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Helpful Spa Tips for the New Year

For this Friday’s post, we’d like to share some helpful Spa Tips, provided by our partner, The Spa at Willow Bend.

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in WeddingBells Magazine.

“A bride should consider adding an Intraceuticals Oxygen Facial to her wedding beauty regime to restore the skin’s natural vitality and glow. The application of pressurized oxygen helps increase hydration and moisture in a completely new way.  The Intraceuticals Oxygen Infusions are not really a facial and do not exfoliate or extract, so this is a very safe and reliable treatment for brides.  Brides are often stressed out and not sleeping well and this shows in their skin – and since the treatment provides intense long-lasting hydration, which not only defines the facial contours but also gives the skin an extraordinary glow – photographs look amazing.

The bride can incorporate oxygen facials into her pre-wedding skin regime with a few sessions or one just prior to the big day.  It’s best to give the skin at least three to six treatments to maximize the benefit and for this reason one treatment per week starting three to six weeks before the event would be ideal.  The last treatment should be scheduled either the day of or the day before the wedding date. Please don’t forget the mother of the bride (or groom)!

If the bride wants stunning skin then here is the skin care program that is recommended:  Six weeks before – have a cleansing facial with light exfoliation and extraction.  Have a series of six Intraceuticals Rejuvenate Infusions once a week and have the sixth one the day before the event.  Use the Rejuvenate Home Treatment products, which layer different types of Hyaluronic to intensify and maintain the effects of the treatment.  Makeup will go on smoothly and the skin will reflect light beautifully.”

Holiday Spas

While it may be “the most wonderful time of the year”, it can also be the most stressful!  Sometimes, all we need is to take a time out and recharge our batteries.  We’ve got the perfect cure for the stresses of the holiday season – a full-service spa treatment!  As Christmas is just around the corner, isn’t it about time you rewarded yourself or another with a rejuvenation of mind and soul?

On our Dallas wedding site, we feature the top spas in Dallas, including The Greenhouse, Corinthian Wellness Spa, The Spa at Willow Bend, and the Rosewood Crescent Hotel Spa.  Whether it’s a Christmas gift or a jump-start to the New Year, we’re confident that these unique spas will allow you to relax, unwind, and completely revitalize your energy and spirit.

Acugems Facial Rejuve Premiers at Luxury on Lovers!

As always, Luxury on Lovers is the very first in Dallas, and one of the first in the nation, to introduce the latest and greatest in non-surgical, pain free, effective facial rejuvenation.

An Alternative to Botox, Laser and Fillers!
Acugems Facial Rejuve is the future of skincare technology where holistic goes high tech! Acugems is the latest breakthrough in non-surgical facial rejuvenation. Bridging Eastern Technique and Western Technology, Acugems Facial Rejuve allows for individualized treatments to provide one-of-a-kind targeted facial rejuvenation. Acugems unique patented anti-aging procedure combines three proven methods that diminish fine lines and wrinkles, sculpt and tone the face, and restore skin to radiant health. Developed according to the principles of Chinese Medicine, Acugems works in harmony with the natural energy systems of the body. By using and exclusive comination of gemstones, color light therapy, and microcurrent, Acugems reeducates facial muscles and addresses the underlying causes of visible aging. This unique, non-invasive holisitc system takes rejuvenation to the next level.

Effects of the Acugems Facial Rejuve treatments:

• Noticeably lifts and tones facial muscles
• Minimizes crows feet, lines and wrinkles
• Significantly increases production of collagen and elastin
• Creates a more youthful, radiant appearance
• Brightens and tones skin

All without surgery, redness, flaking, or discomfort!

Inner Balance Outer Beauty
Chinese Medicine has 12 meridian pathways with corresponding acupuncture points, distributed throughout the body and conncted to each organ system. The face has direct connections to 8 of the major meridians of the body: Stomach, Urinary Bladder, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, and Gallbladder… Acugems Facial Rejuve regulates the flow of energy (qi) and removes blockages in the meridians (channels of blood and qi) to improve overall halth and restore balance to the body. This constitutional treatment addresses underlying causes, like digestive problems, hormonal imbalance and emotional stress, which become reflected in the face through dark circles, dry or lusterless skin, sagging skin, drooping eyelids, blemishes and excessive wrinkling.

Tourmaline Gemstone in Skin Care
Acugems facial rejuve uses one of natures most naturally energizing minerals, tourmaline. The Acugems patented spiral helix designed tourmaline boosts skin’s energy and radiance, creating a more potent bioenergy field. Acugems Facial Rejuvenation unique procedure uses gentle microcurrent that mimics the body’s natural electrical energy, allowing the body to regenerate itself. The application of Gemlight and color therapy also stimulates the body’s natural healing process at e cellular level to enhance facial rejuvenation and prolong its effects. Acugems Facial Rejuve state of the art procedure exclusively uses the Acutron Mentor/V machine most sophisitcated microcurrent device on the market. By the end of the gentle relaxing procedure you’ll be looking healthy and refreshed.

