Priti Organic Spa: Mani-Pedi, Ashram Style

Beauty's SPOT is indulging in the Travel part of our name this weekend - in New York City! Our first rule for travel is, "recieve a mani-pedi upon arrival." The transportation part of travel can be stressful and that is no way to start a vacation. We also find that checking in with your local beauty providers can give you an extra sparkle, not to mention the insider info on your ci-tay of choice. In a big beautiful place like New York this can be done organically at Priti Organic Spa.

We had the simple Mani/Pedi which included an organic geranium essential oil foot bath(pictured below), an organic sugar scrub, an organic geranium lotion massage, and some Preti Polish in Queen of the Night Tulip (#338.) Priti Organic Spa carries Zoya polish as well as their own line which is 100% free of the usual lurking carcinogens: toluene, DBP, and formaldehyde. Why in the hell is that stuff in nail polish anyway? We are most impressed with their polish remover which is organic, vegetable oil based, and as effective and the usual burning acid we subject ourselves to.

Our nails look fab and we picked up some toxin-free, sparkling, glow in the dark Priti Princess Polish for sissy! For more behind the scenes info and pics on Priti check out this post from New York Magazine.

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Nailtiques: the solution for manicure addicts

I spent all winter obsessively manicuring my nails. It seems that every three weeks I had an indispensable reason to color my nails a deeper, darker red. I suspected my dainty little nails needed time to breathe but I couldn't stop. The red was addicting and it just made me feel hot all over. (I am in fact dying to get them done again.) The last time I took off the polish it was undeniable. I had fried my nails. Peeling, chipping, weakling nails had replaced what were only a few years before, manicure-virgin nails.

Excellent news for those of you who are in the same boat. A few items from Nailtiques can repair the damage done and provide a substitute for all the yummy moisturizing products that keep our heels, toes, and knuckles looking smooth and silky. I have taken almost a month off from coloring my nails and I have been using these products daily and I'm happy to report my nails are very much on the mend and almost healthy enough to be red again. Here is the low down on the repair kit:

Nailtiques Oil Therapy is a delicate blend of vitamin-enriched oils specially formulated to prevent and treat brittle nails and cuticles naturally


Nailtiques Avocado Foot Crème
Nailtiques Avocado Foot Crème is a deep penetrating, non-greasy moisturizing crème rich in avocado oil. And I LOVE it!

Nailtiques Nail Moisturizer
Nailtiques Nail Moisturizer is a greaseless fortified conditioning nail crème enriched with soluble collagen, jojoba and aloe.

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Sissy Toes

My little sister turned six and a half today. Half birthdays are a very big deal in my family and we mark every trip I take to D.C. with a sisters' mani-pedi (the lay term for this ritual is, I believe, "sissy toes"). I don't know how this tradition started but now it's tradition and apparently you don't mess with that.

This particular weekend, I am only here for about twenty-four hours so I thought I'd skip our usual trip to the nail salon. Since it's just us sisters, it takes her away from the rest of the family and I thought I'd be considerate and just hang with the whole crew this time. So when I, still very sleepy and in Chapel Hill, called my step-mother this morning at 8:30 am and she said all four girls in the family (including me and the birthday girl) had mani/pedi-ies at 2 pm, I was surprised. Apparently "sissy toes" is catching on and happens now whether I plan it or not. And really isn't it more fun when everyone you love goes to the salon together? As my sister said tonight during reading time "I'm smushed on all sides by people who love me!"

My sister loves sissy toes. When it started a few years ago she would pick my colors for me and I would adoringly wear bright blue and green nails for weeks afterwards just because she picked them. She has stopped picking my colors but the girl, at 6 and a HALF, knows her way around a nail salon and I think that's a good thing. I opted out of my usual deep red today and went for a light pink. I miss my usual color already but there is something summery about Essie's "It's in the bag" pink that I like. As for my sister's evolving style, see the picture below :)

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About Faces: You can go home again.

