Today I thought we’d look at Natural Liquid Hand Soap Pink Grapefruit Petals. This hand soap comes in many other scents as well. I’m glad we got grapefruit though – grapefruit and I go way back.

Ingredients: Saponified oils of coconut and olive, glycerin, oleic acid and pink grapefruit petals essential oil blend.

Cost: $8.35 for 8oz

Overall I really like this soap. I love that it doesn’t leave your hands dry like most hand soaps do. It smells great, and the packaging is pretty. That said, I likely wouldn’t buy it. Mainly because I have refillable bottles, and it’s cheaper and more eco friendly to use my refillable containers. I would get this as a gift for someone.

My son is another story: He LOVES this soap. We get plenty of free stuff, what with all the blogging I do, but none of the free stuff ever impresses Cedar. He slightly paid attention when someone sent us lolly pops, but usually he’s like, “Whatever.” When we got this box of products from Manor Hall, he helped unpack it and smelled all of it as we went. When we got to the hand soap he fell in love. He kept smelling it and then wanted to use it right away.

He was in the bathroom lathering up and told me, “This is the best soap ever!… We should send that soap lady a thank you card!” Now I don’t know about your seven year old son, but mine never talks about soap like this. What child does this? In any case, I’ve now caught him in the bathroom three times washing up, when clearly no washing up is needed. He said he just wanted to smell the soap. He dragged two friends I had over into the bathroom, just to smell the darn soap.

Should I be worried? I suppose there are worse things for a child to get addicted. My son would buy this soap, I’m quite sure. So there you have it. My son’s favorite Manor Hall product. I think my son is a pretty smart kid, so obviously this soap gets:

Five out of five stars. It works, smells great, and makes your children addicted to clean. Enter to win some Manor Hall Hand Soap for your own kids.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

[image via Manor Hall Soap Company]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Lavender & Rose Facial Toner

Actually, it looked good (cute packaging) but neither my son or I liked how it smelled. AT ALL. However, roses are not my deal. I like to look at them, love their smell in real life, but add rose scent to a body care item, and it usually flips me out. I’ve never liked rose scented body anything. So how fair would it be for me to review this? Not much.

That said, I enlisted my best friend Sara to help me out. Because she was being so helpful, I also handed over some other products for review. She’s a good reviewer choice; she’s even pickier than me about soap because she has dry skin, and she hates most soaps because they make her dry skin worse. (believe me, I’ve spent years listening to her complain about soaps).

Today Sara gave me a review on the above toner and a Natural Complexion Bar in Honey & Rose.

She’s not a chatterbox like me, so her reviews are nice and short. She’s been using the soap, followed by the toner for a week or so now.

Natural Complexion Bar in Honey & Rose - Sara liked both the color, scent, and feel of the soap. She notes that the soap is a little gritty, and a downside is that she wishes it were more gritty, because she likes scrubbers on her face. She thinks the soap lathered very well, and went on super smooth.

Lavender & Rose Facial Toner- She thinks I’m nutty, because she really likes how the toner smells. She notes that it smells like dandelion, not rose to her, which she enjoys, but that it might be too flowery for some people. (I still think it smelled like roses though).

Overall as a set, she thinks that this routine has left her skin feeling way less dry. Sara thinks the honey rose soap alone left her skin feeling more moisturized but with the toner it was even better. She says she still feels like she needs to moisturize her face still, but that overall the dry skin is not as big an issue.

I told her about tree points (yeah, she doesn’t read my blogs)

She said she’d give each product five out of five happy trees based on how nicely the products worked, and because her skin felt less dry. She said she highly recommends these products to others, but is concerned that others may not like the smell of the toner – that’s likely based on me not liking it. So scent is a toss up. I will say that scents are really personal, and it’s always a risk to try new body care items.

Thanks to Sara for the helpful review; even though she won’t see this

Catch up:

Visit Manor Hall Soap Company to learn more. You can also enter our Summer Scrub Down Contest to win Manor Hall products. You might also like to see my previous Manor Hall reviews; Almost Sunset Soap and Facial Cleansing Grains.

Stay tuned for more reviews and some company info.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Ingredients: Saponified oils of olive, coconut and palm. With added organic jojoba oil, and essential blend including patchouli, ylang and lemongrass. Shake of paprika for color. Rosemary OE (natural preservative).

Use: I think we all know how to use soap. I’m guessing this is supposed to be only a body bar, not face, although, just for kicks I did try it on my face (I’m brave), and no problems for me. As noted before, I use a lot of stuff though, and almost nothing bugs me, if you have sensitive skin, I’d keep this to body only.

Cost: $4.85 for a 3.5 oz bar

What I think: I love this soap – I’ve tried loads of soap in my life, and this one is in my top 5. I’m not sure what scrubby stuff is in it, but there’s a light scrubby feeling to it, but not too harsh, really gentle. The color is amazing and the scent is super me; very earthy and citrus, but not sticky sweet citrus, more on the fresh sort of spicy side of citrus. I wish they made incense – because I’d be burning my almost sunset incense all day long.

