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Sunday, September 7, 2014

Fortune Cookie Soap: "Witch, Please" Fall 2014 Review


Hi, friends! Today I have a different subscription to unbox for you today: The Fortune Cookie Soap Box! I received this box in the middle of August, but I wanted to have the ability to get retail values of the products and do some research on the company before I wrote a post about it. Without further ado, here is my first review of FCS!



Fortune Cookie Soap? What's That?: Fortune Cookie Soap is a bath and body company that also sells a quarterly box of new (seasonal) products for $20 each. The boxes contain 8-9 generously-sized sample products as a preview to the new seasonal line that will launch on their website and in their store. With your box you will also receive a code for $10 off any order on their website, so you can basically score your favorite product in the full-size for free! Their product names and descriptions are often snarky, themed, and/or slightly inappropriate, which brings me way too much joy. Everything smells amazing, and there's something in it for everyone, because who doesn't bathe amirite?


This season's theme was The Wizard of Oz meets Wicked. Also, can we just talk about the name of this box, please? It's amazing. My mom didn't get it so I had to explain it to her. I was like "Mom. Bitch, please?" And she was like, "Excuse me?" Sigh.


Even the description card smells good! This tells you what products you received, what the fragrance/notes are, and any other fun tidbits. I got my roommate to help me with identifying the scents, because my nose sucks sometimes, and two noses are better than one. Plus, she's sitting next to me as I write this, so it wouldn't be nice to leave her out of all the fun. 


On the back of the description card, it also includes a unique one-time $10 off code for anything on their website (though you don't have to use the entire amount if you don't want to, contrary to the card information). It doesn't cover shipping though, so even if you get something "free" that's under $10 with the code, you'll still have to pay $6 for S&H. Bummer, but at least it's cheaper than buying it without! Normally there would be a code on this card, but I erased it in Photoshop, because I paid good money for my box and I would like to use my code, thank you very much!

But enough about that, let's get on to the good stuff~


"There's No Place Like Home" Fortune Cookie Soap (Retail Value: $3.24)

"Close your eyes and repeat after me.... Curled Macintosh apple peels lovingly kissed with a hint of cinnamon, allspiace and clove, make this fragrance warm and cozy, just like home-- as long as home's not in Kansas! ;) "

I definitely get the cinnamon and apple notes from this. My roommate remarked that it smells like the inside of a Christmas tree store--you know, like the holiday section at Fortunoff's. It really does remind me of home! Since I live in a dorm, any type of bar soap is just inconvenient, so I'll bring this home on Thanksgiving break to use then. 

"Roy G. Biv" OCD Hand Sanitizer (Full-Size Retail Value: $2.89)

"A full spectrum of bright citrus notes and florals against a cool fall background. Dusky breezes and bonfires, wind-blown leaves and charred woods brightened by notes of lemon, mandarin, cotton blossom and soft vanilla. "

To be honest, I mostly just get an alcohol scent from this (as it is hand sanitizer, it contains a lot of it). Once the alcohol evaporates, I do get a bit of a fruity scent, but it's pretty subtle. I guess that's for the best, since wouldn't it be weird if only your hands smelled nice? My roommate said it smells like bug spray, so do with that what you will. 

"No Good Deed" Whipped Cream (Full-Size [4oz]: $10.99)

"Good thing there's no punishment for smelling amazing -- we like to think of it more as a public service, anyway! Creamy pumpkin puree, ground cinnamon, Vermont maple syrup, rum, french vanilla and caramelized sugar."

There were four options of their Whipped Cream body butter this season, and even without smelling the other three, I have to mention that I totally got the best one. This smells like pie, and I somehow want to eat and bathe in it all at the same time. IT SMELLS SO GOOD I'M GONNA DIE! The formulation of this body butter is really nice, too--it's moisturizing, doesn't take long at all for it to soak in, and is non-greasy! As I am writing this, I can't stop smelling my hands. I want this in every scent possible, oh my GOODNESS. If only Smell-o-Vision existed by now, I could reach through the screen and let you smell it, too. 

"Swankified" Walnut Facial Scrub (Full-Size [4oz]: $12.99)

"As we continue to expand our skincare line, we'd like to introduce you to our new daily scrub! We had your face in mind, but feel free to "swankifiy" all your parts! Bunches of ripe bananas mashed into sweet, sugary cake batter, then topped with walnuts and baked to a golden brown. *see website for ingredients list."

I love that they have an ingredients list on the website, though it didn't come out until the product officially launched on August 29th. But THIS SMELLS SO GOOD, OH GOD. I definitely am getting the banana smell from this, along with the sugary sweetness. I kind of want a smoothie/shake that smells and tastes like this. I was kind of wary about putting something this heavily-fragranced on my skin, but my skin has reacted fine since I started testing it. Even though it says "walnut scrub," it's not harmful to your face like the St. Ives Apricot Scrub, though, since it doesn't have sharp shards of walnut shells as part of the exfoliant. I only typically use a scrub once a week or as needed (combination skin is the worst--it's very fickle), so this little guy will still last me awhile. Surprisingly, the scent doesn't linger too long on your skin, so that might be why it's not irritating like I thought, and I have sensitive skin. If you're skin is super-ultra-ridiculously sensitive, though, I might still stay away from this. 

