Kitchen Stewardship

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I love sharing! If you’re starting here, do back up a bit and read about my search for the best natural sunscreen. I’ve got 28 bottles, tubes and jars tumbling around my house, and I give you the scoop on all of them, from the $1/ounce to the $40/ounce. Um, yeah. $40/ounce. I couldn’t in good conscience recommend that one unless it also cooked, cleaned house and did dishes for you!

Today I get to share five natural sunscreens with you in a little more depth and offer the chance for five lucky folks to pretend they live with me and test out a new product. I tell people who know me in real life, “You can use my sunscreen, but you have to wear two kinds, one on each side. This is just how life is at the Kitchen Stewardship house!”

This post is also an exercise in following directions, starting with this one: Comments on this post are NOT entries in the giveaway. You can comment at will with questions, comments, and the depth of your gratitude, but it won’t get you any prizes.

There are five different entry forms here to enter each of the separate giveaway contests. You need to enter each contest separately. The good deal? Although you will be asked to visit the sponsor of each contest you enter to thank them for offering a giveaway prize, you can get extra entries for all five contests just by sharing this post ONCE in any or all of the following ways:

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED; THANKS FOR ENTERING! WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY.

Subscribe in a reader or via email to Kitchen Stewardship (or tell me if you already do).

Follow @kitchenstew on Twitter AND tweet this:
I’m learning about the sun with @kitchenstew this week and signed up to win some natural sunscreen! http://ow.ly/18g4T9

“Like” Kitchen Stewardship on Facebook.

Email 5 friends about this giveaway along with the link to it. (Email subscribers can forward their message.)

Stumble or Digg the natural sunscreen review at Kitchen Stewardship (you can use the Share This icon at the bottom of the post). What is Stumble?

If you have a blog or website, post about this giveaway linking back to this post and the natural sunscreen review. (You can even copy and paste that link.)

How to Get Five Bonus Entries in Every Giveaway

If you want a really great deal, please consider taking my 2010 July Reader Survey (~2-3 minutes), which will earn you FIVE EXTRA ENTRIES in all 8 sun protective giveaways this week (over $400 worth of prizes)!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE READER SURVEY

I truly appreciate your input, which will help me improve Kitchen Stewardship by giving you what you want. The survey also gives me important statistics to help me explain to advertisers and sponsors (like the eight companies sponsoring giveaways this week) the benefits of working with the Kitchen Stewardship community.

The Giveaway Prizes:
Click the name to take you directly to the giveaway.

• TruKid Sunny Days ($15.99 value)
• California Baby Package ($31.95 value)
• Anarres Natural Health choice of lotion ($12 value)
• Kabana Green Screen Organic Sunscreen ($64 value)
• Miessence Organics Reflect Outdoor Balm ($27.90 value)

WIN IT: TruKid Sunny Days

TruKid is a creamy, easy application, sweet smelling orange sunblock, rated ONE at EWG’s Cosmetic Safety Database. It was an easy favorite for our family, and you can read more about my TruKid Sunny Days review (along with 27 others!).

The 3.5 oz. tube retails for $15.99. You can buy it at Amazon as well as TruKid online.

The prize: TruKid is offering a 3.5 oz. tube of Sunny Days Mineral Non-Chemical Sunscreen to one U.S. resident and KS reader.

Each giveaway in this post has a different mandatory entry for that particular contest:

Mandatory Entry: Visit TruKid and share something you learned about the company or the product. (The “About Us” tab has some neat background info.)

Extra bonus entries: You can also get two extra entries for following TruKid on Twitter OR signing up for their newsletter by clicking here or going to the signup form at the TruKid website. Remember that there are other bonus entries for all the giveaways on this post, as listed above. The TruKid giveaway has a total of NINE ways to enter plus a possible FIVE more entries if you take the reader survey.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE TRUKID GIVEAWAY!

Please remember, comments on this post are NOT contest entries.

WIN IT: California Baby Suncare Basics Tote

Nubius Organics is a great new find on the web, featuring “Healthy, Green products for Eco-Friendly Living” including reusable bottles and bags, organic items, and no-waste lunch supplies. Sounds like a perfect fit for the KS community!

