Embrace the Flavors, Colors, and Spirit of the Season with these Great Fall Finds
Now that sweater weather season is in full swing, I stopped by CBS Austin’s “We Are Austin” to chat about some great products to help you enjoy the rich colors, flavors, and festive spirit of the near-holiday season. From custom lip products to apple-flavored foods and drinks, check out my November picks below!
Lip Lab Custom Lipsticks, Lip Glosses and Lip Balms
While minimalist looks tend to dominate the summer beauty landscape, the fall season presents an opportunity to try out bolder, moodier, more dramatic looks and incorporate richer colors into your makeup routine. This season, we’re bound to see power pouts in glamorous crimson reds, vampy oxblood and berry hues, and ‘90s-inspired chocolate browns. And, if you’re looking for a truly unique shade, there’s no better way than through a custom lip color. Lip Lab, which recently opened up its doors here in Austin, offers guests a truly unique experience whereby they can create bespoke lipsticks, lip glosses or lip balm shades.
Lip Lab is a unique, modern, elevated retail beauty experience that helps to unleash guests’ creativity and self-expression, empowering them to create custom shades and choose the flavor (vanilla, pomegranate, mango, mint, rose or chocolate espresso) and finish (matte, satin, sheer, balm, or gloss) of these lip products. Customers can even name and engrave their bespoke lip products.
Lip Lab’s Color Experts will guide guests through the custom creation experience. And, since they’re trained in the art of color theory, they can offer valuable insights on complimentary lip shades based on guests’ physical characteristics – from their skin tone to their hair color, natural lip color, and so on.
All Lip Lab products are clean, vegan and cruelty-free, plus they’re infused with shea butter to moisturize and soften lips.
For more info on Lip Lab’s South Congress store, visit LipLab.com
SOWN Oat Cold Foaming Cream
Tired of venturing to the coffeehouse and spending a small fortune every time you’re craving a cold foam creation? Well, fear not: SOWN has you covered! SOWN offers smooth, plant-based creamers that are dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and non-GMO Project Certified.
SOWN just released its new Oat Cold Foaming Cream, allowing you to unleash your inner barista and create a velvety, gravity-defying cold foam coffee from the comfort of home. Available at Whole Foods Market, this perfectly sweetened and plant-based foaming cream is ready to froth, providing an easy, convenient and affordable way to recreate an indulgent coffeehouse experience.
All you need to do is pour the cold foaming cream into your favorite container, reach for your favorite frother, froth for 30 seconds, and pour on top of your coffee. You’ll be amazed by the cloud-like froth and the delightfully airy vanilla taste of the cold foam.
brekki Ready-To-Eat Oats
Want a quick and healthy breakfast option for busy weekday mornings? Then check out brekki‘s Ready-To-Eat Oats, which are made with wholesome ingredients like ancient oats, almond milk, and organic coconut nectar. Packed with fiber, protein and whole grains, each plant-based brekki cup contains gluten-free oats and is free of artificial flavors and preservatives, making it easy to enjoy a balanced and nutritious breakfast or mid-day snack while on the go.
Brekki’s Apples & Cinnamon Ready-to-Eat Oats is a fall favorite, combining the sweetness of apples with the warmth of cinnamon. Other great flavors include Dark Chocolate, Cold Brew Coffee and Vanilla Cinnamon. Visit brekki.com for store locations near you!
Cedar’s Foods Dips & Spreads
Whether you want to enjoy some seasonal flavors or prepare a delightful charcuterie board for party guests, Cedar’s Foods offers a range of authentic Mediterranean dips and spreads made with simple, wholesome ingredients. You can choose from a wide array of options — from seasonal favorites like their Organic Pumpkin Hommus to traditional flavors like the Organic Original Hommus, Feta Dip, and Cucumber Garlic Tzatziki.
The Cedar’s Organic Pumpkin Hommus contains a festive blend of organic pumpkin, creamy tahini and spiced cinnamon, for a festive treat on a classic spread.
All Cedar’s dips are made with high-quality, non-GMO ingredients, delivering fresh, bold flavors that are perfect for entertaining or everyday snacking. And they’re so versatile! You can use them as a dip and pair them with pita chips, crackers, veggies, or chicken wings; spread them atop toast, on sandwiches and on wraps; or work them into recipes like fall harvest bowls, loaded baked potatoes, pasta dishes, and more.
