Bath & Body

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying everyone probably likes flowers, chocolate and/or fragrance as a Valentine’s Day gift. But do they LOVE it? Well, “mind-blowing” might not be the first thing I’d think … more like “predictable, but sweet. I’ll take it.” Leave it to Strange Invisible Perfumes to prove me wrong. Their creative take on the ol’ tried and true is simply eye-popping. (Oh men of our lives, are you reading this?!?)

A team effort with floral designer Holly Flora and San Francisco-based chocolate artisan Cocoa Absolute, SIP’s “ultimate Valentine’s Day delivery” offers four options of drop-dead gorgeous, creative bouquets paired with limited-edition organic, botanical perfumes and a delectable box of hand-crafted chocolates. (Just outside of L.A.? Call and see if they’ll make the trip.)

While pricey ($205–$542), the results are absolutely swoon-worthy. In addition, the flowers can be customized by request (if what you want is available), and since the chocolates are optional, you can always adjust according to your budget.

P.S. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by SIP’s Venice, Calif., boutique tomorrow (Feb. 5) for a trunk show. There will be champagne, cupcakes, jewelry and plenty of limited edition fragrances to sample before you take the plunge!

Strange Invisible Perfumes is located at 1138 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice, Calif. To order a V-Day delivery, call them at 310-314-1505 by February 11, 2011.

If you’re already racking your brain about what to do for Valentine’s Day and all you’ve come up with is “Dinner out or dinner in?,” consider taking pause from all the hustle and bustle at a quiet oasis such as Spa Luce. A seasonal offering on the spa menu, the delightful aromatherapeutic Spa Luce Valentine’s Day Couples Massage, $370, gets my vote for best investment in relaxation. It features massages performed side by side in the couples room, a mineral-salt soak in a hydrotherapy tub built for two, and a complimentary bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries.

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I absolutely adore Farmhouse Fresh because all of their products smell ridiculously good.  Like, so good that if they’re in my closet, even if I’m going in there for a totally unrelated reason, I often find myself opening their products just to take a sniff.  The deliciousness continues with their two new products – Hello! Yellow and One Fine Day.

One Fine Day is a face polish that’s perfect for when you’re in need of some exfoliation (although it’s definitely gentle enough to use every day if you wanted).  It’s a shea sugar blend and is 98.5% natural, so it’s perfect if your skin is dry or sensitive.  It smells absolutely amazing – the polish contains grapefruit and citrus oils, so the scent is light and refreshing and even a little energizing.  The polish itself is a really nice consistency – it’s strong enough to give a really good exfoliation to your face, but it’s not harsh or stingy at all.  It leaves my skin really soft and glowing.  I’ve been using it every other night for the past two weeks or so and I’ve barely made a dent in the container – you need to use so little that one jar will last you a long time.  Always nice!

Hello! Yellow is another can’t miss product.  It’s a shea butter body cream made with natural vanilla and citrus oils.  I know I sound like a broken record about these products, but this one smells amazing as well.  It’s a comforting mix of sweet and citrusy, sort of like a sugary creamsicle, and the cream is dense and rich and not at all greasy.  It comes in a display-worthy glass jar (perfect to give as a gift) and the shea and cocoa butters make it super moisturizing – great for the bitter winter months.  I’ll be using this one until I’m scraping the very last bits out of the bottom of the container!

Out of all the brands I use, I think I look forward to seeing Philosophy’s holiday offerings the most, mainly because there’s always such a huge amount of them.  Unlike a lot of brands that release a handful of new products around this time of year, Philosophy always has so many different sets and products, I’m practically discovering a new one every day.  It’s kind of fun!  It would be impossible to talk (or try!) them all, but here are some of my favorites: (more…)

Say bye-bye to inconvenient hair appointments! Last night, I got a taste of the new Blowout Bar at the Argyle Salon & Spa (located inside L.A.’s landmark Sunset Tower Hotel), where hours are being extended to accommodate clients in the morning and evening.

I stopped by the salon after work to check out their blowout menu, which features four types of blowouts: the Argyle Signature ($40), the Hollywood Blowout (glam volume!, $40), the Beachwaves Babe (finished with a curling iron, $50), and the Polished (finished with a flatiron, $50). (more…)

Recently, I took a ill-timed, direct red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New Orleans for a wild wedding weekend, only to regret not taking a nap before the three-and-a-half-hour trip. (Anyone who was there during Halloween/Voodoo Fest weekend might know that it was practically impossible to check in to your hotel early.) Unfortunately, this was my first time in The Big Easy, and wandering sleep-deprived through the French Quarter at 8 a.m., fueled only by a cup of chicory coffee and a plate of beignets, was — well, not so easy.

