Weekend Retreat

When I was in 1st grade, we had a red padded bathtub in our classroom. Mrs. Parker would let us read in there when we were good. Maybe that's why I still love to read in the bathtub.

Source: prepaganda.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

I hope you all have a warm, relaxing, book and bath-filled weekend.

Lazy Day Links

Here's some of what I've been reading:

• The New York Times article about luxury hospitals. Kind of like going to a spa when you're sick. Must be nice. But it also makes me uneasy knowing that so many people can't afford decent healthcare.
• On a lighter note, you might want to get a pedicure before you check in. Not into black and blue nail polish, Allure has a list of the most classic reds.
• Remember me telling you about the great Fresh gift set I got for Christmas, well Fresh has a new gift set coming out on Feb. 1. It's inspired by the Veuve Clicquot vineyard in Reims, France. 

Happy browsing. See you tomorrow!

My Trip to Canyon Ranch Miami

I was very lucky last year because my sister took me to Canyon Ranch Miami for my birthday. It was a great trip, as you can imagine. But at the time I wasn't really blogging, so I decided it was about time I do some posts about my visit.

Canyon Ranch is one of the biggest names in spas. I think I first heard of Canyon Ranch on the Oprah show. The original resort was in Tucson. My sister and I prefer beaches over deserts, so we decided to go to Miami instead. There is also a Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, and there are Canyon Ranch SpaClubs in Las Vegas and on some cruise ships. We'll talk more about that later.

My sister dealt with the travel arrangements, but I believe she purchased a weekend package that included a certain dollar value worth of spa services. She told me that the staff at the resort were very helpful in assisting her and helping her find the package that was right for us. After she made the reservation, we were contacted by a Canyon Ranch employee who helped us book our services for while we were there. They highly recommend that you make all of your appointments in advance of your stay, so that you get in everything that you want to do. Since the choices are a little overwhelming, the Canyon Ranch guy recommended some services to us. He gave great recommendations.

Once we were at Canyon Ranch, the service continued to be great. Everyone was super friendly, and helped us to feel comfortable and relaxed. Plus, as soon as we got to the hotel we got free tote bags and water bottles. What great souvenirs of our trip.

On my next post, I'll write about the accommodations.

Weekend Retreat

You can barely see the bathroom in this picture. But the most important thing is that it's in Jamaica. I know we're all dreaming of warm weather right about now.

From Elements of Style

I hope you all have a warm, relaxing and bath-filled weekend.

Lazy Day Links

Hope you're having a great week. Here are some of the things that caught my eye this week.

• West Elm River Rock shower curtain at Everything Turquoise.
• Comparison of gel manicures vs. regular manicures at A Girl's Gotta Spa.
• Spa home treatments at Ulta.
• Maybe if I use all of the products that PR executive and restaurant owner Kerry Diamond does, I will look like her. Check out her beauty tips on Into the Gloss. 
• Some great nail colors for your winter pedicure at Vogue.com.I want Essie Dive Bar.
• And a little online therapy about dealing with in-laws from the Huffington Post. Too bad I didn't see this until after the holidays.

Until tomorrow. Happy browsing!

Getting Through the Winter

I live in the Midwest, which means cold and dry winters. This winter has been a little weird, and we've actually had some pretty mild weather. But it's still really dry. So it's time to talk about some not very glamorous stuff. How do you deal with the dry, itchy skin that comes with this time of year?

Here are some of the products I use to survive:

To deal with constant hand-washing, I go straight for the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream. This stuff is basically like petroleum jelly except not so greasy. As the container says, "just a dab heals dry skin." I keep this stuff in my desk at work, and I use it every time I wash my hands. It really works. But now someone needs to invent lotion that doesn't have to be reapplied after each hand washing.

Before I go to bed each night, I smother my feet, hands and any other particularly itchy body part with Eucerin Dry Skin Therapy Original Moisturizing Creme. I first discovered this when my pediatrician recommended it for my kids' itchy skin. It comes in a big tub and is super thick. You have to really work to rub it in, but it's worth it. My manicurist has even commented on how good my hands and cuticles look and wanted to know what I used.

I fluctuate between different moisturizing shower gels. Right now I'm using Dove Sensitive Skin. It's unscented, which I like because it doesn't compete with my perfume. And it seems to do the trick.

Also, I take a ton of baths in the winter to try and stay warm, which is terrible for dry skin. To somewhat counteract that, I use Neutrogena Body Oil, which I've rhapsodized about before. It's definitely a year round staple.

I told you this wasn't going to be a glamorous post. But these products will make you winter much more bearable, and you can pick them up on your next trip to Target.

So how about you? Any winter weather bath and body products that keep you from wanting to rip your skin off? Let me know.

