Bali & Java: The *Virtual* Spa Escape

I want to... oh, where is that exotic escape to Java when you need it? For those thirsting for a last dose of stress-free summer vacation before September, but don’t have the budget to spend on travel, 17th century Bali is at your fingertips. For the month of August, mySpaShop.com, a premier online spa lifestyle resource, is inviting you to embark on a virtual journey to Central Java and explore its rich spa and beauty traditions, all from the comfort of your own home. Each month, mySpaShop.com provides virtual journeys, the recommendations of spa lifestyle product advisors who have combed the world for standout products and experiences.

In Bali, they'd say 'experience the royal Balinese wedding ritual of Lulur, beginning with a JAMU massage of Jasmine Frangipani oil and ending with a yogurt splash, shower and flower bath.' The JAMU lulur scrub is infused with antioxidants that leave the skin with a bright, Asian-inspired radiance. Right now, mySpaShop.com offers a JAMU Frangipaini Spa Traveler so you can enjoy a personal Javanese spa experience no matter where you are.

Check it out.

www.myspashop.com

NYC: A Boutique Hotel in the Heart of the City

Finding a hotel in New York is easy. Finding a hotel that's quiet, spacious, and reasonably priced is another story. That's what motivated us to mention The Fitzpatrick Hotels, two family-owned boutique hotels that offer all of the above and pride themselves on European style with personalized service.

We stayed at the recently renovated Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel located in the heart of the city’s most popular retail district at 687 Lexington Avenue between East 56th and East 57th Street. Impressed with the absolute calm in the heart of such bustle was impressive, it's perfectly situated just a few blocks from Central Park and the Guggenheim. All 91 guest rooms and suites have been renovated with owner John Fitzpatrick actively involved in re-designing every area of the hotel, drawing inspiration from the finest country estates of Ireland. The finished product is perfect for couples, small families, and business travelers... a quiet sanctuary in midtown that is both warm and elegant.
Both properties offer deluxe accommodations including traditional Irish canopy beds with pillow-top mattresses (so comfortable it was hard to get out of bed!), Irish chocolates at turndown, high speed wireless internet, and spacious bathrooms. The hotel restaurants, The Wheeltapper, at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central, and The Fitz, in the Fitzpatrick Manhattan, offer traditional Irish cuisine with a modern flare and a dark sexy bar setting that is discrete enough for that fly-by-night romance. We give it two thumb's up and plan to tell our business associates and relatives next time they're looking for a well-priced and comfortable spot near all the major museums and restaurants.

Room rates from $179

www.fitzpatrickhotels.com

Also not to be missed. Right down the street at the Hiro Haraguchi salon on 41 East 57th Street at the corner of Madison and East 57th Street, there's a luxe organic hair treatment developed by resident stylist Mordechai Alvow. The line of organic essential oils called 'YAROK' promises to give new life to drab tresses. We recommend checking out the latest Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the Guggenheim, grabbing some lunch an an outdoor boite, and then heading your weary tresses to Hiro Haraguchi's salon. Mordechai Alvow’s on-going quest for performance-driven products healthy for clients and the environment motivated him to create YAROK, a blend of base and essential oils, handpicked for their medicinal and sensory benefits throughout history, and grown so as to retain the highest possible concentration of nutrients.
Each of the seven serums is designed to deliver a heightened sensory experience while addressing seven specific scalp and hair conditions in both men and women, resulting from blow-drying, chemical processing, product overload, free radical assaults and everyday stress -- offering a personalized solution for lifeless hair.

Seven Nourishing YAROK Serums include:

· Serum 2: Real Brunettes with Rosemary and Hemp Oil -- Rosemary, a naturally stimulating essential oil, controls dandruff and encourage hair growth. It also preserves all shades of brown hair. Hemp Oil, derived from essential fatty acids, is believed to aid in healing.

· Serum 6: Booster For Men with Jasmine and Camellia Oil -- Recommended for frequent flyers whose traveling -- and high altitudes in general -- creates a moisture imbalance in the scalp which over time, coupled with stress, sleep deprivation and poor nutrition (as well as genetics), can lead to hair loss and thinning. Jasmine Oil is a fast-acting hydrator that helps reduce trans-epidermal moisture loss that can dry out scalp and hair, while Camellia Oil is a super-moisturizer.

