the door with cups full of coffee or soda, never to return (the cups, he normally comes back), plastic is a cheap convenience. In our defense, we are paperless in the kitchen, no disposables, no coffee filters, no paper products and we recycle, and compost. Am I forgiven?

When I came across The Green Glass Company, I was intrigued. What better way to step beyond simple recycling efforts then turning wine, beer and soda bottles into tableware?

With origins dating back to 1992 in South Africa, The Green Glass Company has seen many incarnations and has grown into the largest producer of reclaimed glassware in the world.The Green Glass Company strives to satisfy not only its recycling heritage but also its eclectic and diverse clientele. With its patent on the unique wine bottle to goblet conversion process, The Green Glass Company team and its state-of-the-art equipment are at the forefront of the reclaimed glassware market.

Revered throughout Europe and other parts of the world as collectible art glass, The Green Glass Company goblets have even been chosen for the table of King Carlos of Spain, a former Mayor of New York City, movie sets, and, celebrity dinners. In addition to their popularity with consumers and collectors, The Green Glass Company products are quickly becoming a valuable marketing tool in the corporate world. Sandblasted with a company name or logo, the glasses not only provide enduring brand exposure, they also provide insight into a company’s awareness and commitment to preserving our resources.

From Kings and Mayors to the Smith household, we have had the pleasure of sampling a set of these glasses in our home for a few weeks now.  As much as I loved the goblets, I went practical with a set of tumblers, or the bottom section of the bottle.

Through a partnership with Cave B winery, these tumblers are created from reclaimed Bordeaux bottles collected from the organic restaurant, B&B and tasting room on the Cave B estate.

I was sent a set of 4 glasses, each one different from the other and they are really nice. They are thick, heavy weight glass, not the thin garbage you get in the sets from the store.They are made from wine bottles, after all. Another plus, my husband doesn’t walk out of the house with them and the little ones won’t touch them.

The Glass Company’s product line creations don’t stop at glassware. Their line includes vases, pitchers, candle holders, even coat hooks made with bottle tops! There is a wonderful variety to choose from when deciding on your Green Gift Giving this season!

How about giving (or receiving) something from The Green Glass Company this holiday season? The Green Glass Company is giving away a $40 gift code to one of my readers!  Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit The Green Glass Company Store and comment here on what you would love to buy if you won the GC.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Become a fan of The Green Glass Company or Eco-Office Gals and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from The Green Glass Company and comment 5 times that you did! Don’t forget to use the coupon code! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Friday 12/10/10 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry for each one of the above that you do and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

And the winner is….

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gift Giving: Green Glass Company

Stocking stuffers, we tend not to do them in this house. I find that there is just too much junk that goes into them, candy, junk toys from the dollar store, etc. I’d rather take the money I would spend on a bunch of junk and get one more decent gift. BUT this year I’ve discovered a cute gift that may make me think twice.

Piggy Paint™ is specially formulated from God’s natural ingredients and dries to a hard, durable finish. There are  no toxic chemicals; it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone. Click here to see how our polish compares!

Say good-bye to harsh, smelly chemicals and hello to Piggy Paint™…it’s as Natural as Mud!

My girls are girlie girls, so Piggy Paint was a huge hit. There are many cute colors to choose from, it would be hard for me to choose. Luckily, I didn’t have to, my sample was randomly selected for me. They sent us a bottle of Forever Fancy & a bottle of their Nail Polish Remover to try out on our piggy’s, yes I am sporting some on my piggy’s, too.  I tend to be very sensitive to the harsh smell of nail polish. My girls probably even think I’m a little mean because I almost NEVER paint there nails. I just can’t stand the smell, I have to really get in the mood to deal with it. Piggy Paint is almost void off all harsh scents!  It dries fairly quickly and lasts as long as other mainstream nail polish.

I originally tried the Remover on my leftover black nail polish from Halloween, it didn’t seem to touch it. So, this morning I gave it a shot on the piggy paint. It takes more scrubbing then regular remover, the bottle says to soak the nail with a saturated cotton ball for 30 seconds, I don’t have any cotton balls and the TP wasn’t cutting it.  So, I’m not currently having much luck with the remover.