I’m not sure if someone who is scent sensitive would like this, because in the shower, the scent is strong. For me that’s a bonus, but for someone who likes less of a scent it could be an issue.

It works great too. Cleans like soap should, and leaves your skin all soft and smooth, which I’ve only found with maybe five other soap bars in my life. It makes my whole bathroom smell great, and after you get out the scent lingers really lightly on your skin.

Would I buy it?: No actually. For the last year I’ve been into body wash over bar soap, because I have this hemp scrubby washcloth I use (It’s long so you can scrub your back). That said, I’d buy the Almost Sunset organic body wash. After I use up my current body wash, I’ll absolutely be buying some because of the scent. The body wash is a little more, but still a great deal at $10.35 for 8 fl oz.

Points:

Five out of five for being perfectly scented, lovely to look at, and just the right texture. Don’t forget to read my review of Manor Hall Soap Company’s Facial Cleansing Grains. Next up a Manor Hall Soap review of a product I wasn’t so keen on, but I gave it to my best girlfriend to try, so we’ll see what she has to say too.

Visit Manor Hall Soap Company to learn more. You can also enter our Summer Scrub Down Contest to win Manor Hall products.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

[Image via Manor Hall Soap Company]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Facial Cleansing Grains – Almonds & Honey

The facial cleansing grains come in different flavors. I got the Almond & Honey, but there’s also Lemon and Rosemary, and Lavender & Rose. Oddly, I actually got the ones I would have wanted, if it had been up to me. I love honey and almond.

Ingredients: Kaolin clay, ground oats, corn meal, ground almonds, ground rose petals, ground lavender, honey powder.

Use: From the Manor Hall Soap website; “Suitable for all skin types, these grains will make light work of dry and dead skin, while nourishing and improving surface circulation. Featuring the gentle emollience of ground almond meal, these facial grains moisturize readily as they are worked into the skin, loosening and lifting the dead cells from the surface. Together with oatmeal, ground botanicals and honey powder, these all natural grains bring a healthy glow, leaving skin soft and baby smooth.”

Cost: $8.35 for a 4 oz jar – net wt 2.5 oz

What I think: I’m a sucker for scrubby grains. I’ve loved them for years, but hate paying a lot, so I make my own. In fact, I posted some recipes here. You can also just grind up plain old oats and nuts, mix with H2O and use those as well. Thus I was skeptical. However, I LOVED these.

Pros:

• These grains were ground so much better than my blender will grind grains. With these grains you get a very soft, non-harsh texture.
• All the little extra touches – no way am I going to grind up rose petals, and deal with clay, plus more than two grains at a time in my kitchen, not for just one scrub anyhow.
• They worked awesome. My skin felt ultra soft and totally smooth after using them once.
• These grains smell absolutely great; earthy, light, nutty. They leave a subtle lingering scent, but nothing so powerful that someone sensitive couldn’t use them. I’d even give them to my scent sensitive aunt.
• It took such a small amount that this jar will last a super long time. For the price, this is a super deal on facial grains. Most face scrubs you can buy cost more, and also have plenty of stuff you can’t pronounce in it. Not cool.
• I didn’t have to make them! All I did was open a jar. Wow.

Other issues: Packaging is recyclable and simple plus pretty to look at (yeah, I’m a little into cute stuff). The website page for this product is excellent, offering user tips, ingredients, and best of all warnings that it may not be suitable for your skin, and that you should do a test spot. Just an overall nice user experience.

Cons: Just one, and that’s the fact that while they’re natural, they’re not organic. Non-organic grains are a moot point, because pesticide residue is low in all grains, however, I’d like to see organic lavender and rose. There’s an reason that this company is not totally organic though, an issue the owner and I were discussing, and later I’ll post about it. Other than this, I don’t have any cons. Honestly, I really loved this product. It’s perfect for you or for a nice gift basket.

Keep in mind that my skin is pretty used to whatever I toss at it. I have normal non-oily, non-dry skin, so if you have skin issues your results may vary. These grains are so smooth though that I think they could work for almost anyone. My best friend has sensitive, problematic skin, so I may have her try some to see what she thinks. If so I’ll update with her sensitive skin review.

Points: +

Six out of five – Five for being an excellent facial grain product with a super nice smell. The bonus point is because I haven’t bought face grains in over eight years (I always make them), but I’d actually pay money for these.

Visit Manor Hall Soap Company to learn more. You can also enter our Summer Scrub Down Contest to win Manor Hall products.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

[Image via Manor Hall Soap Company]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

But first:

First off I should clear something up. I get plenty of freebies, being a blogger, but beauty supplies of any kind, I almost never accept anymore. It’s just too disappointing. Some company will send me something “natural” and it’s anything but natural. Or they’ll send me items that are way over packaged and I feel really super guilty. Plus as I think most of the regulars know, I’m a huge make-your-own beauty products advocate.

