Haul/Review: Lush Christmas Goodies

It feels like it's been forever since I've been to Lush. I stopped by my local Lush store yesterday to check out some of the new holiday collection items. I've already ordered a few good ol' holiday favorites online, but wanted to get a first hand look/sniff at some of the items that I haven't used before.  

So White Ballistic
@*^$*&(!*@&#(*#@(&!!!! So White is my FAVORITE fragrance from LUSH. A very clean apple scent with a very faint undertone of roses. Christmas time at LUSH makes me soooo happy simply because of this bath bomb, well everything else is amazing too... but you get my point. I made the mistake of not stocking up on So White last year and trust me, I learned my lesson. It was as if I spent that past 12 months going through with drawls waiting for this time of year to come around in hopes that LUSH would release So White again. Thankfully they did! If you're new to the company and fall in love with a limited edition product you better be prepared to break the bank. LUSH does not bring back the same items every holiday season :( for example, my precious Let Them Eat Cake Lip Balm did not make a return this year. Alas, in knowing this I am stocking up. So I picked up 4 So White Bath Bombs when I stopped by yesterday. Side note, if you're a So White addict like me they put the So White scent into an exclusive soap gift set. Yup you read that correct, So White in soap form. You can ONLY get it in the Matryoshka gift set (check that out here)

Dear LUSH,

Please make a So White shower gel!

<3 Mantha 

AVAILABLE AT: LUSH Cosmetics
PRICE: $3.95

SIZE: 3.1 oz (smaller size)

VALUE FOR PRICE: 5/5

EASE OF USE: 5/5

PACKAGING: N/A

MEETS EXPECTATIONS: 5/5

OVERALL: 5/5
WOULD I REPURCHASE: YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!


Bon Bon Lip Scrub
I think this is my new Lush obsession. Usually if I want to exfoliate my lips I just make my own sugar scrub. This is by no means saying the 3 lip scrubs (Bubble Gum, Mint Julip, Sweet Lips)  in the regular Lush product line aren't worth purchasing, because they are. They just haven't tickled my fancy for some reason. Bon Bon on the other hand has tickled me. According to Lush it is inspired by a Scandanavian muled wine drink. To which I have to say I am no where near Scandanavian or up to speed on their culture so I can't attest for accurate in execution, but to me it tastes just like lemon sherbet. It tastes divine. I simply lick my lips, take a small amount of Bon Bon from the pot and put it on my lips, rub them together, then lick it off. Which yes, it's safe as all the ingredients are edible. Then tada my lips are soft and kissable. I am going to buy a back up for my own personal use as well as one for my freelance kit.

AVAILABLE AT: LUSH Cosmetics
PRICE: $8.95

SIZE: 0.9 oz

VALUE FOR PRICE: 4/5

EASE OF USE: 5/5

PACKAGING: 4/5

MEETS EXPECTATIONS: 5/5

OVERALL: 4/5
WOULD I REPURCHASE: Yes


Maple Taffy Lip Balm
As you've already read I was obsessed with Lush's Let Them Eat Cake lip balm from last holiday season. So, I am very partial to it and sad that it's not back. So my opinion is slightly skewed by this. Maple Taffy is EXTREMELY moisturizing as it contains shea and illipe butter, extra virgin coconut oil and glycerin. Did that all sound like a foreign language to any of you? Translation: lots o' moisturizing goodness that locks in and stays put for awhile. As for taste/smell, it doesn't do anything for me. There is genuine maple syrup in this lip balm. Do I taste it? No. Do I smell it? Mmm... kinda. Do I care that it's not prominente? NO! It's not my Let Them Eat Cake, no lip product could beat the scent of that for me. BUT, as for the whole point of the product; the moisturizing aspect. Maple Taffy defeats my precious Let Them Eat Cake.

AVAILABLE AT: LUSH Cosmetics 
PRICE: $4.95

SIZE: 0.4 oz

VALUE FOR PRICE: 5/5

EASE OF USE: 5/5

PACKAGING: 3/5; the top of my tin is really snug and difficult to get off.