I love all the holiday gift sets available! They have Mistle Toes shown to the left, what a perfect Christmas Eve gift! They also have Dreidel Dreams, Kolors of Kwanzaa as well as gift sets for other occasions and holidays as well.

Piggy Paint is offering all our readers a coupon code use OFFICE10L expiration January 31, 2011 for 10% off on anything on the Website including sale items!

How about winning some Piggy Paint to dress up your piggy’s for the Holidays? Piggy Paint is giving away a $15 gift code to one of my readers!  Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit Piggy Paint and comment here on which color or gift set you would love to buy if you won the GC.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @piggypaint on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from Piggy Paint and comment 5 times that you did! Don’t forget to use the coupon code! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Friday 12/03/10 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry for each one of the above that you do and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

Sorry for the delay, been a busy week – The winner is….

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gift Giving: Piggy Paint

The Sodastream products had struck my fancy for a few holiday seasons. Several blogs had been giving them away and unfortunately, I hadn’t won one yet. So, I was excited when the company agreed to be part of my Green Gift Giving series this season!

Sodastream’s products are a great addition to the home or office making green steps:

How Does SodaStream Help the Environment?

SodaStream is an “Active Green” product, meaning that consumers  are actively reducing their CO₂ footprint every time they make soda  or sparkling water at home instead of buying it from the store. The more the system is used on a daily basis, the more CO₂ footprint the user actively saves. (This differs from “Passive Green” products, which use green-friendly production processes, but their products are not inherently helping the consumers save on their daily footprint.)

Because SodaStream uses water straight from the tap, the system makes traditional store-bought beverage bottles obsolete. That means less plastic manufactured, less plastic waste is created, and fewer bottled beverages must be transported from manufacturers to distributors to stores to homes.

Globally, 206 billion liters of bottled water were consumed in 2008 (Zenith International Global Bottled Water Report, 2008). The energy required to make water bottles in the US only, is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil (Container Recycling Institute, 2002).
According to the US Recycling Institute, more than 80% of bottles in the US do not get recycled and end up in landfills. Also, an estimated 4.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were produced in the process of replacing the 134 billion bottles and cans not recycled in 2005.

Using your own home carbonation system means:

• Less packaging waste from cans and bottles.
• Less pollution caused by transport of bottled beverages.

One SodaStream carbonator makes 60 or 110 liters, equivalent to 170 or 310 aluminum cans! When empty, the carbonator is refilled and reused, ready to make more fizzy and tasty soda whenever you want it.

I was sent the Fountain Jet Starter Kit in black and silver to review. It came with 2 1 liter blottles, 1 carbonator, 6 flavored syrups from their regular and diet line, 2 of their Sparkling Naturals, and a 3 pack of MyWater Flavor Essence retail $99.95.

The Fountain Jet was super simple to get together, just insert the carbonator and you’re ready to go. No batteries, plugs or assembly required.  The first and only problem with the product I had: when asked which flavors I wanted to try I mentioned that I am a Diet Coke Gal, so since I was the main reviewer be sure to include that. No Diet Cola syrup was included. Since I don’t really like any other soda I had to leave taste testing to the rest of the family. So far Root Beer has been the family hit, Orange falling close behind. My Mother-in-law really liked the Sparkling Naturals Apple Mango, we sent her home with a large glass and a stainless steel bottle full.

Now, I have found myself drinking something I HATED when I was younger… Seltzer Water. I haven’t tried any of the flavor essences, yet. It’s next on the list (when there is a spare bottle not filled with Root Beer), but I have a new found craving for seltzer and to be able to make it in seconds is really cool! My son took a swig of it (probably thought it was lemon-lime) I heard him gag! That’ll teach him to drink out of the bottle! How many times do I have to say it??

The guys in the house go through soda fast, so this is great. No running out of drinks, running to the store, we’re reducing waste from store bought sodas, too. This has many pros for sure! SodaStream is available at several retail locations and you can search for a location near you on the site. I’ll need to take a trip to a location near me to buy some of the diet cola, then I can start to really enjoy the SodaStream.

This will make a great green gift for the soda lover in your life. So why not try to win one? Yep, SodaStream is giving one of my readers a Fountain Jet to keep or give as a gift this holiday season!

Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit Soda Stream or the Ms. Fizzy Blog and comment here on which flavor or drink recipe you would love to try if you won the Fountain Jet.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @sodastreamusa on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from SodaStream and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Monday, 11/22/10 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry for each one of the above that you do and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

Congrats…. um anonymous… at least you left an email

Comment:

I would love to try the Pete’s choice and the orange.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gift Giving: Soda Stream Review & Giveaway!

Due to increasing requests, Eco-Office Gals will begin offering Sponsored Posts on occasion. Eco-Office Gals believes in full transparency and following FTC guidelines. Guest Posts and Sponsored Posts will be clearly disclosed. All posts must be relevant to the focus of Eco-Office Gals mission. The following guidelines below take effect November 10, 2010 any guest posts dated prior to November 10, 2010 may not fall into these guidelines.

What is the difference between a Guest Post and a Sponsored Post?

Guest Post:

A guest post is free of charge. The post may not promote your business, it must be relevant content (green business, virtual assistant, wordpress, etc). No links relating to your site may be contained in the post content itself. Any links contained in the site must be in reference to the content, business or person you are referring to. I go by the policy if you mention Eco-Office Gals, link to Eco-Office Gals, it’s good practice. You must include an image to use with the post. I will review the content and discuss any changes to the text before posting.

Your guest post will include a byline about the author. In the byline you may include a linkback to your own website only, not a company you are writing on behalf of or keywords/phrase linked to the company you are writing for. Please see Sponsored Post guidelines for these options.

Sponsored Post:

A Sponsored Post promotes your business or product, but may not be an advertisement post. It can be in the form of a review/giveaway or simply a text post. The post must still be relevant to the site (Green biz, Virtual Assistant, Technology, etc). A sponsored post can include in-post links to your website or a website you are writing on behalf of, product or social networks and you are welcome to offer my readers a coupon code for your product or service. You may also include your own selection of keywords to add in the SEO, they must be relevant to the content. You must include an image to use with the post. I will review the content and discuss any changes to the text before posting. Full disclosure will be placed the byline to state that yours is a sponsored post, review or giveaway and that I have been compensated in payment, product or services.

The cost of a sponsored post is as follows:

Review or Giveaway Post:

No actual monies are exchanged for a review and/or giveaway post. Your product is the compensation. The combined retail value of the product you send to review and winnings for my reader must be $50.00 or more. The giveaway can be a product you send to the winner or a Gift Certificate for the winner to spend on your products. Do not send me the giveaway – only the review product – the product you send me to review will not be returned.  All opinions in the post are those of Eco-Office Gals, you may include any facts or links, but you may not influence the review of the actual product.
If you are only doing a review post then the product must have a retail value of $50.00 USD or more, if it is less I ask you to purchase an advertising spot to compensate me for my time.

Sponsored Post:

The cost of a sponsored post, written by you is $50.00, the post may include up to 3 sponsored links, an image and keywords of your choice upon request.

A few Rules

• Any monthly ad space purchased on posts will be visible on sponsored posts. It may not be removed, please do not ask.

• Text Ad links MAY NOT be purchased on sponsored posts written by someone else. Write your own, unique content or request purchase of a link on a post written by Eco-Office Gals only.

• Content MUST be unique to my site. If I find the post is duplicated in part or in full elsewhere online, the post will be unpublished immediately and no refund will be issued.

• Content must be relevant not only to the site, but also the audience. EOG’s audience is primarily US (United States) based, please provide content which will interest a US audience.

• Use proper terminology, spelling and grammar we will not spend our time repairing your post. If you write a fact supported post, site the sources your facts came from.

• Eco-Office Gals reserves the right to refuse any guest post, sponsored post, review or giveaway. All content MUST be relevant to the site content.

• The rules and fees may change at anytime. As new issues arrive, new rules may be applied. That is how things work when you’re dealing with an ever changing world wide web. Thanks for understanding!

I look forward to working with you to help promote your green business and products. Contact Eco-Office Gals at any time with any questions or to set up a sponsored or guest post.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Blog Post Sponsorship and Product Reviews

So ya’ll may remember way back when my daughter was attacked by a staph infection in her toe (graphic picture be warned). I freaked, green cleaners were put on the back burner and harsh chemicals were brought back in to kill any living organism, and probably several of our own brain cells, lung linings, the works. It scared the heck out of me for sure!

