April 2008

Our very own Greek Goddess Eleni to bring you Greeks bearing gifts! Great Gifts! The gift of beauty with Elemis!

The first time I came across Elemis was at Holmes Place Health Club in Athens. I took a shower after my workout and it literally took me more than an hour to make myself get out of it. The reason was that the shower gel provided was possibly the best I’ve ever tried.

With tears of joy for my new discovery, I asked at the reception what that magical tingly gel was, and they said it was the “Elemis sharp shower”, with peppermint, wild marjoram and thyme. Unfortunately, its $37 price tag was too much for my budget back then, so I kept taking showers at the gym. I’ve never worked out more in my life!

Since then, the name Elemis has always meant top spa quality to me.

Recently, the wonderful Meg Young sent us over at megsmakeup.com a few Elemis products to try and being the only one that is struggling with a cellulite problem since the tender age of 9, I got the Body Sculpting Lipo-Refining Serum along with the Body Sculpting firming Cream.
Anti-cellulite and body firming products are possibly the only products I’ve tried all cosmetic brands at. When I was 12 I was using Vichy, and it worked ok. At 14 I switched to Roc and Biotherm that worked a bit better for me. At 18 I tried the divine Dior Bikini and for ten years in a row I haven’t managed to find anything better. I was switching it with Clarins that smelled great, a few times with Lancome that was a bit cheaper and once with Yves Saint Laurent when they first came out with an anti-cellulite cream. Total disappointment. It was only ten years later that I actually used a product that could compete with Dior Bikini, and that product was Chanel’s Precision Body Excellence line.

So there I was, having Elemis Body Sculpting Cream and Serum in my hands, ready to take the big step and quit the Chanel treatment for a month. I did it. I spent 4 weeks of religious Elemis use. Morning and evening applications with massage, regular exfoliating, balanced diet, lots of water.First I put on the Body Sculpting Lipo-Refining Serum, a product that is:“designed to penetrate deep into the dermis to slow down the skin cell's progression from healthy to abnormal in a dual action. The key active ingredient, Peru Liana, helps to inhibit fat storage by preventing healthy skin cells (Pre-Adipocytes) from filling with Triglycerides (a build-up of fatty acids), resulting in undesirable fatty cells (Adipocytes). The Lipo-Refining trio of marine and plant extracts, Laminaria Digitata, Theophylline and Cecropia Extract, specifically help to break down fatty deposits by promoting Lipolysis - the process of burning off Triglycerides - which in turn reduces the size and number of Adipocyte cells.”

Followed by the Body Sculpting Firming Cream , a cream that:“flushes away toxins and helps support the body's natural drainage, enhancing micro-circulation to release trapped fats and prevent new fatty cells from forming. Targeting cellulite with three key actions, Body Sculpting Firming Cream progressively smooths and firms the skin. Peru Liana, Sea Fennel and Brown Algae Scoparia assist in inhibiting fat storage while Bitter Orange Petal helps to detoxify the skin and increase lymphatic circulation. A unique complex of Organic Silicium and mineral rich Spring Sea Water improves the cohesion between dermis and epidermis to firm and tone the skin.”

The results were AMAZING. I was a bit scared that this two cream system wouldn’t work and then I would have to write bad things about Elemis. Cause believe me, I would have. There is nothing worse than being told that an anti-cellulite treatment works when it doesn’t. I mean, it’s not even something subjective. Day 1 you have a dimple, day 31 you don’t. As simple and clear as that. And that’s what the Elemis Body Sculpting Firming Cream and Lipo-Refining Serum did for me.

Bikini season’s almost here, go get your Elemis girls!

Ladies please rate your experience and what Elemis product you chose!

Elemis Buy It Here!

Meg here with a great new line to tell you about..Blow Styling Products! I was lucky enough to receive the entire line and boy oh boy is it great! There is nothing I love more then a smart entrepreneur unless it is a smart woman entrepreneur. You see, ideas really are a dime a dozen. Oh, I use to have many brilliant and wonderful ideas. My nickname used to be "Kramer" The devils in the details! The follow through is essential! So many times I had thought "EUREKA!" just to wait years for time to go by and kick myself as someone else became rich! There is little recourse in "darn, I thought of that!"

Here's what I think one of the best things about Blow Styling Products are..The beginning of the "Blow Bar", the best ideas are when they are created out of a need that women could actually use. Instead of the hhmming and hawwing these 3 bestfriends got together in NYC and did something about it. They created Blow salon in the meatpacking district. A place where women could gather to feel fab and glam and get fast and affordable mani-pedi's, makeup application and their now famous, signature blow-outs at the "blow bar". Their dream was so right on target with the feeling of other New York women they've now added another Blow to the Upper East Side. Tr'es Chic!

A trip down my ideas..Dog DNA I was watching Oprah a few years back and she had on scientists that has a company that would send in a swab of your cheek to their DNA lab and spit out exactly who your ancestors were and from what village from like a million years or something ago. I look in the mirror-I'm pale. I look at my diningroom table, there's a Guiness open, my last names O'Brien. My guess is I come from potato harvesters that liked to imbibe. That's not worht $300. What is? I can't tell you how many hours of my life I have spent debating what dog breeds must have mated to create Bear and Penny. Hours upon hours. That is why I thought, forget humans.We need Dog DNA for our mutts! Lo and behold, listening to NPR last week, someone else thought that but is just now making millions.

