What Is It
güd, a product line from Burt’s Bees, is a company that produces natural and body-safe body products. Available in amazing-smelling fragrances such as Red Ruby Groovy (Grapefruit and Thyme), Pearanormal Activity (Pear and Acai Berry), Orange Petalooza (Blood Orange Flower), Floral Cherrynova (Cherry Blossom and Almond Milk), and Vanilla Flame (Vanilla and Rice Milk).

All güd products are are paraben-free, phthalate-free, and don’t have any petrochemicals. No güd products are tested on animals either. All güd products are 97% natural as well.

For my review, I received the Vanilla Flame Natural Hand Cream, the Vanilla Flame Natural Foaming Hand Wash, the Vanilla Flame Natural Softening Conditioner, and the Vanilla Flame Natural Nourishing Shampoo, and the Vanilla Flame Natural Body Mist.

My Opinion
To help make things as easy as possible, I’ll be reviewing each item separately.

The Vanilla Flame Natural Hand Cream made a huge difference! I’ll admit that I enjoy using it on my hands for the scent it provides, but where it really made a difference was my feet. I’ve had dry feet for awhile, and while I’ve tried some other lotions, it’s never made too much of a difference. I used the Vanilla Flame Natural Hand Cream for ONE night on my feet, stuck my feet in some socks, and slept in it overnight, and almost all of the dryness is gone. Almost all of it! Another couple nights of it, and I’m sure my feet will be amazingly soft again. So I’m extremely, extremely impressed. Plus, to add to that, the scent is really nice. It has a great vanilla scent that, even this next morning, I can easily smell on my hands while doing my morning routine. So I love that the scent sticks around, and when partnered with other güd Vanilla Flame products, I can easily see how it’d make your entire body smell amazing.

The Vanilla Flame Natural Softening Conditioner and Natural Nourishing Shampoo worked surprisingly well. I was surprised to see that the Natural Nourishing Shampoo and Softening Conditioner had a bit less scent than I’m used to. I think this is probably because güd didn’t add nearly as many scented additives as most shampoo producers tend to do. This helps make it safer for your body. Along with this, the natural shampoo and natural conditioner do produce some lather (which I really like!), but it’s not as much lather as traditional shampoos and conditioners. Again, many people don’t think the lathering agents are healthy for you, so this is another good addition on güd’s part. So how well did it clean my hair? It did surprisingly well! The next day, my hair wasn’t greasy or anything (which is standard for most harsh-chemical shampoos), so I’m definitely very, very pleased with how the güd shampoo and natural conditioner did!

As for the Vanilla Flame Natural Body Mist, it smells just like the rest of the products in the line. It spritzs on really easily, and it has that nice, sweet vanilla scent like all of the other products do. On the negative side, however, the scent doesn’t seem to last too long, so you might have to reapply regularly. I put it on my wrists and sprayed it on my shirt, and an hour later, I can’t even smell it on my shirt anymore (which is normally where my scents get absorbed pretty easily). So it definitely has a nice scent to it, but you should be prepared for the scent of the spray to go away relatively quickly compared to most perfumes and scents.

Last but not least, there’s the Vanilla Flame Natural Foaming Hand Wash. This is a surprisingly awesome hand wash. I switched out my old handwash for this one. It is a Foaming Hand Wash, but don’t expect it to foam in the same way that most traditional foaming hand wash does. Instead, the Vanilla Flame Natural Foaming Hand Wash foams in a much more watery-type way. So it’s still technically foam, but it will drip off your hand pretty easily instead of the more viscous-type of foam that most soaps are. This Gud Hand Soap also has a very pleasant scent to it. You can definitely smell it while putting on the soap, and you can smell it on your hands afterwards if you end up putting your hands near your face. However, you can’t really smell it while doing most things which is something I hate about most traditional hand soaps (the soap smell is just too strong!) So I’m happy to report that I replaced my old handsoap with the Gud Hand Soap, and I’m really, really impressed.

Pros
All of the amazing products in the güd line are fantastic for your body and also fantastic for the environment. Along with being really effective, the products seem really nice, and they do exactly what they claim to do.

Cons
Nothing! güd products do cost more than your standard beauty products because of their dedication to healthier ingredients and better packaging, but I think it’s really worth it.

Recommended
I definitely recommend any of the güd products. They smell great, have multiple body products that have matching scents, and they work too! Plus, I like the transparency that güd has along with their commitment to making the Earth a better place.

Buy It
You can purchase the güd products at most mass retailers. You also can purchase them directly off of the güd website.

