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Great Gifts (To Maybe Keep For Yourself)

So before I decided to get my mom a day out together instead of a gift, I did a lot of looking around for the perfect gift for her.  She's a hard one to buy for and I wanted to pick up something special for her.  One of my top choices was a gift set from Pacifica, mainly because I'm a huge Pacifica fan and I like to get my mom as excited about brands I love as I am.  I got a chance to try out two of the different gift sets in my favorite two scents and for those of you who still have time to shop before you see your mom in person, they're great choices.  

The Tuscan Wanderlust Gift Set is chock full of products in my all-time favorite Pacifica scent, Tuscan Blood Orange.  All fans of orange-scented products need to pick this one up immediately because the fragrance is so, so great.  It's so juicy and fresh and energizing - I love using it in the shower in the morning to get my day going.  The gift set is a great value at $28 because you get over twice that in products - a Color Quench Natural Moisture Lip Tint in Blood Orange, a Body Butter, a Body Wash and a bottle of Spray Perfume.  You can layer it all together to give yourself a scent that lasts all day.  My mom actually was with me when I was playing around with the products and she immediately claimed the Body Butter as her own.  (What could I say?  It was almost Mother's Day!)

The other gift set I got my hands on is the Indian Coconut Nectar Wanderlust Collection.  Indian Coconut Nectar is one Of Pacifica's newest scents and it's rapidly become one of my favorites.  Using coconut products always instantly transports me to a tropical vacation instead of, you know, my same old bathroom in Los Angeles and this one smells fabulous, all exotic and delicious.  It makes me seriously crave a big blended drink and a beach (and I don't even like the beach!)  For $34, you get a Body Butter, a huge 17 ounce Body Wash and a Perfume Roll-On, which is perfect to slip into your purse when you're on the go.  I particularly love them on days when I'm going straight from work to something fun and don't have time to stop home to respritz my earlier scent.  My mom also grabbed the Body Butter from this set and made off with it because she couldn't resist this one either and I'm a bad daughter and wouldn't hand over the Body Wash (I know, I know, but I love it too much).  Well, thanks to Pacifica, she'll definitely be well moisturized and smell fabulous.  You're welcome, Dad!       

Note:  Samples of these products were sent to me by a PR representative working with Pacifica  

Soothe Your Skin

I have a confession to make.  For a long time, I didn't use any body lotion.  I don't know what I was thinking because my skin was definitely dry, but I feel like I'd used a bunch of greasy lotions and somehow convinced myself that all lotions were like that and it just wasn't worth it.  Yeah, I was kinda stupid for someone who should definitely have known better.  For the past six months or so though, I've been using St. Ives' Oatmeal and Shea Butter Lotion in the morning and at night and I'm totally obsessed with it.  There's literally nothing not to like.  The lotion isn't greasy at all, but it's super hydrating and keeps my skin far more moisturized than it has been in the past.  it also has a great fresh, clean Shea Butter scent that doesn't overpower any of my perfumes, and it's really easy to find because you can pick it up at pretty much any drugstore.  But best of all, it's the cheapest lotion I've ever owned at around $5 for a big 21 ounce container.  It's so cheap that I pretty much just buy it in bulk (especially if I find it on sale) and I don't even have to pack it when I travel because I can just buy a new one at my destination.  So much easier!  Why did my previous self resist using body lotion for so long?  I was an idiot!

Gift Sets To Go Gaga Over

This is the time of year when all the stores are awash in gift sets.  Makeup gift sets, skin care gift sets, body care gift sets...  Sometimes the deals are so good, it's actually cheaper to buy the set and get a couple products than it is to buy a single one of them on its own.  (I call this the "doesn't even need justification, just throw it in my basket as fast as I can" purchase).  Since I'm sure at least some of you are like me and still have the majority of your gifts to buy, here are a few of the sets I'm either buying for myself or handing out to others this year.

