Ho Ho Ho

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...drum roll please...the first annual House of Donuts Holiday Giveaway. 'Tis the season to share and share alike so we want to share some fabulous beauty products with House of Donuts readers. All you have to do is comment on a post and become a follower of this blog between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15 and you'll be entered in the drawing to win one of the many fabulous beauty products we love here at House of Donuts. Prizes are available until we run out so become a follower now today. Be sure to leave your email address either in a comment post or in your blogger profile, so we can contact you and find out where to send your holiday goody. Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

LUSH-ous Friday

If you wake up at the crack of dawn, or before, on Friday morning to snag those 5 a.m. bargains, then you will really need a relaxing treat at the end of the day. Even if you don't, stop by the LUSH store near you and take advantage of its Black Friday special.

LUSH is having its first every Black Friday sale promotion. For every $40 you spend, you get a $10 product for free. This could work very nicely for you. For example, if you buy two pre-wrapped gift boxes for your friends at say, $20 a piece, you will get two $10 products for yourself.

LUSH has great pre-wrapped, packaged gift sets that range from a few dollars to more dollars. They are full of the naturally LUSH-ous products that the store is famous for - and many are vegan.

Let's break this down even further. If you buy one Best Wishes Holiday Gift Set for $19.95, which includes a Mr. Butterball, Christmas Kisses Bubble Bar, and a Marzibain (one of which can be won in the House of Donuts Holiday Giveaway,) and a 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Gift Set for $69.95, which includes a Christmas Party Bomb, LUSH pud Bath Bomb, Mr. Butterball, Twinkle, Candy Cane, a Christmas Kisses, Marzibain, Angel's Delight Soap, Snowcake, Christmas Morning Bubble Bar, Chocolate Santa and Jingle Spells then you will get four $10 items for yourself. AND give your friends the gift they will most want to find under the tree or around the Menorah.

I gave some of these gifts last year and the oohs and ahs were very satisfying.

I have loved LUSH for a long, long time. It is another store I always made sure to hit when I was in the UK. And just as an fyi - one of my favorite LUSH products of all time has nothing to do with holidays or holiday gifts but it is soooo yummy for your face and your senses. It is the Ocean Salt Cleanser, a wonderfully refreshing exfoliator. Here's what the site description says about it:

"Generous portions of fine and coarse sea salt line the rim of an enriching facial scrub to wash away everyday grime. Ocean Salt refreshes, nourishes, and tones, all while smelling deliciously of violet and lime. Butters of the avocado and coconut variety take the edge off, moisturizing and softening your face to reveal a brighter you. Try it on other parts of your body as well and take a trip to Margaritaville without the hangover."

Mmmmm. I think I'll go wash my face right now!

I want to go to Montreal

Anita Roddick was quite a woman. Not only was she the founder of The Body Shop, which was one of the very first natural, animal-testing free cosmetic companies in the world. She pretty much started the wave of looking outside your neighborhood drugstore or department store for beauty products which are made from natural ingredients and whose packaging could be recycled. I remember returning those iconic bottles to the store, I think, like 10 percent off or something like that.
I also remember the days before The Body Shop was available in the US. Whenever I was in London or a friend went to London, I would stock up on my favorite products. There were a lot less in those days but a perennial favorite is and always has been Peppermint Foot Lotion.
Ms. Roddick also was one of the first proponents of Fair Trade and Community Trade. She supported Fair Trade Certified, which guarantees that food products, like the beauty products, are grown, harvested and made in a way that is fair to the workers and to the environment.
Sadly she died last year, way too soon. Her reach and concern for the planet and its people was far and wide. House of Donuts has some great Body Shop products for our Holiday Give-Away. Details coming next week!
This video is about fair trade beauty products available at a store in Montreal, Planete Monde, which looks amazing. Almost all of her products are fair trade and if not, they are organic. One of the products she carries, Sel de la Mer Morte (salt of the Dead Sea) is made by a cooperative that hires Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian woman, all working side-by-side. In this video, you'll find out what to look for when searching for natural or organic or environmentally and world-friendly products.