MEETS EXPECTATIONS: 5/5

OVERALL: 4/5
WOULD I REPURCHASE: Yes


Gingerbread House Bubble Bar
I was taken back by this bubble bar. I am NOT a fan of fresh ginger scents and to add to it I am not a fan of anything spicy scented. So when the Lush Times catalog arrived at my front door a few weeks ago I thought this bubble bar was insanely adorable in appearance, but sounded horrible for my nose. When I stopped by the store I kept far away from it. And as I was waiting in line to be rung up it was sitting near the register taunting me with it's sprinkley cuteness. So I gave in, sniffed it. Geeze Louise! Ginger and spice apparently are nice after all. This isn't very strong on ginger, don't get me wrong it is there just not as much as one would expect. To me it's very nostalgic, it reminds me of the scent of ginger snap cookie dough just before you put them in the oven. Yummy! My only gripe is that it's a little small for price, but clearly that didn't mean much as I bought it anyhow haha!

AVAILABLE AT: LUSH Cosmetics
PRICE: $6.25

SIZE: 3.5 oz

VALUE FOR PRICE: 3/5

EASE OF USE: 4/5

PACKAGING: N/A

MEETS EXPECTATIONS: 5/5

OVERALL: 4/5
WOULD I REPURCHASE: No

Black Friday/Cyber Monday cosmetic guide.

TIP #1: SIGN UP FOR EBATES.COM!

"Ebates is the pioneer and leader of online Cash Back Shopping. The company was founded in 1998 by two Deputy District Attorneys in Silicon Valley who used to prosecute online fraud & identity theft before starting Ebates (so you can be sure we are very into secure online transactions!). So go ahead, sign up and start shopping now. Joining Ebates is always free - you'll never pay us anything. And four times a year or more, we'll mail you a Big Fat Check, or transfer the money to your PayPal account if you'd prefer. We can even send the money to your favorite charity. All 100% free." - EBates.com

EBates.com is NO JOKE. I've been using EBates.com for about 6 months now and have gotten $40.65 cash back. I know a lot of people think it's some big chain scheme, it's not. You don't pay them anything, they don't sell your information to some 3rd party company so you end up with spam. None of the negatives.

Long story short: EBates.com works through affiliation of very popular Internet stores. EBates.com gets money from these stores for referring you to their sites, lots of websites are like this but most of them just keep all of the money the stores give them for their referral when you end up spending money at said sites. Instead EBates.com provides you with money back too. You sign into your EBates.com account, find the website you plan on purchasing from it will tell you how much of a percentage of your purchase price they will refund, click the "shop now" button next to the store you want, shop away! Then the store your shopping sends EBates.com your refund and tada, it's yours. Down fall: you don't get the refund immediately. Every 3 months or so they will PayPal it to you or send you a live check if you want which ever of the two you ask to receive. Which kind of is a draw back, but I just got a check for $20 a few days ago and um... that's $20 I didn't have before to put in my gas tank. It's also like a present because you tend to forget about it. And then you get an email saying we've sent you your money, it's in your paypal!

EBates.com QUICK TIP: not every single company under the sun is on EBates.com, BUT most department stores are. MACCosmetics.com is not a site affiliated with EBates.com but  Nordstroms.com is and Nordstroms sells MAC. So if you don't see a brands specific website check the department stores sites, you'll be getting the same products you want to buy and get cash back.

OH! Not to mention ALL the sites on EBates.com are going to give you double the cash back on Black Friday. So if the store you're interested in today says it will give you 5% back of what you spend. Then on Black Friday it would be 10%. AND when you signs up for EBates.com they give you an automatic $5 in your account OR a choice of a small denomination gift card.