What Is It
Dancinerate is a fitness DVD instructed by Ilyse Baker. Ilyse is known for her in-person dancing fitness classes over in California, so for those of us who can’t quite move states to attend a fitness class, we now have the Dancinerate dance fitness DVD!

The DVD includes two separate workouts. The first workout is the “Sexy Broadway Jazz” which fuses ballet, modern dance, and jazz to work on your upper body and core. The second workout, “Hip Hop Funk” focuses on the legs, lower body, and core through a hip hop routine. Both of those routines are 22 minutes each. Plus, if you want a bit of extra bit of firming and toning, there’s a 5-minute section called “Dancers Abs and Bootylicious Buns”. So if you want to do the full DVD, you’re looking at a 54 minute workout – which is actually pretty standard and definitely achieveable for a lot of different people despite busy schedules.

My Opinion
I love exercise classes, but there’s always the issue that they are at specific times and at specific places. When you live in the rural Midwest like I do, that also means that all the unique and amazing fitness classes are nowhere near where I live. That’s why I love it when instructors, like Ilyse Baker, come up with at-home DVD versions of their in-class workouts. This way, I can do things on my own time, in my own home, and I can still get the feeling of working with the instructor like I would in a live class.

The workouts on the Dancinerate DVD are definitely enjoyable! I like both the hip hop and the jazz versions, and I can feel my abs (and how hard they’ve worked!) on the days after when I do the Bonus Ab workout that’s included. The Ab workout is definitely challenging, so if you haven’t been working on your abs, I’d say that it’s definitely possible to get annoyed or not be able to do the workout. However, you can modify the movements based upon your own judgement to make it work best for you.

My biggest complaint is that the workout doesn’t have too much cueing and you really don’t “learn” the routine. Instead, Illyse Baker jumps right into the routines without taking time to really “slowly” introduce you to the moves. This means that you should definitely expect to do this DVD at least 2 to 3 times before you really know what you’re doing. Don’t get frustrated in the beginning when it’s slightly confusing. Instead, understand that this will make it easier to do in the future because there won’t be any slow and frustrating “teaching” segments, and instead, you’ll go straight into the full portion of the workout itself. However, it would have been nice if the “Dancinerate” workout DVD had included a small, separate section that slowed down the routines and really helped to teach you the moves. In it’s defense, though, the Hip-Hop Funk one seems ot have a lot more explanation of moves than the Sexy Broadway Jazz segment does.

As a note, though, much like Zumba and other dance classes, once you learn the routines, they are relatively repetitive, so it’s not like it’s a “music video” type of dance. It’s long strings of similar movements that repeat in a fun and easy-to-do way that will get your heartrate raised without being too frustrating.

I also found myself wishing that Ilyse Baker had chosen to provide a “lower intensity” version of the moves as well. For some people, a lot of the jumping and hopping is going to be pretty hard on the joints and the heart. I’d have loved to have seen one of the three instructors provide a lower-intensity workout that would have been suitable for those who were pretty out of shape.

As for how well it works, Dancinerate DEFINITELY raised my heartrate! I was sweating by the time I was done with the DVD – every single time I did it. When I really wanted a higher impact workout, I went with the Sexy Broadway Jazz since there’s a lot more hops and larger movements, but I felt more “cool” (though I’m sure I didn’t look that way) doing the Hip Hop Funk workout. On the days where I had a ton of time, I would do the entire DVD. No matter what I chose to do, I was definately ready for a shower by the time I was done.

Pros
The Dancinerate workout DVD does exactly what it promises – it raises my heartrate and provides a good cardio workout while still being realy fun and enjoyable! Plus, I can choose two different workouts depending on the day and how I feel.

Cons
Dancinerate definitely has a learning curve. Expect to need to do the DVD a couple times before you’re going to be able to really keep up with the moves.

Recommended
If you tend to get frustrated easily, you’ll definitely want to understand in advance that Dancinerate will require a bit of a learning curve. However, once you learn how to do it, the DVD is fun and enjoyable, and it really provides a good workout!

Buy It
The Dancinerate DVD is available directly from the Ilyse Baker website as well as available for purchase anywhere where workout DVDs are sold.

There are certain toys and outdoor things that most children want to have. For me, it was totally a Bounce Castle! I always wanted one, so when the local carnival would be in town or when we’d go to any other amusement parks, I would beeline straight to the bounce house. NOW I’m co-hosting an opportunity for you to be able to WIN one of your own! Imagine that your children will be able to play in this safe, fun outdoor house anytime they want!

