I was recently given the opportunity to review Freckle Box in return for an honest review. In case you haven’t heard of Freckle Box they offer personalized gifts for kids and they have a huge selection of gifts. I was given $40 to spend on the site and I was able to pick up two items for my daughter and something for my 8-year-old-son.

Some of the items that Freckle Box has are personalized books, personalized kids’ party favors and so much more!

Here are the two items I picked out for my 4-year-old daughter.

She got a coloring book and a story book. I wish I would have video taped her reaction when she realized the books had her name on them. She was smiling ear to ear when I was reading her the Sophia the Ballet Story. She loves coloring in her coloring book as well. I love that there is a story in the coloring book, so every page goes along with the next one.

The quality of the story book is awesome and I can see my daughter having this book for a very long time.

It was a little harder to pick out a gift for my 8-year-old son since really isn’t into much right now but music and video games. I did come across some dog tags and thought he would love them.

I know you can’t see the writing on the dog tags but it came out great! I had my his name put on the dog tag along with the name of the football team he plays for. He really liked his surprise, even more than I thought he would. He wears it to school, football practice and just about everywhere else.

I have to say that my overall experience with Freckle Box was excellent! They shipped the items out to me very quick and everything looked great. My brother is having his first baby in a few months and I’m already planning to get the baby a personalized gift.

The personalized gifts are affordable and a great option when you don’t want to buy over-priced toys.

Make sure to check out Freckle Box and all the awesome personalized gifts they offer.

Freckle Box is also offering one of my readers a $30 credit to their site! Make sure to enter for your chance to win.

This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and all entries will be verified. The winner will have 48-hours to respond to the email letting them know they won. If you do not respond I will pick another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I received this item free of charge in return for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and all thoughts are my own.

As a woman in her 30′s I’m always on the hunt for the best skin care products. Taking care of my skin is more important to me now than ever before. I feel that at this stage in life I need to preserve my skin and make sure I am taking the best possible care of it. In order to take proper care of your skin you need to use good quality products. There is a certain line of products that I have been using for a few years and I have been very pleased with. My only issue is the products I have been using are a little expensive. So when given the opportunity to review the Merlot Skin Care line I was thrilled. Not only did their products appear to be high quality but also at a wonderful price point. 

Merlot’s Skin Care line was founded by “Mr. Grapes”. After much research he realized that if drinking a glass of red wine everyday could benefit the human body then skin care with grape seed would be a wonderful natural skin care line. 

I received the Merlot Grape Seed Cleanser and the Merlot Grape Seed Moisturizer. 

Creme de Vin is made of natural red grape seed polyphenols. Its sensational antioxidant properties help inhibit the aging process. Merlot’s signature product absorbs quickly, and works as the perfect primer before applying makeup or facing the day.

I’ve been using this moisturizer for about three weeks now and I am very pleased. I really like that the moisturizer does not leave a sticky residue behind. In fact within a few minutes of putting the moisturizer on my face feels soft and almost like I never put anything on. A lot of moisturizers leave a sticky residue behind and that is something I just can not tolerate. I also like a moisturizer that holds up througout the day. I have used moisturizers that do not moisturize my face all day and towards the end of the day my make-up starts caking up. With the Merlot Moisturizer my make-up does not cake up and my face feels smooth all day. 

This moisturizer is fragerence-free and has SPF 15 included. Having the SPF is one of my favorite features of this moisturizer. The moisturizer I was using previously did not include SPF 15 and I was not always the best about remember to add that into my skin care routine. 

Mild and non-drying, this cleanser refreshes the skin with soothing fruit extracts, including papaya, green apple, grape seed, and cucumber. Gently removes impurities from the face and eye areas.

First off let me just say that I am in LOVE with this cleanser! If there is one thing I can not stand it’s a cleanser that leaves me face feeling dry and feeling like I have soap scum on it. Merlot Cleanser does not make my face feel like that at all. In fact it leaves my face extremely soft and I actually feel like my face is clean. One thing I have noticed with other products is if you use the product everyday your face will dry out. I have been using this cleanser everyday for 3 weeks and my face has not dried out at all!

Overall I am very pleased with the Merlot Skin Care line. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable & high quality skin care line.

