Beauty Barre
February may be a wintry month, but we’ve found ways to warm your heart, feed your skin with sweets, and feel the heat of love.
Get Cheeky
Forget the little black box. This Valentine’s Day, open Benefit’s little red box: thrrrob, appropriately adorned with a provocative lace-up corset, this perfectly pretty pink will quicken your pulse and leave you looking breathlessly alive and ready for romance. With a petite natural bristle brush tucked inside to discreetly swipe across cheeks for a just-blushed flush of excitement. New in stores for February, $28; Sephora or www.benefitcosmetics.com.
Pretty in Piaffe
Add to that blush a come-hither glance that would bring Prince Charming to his knees. Don’t mistake Piaffe’s Silk Shimmer Eye Shadows ($22) for nail polish—the innovative bottle houses an applicator wand that makes applying the shimmering vitamin-packed, mineral-based powders ever so much easier. In a dozen eye-popping shades. Available at Bliss spas or www.piaffe.us (P.S. Piaffe is French for a dressage movement in the elegant equestrian sport likened to an equine ballet!)
Tress Relief
February’s a great month to show your hair some love. With cold winds whipping those tresses around, they need extra moisture to combat the outdoor chill and the indoor heat that can make them dry and brittle. Bumble and bumble’s Alojoba Shampoo and Conditioner to the rescue. Aloe is renowned for it’s moisturizing in and healing properties, likewise the oil from jojoba seeds. Add-ins like cucumber and chamomile also help sooth and condition hair and scalp, making these a winning combination for outsmarting winter weather. 8 oz. shampoo, $20; 8 oz. conditioner, $ 21. Call 888-7Bumble or www.Bumbleandbumble.com for a Bb. network salon near you or to order..
Skin Sweets
Since you’re foregoing the little black box, might as well ditch the heart-shaped box o’ chocolates as well. Sure, they’re fun, but as Forest Gump says, “you never know what you’re gonna get.” With Borba’s GummiBears you know exactly what you’re getting: A delicious treat for your sweet tooth which includes a boon for your skin too. These bears are bursting with uber-berry Açaí, a powerful antioxidant as the centerpiece of a potent bio-vitamin cocktail (which includes green tea & grape seed extracts) that Borba terms “nutraceuticals.” In lay terms, that means these sweets feed vital nutrients to the skin for a complexion that’s kissably soft and smooth. Beauty never tasted so good. (Big bag, $25; petite pouch, $10.)
While you’re popping your Rx of six candies/day in your kisser, you might think about the portal they’re passing through: Did you know that the average woman ingests between 2-4 pounds of lip gloss in her life?! So Borba teamed up with makeup maven Maureen Kelly of Tarte to create a lip gloss that’s lip-smackin’ good for you. The six sexy shades in the Inside Out line have the Borba nutraceutical blend of vitamins & extracts—lychee to hydrate, chamomile to soothe, the aforementioned Açaí & green tea extract to enhance skin clarity—making every lick of your lips a skin-edifying infusion. Now that’s something to smile about. $21 ea.; at www.borba.com and select Sephora stores.
You’re a Doll!
Have a little ballerina in your life? Or maybe you just feel the need to feed your inner girlie girl with an innocent pleasure. The little ballerina from the appropriately named (this month especially) Only Hearts Club is a new line of dolls with realistic facial features, soft fully-poseable bodies, and a heart-warming ethic behind it all: listen to your heart and try to do the right thing. As Carl Jung said, “the creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” The Ballet Doll, Karina Grace, $16-18. Check out www.onlyheartsclub.com to order or for a store near you.