The prize: open to any U.S. resident, California Baby Suncare Basics Tote ($31.95 value), which includes:

1/2 oz No Fragrance SPF 30+ Sunblock Stick

2 oz Swimmer’s Defense™ Shampoo & Bodywash

2 oz Swimmer’s Defense™ Hair Conditioner

2 oz Soothing & Healing Spray

1/2 oz Citronella SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion

1/2 oz No Fragrance SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion

1/2 oz Calming™ Moisturizing Cream

Kid size 100% UV Protection sunglasses

How cute is that? I’m jealous, since I only got the citronella sunscreen lotion, which we loved. It’s so, so waterproof. My son kept smelling his arm and exclaiming, “It smells so good!”

Mandatory Entry: Visit Nubius Organics and do a little shopping. What would be tops on your wish list? (We’re working on a green lunch packing giveaway for KS, too, so feel free to put in your vote for what would be best for that topic.)

Extra bonus entries: You can also get two extra entries for following Nubius Organics on Twitter OR giving them the ol’ “like” on Facebook.  Remember that there are other bonus entries for all the giveaways on this post, as listed above. The Nubius Organics giveaway has a total of NINE ways to enter plus a possible FIVE more entries if you take the reader survey.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE NUBIUS ORGANICS/CALIFORNIA BABY GIVEAWAY!

Please remember, comments on this post are NOT contest entries.

WIN IT: Anarres Natural Health Choice of Lotion

Although I had a bad experience with the Safe Sun Protection Cream from Anarres (see the natural sunscreen review for the story), I only had a chance to test it out once. I’m anxious to try it again this weekend, especially after its creator told me of a young man who bicycled across Canada. He used the product on his fair skin every day for 3 months and had no problems. He’s a new convert from chemical sunscreens!

The Anarres Safe Sun Protection Cream (SPF 30) was by far the most natural and “green” product I tested, with large particles of zinc oxide (325 microns) that can’t penetrate the skin and super certified, fair trade, often organic ingredients. Anarres’ other lotions are where I get a little giddy, though.

The Elemental Protection Lotion, Shea Intensive Healing Lotion, and Cocoa Light Lotion are all naturally SPF 15. Tracey TieF, a natural health consultant who mixes her own products by hand, explained to me how the natural products – avocado, cocoa, shea butter, and coconut oil – offer sun protection:

• help skin maintain moisture level, which makes it less burnable
• the plant manufactures its own protection from the sun, which in turn give the human skin a defense
• rather than absorb or reflect UV rays, the plant products help the body do better what it already does naturally to protect it from the sun (they don’t protect against UVA rays, but the zinc-based Sun Cream does)

What I love about these lotions:

• Ease: a creamy lotion in a pump bottle…
• Safety: …that’s not full of dangerous ingredients or petrochemicals.
• Absorption: It goes on smooth and sinks right in. I can almost feel it working immediately.
• Scent: The Elemental Protection and Cocoa Light Lotion smell like chocolate! Mmmm…
• Eco-friendly: The three lotions are in metal bottles with only a plastic pump apparatus. The Safe Sun Cream is in a glass jar.

My only problem with the lotions is that the Cocoa Light really shouldn’t be in a pump, as it’s much too thick to come out.

The prize: Choose any one of the four lotions/sun protective creams I reviewed, open to anyone in North America.

Mandatory Entry: Visit Anarres Natural Health and choose the lotion option you’d prefer for your giveaway prize. (Safe Sun Protection Cream, Elemental Protection Lotion, Shea Intensive Healing Lotion, Cocoa Light Lotion, all valued at $12 each)

Extra bonus entries: You can also get two extra entries for signing up for the Anarres newsletter by emailing anarreshealth@gmail.com or doing some extra looking around at the Anarres shop and choosing your favorite product. Remember that there are other bonus entries for all the giveaways on this post, as listed above. The Anarres giveaway has a total of NINE ways to enter plus a possible FIVE more entries if you take the reader survey.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE ANARRES GIVEAWAY!

Remember, comments on this post are not entries.

WIN IT: Kabana Green Screen Organic Sunscreen

Kabana Skin Care is perhaps one of the most impressive research-based products I found. There is true transparency about what is in the tube and why, and after spending a little time at the site, you almost feel like you know Erik Kreider, the founder, a scientist trained in biochemistry at Stanford who realized most of what we put on our skin is fundamentally not good for us.

