Pangea Organics is a Colorado-based company that believes in sustainable business practices. They make really nice soap, skincare, and bodycare, and they have some cool gift sets this holiday season. There are three options, a set with two soaps and a lip balm, another with a soap, shower gel, soap dish, and sample of lotion, and a third with soap, shower gel, lotion, and a sample of face scrub. What’s particularly cool is Pangea’s packaging is embedded with seeds! You can plant the box the gift sets come in (and plant the soap boxes too) and a spruce tree will grow! How cool is that?

The soaps are really nice, gently lathering, and they smell amazing! I’m particularly fond of the Malagasy Cinnamon Cassia With Cloves bar, although I want to try the Oatmeal With Bergamot too (I love oatmeal soap). Anyway, if you’re looking for something different this year, try Pangea. The plantable boxes make for a gift that keeps on giving!

EcoTools has added some new travel brushes to their lineup, and I’m totally loving them! There is a new five piece set for $9.99 that includes a baby kabuki, a small powder/blush brush, a concealer brush (that could double as an eyeshadow brush) and an eyeshadow blending brush, with a little hemp/cotton cosmetic bag to carry them in. The packaging says they are great for mineral makeup – I don’t wear mineral makeup foundation, but I do use some mineral cheek and eye colors and the brushes work great! A lot of travel sized brushes suffer from a lack of quality, but these are the same awesome quality as the full-sized Eco Tools brushes. Incidentally, I have basically switched to using the EcoTools powder, blush, and foundation brush exclusively these days, I love them that much. You can read my initial review here.

The other travel brush isn’t online yet – lucky me to get to try it early! It’s a recycled aluminum retractable kabuki brush and it’s great! Again, most other retractable brushes I’ve tried have disappointed me – the quality usually isn’t there and the bristles are rough or cut unevenly. This brush is an exception – very soft (love those synthetic bristles!) and cut properly to apply powder evenly. This is a brush I would toss in my bag for mid-day powder touchups. I just love the fact that it’s made from recycled aluminum too. This brush will retail for $7.99

If great quality, great prices, and sustainable materials weren’t enough to convince you to try EcoTools (or give them as gifts), then how about this? Paris Presents (the company that makes EcoTools) has joined One Percent For The Planet, and donates 1% of their annual sales from EcoTools to environmental organizations.

I love palettes, especially eyeshadow palettes and face/eye combos. I’m not much of a fan of ones that include lip colors just because I always seem to get powder in the lip parts and it looks gross. Plus, who wants to carry the whole thing with you during the day to retouch your lips? If they’re small enough to carry in my purse, I make an exception though – especially if the colors are versatile enough to go from day to night.

First up is Too Faced’s Glamour To Go palette, which includes eight eye shadows, four lip glosses, and a blush. This one is small enough to carry, and the shades have lights and darks – good for day, then glam it up for night without going home to touch up your face! Love it! Plus, at under $20 the price is right.

The Cargo PlantLove Green Goddess palette is full of pretty shades, and the formulas are great for women with sensitive skin. I wants!

Sephora still has this Smashbox set still in stock, so I’m mentioning it again – it’s the Pink Power Eye & Lip kit, and it’s SO PRETTY! Do up your eyes in the morning, and take the lip set to go with you! *sigh* I want this one too.

This Fresh palette (Island Reverie) isn’t new, but it would also make a great gift. The shades are perfect for a soft look, and Fresh’s quality is great.

I love this combo set from LORAC because the glosses are separate in their own tubes! This is a great one for travel, with sixteen eyeshadows, a highlighter, bronzer, two blushes and three lipglosses. Bring your own mascara and you’d be set! Plus, the colors are flattering for a variety of skin tones.

Urban Decay tempts with two offerings this year: the Book of Shadows (sixteen eyeshadows, two premium brushes, and a travel-size Eyeshadow Primer Potion) and the Sustainable Shadow Box (ten shadows, a brush, and a travel-sized Eyeshadow Primer Potion). The Book of Shadows wouldn’t travel well since it’s huge, but the other one would. The colors in both are typical bright, stunning UD colors. On their website, UD is offering a great set called Urban Essentials, with a full sized Goddess shadow, a full sized Midnight Cowboy shadow, and an extra large Eyeshadow Primer Potion. Since Primer Potion is only THE BEST PRIMER EVER, this set would rock.