Long story short, I looked at the Manor Hall site a good long time, and asked owner Susan Mann questions, before deciding to accept samples. But in this case, I’m glad I took the samples. Manor Hall Soaps is one of the only companies to send me beauty items that are like the ones I would actually would make myself. Except that Manor Hall Soap takes a little more care than I will. I toss stuff together. They add little extra touches I don’t have time for.

So, all that said, my first overall recommendation on all of the products I’ll be reviewing here is that Manor Hall Soap Company is as close to homemade as I’ve seen. Which to me is a big bonus.

I didn’t want to have to repeat this homemade info during each review, but did want to make it clear that these are nicely made, very homey type items, or I wouldn’t even be talking about them. You know me, I don’t mess around; if I don’t like someone, I’ll tell you and I’m serious about my soap issues.

Next up, I’ll be posting a review on one of my favorite Manor Hall Soap Company products.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

What you can win:

Four lucky winners will receive a wonderful gift pack from Manor Hall Soap Company. While soap flavors will vary, each of our winners will receive a gift pack containing the following – a full size classic soap bar, liquid hand soap and a complexion bar.

Now, I’m not going to get into company info and product reviews yet; but I will say that my son Cedar and I have been trying out some Manor Hall Soap products and we love them (and we are PICKY about our soaps). You’ll love this prize, trust me. During the duration of this contest, I’ll be posting company information and product reviews; so look for those later.

Contest duration:

Now through July 14th 2008, midnight, West coast time.

Who can enter:

Anyone who lives in the United States; so long as you don’t write this blog (i.e. Peggy or I).

How to enter:

1. Please visit our sponsor’s website: Manor Hall Soap Company.
2. Choose one product that you think looks cool.
3. Tell us in this post’s comment area what that cool product is.

That’s it. The rules are simple. If you don’t follow them, we’ll delete your comment and get on with our lives.

Rules if you win:

On July 15th I’ll post four winners. I’ll email you for your mailing information. If you don’t email me with your information within five days, I’ll award this super cool prize to an alternate winner. Why? Well, we’ve had some issue with people emailing us back for contests. If you don’t want to give us your address please don’t waste our time by entering. We do need an address or we can’t send a prize, it’s that simple.

Good luck! As noted look for plenty of reviews about this company in the upcoming weeks. Including one by my own little, who is hyper enthused about these soaps.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Cleansing Milk:

You’ll need to choose one of the following – 2 or 3 tablespoons of fresh or dried organic elderflowers, chamomile, lime blossom, or sweet violets. (I’ve personally used fresh chamomile and sweet violets).

1/2 cup organic whole milk – I was told to use creamy milk – I was never quite sure what that meant but whole milk seems to work good. I use Straus Milk because it’s really creamy. I suppose you could try something thicker like cream. Stay away from whipped creams, you’re not making a sundae

Make: Heat the ingredients together in a double boiler for about 30 minutes. Try to avoid the milk boiling and you cannot let it form a skin. Remove from heat and allow it to infuse for 3 hours. Strain.

Use: Apply with fingers (or cotton – but that’s sort of wasteful). Remove excess with a washcloth. You do need to keep this in the refrigerator and use it within about a week. I like this cream, but it’s best for dry or sensitive skin. Also, it smells a wee bit milky to me so I tend to add a drop of tea tree oil.

Orange-Flower Cleansing Cream: good for normal or dry skin. I got this recipe from The Complete Book of Herbs: A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs – an excellent book, but I adapted it a little after trying it out.

You’ll need:

• 2 Tablespoons organic soy oil
• 2 Tablespoon almond oil (I used apricot before too)
• 1 oz cocoa butter
• 1 Tablespoon beeswax
• 2-3 tablespoons orange flower water
• 1/2 tsp borax (I’ve also used grated natural soap, powdered soap, and liquid soap – the texture is different, but it works )
• 6-7 drops neroli essential oil

Make: Mix and warm the almond and soy oils in a small pot on low heat. Melt cocoa butter into the oils – stir well. Melt beeswax and then beat into the oil mix. It works better to add a bit at a time. Warm the orange water and dissolve whatever soap you’re using into it. Add this to the main mix – beat well and let it sit to thicken. Before it’s totally cool and thick, stir in essential oil.

Once cool, you can spoon it into small pots. I’m not sure how long this mix lasts, but there’s nothing questionably perishable in it, so as long as you use it within months, I’d say it’s fine. Use like any basic cleansing milk.

Be sure to enter our amazing organic BabyBam Collections contest – win organic soap and a bamboo onesie!

Post from: Tree Hugging Family