We all know that getting Adidas anything is pretty pricey these days, so a discount on some of their brand staples is always a plus. These joggers are perfect athleisure pants to dress up or down. (Keep in mind that, because it’s on Amazon, different sizes and different colors will have more or less of a discount.)
With so many retailers to shop on Black Friday 2018, you’re going to need an elaborate game plan to maximize your savings (for help, feel free to refer to our meticulously detailed guides). You’ll probably start with the big beauty retailers (namely, Sephora and Ulta), but after you’ve loaded up your shopping cart there, don’t forget about Amazon.
Amazon leaked some of its Black Friday deals early this year, but the retailer is also continuing to release additional deals on a rolling basis—and you’ll definitely want to check in to see which promo codes and day-off offers lie in store. For now, we went through their extensive archives ahead-of-time to pick out 20 skin care deals that will make your shopping so much easier. If you haven’t tried browsing for new additions to your beauty routine on their site before, you can find some surprisingly random (in the best way) stuff. Oh, and we saved the best part for last—free shipping, no minimum. Now go forth and save.
People always ask what I do to my hair, staring me down with extreme focus as if they’re getting ready to commit 20 products and a multi-step regimen to memory. I, on the other hand, have a history of providing the same unhelpful answer every time. “Nothing.” This is true: Aside from washing it every other day, I just let it air-dry and then roll out of bed in the morning and go. During New York winters, I used my blow-dryer to keep warm on the many nights when my building’s heat and hot water simultaneously went out—that high-end appliance seldom went anywhere near my actual head. I once owned a drugstore hair brush for about three days before I lost patience and also lost the brush in question.
This all worked out perfectly fine until I moved to Germany and my hair care routine, like many other things in my life, suddenly changed. Berlin has extremely hard water, meaning that what comes out of the showerhead has a high mineral content and leaves my hair much drier and more tangled than I’m used to. While my bleached and color-treated hair was doing just fine stateside (my colorist, Bumble and bumble salon’s Diaz, took me from black to fire-engine red to the richest brunette shade without ever damaging a single strand), it started feeling a little parched a mere week after I settled into my new flat.
I had already managed to find a sulfate-free shampoo. After hours spent Google Translating labels and feeling lied to by all the brands that promised color-safe on the front and then revealed their sulfate-carrying contents on the back, I made a detour to the baby aisle and picked up a bottle of Bübchen Kinder Shampoo. While the formula didn’t strip my color, it didn’t exactly hydrate either. And that was proving to be a bigger issue than I had expected—because I loathe conditioner.
There are a few reasons why my shower routine usually doesn’t include conditioner. It’s tough to find a formula without silicones or dimethicone, which cause acne around my hairline and on my back. I also dislike the slick, residue-coated feeling my hair has after conditioning, as if I could rinse and rinse and still never quite get it out. And while most formulas I’d tried in the past did make my hair feel a little smoother, they also seemed to weigh down my natural waves. As for hair masks, forget it; I am both notoriously lazy and notoriously impatient when it comes to my beauty routine, and the likelihood that I will stand around for 20 minutes waiting for a deep treatment to work its magic on a weekly basis is rock-bottom low.
Salvation came into my life in the form of an unexpected invite: an afternoon at Berlin’s ridiculously swanky Soho House, where Rahua by Amazon Beauty founder Fabian Lliguin was presenting his new Legendary Amazon Oil. As he proffered the golden bottle, a ray of sunlight descended from the heavens and illuminated its contents, and within the first five minutes we were all hooked.
As we passed the bottle and around and tested it, we all murmured in surprise at how light the formula was and how quickly it seemed to vanish into nothing, leaving only shine and hydration behind. This, Lliguin says, is because he deliberately designed the mixture to leave out any heavier particles, meaning it gets deep down to repair and strengthen your hair from the inside out. “Pure oils are wonderful for hair and skin and naturally contain blocks of fat and particles of heavy waxes,” he says. “Hair oil is meant for replenishing oils that are lost due to many factors such as coloring and heat.”
