CLOSED: Blissful Body Take Me Away (a review and giveaway)

This will be my first ever official Review/Giveaway on my blog, I am so excited.  I don't want my blog to turn into a review/giveaway blog so I promise that these will be rare and therefore the products will only be things I truly love and back 100% 

I was recently introduced to the EWG Skin Deep website.  I had been using a lot of Aveeno products up until this point, pretty much all Aveeno (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, sunscreen, face wash, etc etc).  I felt comfortable with these products, I trusted that they were safe for my family and free of harmful chemicals since they were marketed as "natural".  Imagine my anger when I went to the EWG website and discovered many of these products were in fact ranked in the red.  I had 1 yellow and 1 green product but the majority of what I had been using were red.

When Cathy (Owner and CEO of Blissful Booty) told me she was thinking of making all natural body products I was ecstatic. She sent me a few to test out before she launched them on her website.

I received:
1 8oz bottle Blissful Body Mama Wash in Baby's Breath
1 6oz bottle Blissful Body Mist in Baby's Breath
1 8 oz tub Blissful Body Polish in Baby's Breath
1 8oz tub Blissful Body Whipped Goats Milk Lotion in Baby's Breath
1 8oz bottle Blissful Body Baby Wash in Sweet Summertime
1 8oz bottle Blissful Body Baby Lotion in Sweet Summertime
1 Blissful Body Chapstick

The Blissful Body line of products are made using only all natural ingredients.  They are free of any alcohol, harsh chemicals, dyes or perfumes.  They are Vegan friendly and made with many Organic ingredients (the baby line is 89% organic).  They always come packaged in a recyclable plastic bottle and the labels on them are made with eco-friendly paper and vegetable based inks.

All of the products from the Mama Body line are available in any scent offered by Blissful Booty (currently 22 scents are available with a new scent, Violet Whimsy, just added).  The Baby Body line is available in only 8 scents for now and can also be purchased unscented.

Initial Impressions
When I first received the package, like any "normal" person, I felt compelled to sniff and sample everything.  Everything smelled so yummy!  The first word that popped into my head was Luxury.  The products were luxurious, spa worthy even.

When I was younger (19-20) I worked at The Jone's Store (now Macy's) as a Cosmetics girl in the Clinique counter.  I often had to sub for girls in the nearby Lancome, Estee Lauder and Origins counters as well and was familiar with all of the products offered.  The Blissful Body line could rival ANY of those products and you have the peace of mind knowing they are really all natural and there are no hidden chemicals that can harm your family.

Blissful Body Mama Wash
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -

Blissful Booty Body presents our mild natural body wash made from coconut derived cleansers. Our luxurious lather will gently clean an soften your skin naturally. Use in the bath or shower to leave skin smooth and softly scented. Sulfate and Paraban Free and Certified Vegan! Comes packaged in our beautiful cobalt blue recyclable bottles with a large palm pump for easy dispensing! 8 fl oz. Can't decide which scent to choose? Check out our scent description tab on our home page!

I use the Mama Wash head to toe just like I do  the Baby Wash for the kids.  It actually does a really nice job of washing my hair.  It leaves it silky soft and tangle free.  I have thick naturally curly (aka frizzy) hair and the Blissful Body Mama Wash really does help to tame everything down.  I use Organic Virgin Coconut Oil in my hair as a leave-in conditioner every other wash.
It also leaves my skin baby soft to the touch.  I often skip the lotion because my skin is so soft as it is.
A little goes a long way too.  I have very long hair and I only need 1 pump for my hair, 1 for my body.  I have been using this every other day since April 24 and still have 1/2 a bottle left.  It will easily last me another 1.5-2 months.

Blissful Body Mist
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -

Our light, fragrant body mists refresh and nurture your skin with vitamin rich plant extracts and botanical oils. Our ingredient list isnt water, alcohol, & perfume like many of the "big name" body sprays. Our mists are completely alcohol free and contain soothing organic aloe juice, organic olive oil for softening, organic black willowbark and tea tree essential oil.  Our natural witch hazel base gives our sprays a natural cooling effect that can be spritzed on after shower, sun, or anytime!  It is pH balanced to be used all over the body, or use as a natural linen spray! Comes packaged in our beautiful and recyclable blue cobalt bottles with fine mist sprayer and cap. 6 fl oz.

