Mind Your Ps
Elizabeth Arden has come up with two new products: Prevage White Concentrated Brightening Serum (30ml, $217) and floral fragrance Pretty (100ml, $112). Prevage purports to smooth skin tone and soften skin with anti-aging ingredient Soy Ferulate-C which works by controlling the production of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color but also gives rise to age spots and freckles. And with so many brightening, whitening and lightening products out there, you might be confused over what on earth the difference is between the three. Well, whitening and lightening are about the same thing—it means making your skin paler; while brightening, as we’ve just described, evens out your coloration without making it paler.
And when you’re done brightening up, splash on some Pretty perfume. With mandarin orange, peach, jasmine, amber and a scientifically manufactured scent, petalia, Pretty is that kind of perfume that makes you feel flirty and fun. It creator was inspired by watching his wife get dressed to go out, so maybe save this for a weekend night or keep some in your office drawer to dab on after work to shake off the day and put yourself in the mood for a night out. Takashimaya, 1/F, Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Rd., 6735-7605 and other outlets.
Cheek to Cheek
The next time you feel the need to sweat it out, try this treatment at Spa Esprit at House (8D Dempsey Rd., 6479-0070). Called Cheeky Chai, this treatment softens you up with a wonderful de-stressing massage and then coats you in dead-sea mud and paraffin wax that draws out perspiration and other toxins. The massage is quite firm and deep—excellent for knots and stiff muscles—and is intended to relax you for the mud/wax. A good thing too because the wax is hot, even slightly scalding to the touch. Fun if it’s your loved one dripping it on you on a bear-skin rug, but with a well trained therapist it takes on a rather serious dimension. Thankfully the wax cools in seconds, and when you’re mummified in it, it becomes like a warm cocoon. When they peel it off, you’ll see small pools of perspiration on the wax flaps and should feel like you just stepped out of a steam bath.
Sensorial Treat
Three-month old spa The Sensory Suite (14 Gemmill Lane, 6222-7377) has been pampering stressed out executives in the city with their massages, facials and body treatments. While quick pick-me-ups are available, treat yourself to their Lava Stone Facial ($280) or Rice Body Spa ($320) if you have time. Two-hours long each, these treatments use wonderful special ingredients to refresh and relax you. In the Lava Stone Facial, volcanic stones from the famous Mount Etna in Sicily are used to apply creams to your face and, in the process, supposedly transmit their curative energy to you. For many who have tried this, the first application of the stones tingles, which is a sign that they are “tuning in” to your body. Judging by the verdant vineyards and orchards that thrive on the fertile slopes of Mount Etna, that can only be a good thing.
In the Rice Body Spa, a series of rice scrubs, packs and balls are applied on the whole body while you lie on a massage bed. Sweet and fragrant, the rice feels soft and nourishing, and by the time the therapist starts rubbing the warm rice balls (rice wrapped in muslin pouches and steamed) on you, you are melting away. Following that is a rice bran oil massage that will ensure you completely bliss out.
i-s mag