Episencial Playful Foaming Wash & Pocket Charlies Review--And Eco Mom GC giveaway!

Since starting my green journey, my goal has been to find ways to incorporate a green lifestyle without making things overly complicated for my husband or me.  I may not be the greenest or healthiest person on the planet, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.  EcoMom's website says, "Healthy living doesn't have to be overwhelming.  Small steps matter, and make a big difference."  Suffice to say, I was intrigued almost immediately.  :)

The website goes on to state, "Founded to address the connection between the health of our environment & the health of our children, EcoMom is committed to making eco-conscious living easy, affordable, & rewarding with education, support, tools & products."  Sounds like a perfect match for me!

Recently EcoMom sent me Episencial Playful Foaming Wash and Pocket Charlies to review.  I was so excited to do my first product review, especially for a company that matched my ideals!...added bonus, EcoMom is giving away a $20 gift certificate to one of my readers!!

I was in the middle of making dinner one night when Squirmy spit up all over himself.  So I took his clothes off and continued making dinner.  Hubby comes in with the mail (and EcoMom's package).  I was excited to dig in, but had to finish dinner first.  Hubby went to pick up Squirmy to discover he was soaked in more spit up!  I mean soaked.  This kid NEVER spits up.  So Hubby is standing there hold him at arms length while I tear through the house collecting bath time stuff...good a time as any to try out new soap!!  Enter Episencial Playful Foaming Wash!

I was a little nervous trying a new product given everyone I know has only ever used the leading name brand baby wash...until this night, so had I.  But the product boasts a more natural formula:

• Won't irritate eyes or sensitive places. Rinses off fast!
• Gentle and hydrating cleanser using thyme oil and plant-based surfactants. Sulfate free!
• Fragrance free. Organic orange extract is our mild and fresh scent.
• Organic ginko biloba and calendula extract to sooth the skin
• Organic aloe and soothing oat extract to moisturize naturally.

Sounded better to me!!  I like that it really was as sensitive as promised!  Squirmy didn't seem to notice a difference, which was great by my book.  The light orange scent was pleasant but not overwhelming.  I loved that it was way more natural and eco-friendly!

Classic Squirmy face as we got things started!

My little model posing for the camera.

Just being silly (but you can see the foaming aspect of the soap)

So I LOVE that it's eco friendly and infant safe and all sorts of wonderful!  I think the only "downside" is that he smells of a lovely, natural orange scent instead of the chemical, "clean baby" smell we've been acculturated into recognizing!  You can buy it for $8.99 which is about the same as it's popular, chemical counterpart.  So for me, why would I spend the $$ on chemicals when I can get this great product instead?!?

The next product EcoMom sent was Pocket Charlies.  I have to admit my stain fighting methods aren't exactly green nor economical: if it doesn't wash out after a few runs through the laundry, I cut my losses, toss it and replace it.  I know, I know...but I'm too impatient to try to get stains out.  So I was anxious to try Pocket Charlies.  My roommate helped me out with this one.  She'd recently nicked herself shaving (hate it when I do that) and had lovely brown stains on her yellow sheets to show for it.  The stain was certainly dry, but not terribly old.

She sprayed some Pocket Charlies on it,

rubbed it in, then tossed it in the wash.

We have a favorite hand towel that we got shortly after getting married with our name monogrammed below a Mickey Mouse design.  We got it to commemorate the annual passes Hubby got us as part of my wedding present.  Not exactly something I can toss and replace.  Because it's our favorite hand towel to put in our half bath (the only bath on the main level), it gets used A LOT!  The part where you dry your hands has gotten this nasty dirty tinge to it.  GROSS!!  EcoMom's description of Pocket Charlies says, "Give Charlie's Soap a little extra time as it was meant to gently remove stains - not blast them off."  I figured it was worth a shot.  I taped off half of the hand towel to see if I could notice a difference.

This is the before shot.  I sprayed to the right of the tape, rubbed it in, and tossed it in the wash.

This was the after shot.  It might be kind of hard to tell, but the right side is a bit lighter.

So not the whooping, dramatic difference I was hoping for, but definitely a difference.  It does say to give it time and there was a difference.  I'll spray it each time I wash it and hopefully it will turn white again :)

The biggest drawback to me was the scent.  It smells like you're spraying your laundry with windex/ammonia. NOT what I want my laundry to smell like.  I could smell it on my other clothes when I pulled this load out and put them in the dryer, but by the time the dryer was done the smell was almost gone.  Even with the scent set back, I'm all about using it to get stains out of my laundry from now on!!

So now that I'm sold on all these wonderful eco-friendly baby products from EcoMom I was starting to wonder about the cost and shipping and all of that.  Enter in the EcoPass!!  With the EcoPass you get 15% off all your orders, free shipping on all your orders (no matter how big or small), and get exclusive offers and promotions.  Bonus, if you order it before the end of the month (June 30), you'll get a $50 gift card to EcoMom.  The EcoPass is for a year and costs $99.  With all the Episencial products, Plum Organic foods, and everything else, that's a amazing deal.  Plus you never have to leave the house (which is always better for me since it's a production to get out of the door some days).

SOOOOO....Here's the part you've been waiting for....what's in it for you?!?

All readers get a 15% DISCOUNT on orders placed before July 30, 2010 when you use the code SBBL408.  So go grab all your Eco-friendly baby products at www.ecomom.com and save $$ in the process!!

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*While these products were provided to me free of charge, I was not compensated for this review.  The opinions expressed here are honest and my own.