  ”BLAST ZONE” are one of the best brands on the market. First off, they are American made. The second thing is, you need to decide is what features you want like Balls, slides, hoops or whatever features you think you want. We love that it is extremely vibrant and bright. You can tell by the look on my kids faces that they love it.

I would definitely recommend this castle to all families.

Buy It: Amazon for $199

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*Disclosure: So Sew Mama and I Heart Giveaways are not responsible for sponsor prize fulfillment. I was not compensated for this post. So Sew Mama received a sample to try with her family. All opinions are 100% her own. Facebook, twitter, and Pinterest are not affiliated with this giveaway and are released of any obligations.

What Is It
Plastic Place is a website that sells wholesale trash bags. They also sell paper products such as toilet tissue, facial tissues, foam cups, and paper towels. When you want to buy in bulk to help you save money on your household supplies, purchasing from Plastic Place will help you keep down your costs.

For review, Plastic Place sent me some of their HarmonyX Drawstring Bags. These drawstring bags come in standard household sizes such as 13 gallon bags, 33 gallon bags, and 39 gallon bags. These bags are 3-ply, and they are black on the outside and colored white on the inside. Along with that, the HarmonyX Drawstring Bags come in a self-dispensing tube that make it easier to access your garbage bags.

Plus, for people like myself who like to be concerned about the environment, the HarmonyX Drawstring Bags are made out of 50% recycled material. That’s definitely a nice way to not have to feel so bad about using garbage bags. Plus, for those who are worried about odors, HarmonyX trash bags also contain Microban which helps prevent the growth of odor-causing bacteria.

My Opinion
The HarmonyX Trash Bags have been fantastic for garbage. They fit the garbage really well into it, and when I pick it up, I’ve had no issues with the garbage bag tearing (which is something I’m always worried about). Along with that, I’ve had absolutely no issue with the drawstring straps tearing or falling off. They always have held strong and put the opening of the bag shut tight so I can easily take out the garbage. Plus, I love the fact that the inside of the trashbag is white. It’s a minor thing, but it really makes the garbage can look much more respectable and much less like “Oh. Here’s the garbage”. So I love that aspect too. Plus, the bag looks dark and black on the outside which gives it more of the appearance of the heavy-duty trash bags that I’m used to.

I like the packaging that the HarmonyX Trash Bags come in, too. The tube it comes in won’t stack too well in your cupboard, but instead, it has a unique self-dispensing aspect to it. Much like what I’d expect from a tissue box when I grab a tissue, the tube of garbage bags always makes it easy to grab a garbage bag, and it starts to pull the next bag free after I pull the one bag, so it’s usually very simple to get out a garbage bag. My only complaint about the packaging is that it’s hard to get open at first, and it’s hard to pull out the first bag. The perforated cardboard doesn’t give way nearly as easily as it should, and the first bag isn’t “primed” up to be easily pulled out. It does take some patience to get the first bag out of there.

I can’t say I noticed too much of a difference in the scent of my garbage. To be fair, though, I don’t really have anything that smells that bad in the first place, so garbage smells were never really a huge problem. So despite using these, I really can’t comment too much about whether they help inhibit odors.

Pros
The HarmonyX Garbage bags did a good job of holding my garbage. They look much nicer than my previous garbage bags, and the drawstring ends up holding the bag together really well. Plus, the container that dispenses them ends up dispensing them really nicely.

Cons
The containers can be very, very difficult to open and get the first bag out. Once you get that part done, though, the bags come out really smoothly.

Recommended
If you want strong, well-holding trash bags that also are two-tone in color to give your garbage can a more respectable appearance, the HarmonyX Drawstring trash bags are definitely ones that you can depend on.

Buy It
Plastic Place has a variety of trash bags and other plastics bags that you can use in your household. This includes Mattress Bags, Zip Bags, Medical Waste bags, and more, so if you need plastic items for your household, feel free to look them up to meet your needs.

WIN IT:

Plastic Place has generously offered to send a tube of HarmonyX Drawstring trash can bags to one lucky winner! To enter, simply complete the form below (one entry per person, per method). Info collected will only be used to verify the winning entry and contact the winner. This giveaway will close on June 5th at 11:59pm EST. The contest is open to readers in the US only.

One winner will be picked randomly through Rafflecopter and I will contact them via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond with mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

Click on the “Read More” tag below to enter the giveaway if you are viewing from the home page.

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Good luck!

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post and the views expressed here are my own. I received a sample of this product in order to facilitate my review.

