ProductWhores

Blushing Cherry Blossom

I have been a huge fan of Bath and Body Works since I was thirteen.  I can clearly remember when they had that whole country logo and were designed to look like a rustic barn on the inside of my mall back in New Hampshire.  Ah, memories.  Anyway, I love that they have been consistently putting out awesome products but now have grown to include amazingly high-class lines as well.  I feel like ever since they incorporated the additional brands they really upped their own products to match the level of quality.  The new Blushing Cherry Blossom (released just in time for Mother's Day) is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.  This new fragrance is definitely floral (Rose Damascena, White Jasmin, Violet) but also contains Musk, Soft Amber and Creamy Sandalwood which help to tone down the flowery and accentuate the earthy.  This scent is a must check out for anyone looking for a new lightly floral scent that really has depth and stays fresh the better part of the day.  My Aussie mother-in-law is in town and already hijacked it for herself.  Man, between my mom stealing my products and now my other mum doing the same thing, I'm going to be left with... well... Tupperwares filled with products, but whatever, I'm going for dramatic here.

Blushing Cherry Blossom Eau De Toilette retails for $19.00 and can be purchased online or in store. 

Photo courtesy of Bath and Body Works

A Candle For A Rainy Day

I love candles. On a cold, windy, rainy day, there's nothing better than cuddling up on the couch, watching a movie with all the lights off and a candle burning. And since it's been practically a monsoon outside here in L.A. for the past week, I've had a lot of time to do just that and test out the various candles I've had sitting in my closet for months. My new favorite? Bath and Body Works' Orange Ginger from their Aromatherapy line. The box says that it's energizing, which kind of insinuates that burning it would make me want to jump up, put on the "Rocky IV" soundtrack and run a few miles. It did not. (This might also have to do with the fact that even venturing outside to get the mail made me look like a drowned rat and I don't even like running when it's sunny out. Unless it's to catch the ice cream truck that used to come around in the summer time. I have been known to do a full on sprint to get my hands on a Toasted Almond). Instead, I found it a really pleasant scent to relax to, citrusy, but with a hint of spice as well. The scent was long-lasting and filled a few rooms, instead of just lingering around only the burning flame. The candles are also really reasonable - $10.50 for a 45 hour burn time, and you can usually get them even cheaper if the Aromatherapy line is on sale or you have a coupon. And you can get the scent in their Home Fragrance Oil as well, which is even more economical. I guess my mom was right. I really should clean out my closet more often!

Holiday Candy

This weekend I found myself in Bath and Body Works for the first time in about a month. Now I know to most normal people that sounds perfectly reasonable, but I honestly can't remember the last time I let four weeks go by between trips to the BBW. Doesn't it suck when real life gets in the way of your shopping fun? I was so saddened at the thought that I had to go buy a Cinnabon just to cheer myself up (and, uh, maybe because their icing is good. So very, very good). The only nice thing about letting that much time go by between roaming the aisles is that it gives them time to restock and put out new, fun things. I love new, fun things! Especially when they smell like candy, such as their recently released Dreamy Chocolate Mint Temptations. It's a shower gel (and shampoo and bubble bath - you guys know the drill by now) that smells like chocolate and peppermint. Once it lathers up, it's sort of like you've been rubbing yourself all over with a big Junior Mint. (But in a much less creepy way than that sounds). There's a matching lotion too, although I sort of think that with scents like these, you probably shouldn't layer them if you're over 9 years old and/or carrying around a Hello Kitty backpack. It's just candy overkill. Like all of the Temptations line, it lathers to a tub full of suds nicely. And I love the scent filling up my shower when I use it in the morning, even though I'm convinced it's making me crave the Starbucks Peppermint Mocha even more than usual. Thank God I'll be back in the land of Dunkin' Donuts (AKA the tri-state area) in a few days and can enjoy a delicious coffee without the $4.50 price tag. Hhhm, this post has turned into an ode to dessert and coffee. Well, what else is new?