Do You Birchbox?

Have you heard of Birchbox? Birchbox is a cosmetic subscription service. For $10 a month you can receive a box of beauty samples in the mail.

I love it. It's always fun to get a package in the mail, and it's really fun to get a box full of surprise beauty samples. Each month I get fun samples from brands like Jouer, Redkin, philosophy, Stila and much more. Plus, each month they add in a fun non-cosmetic gift, like a Kind bar or a cool ponytail holder. There are other subscriber benefits, such as free shipping on full-size version and Birchbox points when you buy products.

I highly recommend you try it out. I gave a subscription to my sister for her birthday. She loved it so much, she got a subscription for our cousin.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Weekend Retreat

This bathroom makes me want to paint my bathroom black.

I hope you all have a warm, relaxing and bath-filled weekend.

Travelling in Style

Since yesterday's post was about travel toiletry basics. I thought it would be fun to look at some luxury travel items. Sometimes when I go on trips for work, I try to schedule a little bit of time (maybe one evening) for myself. With a full-time job, two young kids, a husband and a cast vying for my time, downtime is hard to come by. So I like to order room service, rent a chick flick and relax. It's also a perfect time for a little pampering action. Here are some great pampering products:

• Aveda Balancing Ritual.This contains Sandalwood Single Note (essential oil), Chakra Balancing Body Mist,  Foot Relief, and a Chakra Ritual Card.I love that this set comes with instructions! I think most of us could use some instructions on how to relax.

• Bond No.9 New York Gift Collection The Voyage Travel Candle Set: These candles are beautiful. They are a little pricey, but they would certainly make me feel like I was having a luxurious vacation even if I was staying at the Holiday Inn.
  

• vbeaute It Kit: I also picked this kit because of how cool it looks. I don't usually go for really expensive skincare, and I don't think I'm the only one because I couldn't find any review of this brand. (Anyone out there tried it?). It includes Undercover Agent serum, Rub Off exfoliater, Evidence Eraser cleanser, Buying Time moisturizer and Eye Never cream. 

So, what about you? Do you like to take some "spa time" when you travel? What are your guilty pleasures?

A Moveable Spa

I love travel kits. I know they are sort of wasteful, and I should just dispense my full-size products into reusable travel container. But that's no fun! Plus I always forget what I put in the containers. Is that conditioner or body lotion? And how long has it been in there?!?

One of the best things about travel kits is trying out new products. I am planning a trip to Las Vegas in about a month, so I might need (OK, want) to buy some new fun things.

I really want a kit that has shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion. Let's check out some options:

• philosophy The Travel Agent: This looks promising. It includes Purity Made Simple One-Step Facial Cleanser, Hope in a Jar Moisturizer, Amazing Grace Shampoo, Bath and Shower Gel, Amazing Grace Firming Body Emulsion and a Amazing Grace Hair Conditioner. This has everything I need plus face cleanser and moisturizer. I love the Amazing Grace fragrance, so this would definitely work for me. 

• Westin White Tea Aloe Travel Set: I recently stayed at a Westin hotel, and I loved the scent of the in-room toiletries. I am thinking that when I run out of the bottles I took from the room, I may have to order some more. It's so great they have a Westin store online called Westin at Home. Since I have always wanted to live in a hotel, now I can pretend that I do. I would also like to try the other Westin scents, which include green tea grapefruit and chamomile lavender.

• Malin + Goetz Essential Kit: I haven't tried out Malin + Goetz products yet, but I hear good things about them. I found this kit, which includes grapefruit cleanser, vitamin e face moisturizer, bergamot body wash, peppermint shampoo, cilantro hair conditioner and b5 body moistiurizer, on 3floz.com. Their motto is "for those who travel, those who are curious and those who can't commit." That pretty much sums me up, which is also why I love Birchbox (post coming soon).

So what do you think? Do you like to try out new products when you travel? Next time I'll look at some travel kits that are a little more fun and less utilitarian. So let me know if you know of any brands that do travel sizes and travel kits well.

Weekend Retreat

It's almost the weekend. Relax!

This bathroom is a little more traditional than my usual taste. But with the French doors, the checkerboard tile and the 18th-century French buffet used as a sink, it does feel nice and cozy, like the bathroom at my (well, not mine but some rich grandma with really good taste) grandma's house.

I hope you all have a warm, relaxing and bath-filled weekend.

Christmas Goodies

When I was a kid, one of the best parts of Christmas was telling my best friend what I go. So I thought I would share a few of my favorite Christmas presents with you.