Make sure to sign up for Merlot Skin Care Newsletter to stay up to date on all the newest products.

You also have the chance to try out the Merlot Skin Care line by entering my giveaway! Merlot Skin Care has offered to send one lucky winner a surprise from their product line. Make sure to check out their website and let me know which product you want to try. Merlot stated that they will try to send the product the winner wants to try.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given the hbl Thermal Styling Spray, Spray Mousse and Texture & Styling Cream in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed below are my own and may or may not differ from yours. 

hbl Background:

In 1990, Patrick’s life had an unfortunate turn of events. His older brother Tommy was
diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 39 years of age. His family experienced
their first brush with cancer several decades
 earlier when his mother was diagnosed with
uterine cancer. Fortunately, she survived the disease and made a full recovery.
Therefore, when Tommy was diagnosed they expected him to overcome the disease just
as their mom had. Unfortunately, cancer had other plans and Tommy lost his battle to
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1993.

Over the next few years, Patrick lost other close personal friends and two employees to
cancer. During this period, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent
41 radiation treatments. He also faced skin cancer, which thankfully was successfully
treated.

Having been faced with so many tragic experiences, Patrick decided he was going to start helping himself and others. Having worked in the beauty industry for almost 30-years he decided to make a list of no-no ingredients that could have a harmful effect ones body. Some of the ingredients on his no-no list were sulfates, isopropyl alcohol, mineral oil, and parabens. Patrick not only launched hair care products but skin care as well under the SKINJOY line. 

My View On hbl:

The first time I tried hbl was about 4 weeks ago and initially I wasn’t impressed. My hair is not normally oily but after using hbl the first day it was very oily. I was about ready to just say “hbl doesn’t work for me” but then I noticed we were having a really humid day for California standards. I decided that I would give hbl another try just to be far. I waited about a week before I tried it again and made sure we were having normal California weather. The second time I used hbl my hair did just great, in fact it wasn’t oily at all! 

I used the Spray Mousse to create a scrunch look to my hair. Normally, when I do this type of hair style my hair ends up very crunchy and  in a tangled mess by the end of the day. I was very pleased that the hbl Spray Mousse did not do that to my hair. Along with the Spray Mousse I used the Texture & Styling Cream. I found the Texture & Styling Cream gave my lifeless hair some body. 

I have been using the Thermal Styling Spray anytime I blow dry or flat-iron my hair and it really does make my hair soft and shiny. 

Below is a picture of my hair after using the Thermal Styling Spray. This picture was taken at the end of the day and I think the shine held up pretty good.

You can purchase  hbl at their website listed here. 

You can also follow hbl on Twitter and Facebook. 

You can also enter to win your own set of hbl Hair Care products. This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and the winner will have 48-hours to respond to the email letting them know they won.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As a mom of three children I know how important taking care of you little one’s skin is. Babies really don’t need all of the fragrance and extra ingredients that are often added to lotions. In fact all of those extra’s are not good for babies or children in general. My youngest daughter is 4-years-old and I am still very cautious about what I put on her skin. I do my best to stick with products that are fragrance free and hypoallergenic. 

Aveeno is a brand that I personally use on a regular basis so when given the opportunity to review their Baby Daily Moisturizer Lotion I was extremely happy. 

One problem I have with a lot of daily moisturizer for babies is they end up very greasy. Aveeno offers a non-greasy moisturizer that will not leave a sticky residue behind. I have been using this moisturizer on my daughter every day for about two weeks now and not once have I found her skin to be greasy or sticky. 

Aveeno Baby Daily Moisturizer Lotion is formulated with ACTIVE NATURALS^® Colloidal Oatmeal and blended with rich emollients  to soothe and help protect baby’s delicate skin. My daughters skin gets dry pretty easy especially with the weather changing and Aveeno has really helped to eliminate that dryness. 

One of my favorite things about Aveeno is that they not only offer high-quality products but prices that everyone can afford. You can find Aveeno at our local drug store or grocery store. You can also enter to win 1 of 5 bottles that Aveeno has offered to Moms R Bomb readers.

Disclosure: I was given a bottle of Aveeno Baby Daily Moisturizer in return for an honest review. All opinions stated are 100% mine and may or may not differ from yours.

Giveaway open to residents of the USA only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway