LaLicious’ 10-Minute Recipe for Beautiful Skin:
DIY Coffee & Coconut Body Scrub
Lalicious owner Jessica Kernochan has a cult following for her incredible Sugar Souffle Body Scrub, and she’s sharing a simple, at-home Do It Yourself version you can whip up in 10 minutes that will get your skin glowing and your mind flowing.
Ingredients
1 ½ Cup Cane Sugar (produces glycolic acid, one of the natural alpha hydroxy acids
that exfoliates the skin)
¼ cup Coffee Grounds (a gentle, natural exfoliant; coffee is full of anti-aging properties and a potent antioxidant. The grounds of your average coffee bean can help you reducethe signs of aging by fending off blemishes and acne, exfoliating, reducing fine lines and
making your skin feel clean and baby soft as well as helping the appearance of cellulite.)
¼ cup shredded Coconut¾ cup Macadamia Nut Oil or Olive Oil (easily absorbed into the skin, has excellent lubricity properties that make it a great addition to massage products) A touch of honey
About 5 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil or essential oil of choice (optional)
Directions
1. Mix sugar, coffee grounds, coconut, and oil until wet.
2. Add honey to mixture and finish with a few drops of essential oil.
3. Use in bath or shower for soft, glowing skin!
Or, simply pick up LaLicious’ Coffee Bean or Coconut Cream sugar soufflé scrub! (16 oz, $32)
LaLicious sugar scrubs maintain their form from creation to application using natural ingredients and a special whipped technique. Celebrity Fans Include: Halle Berry, Courteney Cox, Maria Bello, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, Lindsay Lohan,Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton, and Renee Russo
LaLicious products and treatments are available at www.lalicious.comand at select retailers and spas across the country including Pure Beauty, Planet Blue, Aqua Beauty Bar, Toccare at The Borgata, and Spa at Pebble Beach.
YUM YUM...ice cream for the bath by ME! Bath. That's right, the brilliant founders of ME! Bath have added a Scent Secrets from the Orient line including bath ice cream featuring scents of Green Tea, Divine Lotus and Lychee Blossom. Now you can have the benefits of a spa at home! Check out all the products at www.mebath.com.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
The IMain Go - Must Have Tech Toy of the SeasonDo you love your Ipod? Well then you need to get the IMainGo, a great looking addition to any trendsetter's Ipod.The iMainGo’s ultra-portable 9-ounce design features tuned port base with high definition stereo speakers, for stunning audio reproduction on-the-go. Its compact design allows for brilliant highs and rich bass, while the durable sewn nylon case protects the iPod from the elements. In addition, iMainGo’s unique custom inserts allow for complete compatibility with every size and generation of iPod on the market. iMainGo is available in black, and limited editions of corresponding iPod colors: pink, blue, green and silver. Available for retail price of 69.95 at Apple stores and specialty stores. Want more info, check it out at imaingo.com.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Come on girls - it's summer time and let's be straight...if you haven't been to the gym all winter, you may be panicking about getting into those tight minis. No worries, Skinny'z by Bordeaux is "a seamless way to contour your body." Sold in top boutiques across the country, this line of undergarments (includes cami, tank, tummy short and tummyless short) can make you look ten pounds thinner while feeling toned and downright sexy. For more information bordx.com
Check out these great summer hair tips from Hairstylist Antonio Pietro:
HAIR REPAIR Three months of fun in the sun can leave your hair damaged, frizzy, and bleached out. Antonio Prieto of the Antonio Prieto Salon reveals his best kept secrets to repair damaged hair.
• If you can’t make it into the salon to trim split ends Prieto suggests avoiding heat styling. The straighter the hair is styled the more obvious the split ends become. To disguise your split ends, Prieto uses a serum like Kerastase’s Substance Constructive and twists ends into loose curls for a sexy, messy bed head look.
• Avocado and olive oil make a perfect homemade mask: mix mashed avocado with a bit of heated olive oil and apply it to hair. After 20 minutes or so wash hair with your favorite gentle shampoo to reveal repaired locks. Remember the most important step to at home treatments is consistency and frequency. Perform which ever treatment you chose once or twice a week depending on the damage.
• A touch-up “gloss” at the salon is the best way to correct brassy or bleached out color. If you hair is screaming SOS and your stylist is booked, Artec Color Moisturizers are a great DIY way to quickly revive color at home.