This is one of my favorite products that I received.  Prior to this I was using the Blissful Booty Wipe Water as my own personal body mist as well.  Who doesn't love to smell yummy.  I receive compliments all the time about my 'perfume" and they are always shocked when I tell them its really the Blissful Body Mist.  You don't have to spray harsh chemicals on your skin or poison the air you (and your loved ones) breath in just to smell yummy.

Blissful Body Polish
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -
Blissful Booty Whipped Body Polish awakens senses and pampers skin. The natural turbinado sugar crystals gently smooth away dry, dull surface skin cells to reveal a fresh glow, while botanical oil pampers skin to leave it beautifully soft and smooth without feeling greasy. Gentle enough for daily use--won't strip or dry skin.Available in 4, 8, and 16 oz sizes and packaged in our beautiful cobalt blue recyclable tubs

This is BY FAR my favorite product in the Blissful Body line!  It is our little miracle scrub!
Originally I was using it on myself.   i would use it on my face and body about every 4-5 days as a nice deep clean scrub.  It felt so nice to scrub on my skin, it was my mini spa in a bottle.  After you wash it off your skin is left with this fresh clean and oh so soft feeling.

As much as I loved using it, that's not why it became our miracle scrub.  As many of you know, Karma has eczema and it can often get really bad, especially in her diaper area.  At first I thought it was the cloth diapers doing it but she still breaks out with sposies. 

Eczema is basically severely dry skin.  My older 2 kids also had it as babies but never as bad as poor Karmacita does.  Her skin gets so dry and it actually starts to peel in some areas.  One day, while having my little personal spa treatment I had a thought. Maybe the scrub would help her skin too?  After all it was dry skin, if I could scrub some of it off maybe it would help.  I figured it couldn't hurt to try so I used it on her as well (she was already in the shower with me).

I thought it might help a little bit, I had no clue just how much it would truly work!  I was so amazed that within hours her skin already looked 100x better and by the next day it was smooth and soft.  Now, she still has flare ups, the scrub didn't cure it or anything like that BUT, when she does have the flare ups I use the scrub and its gone.  I even took before and after pics recently because it does sound crazy and too good to be true.  These pictures were only taken a few hours apart. 



Before using the body polish



Its hard to tell exactly what you are looking at.  They are both of the inside right thigh area, I promise no private parts are showing (I made sure of that!).  The first is much closer up as I was trying to show the dryness of it.  the top would be her waist, then her hip and the portion going down her right leg.  I felt I needed to clarify this as they can look confusing and I didn't want anyone to think they were not of the same area.

after using the body polish

In the second its sideways, so the bottom left portion is her waist, then her hip and going up towards the right is her right leg.  It was hard to take the pics while keeping her still and making sure no private areas snuck in the shot.

Blissful Body Whipped Goats Milk
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -

Relieve dryness, sensitivity and irritation with our luxurious Goats Milk Body Creme. Goat milk is prized for its restorative and healing properties. Full of vitamins, minerals and proteins, studies confirm this magic ingredient dramatically improves overall skin health. Naturally occurring enzymes gently work to exfoliate skin, leaving it healthier and smoother than ever before.  Packed with essential oils including Organic Coconut, Neem, Jojoba, Grapeseed, & Avocado it leaves your skin soft and smooth without feeling greasy. Apply to entire body as often as needed to hydrate and nourish the skin.
Benefits:
- Lactose exfoliates and helps speed cellular turnover.
- Goat milk has a very close pH to human skin and won't cause irritation.
- Witch hazel is a natural antiseptic and helps fight bacteria.
- Organic aloe calms and conditions skin.
Comes packaged in our beautiful 8 oz cobalt blue recyclable tubs.

This product is easily the nicest lotion I have ever used on myself.  I don't tend to use lotion that often because many leave my skin feeling greasy.  I don't have any problems with the whipped goats milk though.  It also only takes a tiny amount, I mean TINY to do the job.  I just put a little bit on my finger tips, dab on the skin and then massage in.  I still have over 1/4 of a tub left.

I have also started using it on Karma's eczema in between body polish uses and it really helps to calm it down.