Bee Season

I go back and forth when it comes to what I use to cleanse my holy temple, and by holy temple I mean my body.
Sometimes I use liquid cleanser and other times I prefer a bar soap. And it doesn't just depend on what's in my shower, because if you saw my shower, you would wonder how I even have room to get in and clean the temple. It's full, full, full of product.
So everyday I have a choice and for the last couple of days I have chosen Burt's Bees Fabulously Fresh Peppermint & Rosemary Body Bar.
The first reason I chose this was because it smells so good just in the packaging that I couldn't wait to try it. The second reason I tried it has a really smooth, soft texture. Just from feeling the bar, before even lathering up, I could tell it was going to make my temple silky and touchable.
I was right. It's very moisturizing without being greasy at all. It does include almond flour for exfoliation but it is not harsh at all.
And on top of everything else, if you are like me, you need something besides a strong cup of Joe to wake you up in the morning, and the combination of peppermint oil and rosemary extract in this lovely body bar really awoke my senses and got my motor running.
Oh, and the last reason I wanted to try this lovely item was its wrapper in totally biodegradable. It reads that it is made from something called TerraSkin, which is a paper made of minerals and no bleaching chemicals so it will totally degrade back into its original source, stone powder.
Gotta love that, taking care of the temple of the body and the temple of Mother Earth all at the same time.

Life Line or Happy Birthday Kiehl's

Remember when your facial cleansing regime consisted only of a nice soap, toner and moisturizer?
Well, no more. Now there are serums and exfoliators and even goo to put on after everything else so your face will be a "canvas" for your makeup.
I have to say right here and now that I am a skeptic. I take very little at face value (pun intended). So, whenever some newfangled product appears on the market, I question its validity and ability to make my life better. I know it will make my morning routine longer, and I am not one to linger on getting ready in the a.m. I have my ritual timed to the nanosecond.
So, when serums first popped up, I thought they were not only just one more step that would complicate my regime but also a way for companies to make more money from our never ending quest to stop the aging process. Because this stuff is not cheap. And let me tell you right here and now - the cheap ones DO NOT work.
With all of that being said, I have tried a lot of serums and lotions and potions and I can honestly say that I love, let me repeat, I LOVE Kiehl's Powerful-Strength Line Reducing Concentrate. I can not live without it. Even when I take a break from it to test something new, I long for its luxurious, silky, soft, feel on my face.
Within a week of the first time I tried the Kiehl's concentrate, I could see a difference in my skin. My face felt taut - not taut dry - but taut firm, soft as a baby's bottom and bright. The little lines that were beginning to appear around my eyes and mouth, while not gone altogether, did seem to recede a bit.
I actually looked - dare I say? - younger!
So, while I occasionally sacrifice my love of Kiehl's Powerful-Strength Line Reducing Concentrate to test other products for the sake of you, my dear readers, I hurry back as soon as I can. And always, my favorite concentrate is glad to have me back and rewards me with beautiful looking skin.
Oh and right now at www.kiehls.com, you can have a voice in deciding what will be the next product in the "Pear Tree Corner" collection. Choices include: bath soak, hand cream, essence oil, or you can write in your own candidate.

An All-Time Fave

I would be remiss if I did not mention one of my all-time favorite products from one of my all-time favorite companies.
I am a firm believer that even if you have no time at all to put on your makeup, you will be fine if you just pinch your cheeks and swipe on some mascara.
Mascara is the best and so quick and easy to use. You just swhooshi t out of the container, swipe on the lashes, or better yet, swipe/swipe it on the lashes and instantly your eyes look bigger and you look awake even if you are not.
So, in the very Genesis stage of House of Donuts, I have to tell you that the best mascara I have found is Bad Gal Lash from Benefit Cosmetics. Not only is the name fun - just having it in your make-up case makes you feel naughty - but the extra fat brush really does bestow the biggest, baddest lashes. I've tried tons of other mascaras, some of which I like very much, but always come back to Bad Gal.
Especially now that it comes in a sassy plum color. (Also available in blue.)
My favorite way to wear this is to swipe/swipe with the Bad Gal black and then just tip the ends of the lashes with the plum. Fun, sexy, different....
It's what a girl wants!



