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!