Blissful Body Baby Wash
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -
This gentle formula uses the calming distillates and essential oils of lavender and chamomile. Kosher vegetable glycerin, vitamin B & E, wheat protein, organic aloe, jojoba oil and rosehip oil enhance the soothing qualities of this all over baby wash. Comes packaged in our beautiful 8 oz cobalt blue recyclable bottles with a handy palm pump.

I was a little surprised at how much thinner it was than the traditional baby washes I have used in the past.  This is because the baby wash is free of all the thickeners used in chemical, err I mean commerical baby washes .  This never bothered me though as the wash still lathers nicely and is easy to use.  Cathy did tell me she is looking into purchasing an all natural syrup thickener though to give it a more "traditional" consistency.

 I use this head to toe on my kids.  It is not tear free, as all of the tear free baby washes contain harsh chemicals in them (that's what makes them tear free).  I am just careful not to get it in their eyes.  I have not had 1 single incident yet of it getting in anyone's eyes.
A little really does go a long way too.  We received our products on April 23, 2011 and started using them the very next day.  We take baths every other day in our house and we still have 1/4 of a bottle left.  I have 4 kids so I use 4 pumps each time.  One pump is all you need head to toe.  This even covers my almost 3 yr old who has VERY long hair (it touches her butt!).  The lather really spreads easily to cover everyone.
It is available in 8 yumilicious scents and can also be made unscented if you prefer.

Blissful Body Baby Lotion
The Blissful Booty website describes this product -

Use as often as needed throughout the day to hydrate and nourish babies skin. Our baby lotion is certified vegan and contains 89% organic content. Comes in our beautiful 8oz recyclable cobalt blue bottles with a handy palm pump.

I chose the Sweet Summertime scent for our baby lotion.  It smells so good.  I love to to snuggle up and smell my babies after I have applied this lotion on them.  They are all so soft and snuggable.  As with the baby wash it is available in 8 scents or unscented.








Cathy is currently working on an all natural Detangle Spray and a Peppermint Foot Lotion so be on the look out for these to appear on her page soon.  I need to order some detangle spray for sure!

She is currently offering FREE SHIPPING today through Saturday on all orders placed at Blissful Booty's Shop.  So you can order yourself some of these goodies and not have to pay any shipping.

She has also offered to give 2 lucky winners their own Blissful Body products to try
1 lucky mama will win a bottle of the Blissful Body Mama Wash in her choice of scent
1 lucky mama will win her choice of EITHER Blissful Body Baby Wash OR Blissful Body Baby Lotion in her choice of scent (either or, not both).
It will be random which mom is which.  The first mom drawn will be the winner for the mama product, the second for the winner of the baby product.

CONTEST RULES:

In order to make this simple and easy on everyone, please just leave ONE comment to enter.  I am going to take the 1 comment for each person and put them into a spreadsheet with however many entries they get.  This way I do not have to sit here and count out comments to determine the winner.
So there is no need to list multiple comments for each individual thing you do.  Multiple entries by the same person will be deleted.  Make sure you include a valid email address in your comment, entries with out a valid email address will also be deleted.

In order to enter you must like (follow) Blissful Booty on FB (already like them? gGreat you're in! just make sure to say in your comment that you already follow them)

You may earn additional entries by doing any of the following:
Follow my blog via google friend connect
Follow Adventures in Mommyhood: Mommy Outnumbered on Facebook
Follow Instinctual Mamas on Facebook

The contest will run June 9, 2011 through June 17, 2011.  Winners will be picked and announced within 2 business days.  Cathy will ship directly to the winners.

GOOD LUCK!

WINNERS:

I am not sure if this made it easier on me time wise BUT it did make it easier on me counting wise.  I just copied and pasted all of the comments into a word document and numbered each entry 1-146 then used random.org to pick the 2 winners based on that.

The first winner will rceived the Mama Wash........

Kaila- tnprat@gmail.com

The second will receive either Baby Wash OR Lotion (winners choice)..........

Katie Sparkles (The Sparkle Mama)- thesparklemama@gmail.com 

I will pass both of your info on to Cathy from Blissful Booty and she will contact you for shipping info and your scent of choice.