one man review - holiday 2011

Image via methodhome.com

Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum! Wait, what? That isn't a holiday song, but rather a pirates tune? And it starts out Yo, ho, ho? Really? Wow. I never knew that! Well, let me just say, some families would enjoy my version much better during the holiday season! (Hey, you know it's true.)

So anyway, enough about liquor and the holidays! How about some reviews! Believe it or not, it's been quite a while since I've done a one man review here on method lust! So in honor of the Christmas holiday season officially starting (hey, Thanksgiving is over buddy, get with the program! ) from here on out, this season is all about Santa Claus and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe and presents to pret-ty girls! First up, method's 'tis the season' line of hand washes (only available online, and at Target stores with a grocery/fresh produce section:)

baked apple, toasted vanilla bean and winter oak hand washes

baked apple (gel and foaming hand wash) +  So I really didn't want to start off on a Scroogey note, but well, bah humbug! I had such high hopes for the baked apple. Another reader mentioned they thought it smelled a little like apple cider. That got me to thinking, could this be method's apple version of their spiced pear? All apples and cinnamon and clove and rich spices! That sounds like a baked apple to me! So the scent, well, I'll let my conversation with my boyfriend speak for itself:

me: "Here, smell this. Do you think it smells like baked apples? What does it smell like to you?"

the boyfriend: sniff - "Hmm, I don't know what it smells like, but it doesn't smell good, that's for sure."

me: "Yeah, unfortunately, I agree."

I couldn't even get an apple scent out of it. It was sorta some weird mish mash of vanilla and some kinda spice buried deep down and it was just... uninspiring. I couldn't even bring myself to buy and try a bottle, it was so disappointing. Sad face. The concept was great, the result was less than successful.

But, just to prove I'm not a total Scrooge, apparently there are baked apple lusters out there, via method's Facebook page:

"...I love love love the holiday edition baked apple hand wash! I just opened it and am totally in love with this scent."

1.5 out of 5 hard candy Christmases

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toasted vanilla bean (gel and foaming hand wash) +  Our second review, well, it's kinda like the first one. I know, I know. method is never gonna bring me no figgy pudding at this point! (wink!) So how about another boyfriend conversation moment:

me: "What do you think of this? It's called toasted vanilla bean."

the boyfriend: sniff - "Wow. Uh, why does their holiday hand wash smell like suntan lotion?"

Agreed, hon, agreed! Perhaps that's the "toasted" portion of the scent, but it sincerely smells like coconut suntan lotion. In fact, I love that scent (it's crazy, I know!) So I was tempted to pick it up simply for that reason (having nothing to do with the fact that it's supposed to be a fall/winter scent) but started thinking about the new coconut grove hand wash that will be out in the spring, and decided to wait. Plus, I'm uh, trying to find holiday scents here, ya know?

2.5 out of 5 hard candy Christmases

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winter oak (gel and foaming hand wash) +  Man, it looks like method's 'tis the season' line is a total bust! I mean, so far, nada. I should just pack my sleigh and move on, nothing to see here. Oh and whoa Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen (Rudolph was sick at home with a stuffy nose!) What do we have here? Why it's winter oak! Now, this is how method does it right! It's a very unique scent, kinda woodsy, kinda cologne/perfumey, kinda sweet, smoky, just nice! Perfect! Listen up method, these are the kind of scents we lusters expect from you! Something original, special, and oh so method! Perfect for the fall/winter months! Mmm. I snapped up a bottle quicker than you could say "dash away, dash away, dash away all!" (I know, I'm sorry. But trust me the holiday bits are far from over!)

PS - the boyfriend lusted winter oak, too, and even picked himself up a bottle!

4 out of 5 glasses of eggnog

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And now on to method's holiday line:

frosted fir and candy cane hand washes

frosted fir (gel hand wash) + There is nothing I can ever say bad about frosted fir. It's Christmas tree Heaven! Returning for only it's second time around (for shame!) it's just an amazing scent, I lust, lust, super über-lust it! It is the scent of the holidays to me! method fans praise the hollyberry scent, but I personally think frosted fir is the best of the two! And this year it's also in dish soap?! method, I could give you a kiss! Just go stand under the mistletoe, ok? Now close your eyes! And pucker up...