The result, which he adds can be used on all hair types, is a combination of rahua, sacha inchi, and morete oils. “Sacha inchi is also known as the Inca peanut; the seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A and E, wonderful antioxidants,” he says. “It locks in moisture and has wonderful soothing benefits.” Morete oil is rich in vitamins A and E as well, and also contains a dose of vitamin C.
The trick is applying the treatment to damp hair, like a conditioner, so it gets through your hair more evenly—making sure to focus it on the lower part of your hair, which tends to be drier. If your hair still needs more moisture, you can always add more oil on after it dries, says Lliguin.
Ever since I left Soho House clutching my prized new possession, the $42 bottle hasn’t left its place of honor (right next to my favorite lotion) at my desk. After showering, I rake it through my hair with my fingers, concentrating on the ends as advised. Occasionally, for extra gloss, I rub a few drops between my palms and smooth them over dry hair. While Lliguin adds that conditioners have the added benefit of detangling, which I won’t get from oils, I find that the formula does a good enough job of injecting hydration back into my hair where it sort of just…detangles itself. Plus, it smells like a balmy vacation and restores equilibrium to my minimal-effort world—I really couldn’t ask for more.
Rahua Legendary Amazon Oil, $42, spacenk.com
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You know you love this news, XOXO. Blake Lively is currently in the process of developing a scripted television series for Amazon that would revolve around the good, the bad, and the ugly of the modern fashion industry. Remind you of a certain fashionable CW drama, Upper East Siders?
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Lively will be closely working alongside with the streaming service for the untitled show. However, one (admittedly very cool) way that it will differ from Lively’s famed Gossip Girl turn is that this series will reportedly also have a strong “merchandising component” alongside it. (Translation: It’s possible that some of the outfits featured on the show can be highlighted and identified for purchase on Amazon’s website.) Amazon is being cagey about what exactly the “culturally relevant” show will entail, but Lively will reportedly only be producing, as opposed to starring.
“I told business affairs I’m going to do this. [Lively] is in Rome, asleep. She’ll wake up to it,” Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke explained when making the surprise announcement at this year’s Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. “She’s a force of nature: ambitious, smart, and talented.” Salke compared Lively to someone like Nicole Kidman, who has effortlessly transcended her “actor” title to an astute and in-demand producer.
PHOTO: Arnaldo Magnani
Lively with Leighton Meester on the set of ‘Gossip Girl’
Lively has been blossoming as a producer for over a year now, starting when she signed on to produce the film adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s The Husband’s Secret. (Moriarty wrote Big Little Lies, if you recall.)
As she explained to Glamour last year, getting more woman producers for projects catering to women is one way to help achieve parity in the entertainment industry. “Nobody’s going to fight for you as much as you fight for yourself,” she said. “That said, I know a lot of great men—directors, producers, studio heads—looking to tell stories about women, some because they’re drawn to those stories, some because they’re husbands or fathers and want to see the women in their life represented more accurately, and some just because they look at the numbers. They see, ‘Wonder Woman has replaced religion in America. We should probably invest in female summer movies.'”
Here’s hoping this Amazon project will help achieve that, but for television.
Related: Blake Lively Wears a Skirt One Time, Makes Headlines
If you’re anything like me, you are currently consumed by the idea of creating all the most perfect fall outfits. As soon as I feel the first breeze of fall, I start dreaming of the fall outfit essentials–boots, thigh high socks, oversized sweaters–only to be disappointed when I can’t find them in my closet. So in the past couple of weeks, I’ve started looking for those perfect fall outfit pieces on Amazon. I’m not going to lie, I just recently got Prime three weeks ago. I am 26 years old and so this statement elicited many gasps from everyone I told. They were so appalled it was as if I told them I just watched my first episode of Sex and The City–which I actually did last week, don’t @ me–but in all seriousness it’s true, I am late.
Up until recently the only thing I spent money on was clothing. I spent the three years after graduating college living at home to save up for an apartment which meant I had no real living or food expenses. I’ve since moved into a new apartment with my boyfriend. He just moved out of his parents’ as well which means we don’t have much of anything and still can’t cook. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that we are currently sleeping on the floor (on a Casper mattress, but still!).