So, I’m sure you guys are definitely curious how my “No Shampoo Journey” is going. I meant to update you guys around one week, but I’ve been busy with various posts and topics (such as Richard Mille RM011 Watches for Sale). It’s been about two weeks now , so I’ve definitely had some time to figure out how some of the changes are going to go. So, definitely some thoughts about this:

1) The “transition period” between shampoo and not using shampoo is not nearly as bad as most people make it sound. Yes, your hair is going to get greasy faster, but using your baking soda shampoo mixture will clean it up pretty well. Really, my hair looks just as great as it does with a shampoo as it does with a baking soda mixture. I really can’t even tell the difference, and I sometimes admire myself in the mirror because it’s just SO weird that I’m not using shampoo yet my hair still looks light and fluffy. It takes some time to learn how to get all of the baking soda into the right places and how to rinse it out well too, though, so expect a bit of a transition there too.

2) I’m still part-way in the transition period. You think about your hair getting more oil as you cut out shampoo, but I’m surprised to find that my face feels more oily as well. I’ve been taking care to spend extra time washing my face to avoid any intense break-outs, but my skin hasn’t felt this oily while using shampoo before. I think the “correction” my body is trying to do with the overproduction of oil on my scalp is also changing the production of oil on my face. That wouldn’t surprise me at all. I expect this to go away within a month or so.

3) I’m not sure if it’s because I’m still in “transition” or not, but using the Apple Cidar Vinegar conditioner actually makes my hair feel really oily and greasy, and I’m careful about only using a bit on the ends. I’ve just been avoiding using any conditioner on my hair thus far, and it feels a whole lot better than it was feeling. I actually had some friends touch my hair when it had the vinegar in it, and they said that it “looked clean, but felt really oily when they touched it”, so that was all I needed to discontinue using the Apple Cidar Vinegar for the moment.

4) My hair still isn’t 100% transitioned, but I do notice small improvements. Where I used to only be able to go about a day between washes (more like 18 hours), I now can go pretty well with about 36 hours before it starts to look more greasy. It’s not a huge improvement yet (though I suppose doubling my previous capability should probably be considered an improvement), but it’s definitely a lot better. I’ve read about people who can go about 4-5 days without their hair looking greasy, and I look forward to those days!

5) It’s WEIRD to wash your hair without the latering sudsy-ness of shampoo. That’s the weirdest part. It can feel a bit rough on your hands at the time, especially compared to lathering, but you’ll get used to it pretty quickly. The lathering makes your hands glide over the strands of hair, but without the lather, you really get to “know” the natural texture of your hair while you’re applying the baking soda shampoo mixture. It’s pretty neat. For those wondering how to know when you’ve put on enough baking soda mixture on your hair, there’s a “noticable” change in how your hair feels. The hair starts to feel slightly more slick when you have enough baking soda applied. Once you get used to the lather-less washing and when you pay attention, it’s pretty easy to notice the change in sensation once it’s coated in baking soda.

6) My hair feels a lot thicker than it used to feel. It definitely feels thicker in a ponytail as well. This is odd considering that it used to feel thinner. But it feels especially thicker in the morning before I brush it out. If you’re someone that always wants more volume/body in your hair, this could be awesome. I really could “take it or leave it”, but I’m glad I can see some different changes in my hair.

7) My hair has more tangles straight out of the shower, BUT it dries a whole lot faster than it used to. The tangles are partially because I’m being a lot more conscious about scrubbing my scalp and getting the baking soda directly into the scalp skin. The tangles aren’t too hard to brush out though, and I’ve noticed that my hair feels much “lighter” too. It doesn’t feel like it’s heavy and weighing down with the water like it used to.

8) Dandruff. I was dealing with dandruff before I started the “nopoo” routine, and after about a week of the baking soda, I’m happy to report that it’s almost ALL gone. Before I’d use dandruff shampoo, but after a couple days of not using that, the dandruff would be right back. WIth the baking soda, it seems to be pretty much all gone. I still notice a couple specks once in awhile, but a scalp is a scalp, and it makes sense that I’d lose a bit of skin sometimes. (Or it’s baking soda I accidentally didn’t rinse off. That too)

So, definitely making some progress! Just thought I’d keep you guys update on the progress with my “No Shampoo” transition. It’s taking time, but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be. In fact, the most annoying part, really, is having to mix the shampoo mixture ahead of time. Aside from that ( I need a larger baking soda bottle and a different delivery system, but I’m still working out the kinks), though, it’s really not nearly as much of a pain as I thought it’d be. I thought I’d be making a “sacrifice” to go natural, but honeslty, aside from a slight bit more time that it takes, I have absolutely no complaints.