Fast forward a year and a half later – Green cleaners have worked their way back into the routine, including new addition, thanks to the Mom Goes Green Blog Tour, the Method Antibac line to keep the nasty germs out of the house as well!

The 411:

• Kill germs without using bleach and triclosan. Do it with botanical ingredients instead.
  **Due to strict EPA regulations, we cannot use the term ‘natural’ when communicating about this product. Botanical is the acceptable term. **

About Method

• Method makes planet-friendly, stylish cleaning and home care products
• Method is based in San Francisco and was founded by two high school buddies who care equally about the environment and beautiful design in the home
• Method products are available at national retailers like Target, Lowe’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and Whole Foods as well as at many local grocery and drug stores

So, What is the Method Antibac line?

• Method has partnered with CleanWell Company, makers of the thyme-based disinfecting technology, to create a patented botanical formula that kills 99.99 percent of household bacteria including E.coli, salmonella enterica, influenza A and H1N1 virus on hard, non-porous surfaces.
• Method Antibac includes three botanical cleaners:
  antibacterial kitchen cleaning spray in lemon verbena
  antibacterial bathroom cleaning spray in spearmint
  all purpose cleaning and disinfecting wipes in lemon verbena

  The bathroom spray is optimized to target soap scum and hard water stains while the kitchen cleaner is designed to cut through grease and grime. Both of these products are effective at killing 99.99 percent of household germs on hard, non-porous surfaces throughout any room in the home.

• Method Antibac sells for $3.99 each, the same as the all purpose cleaner
• Method Antibac doesn’t rely on bleach to kill germs

How does it work?

• Method Antibac uses a patented formula of thyme and essential oils to kill 99.9% of household germs.
• Method has partnered with CleanWell to integrate its thyme-based disinfecting technology into our antibacterial cleaners
• It kills germs on hard, non-porous surfaces including:
  High contact areas (door knobs, sink, faucets, toilets, garbage cans, etc.)
  Kitchens and food prep areas (eggs, meat)
• Children’s toys, high chairs, changing tables as well as in day care facilities

What do I think of them?

I’ve always loved the look of the Method products, they’re stylish and modern. More importantly, these work great! I mean they clean very well, I don’t have a microscope on hand to make sure the germs are all dead.

Like a few other germ killing naturals, I can’t say I’m in love with the smell.  The bathroom cleaner is better then the kitchen cleaner, but neither is great. It’s not a lingering smell, so if you can’t get everything sparkling clean and walk away for a bit -  you’re good to go.

I have used a few of the wipes, but due to waste, I use them sparingly. I prefer to use the sprays with a rag or Skoy so I can wash them and reuse them.

The Giveaway:

Method will give one of my readers a limited edition Method ANTIBAC Fight the Flu Kit shown in the picture.  It includes the Antibac bathroom spray and hand sanitizer to help get your family through the Flu season. To Enter the giveaway comment below about your favorite way to Naturally Clean and Sanitize your home.

For Additional Entries and leave a separate comment below for each one:

• Follow Method on Twitter
• Like Method on FaceBook
• Use the Retweet Button in this post to Tweet the Review/Giveaway
• Tweet about the #ecowed Method Twitter Party (details below) use the hashtag, please.

US Residents Only Please. One winner will be chosen via Random.org on 11/12/10 at 8pm.

Let’s Party!

Join the #ecowed Twitter party on November 17^th from 10p-11p EST, facilitated by Jennifer Taggart @thesmartmama. Method will be giving away prizes and be at the party to answer questions.

disclosure: Method and Mom Go Green Blog Tours provided product for review, free of charge,  but the opinions expressed here are my own.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Keeping it Green, Clean and Germ Free with Method. Review and Giveaway

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

Been a while since I have done a Flaunt It, for sure. Been busy busy, but there is much to introduce to you so the show must go on! Today I bring you:

Reviyve LLC ethnic cosmetics without all of the harsh chemical additives

It is our goal to provide products that are three fold in nature:

1. High quality yet without all of the harsh chemicals that many of the commercial brands contain
2. Products that actually do what they claim to do
3. Affordable products

Are there other affordable, quality natural skin care products available on the market?  Sure, but how many are manufactured by people as closely involved with the manufacturing process as I am?  How many people selling their products actually use them on a daily basis?  I give my customers quality skin care products because not only do I sell them, I consume them.