Imagine my elation when I literally stumbled upon the charming Kinetix Spa and Salon (formerly Ofadean). On a whim, I asked owner Michael Mikolajewski if there was a “quiet room.” He smiled and gently said the prettiest word I’d heard all morning, “Yes.” I then asked if he could accommodate me and my delirious husband, despite the fact that the salon was bustling with some of what must have been 100 bridal parties in town that weekend. Again he said, “Yes.” (He really had that southern hospitality thing down.)

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Since I usually end up showering twice a day, I’m always on the lookout for shampoo and conditioner duos that are gentle on hair, but still get the job of cleaning and conditioning it done well too.  (And it’s also important that it’s gentle on colored hair because the darker shade I have in my hair fades fast enough already).  My newest hair obsession is one of the shampoo and conditioner duos from B. The Product.  I tried out both Shampoo Perfected and Conditioned Perfected and together, they leave my hair looking great.

B. The Product is the creation of Los Angeles stylist Brandon Martinez.  (He’s currently working out of the West Hollywood location of Warren-Tricomi and gave me a fabulous cut last month.  If you’re in the L.A area and looking for a great stylist, I highly recommend him).  Both the shampoo and conditioner are made without sulfates, parabens, or sodium chloride and the shampoo has Argan Oil (to add shine and soften hair), a UV absorber (to stop color from fading), and Pro-Vitamin B5 (to condition and add volume.  The conditioner also has Argan Oil and Pro-Vitamin B5, but it also has Orange Oil in it to help seal your cuticles.  The duo leaves my hair so soft and shiny and knot-free, which is always a bonus with my long, prone to tangle, locks.  But I think my favorite part about them is the fact that both products smell exactly like a creamsicle.  Seriously, exactly.  They smell so delicious that I want to drink them in the shower instead of using them on my head.  And the smell lingers on my hair all day, which is fabulous.  I want everything I use on my hair to smell like this now.  Can we make that happen?

To read more about the B. The Product line, visit www.btheproduct.com.

I have never taken to a hand cream/moisturizer as fast as the new Honeysuckle Rose Hand Creme by Olivina Napa Valley. Olivina uses a blend of hand-pressed olive and grapeseed oils in its products, along with other essential oils to create a highly moisturizing blend of ingredients. Plus, all of the products are free from chemical parabens, preservatives, sodium lauryl-sulfate and cruelty free.

I was first taken by the scent. Not normally a fan of rose-centric fragrances, I make an exception for this light and positively addicting scent. But what I loved about the Honeysuckle Rose Hand Creme was the incredibly lightweight formula (without it being too liquid like a lotion). It also was highly hydrating and absorbed into the skin within a minute or two after application. Plus, the scent lingers softly if you’re just looking for just a light scent to perk up your skin (and senses). The hand creme is only $18 for 2.5 oz at olivinanapavalley.com. I personally can’t wait to try out other products from this line!

Frequent readers of The Daily Obsession know that we heart Shobha and have mentioned them on our site many times, but seriously, this time, I can’t stop raving about their Ingrown Hair Relief Lotion, which has magically erased ALL razor bumps and ingrown hairs.

Forget about the semi-painful solutions you’ve found on google, suggesting warm compresses etc.  Apply the Shobha lotion to dry, clean skin once (with a double dose for a more serious situation), and you will literally wake up the next morning with smooth skin.  I’ve been informed that the lotion performs miracles with its glycolic acid exfoliate, which removes the dead upper layers of skin, the main cause of razor bumps and ingrown hairs.  It also prevents hair follicle clogs that cause the inward redirection of hair growth.

Since it’s a glycolic acid exfoliate, there aren’t any exfoliation beads in the lotion.  The consistency is shaving-cream-like, with a gentle moisturizing and soothing component, with tea tree oil and glycerin, and a gentle soapy scent.  The scent isn’t especially feminine, so it’s not male-repellent, so completely shareable with dads, brothers, and boyfriends.  I plan to pass along one to my younger brother, who recently just started shaving for the first time.

The Shobha Ingrown Hair Relief Lotion retails for $22 and can be bought on the Shobha website.

I’ve been obsessed with the CLEAN line ever since I tried their original perfume years ago and over that time, the one and only thing that annoyed me about their products was that I wanted there to be more of them!  I didn’t just want perfume, I wanted shower gels and lotions and everything else that a lot of perfume brands come out with so that you can layer your scent.  I’d just about given up hope and resigned myself to the fact that it was never going to happen when all of a sudden, there they were.  Wishes really do come true!

The new Bath & Shower Gels come in three of CLEAN’s most popular scents – Fresh Laundry, Shower Fresh and Warm Cotton.  I tried out Fresh Laundry and it was everything I was hoping for.  The scent is exactly like the Eau de Parfum – you can smell the hint of Brazilian Orange note in it here too – and it lathers up really nicely without being drying at all.   (more…)