The Talking Vibrator Want to eradicate men? Then look no further! For $19.95 your talking vibrator will say "If you lost more weight you'd be disgusting" and "I love a more mature woman," "You deserve that bag!" "If they don't want you then they're jealous or gay" "God, how am I the luckiest man alive?" I even have the commercial worked out, a well dressed woman walks into a swank restaurant, pulls into her purse, taps the maitre'd, looks straight into the camera and says "Table for two" Then winks!!

Epstein Bar way before NYC came out with their BED Lounge I thought about Epstein Bar. Who says disease can't have its perks? I hate getting ready on a Friday night. The shower, the hair the makeup the outfit. Why, if you couldn't just jump into your Nick and Nora's couldn't you go relax at everybody's favorite watering hole Epstein Bar? As far as I'm concerned, the only thing Hefner ever got right was living in his robe.

megsmakeup.com Need I say more??

Alright, obviously I should be part of some government think tank. I won't bore you with more of my crackpot...Um..Brilliance!

Blow Styling Products really are fantastic, they're great for anyone that does a lot of heat styling, flat ironing, curlers or relaxers. They really have thought it through. From the time you shampoo up to the end with their "climate neutralizer" you're very well taken care of. The price is decent too as this has been lasting me quite a long time. I'm also a sucker for cool packaging and I really dig grabbing for these in the morning. I mean, I'm even motivated to use them showering on a Friday night at 8pm (Epstein Bar~where are you?)

Ladies, please let me know if you've tried Blow, I'd love to write more but I just had this idea....

Blow~Buy It Here!

Meg here back from the computer hospital. My laptop flatlined on me last night and I just got it fixed. The good news is I have a brand new one coming to me Thursday so all is well!

I guess its spring, or the move, or the fact that I have to go through all of my stuff and decide what I really want and need. What I am just somehow emotionally tied to that I probablly wouldn't miss if I just let it go. My brains been jumping around a bit and I keep replaying choices I've made in my life and then I think of this story. A woman was unhappy in the career she had for the last 20 years so she came home and announced to her husband "I'm going to become a lawyer! Her husband just shook his head and rolled his eyes and said "You're going to be 50 years old before you can even start to practice law.. The woman just looked at him and said "I'm going to be 50 years old anyway. Might as well be 50 years old and start my new career."

Duh, right? I mean that logic is so easy to understand and yet so hard for us to apply. I'm not looking to be an attorney but I am looking to follow through on opportunities that have presented themselves to me that I just let fall by the wayside. I guess I can't fail if I don't try, I never use to feel that way but I think I have been a bit in the dumps the last year or so and developed an Eeyore complex. I am sending Eeyore to the glue factory and am really going to concentrate on putting myself out there as much as possible. I can't succeed if I don't try is my new mantra!

If you only look as good as you feel then I have not been living up to the ideal beauty regimen!

I'm looking for a little guidance, you ladies always know whats best to put on our faces so I'm hoping you will let me know what you're secret is for a little extra spring in your step.

Should I buy an Ipod and program it with upbeat songs? Should I tape YOU ARE FABULOUS! to my mirror? What are little tricks you have (I know you have them) that help you keep on plugging? I'll be back with our normal order of business tommorrow but I was hoping you ladies had some advice on how to cultivate better energy! Love you and thank-you! Meg

Meg here with quite a conundrum. I have Shisheido marked as a "Fab Friday" item. I thought from the packaging and quality and overall reputation of the company that everything was going to be very pricey. Well, while it certainly is not a DD, I'm looking through the press releases on the items Jenia so graciously sent us to try out and I can't find anything over $100. In fact everything seems to run around $20-$60 except for the NutriPerfect Day Cream Spf 15 and Night Cream at $92. I guess I always just assumed Shisheido was created for really deep pockets and you know what they say about assuming.

Shisheido sent us ladies out 6 different items to test. I'm funny at our mailings, you would think I'd say "I'm grabbing this! And go pick first. I never do. It's so strange. It's one of the things I'm going to be working on. I'm a strong, vocal person but I have a deep fear of seeming rude or greedy. I also apologize to furniture when I bump into it and leave atleast a dollar tip at Starbucks for my $1.75 coffee. On the flip side, if I have one cigg left in my pack or there's only enough champagne for one last glass-go for it. I can promise that will be the last thing you ever go for though. Addiction is stronger then affliction.

Anywhoo, all the products were laid out and all the ladies made a play for them until there was one lone lipstick left. It was tre's uber Barbie pink. A frightening pink that screamed "Baby Jane". Back to the don't judge a book by its cover, I said I'd test it and opened it right there. It's a great spring color. The color is Rouge Iris from their shimmering lipstick line. It went on suble like a gloss with golden, metallic shimmers. It also is packed with oils that feel so smooth on your lips. The girls should have read the press release before they chose because this lipstick is "A new shimmering lipstick innovation, combining the glossy brilliance of lip gloss with the staying power of lipstick".

I can hear Desertdoll kicking herself from here (about a 2 1/2 car ride away.)

If everything the other ladies chose performed as well as my new shimmering lipstick then I think Shiseido is a beautiful brand with an upscale, yet realistic price tag. My shimmering lipstick retails for $22.00

Thank-you for reminding me that the "If you have to ask then you can't afford it". mantra is not always true.

Ladies please post what Shisheido item you tested and how it fared? Other Shisheido fans let us now what else we need!!

Shiseido-Buy it Here!