Treatment is $100.
Individual serums for take-home use $60.

www.hiroharaguchi.com

Essaouira, Morocco: Organic Beauty for Women, One Nut at a Time

Goats Climbing An Argan Tree, Morocco

Argan... doesn't the name remind you of a dark roguish beard from Lord of the Rings? In reality, it's a tree that only grows in Southwestern Morocco, an equally tempting image (for a botanist). So what makes the argan tree so special? They say, "It's nuts." No, really. It's nuts... and the oil extracted from them. Deemed ‘liquid gold’ by locals and international beauty addicts, it's organic, naturally rich in vitamin E, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants said to help heal skin conditions including wrinkles, acne, and dry skin. Women of Morocco have used it for generations to combat the dry desert air and reduce the signs of aging. Now, in the West, it’s slowly developing a very devoted following due to the extraordinary results it delivers.

By law, the Berber women are the only ones permitted to extract the argan oil, a labor intensive process that can take up to a day to produce a single liter of oil. In 1999, Morocco’s argan forest was designated a Unesco International Biosphere Reserve, but the argan trees still disappeared in large numbers, often used for fire wood, despite preservation. As a result, the women’s argan cooperatives were developed by the government to provide economic opportunity for the Berber women. These cooperatives now offer one of the only roads to financial and social independence.
In addition to providing the means to earn a living, many of the argan cooperatives also offer literacy and women’s rights programs, as well as work training and life skills programs. These simple skills provide a level of independence they ordinarily wouldn't have, not to mention as increased sense of pride and self-esteem. We love the idea of sustainability, independence, and liquid gold. So get thee to Morocco! And ride a wave while you're at it.
Essaouira, Morocco

From Marrakesh to Essaouira, you'll find a majority of the women’s cooperatives. Through sandy roads you'll pass rolling yellow hills, olive groves, sheep, and the occasional donkey or two (or three), signs will announce cooperatives like the Argan Co-Op, Women’s Argan Collective, and Miracle Oil. Visitors can stop in and have a demonstration of how argan oil is made while they taste the culinary argan oil and amlou – a concoction made with argan oil and honey - served with bread. Most of these have shops onsite where people can buy locally produced argan products. There's also some rock star lore... people like Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens came here for a good dose of Moroccan hippy-style inspiration.
These days, Euros come for the fact that Essaouira is know as one of the top spots in the world for windsurfing and kiteboarding. To reach Essaouira, all you need to do is fly into Marrakesh. Rent a car at the airport; Avis (www.avis.com) and Sixt (www.e-sixt.com) both have offices. The drive takes about two and a half hours and is well marked.

Which brings us to Kahina and Giving Beauty, the new line of argan-based skin care founded by socially conscious entrepreneur Katharine L’Heureux. Named after a Jewish Berber queen (700AD) who successfully resisted the first Arab invaders, Kahina is a heroine to the Berber women and represents empowerment for women worldwide. Sourcing key ingredients from Moroccan argan oil cooperatives, L’Heureux not only buys their ingredients, but spends valuable time with the women, donating 25% of the profits from the sales of the skincare back to the women of the argan cooperatives who work to provide the raw materials for the Giving Beauty products.
Kahina and companies like hers also help preserve the forest by creating an economic incentive for the locals to protect the forests. Formulated with organic ingredients and manufactured in an eco-friendly, carbon neutral facility with recyclable materials, Kahina’s packaging is designed with a compilation of signatures by the Berber women that Katharine has met during visits to the cooperative. Most of them are just learning to sign their own names so their signatures also hold a great deal of meaning for them. Here are just a few of their uplifting stories, told by Katherine L’Heureux.

Aarbia Amzil
Aarbia’s personality is as colorful as the clothes she is wearing–multiple layers of yellow and red. She claims to be 70, but doesn’t know her age exactly. With no children of her own, Aarbia finds comfort in the company of the women of the cooperative. When I ask her how the cooperative has changed her life, she says, “Thanks to the co-op, I have gone from having nothing to having everything.”

Fatima Achkich
Fatima Achkich is a pretty woman who often appears to be containing a smile or laugh. Fatima, who has two children she is raising on her own, has worked at the cooperative for 9 years. When I ask about her life, she tells me that she is happy, and that she especially enjoys the companionship of the other women she works with. In the positive manner she shares with all the women, she says, “Thanks to my work at the cooperative, I am able to afford all I need to live.”

