Skin Care

Another holiday, another panic attack: What on earth is there left to get for the man in your life? Well, a good home-cooked meal should work, but if that’s not your idea of a special gift, I suggest you say “I love you” with:

… a Hot Shave
I recently got the chance to check out Alexander’s for Hair, a mid-range, family-owned, all-in-one spa and salon in west L.A., and I thought, “What a great place to take my [insert any family member here]!” Formerly the male-targeted Reeder’s Barber Shop, complete with beers and flatscreen TVs, Alexander’s for Hair has undergone a recent makeover to suit its growing clientele base, offering more services for both men and women as well as eco-friendly hair products by Eufora and high-quality GRAM skincare by Dr. Bernard Gramlich (you should see his skin!). Helmed by new owner Krissy Smith and her mom Jeanne Phares, the salon has both a small-town feel and a cosmopolitan flair — perfect for those who want luxurious treatment but find super-high-end salons and spas either intimidating or just not worth the extra dough. Best of all, while you’re loved one is getting his Signature MVP Hot Shave, you can indulge in a Eufora Deep Conditioning and Scalp Treatment (free this month with any color service), a fantastic facial, a mani-pedi or a delightful (and affordable) deep-tissue massage (ask for Barbara!). Ah, the perks of co-ed bliss.

Alexander’s for Hair is located at 11515 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. Call (310) 473-0462 to make an appointment. Readers, mention the code AFHGO through February and you’ll get 30 percent off your service!

… Custom Kicks
If the love (or like) of your life is a label-savvy jet setter who frequently blends street style and upscale threads (or just likes any of the aforementioned), he’ll appreciate the new G3 collection by Ryz, the brainchild of former president of Adidas America and Adidas Japan Rob Langstaff. (more…)

I’ve been obsessed with all of the different Clarisonic Skincare Brushes for awhile now (ask any of my friends and/or relatives – I’ve told all of them to buy one at some point).  So when the new Opal Sonic Infusion came out, I was dying to try it.  I finally got my hands on one after reading several glowing reviews of it online and it was totally worth the wait.

The Opal is an oval shaped device that uses something called sonic infusion to help soothe and firm your eye area.  It’s very simple to use – you put in one of the serum dispenser caps and charge the device, then when you’re ready to use it, you simply dispense a few drops of the serum onto the cap, press a button to turn it on, and then move the device in a circular motion around your eye while it does its work.  It’s really mistake proof (pretty much the only thing you could do to make it not work is if you decided to use it on say, your neck or something.  Which would be crazy).  The serum contains a hand-selected blend of marine and botanical extracts and by using the Opal, it gets infused into your skin much better than if you just massaged it in.  It also feels really good when you’re doing it.  I think my eye area is probably the most neglected part of my face, so it’s nice to give it some extra attention.

When I’m done using it, the area around my eyes feels smoother and tighter.  If you use it for a long period of time, it’s supposed to lead to a decrease in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, but since I’m crazy face product girl, so far I’ve managed to stave those off, so I can’t vouch for that claim.  (At least, not yet.  When I told my mom about it, she made me promise I would let her try the Opal for awhile, so once I hand it off to her, she should be able to tell me what her results are.  Stay tuned!)  I just really like how much more awake it makes my eyes look – I hardly ever get enough sleep, so anything that can make me look less like a zombie is a hit with me, and the Opal really accomplishes that with barely any effort.  (I love making barely any effort!)  Definitely a product worth checking out.

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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Dry skin might be a winter thing, but my skin feels parched no matter what season it is. If it weren’t for Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream — one of three Ultra Facial products in their new Ultra Facial Cream Starter Kit — it would hurt me to smile for most of the day! The cream, which is the standout product in the kit as far as I’m concerned, contains fancy-sounding ingredients like Antarcticine, “a Glycoprotein extracted from microorganisms sourced from sea glaciers and notable for an ability to protect skin from cold temperatures,” and Imperata Cylindrica, “a plant indigenous to the Australian desert which possesses superb water retention properties in dry conditions.” Translation: This little jar has made me one grinning, instantly hydrated girl this month.

