The Essential One- Review and Giveaway!!

A little while back I was approached by a great company about the possibility of reviewing some baby clothes for Elle.  As you can imagine, as the first little girl on both sides of the family, Miss E is not lacking in attire.  What then, would tempt me into adding to our laundry load?  Very simple.  Nothing but the best.  The Essential One baby clothing is that good, folks.

"Okay," I can hear you saying, "but it's baby clothes. What's the big deal?  Make a tiny something, slap a bunny on it, and call it a day."  But the thing about this company, is that it is more than just clothes.  It's an idea.  I like ideas.  The whole premise of the The Essential One is simply to provide the essentials your baby will need in his first year (think bodysuits, sleepers, hats, snowsuits- the essentials, get it?), but to provide them at an outstanding quality you'd be hard pressed to find on the high street.  Furthermore, The Essential One, although operating via web and catalogue sales, seeks to provide a truly boutique experience for their customers.

When the products for Elle arrived, they came in a branded cardboard box and carefully wrapped in tissue paper.  What's more, everything had been spritzed with a subtle, gentle, hypoallergenic scent.  There was also a personalized note tucked into the box.  Lovely.  Just lovely.  It certainly made me smile.

I was sent loads of great things to review, and had a great time playing dress up with Elle.  The Essential One sent us sets of their bestselling bodysuits and sleepsuits, an adorable all in one, two hats, and (my favourite) a furbaby snowsuit.  The quality was really apparent as soon as I started handling the products.  The fabric is all super soft, and I later learned that it only became more so upon washing.  The backings on any appliques are soft and not scratchy.  Everywhere I looked I noticed little details revealing how this company goes the extra mile:  How the little ribbon zip pulls on the snowsuit are stitched so they stay in place and look neat, how decorative details are all embroidered or applique- not printed, how the sets come packaged in matching fabric bags- there was no plastic in sight!

In size 3-6 months, these clothes fit Elle really well (she was nearly 4 months when we started using them).  They even fit well over her bulkier cloth nappies, which is something we often struggle with- especially with bodysuits.  The hats especially work really for her- most hats tend to shift and end up over her eyes, but these stay in place and look so darn cute! These clothes wash beautifully- after many many washes, the colours are still sumptuous, the fabric silky-soft and free from pilling.

Everywhere we go, we  get comments on these clothes, people always want to know where they're from, and are constantly exclaiming over how adorable they are.  But no single item has caused such an uproar as the snowsuit.  Taking Elle anywhere in that thing is like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.  People just can't get enough!  "She's like a little bear!" "Oh, how sweet!" "I wish they made that in my size!" are just some of the comments we've heard.  And let me tell you, we love this thing.  I think we have basically used it every day since the beginning of November.  Elle is so cosy in it, and it has kept her warm on many a family outing.  I really really think that £28 is quite reasonable for something of such great quality that you would get so much use out of.  Also, we have washed the snowsuit a number of times and it is still as soft and fluffy as the day it arrived, which has really astonished me.

 

Cosy and warm in her Furbaby Snowsuit during a recent trip to London

So while my impressions of The Essential One baby clothing is overwhelmingly positive, there are a few things I would wish for:  Number one, I wish they had an "Essential Kids" range- I want to be able to continue buying these gorgeous products for Elle once she's older, and I'd love to be able to buy clothes for Iwan at this quality and price point, and in those gorgeous stripes and patterns.  I wish that they had more colourful choices in the unisex range.  But really?  That's about it.  Elle's about to move up to the next size, and you better believe that I've been stalking the website!


Now for a bit of fun ****GIVEWAY**** Open until January 25th, 2012


The Essential One has generously offered a great giveaway for a lucky reader of The Rare Bit!  


One reader has the chance to win the following prize package:


A pack of sleepsuits in your choice of either rose pink, blue. or unisex.
A £5 e-voucher to spend at www.theessentialone.com and free shipping of your order.

What's more- The Essential One has generously offered to ship this prize anywhere in the world, so this giveaway is open to everyone!


Here's how you can win!  Mandatory entries (you must follow these steps in order to win, winning entries will be checked):
Leave a comment saying that you follow The Rare Bit publicly (if you don't already, click on the link to the right to make sure that you do!).

Cruise on over to The Essential One and take a look around- come back here and leave a separate comment telling us which product you'd love to try.

Extra Entry:
Like The Essential One of Facebook and leave a separate comment saying that you do.

Entries will be closed on January 25th, 2012, at 9:00 pm GMT.  A winner will be selected at random using random.org

**Full Disclosure**:  These products were provided to me for review by The Essential One free of charge.  My opinion is my own and based on my own experiences of using the clothing on my daughter for several weeks.

Real Easy Nappy Review and Giveaway!

I don't think I've really discussed in much detail here that we are a cloth nappy family.  The decision to cloth diaper was one that we made before Iwan was born, and we have learned so much about it in our first year as parents.  Our decision was made on two factors:  Financial and environmental.  I love the fact that cloth diapering both saves money and saves us from sending piles of disposables to the landfill.