Essaouria’s Hotels

L’Heure Bleue

Essaouira’s first luxury hotel. It even has a heated pool!

2, rue lbn Batouta
011-212-24-78-34-34
Rates @ $400/night
www.heure-bleue.com

Villa Maroc
This is the oldest hotel in the city and offers spa treatments with the aforementioned liquid gold... argan oil.
10, rue Abdellah Ben Yassine
011-212-24-47-31-47
Rates from $120/night
www.villa-maroc.com

Essaouira Dining

Lunch
Try the fish stalls around the sea for lunch. It's fresh and you can't miss fresh fish.

Dinner
After Five for fusion food using local ingredients
5, rue Youssef El Fassi
011-212-24-47-33-49

To purchase Kahina, Giving Beauty's kick-ass products made with argan oil:
Retails from $15-$72.

www.kahina-givingbeauty.com

Travel-Sized Skincare Set: KaplanMD

Finding the right travel-sized face products isn’t easy, we should know. We have sensitive skin that goes nuts during our international travels. One minute we're dry, the next minute, we're oily. So, as we ready for our summer jaunt to the Middle East (and attempt to cram all of our face products into one bag), we came across Beverly Hills Dermatologist, Dr. Stuart Kaplan, M.D. who has created the kaplanMD Travel Kit for times just like this. The kaplanMD Travel Kit contains all the products in the kaplanMD skincare collection in smaller sizes. You have his gentle Cleansing Lotion, Revitalizing Toner, Day Cream SPF 15, Replenishing Night Cream, and Perfecting Serum. The products can last anywhere from 2-3 weeks and won’t irritate your skin like those cheap over-the-counter products.

In short, we give it two cheekbones and a clear chin’s up.

Retails for $75

www.kaplanmd.com

Carry It On: Dermalogica's Concealing Spot Treatment

So you've just traveled 8+ hours to Paris for a little bit of work (and, okay, one hot inter-continental blind date) and guess what's staring back at you from the mirror of your humble pension near Les Tuileries? You guessed it. A nasty under-the-skin blemish that won't come to a head. Have no fear. Dermalogica is here!

During our many travels, the staff at Jaunt has learned a thing or two about packing light. No unnecessary cosmetics, no overstuffed suitcases, but here's the one thing we can't travel without. So important to our repertoire of natural beauty, we had to mention our solution to the pesky skin problems that come hand-in-hand with dry cabin air and humid, smoggy cities.

Dermalogica's Concealing Spot Treatment
An intense treatment with a natural-looking tint that quickly conceals and clears breakouts. Upon contact, concentrated Sulfur and Zinc Oxide help clear skin by eliminating bacteria associated with acne while clearing excess oil and congestion in the follicle. Niacinamide, Zinc Gluconate, Yeast and Cinnamon Bark extracts, Caffeine and Biotin purify and inhibit overactive sebaceous gland activity while soothing irritation. Salicylic Acid sloughs off dead skin cells that contribute to clogged follicles, helping to prevent future breakouts. The best part? There's no artificial fragrance or color. And trust us, it works. Matte, easily blendable, and drying, it's the perfect alternative to greasy foundation or traditional concealer.

A little goes a long way.

And really, when you're traveling the distance, looking flawless sometimes takes a little bit of work.

$31.00

www.dermalogica.com

A Flair Necessity: Pangea Organics

Pangea. How many bars, restaurants, and companies have promised you the world by taking this great concept and making it a reality? It's certainly an honorable name for such an ambitious ideal. Deriving from the Greek, the word literally means 'Entire Earth' and is based on the super-continent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras (that's about 250 million years ago), long before the continents split apart and shifted to become the earth we now know.

And what do we know?

Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Scrub ($33) by Pangea Organics, that's what. It may sound like something good enough to eat with a side of brown rice, but that's exactly why we covet it. These exotic organic products are earth-friendly right down to their Zero Waste bio-degradable box with, get this... basil seeds planted right inside! Yes, you can wiggle your green thumb with pride by simply slipping off the label, soaking the box in water, and planting it into the ground!

So scrub your porcelain cheeks knowing full well that you're also able to directly have a hand in creating some much-needed oxygen in the world. Now listen up. They might be charging a bit more than your run-of-the-mill grocery store brands, but they're certainly much cheaper than Chanel or Creme de la Mer.

