Monday, May 2, 2011

Healthy Options of Days Gone By - Review & Giveaway!

***This giveaway is now closed!***
Winner - Jen M!

A while ago (and I mean a while... this move has really thrown off my schedule here), I was contacted to try out some mum and baby products from a small, family-run company called Healthy Options of Days Gone By. How fun! I loved the pack of products I got to try.
Included were:
  • two dryer sachets (only one is pictured)
  • Tiny Hiney Body Powder
  • Tiny Hiney Hand & Body Creme
  • Tiny Hiney Diaper Creme
  • Vanilla Comfort Sugar Scrub (that's the one I keep in the bag - it leaked a little but the bag caught all of the leak! Now they package scrubs in reuseable glass jars - no more leaks!)
  • three lovely soaps (only two are pictured)
Since I received the products, there have been some improvements in the packaging! Besides the scrubs going into glass containers, cremes and salves now come in tin containers (no more plastic), and all the labels are recycled paper! I love seeing a company that is already going with natural products make moves to reduce their impact on the environment as well.

We love the Longing for Lavender dryer sachet. I'm using all-natural, scent-free detergent now, and the sachet is full of lavender flowers, adding a lovely fragrance to our clothing. You just pop it in the dryer and leave it - to renew the scent just give it a squish. I was also sent a Rescue Me Rose dryer sachet. I have to say that rose scent is not my cup of tea, so I passed it to a friend - who loves it! What I like about these is the ease of use, the natural contents and of course the way our clothes and linens now smell just lightly like lavender :) They are VERY reasonably priced at only $2.50!

The Tiny Hiney body powder is a talc-free powder for baby. I admit to occasionally using a baby powder on myself when it gets hot as well. It is silky smooth and all natural. I love the little glass shaker it comes in, too!

The Tiny Hiney Hand & Body Creme I find slightly oily to the touch, but it does work wonders on dry skin. The air out here in Calgary is super dry compared to Toronto, and I am in need of a good moisturizer! The base is beeswax, and it is filled with moisturizing and essential oils to make a real treat for your skin.

Mia (cross fingers) hasn't had trouble with diaper rashes (I accredit this to her intolerance of a wet diaper, and using cloth diapers), but it is good to have the Tiny Hiney Diaper Creme on hand. I don't want to use anything with parabens or phthalates on her, and I also need any cream to be compatible with cloth diapers. I can't vouch for that, but using a liner with it would likely mitigate any oils getting onto the diapers.

The Vanilla Comfort Sugar Scrub is a nice treat for mums (or dads!). It is made with raw sugar and provides a good solid skin scrub. It smells lovely. To look at, it is dark and oily, but it leaves skin refreshed and moisturized. It contains Vitamin E to help heal and regenerate skin.

We also received three of their lovely cold-processed soaps to try out. We tried Sweet Southern Green Tea, Tiny Hiney with Flowers, and Tiny Hiney body soap. Again, very nice. I thought it was funny that there were bits of real tea leaves in the Green Tea soap. Little black bits surprised me in the shower until I realized what they were :) I found it lathered really well and left my skin soft.

What I like best about these products is that they are all natural, no chemicals. The packaging is simple, rustic and charming (some of the samples I received are in different packages than the ones you would get when you shop). Overall, really lovely natural products, and all very affordable as well.

Healthy Options of Days Gone By has VERY generously put together a Momma/baby gift basket for one of my lucky readers! The basket contains:
For mom:
Longing for Lavender Bath Soap
Kiss Me Goodnite Bath Soap
Longing for Lavender Bath Salt
Longing for Lavender Body Powder
Tiny Hiney Hand Cream

For baby:
Tiny Hiney Bath Soap
Tiny Hiney w/flowers Bath Soap
Tiny Hiney Body Powder
Tiney Hiney Diaper Creme
Wow. This would make a fantastic baby shower or new mum gift, or a wonderful treat for any family.

The giveaway:
One winner will receive the fantastic momma/baby basket described above!

How to enter:
This is the mandatory entry - do this first to qualify for bonus entries!

Visit Healthy Options of Days Gone By and tell me your favourite product, OR something else you learned there.
Make sure I've got a way to contact you if you're the winner!

Bonus entries: (please leave an extra comment for each. If you already do any of these things, leave the comment - you do get the entry for it!):
  • Like Healthy Options of Days Gone By on Facebook (leave your first name and initial!)
  • Follow the Healthy Options of Days Gone By blog
  • Heart Healthy Options of Days Gone By on Etsy (leave your Etsy name!)
  • Follow me on Twitter (leave your Twitter name!)
  • Tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link to your tweet! You can do this once a day and you can use this tweet if you like:
    #Win a Healthy Options of Days Gone By natural gift basket for mum & baby at Emily's Latest! @emilyisland http://bit.ly/km3E2o US/CAN (5/17)
  • Follow my blog (publicly) – 2 entries, leave 2 comments
  • Add my blog button to your blog– 2 entries, leave 2 comments (please leave a link to your blog)
I will be verifying comments so please actually do the things you say you do ☺

Please be sure to include your email address if it’s not public in your blogger profile! Anonymous comments without a way to contact you will be rejected. Canadian or US mailing addresses only, please. Giveaway ends May 17th at 11:59 EST. A winner will be drawn within the next day or two, announced here, in a separate post and emailed!

Winner - Comfy Rumps! & Road trip pics

Finally! Sorry for the loooong delay. We spent four 12-hour days driving across the country with a 10-week old, a week trying to find a short-term, furnished, affordable place to live, and a weekend starting to settle in for the three-month stint here in Calgary.

The winner is....
A long-time follower and a super sweet person.

On the road, Mia spent a lot of time doing this (thank goodness):
Some time being entertained by Mummy and Superfrog:And, of course, some time doing this (we all felt his way at times - it was a LONG drive!):Are any of you in Calgary?