I got a Fresh Brown Sugar gift set from my husband that contained the perfume (shown below), a Sugar Rose Tinted Lib Treatment and Brown Sugar Body Cream. I love the smell of the perfume and the lip balm has a great color for when I'm going casual. I think I will use the body cream when traveling, so I don't have to pack the perfume bottle. I don't think this exact gift set is available any more, but Sephora and Fresh have plenty of other gift set options.

Next up, my mom bought me a Clarisonic. When I visited Canyon Ranch Miami last year and got a facial, the aesthetician used a Clarisonic on me, and I've been dying to get one since then. I didn't do a lot of research, I just told her I wanted the turquoise one. So far I've been pretty happy with it. It does feel great on my skin, and it gets me motivated to actually wash my face (instead of just using a makeup remover wipe, which is what I usually do). We'll see if the motivation lasts.

I got a bunch of other great stuff, like some slippers, a Silpat baking sheet, some jewelry and more. I know. I'm spoiled. But I'm dying to hear what you got. Do tell.

Happy New Year

Since it's that time of year, I've been thinking about some New Year's resolutions, or rather some vague promises to myself. I would like this year to be a year in which I focus more on my accomplishments and less on what I'm not getting done. I would like to focus on learning some new skills instead of just acquiring new things. And, as always, I want to focus on taking time out to relax.

I hope that you all had a great holiday, and I wish everyone the best in 2012!

It's All About the Nails

There was a time in my life, mainly college, when I did not believe in painting my nails. It seemed like a big waste of time, and I figured it was completely useless when it came to attracting co-eds. As I matured (a little), I realized that keeping my nails well-manicured was actually kind of fun and did add to the overall effect of being a well-groomed professional. Recently, thanks to a lot of the great nail blogs out there, I've become a little obsessed with all of the fun nail colors. I dress in a fairly conservative, classic manner, and I don't play around much with makeup. But I love changing nail colors. I even like to play around with blues and greens and purples, although I save those primarily for my toes. Judging from my husband's reaction, I still don't think colorful nails are a big turn on for the guys. But I think it's a chance for us girls to have a little fun, maybe even be a little wild or adventurous. So today, I thought I'd share some of the shades I will be trying out the fall.

Chanel's Paradoxal is the must-have color of the season. I already got my hands on some, but haven't actually put it on my nails. It looks pretty purple, but reviewers are saying that it's a greige with a purple tint and a little bit of shimmer. I think this is color just screams fall, and I can't wait to try it out.

I've been eying this China Glaze teal that's called Shower Together for awhile. I love blue/green colors, and I've been wearing the China Glaze For Audrey, which is a light turquoise, this summer. Again this is a great fall shade, and even though my toes won't get as much air time with this color on my feet I will enjoy looking at my gorgeous pedicure every time I go to yoga class.

I'm always looking for a good neutral nail polish that I can put on in a hurry and won't clash with my outfit or my toes. The other day on the Beauty Counter I read that Gisele wears OPI Bubble Bath, so I decided to give it a try. It's very sheer similar to Essie's Mademoiselle. It's pretty nice if not exciting. I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I used to love Essie's Ballet Slippers, but then I kind of got tired of that whitish nail look. So if you have any suggestions for a great everyday nail polish drop me a line.

If you love nail polish or think you could start, check out All Lacquered Up. If you really don't want to get hooked on the latest polish colors, stay away!

A Little Slice of Relaxation in the Middle of My Family Vacation

For those of you who don't have kids, you probably think of vacation as a time to relax. For those of with kids, vacation can be as much work (or more) than our actual jobs. I love my kids, but they can be a real handful. And when we're all holed up together for hours in the minivan and then in a hotel room, it can be almost too much togetherness. So I was really excited to find out that there was easy spa access on my most recent family vacation.

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, KS. It's a super fun hotel and huge indoor/outdoor water park. The kids, of course, had a blast, and I enjoyed a few trips down the Triple Twist water slide myself. But my mom and I did manage to sneak in pedicures at the on-site Elements Spa Salon. It was a small, but nice little Aveda Concept spa, that offered facials, mani/pedis and massages. (I wish I had scheduled in a massage after running after my kids all day, although I did sneak in some time at the adults-only hot tub in the water park.) There was a small relaxation room for waiting. I was offered water, but they didn't have tea or snacks available. My nail technician did a good job on the pedicure. My feet felt super smooth and my polish looked great. (I went with OPI Strawberry Margarita.) They carried mainly OPI. I think I saw one Essie polish.

They also have a Scoop Kids Spa for 4-12 year olds. I have boys, so I really don't know what to think about the whole kids spa thing. For pre-school and even young elementary kids it seems a little weird to me, but I can't really explain why. And I have to admit that I have painted my 4-year old son's nails quite a bit. He thinks it looks cool, and he really doesn't think of it as being a girl thing. He go for the blue or green polishes though.