Tree In A Box

Even though I love Christmas, I never get a tree for my apartment. I could pretend that it's because I'm against cutting down living things or that I'm rebelling against how expensive it's gotten to buy and decorate a tree, but really, it's because I'm lazy. It's a lot of damn work to make a pretty Christmas tree happen and as a rule, I'm against putting that much effort into something I'll have to throw away in a few weeks. Plus, real trees shed and I have nightmares about trying to vacuum piles of dried up needles. But of course, even though I'm too lazy to get a Christmas tree, I still want my apartment to smell like I have one. This is where candles come in. Usually it's the Gap Holiday one, but this season I've stumbled upon a new favorite - Slatkin & Co.'s Tree. It really does smell like you have a forest in the middle of your living room, and even when the candle hasn't been burning, I can still detect a faint scent of Christmas in the air. It's a pretty good deal too - it sells for $16.50, but the box says that it burns for 50 hours. I think mine is probably going to last closer to 40, but then again, it's not like I have a stopwatch out when I light it, so my math could be a little off. (I hate math. The only time I like doing it at all is when I'm trying to calculate how much a 20% off coupon is going to save me at the mall). I do wish they'd chosen a catchier name for the candle though. I mean, Tree definitely tells you what your nose is going to be dealing with, but it's just so... blah. I can come up with better ones just off the top of my head. What about Everlasting Evergreen? Forever Fir? Pine Power? Hey, this is fun! If you ever run out of candle namers Slatkin & Co., call me! You can pay me in boxes of Tree.

Bath and Body Works (Doesn't) Plump It Up

I'm giving in. I'm just admitting that I can't stop buying lip products and leaving it at that because there's only so many funny lines I can write about my sad, sad addiction. That being said, I got two cute new colors this weekend! For some reason, Bath and Body Works doesn't have all the colors of their new Liplicious Tasty Lip Plumpers on their website, so the shades that I bought aren't the ones in the picture on this post. I bought Maple Sugar, a light golden brown that smells like, well, maple sugar candy, and Candied Apple, a sort of deep mauve that smells like burnt sugar and apples. Both taste great and go on smoothly, although the Candied Apple is a dark shade that shows up really well against my pale skin and the Maple Sugar is a lot lighter, almost transparent. That being said, I like them both, and at the price of two for $10, it was quite the lip bargain. (Seriously, if they would just stop having all these promotions, I kind of think I could stop buying the lip stuff. Or so I tell myself...) Their one fault is that they didn't plump my lips at all. Like, not one bit. There was no telltale stinging, no feeling of them expanding, and certainly no difference in the way they looked in the mirror. Of course, for only $5 I don't know how much they can really be expected to work, but seeing as how the word is in the title of the product, you'd think it'd be a little bit more than what I saw. So all in all, I'm totally satisfied with my purchase, but if you're looking for an Angelina Jolie-esque pout from your lip gloss, keep looking. Or just layer these with DuWop's Lip Venom, which is what I think I'll be doing because I love the Maple Sugar taste. I have it on right now and it's making me want to run away to Vermont, marry a hippie and spend my days eating maple syrup candy and not shaving my legs. Ahhh, the good life...

Lemon Goodness

I can't believe I'm writing another post about lip gloss.  I have problems.  I now have so many lipsticks/glosses/stains that they don't all fit in the drawer, so I'm storing some of them in my travel bag in the closet.  My travel bag!  That's just wrong.  (Plus, all sorts of inconvenient when I decide I need a specific shade that's all the way at the bottom).  What I should be doing is throwing the old ones out to make room.  What I am doing is buying even more.  I'm insane.  Pretty soon I'll be shaving my head and attacking some random passerby with an umbrella.  But really, they were on sale and that made the purchase worth it.  Bath and Body Works is having a 2 for $10 lip sale, so I was able to get my beloved Ultra Mentha Lip Salve AND the new Lemon Lip Cream version for less than the price of a pizza.  Even Britney wouldn't pass that up!  I kind of love the new flavor.  I was a little worried that this gloss would taste weird as a fruity flavor, but it doesn't.  It just tastes fresh and uh, lemony (obviously).  The formula on this flavor seems thinner than on the Mentha ones I have in every shade - that might just be my perception, but after a scientific test that involved one gloss on each lip, I'm pretty sure I'm right.  But other than that, the gloss is still as fantastic as ever - still shiny, still moisturizing, still convenient to apply.  And as a random bonus, the fact that this tube is a bright yellow makes it unexpectedly easy to find when it falls to the bottom of my bag or under the seat of my car.  And if there's one thing I love, it's a product that's easy to find.  It'll make it easy to spot when it's hiding amongst the five hundred other glosses in my bathroom.  (And that's not even counting the closet).  They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem, right?  Okay, then here goes.  "My name is Stacey and I'm a--" 

Actually, you know what?  I'm not ready yet.  I think I need a few more glosses before I admit the addiction and try to get it under control.  I mean, have you seen the new MAC holiday colors?  Who wants to stop before owning those? 