TIP #2: DON'T TRY TO BUY SOMEONE A PRODUCT THAT NEEDS TO MATCH THEIR SKIN TONE.
In my experience never purchase someone something like a foundation or concealer UNLESS you can somehow sneak into their makeup bag and find out what shade they are. And I would only advise this if they already own the product and it's running out or about to expire, but perhaps can't afford it right now. Even brands like MAC who try to have their shade range stay consistent regardless of the product (powder, foundation, concealer), but never the less no matter how much consistency they try to maintain an NC15 in Studio Fix Fluid might not match someones skin tone as per say NC15 would in Studio Tech.

TIP #3: GIFT SETS, GIFT SETS, GIFT SETS.
Pre-packaged gift sets are the best thing you can ask for at holiday time. We all get so busy with all the things the holidays bring, decorating, baking, social events that sometimes you aren't available to put together a cutesy gift package and hand pick every item. Gift sets are specifically created by brands to be able to compliment every personal style, skin tone, and tend to generally be a hit. One brand with great gift sets is Philosophy (who is on EBates.com) tons of their Holiday themed items come in special packaging that you could just take a stick on bow slap it on and stick it under the tree. I REALLY love Philosophy's "Holiday Cookbook" that comes as a 6 scent sampler of their famous 3-in-1 shower gels. You can break each shower gel up and put them in a separate gift bags and give one to your crazy Aunt you haven't seen since your 12th birthday, or the last minute gift for the one person you forgot to get something for. Or split them up and give your Mom one every night of Hanukkah then through in maybe a loofa and a nice bath pillow.

Just a few little last minute things I thought of and though I'd share with all of you! Happy Thanksgiving, or... just simply Thursday for those of you non-American readers!

More from HauteLook!

Amazing beauty deals all week long at HauteLook.com!

• Monday 11/15: Mario Badescu & Urban Decay (again!) 
• Tuesday 11/16: T3 & Stila Deal Of The Day 
• Wednesday 11/17: Lorac Deal Of The Day

For those of you who aren't yet familiar with HauteLook.com:

"A leader in online retail, HauteLook brings the thrill back to shopping through 48-hour sale events with the world's top fashion, accessories, beauty, kids and home brands. Each day, HauteLook offers discounts of 50 to 75 percent off to millions of members in the U.S. and Canada. Membership is free to join and everyone is welcome.

In the last two years, over 1,000 high profile brands have chosen HauteLook to host more than 2,500 private events for women, men, kids, home, and beauty." - HauteLook.com

No joke ladies and gents! About 2 weeks ago I ordered $108 worth of Urban Decay products from HauteLook.com for $16.75. (a review is coming soon.)

Now I did do a little investigating because HauteLook.com has Stila and Lorac listed as "Deal Of The Day" which I've never personally seen on there. I couldn't get a 100% answer on what was so special about these "DEALS", but from what I gathered these specific sales typically have a set price for everything. For example: All LORAC products set at $4 each. AMAZING RIGHT? Again I am not 100% on this, but it IS worth spending a few minutes and signing up for the site because it is a members only site. It is FREE so don't worry there aren't any fees, but because the deals are so severe you need to be a registered member to even know what the sales are going to be. So I strongly advise you sign up and just log in to check prices. 

NOTE: All sales mentioned above start are 8 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Big Fat Oil Slick

When you're feeling in a funk do you ever feel the need to treat yourself with a hypothetical pat on the back? Well when I want to tell myself "cheer up butter cup" you know what I do? I buy makeup.

And BEFORE some of you think um, way to show off Samantha. Just keep reading. I am not being all snoody here.

Eyeshadows left to right: Oil Slick, Grind, Half Baked, Chains. 

Set of 2 Big Fatty Mascara.

I am sure most of you have heard of the website HauteLook.com. And how blah blah blah you get a bunch of fancy crap for a cheap price. When I first started hearing about HauteLook.com all I kept seeing was stuff I CERTAINLY did not want. So I did NOT understand what the big deal was. I realized the key to using HauteLook.com is you have to check in periodically to see what brands they have up. The sales on the site are very short, they only last 1 to 2 days. Hence why I wasn't seeing too much of anything I wanted since then I have seen lots of brands that have caught my eye. A short list of these brands: Lorac, Paula Dorf, Tart, Skyn Iceland and more. Sidenote: they don't just sell beauty items. Clothes, shoes, home goods EVERYTHING.