5 out of 5 glasses of eggnog

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candy cane (gel hand wash) + Wow! Just wow! I can't believe it, after years and years and years and well, you get the point of peppermint vanilla (which I think is just eh. Way too much vanilla, not enough peppermint!) method finally gives us a pure mint scent! I mean, it's called candy cane! How can it not be the peppermintiest! I can't wait! Yippee! To the sink I go, scrub scrub scrub my hands with new candy cane, mmm, mmm, mmm, it's so... wait. This smells exactly like peppermint vanilla. E to the x to the actly. What in the world is going on here? Why would method give us the exact same scent under the guise of a new name? This is so... cue Christmas crying face (you know, the face children give you when they don't get what they thought they were gonna get for Christmas!) So much potential. Down the drain.

Peppermint vanilla fans will lust it like crazy. The rest of us, not so much. Enough with the vanilla, method. Make 2012 vanilla free!

PS - Candy cane scent is also available in dish soap for the holiday season.

3 out of 5 hard candy Christmases + (1 out of 5 hard candy Christmases for giving us an old scent with a new name)

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And finally, foaming holiday hand wash:

cinnamon drop and spiced pear hand washes

cinnamon drop (foaming hand wash) + This is a very true cinnamon candy scent! If you lust cinnamon drops, you'll lust this foaming hand wash! It's not very creative, or unique, but it's nice! I wish it were available in gel, as well.

3.5 out of 5 glasses of eggnog

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spiced pear (foaming hand wash) + Oh man, why isn't this available in gel this year? Sniff. Spiced pear is a method classic. And unfortunately, I'm not sure method realizes this. It's a perfect fall/winter/holiday scent. But it comes around so rarely, and that's a shame. Pear mingled with all sorts of wintery spices. Seriously amazing. This should show up in stockings and on store shelves at least every other year, if I had my way (in gel, please! I just can't get my brain wrapped around foaming hand wash. I know, there are method fans for both sides! Fighting it out Snow Miser and Heat Miser style!) I just lust spiced pear scent to ribbon candy pieces! (Even the tiny candy shards that jab the roof of your mouth! Ouch! Whatever, I still lust you!)

5 out of 5 glasses of eggnog

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And there you have it! method lust's 2011 holiday hand wash one man review (with a little help from my wonderful boyfriend!)  I realize scents (and our lust + hate dislike (mama said you should never hate nothing) for them) are a very personal thing - so, have you sledrided (is that even a word? No, no, it's not. But we'll use it anyway, cause I love annoying my 8th grade English teacher) down to your local Target (or gone online) and purchased any of these method holiday goodies? If so, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my reviews? What are your holiday lusts?

And with that... I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good method night!"

one man review - the method method

Guess who just reviewed method's brand spankin' new book, the method method? Oh, yeah, that would be moi! And you can read my review over on method's official people against dirty blog today! Right now! This very instant! What are you waiting for? (You know you wanna!) So go, go, Speed Racer!

one man review - kitchen hand wash

Well, golly! Look what's back! It's method lust one man reviews! method has recently put out a whole bunch o'new products, so I've decided to hop down off my lazy bum and review them for you! It's awfully nice of me to do this, now isn't it? Yes, yes, it is! Well thank you, accolades are always so appreciated, even if they are fictitious and imaginary (which pretty much mean the same thing, but whatever, ok? I'm trying to get a point across! Or something like that. Actually, I'm not even sure what I'm attempting to do at this juncture, except to use biggish type words like juncture and fictitious. But I sound pretty smart, right? So I guess that's what I'm trying to do here, sound smart! Which has nothing to do with method product reviews, does it? Well, unless I was reviewing method smarty dish cubes. But I'm not, so alas, so far this has all been for nil. See, see, I did it again. Another smartish word! Go, me!)


With that out of the way, let's get going! Today's review: method's new kitchen hand wash line! method decided that onions and fish and garlic and hmm, vinegar, and I'm not sure what else but you know there are a lot of things out there in your kitchen, were stinky. Bah. And some of those things, well, they don't come off your hands very well if you just use your usual hand wash! Oh sure, they have those little stainless steel bars of "soap" you can use that are supposed to remove nasty scents from your hands, but do they really work? I mean, if that were true, why couldn't I just save my money and rub a butter knife on my hands? I mean, it's made out of stainless steel too, don't you know! Not that I've ever tried this, mind you, cause that would just be silly, ok? Right, right. But method decided to just do one better, and come up with a kitchen hand wash that would remove those icky scents, nice and easy - with no metal involved whatsoever. (Is whatsoever one word, or three? I'll get back to that later...)

