Gift Lab – The Goods

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: Wrinkle-Free Clothes to Go

August 10, 2016

Product:

Collar Perfect Compact Travel and Touch-up Iron

Research:

I tend to do a lot of long weekend getaways throughout the year. But firstly before I go any further let me just state that I HATE ironing and tend to mostly pack clothes that don’t require any ironing. However, since I have not yet mastered the art of packing by rolling my clothes up some things still end up getting wrinkled while en route to my destination.

Additionally – I am a bit of a germaphobe, so the idea of using random irons in hotels and/or rented homes/condos for the weekend does not appeal to me AT ALL! I’ve been the victim a number of times to burnt blouses and the ever-so-hated stained clothes as a result of the rusty water coming out of the provided irons.

After watching the video on our product page for this compact iron I was eager to try it out since it can be used for much more than just the collar. The bonus here for me was that it doesn’t require the use of water. It was also like nothing I’ve personally seen before, so I was even more excited to get my hands on it.

Hypothesis:

I predict that the Collar Perfect-Compact Travel and Touch-up Iron will be added to my list of traveling must-haves!

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: These Grilling Goods Turn Camping into Glamping

August 1, 2016

Research

I may not be the most glamorous glamping girl, but I do like to get out of Brooklyn once in a while to see some open, green spaces. Recently, my guy and I packed up a rental car, dropped the cats off with a sitter, and headed for the Catskills. Due to the joys of city traffic we made it to Mongaup Pond Campgrounds 5 hours later (just a couple hours later than expected).

I have been stocking up on fun camping gear all winter long, including some things for the grill from UncommonGoods. I already had the Grilled Cheese Maker, the Kabob Grilling Baskets, and both Coffee and Pine Firestarters ready to go.

Gift Guides

Gift Lab:
Can Combining Scents Create the Perfect Perfume?

July 15, 2016

Product:

Mixologie Blendable Perfume Collection

Research:

I have a habit of switching perfumes pretty frequently. I can’t seem to be satisfied with the same aromas for too long because, well, I just get bored. I have never repurchased a scent for myself. I always wonder how some people have that one fragrance that they’ve worn for 15 years. I am always in search of the best scent that describes my mood and my life which is forever changing. I’ve dabbled in perfumed oils, luxury fragrance brands, body mists, and even heavily perfumed lotions. My nose immediately perked up when the Mixologie Perfume Collection joined the UncommonGoods assortment. Some features that got my attention were that the individual bottles are travel friendly and upon first sniff, I was enthralled with the 8 scents on their own. I jumped at the chance to experiment with the different cocktails that this kit suggests and make up a few dozen scents for myself!

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: Indoor Grilling Made Easy with the Flipside Stovetop Grill

June 28, 2016

Product:

Flipside Stovetop Grill

Research:

As the Inventory Planner for our Tabletop category, I am usually one of the first to get a sneak peek at the new items being added to our assortment of kitchen and cooking tools. When NéQuana, our tabletop buyer, showed me the Flipside Stovetop Grill, she thankfully noticed when my eyes lit up and offered to let me take it for a spin.
I’m a lifelong New Yorker, which means not only do I not currently have my own outdoor space, I have never had my own outdoor space. I dream of one day having a space to grill outside, but given that that time is still in the future (and that even when it happens, there will still be winters), a grill pan has been on my kitchen wish list for a while. I was particularly drawn to the Flipside Stovetop Grill because it is wide enough to cover two burners, and being able to cook in larger batches is always appealing to me – doing multiple rounds in the same pan is a pain, messy, and the first batch gets cold while subsequent batches are being cooked. When it was pointed out to me that the “Flipside” of the grill pan acts as a griddle, I was sold. It came home with me that very night.

Hypothesis:

MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: Gourmet Microwave Popcorn

March 24, 2016

Products

Microwave Popcorn Popper and Popcorn Kernel and Seasoning Sets

Research

I first became interested in popcorn as a toddler. Microwave popcorn didn’t exist yet, but painted wood toy popcorn did.

My first real adult job entailed working very long hours in an office where the only convenient food was in a vending machine. This led to consumption of bagged microwave popcorn packets accompanied by the creepy smell of chemical “butter.” (According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, conveyed in steam containing nearly four dozen chemicals, including the ink and glue on the bag). Years later, I discovered that microwave popcorn is just… popcorn. Any popcorn can be made in a microwave. I bought a microwave popcorn popper in December, 2006 and have been conducting experiments with it ever since.

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: Are These Unbreakable Cocktail Glasses the Real Deal?

March 8, 2016

Product: Unbreakable Cocktail Glasses – Set of 6

Research:

When I first came across our new unbreakable cocktail glasses (which are advertised as chip, crack, and breakage resistant) I was pretty skeptical. Any type of drinkware, especially the lowball cocktail glass, is usually so delicate it’s almost made to be broken. Cleaning up a broken glass might not be fun, but deliberately shattering glass is pretty satisfying. Intentionally breaking something you’re not suppose to is also pretty entertaining, so I’m sure you can understand my excitement when I set out to test these indestructible drinking glasses.

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: A Salt of the Earth Tastes Our Salts of the World

March 4, 2016

I’m pushing thirty years old. I know that my favorite type of people are the salt of the Earth, my favorite character in Willy Wonka is Veruca Salt, my favorite hip-hop group is Salt-N-Pepa, my favorite ancient instrument is the psaltery, my favorite town is Basalt, Colorado, and both my favorite taffy and crocodile, are salt water; yet I haven’t the slightest idea what region my favorite salt hails from. One day at the UncommonGoods campus, I voiced this issue over fresh fruit and went back to my desk to find our Salts of the World Test Tube Set. Thanks to the support of my UncommonGoods’ Team, I’m determined to determine the whereabouts of a favorite salt.

Gift Guides

Gift Lab: Coloring Books as Art Therapy

January 27, 2016

Product: Personalized Coloring Book

Research:

Coloring books are all the rage! A recent article from NYMag.com revealed that five of Amazon’s top 15 best-selling books right now are coloring books. I guess we adults didn’t appreciate our childhoods enough and what were likely our “best years.” How many of us avoided nap time in preschool only to beg our bosses as adults to purchase nap pods for the office? How many of you saw through my not-so-subtle attempt to get my co-workers reading this to inquire about getting nap pods here at UncommonGoods? Anways, back to coloring books. I didn’t spend a lot of time with coloring books as a kid because I much preferred to write my own stories and draw my own scenes, but I figure trying out this personalized coloring book and contemplating ways to get more sleep will help me right the wrongs of my past. Or, at the very least, it will give me something relaxing to do as I binge-watch, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on Netflix.

Hypothesis:

Based on my previous experience with coloring books, I may color outside of the lines. Hey, such is life.

Experiment:

The great thing about this kind of experiment is that the directions are straight-forward: you pick a page and then you color it. Before I opened the coloring book I just assumed that the “personalized” part meant that you can order the book personalized with your name on the cover, but turns out most of the pages feature drawings with your name hidden in them.

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