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Disclaimer: I Heart Giveaways may receive affiliate commissions from your participation in CashCrate, though all opinions are my own and I would not recommend a product or a service that I feel is not beneficial to my readers. Thank you for your support of this blog.

What Is It
“The First Sentence Is the Hardest” is an e-book published by Jerri Ann Reason from Four Reasons Media. Available in a .pdf copy at 39 pages long, this e-book includes pictures, but it is mostly made up of text. It reads just fine on a computer screen, but I’m not sure how well it would work on any e-Reader, so that’s something to keep in mind.

The Table of Contents includes:
How to Be Relevant and Still Get Noticed
How Much is My Writing Worth?
Where Will You Publish Your Content?
FTC Language
What Role Do Images Play?
Appendix

My Opinion
“The First Sentence is the Hardest” has a lot of good information for bloggers – especially bloggers who have never ventured into paid content before but are familiar with the blogosphere and things that go on in the blogosphere. Jerri Ann writes in a conversational way, and unlike some mentors, she does mention specific numbers. In the Appendix, Jerri also offers an example of a paid post (including her thought process on how to do a paid post. This appendix topic EASILY stood out as one of the most helpful aspects of the e-book). The Appendix also includes examples and information fora review post, information for a review and giveaway post, as well as an okay glossary.

One thing I definitely recommend: I DEFINITELY recommend you be a blogger who’s been around the reviewing community or mommy blogging community for awhile in order to read this book. The author does a good job of explaining and telling about HOW to do review posts and sponsored posts, but the author doesn’t really do any job of explaining WHAT those things are as well as WHY someone would want to do them. For example, on page 30, doing a “Giveaway post” is mentioned. It doesn’t particularly talk about what a giveaway post looks like or what it is. It doesn’t really mention much about why a client would want you to run a giveaway post. If you’re familiar with certain blogging communities, you’ll instantly know about giveaway posts, but if you aren’t, this could be extremely confusing.

I do have some gripes with the e-book, though – it’s just kinda hard to follow. Each one of the chapters goes over a different aspect of writing reviews, writing paid posts, and other things. However, it just gets a bit confusing after awhile since each chapter includes the same type of information, and there’s a lot of overlap in information. For example, in all of the chapters (“How to Be Relevant and Still Get Noticed”, etc.), there are all sub-sections entitled “Writing Reviews” and “Writing Paid Posts”. At many points, the author says “Like I said before…” because of the overlap in content.I would have liked to see just a chapter about paid posts. Then just a chapter about writing reviews. As many people may be interested in only one or the other, having all the information in one spot, without having to overlap information, would have been awesome.

I also have to wonder about some of the information included in the book. Granted, since this e-book was published, new Google regulations have come out that have changed SEO for companies. However, the author mentions things like writing 50 words for a sponsored post. I’ve never seen a client request less than 250 words for a sponsored link (because posts with a link that’s over 250 words tend to “shine” better in Google versus the extremely short ones). So I do have to wonder a bit about that. But the author’s well-made points about how much to charge for a post as well as her idea about sponsored posts is definitely nice. Along with this, the FTC guidelines have changed since this e-book was published, and now the FTC guidelines are more stringent than the author

Another small gripe is that the language and writing is sometimes hard to follow. There are some run-on sentences as well as some writing that seems a rambly at points. Granted, it’s nice to see the Jerri Ann is being totally honest in her writing style, and whether or not this writing style will bother you depends on your preferences. I personally prefer more business-type writing styles. Jerri Ann’s style comes across more of what you’d expect as a reply if you asked your best friend about these topics – very casual and not always straight to the point.

Pros
The author, Jerri Ann, is very open about her experiences in blogging. She talks, bluntly, about writing posts and how to start to make money from your content.

Cons
Some of the writing style really is disjointed and difficult to read. I’m not sure about the accuracy of some of the statements made in the guide. There are numerous editing errors. If you’re familiar with how sponsored content and paid posts normally work, you’ll be fine, but if you aren’t familiar, this book could get confusing quickly.

Recommended
If you’re looking for a bit more direction on how to write your reviews and your sponsored posts or have been curious about delving into sponsored posts and reviews more, you can check out this e-book. I can’t say that I’d recommend it to most people though.

Buy It
You can pick up “The First Sentence is the Hardest” from the Four Reasons Media website.

