Bathtub Toy Basket

I've been utilizing this handy KidCo Toy Organizer for quite some time now:

I paid $15.29 for it from Amazon (get it here).

It's been a wonderful item to have, in my opinion. For one, I've yet to buy a spout cover for the bathtub. Mostly because this handy organizer, can easily be pushed in front of it, effectively blocking it off. 

It's not an enormous storage basket by any means. But, it holds plenty of things for a single bath time, and has nice separating pieces that can be adjusted to whichever slot you'd like them to be in.

The item as a whole is easily adjustable to different bathtub widths, and it stays at the adjustment you push it to pretty successfully. 

All in all, I feel it was a great purchase and would definitely recommend it to others.

Airbrush Makeup - Belletto Studio

I'm the faithful follower of a few youtube girls that are constantly giving me great ideas for hair and makeup. One of them reviewed a few different airbrush makeup kits, and that's when my obsession with airbrush makeup started.

I decided to go with Belletto, because of the brands said youtuber reviewed it came out on top in a lot of areas - and because she had a 50% off (!!) coupon for them. I'm not sure how long it will be valid for, but as of September 2014 it was still working. Coupon code: nicolexo

Initially the order process was smooth and quick. My anticipated package arrived just 4 days after placing my order.

Excitedly, I opened the package, carefully pulled out my products and was crushed with disappointment when I realized they'd sent the wrong foundation colors! I emailed them right away about the flaw. Within an hour someone called me, apologized and told me the correct items would be overnight shipped, and a few extras thrown in for me.

I was very impressed with this degree of customer service. The timing was such that an overnight shipment on Friday still wasn't going to make it to me until Monday though. So that sucked.

What sucked more was when Monday rolled around and no product showed up. Tuesday, and no product. Wednesday... and no product.

My faith in the company fell a bit. Because, in my opinion, if a package error occurs the best a company can do is overnight ship the correct items. So I was very satisfied with that being the case. Although it ended up not being the case. I finally got in touch with a customer service representative, and explained my frustrations. She told me that for (whatever reason) overnight shipping of things couldn't be done anymore. This just frustrated me more. For one, why not? Especially in the event that you're to blame for the mistake. Secondly, why the heck was I told it would be overnight shipped then?

Anyway... my correct items ended up arriving on Thursday - a week after receiving my initial product.

Onward to actual product:

It was very well packaged in a nice, visually appealing, white box.

Inside was a really nice, leather case holding the compressor, cords, airbrush gun, and educational dvd. I really love the case itself. Very convenient for travel and storing.  

Hooking it all up was very simple. It was merely three attachments. Attaching air hose to the compressor.

Attaching power cord to compressor. 

And, attaching air hose to the airgun. 

The airgun holder slid effortlessly onto the side of the compressor and is another convenient feature.

The mesh top of the case can hold several foundation/makeup bottles. 

I did watch the educational video and some other youtube videos before my first attempt. Applying this makeup is so easy though. 

Just choose your color(s). I found that mixing 7 drops of F2p and 2 drops of F2y were my perfect shade (the foundations pictured ended up being too pale for me). I'm sure a lot of people can get away using a single color. I probably would be fine with just F2p. I just ended up liking the F2y addition with my undertones. That's another thing I love about this makeup - it's so easy to mix for a perfect shade. 

Just squeeze your drops into the liquid foundation compartment and you're ready to go. If mixing different colors, I always hold the tip while slightly pulling back the trigger to let it back bubble a bit for mixing. 

I also found that I basically never need to go higher than a low medium setting on the compressor. 

Though it may look awkward at first (I thought so), it's actually quite comfortable in your hand. It's very light and the trigger is very easy and giving to use. 

It usually takes a few passes over my entire face before I've used the amount of foundation in the airgun. I've found that 8-10 drops is really good coverage for me. I cannot stress how quick it is to apply this, or how light it feels on my face. I barely feel like I'm wearing any makeup at all! Most of the time, I don't apply anything else to my face (no concealer, no powder!). Just blush and eye makeup. 

However, if beneath my eyes are particularly dark or I have some more extreme blemishes, I will dab on some of my Nyx concealer first.

Cleanup is simple. Just add in drops of water, plug the tip with your finger, and pull the trigger to let some back bubbling wash out any remaining foundation. Spray it into a cup or cloth and repeat until your backwash is clear. It takes less than a minute. 