Each kit comes with a gentle Ultra Facial Cleanser and a non-alcoholic Ultra Facial Toner along with the cream. (There’s also an Ultra Facial Moisturizer Starter Kit, $29.50, for those who prefer a lotion.) All the Ultra Facial products are available separately, and depending on the product, make use of ingredients such as olive-derived botanical Squalane, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil and vitamin E to keep skin balanced, hydrated and silky. If dry skin bothers you, getting a starter kit is a great way to try out the regimen; but if you already know what you need, I say spring for the full-sized bottles of individual product. You can order them at kiehls.com or pick one up at your local Kiehl’s store. Happy hydrating!

On the sixth day of Christmas, Proactiv gave to me … $200 to one of my favorite charities, the National Marrow Donor Program. As part of a quite generous holiday giving effort, The Daily Obsession was lucky enough to secure a charity sponsorship in Proactiv’s 12 Days of Christmas, a collection of YouTube vlogs in favor of our favorite charities. Check out my vlog, in which I explain why I chose the National Marrow Donor Program and review one of my favorite Proactiv products, Proactiv Green Tea Moisturizer ($18). Make sure you tune in for tomorrow’s post from SheKnows.com! (Just log on to YouTube and search for Proactiv’s 12 Days of Christmas!)

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!

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…)

Move over Michael Kors… 16-year-old Canadian teen heartthrob Justin Bieber is apparently looking to add beauty mogul to his resume (you know, because pop singer, dancer, actor, hair icon, “Bieber or Die” comedian, and rumored MTV “Punk’d” host apparently wasn’t enough).

The new face of Proactiv, Justin has also joined forces with Etoile Nation Beauty to launch “My World,” a unisex fragrance slated to hit Wal-Mart stores on Black Friday. (The $10 scent, embedded in resin, comes in four different, mix-and-matchable designs of dog tags and wristbands, with top notes of bergamot, lychee, an pomegranate, a heart of cedar glimmers, and a drydown of musk, according to WWD.)

Add a bright, glittery, Bieber-inspired line of Nicole by OPI nail polish aptly titled the “One Less Lonely Girl Collection,” coming out in December and January at Wal-Mart (then Sears, Target, and ULTA), and seriously, what’s next… fashion? (Actually, just wait. That’s coming.)

To get a firsthand look at Bieber mania (OK, fine, I’m guilty), I will be joining a host of giddy beauty bloggers tonight at the Proactiv VIP suite for his L.A. concert at the Staples Center. Stay tuned to Twitter @Proactiv and #ProactivVIPSuite for real-time updates!

Nail polish peelers—this mask is for you.  If you secretly get a thrill out of peeling off your nail polish, and live for when you can remove one long strip in a swift, uninterrupted motion, then you will love Boscia’s Luminizing Mask.  A mineral-rich, black pigmented no-rinse face mask designed to improve skin clarity and radiance through deep-pore cleansing and exfoliation, the mask is pure fun in a tube.  The peeling comes in at the end, after the mask dries on your face and you get the fun of peeling the whole thing off your skin.

Easily squeezable out of the tube, the mask comes in a soft, black clay formulation made out of kaolin clay and phellodendron bark, which you spread in a generous layer across your face for about 5-7 minutes until it dries.  Be careful not to make the layer too thin, as it will make it difficult to peel off.  And yes, the mask comes out of the tube pure jet-black, so it’s not best to test this mask in front of a new boyfriend just yet, unless he wants to join in on the peeling fun too.  The peeling off is admittedly addicting–it’s not painful at all (nothing like pulling off a Band-aid), and the texture isn’t sticky, so you remove dead skin, toxins, and impurities with ease as you peel off the mask. There might be a few little pieces of the mask remaining after you peel as much as you can which you can easily rinse off with water. (more…)

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!