P.S. Keep an eye out for House of Donuts holiday beauty giveaways. In the spirit of redistributing the wealth, House of Donuts will be sharing the bounty we receive here, with our loyal readers. Instructions on how to be gifted will follow in a few days.

Hair Raising

I love when the weather turns milder and there is a cold snap in the air, but the cold weather also brings with it dry hair. Really dry hair. It irritates me to no end. Since my curly hair tends toward the dry, frizzy end of the spectrum anyway, winter poses a special challenge.
So, I am here to tell anyone and everyone that fights dry, flyaway hair - help is at hand. There are two hair products I would not want to be without.
The first is from Sundari, a company known for its natural ingredients and Ayurvedic philosophy. What is Ayurveda, you ask? The way I understand it, Ayurveda is a form of medicine from India that integrates the mind, body and spirit. In the West, we practice it as integrative medicine, a combination of eastern philosophies and herbal medicine in conjunction with the western medicine that most of us are comfortable with. But read this link from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to learn more.
The neem plant is a common property in Ayurvedic medicine and while I can't vouch for its medicinal properties, I sure can attest to its affect on dry hair. Luscious!
Sundari's Neem and Coconut Hair Treatment Oil is a godsend. While you may balk at putting pure oil in your hair, keep in mind that this is gentle, all natural and amazingly healthful and conditioning. You just have to leave it in for 30 minutes, than shampoo and conditioner as usual. Bye, bye dry hair.
Another excellent product for silky, soft hair comes from Ojon. This one I use when I have a little more time, because I found it is most effective when left in overnight.
This is also an oil, but this one comes from Central America and is sold in a concentrated form. You rub it between your palm and the heat turns it into a soft oil.
The Ojon Restorative Hair Treatment can be used as a daily treatment put right onto dry, just-styled hair or as I do, leave it in overnight and when you wash and condition your hair in the morning, ooh la la!
Legend has it, that the founder of Ojon, discovered this oil, that is harvested from the Ojon tree, when he came across the Miskito Indians in Central America and noticed their exquisite hair. Here's their video about how it was discovered.
On the Ojon Web site it states "In their native language, they are called Tawira, or "the people of beautiful hair."™
And I do believe it, the part about being the people of beautiful hair because this treatment really does do the trick.

Big Surprises come in Fed-Ex packages

I love when I come home and there's a Fed-Ex box at my door. Especially when I'm not expecting it.
By a curious twist of fate, I received a nice, fat Federal Express box the other day and I was all tingly inside wondering what was inside. I ripped open the tab, you know the ones that never really work and you have to fight it for a few seconds before you actually open the box to retrieve the treasure inside - but I digress.
I reached in and pulled out a plethora of product from Urban Decay. Now I must confess I was a teensy bit disappointed, not being a huge fan of Urban Decay. Well, I was soon eating my words of dismay.
In the few short minutes it took me to rip open the packaging and start applying, I fell in love. I fell in love with the eyeshadows, pencils and eye primer from Urban Decay. I shocked myself.
This lovely gift I receive was actually a sampling of gifts for the holidays. Gifts that I would be keeping for myself...for the most part.
I do think I will give the Stoned Poison Ring to my goddaughter.
But the items that have immediately become staples in my daily makeup routine are the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil sets and the Sustainable Shadow Box complete with Eyeshadow Primer Potion.
I'm really, really picky about eye pencils. Most of them are hard and scrape the heck out of the sensitive eyelid, but these glide on as if they were pastels. And the colors range from smoky and sexy to vibrant and neon. Fun!
Combined with the best-seller colors that are in the Sustainable Shadow Box and there's a different look for every day of the week, or every hour of the day. The box is cool too because it is made of bamboo and the insert is made of recyclable paper. The whole package is practically perfect.
And finally, the Eyeshadow Primer Potion really turned my head, especially because heretofore I believed that primer such as this was a huge waste of money. Just an extraneous step in my already rushed makeup agenda. But noooooo. This stuff is great and really works. My eye makeup stayed on and in place all day. Gotta love that.
And I do. Just as much as I love my super surprise from Urban Decay.