You know the old saying - you can't go home again. Well I say you can go home again. Briefly. If the visit includes a trip to About Faces at Kenilworth. I am in my hometown for about 24 hours this weekend and I've had a wonderful time. Mostly because I got to go back to About Faces. This was my very first day spa. At 16 years old this was the first place I got my eyebrows waxed. Eventually it was also the site of my first leg wax. First bikini wax. First favorite massage therapist. I had no idea how spoiled I was by About Faces until I left my hometown of Baltimore. If I could create an About Faces in every city and college town in America I would. Their approach is simple: excellent products, professional accommodating staff, the highest quality services available, but with out any of the odd pretense that can so easily gather like mold in the highest quality day spas. Maybe a place like this can only exist in Baltimore, which is one of the more humble American cities. It's as if every woman in About Faces knows, 'We are lucky to be here, this is an outstanding day spa and it's simply where we come to relax, play, and be women'. My mother and I decided to get Spa Manicures. While in the waiting area we ran into a former school mate of mine and her mother who were just leaving their mother daughter mani-pedi. In fact we had the very same nail technicians, Isabelle and Joanne, as my former school mate and her mother did. It was a nice moment to be home, at About Faces. The last mani-pedi I had in North Carolina was terrifying. This manicure was the complete opposite. Sitting down for a Spa Manicure with Joanne Stoner, my manicurist for the day, completely erased any traces of terror remaining from my previous experience. Joanne's spa manicure was rejuvenating, relaxing, well-executed, and fun. She reminded me why I frequent day spas in the first place. Joanne is a professional who has been doing this kind of work for 30 years. After a bit of nail maintenance she massaged each of my hands with Creative Nail Design's Exfoliating Crystals. Then she had me wash my hands and rub in Creative Nail Design's Solar Manicure, a puddle of thick heavy salt crystals from the Dead Sea.
Finally she applied Creative Nail Design's creamy thick Solar Butter and wrapped my hands in plastic bags and towels to let the moisture soak in. Joanne also took the time to massage my shoulders while my hands were absorbing copious amounts of moisture. At this point I asked if she was also a massage therapist, to which she replied no. She was just doing her normal Spa Manicure. In truth she could also be a successful massage therapist. She rubbed away all the stress of traveling and a very busy work week in about 5 minutes. I miss About Faces. This is how every spa manicure should be. After all the spa-ing was finished she skillfully colored my nails with OPI's Kennebunk-port red. I seem to have an addiction to red nails this winter. It is also a wonderful gift to be able to get this manicure at About Faces on this weekend. I knew I would need the best manicure available and there is no where else I would rather get it. Next Saturday morning I'll fly to L.A. to bring you all the best of L.A. Fashion Week. It's only fitting that my very first day spa did my nails and gave me the reprieve I needed to set out on such a big project. Maybe it's not that you can't go home again but that you can't move on with out going home to first remember where you came from.

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An inexpensive manicure/pedicure

I'm frustrated and I'm not sure what to do about it. Yesterday was Sunday and I spent the morning with my adorably quirky friend Betty. When she asked me what I was going to do to celebrate February 4th (one of my favorite days of the year) I suddenly realized I had been too busy to schedule any sort of celebration. For the past four years I have gotten a mani/pedi to celebrate but hadn't even thought about where to go on a Sunday. Then she said something that I should have taken much more seriously, "Well all the good places are closed on Sundays." I can now promise you this is true, at least in the state of North Carolina. My usual spot for a mani/pedi in this area is Bella Trio. It's absolutely lovely. Calming, serene, Grecian in architecture and atmosphere - and closed on Sundays. I promised myself when I started this blog that I would never write badly of any establishment at which I had a bad experience. You can never judge a whole day spa by one bad experience. I can just bring you the best and leave the rest. If my present pedicure didn’t chip so easily I'd be kicking myself for that decision right now. But, frustrating as it is, and trust me it's frustrating, I have decided to listen to my elders lately. They tell me, if you don't have anything nice to say than don't say anything at all. On the other hand, don't I have a responsibility to warn people? Ok enough mental masturbation. Sufficed to say North Carolina has a miraculous ability to put almost any good or service into a mall, and do so tastefully. Art galleries, outdoor stores, gourmet restaurants, and local theaters can all call the mall home in North Carolina and not loose any value or appeal as a result. In fact many of my favorite beauty haunts are in mall-like structures: Mina's, Caju, Bella Trio, Blu Icon. But this place I went to, it felt like the mall in middle school. Like I could have just as easily been watching my best friend Kerry getting her ears pieced at Claire’s boutique in Towson Town Shopping Center all over again. Except I'm 27 and the only time I like to go into Claire's boutique is when my little sister needs Hannah Montana accessories.

Here's what went wrong. First, I spent the entire time breathing through my scarf. The instant I walked in I felt like I was breathing in lung cancer because of an extraordinarily heavy layer of chemicals sitting in the air waiting for fresh lungs to prey upon. I briefly considered walking out, but I had heard good things about this place. I told myself 'it's very inexpensive for a mani/pedi and well, everywhere else is closed'. The products were also packed with pungent chemicals. Even today as I was eating my warm freshly baked blueberry muffin for breakfast I got a nasty whiff of the plastic-like polish. The lotion they rubbed on my legs stung me like sea salt on freshly shaved legs. I almost volunteered to pull my own EO Grapefruit and Mint lotion out of my purse for them to use instead but then I realized I already had my face wrapped up in a scarf and I might start alarming other customers. Aside from another crazed customer who hijacked my polish mid-pedicure, I would have at that point gotten the craziest customer of the day award. Ok so now I’m done complaining. The truth is I'm grateful to be able to get so many day spa visits in and even if this one was disappointing it made me all the more grateful for the good services I get on fairly regular basis. Yes it's true February fourth for me is about what is good in my life. So, what was good about this place? It was inexpensive. It got the job done. My toes look nice even thought my nails are already messed up. My manicurist was incredibly detail oriented and the pedicure chair gave me the best massage I've had in a long time. So maybe it was just a bad day for this place or maybe their ventilation system was broken or perhaps I have inadvertently given myself super-hero like ol’ factory senses by Netting Potting too much. If you do find yourself at the only place open on Sundays for a mani/pedi just BYOLotion. Thanks for listening to me rant and from now on I promise I'll stick to the good stuff.

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