Not wanting to neglect cool indie brands, do check out Skinn Dimitri James’ Luxe Premier Eyeshadow Palette. I’ve been very impressed with the eyeshadows from this brand. They go on silky-smooth, the color payoff is great, and they wear as well as any other high quality brand. Plus, these colors are so pretty!  The Patina Eye Shadow palettes are awesome too – I have the one pictured, and would like the others.

KenzoAmour was probably my favorite fragrance from 2007, I liked it that much. It was with no small measure of excitement, then, that I anticipated KenzoAmour le Parfum, a limited edition version of the original fragrance.

The original KenzoAmour tickled my nose with some very powdery top notes – those have been tamped down a bit in le Parfum. The addition of benzoin, amber, and patchouli make the scent warmer and darker, and less sweet. The rice pudding bit I loved so much is still there, but it’s definitely less edible. The original KenzoAmour notes are frangipani blossoms, cherry blossoms, tanakha wood, incense, rice steam, vanilla, and white tea. KenzoAmour le Parfum has incense, rice steam, amber, patchouli, frangipani blossom, benzoin balm, and vanilla.

I definitely like the new scent as much as I liked the original. It has fabulous lasting power on me, and the drydown is this nice woodsy-ambery thing that I love. I love Kenzo fragrances because they aren’t the same old thing so many houses are doing – not a fruity-floral in sight in the Kenzo lineup!

The bottle is the same lovely design by Karim Rashid as the original, this time done in a matte gold finish. I’m a huge sucker for packaging, and I really love the shape of these bottles.

Speaking of Kenzo, the new Kenzo website will launch tomorrow (www.kenzousa.com) and they are having a Friends & Family sale.  Shop between November 17 and November 24, and use coupon code 08FAMILY to receive 20% off your order! Besides perfume, Kenzo also offers skincare and bodycare – I’ll have some reviews about the skincare I’ve tried up soon.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of my favorite gift ideas, from companies using natural ingredients. It’s definitely time to be thinking about ordering, if you’re going to have stuff arrive by Christmas!

The Body Deli has body care gift sets featuring their best selling products. The Body Kit Set #1 features an Organic Botanical Body Lotion, Organic Botanical Body Scrub, Organic Botanical Body wash, Organic Botanical Body Soap, Botanical Lip Gloss, and an Eco-Friendly Cooler Bag. You choose the scent (my picks are Almond Joy or Tahitian Vanilla). The Three Bar Soap Sampler is a more budget-friendly choice, and you can choose your three scents.

I wish International Orange had a gift set, but since they don’t, let me just say any of the products in the line are going to be delightful gifts. The body oil and lotion are my favorites.

Lush never fails to have a slew of holiday treasures, and this year is no different. Chocolate Santa sounds delicious, Lush Pud is a perennial favorite, and the Twinkle Star sounds like a delight. Porridge is currently my favorite Lush soap, and Sympathy For The Skin is my favorite lotion. Buy them both and give them to someone you love!

L’Occitane recently introduced some new olive oil products that seem really nice, including a certified organic hand cream. I like the way the new olive line smells, and the Luminous Body Cream leaves some pretty sparkles on the skin. The new Mom & Baby Water was featured in last month’s Allure, and it smells yummy too.

There will be more gift idea posts to come!

One fun gift for someone special (sister, mother, niece, etc) is the gift of good skincare, especially for someone who is new to the whole concept of taking care of their skin. Beauty Company, a salon and boutique in San Francisco, has launched a line of basic skincare for everyone. It’s a simple routine with quality products, and the prices are great too. Purchasing the whole line of full size products comes in less than $100.

There are five products in the line: a cleanser, eye serum, oil-free moisturizer, mask, and spot treatment. I would really recommend the products for a younger person, or someone with a more combination skin type, because they do seem most appropriate for those concerns. I especially liked the cleanser – it left my skin soft, but not feeling dried out. The eye serum feels great, and I like the texture of the moisturizer.

If you happen to be in San Francisco, check out the boutique! It’s supposed to be awesome.

I was browsing through Sephora the other day, checking out all the new holiday stuff (and it’s overwhelming, as it is every year) when I came across this featured on the Stila display. This being the Stila Step Out and Shine collection. It was (mostly) love at first sight.

