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Great news for fans of the prestige skin care line, Elemis–two of its amazing body and facial spa treatments will be available at Bliss Spas starting in August! I love Elemis products (we’ve featured them several times on TDO) and am so excited that the spa treatments are going to be more accessible now–at all of Bliss’s US locations and internationally in its London and Hong Kong spas. Yay!

Bliss will feature Elemis’ Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Facial and Exotic Lime and Ginger Salt Glow treatments. The Tri-Enzyme Facial has been clinically shown to resurface the skin by up to 75% after just one treatment by stimulating the natural exfoliation of the top layer of skin. It smooths your skin and reduces fine lines, as well. The Lime and Ginger Salt Glow features a light body brushing, warm oil application, exfoliation, and moisturizing–using great Elemis products, of course.

These Elemis treatments will be launching at Bliss Spas on August 1st. You can find a complete list of Bliss locations at blissworld.com.

A good multitasking product, especially in skin care, is hard to find. However, the Miracle Skin Transformer just may be the exception to the rule. It a) moisturizes your skin, b) enhances your skin tone, and c) protects your skin from the sun with SPF 20. The company sent me a 5ml sample to try of the product, and after trying it a few days in a row, I believe it does all 3 things pretty well.

The Miracle Skin Transformer is basically a tinted moisturizer that is packed with SPF and natural active ingredients. It has a naturally derived silicone formulation that smooths out your skin and improves your skin texture and pore size. Though I can’t vouch for the long-term effects of this moisturizer, each time I applied it, it evened my skin tone considerably and my face felt soft and smooth. It’s very lightweight, which is a plus, though I’m not sure how well its moisturizing effects will hold up in the wintertime. To find out out more, check out miracleskintransformer.com, where it is available in 4 different shades (Medium was perfect for me)!

Summertime means that it’s swimsuit season, which is both fun and dreadful. Who doesn’t love lounging at the beach or pool? On the other hand, who actually enjoys shopping for a bathing suit and being forced to examine your body from every possible angle? Blech. No matter what your body type, we all have those problem areas with cellulite, dimples, or just plain flabby skin.

Nude Skincare reached out to me to try a sample of their Smoothing Body Refiner, a lotion that aims to smooth and firm your skin, especially in the thigh, hip, and waist areas. It contains no parabens or sulphates, and instead uses a combination of peptides, amino acids, fig, mountain ash, green coffee, ginger, and natural probiotics. Independent clinical trials have actually shown that using the Body Refiner regularly over 3 months may result in weight loss and inches off! I jumped at the try it and have been using it for about a week now. So far, I can report that it does make my skin appear tighter and smoother, though it does have a bit of an unusual smell (maybe like clay?).

The Nude Skincare Slimming Body Refiner is available for $70 at Sephora–as well as at nudeskincare.com, where you can get a second bottle free by entering in the code SLIMDOWN at checkout! Let me know how it works for you if you decide to try it, too.

Back in April, EFFEN Vodka hosted a fun event at the ROOF at theWit, focusing on meaningful and sustainable design. What’s the connection between EFFEN and design? EFFEN chooses to be different from other vodkas by design, featuring all natural ingredients. Its bottle was also designed to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional–the patented rubber sleeve that it is encased in provides insulation to keep the vodka chilled longer, as well as easier handling.

I asked one of my girlfriends to come to the event with me and we loved enjoying the amazing views at ROOF, the lounge on the roof of theWit Hotel. We met a lot of Chicago foodies and bloggers, like Better With Butter and the Local Tourist, and heard about Chicago architecture and sustainability from Jonathan Boyer. We also got to enjoy some delicious cocktails by mixologist Jonny Abens (featuring EFFEN, of course). Now that summer’s in full swing, I wanted to share these drink recipes with you so that you can bust them out at your next warm weather get-together!

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I’ve written before about my friend, the Kiehl’s addict, who is always trying new products and giving me tons of recommendations. I totally trust her judgment on all things Kiehl’s and beauty-related, so I wanted to share another one of her finds that has worked for me. If you suffer from allergies that make your eyes look dead tired all the time, this may work for you, too!

My hereditary undereye circles have plagued me forever, so I’m always looking for products that help alleviate the darkness/puffiness. My friend suffers from major allergies that cause her eyes to look tired as well, and she told me about a product she swears by: Kiehl’s Line-Reducing Eye-Brightening Concentrate. The cream contains a high concentration of Vitamin C and a patented ingredient called Haloxyl that not only combat dark circles, but fine lines as well. My friend gave me a spare tube of hers and it’s been part of my morning routine ever since. It’s great because it helps someone with hereditary dark circles, as well as circles caused by allergies. Have you tried this, or do you have any other remedies you want to share? Let us know in the comments!