Free Pie

Christmas is only two months away, which means that it's time for stores to start selling all the holiday makeup again. And to that, I say "Bring. It. On." There's nothing I love more than a good holiday collection. The first store that I noticed holiday merchandise in was my old faithful, Bath and Body Works. I LOVE their holiday scents. I even like their Simply Divine Cherry Pie body wash and you couldn't pay me enough money to eat cherry pie because cherries are the one fruit I actively hate. (They have pits that you have to spit out. And can possibly choke on. No thank you). But what's really awesome is that this year, they have matching 2-in-1 lip glosses to go along with their Temptation flavors, and thanks to a well-timed coupon, I am now the proud owner of the Simply Divine Cherry Pie flavor. (Yeah, I know I need another lip gloss less than anything, but I liked the color in the store and it was free. Free, people! It's like the product Gods wanted me to have it). I have to say, for a product I didn't have to pay for, it really lived up to the anticipation. The red is bright, but it's sheer enough that it's not overpowering. There's nothing worse than when you see a woman wearing red on her lips and it's the only thing you can focus on. Plus, you can lessen the color by layering on the vanilla ice cream shimmer gloss at the other end. Vanilla ice cream is a fantastic flavor. I've decided that all products should taste like vanilla ice cream. I think women would be much happier on a daily basis if they were constantly tasting vanilla ice cream. The only thing I don't like is that the wand is kind of big, so it'll take up a lot of space in your clutch if you bring it out at night. But even that is a silly complaint because really, it just means that you're getting more lip gloss for your money and who should be nitpicking about that? Not someone with 247 different glosses, that's for sure.

Blackberry Amber Makes Me Want To Keep Sniffing Myself

Wow.  The new scent, Blackberry Amber, from Bath and Body Works is ridiculously awesome.  A very rich, sexy scent, the fragrance stays with you for hours.  If you like light, airy scents, you won't be thrilled with this concoction, but if you're into deep scents with notes of vanilla, musk, sandalwood and patchouli, you will be blown away by this very mature lotion.  It's interesting that BBW could mix those earthy notes with Blackberry and Caramel and have the most delicious smelling fragrance.  And, apparently they're not stopping with only this amber lotion - I read on various message boards (wow, I'm a dork) that BBW is releasing a Chocolate Amber soon and I have to say I'm already excited about that.  How very sad for me and for my wallet.

Perfect for Germiphobes (and others who just want to be clean)

I realize now that I'm working in an office where everyone leans into my cubicle  and touches everything they can get their nasty hands on that I've become quite the germiphobe.  After watching a co-worker cough all over the place, blow her nose and then reach for my stapler (gasp!) I have actually gone so far as to cover the poor unsuspecting office supply in Purell.  Now that you understand my neuroses, you can see why I was so excited when Bath and Body Works just released their new Waterless Hand Foam!  I don't think I've ever actually screamed at the sight of a new product before now.  This stuff is awesome.  I bought the Sensual Amber one, but they have released many of the signature scents in the foam.  It disinfects just as well as Purell (or at least I feel as though it does) but it leaves your hands not nearly as dry and also leaves a wonderful scent instead of alcohol.  Plus, the bottle is small enough to stash into your purse for an emergency trip to the public restroom.  Pure brilliance.  I will say, however, using the tester at the store was tough for me because I had to disinfect after using it.  Hmmm, I am more screwed up than once thought.

More Mint

In the category of products I have the most of, liquid hand soap is right up there. It's not like I love it as much as, say, lotion, but it's one of those products that you always need. I mean, I go through periods where I use less lotion, but I never don't wash my hands. Just the thought of being in a bathroom without one grosses me out. So it's no surprise that after trying (and loving) C.O. Bigelow's new Mentha body wash, I also bought the hand soap. Also no surprise, I really like it. It's basically the same product, just in different form. (Although come to think of it, really, what's the difference? You could probably totally use the hand soap in the shower in a pinch. I might have to try that and see if it works). Anyway, the hand soap smells fantastically minty and gets the grime off your hands, but it's not drying. The only thing it's missing is those little scrubby bubbles that the other Bath and Body Works soaps have, but that's not a dealbreaker for me. And right now, it's on sale for 2 for $12, which is a great deal considering they're 10 ounces each. Plus, on those hot summer days when your air conditioning just inexplicably stops working (!!), it makes washing your hands a much more pleasant experience. Hhhmm, getting excited about hand soap. I think that makes me officially old.