I want to thank Jerri Ann for giving me the chance to review her new eBook.

What Is It
The Ready2Go case is a tech accessory organizer. Designed to be portable and lightweight for most of today’s daily electronic accessories, the Ready2Go case is portable and easy to take with you. Made of Nylon fabric, the Ready2Go case allows your cords to “breathe” and doesn’t trap too much heat inside the case, either. This case is about seven inches long, five inches wide, and about two and a half inches thick, so it’s slim enough to easily travel with you wherever you need. The Ready2Go also zips up easily to protect your cords while on the go.

In order to better help you organize your electronic accessories, the Ready2Go case includes 3 elastic straps on both sides of the inner divider. This case also has inner pockets for smaller accessories such as SD cards or batteries. By using the elastic straps and including the inner divider, the Ready2Go case helps reduce a lot of the tangling that happens in most other electronic accessory cases.

Before

My Opinion
The Ready2Go travel accessory case will definitely work as a good travel case. With its small size and little handle, you can easily pick it up and organize around it. With its pretty standard size, you can even pack clothing and other items around it, so it fits really nicely into luggage – or even into your desk or drawer to keep those cords out of the way.

I have to admit that I’m slightly disappointed by the “lid” of this case. As you can see in my pictures, it’s a see-through type of mesh material that allows you to see what’s stored inside the case. However, at the same time, it actually has no storage space on it at all. There’s no zipper that allows you to put things into the pocket or anything. Having even just a very slim pocket for SD cards or something like that would have made this side so much more useful. It seems like it’s wasted space without adding in any sort of pocket or additional space into this side of the Ready2Go Small Accessory Organizer.

After

The Ready2Go small organizer isn’t going to fit a ton inside its little material self, but it will definitely fit a good amount of things into it. Don’t expect it to fit your entire electronic cable collection, but if you have a lot of electronics you use on a regular basis or need to go travelling with some specific ones, it does pretty nicely. The case has the inner divider that has three elastic straps on both sides. This thing can easily fit six average cords on it without much of a problem. On one side, the Ready2Go case has four little “pockets” are specifically designed to fit USB drives, so you can fit four USB drives in there, too. Along with that, with the extra room, you can throw in more cords without much of an issue. You could also fit rechargeable batteries or even the rechargeable battery charger without too much of a problem.

I would be careful about storing really small things like SD cards or MicroSD cards in here, though. There’s no zipper pocket or tiny pocket that will allow those cards to avoid getting tossed around. So without that, you might accidentally let one of the SD cards out of your Ready2Go case without meaning to, so you might want to find a different storage method for those.

Pros
The Ready2Go electronics accessories case helps organize cables and other small accessories that tend to get lost in the shuffle of your desk and electronics. It’s small enough to take along on trips while it’s also large enough to fit a good amount of items.

Cons
I wish there were more electronic-specific storage aspects to the Ready2Go case. While it has the USB drive slots, a small pouch for SD cards or other small items would have been extra-amazing.

Recommended
If you need to organize some cables or your USB drives (or other small electronic accessories), the Ready2Go case works amazingly. It has room for a lot of smaller items, and it easily packs away into areas in a shape that allows for you to pack around it.

Buy It
You can get the Ready2Go case directly from the NeatNix site. NeatNix sells a ton of amazing things that will help you organize your home and other areas of your life. And an organized life will help you better lead a productive life!

WIN IT:

Neatnix has generously offered to send a Ready2Go to FIVE lucky winners! To enter, simply complete the form below (one entry per person, per method). Info collected will only be used to verify the winning entry and contact the winner. This giveaway will close on May 29th at 11:59pm EST. The contest is open to readers in the US only.

One winner will be picked randomly through Rafflecopter and I will contact them via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond with mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

Click on the “Read More” tag below to enter the giveaway if you are viewing from the home page.

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Good luck!

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post and the views expressed here are my own. I received a sample of this product in order to facilitate my review.

What Is It
“Label Lessons” is an e-book written by Andrea Donsky and Lisa Tsakos of Naturally Savvy. Designed as a guide to a healthy shopping cart, “Label Lessons” is a full-color e-book that compares two products – a healthy choice and a bad choice – and explains why the bad choice is a bad one to make. By doing this, it points out the dangerous ingredients and dangerous nutritional aspects to show you what you should be avoiding when you go to the supermarket. The e-book is 31 pages long, and it’s a pretty quick read, but it’s definitely still an important and good read.