Below are some before and after pictures. Unfortunately they weren't taken on the same day. The first day I forgot to take the after photos and on Day 2 I forgot to take before pics. Ah, what ya gonna do? They're also not so great quality as they are cell phone pictures and crappy lighting, etc. Nonetheless, it does provide a comparison. I definitely had some blemishes/imperfections that I think the airbursh makeup did an excellent job covering. The makeup lasted all day too - like 10 hours later it still looked great. And, keep in mind, I didn't wear any concealer or any powder in these photos. Seriously. 

Overall, I'm pleased with the ease of use and quality of this product, and I have already recommended it to others. If you're considering airbrush makeup, I do believe Belletto is a great choice at a very reasonable price (comparatively).

Essential Oils

I've had some family using essential oils for years and years. Over the past year or so I'd grown more and more interested in them as they kept coming up in other natural remedies I was looking for at the time. 

This year alone, I started reading about them a lot. Since I wasn't a distributor, already hesitant, and owned no oils at the time I feel like it made me a fairly objective researcher. 

I read a lot of blogs, emailed some professionals, got statements from different companies, looked at the research in what these oils even are, before making a decision to try utilizing any of them. 

First, I think aroma therapists get over looked in this area. It is their profession. So, if you're not taking their opinions seriously, then it's like ignoring your doctor's advice over the random person selling medical equipment/medicine. 

Secondly, every single company I looked at basically has false information put out. Example: "Pure Therapeutic Grade." 

These are terms that these companies literally have to go get trademarked because they're not true on the basis of testing. The FDA nor any other national organization runs organized testing on oils, thus not 'grading' them. So, just ignore these statements.  

One aroma therapist told me directly, and this statement was found in numerous other AT blogs I read: "Essential oils are not intended to be ingested." 

Some research even suggested ingesting citrus oils, can later cause scaring in esophagus and stomach lining. Because, yes, these oils are that potent. And they really should only be ingested with the guidance from a physician, and not the guidance of a company selling the oils. 

I compared the distilling process between: Young Living, doTerra, Mountain Rose Herbs, Eden's Garden, and Plant Life. 

According to the information available from each of these companies, the process was basically identical. 

I read in an AT's blog that you actually do not want to see the same exact oil being the exact same every time you order it. Because, this is plant life and it's never going to be identical twice. So, if your oil is 'identical' in every batch, then clearly the company is doing something to make it so. 

The best resource I found was from a 3rd party testing organization in France, who is trying to study the quality of essential oils. They got several EO companies to participate. They sent in their oils sealed and packaged exactly as they would be to a buyer. Someone then removed company labels and sent the bottles to their chemist being labeled with only numbers. Results are on nourishingtreasures.com and learningabouteos.com. It was nice to be able to look at these very unbiased results and see that all of these companies produced basically the same quality of oil (with like a .2% differential). The oils tested were Peppermint, Myrrh, Tea Tree. 

The companies that participated (in one study or another) were:

• Bulk Apothecary
• doTERRA
• Eden’s Garden
• Essential Oil Exchange
• Heritage
• Mountain Rose Herbs
• Nature’s Gift
• NOW
• NYR Organics
• Scena Essentials
• Spark Naturals
• Young Living

"Beyond the basics of Latin name and chemo type, we need to see GC/MS tests to verify the contents of the bottle and the quality of the contents." (learningabouteos.com)

So the compositions as per ISO were ran with GC/MS testing. 

With Tea Tree oil, the only company "Not in Compliance" with recommended levels was: Spark Naturals.

With Myrrh, all of the oil samples sent in were in compliance with recommended levels. 

With Peppermint, the only companies that were in compliance were: Essential Oil Exchange, Nature's Gift, and NYR - and all of the companies listed above participated in this one. So all of those other companies were not in compliance with recommended plant percentages. 

Pretty solid quality evidence, in my opinion. Also, pretty solid evidence that the batches of oils between these companies really do not vary all that much. I'm not saying there isn't any variance, because clearly there is. Also, clearly there are really terrible oils out there. So, just do your research. I'm of the opinion that most of the popular ones you're going to come across are perfectly acceptable oils. 

As far as organic goes:  "Ensuring organic status throughout the entire production process [of essential oils] is problematic and requires further investigation. At this time, testing of the end product is not required and is rarely done. Intentional and non-intentional contamination can occur at several points in the production process. Studies on Organic v. Non-Organic Essential Oils To date: there are no studies indicating that organic essential oil is superior to non-organic essential oil."  (57aromas.com)

Per suggestion of numerous aroma therapist blogs, I focused on companies like Mountain Rose, Eden's Garden, and Aromatics International (they have archived and current GC/MS testing right on their website!).