I love getting a little color during the summer months, but tanning beds and laying out for hours on end aren’t ideal. There are so many products and services out there that can provide you with a glowing tan without having to withstand the sun’s harmful rays. I had never tried a self-tanning product before picking up Kate Somerville’s Somer360° Tanning Towelettes, but now I’m totally hooked.

I put the Somer360 Tanning Towelettes to the ultimate test a couple of weeks ago during a weekend trip to Florida for a wedding. My skin was pasty and pale from months of cold Chicago weather, but I applied a towelette before heading out to the pool. Although its scent wasn’t the best, it didn’t last too long, and it was pretty easy to apply. It wasn’t streaky at all and within 2 or 3 hours, I had a healthy glow. I didn’t look like a overly tan Jersey Shore reject and it gave me a natural-looking, medium tan. The only issue I had was a part of my leg where I clearly just missed a spot. (Whoops.)

My new glow lasted about 3 days and looked great! To see for yourself, pick some up at Sephora.

I’m sure you’ve read or heard about a lot of shapewear on the market right now that claims to help you lose inches on those pesky problem areas on your body. I was never really a believer until Lytess contacted me to give their Slimming Corrective Belt a trial run. No matter how much I work out, I’ve always got some problem areas that are particularly stubborn–namely, my waist and hips. The Lytess Slimming Corrective Belt contains a unique blend of caffeine and shea butter, and is supposed to target just that. I was more than willing to give it a shot! (more…)

We all want younger looking skin, but how many of us actually know the science behind aging and skin? Although I claim to care about my skin, I have to admit that I definitely don’t keep up with the latest research on skin. When I was sent a copy of the book Your Skin, Younger for review, I almost read the whole thing in one sitting. Written by Drs. Alan C. Logan, Mark G. Rubin, and Phillip M. Levy, experts in naturopathic medicine and dermatology, it’s an easy and interesting read all about what it takes to keep your skin looking young–naturally.

Sun exposure and genetics certainly play a part in the visible signs of aging skin, but so do stress, diet, intestinal function, and even cooking techniques! The book suggests steaming, boiling, stewing, simmering, and poaching your food as much as possible to avoid oxidative stress and collagen destruction. These things can ultimately cause wrinkles, so the authors include recipes that incorporate healthy cooking techniques, as well as healthy skin foods. Who knew that even the color of foods has been proven to affect the aging of your skin? Your meals should always have deeply colored fruits and vegetables.

The part of Your Skin, Younger that is most relevant to my life is about stress. Studies have shown that stress compromises the barrier function of your skin, causing water loss and creating more inflammatory chemicals. In short, stress affects your skin more than you think. The authors provide tons of tips on how to reduce the stress in your life, starting with getting a good night’s beauty rest, which I am certainly taking to heart.

If you want to learn more about natural ways to get younger looking skin, be sure check out Your Skin, Younger, available for $14.95 at Amazon.com.

A few weekends ago, one of my lovely girlfriends got married in San Francisco and had an amazingly beautiful wedding. (Congratulations, Emily!) She was the first of in our group of gals to get hitched, so we all planned for an unforgettable weekend in California. That included a side trip to Sonoma for wine tasting, which I was, of course, super excited for! We gathered recommendations from friends and did some research of our own to start planning our wine country tour. Although not all the ladies could make it, with our group size, it turned out to be only slightly more expensive to book a private limo than to do a shuttle bus tour. The flexibility to choose wineries and schedules was definitely worth it for us, and armed with a list of wineries we wanted to check out, we began our trip… (more…)

One of the best things about Chicago is its amazing restaurant scene. There are so many fantastic chefs here and not nearly enough time to explore! A La Card Chicago makes it a lot easier by making decks of $10 gift certificates to 52 different chef-driven, owner-operated restaurants. The participating restaurants are awesome and even include some of my personal favorites, like Floriole, Hot Chocolate, Salpicon, and Takashi, and a whole bunch that I can’t wait to try. The $520 worth of gift certificates are handily packaged like a deck of cards… and will only cost you $30! So the next time that you’re thinking of a new place to eat, take out your A La Card Chicago deck, draw a card, and save $10 every time. For the full list of restaurants or to purchase, visit alacardchicago.com.