I JUST purchased all this stuff from HauteLook.com and spent close to nothing for them. If I went to UrbanDecay.com and purchased each of these individually I would have spent $108 (not including shipping or taxes).  That makes me gag just thinking about it. So how much did I really spend on these goodies? $16.75 (this is not including shipping too).

PRO OF HauteLook.com: CHEAP. CHEAP. CHEAP.

CONS OF HauteLook.com: Items can be a hit or miss. Sometimes brands put up GREAT stuff, but it's only items they have overstock on and are trying to sell off. But look at me, I found stuff I wanted and saved $91.25. WELL WORTH IT.

Friends and Family

For the past few weeks now the pots been stirring about the annual Sephora friends and family sale. This year the sale entails 20% off essentially every item Sephora sells.

The sale begins October 22nd and November 3rd. During your check out place the "FF2010" in the promo code box.

A lot of people have heard me speak of my hidden gem, Ebates! And I still don't know why people haven't jumped in on this. But heres my PSA so you all can save a little even extra on Ebates during the Sephora friends and family sale. And not to mention it's holiday time so a lot of us will be doing online shopping with in the next few months and Ebates has a bajillion sites where you get cash back for shopping online. Yes, cash back for buying stuff online. No gimmicks, no nothing. I am the most skeptical person probably ever so when I considered signing up for Ebates I was like "watch, these people are going to want me to pay them to join, such a scam." I was wrong. Very wrong.

So after you sign up for  Ebates you can start looking through the various sites that partner with Ebates to provide this cash back service, to just make things simple and on point for this blog here is an example of the site...

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 Type the word "Sephora" into the search bar. And see I am NOT BSing you, I personally have made $34.25 for using  Ebates.

This will pop up as the search result. Pretty easy to explain. It tells you the webstore name, the $% back and then when you click the "SHOP NOW" button that will start to direct you to the same typical ol' Sephora.com

You will see this message BEFORE Sephora.com pops up. Which means you did everything right, go like normal and make your purchase. Sephora.com seems you were referred by Ebates to their site then tells Ebates you spent $XYZ.00 and how much cash back you're getting for making your purchase. And as you see in the image you will see the cash back in with in 2-3 days.

Here is an excerpt from  Ebates.com explaining how there site works.

"People often ask: "This sounds too good to be true, how are you able to do it?" It really is quite simple. Just like almost every other online shopping center, we get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping that money - like almost all other sites do - we share it with you!
So, as long as 1200+ of the world's top online stores are happy to pay a bonus to attract the new, valuable customers we send their way, Ebates is going to continue to send Big Fat Checks to our satisfied customers across the globe."

So I STRONGLY suggest everyone who plans on stocking up on their expensive must haves during the sale to get even more back and go through Ebates! Because YES you can with out a shadow of a doubt still use the "FF2010" coupon code while checking out on Sephora even when using cash back through Ebates. So say you spend $400 during the sale, but because you went through Ebates you will get an additional $16 back. Which trust me, I know, $16 isn't anything HUGE. But now a days in this economy saving any thing extra is awesome. And think of it this way... they're giving you money so you can just turn around and go buy more make up.

And while I'm on it heres a run down of other beauty sites who participate in Ebates: Clinique, Ulta, YSL, Stila, Dermadoctor, Shu Uemura, E.L.F., Smashbox, Nordstroms, Macy's, QVC.

So, also think about it with way. Even when you want to order some makeup from brands that aren't sold at persay Ulta and Sephora you can ALWAYS click to Nordstroms and Macy's through  Ebates and you'll get cash back for purchasing exclusive beauty items through online department stores.