And I gotta say, they've done it! The hand wash line comes in lemongrass and basil scents, and it actually works for me! Now, you still have to do some scrubby scubbing to make sure you get it all washed off, but hey, that's no problem. I've definitely noticed a difference when using the kitchen hand wash compared to their normal hand wash line. It does a great job of taking away those yucky smells! Goodbye, garlic! Hasta la vista, vinegar! Take a hike, tuna! Outta here, onion! (Ya getting the point yet, I can keep doing this, and you know you don't want me to.)

Now the scents! Honestly, they're both great! The basil really does smell like a true basil. Now, I think it smells more like a Thai basil, which has more of an anise/licorice scent to it than regular sweet basil. Some advocates seem to like the licorice scent, some don't. (I think it's sorta great for fall/Halloween, myself! - So it's perfect for right now!)

The lemongrass, well, it's, in my humble opinion, Heaven! Now, as I've mentioned in the past, method had a lemongrass scented hand wash way back when. I'm not even sure if it lasted a year, and many method officials don't even remember it's existence! But I've still got a bottle to prove it! It was, and still is one of my favorite all-time method scents! And of course it didn't last (cause that's what always happens to me!) So when I heard about this new lemongrass hand wash, I prayed to every God I knew of that they would just resurrect their old scent and make me happy (cause really, shouldn't that be method's #1 priority, to make me happy? Hmm... well, we'll get back to that as well.) And when I got the hand wash, well, it wasn't the original scent. And at first, honestly, I was disappointed. The original scent was more grass than lemon. This new one appears to be more lemon than grass. But over time, I can now say I am addicted to their new lemongrass scent! I love, love, love it. In fact, I would method marry it, if I could! It is just amazing! And you get 18 oz. instead of the usual 12 oz. with their other hand washes, for a mere extra dollar! What's not to love?

So I'm giving the new kitchen hand wash a big ole' 4.5 out of 5 (whoa, dude, whoa!), cause it's that great! I hope it sticks around! And you can even matchy-matchy up the basil with method's new basil dish soap (currently available on their methodhome.com store!) Here's hoping method catches a clue, and also puts out a lemongrass dish soap soon! Cause honestly, who in the world chose basil over lemongrass here?! Lemongrass rocks, and should be in dish soap, spray cleaner, and every thing else, yo! Who's with me, aight? Aight!

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Have you given the new lemongrass and basil kitchen hand washes a try? What were your thoughts? Add your reviews to the comments! And check back soon for more one man reviews!

u review! + contest!

method lust wants YOU! - To review, that is! Well, and to bring me chocolate chip cookies and a large glass of milk, too! MMM, cookies. I think I might need to go to the grocery store here in a bit, now. No no, don't you realize you already can't fit into half the pants you own? But we're talking about chocolate chip cookies here! Oh yes we are. Pants come in bigger sizes, you know. Bring on the cookies...

So while I'm getting the cookies (see how you got out of that one? Sneaky, sneaky you!) you can write a review! I want you great method lusters to write a review on the new sea minerals spray cleaner! Have you given it a try, what do you think? Let everyone know!

All you have to do is post your review in the comments section of this post, quick and easy! How did you use your sea minerals all-surface spray cleaner? And did it work (as in clean!), how'd you like the smell, etc.? And how many stars do you give it (out of five?) In true one man review style, you can be a guest reviewer here on method lust!

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AND just by submitting your review, I'll select one person to win a snazzy little method advocacy kit (see post below for details on what's inside!) So get reviewing, ok? Great! I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the new sea minerals spray cleaner!(Haven't purchased your very own sea minerals spray cleaner yet, to review? Never fear, check the next post to see how you can win a method advocacy kit another way!)

one man review - hand wash

Wow! It's been a while since our last one man review, hasn't it? Man, that Nathan is a no good lazy bleepity bleep! I swear... I'm gonna give him a real good talkin' to! Until then, though, why don't we just review ourselves some hand washes!

Today is a double dip one man review! Not one, but two hand wash scents! Whoa whoa, calm down there fellow luster! I know how excited you are, but really, chill out. Take a deep breath, grab some water, and see what I thought of both the new "guest star" mandarin mango, AND the old school vintage holiday mistletoe (I just got it yesterday in the mail! Yay!) hand wash!