Bliss' "Glow"-Ho-Ho Radiance-Revving Triple Oxygen Trio is a limited-edition set with three products - a1.7 ounce Triple Oxygen+C Energizing Cream, a 3.4 ounce Triple Oxygen Energizing Mask, and a pair of Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Eye Masks.  Before I got the set, I'd only tried the mask before, which I love, but now that I've tried the cream too, I like to pair them up for full effectiveness.  It's a great value too since Bliss can be a little pricey and you're getting a lot for your money here.  (And if you like Bliss, make sure you check out all of their holiday gift sets because there are a bunch of them and they're all fantastic values.  I sort of want them all).  This set's a great way to get introduced to their skin care line if you've never tried it before and it's easy to pick up at Sephora at one of your many holiday shopping trips to the mall.

I've been totally obsessed with Ahava's products all year because they're great on my sensitive skin, so I'll take any excuse to pick some more up.  Shoshanna for AHAVA is another limited-edition set that comes packaged in a bright travel bag perfect for a weekend away.  Inside you'll find a 3.4 ounce Mineral Hand Cream, a 3.4 ounce Mineral Body Lotion, and a .85 ounce Dermud Intensive Foot Cream.  I love their Mineral Body Lotion so much that I use it almost every day, so I'm really psyched to have stumbled across this set before I have to pack for my trip to the east coast next week.  More room for another five lipsticks!

Origins is one of those brands that I sometimes forget I love as much as I do and then I'll use one of their products and get all excited about how great it is and want to buy every single thing they make.  Since that's (sadly) out of the question, this season I'm turning to their gift sets as a way to get the best bang for my buck.  I know their ginger products are uber popular, but I hadn't tried them until now and I can finally see why everyone raves about them so much.  I always thought I didn't like the smell of ginger, but apparently I was confusing it with like, the scent of exhaust of something because it's SO nice.  It's all rich and warm and a little spicy and just delicious.  The Ginger To Go and Stay set is great because you get both travel-size and regular-sized products in it, so you can use them both at home and on vacation if you want.  (And I definitely do.  The smaller sizes will also be making the cross country journey with me next week.  They'll be perfect to use in the apparently frigid NJ weather that I'll be flying into).  You get a full array of body products in the set too - Body Wash, Body Scrub, Body Cream...  You'll be able to layer the scent as much as you want, which always makes me very happy.  Now I kind of think that I need the Ginger Essence to spritz on top as a final layer.  It seems very winter appropriate, doesn't it?  It'll be the perfect scent to wear to cheer me up when I'm shivering in my sixteen layers as I trudge through the snow, wondering how I ever managed to spend four years of college in upstate New York with its ten foot high snow drifts.  Los Angeles has made me soft!

Note: Samples of these items were sent to me by PR representatives working with Bliss, AHAVA and Origins

Sin So Well

When I first saw the new Halloween products up on Bath and Body Works' website, I started a little mini rant in my head.  It went something like this...  "How is it time for HALLOWEEN products already?  It's July, people!  July!  That should be illegal.  We should have to wait until at least August before seeing such things.  What are these companies doing to me?!"  And then mid-rant, I stumbled upon the new Sinful Vanilla Body Lotion and stopped ranting and raving and started oohing and aahing.  You guys, it's a body lotion that's described as an "indulgent blend of vanilla bean, whipped marshmallow and vanilla cream."  How amazing does that sound?  I must have it immediately.  I have something in my car to return at the mall and I was going to wait until at least this weekend to do it, but now I am totally going after work today and crossing my fingers that the Halloween products are in stores as well as online.  I think I need a little Sin in my life.        

Lotion Away!