Anyway, I would definitely give my experience a thumbs up.I think it's great that the Great Wolf Lodge provides a place to take a break amidst all of the buzz and craziness of the family activities. And next time I will make sure to schedule a massage!

My New Favorite Hand Cream: love + toast

I don't have a lot of time to post this week. Going on a short trip with the fam, and somehow I have managed to misplace my swimsuit. Maddening!

Anyway, I did want to give a quick review of the love + toast gin blossom hand cream I picked up the other day. I saw this at a local shop and the packaging was so cute that I couldn't resist. And I'm glad I didn't. The scent is great but not overpowering. I have to say that I love a good G&T, so I loved this combination of gin with a nice floral scent. This cream is also nicely moisturizing without being overpowering. Only downside is that it doesn't have any SPF. I really don't know why all hand creams don't have SPF. When I am the ruler of the world, they will! Actually, I've been using my facial moisturizer with SPF on my hands, and I have been using this cream to refresh my feet before I go to yoga class. There are some other great scents, like Sugar Grapefruit and Mandarin Tea, that I'd love to try out too. Also, love + toast supports Girls, Inc., which provides vital educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Love that!

OK, now I'm off to buy a new swimsuit. Ugh!

P.S. Thanks to The Simply Luxurious Life for the link to A Spa Life in her newsletter. Make sure and get on her mailing list!

I Don't Want No Scrubs

Ok, the title of my post is a little harsh. But when I saw a post on Daily Beauty Reporter about the importance of body scrubs if you want celebrity-style glowing skin, it reminded me that I've been neglecting my exfoliation. Courtney over at Beauty to the People mentioned recently that even though she's a beauty editor, she never uses masks. So I think we all have our beauty steps that we prefer to skip. Mine is the body scrub.

I actually own the Soap & Glory Body Scrub pictured above. And really it's a pretty good scrub. It comes in a super-cute package, has a nice scent and seems to do the job. But I still almost never take the time to use it. I guess I just don't feel like my skin is that desperately in need of being scrubbed, although I am probably wrong about that.

If you do love a good body scrub, which one do you love? Fresh Brown Sugar and Origins Ginger seem to get a lot of press. I do love the smell of the Origins Ginger.

What beauty steps do you read about but never get around to actually doing?

Spa Envy: Umstead Hotel and Spa

I just saw Travel + Leisure's list of the Top 50 Large City Hotels. A bunch of these are in my old stomping grounds and favorite city Chicago. Of course, I haven't stayed at any of these great hotels. I really should work on that!

I'm sure many of these hotels have great spas, but the only one listed as a hotel and spa was Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, North Carolina. It is described as a:

"Tranquil property with art-filled public spaces on 12 wooded acres, minutes from downtown Raleigh. The outdoor pool backed by pin oaks and a three-acre lake resembles an Alpine spa."

I really never have any reason to be in North Carolina, but I may have to go anyway.

Have any of you had a chance to stay at any of the great hotels listed on Travel + Leisure?

Bath and Body Deals

Here are some coupons and deals that will help you relax even if you're trying to be a frugalista:

• Time to Spa has 20% off the entire site with the code SAVE20. They carry some great brands like Bliss, GoSmile and Elemis. 
• The Body Shop has buy two get one free on their Body Butters. I may get Mango (a classic), Japanese Cherry Blossom (recommended by Vogue), and Love, etc. (just like the name).
• Check out Crabtree and Evelyn's online outlet. They have up to 75% off some of their great products, including value size lotions and shower gels for $15.
• Some of the coveted (by me) items currently on sale at Sephora include the Caudalie Spa in a Box, CLEAN Warm Cotton Gift Set, and the Bliss I Like Big Butter and I Cannot Lie Duo.

 If you know of any great deals that I've missed, let me know. Happy bargain hunting!

Peace, Love and Happiness in a Soap

I think we all love the idea of getting a great product and helping out a good cause. So I love the idea behind the new Peace Soap by Kiss My Face. Ten percent of the profits for this line go to the Seeds of Peace organization, which is "dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence."

This soap is similar to Dr. Bronner's because it is a castille soap that is being touted as a multi-purpose cleaner. They actually list 101 uses for the soap on their site, including ideas for body, kitchen, home and outdoor. It is all-natural, vegan, biodegradable and all that jazz. I am also intrigued by the scents, which look a little more exciting than Dr. Bronner's. I am especially interested in the Lemongrass Clary Sage. My husband has a thing for this discontinued (I think) Crabtree and Evelyn verbena and sage body spray that I have, so I'm also checking out sage and/or verbena scented items to use as a replacement for when the body spray runs out.

Anyway, I'll let you know what I think of the Peace Soap as soon as I can get my hands on some. Let me know if you already have.