+ The new mandarin mango method hand wash is out now in stores. It's labeled as a "guest star" meaning limited edition, so it won't be around for long! I picked up a bottle recently, and while not being a fan of fruit scents, I really like this one! As I've mentioned before, it sorta reminds me of orange Kool-aid. Is that a good or a bad thing, that's up to you! There is definitely a mandarin/orange top note; with the underlying mango coming in near the end - giving it a little extra burst of fruit freshness! I have to say I actually like this mandarin mango a whole lot more than method's ginger yuzu. Of course I like orange scents, so it's just a personal preference. The mandarin mango hand wash is available in gel wash only, exclusively at Target stores. I'm giving it a 4 out of five!

+ Second up is the vintage method holiday mistletoe hand wash! This was recently discovered available on ebay, and while you end up paying a tad bit much for hand wash (due to the shipping fee) if you're a diehard method fan like me, you just HAVE to try out this scent! The back of the bottle actually lists it as having been released in 2005! This was one of the few scents that ACTUALLY made it out before I got into method (sacrilege!) so I simply had to snatch up a bottle! I got it in the mail yesterday, and was all giddy and giggly!

The bottle is this cute light holiday-ish green, and it has these little white ornaments printed on the front of the bottle (like all bottles in the early holiday lines.) I have to say the scent is really light! Now, I honestly can't say if this is because it's an older product, and the scent has waned over the years, or if this was how the product was produced. So for the sake of my review, I'm just going with this being the mistletoe scent. Honestly, it sorta reminds me of frosted fir mixed with cut grass (no joke!) and then have the whole scent taken down by 50%. Subtle, but nice! And seriously, if you're a cut grass aircare fan, you will REALLY like this. The more I smelled it on my hands after I had washed them, the more I thought it reminded me of the cut grass scent. It's green, grassy, with just the tiniest touch of sweet. I say give it a try, while you still can! The mistletoe hand wash is only available via ebay (as far as I know. Though method lust reader Rhonda let me know she found a bunch of holiday packs, some featuring mistletoe, recently at a Salvation Army in Chicago! So who knows where else you might find it. But this scent hasn't been produced to my knowledge, since 2005.) It's available in gel wash only (as they didn't even have foaming and creamy hand wash back then! Wow!)
I'm giving it a 3.5 out of five! I think it's a really nice scent, but method has since improved upon the idea with frosted fir.

one man review - pomegranate tea aroma spray

I know, all my other posts have it as pomegranate + tea. But apparently on the bottle it's just pomegranate tea (I can't keep up with all the +'s and minuses method uses! Ok, they only use +'s, but it sounded better to include minuses in the list. Beside, she didn't want to be kept out, ya know? How not nice is that?)

Yay! I've gotten the rare and wonderful privilege of giving the new fall edition pomegranate tea aroma spray a try! First off, the bad. (Follow along, it'll all work itself out, I promise.) Upon seeing pics for the new aroma spray bottles, I wasn't too keen on the rings they now sport. I just didn't get it? Plus, I didn't think they looked too good. Secondly, method had a pomegranate hand wash out many moons ago; and they currently have it in many Big Lots stores (during the last big method/Big Lots run!) but to me it smelled like cherry kool-aid. Definitely not a yay in my book.

Now, the good news! (See, I told you, follow through always works out.) The new bottles sorta well, rock! I don't even get it! Honestly, I still don't really "get" the ring. They could have just created a trigger nozzle/bottle combination, and still left the lid off; but I think they wanted to be clever. And while I'm not sure how "clever" the ring is, it doesn't matter, cause it's rather cute! I sincerely like it! In fact, I showed it to my friend, and the first thing she said was "OH, you can hang the bottle up where ever you want to!" and she's sort of right, it would hang in many places. But no matter what it's purpose (other than the actual purpose of preventing accidental spraying) I think it's great! It's really cute, not cheap looking at all. I give the ring a thumbs up!

Secondly, at first I wasn't so sure about the pomegranate tea scent when I sprayed it into the air. Hmm? I don't know. But you know what, it's growing on me! I think I might actually be into it when it makes it into stores (which I'm hoping will be mid-August!) method will probably hate me for saying this, but you know what the scent reminds me of? - black cherries. That pomegranate scent is still cherrying away, but with the added tea, it gives it this deep depth that simply reminds me of the smell of black cherries! I don't know how "fall" the scent feels to me, but never the less, I think it's nice. Time will tell if I really get attached to it, but right now I'm gonna say it's a good scent. Love black cherries? You'll seriously love pomegranate tea!

pomegranate tea aroma spray - three and a half (out of five)
aroma bottle with ring "lid" - four and a half (out of five)