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Beauty
Beauty: Skin Deep, As Usual
When a new spa opens in San Francisco, especially one touting itself as a high-end luxury escape, the perfectly plucked brows of spa mavens perk up across the city. But as a seasoned spa-goer can attest, there can be a pretty big difference between the PR hype and the naked reality. More
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Beauty
Romantic and Family-Friendly
Solvang isn’t your typical road-trip stopover. Founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators, it’s filled with architecture reminiscent of Copenhagen’s cobbled streets and quaint European charm. Solvang is also where you’ll find Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, a getaway that has become a rustic home away from home for harried city dwellers, especially of the LA variety. More
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Beauty
A Cruelty Free Make Over
Alternative cosmetics have recently pegged a finger on the pulse of beauty culture. Take Urban Decay, for instance; the trend-setting cosmetics company famous for color names inspired by the sordid realities of urbania (Roach, Smog, Rust, Oil Slick and Acid Rain) has flouted the puke-perfect priss of conventional makeup lines for years. Then there's Real Cosmetics, the pioneering company launched by Lubna Khalid that addresses the absence of products catering to ethnic skin... More
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Beauty
Customized, Natural Beauty
A week before the biggest event of my life, my wedding, I am exhausted. It’s supposed to be a time of jubilation, when the butterflies in a bride’s stomach are more symbolic of healthy anticipation than things being seriously awry. But all I want to do is collapse on my bed and fall asleep for 72 hours or so. Of course, I can’t complain too much -- this evening, I have an appointment to keep, but it doesn’t have anything to do with a last-minute fitting or bothersome rehearsal dinner. It’s a facial with Kirsten Quint Fairbanks, who runs Apotheca Skin Body Wellness. More
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Beauty
An Exotic Oil Showcased
Certainly, proper pampering has its price but if you’re tired of all the superfluous amenities and exorbitant fees that are part and parcel of the typical day spa experience, don’t fret -- classic indulgence can still be yours. Tucked away on a quiet, tree-lined corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley is Argania Salon de Beauté, the perfect one-stop place to address all your beauty needs…at the fraction of the cost and fuss. More
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Beauty
Deliciously Luxurious
As winter, with its occasional bouts of sunshine-accompanied merriment and invariable frosty spells, gives way to a lovely Bay Area spring, the transition to toastier weather warrants a little celebration. And what better way to usher in the longer hours of sunlight than a meditative jaunt to the heart of wine country? More
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Beauty
Beauty Made Simple
As much as I love the science of beauty, frequenting the typical med spa isn’t really my idea of a good time. The vision that springs to mind when I think of med spas usually involves antiseptic, staid environments; poker-faced doctors in lab coats, plying patients with machines that look like they were built specifically to inflict pain; and plasticky debutantes itching for their next Botox fix. Sure, this isn’t a picture that’s altogether accurate or unbiased, but that’s exactly why places like Aura Skin Spa exist -- to school the ignorant (including me) out of their beauty prejudices. More
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Beauty
Pampering Without Excess
Simplicity is the order of the day, economic stimulus plan or no. Cutting down extraneous costs and adopting a more introspective approach to your spending is the imminent result of the current financial debacle and the so-yesterday American raison d’être of mindless luxury. But getting mindful doesn’t mean giving up pampering. It just means trading in your regular ol’ day spa -- debutantes, amenity-packed locker rooms, pretentious ‘tudes and all -- for a place like Avra Organic Spa. More
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Beauty
Reinventing the Brazilian Bikini Wax…Sort of
There’s certainly something to be said for San Francisco’s au naturel beauty philosophy -- a lenient stance which pretty much dictates that bedhead is sexy and pancake makeup is soooo 1999. All the same, no matter what the purveyors of unfeigned sex appeal tell you, the old adage that “pain is gain” resounds with more than a modicum of truth. After all, in bikini weather, looking good has its price. More
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Beauty
A Vessel of Sensational Finds
A new vessel just opened its contents on Mission’s 16th Street. It’s called BellJar and it is a quite a deep vessel housing objects of an eclectic and stylish mix. Sasha Wingate, the visionary of this cozy space, showcases a delightful array of pieces that cover home décor, fashion and beauty for all to experience and take home as their own. Wingate explains, “I really felt inspired collecting, decorating and conceptualizing environments and creating these special little moments.” More
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