So I know this sounds crazy, but I've only recently become the kind of person who uses body lotion on a daily basis.  It's especially crazy because a) I live in a dry climate and b) my skin really needs moisturizing.  But as I think I've mentioned here before, I'm lazy and I hate feeling greasy, so that has led to me skipping this step in my beauty regime more often than not.  But in the past year or so, I've turned over a new leaf and I've been testing out tons of new body moisturizers.  One of my current top favorites is Neova's Maximum Body Repair.  There are several things I love about it - it's not crazy thick, but it does a great job moistuirizing without leaving me feeling oily or like I don't want to put my clothes on, it has a pump dispenser that's good at letting you control how much you use, and it smells sort of light and fresh, almost like one of the CLEAN perfumes (which are my all time favorites).  It also has an advanced formula of Copper Peptide Complex and DNA Repair Technology, which is supposed to aid in the prevention and correction of visible damage from UV exposure and firm and improve the signs of aging.  Obviously these are the kinds of things that are impossible to see with the naked eye, but if it does do that, I'm even more sold on it.  (I want to look 24 again.  24 was a good year...)  I've started using it on my hands during the day since I figure those get the most sun exposure and are the least protected, so if I start to notice them looking especially young in the future, I'll keep you guys posted!

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Neova

Coffee In The Shower Without Using A Pesky Mug

 

Last weekend I went to Cosmoprof in Las Vegas and was seriously like a kid in a candy store, wandering aisles and aisles of beauty products.  There were plenty of brands I already had experience with, but the newbies were especially spectacular.  As with any big event, there were of course the standouts that you remember when you leave because they had amazing products and great personalities to match.  One of these was definitely Barista Bath and Body (or b3 for short).  It's a wonderful female-owned and operated brand which uses coffee extract in every single one of its products.  Christine Willett and her mom, Nancy Scuderi, started this brand out of a pure love for all things coffee (they both have been in the coffee biz for years).  Their passion for coffee, and for b3 as a brand, definitely shows.  I was warmly greeted by smiling faces and the most beautiful set up in the booth -  all brown and white decor, a cushy couch and even little demitasse cups filled with real coffee beans that gave it the feel of a living room.   I have tried coffee shower gels before and even one coffee scrub, but this brand definitely takes the (coffee) cake.  (Wow, I typed that dumb pun and am actually going to leave it, aren't I?)  Anyway, I had the honor of trying everything in their collection and by the end of my coffee adventure, I was buzzing, not from caffeine, but rather from b3. 

Defy Your Age

For some reason, even though I have a TON of body lotion, it's usually one of the products I use the least.  Which I really have no excuse for, other than the fact that I'm already practically a walking zombie in the morning and adding yet another (even really quick) step to my morning routine makes me even more sleepy.  So when I got a sample of Priori's Age Defying Body Cream, I put it in my closet and forgot about it.  Until about a month ago, when my skin was feeling especially dry and I decided it was time to rummage through the closet and try to find something that would bring my skin back to normal.  Now I'm kicking myself for waiting so long because it's a great body lotion.  First of all, I really love the pump dispenser.  You get the perfect amount when you use it - there's not a ton coming out, so you don't end up wasting any of the precious liquid.  (I say precious because the only issue I have with the lotion is that it costs $120.  Yeah, I know.  It's A LOT to spend for a lotion.  But if you have some cash that's just burning a hole in your pocket and need a good body lotion, it's worth it).  There are many things to like about it, including the fact that it's not heavily scented - it sort of smells fresh and clean, but nothing that will interfere with your perfume.  Its texture is thick, but not greasy, and it rubs in easily and has really left my skin looking much better than it did before.  It feels softer, it looks softer, and it was even soothing when I somehow managed to burn two patches on the tops of my feet.  (Don't even ask how that happened because it's so, so stupid).  It's supposed to firm, rebuild, smooth and balance your skin for a younger looking appearance - it's hard for me to comment on that part because I don't think my skin looks that old yet (thank God!) but as a moisturizer, I'm really loving it.  It has made it on to the coveted shelf in my bathroom for the foreseeable future.  (Trust me, this is a very prestigious honor.  All of the products in my closet are just dying to win it).