If you're worried about costs, because I did read comments like, "They're cheap, they must be low quality," that simply isn't true. If you don't believe me, do the research yourself. MLM companies have money going to several different people, and that's why they're expensive. 

Some companies cut out the middleman. Since my research provided valid (enough) evidence that the quality of these oils, between the companies I was looking at, were of extremely similar ranges, I just decided to go with not paying more when I could pay less for the same thing.

I know a lot of people are pretty hard-core about the company they buy from, but I'm pretty open and will probably buy from a few of the ones suggested by aroma therapists. 

I'll keep you posted on some of my topical experiences though and if I feel I've benefited from the magical oil powers of plants ;)

http://www.learningabouteos.com/index.php/2013/08/04/why-we-perform-3rd-party-gcms-testing/

Child Proofing

I have a 17 month old and I'm just now child proofing some things. I think it's safe to say I like procrastinating the inevitable. 

For the most part, I don't mind my son wandering around the house and rearranging stuff. But, recently, he's proven some of these aren't ideal for his safety. 

So I finally ordered these:

You know I ordered them from Amazon, right? (here)

These are a bit on the expensive end when compared to other kinds and brands. I got a 10 pack for $25, I'm of the opinion that they're worth it though.

I love these. I think they're amazing and extremely versatile. I had read some problems people were having with the sticky part actually sticking, but I've had no problems with this and have these stuck to various different surfaces. 

Hopefully it's known to clean the area before sticking it - if not... clean the area before sticking it. I used vinegar, alcohol would also work. Just give the area a quick rub down, let it dry and stick your little straps down. Ready to go. 

I have some cabinets that are grooved in such a way that my sticky part couldn't make solid contact with the surface throughout. Even those have held up to the violent pullings of my toddler. 

Still, these get the most love because they're so universal. I didn't have to hunt down cabinet locks, then trash can locks, then drawers locks, etc. If whatever you're needing to secure doesn't exceed the length of the strap, then these will do the job. 

Snack Cup

I'm not all that big on the idea of letting kids just snack whenever. But from time to time, I will give my toddler a small portion of puffs or crunchies (let's face it, there isn't much to either of those snacks anyway) to keep him satisfied while I finish a chore. 

I tend to love OXO products. I have some OXO cups, silverware, bowls, plates, baby food containers, and who knows what all else.

So, I was disappointed when I purchased the OXO Tot snack cup. It's a clean, cute design like most of their products. I like that's it's clear, and my toddler could easily hold it by its handle. However, the flaps on this cup top aren't nearly flexible enough. Heck, I thought it was hard myself to reach through the stiff flaps and achieve the goal of actually pulling my hand back out with food still in it. I mean, I'm all for things that work fine motor skills on kids, but my kid would get so frustrated with this cup that he'd end up just throwing it down and not wanting it. 

On Amazon (here) it's listed at $5.99. I found the one I have for $3.99 at a local baby shop though, so they can probably be found at a better price. 

Due to my toddler's inability to use this cup, I hunted for a different brand. I purchased a set of two Munchkin snack cups for somewhere around the same price as the single OXO ($5). The Munchkin snack cups are $4.47 as an add-on with Amazon (here). 

These cups are much easier for my toddler to use. They're a bit larger in size, but that wasn't a hinderance. The handles are nice and my toddler usually holds the cup by them. The flaps are a more flexible rubber, and much easier for my kid to use successfully. Plus, having two of them is nice. 

Though these are the only two toddler snack cups we've used, I'd definitely recommend the Munchkin cups to anyone with toddlers. 

Poly-Vi-Sol

Before I'd even had my son, my Pediatrician had mentioned vitamin supplements. Once he had arrived, she mentioned them several more times thereafter. 

If you're the parent of an infant/toddler, these are a must! I was surprised by how many of my other parent friends hadn't been informed of an infant/toddler vitamin by their doctors.

Poly-Vi-Sol is what we use:

I usually find it easily at most Target stores I visit, but like most things, have taken to purchasing it from Amazon (here). 

Homemade Cream Soda

Drinking soda is a rare treat for me, so I've really gotta make it count when it happens. I've tried a few homemade cream soda recipes before, but the one I'm about to share is by far superior to all others I have tried. 

1 cup of club soda
1/4 - 1/3 cup of vanilla syrup (like coffee aisle syrup or make one similar to this recipe)
2 tbsp of half and half
Put a nice mound of whip cream on top (yum!)

Tada! Cream soda. Enjoy :)