First things first, the set is $50 and is a $115 value. It comes with a Eye Shadow Quad Palette in Montmartre, All Over Shimmer Luminizer (looks like Kitten), Multi-Effect Mascara, Convertible Color in Orchid, and new Pomegranate Crush Lip and Cheek Stain. Everything is full-size except the luminizer. It’s all neatly packaged in a cute silver clutch, which is lined with purple fabric. The clutch seems really nice, a quality accessory.

I totally resisted this set when looking at it online, but looking in person got me to buy it. I LOVE the limited edition Orchid Convertible Color. It looks scary dark purple in the pan, not unlike Becca’s Lotus,  but it’s a super-flattering pinky shade on the skin. It’s not TOO pink though, but almost exactly matches my natural “blush.” LOVE! Lucky for me, these cream blushes last for a long time, so if they don’t add it to the regular lineup I won’t be heartbroken.

The other must-have in the set is the Pomegranate Lip & Cheek Stain. I haven’t tried it as a cheek stain, but it is a fabulous lip stain. Unlike so many stains, the gel texture goes on quite sheer and is very buildable. Use a little for the tiniest hint of color, use a little more to deepen the color. It’s not quite plum, not quite pink, not quite berry… but somewhere inbetween. It’s a great winter color, I’m loving it. Alone, the texture gets a little funky on the lips, but a quick dab of lip balm takes care of that. Or use a clear gloss for more shine.

The mascara is meh, I don’t love it. I do like the eyeshadow quad, the colors are pretty and are typical super Stila quality. The luminizer is pretty, especially if you dab a teensy bit on top of the Orchid. Nice!

So the mascara is really the only dud in the set (and your mileage may vary, I’m just not a fan).

I heart Stila.

Every woman I know has some method or other to keep her hair out of her face while she does her evening routine. Prior to getting a Tassi, I alternated between head bands, lots of barettes, etc. The Tassi is an elegant solution to solving the hair-in-face problem, and has quickly become totally indispensable to me.

The Tassi is a patented hair holder, made of soft washable terry cloth. The special shape won’t flatten or twist your hair, protecting your blowout. Ponytail holders alone won’t keep my bangs back and the hair tends to flop over my shoulder when I lean over the sink. Head bands and ponytail holders together work okay, but it’s a total pain to go through all the rigamarole to get my hair back (and it still flops over my shoulder). The Tassi just slips over your head and you tuck your hair into the back. Voila! No flopping over the shoulder! Bangs out of the way!

I find myself using my Tassi for more than just washing my face – like scrubbing out the bathtub, for example, or other household chores where I don’t want my hair hanging in my face. You could even tuck your hair into it and sleep in it! (I should take my own advice – I woke up with my hair in my mouth this morning! Ew!)

If you are looking for a fun, different gift for the women in your family this year, consider the Tassi. I promise every woman will find it useful!

KenzoPower is the latest men’s fragrance from Kenzo, makers of my favorite KenzoAmour. It’s a woody fragrance, but with what the perfumer calls an imaginary flower in the heart notes. The result is a lovely fresh woodsy scent that isn’t too masculine for women (but smells plenty good on men!).

The fragrance notes are bergamot, coriander, cardamom, rose, jasmine, freesia, tolu balsam, cedar wood, and labdanum. When first sprayed, I get a lot of bergamot and cardamom – not too much coriander. Coriander tends to smell like armpit on me, so that’s a good thing! The floral heart has a watery feel to it, and matches the freshness of the bergamot perfectly. The drydown is warmer, cedar wood with a touch of vanilla. The drydown lasts for a long time on my skin.

The overall effect of KenzoPower is clean and unobtrusive. It’s not a fragrance that shouts its presence, but rather reminds me of the smell of clean skin while stepping out of the shower. I should say that I am decidedly NOT a fan of most “soapy clean” scents – I find the whole Clean line appalling, and most days Pure Grace turns me off completely. KenzoPower is my idea of what a clean, fresh fragrance should smell like. It won’t overwhelm anyone sitting next to you on the bus, and I think it would be appropriate for work.

I must mention the bottle – it’s gorgeous! It’s metallized glass, and is HEAVY. The bottle was designed by Kenya Hara, a Japanese designer. If you were giving this as a gift, the bottle is sure to impress.

If you’re looking for a men’s fragrance for a guy who eschews the “traditional” heavy, spicy men’s scents, try KenzoPower. If you’re a woman looking for an unusual fragrance for yourself, give it a sniff.