It's green and it cleans...

I'm doing my first review. Upfront I want to tell you that I promise you that this isn't going to be one of those blogs that turn into all reviews. I'm not big into them, but feel that if it is something truly relevant to you and your blog then go right ahead. As long as you're honest. :)

Ok so EcoStore contacted me about reviewing some of their products. I read over the e-mail and I was immediately excited. All of you who know me know that I am passionate about products that both are good for you and the environment AND actually work. It's a win/win. So I responded to the e-mail and accepted.

EcoStore makes plant based, non-toxic Household Cleaners, Baby and Personal Care Products that contain No Nasty Chemicals(tm). Their products are available at MEIJER grocery stores (unfortunately not around my neck of the woods) but they do have free shipping on orders of $25 and more.

For my two products I chose Baby Shampoo and Cream Cleanser...

First, the Baby Shampoo.

I only use natural shampoos on my kids. Ever since I first heard about the fact that many baby/kids shampoos contain carcinogens I have not bought a shampoo that hasn't been all natural for them. I'm always on the look out for a better one as I have something that I would change about most that I try.

First impressions? When I opened the bottle K-Girl needed to smell it. She said it smelled good and I agreed. It's a pleasant smell, but nothing overwhelming which is wonderful. When I poured it out it was a bit thinner than some - this isn't a bad thing, just something I have needed to keep in mind as if I'm not thinking I'll pour more than is necessary. It suds up great though and definitely has "sculptability" that is a must with kids shampoo. ;) EcoStore Baby Shampoo left both of the kids with nice smelling, clean hair. It's competitively priced compared to other natural shampoos. I have no complaints with it and would recommend it to you.

I think I need to try some of the natural conditioners next though. I have an awful time with K-Girl's hair knotting up no matter what brand of product I use. EcoStore's conditioners all sound like they would be nice to try as well to fix those knots.

After much procrastination I did finally decide to try out my Cream Cleanser. Cleaning, yes even green cleaning, isn't exactly one of my favorite things to do so of course there was a little procrastination going on. The reason I decided on the cream cleanser for the second product was the fact that I really don't remember seeing a natural cream cleanser. Everything that I use has been spray so I was excited about something that sticks a little better.

I first put it to the test with my kitchen sink. I have no complaints at all. I think I actually heard my sink thank me...it was a much needed scrubbing. Afterwards it was shiny again - yay. Next was a little tougher job, my stove top. I can't tell you how many times I've boiled something over and made mental note that I needed to give it a good scrubbing. It's just one of those things that isn't high on my priority list. It gets wiped, but not often is shown that amount of love.

Here is my stove top before...

And after...

Isn't that one happy looking stove? It did really well on all the REALLY burnt on mess in the little burner trays - not perfect, but I don't think even nasty Clorox and a chisel would have them looking new either. Everything was clean though.

I did the cleaning with bare hands and a sponge since there's nothing to be scared of with this cleaner. Remember, No Nasty Chemicals(tm)?! The smell was "Lemon" according to the package, but it wasn't overwhelming. It did have a light pleasant citrus-y smell to it but I thought it seemed sweeter than lemon. It was not abrasive and didn't leave a residue on anything I cleaned. I was all around quite pleased with the product and thought it did a very good job cleaning - definitely able to hold it's own when up against its bigger nasty competitors.

I was very pleased with this experience with EcoStore and I think you would be too. Now something fun. EcoStore has offered two more of their products to any of my readers for free. So here's the deal - Just go over to EcoStore USA, check out their products, and come back and leave me a comment. Let me know what two products you would choose if you are picked to win and why. Winner will be chosen a week from today - Thursday August 6th - Sorry, no set time - whenever I get up and around and check the computer I'll post the winner. No extra entries for tweets or FB or anything like that but feel free to spread the news if you have friends that would also like to win free eco-friendly cleaners - maybe if they win they'll split the booty with you. ;)

Each person will be assigned a number in the order in which they comment. I will then place the numbers into Random.org's generator and have it choose the winner. The winner MUST have e-mail contact provided in comment or connected to their profile. Upon winning, winner must send me their name, mailing address, and phone number so I can pass the information along to EcoStore and get the 2 products of your choice out to you. If you are not comfortable sharing this information, please do not sign up for the contest.

I'd like to say thank you to Maggie at EcoStore for giving me the opportunity to try out these products and setting me up with a giveaway for my lovely readers. And good luck to all of you. :) Giveaways make me happy. I'm glad I'm able to spread the love.