To find a retailer near you, visit CedarsFoods.com
FreshFruit.com Produce Boxes
We all want to keep our fridges stocked with the freshest fruit and veggies but it’s often hard to do – particularly given our busy schedules and how time-consuming produce shopping can be (squeezing each fruit to gauge its ripeness, examining its color to determine freshness, and so on). Luckily, you can enjoy the freshest fruit possible and bypass the trips to the grocery store altogether thanks to FreshFruit.com.
Powered by Edible, the parent company of Edible Arrangements, FreshFruit.com is a delivery service for in-season, local produce boxes hand-delivered right to your door. The FreshFruit.com team carefully inspects, pre-washes and boxes your produce, ensuring you receive ripe and delicious fruit the very next day.
Produce boxes range from $43.99 to $76.99 on FreshFruit.com
C4 Whey Protein Powder
Now that the weather is cooler, you might be recommitting to your fitness goals, logging a few more miles on your runs, going harder on your lifts, and being more consistent with your interval training sessions. And, of course, that means paying closer attention to your protein intake to make sure you’re meeting your daily goals and, in turn, ensuring that your muscles get everything they need to recover and to build muscle mass. Enter C4‘s new Whey Protein Powder.
Austin-based sports nutrition company C4 partnered with The Hershey Company to include Hershey’s Milk Chocolate and Reese’s flavors of protein powder. These are a chocolate lover’s dream!
Each serving contains 25 grams of high-quality whey protein and 0 grams of added sugar so, while your protein shake may taste decadent, it’s actually great for you.
The C4 Whey Protein powder is $29.99 on Cellucor.com and at GNC.
OLIPOP Functional Soda
To enjoy some gratifyingly fizzy, delicious-tasting soda without the excess sugar and calories, look to OLIPOP.
OLIPOP is the leading functional soda brand, delivering that classic soda taste while adding the benefits of plant-based fiber, prebiotics, and other botanicals (including marshmallow root extract, Nopal cactus extract, and Kudzu root extract) that promote a healthy gut microbiome. Each can of OLIPOP contains 2 to 5 grams of fiber and only 2 to 5 grams of sugar, so this is a healthier and delicious alternative to traditional soda.
OLIPOP is available in classic and nostalgic flavors like Vintage Cola, Classic Root Beer, Lemon Lime, and Strawberry Vanilla. OLIPOP also added two flavors to its lineup for fall. Ridge Rush is an invigorating fusion of lemon, lime, and orange juice flavors, and it contains 50mg of green tea caffeine to keep you energized during your fall adventures. And then there’s my personal favorite, Crisp Apple, which tastes like a blend of sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings.
You can find OLIPOP at retailers like Target and Walmart and on drinkolipop.com
The Betty Cocktail Lounge
Looking for a great cocktail lounge for your next night out with friends? Make sure to visit The Betty, the hottest new addition to Austin’s nighttime scene. Owner and Texas native Kyle Kinsel envisioned a cocktail lounge that would elevate the art of mixology while immersing guests in a swanky ambiance steeped in old Hollywood glamour through its plush velvet accents and ornate chandeliers.
The Betty has an extensive cocktail menu curated by Bar Director Layton Smith, who formerly held a position at L’Auberge Chez François. The Black Walnut Old Fashioned is a great option if you’re looking for a decadent, fall-tinged cocktail, incorporating Balcones Rye Whiskey, black walnut bitters, maple syrup, cinnamon, amaretto and toasted pecans.
Every Thursday from 6 to 10 pm is Steak & Vinyl Night, so guests can enjoy their favorite cut of meat from Austin’s own CM Smokehouse cooked to order while listening to the DJ spin old and new classics.
Visit TheBettyATX.com for info!
MyDogToy Holiday Dog Toy Collection
This is the perfect time to refresh our dogs’ toy collections or maybe pick up something that’s Santa Paws approved. Well, MyDogToy — the dog toy maker behind the DuraForce, MIGHTY and Tuffy lines — has some fantastic holiday offerings that are sure to make your pups very, very merry. All are waterproof, washable and available in a range of sizes to suit every dog.
DuraForce toys are crafted for long-lasting fun and feature cross-stitching and webbing details that stand up to rigorous interactive play.
MIGHTY toys combine plush exteriors with tough interiors — like the cuddly new MIGHTY Micro Ball Gingerbread Man plush toy, which has a cuddly, fuzzy exterior and features a squeaker ball at its core.
Lastly, Tuffy toys are touted as the most durable plush toys on the market, with up to 4 layers of material to ensure greater lasting power. Just look at the Tuffy Turkey (pictured above) and imagine all the egg-cellent fun your pup could have with it!
Prices start at $14.99 on MyDogToy.com