If that's not all, they're developing the Pangea Institute, a non-profit dedicated to researching and teaching all aspects of sustainable living and business practices. An education center and 'incubator for earth ideas,' under the leadership of Civil Engineer Jon Previtali, they've invited architects, designers, visionaries, artists, students and amateurs to design a mixed-use community plan that will house the Pangea Institute, the Pangea Organics manufacturing facility and community housing.

Talk about Entire Earth.

Pssst... we also heart their Pyrenees Lavender with Cardamom lip balm rich in vitamins, nutrients and a deliciously awesome scent. $13

www.pangeaorganics.com

Carry It On: Balm Voyage! Cosmetic Junkies Unite!

Have I mentioned that I only travel light? That means light moisturizer, make-up, and hair care. No sooner had I searched for Eva Longoria's beauty secret (FYI - it's Enjoue's Satin Primer), when I came across a beauty website that had some of the finest custom blended colors anywhere.

Welcome to Cosmetic Junkies (www.cosmeticjunkies.com), a site run by a family of beauty-tastic professionals that know more about color, hair, and cosmetics than anyone I've met in years. After training as a color educator for Goldwell and traveling the Southwest and East coast teaching, the Nusskerns learned beauty inside and out.

After they moved to New York and established a salon, Val, Head Proprietor and heart & soul of the group, got back to her passion for make-up. After all, her mama was a buyer for cosmetic stores in the Deep South. As most salons and stores now cater to the big names, Val goes to the best names; the ones you need to search for. In essence, she does all the work for you.

My vote for travel buffs?

Balm Voyage, a trio of three sexy colors with names like Daddy's Girl, Beauty Queen, and Cocoa My Coconut.

It's luxury travel make-up for the hot traveling babe in you.

www.cosmeticjunkies.com

Carry It On: The Sonya Dakar Jet Set

Listen here. If I have to throw out one more bottle of fancy product because it's two squirts more than 3/4 of an ounce or get out of line at security to buy some silly plastic bag to hold my liquids...

I'm 'a gonna scream!

So I'm leaving for Singapore and Thailand in a week. Guess what I need to get MY little paws on?

The Sonya Dakar JET SET.

I've known Dakar and her family for years. They're good peeps. Tough, and kind. Warm, and honest. Her whole family runs the business, one that was once conducted out of a spare bedroom in her home. She says always knew she wanted to solve skin care woes. Later, after she married her loving husband, they had kids. Her four children stirred pots of skin cream in the kitchen while her husband searched Madagascar to the Maldives for every root, twig, and remedy that could calm and cure unruly skin. Now they're living La Vida Splendida in a fancy schmancy building in Beverly Hills.

You gotta love the American Dream.
Better yet, just love Sonya Dakar.

Here's one difference between Dakar and other Skin Care Specialists around town. She's Israeli. That means she practically went to Medical School so that she could do facials in the homeland. She's bottom line, fast, gives obvious results, asks you a question or two about your long distance love, and she'll never, ever leave you scarless. I still haven't figured out how. Ancient secrets from the Exodus? Herbal remedies from the Holy Land? Who cares?! She gives THE MOST EFFECTIVE FACIAL I've ever had and there are pictures to prove it. Me, looking like Britney Spears after a fast food bender, weeks later transformed into Jessica Alba after hair and make-up. But no amount of money in the world would let you see my 'Before' photos. Sonya's got 'em under lock and key. So when the best Hollywood dermatologists could do NOTHING for my skin, she was the only one.

She and her products are so good, in fact, that I haven't seen her in about a year, which is exactly why... I need to travel with them. Lucky for me, she's just created the Sonya Dakar JET SET, a perfect travel companion with just enough of each product (about ¾ of an ounce) to last on your two week jaunts to Africa, Greece, or Singapore and Thailand (hint, hint). It includes the three basics of your regimen – facial wash, anti-oxidant primer and ultra-light moisturizer – in a satin travel case with a waterproof compartment and room for whatever else travels 3000+ miles with you. She's even created three sets geared to each major skin type - dry, normal, oily. Fortified with the natural extracts like Frankincense, Geranium and Rosewood, the JET SET retails for $72.00.

But can you really put a price on after-flight glow?

It's available in August via phone: at 877-72-SONYA
www.SonyaDakar.com