And so Amazon entered my life and my empty apartment. My first order was a pair of lights for our balcony that I have since broken and re-ordered. Metal straws? I have two sets of eight and a cleaning brush. A red notebook comprised entirely of grids and lines? Just wrote it in four minutes ago. A portable fabric shaver and tiny travel steamer? I haven’t seen a wrinkle or a piece of lint in days. Teeny tiny glasses specifically made for orange juice? A necessity according to absolutely no one but me.
Since my clothing collection takes up a huge chunk of the apartment (I wish I was kidding) it only makes sense that Amazon would find its way into my closet too. Sometimes my boyfriend tells me to look for “home goods” and I mistake it for “wardrobe essentials.” I just can’t help that my every other lingering thought is about what I’ll be wearing tomorrow and the next day and the day after. Recently an Amazon search for clothing hangers led to an Amazon search for white cowboy boots which led to an Amazon purchase of one of my most essential fall outfit pieces ever.
Suddenly I started to wonder (I did just watch Sex and The City ) could I buy all of my basics for my fall outfits on Amazon? The answer is hell yes. Below are 18 items I guarantee will complete, if not totally transform, all your fall outfits (and wardrobe).
My love of samples dates back decades. When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, I would accompany my dad to Sam’s Club on Saturday afternoons, an outing that was mostly about buying bulk packs of toilet paper and ogling the massive meat freezers. But by far the best part of that father-daughter adventure was cruising through the food aisles and sampling whatever wares happened to be on display that day. Sometimes it was mini cups of smoothies; other times, bite-sized burgers and tiny sesame pancakes. These snacks were adorable! They were tasty! But mostly, they were miniature—a fact that revealed to me that sometimes excellent things come in small packages.
Fast forward to now. I still love a sample, though I’m less compelled by the edible varieties than I am beauty products. Single use lipsticks in little square foil pouches? Be mine. Fancy serums and anti-aging creams I’d never actually buy but am happy to test out for the heck of it? I’m hoarding a bunch in a Ziplock in my bathroom at this very moment. Okay, several Ziplocks. A girl can never have too many packets of free Fekkai shampoo and conditioner duos, right?
The only thing is: With these kinds of treasures, you can’t always just head to your local box store and get a fix. You have to wait for them to avail themselves to you, sometimes as extras that get sent along with full-size product purchases, sometimes stuck to postcards inside the pages of magazines, sometimes as gifts from a beauty editor goddess friend. You can’t go out and find them. You have to let them find you. (At this point it bears mentioning: I am not an especially patient person.)
If you can relate to any of this, then let me introduce you to a small miracle. Amazon Samples—a new-ish but not widely known about service that allows you to order a box of tiny, try-it-out treats as a Prime member—is making my sample collecting habits a little easier these days. Not long ago, when I came across the collection page, I was delighted to discover the women’s luxury beauty box, which comes with products like Vichy serums and Mario Badescu’s best-selling potions. There are a couple different varieties of this particular box, and all of them contain a healthy smattering of stuff that you’ve either tried and loved or have been angling to get your hands on. Think: High-end sun care, scrubs, lotions, anti-aging treatments, face wipes, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
It’s not just women’s personal care items either. There’s a box for men’s grooming supplies, too, and one for pet treats; there’s a box for on-the-go snacks and workout fuel (Gatorade and Optimum Nutrition are both on the list of boxes you can order). And while yes, technically these aren’t free samples—some cost under $10 while others go up to $20—whatever you spend is credited toward the purchase of a full-sized version of a product in your box.
If you’re thinking that it sounds a lot like Birchbox…well, you’re right. Subscription boxes have turned into a major trend over the last decade, and it’s not exactly surprising that Amazon would want to get in on the game. But while a once-a-month beauty box is great, so is being able to order samples whenever you want, targeted to whatever your heart desires. In summary: What could be more convenient than that?
Shop the sample boxes below:
PHOTO: Courtesy of brands
Shop It: Women’s Skin and Hair Care Sample Box, $10, amazon.com
PHOTO: Courtesy of brands
Shop It: Luxury Skin Care Sample Box, $20, amazon.com
Shop It: Women’s Luxury Sun Care Sample Box, $15, amazon.com
PHOTO: Courtesy of brands
Shop It: Luxury Women’s Beauty Box, $20, amazon.com