Antonio Prieto Salon 127 West 20th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 212.255.3741
Antonio Prieto has been a leading industry stylist for twenty-three years. Shows he has been involved with include Calvin Klein, Versace, Alexander McQueen, TSE, Jil Sander, John Bartlett and Palmer Jones. He has worked with photographers Annie Lebowitz, Bruce Weber, and Steven Klein as well as having the crème de la crème of the fashion world settle in his chair.
HAIR REPAIR Three months of fun in the sun can leave your hair damaged, frizzy, and bleached out. Antonio Prieto of the Antonio Prieto Salon reveals his best kept secrets to repair damaged hair.
• If you can’t make it into the salon to trim split ends Prieto suggests avoiding heat styling. The straighter the hair is styled the more obvious the split ends become. To disguise your split ends, Prieto uses a serum like Kerastase’s Substance Constructive and twists ends into loose curls for a sexy, messy bed head look.
• Avocado and olive oil make a perfect homemade mask: mix mashed avocado with a bit of heated olive oil and apply it to hair. After 20 minutes or so wash hair with your favorite gentle shampoo to reveal repaired locks. Remember the most important step to at home treatments is consistency and frequency. Perform which ever treatment you chose once or twice a week depending on the damage.
• A touch-up “gloss” at the salon is the best way to correct brassy or bleached out color. If you hair is screaming SOS and your stylist is booked, Artec Color Moisturizers are a great DIY way to quickly revive color at home.
Antonio Prieto Salon 127 West 20th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 212.255.3741
Antonio Prieto has been a leading industry stylist for twenty-three years. Shows he has been involved with include Calvin Klein, Versace, Alexander McQueen, TSE, Jil Sander, John Bartlett and Palmer Jones. He has worked with photographers Annie Lebowitz, Bruce Weber, and Steven Klein as well as having the crème de la crème of the fashion world settle in his chair.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Virgins Saint & Angels Celebrates the Goddess
Virgins Saint & Angels: Cheryl Finnegan Celebrates the Goddess
When designer Cheryl Finnegan left her job at Levi Strauss, her life with her husband and the city of San Francisco, she decided to move to the small Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende for six months. “I left my job, my husband, my house and didn’t know where I was going to land. I went to San Miguel and said I am going to be here for six months doing yoga. Well I can’t just do yoga, as I am an artist and a business person.”
Intrigued by the recycled plastic used in Mexico and the omnipotent images of Guadalupe, Finnegan began to create plastic bags in funky colors. “In order to brand the bags, I had a metal ring put on them with a key chain made of resin. For every bag I sold on the beach in Venice, California, people kept asking if they could just buy the key chain. I made on belt buckle for me, wore it on the street and within five minutes someone stopped me asking if they could buy it.” Out of this chance encounter was born the ultra hip, extremely successful brand Virgins Saints & Angels, a line that features handmade belt buckles, rosaries, necklaces, key chains, rings and hair pieces with iconic figures and images showcased on the pieces. “You get slammed with Catholicism in Mexico; the people wear their religion on their sleeves. I begin to wonder why I was collecting everything I could find with the [image] of Guadalupe on it? I realized that she made me feel good, that I found myself in her. She symbolizes love, nurture and a safe place.”
Finnegan creates her one of a kind pieces using local resources including hand blown glass, recycled beads and hand painted medallions. When she began, Finnegan was working a local outlet that created concha belts from a resin process. “I worked with them using techniques they knew and redid it, making it hip. Now I would say that ninety nine percent of their business is Virgins Saints & Angels. There are thirty five people working for me and we are all a family,” Finnegan exclaims. When Britney Spears was photographed wearing one of the belt buckles, the line quickly became must haves with celebrities. Finnegan was a bit shocked as she felt removed from the world, “I feel like the virgin is watching me. I design in a hole and don’t look at what’s going on in Vogue or what Gucci is doing in New York. I do what comes to me in my heart and it always ends up being what’s right.”
How does Finnegan counter those that say her designs are simply religious jewelry? “I think that people have overcome the religious obstacle. Religion is something more than a cross being a crucifix, it means something so much more. It’s the right time for people because they are ready and [open] to see the line. The designs feel really good – I can’t get on the plane without my Virgin Mary ring on.” The new Virgins, Saints & Angels line features the Gypsy Calendar girls. Finnegan chose to focus on these icons as they are women who made a statement, who were goddesses in their own right. “The Calendar girls did something for us as they were a subtle entry into feminism.” The theme of death and life will also be part of future VSA designs. “I just brought in the Day of the Dead. I added some skulls which are a bit of a stretch for me but I realized it makes sense, especially being here in Mexico. It is all about the celebration of life and death.”