First, I will address the fact that I am not a woman of color. Actually, I’m very fair skinned. That doesn’t mean I don’t get dry skin, so I was still an eligible candidate to check out some product.

Michelle sent a wide variety of samples to check out, including; Organic Shea Butter Balm – Lemon, Avocado Cream, Cocoa Butter Cream – Exotic Almond, Hemp Lotion – Eucalyptus Citriadora, Hemp Lotion – Peach, Organic Green Tea and Face Cleanser, Moisturizing Sugar Butter Scrub – Rosemary Mint and Peppermint Goat’s Milk Lotion.

I particularly love the Avocado Cream and the Organic Shea Butter Balm – Lemon, but it was interesting to try many new ingredients like goats milk and this had been my first time trying hemp lotion. I appreciate that Michelle works hard to bring her clients natural ingredients for their specific skin types and takes the time to produce natural products for her customers. Additionally, she works hard to make skin care products that really work for ethnic skin types rather then just claiming to with no real results.

During a time when small batch cosmetics companies are  are being put to the test with the recently introduced Safe Cosmetics Act, it’s important that we are aware of companies like Reviyve LLC and we not only buy from them, but we support them!

Reviyve LLC is giving one of our readers the chance to try their Whipped Shea Cream to enter do any or all of the following:

• Visit Reviyve LLC and comment here on which product you would love to try
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @ecoofficegals or @Reviyve and comment that you did.
• ReTweet this giveaway and link to it below.
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Can’t wait to win? Buy anything from Reviyve LLC and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 8/4/10 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US and Canadian residents only. Thanks!

And the Winner is…

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday: Reviyve LLC

It’s been quite a while since I did a flaunt it, hasn’t it? I have several products to review and plenty of giveaways to do, but tending to my clients needs has come first and so Flaunt It fell behind.

Today we will pick back up with Eden Home I discovered them on Twitter quite a few months ago and admired all the beautiful and organic products on their site. I contacted them and we started chatting. A little about Eden Home (from the site):

Offering a complete selection of organic, all natural and eco-friendly products for your home and life that won’t have you compromising your sense of style.

Most people do not realize how cotton is grown, processed and finished. As many as 2000 different chemicals are used in the textile industry! Those chemicals are often left on the fabric and then transferred to you or your baby when absorbed through the skin.

Unfortunately, many of the so-called “organic” and “natural” products sold today are either not truly pure or not beautiful. So we started Eden Home to offer healthy choices ranging from organic clothes for baby to natural bath towels, from organic cookware to all natural shampoos.

The Garden of Eden was created to be lovely and beautiful, perfect and pure. At Eden Home our mission is to offer the purity of organic without losing the beauty, whether you’re looking for organic bedding, clothes for baby, natural bath towels or organic cookware and more.

Since I had not yet done a review of “green cookware” I expressed my interest in trying some. Eden Home sent the La Chamba Natural Cookware – Small Oval Casserole with Lid.

Made from black clay found in central Columbia, La Chamba cookware can be used in the oven, microwave, and on the stovetop. There are no toxins used in the production of La Chamba cookware and tableware. The makers of this unique product use no glazes and there is no lead in the clay. You can feel safe and confident using this unique and authentic traditional clay cookware. La Chamba cookware has also been featured by celebrity chefs such as Rachael Ray.  2.0 Qts.

I must say I am impressed and admittedly a little afraid of this large pot. It is heavy, beautifully made and I REALLY don’t want to break it! It’s much nicer then any of my other cookware for sure! I have made chili and spaghetti sauces in the pot on the stove, and a roast right in the oven. The temperature takes a little getting used to.  It takes a little longer for things to get boiling, I’m guessing due to the thickness.  I did burn the chili a little the first time I used the pot and had to let it soak for quite some time to get all the burnt stuff off. I was more careful the next time. It’s great to have a large pot like this and know your not leaching chemicals into the food. I can’t say this for my old, beat up, thin Teflon set that must be discarded! It’s been been a wonderful opportunity to review this pot from Eden Home Organic, be sure to check them out!