This ingredient e-book focuses on pointing out healthier alternatives to products you may be using on a daily basis including breakfast cereals, drink mixes, fruit snacks, tampons and pads, and supplements.

My Opinion
“Label Lessons” is a great e-book – especially for free. Unlike their print book, “Unjunk your Junk Food”, “Label Lessons” focuses on non-junk-food type items. If you read their print book and wanted to know more about non-junk types of food, “Label Lessons” is there to fill that void. Plus, as if that wasn’t awesome enough, Naturally Savvy chose to go the e-book route with this book which means that this e-book is free of charge, so you can learn about dangerous ingredients without having to pay anything!

I especially love that Naturally Savvy chose to stick with the bright and colorful design that they had used in their print book. Along with making the book just more bright, cheery, and easier to read, the layout really helps make the book easier to skim. There are colors to designate the bad ingredients and easy colors to tell what is a heading and what isn’t. Plus, the ingredient explanations are easily laid-out, so you can easily skim through and read only about particular negative aspects about the product. Plus, again, it just makes the book look prettier too, and I love that aspect of it.

The biggest complaint I really have about the book is that it feels hurried. It’s an e-book, so I don’t expect as much information as I would from a full-length print book, but at the same time, it feels a lot more hurried than the previous Naturally Savvy book. It seems like it would have be helpful to dedicate more area to some of the topics in the book, but instead, I leave those areas feeling a bit like I don’t really understand what ingredients to watch out for. For example, under the “Food” heading, it only talks about Hot Breakfast Cereal, Breakfast Cereal, Fruit Snacks, Chocolate Drink Mix, Spreads, and Soy Sauce. There’s just SO many other food categories I’d be interested in, and this barely scratched the surface.

While with the “Unjunk your Junk Food” book they wrote, I felt like the rehashing of things over and over was a positive thing because it “drilled” it into my head, with Label Lessons, I feel like it doesn’t have nearly enough of the same type of examples, so I’m left feeling like I have to sit and stare at the page and memorize ingredient names versus memorizing them naturally through repetition.

However, the e-book format, aside from shortness, does lend itself well to some positives as well. Because it’s an e-book, this means that there are links embedded in the content that you can use to easily “click” and be taken straight to the website. The authors use this in a multitude of useful ways. The product names of the “healthy” alternatives are linked to the product website (though in fairness, I wish they would have linked to the manufacturer’s site of the “unhealthy” alternatives too which they did not). Plus, if they use any large words or reference any other chapter/topics in this e-book, it’s linked back to a webpage or other aspects. Again, this makes it easier to navigate.

What I WOULD have liked to have seen done with this feature is the same type of linking structure – but with the ingredients list. As it stands, the bad ingredients are demonstrated in an alternate font color, but when you click on them, nothing happens. I would have loved to have seen a click to the ingredient name bring you straight to a glossary or webpage about what makes the ingredient bad, what is concerning about it, and any applicable research done about the safety of that ingredient. I really think that would have made the e-book even more valuable than a print book because it would have made everything so simple.

It’s also worth noting that, unlike “Unjunk your Junk Food”, the e-book “Label Lessons” does make note of sugar problems. Sugar may be genetically modified, and they do take that into account with this book when making product recommendations. If you’re not concerned about GMO ingredients, you can ignore any of the ingredients listed in the blue font. I think it’s good that the authors make note that they could be genetically modified, though, but at this point in my life, I’m not quite ready to try and get rid of GMO ingredients – I’m still trying to stick to just getting rid of the really, known-dangerous ones. So one step at a time for me.

Despite all of my criticisms, I would still, beyond-a-doubt, recommend this e-book to anyone. The information is valuable, and it gives you real-world practice in understanding and identifying dangerous ingredients. Plus, if you just want to be lazy, this e-book also just gives you an “easy” way to switch your food to healthier alternatives – even if you don’t want to take the time yet to be concerned about dangerous ingredients. The book could have been taken further than it was, but at the same time, “Label Lessons” Is also a fantastic book in itself that provides valuable and needed information. Whether you plan on studying it to learn about ingredients or you just want to learn some quick switches you can make, I’d recommend it to anyone.

Pros
“Label Lessons” is a really helpful e-book – especially for being free. It’ll help you get a taste of what “Unjunk your Junk Food” is like while still learning a lot about dangerous ingredients and better alternatives to your standard daily food choices.

Cons
“Label Lessons” feels a bit rushed in the execution compared to Naturally Savvy’s print book. Along with that, I would have liked to see more interaction with the e-book capabilities (though they certainly did include some pretty good interactions).