A year in, we're in a nice little groove with our nappy routine, we know which types of nappies best meet our needs, and easily field questions from interested but uninitiated friends and family.  But we have come to recognize that this nice little routine will be shaken up in a few months when we add another baby in cloth to the mix.  As you can imagine, I've become interested in reaching out of my fluffy comfort zone and trying new nappies.  And while I've never found cloth diapering to be much extra work, anything to help streamline things is great!

In my first year as a mother, I've found the company BabyKind to be super helpful!  They offer all sorts of great natural baby products, and a wonderful selection of cloth nappies.  I also love that they're a small company based in North Wales, as Gez and I prefer to support local businesses when we can.  So I was very pleased when BabyKind offered to send us two of their Real Easy all-in-one sized nappies to try out, one with a PUL shell, and another with a plush (and adorably spotty!) minky shell.  Admittedly, I have never been much for all-in-one nappies so I was a little skeptical of the claims that the Real Easys dried quickly on a line.  Like many British families, we live without a tumble dryer, so we tend to go for pocket nappies, where the shell and absorbent insert can be separated for faster drying.  But with an open mind, I was ready to put the Real Easys through their paces!

Real Easy AIO nappies- size medium, in Blue Dot minky and Seaspray PUL

Like my super fancy backdrop?  I promise I do own an iron- I just thought the wrinkles gave it an "arty" look... 

After a couple weeks of testing, during which time Iwan diligently gave these nappies the best he had, we have to give the Real Easy a big thumbs up!  The pictures above were taken after more than two weeks worth of heavy use and washing, and it's easy to see how well they've held up.  The soft fleece lining is still fluffy and snowy white, with only the expected amount of pilling.  The colors have stayed vibrant despite days of line drying (we've had lovely stint of sunny weather here in North Wales), and the minky outer is still as soft as the day it arrived.

I loved the way these fit Iwan.  The Real Easys are sized, which I know many people prefer, but I tend to go for one size nappies because I think they tend to be better value for money.  I've gotta say, these were a good deal trimmer than our normal one size pockets.  The rise did seem a bit low to me when I first put them on Iwan, but we never had any leaks or blowouts so it was fine.

And let me tell you, the Real Easys were really put through the ringer:  In a bad mommy moment, we were caught out of the house for a whole afternoon while Iwan was wearing the PUL Real Easy.  In my rush to leave the house I had neglected to check if the changing bag was fully stocked.  It wasn't.  So as much as I hate to admit my mistake, my little boy was in this nappy for much longer than he should have been.  When we got home, I was expecting to have a full-on laundry emergency, but nope, not a leak in sight!  Definitely impressive.

I also wanted to give the Real Easy's a whirl for night time.  Iwan is only a moderate wetter, so I was fairly confident that they would be fine.  Our normal night time diaper consists of a one size pocket stuffed with a microfiber insert and two microfiber boosters.  The directions that came with the Real Easys suggested also adding additional stuffing for night time, so I followed the advice.  In order to see if the Real Easy could beat our normal pocket dipe for night time, I used only one booster (a BumGenius microfiber booster pad, if you're interested).  It made for a much trimmer fit under Iwan's jammies, and after 12 hours of sleep we were leak free the next morning.  If your baby is a heavy wetter you would probably need to add a bit more, or use a more absorbent hemp or bamboo booster.

The claims of fast drying held up too.  These nappies took no longer to dry than the microfiber inserts I usually use with my pocket diapers.  Again, quite impressive.  Although, I still enjoy that with the pocket you have the versatility of using the shells (which dry super quickly) with additional dry inserts if need be.  You lose out on this with an all in one, but in reality I have enough nappies in my stash that I never need to do this anyway.  For someone just building their stash, it could be something to consider.

All in all, I really liked the Real Easys, and they've become a useful component in our cloth diapering routine.  Because they're so foolproof, they'd be great to send along to nursery, and perfect for someone making the switch to cloth diapering.  I do wish that they came with an option of a hook and loop closure, and not just snaps, but that's a purely personal preference.  This is a great diaper, and it really is "Real Easy."

Now for the fun part!

****THE GIVEAWAY****

BabyKind will be giving away a free MINKY Real Easy all-in-one nappy to one of my lucky readers.  The winner will be able to choose the size and color/pattern.

The best part is, BabyKind has kindly (hehe, get it?) offered to ship the prize anywhere in the world, so this giveaway is open to everyone!!  Here's how to enter (both steps must be completed in order to win):

1.  Follow my blog publicly and comment that you do (or that you already do).

2.  Go on over to BabyKind's website and have a browse of all of their amazing products.  Leave a separate comment saying what product you'd like to try (it doesn't have to be nappy related)- they have loads of great stuff!

The giveaway will close on Sunday April 3rd at 9 pm GMT.  A winning comment will be chosen at random, and the winner will be posted here on the blog- be sure to check back to see if you win!

Good Luck!