There are only eight ingredients in Kabana Green Screen, 25% non-nano zinc oxide, and all the rest are certified organic (best in the industry). You don’t have to be a chemist to know you’re protecting yourself and children.  I’m not a 100% organic gal in my kitchen because of availability and frugality, but if you’re the kind of person who avoids all chemicals at all costs, this sunscreen may be the most economical choice of those with “ideal” ingredients.

I knew I had stumbled upon a quality company when the Kabana product samples arrived (very quickly) and inside was a piece of paper sharing that “Kabana Exclusively Uses Recycled Packing Materials” and it was printed on both sides. It’s so refreshing to be in contact with an eco-conscious company!

The prize: TWO 8-ounce tubes of either Green Screen SPF 20 Organic Sunscreen or Green Screen SPF 22 Organic Sunscreen (Tinted) – or one of each, as much as a $66 value (open to anyone in North America).

Mandatory Entry: Visit Kabana Skin Care and poke around a little. You can either comment with your favorite product OR a fact you learned from the extensive informative articles there.

Extra bonus entry: You can also get an extra entry for signing up for Kabana’s Newsletter. Remember that there are other bonus entries for all the giveaways on this post, as listed above. The Kabana giveaway has a total of EIGHT ways to enter plus a possible FIVE more entries if you take the reader survey.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE KABANA GIVEAWAY!

Remember that comments on this post are not entries.

WIN IT: Miessence Organics Reflect Outdoor Balm

If I could get Miessence to be a little more economical, it would be my top favorite. I’m impressed by its ability to make water bead up on the skin whenever it’s applied. Like Kabana, Miessence’s ingredients are second to none. They are often organic and always well-sourced. ONEgroup, the company that parents the Miessence brand, is another green business I enjoy working with.

Here is ONEgroup’s mission statement: An innovative product range of unrivalled purity and effectiveness combined with an ethical, unique and versatile business model that rewards all those associated with us through a financially stable, soundly managed company.

ONEgroup (Miessence) submitted the Reflect Outdoor Balm for third party review, which rated it to have a SPF of 29.5. For people afraid of burning, getting the SPF up there makes a big difference in perception.

A little note: All orders of $100 or more receive FREE shipping and handling.

The prize: a 3.5 ounce tube of Miessence Organics Reflect Outdoor Balm ($27.90 value) [UPDATE: as of 8/4/10 the Outdoor Balm is on backorder until further notice, so a $25 gift certificate for any product will be substituted.]

Mandatory Entry: Visit Michelle’s Miessence page and do a little shopping. What do you see that is tempting you?

Extra bonus entries: You can also get three extra entries if you subscribe to Traditional Simplicity by email or RSS OR Follow @Shelbylyn1982 on Twitter OR “like” Traditional Simplicity on Facebook. Remember that there are other bonus entries for all the giveaways on this post, as listed above. The Miessence giveaway has a total of TEN ways to enter plus a possible FIVE more entries if you take the reader survey.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE MIESSENCE GIVEAWAY!

Remember that comments on this post are not entries.

I will use random.org’s integer generator to choose the winner.  Giveaways all close on Friday, August 13th at 11:59 p.m. EST, and the winners will be announced by Monday, August 16th.

WANT MORE PRIZES? Three of the sun protective clothing companies I worked with for this review are offering very generous prize packages, to be posted over the next few days. Be on the lookout!

If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

Disclosure: I received products to review free of charge from all the companies in this giveaway, and they have offered the prizes listed here to you, also free of charge. I earn a small advertising fee to run a giveaway, but that in no way changes my opinion in the review (it takes a team of horses to do that, you see).

Hungry for more? Related posts:

1. Natural Sunscreen Review: Do Mineral-Based Sunblocks Work?
2. Sourdough Recipes Galore: Pizza Dough
3. Charlie’s Soap Natural Laundry Detergent and All-Purpose Cleaner: A Mixed Review
4. Food for Thought: Sun, Sunscreen, and Safety – How Much do You Need? (Part One)
5. Sourdough Recipes Galore: Whole Wheat Crackers