A brilliant designer with a vision to create unique pieces using traditional methods and historical imagery, Cheryl Finnegan’s Virgin, Saints and Angels line are museum quality pieces with style and meaning. “I don’t fell like I’ve changed a bit [due to success]. My expenditures are bigger and I continue to grow adding a clothing line, belt strap line. In the end I am still in my hole in Mexico working.”
Kimberly McDonald: Jewelry Curator
Kimberly McDonald: Jewelry Curator
Kimberly McDonald calls herself a jewelry curator. Having lived in Paris in her early twenties, she fell in love with the outdoor markets where she began to shop for unique pieces and honed her skills for finding unusual and fabulous jewelry. Kimberly went on to work for such jewelers as Henri Dunay and a NY based diamond brokerage firm. She began to work privately with high end clients helping them create valuable legacy jewelry collections. “My thing is finding the perfect pair of hoops that are not simply trendy but are something a client can wear for years, “explains McDonald. “I usually travel to a clients’ home, sit and talk for awhile. I get an understanding of their lifestyle. We go over their existing collection and create a wish list, usually of five to ten pieces that they have always wanted or pieces that may be missing in their collection.” McDonald, then sets out to find the items on the list. “One of the most unique requests I ever had came from a client who was watching Sex and the City. The character of Samantha had on the huge necklace which to my eyes was quite clearly fake but in my client’s eyes could happen in real life. The piece was a giant bib of pearls, all different colors, so we set out to find the pearls. It took six months to collect all of them – in fact one of the pearls had been written about in National Geographic [a freshwater Chinese peach colored pearl that was 16 to 18 millimeters] and ended up the centerpiece of the necklace.”
McDonald believes that the trend in jewelry is in semi precious and crazy colored stones. “Off the chart odd stones with diamonds will be a big thing. I also love the middle finger ring; it’s a great way to make a statement without going all gaudy and crazy.” A believer that women should wear what they own, McDonald finds that women in the Northeast are more conservative than those in the South and West. Many of her clients in Texas will wear their big jewelry on a daily basis, whereas her clients in New York are more apt to keep their collection locked away. “There is no point in owning if you are not going to wear it,” she points out.
Even a jewelry curator has her own favorite piece. McDonald loves a ring handed down to her by her great grandmother. “My great grandmother had a cocktail ring made up of a bunch of diamonds that she had collected over time. It literally looks like spilled dropped of champagne that had bubbled up; it’s not the prettiest or the fanciest but is the most unique. People go crazy over it when I wear it.”
Kimberly McDonald calls herself a jewelry curator. Having lived in Paris in her early twenties, she fell in love with the outdoor markets where she began to shop for unique pieces and honed her skills for finding unusual and fabulous jewelry. Kimberly went on to work for such jewelers as Henri Dunay and a NY based diamond brokerage firm. She began to work privately with high end clients helping them create valuable legacy jewelry collections. “My thing is finding the perfect pair of hoops that are not simply trendy but are something a client can wear for years, “explains McDonald. “I usually travel to a clients’ home, sit and talk for awhile. I get an understanding of their lifestyle. We go over their existing collection and create a wish list, usually of five to ten pieces that they have always wanted or pieces that may be missing in their collection.” McDonald, then sets out to find the items on the list. “One of the most unique requests I ever had came from a client who was watching Sex and the City. The character of Samantha had on the huge necklace which to my eyes was quite clearly fake but in my client’s eyes could happen in real life. The piece was a giant bib of pearls, all different colors, so we set out to find the pearls. It took six months to collect all of them – in fact one of the pearls had been written about in National Geographic [a freshwater Chinese peach colored pearl that was 16 to 18 millimeters] and ended up the centerpiece of the necklace.”
McDonald believes that the trend in jewelry is in semi precious and crazy colored stones. “Off the chart odd stones with diamonds will be a big thing. I also love the middle finger ring; it’s a great way to make a statement without going all gaudy and crazy.” A believer that women should wear what they own, McDonald finds that women in the Northeast are more conservative than those in the South and West. Many of her clients in Texas will wear their big jewelry on a daily basis, whereas her clients in New York are more apt to keep their collection locked away. “There is no point in owning if you are not going to wear it,” she points out.
Even a jewelry curator has her own favorite piece. McDonald loves a ring handed down to her by her great grandmother. “My great grandmother had a cocktail ring made up of a bunch of diamonds that she had collected over time. It literally looks like spilled dropped of champagne that had bubbled up; it’s not the prettiest or the fanciest but is the most unique. People go crazy over it when I wear it.”
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