So, how about a chance to try out some goodies from Eden Home? They are giving one lucky reader a $35 Gift Certificate to use in their store ! Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit Eden Home and comment here on which product you would love to buy if you won the GC.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @edenhomeorganic on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from Eden Home Organic and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 06/30/10 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry for each one of the above that you do and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

(In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

Here are your random numbers:

10

Timestamp: 2010-07-02 02:28:39 UTC

Congrats Tammy!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt Your Green! Eden Home

We all know Earth Day is just around the corner so Coupon Craze and CarbonFund.org are teaming up to give three of our readers the chance to “Go Green for Free” this Earth Day. Both Coupon Craze and CarbonFund.org provide simple and affordable ways for people to go green. Almost exactly a year ago, online coupon code site Coupon Craze launched a Green Coupon Category to help shoppers find the best online coupons for environmentally friendly products and retailers. CarbonFund.org is a non-profit carbon reduction and climate solutions organization making it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact.

In honor of Earth Day, these companies will be handing out two $50 CarbonFund.org certificates and one $100 gift certificate to the winners choice of  Origins or Patagonia. To enter, all you have to do is post a comment telling us what your favorite cost-effective green living tip is. To get your Earth Day juices flowing and help put these prizes into perspective, here’s some carbon offset information and eco-friendly budget shopping tips.

CarbonFund.org is leading the fight against global warming by helping people neutralize their carbon footprint.  You can purchase an offset that represents a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) somewhere else, like a renewable energy or reforestation project, to balance out the emissions you cannot reduce. For example, $50 of CarbonFund.org credit is equivalent to 5 metric tons of CO₂ or:

• More than 5 roundtrips from Los Angeles to New York
• Approximately the emissions an average American passenger vehicle emits in a year
• Over half the emissions from the average American home’s electricity use
• The amount of carbon sequestered by an acre of pine forests in a year
• The amount of carbon produced by 208 propane cylinders for home barbecues

To help promote green, organic and eco-friendly retailers and products, Coupon Craze has a green coupon category where shoppers can find codes and deals from over 100 retailers such as TOMS Shoes, Origins, Patagonia and ZipCar. It’s the perfect starting place for people who are looking to pickup some eco-friendly shopping habits. Check out some tips that will help you go green on a budget:

• Shop on Earth Day, 4/22: April, and of course Earth Day itself, draws the most attention to eco-friendly, green and organic products. Retailers take advantage of this by offering huge savings throughout the month and specifically on April 22^nd to generate awareness. Make sure to check out Coupon Craze’s Green and Eco-Friendly category on Earth Day –  there are over 100 offers planned to go live exclusively on that day.
• There’s Less Fine Print: Green retailers are still relatively new to the coupon industry, so offers tend to have less fine print than coupons in other categories. For example, many of these coupons don’t have a minimum spending requirement, which means that shoppers can save regardless if they spend $20 or $500.
• What to do the rest of the year: There are some retailers such as TOMS and Gaiam that offer coupons year round; however, the savings in the Green Category tend to peak in the spring and the fall.

So for the change to do your part this Earth Day without breaking the bank, enter the Go Green for Free giveaway!

Giveaway Info:

• To enter, comment on this post and tell us your favorite cost-effective green living tip, and/or:
• Follow Coupon Craze, CarbonFund.org, and Eco-Office Gals then comment with you Twitter name that you did.
• RT this giveaway on Twitter and comment below with the status link.
• The contest runs from now up until April 22nd at 12 noon EST and the three winners will be announced on 4/23.
• Two winners will be chosen at random and awarded a $50 CarbonFund.org donation in their name. One grand prize winner will be chosen at random and awarded a $100 gift certificate to their choice of Origins, Patagonia retailers from the  Coupon Craze Green and Eco-Friendly Coupon Category.
• The three winners will receive their prizes no later than Tuesday, 4/27 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Don’t forget to get your entry in on the Eco-Office Gals Green My World Giveaway, too!

And here are the random picked winners!

Here are your random numbers:

123 – marc-andre taillefer $50 CarbonFund.org donation in their name
30 – Virtual Receptionist $50 CarbonFund.org donation in their name
85 – Theresa D $100 gift certificate to their choice of Origins or Patagonia

Timestamp: 2010-04-23 13:00:37 UTC

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Go Green For Free on Earth Day! {Giveaway}