"Miss Popular" Bubble Bath Powder (Not on website)

"As bubbly and sticky sweet as they come, but maybe not quite what you'd expect, with a depth of scent that is both unexpected and enchanting. The most delectable, sweet, honey nectar shamelessly flirting with touches of star anise, star jasmine, sweet orange and blushing violet."

I think their description just gave me a (lady) boner. I'm afraid to open this, though, since the powder will go everywhere. As I mentioned, I live in a dorm room at school, so we don't have a bathtub. I'll bring this home over break and try it out there. It smells sweet, but not overly strong. The only thing is, I don't know how much I need for one bath, and I couldn't even find it on the website to look for any instructions. I guess you just dump the whole thing in?

"Hair Flip" Hair Oil (Full-size [2oz]: $11.99)

"The beauty of what we do here at FCS, is that if we decide we want something new, we just go ahead and make it! *hair flip* Please give a round of applause for our new custom blend of oils, formulated to nourish and repair dry, damaged hair. 1-2 drops is all you need for ultimate shine without greasy residue. Strands of sweet hazelnut woven throughout rich, buttery vanilla cream."

God bless FCS. Their descriptions are beautiful. This smells like the No Good Deed Whipped Cream, with a bit of added something else, possibly the hazelnut. I put a droplet of this on my wrist to get the scent, and it kind of soaked in like a perfume. I literally just smell like desserts now. 

"Flying Monkeys" Personal Space Air Freshener (Full-size [4oz]: $9.99)

"Mischief is in the air with this fruity, breezy blend of peach, watermelon, neroli and jasmine with air and aquatic notes. But the real star of this fragrance? Fresh, ripe bananas!"

This is their "Personal Space" air freshener spray, but I sprayed it on my clothes today because I am a member of yolo inc. I don't know about you, but the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz always scared me as a kid. This scent, however, is not scary at all! I mostly just get a general "fruity" scent, with a bit of something else, when I smell this. My nose isn't trained to pick up individual pure scents, I guess. Either way, it smells nice. Something about it does remind me of the scrub, so maybe there is some banana in there.  My roommate said, "It smells like fruit. And kind of like candy. But not intense candy. Just...chill candy." So there you have it, "chill candy" scented air freshener. 

"The Shiz" Perfume Oil [Full-size [1 dram aka 1/8 oz]: $5.99)

"Normally you wouldn't want to smell like shiz, but in this case -- it's a good thing! What?? It wouldn't be a FCS Soap Box card without an inappropriate remark or two! ;)" "A woodland hike through damp balsam woods, with top notes of maple leaves blowing through new dawn blossom, laurel and sweet clove."

There it is! The inappropriate description! I told you it would be here! Unfortunately, mine leaked in the box, so about a third of it was gone when I got it. Not a huge deal, but it is such a tiny bottle. I emailed their Customer Service, though, and they sent me a message back right away saying they would send me a replacement! Thanks, FCS! It's a musky scent, which makes it pretty good for both genders, I think. Not my favorite kind of fragrance, since I prefer fruity or floral girly-type scents, but I'll use this up. It kind of does smell like the woods, though! My roommate stated that by this point, her nose was already filled with other scents, so her scent-identifying skills were not good anymore. She agreed with the description overall, though. 

That's everything that was in my box! Here's some info on the fall product launch, and what I bought with my code:

Post-Box Fun: I went to the Fall Launch Party of August 29th, which was basically a live-stream of the creators going through all of the new products. It was actually really funny, because they're definitely as quirky and sassy as their description cards let on. The event was about an hour and a half, so I kind of kept the video open in a separate tab while I did various other important things (ex. Facebook) just to listen to what was going on. At the end, they gave a 20% off code to all party-goers, even those who didn't purchase the fall box. I thought that was pretty cool, to keep engagement up with past, current, and future FCS customers. My $10 code ended up being a better deal for me, since it made product I bought free, so I used that, I purchased a lip scrub in the No Good Deed scent, and I'm really hoping it'll taste the way it smells. I would have bought a full size of the Whipped Cream, but I never use up my lotions when they're so big, since I get bored of them after awhile, so it's probably for the best. I am $6 poorer (all from shipping and handling, yikes!), but I'm almost out of my e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator, so it came at a good time.

The Best: The No Good Deed Whipped Cream. Oh, God. 

The Worst: Probably the Bubble Powder, if only for the reason that I can't use it at school. Honestly, there's nothing in this box I dislike. 

The Verdict: Wow! Now I get what all the hype was about. I'm going to use everything in my box (at some point) and am really happy that I gave it a try. Since I'm a poor college student, I decided to subscribe for the moment, just because $20 a quarter is just money that I shouldn't be spending on (more) beauty products. Plus, from reading descriptions, I wasn't a fan of the fragrances/notes they used last winter, so I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as this box. Even if I don't return for spring or summer, I am definitely getting next year's fall box! I can't wait to smell like pie every fall!

What do you think of Fortune Cookie Soap?







Disclaimer: I paid for this box myself. I am not affiliated with, nor sponsored by, FCS. Though, I mean, if they want to give me a free box, I wouldn't object. 

Let's be friends! 

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