Recommended
If you’re concerned about unnatural and dangerous ingredients in your food, “Label Lessons” Is going to be a fantastic book to read through. Even if you only have ten minutes, skimming the book to understand more dangerous ingredients is definitely worth it.

Buy It
You don’t have to buy it! “Label Lessons” is completely free, and you can read it by following this link: Label Lessons e-book

What Is It
eShakti is a lovely online store that sells fully-customizable clothing. Whether because you want a perfect fit, you want to avoid a tailor, you want a quality piece of clothing, or you just find that most “standard” sizing doesn’t fit, eShakti allows you to input your measurements, and your item will be created exactly to fit your measurements. In many cases, you can also customize various aspects about the piece itself such as the length of the dress/skirt, the neckline of a top, the sleeves of a top, and other aspects.

eShakti sells a large variety of fully-customizable clothing including dresses, tops, skirts, jackets, bridesmaids dresses, shrugs and cardigans, and others. They also have an Overstock category as well as a Sale category to help you save on money, but to be honest, most of their clothing is already pretty affordable for being fully customized. (Getting a fully made-to-order dress off of eShakti only is about $10 more than the place where I normally buy dresses. Then again, plus-size clothing is expensive!)

The Bird’s Eye View Dress is an adorable black, vintage dress. Like all of the eShakti dresses, this stunning dress can be customized to your exact measurements. You can’t customize the sleeve and the length of the dress (like you can with some dresses), but you put in all of your exact measurements as well as your height for a proper-fitting dress that’s going to work with your body. You can also, of course, order it by standard sizing as well. This dress has a wide, V-Neck front and back as well as an elastic, smocked waist. It has a full-circle skirt, and it’s a below-knee-length dress. It can be washed in the washing machine, and it even includes side-seam pockets!

My Opinion
I have one of those odd body shapes. It’s not a bad thing, but when clothing designers design clothing, they design it for the “norm”, and I’m not the norm, so most clothing looks a bit off on me. I have large hips, a narrow waist, and a smaller bust, and when people design plus-size clothing, they expect a large bust, so most clothing usually doesn’t end up fitting me how it would if I had a larger chest. That’s why the fact that eShakti does personalized measurements is so appealing to me – and it works so wonderfully!

I’m kinda in love with this dress, though. I LOVE how it fits me. So far, I’ve tried two dresses from eShakti – and fallen in love with BOTH. I’m so impressed, and I’ve pretty much stalking eShakti to see if I find another style of dress I want because I plan on purchasing another one. There’s something about the material, the customization, and the styles of the dresses that eShakti sells that makes me feel pretty much like a princess in a dress. I’m in love with the feeling, and I’m in love with how their dresses make me feel.

I was a bit surprised by the pockets, too. I forgot the dress had pockets! Oops! But the pockets came in huge handy, and I ended up storing my cell phone right inside my dress. The pockets were extremely well-done, and neither I nor my partner could “find” the pockets just by looking at the dress. I spent a lot of time while wearing the dress trying to feel up the seam to figure out where the pocket was. So they definitely did a fantastic job with the pockets, and I never thought I’d be fond of a dress with pockets sewn in, but I definitely was.

The quality of the eShakti dress impresses me too. The Bird’s Eye View Dress looks like it’s going to last a long time. The material is thick without being too sweaty while wearing it, and all of the stitching is perfect – I can’t find a single thread out of place. The zipper, while easily hidden under the arm, still zips up easily and unzips easily too. The stitched design is firmly on there with really nice, bright colors, and all of the hems are perfect. Really, this dress looks like it’s going to last a long, long time with the quality it was made with.

If I had to make a complaint, I’d say that the shipping takes a bit because it’s customized. But really, that’s about all I got. I’m in love with the customer service, the quality of the dress, and the selection. Just plain in love.

Pros
My Bird’s Eye View Dress from eShakti is absolutely amazing. It fits me perfectly, it makes me feel amazing, and it is high-quality and looks like it’s going to last a long time. I’m so much in love with eShakti and their dresses.

Cons
The dress does take a little bit of time to get it into your hands. Considering all the customization options they give you, though, this is totally understandable!

Recommended
Whether you have an odd body shape or just want a dress that’s going to fit you like a glove, eShakti does an amazing job. Their styles are more classic than modern, but they make wonderful casual dresses, and they look absolutely amazing.

Buy It
You can pick up any of the stunning eShakti dresses right off of their website. They also sell other custom-sized clothing like skirts and shirts as well.