Overall Health Benefits
Not only are there visible facial rejuvenation effects, the Acugems Facial Rejuve is a deeply relaxing treatment that also has several health benefits. Clients will notice a greater sense of relaxation, reduction of stress, better circulation, sleep, and an overall sense of calmness and well-being. Clients constantly comment on how much better they feel immediately after a treatment, and for several days following treatment.

Great for the mother of the bride, and the bride as well to calm those pre-wedding gitters and make them glow!

For more information please contact Lisa Cobb at 214-352-8800
www.luxuryonlovers.com

It’s Botox for You, Dear Bridesmaids

By ABBY ELLIN
New York Times

After the band was chosen and the napkins color-coordinated to match her shoes, Kacey Knauer, a bride-to-be, had another critical matter to address: her skin, and the skin of the nine women in her bridal party.

So Ms. Knauer, the 35-year-old owner of TempTrends, a staffing agency in Manhattan, invited her nearest and dearest — including her mother and future mother-in-law — for a night out at the TriBeCa MedSpa, replete with mimosas and cupcakes. An aesthetician assessed each woman’s face and devised a treatment plan — a quick chemical peel, say, or an injection of a wrinkle-filler. Or maybe, for a bridesmaid with age spots, a series of Fraxel laser treatments over months, allowing for recovery time.

Camellia Zheng, right, performed skin evaluations for Kacey Knauer, center, and her bridesmaids at TriBeCa MedSpa in New York.

For Ms. Knauer, who will be married in December, cosmetic interventions for herself and her entourage are as vital as the centerpieces or food. “If I were 25 or 26 and getting married, a bracelet, necklace or matching earrings would be fine,” she said.

But at 35? “Giving them a bracelet isn’t as special as spending an evening together. Plus, as you get older, everyone is more conscientious about their skin and appearance,” she said. “Giving them something for themselves — as opposed to something that they’ll never wear again — is more meaningful.”

And let’s not forget the pictures of college roommates-turned-bridesmaids quickly posted to Facebook. It is no longer sufficient to hire a hairstylist and makeup artist to be on hand the day of. Instead, bridal parties are indulging in dermal fillers and tooth-whitening months before the Big Day.

Some brides pick up the tab for their attendants, replacing the pillbox inscribed with the wedding date with a well-earned squirt between the eyes. In other cases, bridesmaids — who may quietly seethe about unflattering dresses — are surprisingly willing to pay for cosmetic enhancements. “Most women, when they come in here, they want it,” said Camille Meyer, the owner of TriBeCa MedSpa. “They know they’re aging.”

For Karen Hohenstein, who held her party at the Tiffani Kim Institute Medical Wellness Spa in Chicago, convincing her friends was as smooth as a Botoxed forehead. “It wasn’t me saying, ‘Hey, we all could use a little something,’ ” she said. “It was, ‘I want to do this,’ and a couple of people said, ‘I do, too.’ ”

Karen Hohenstein, left, jokes with her attendants-to-be at a Botox party at the Tiffani Kim Institute Medical Wellness Spa in Chicago.

But for every accommodating pal, there’s another who feels going under the knife is beyond the duty of bridesmaid. Becky Lee, 39, a Manhattan photographer, declined when a friend asked her — and five other attendants — to have their breasts enhanced. “We’re all Asian and didn’t have a whole lot of cleavage, and she found a doctor in L.A. who was willing to do four for the price of two,” said Ms. Lee, who wore a push-up bra instead.

Not for nothing are some maids known as slaves of honor, but this kind of cajoling is a recent development on the wedding front.

Marie Scalogna-Watkinson, the founder of Spa Chicks on-the-Go, a mobile spa, said she receives five to seven calls a month from brides seeking Botox or Restylane for their bridesmaids. Five years ago, collective makeovers were unheard of, she said.

Dr. Fardad Forouzanpour, a cosmetic surgeon in Beverly Hills, Calif., said his business has increased more than 40 percent since he began offering what he calls Bridal Beauty Buffets in 2006.

In the last two years, bridal party tuneups have increased roughly 25 percent, estimated Susie Ellis, the president of SpaFinder.com, a site that lists 4,500 spas worldwide.

Just as timing matters when it comes to securing a hall, it’s best that brides-to-be don’t delay scheduling appointments, aestheticians and doctors say. “You wouldn’t get a cut and color the week before,” said Dr. Jessica Wu, a dermatologist in Beverly Hills who advises coming in three to six months before the big day. “We do a trial run of Botox about four months ahead of time. Then, two weeks before the wedding, we do that last treatment.”

Ms. Meyer of TriBeCa MedSpa suggests that a bride contact her the minute the question is popped. “Brides really appreciate the fact that we put everything in a regimented schedule for them,” she said. Since February 2007, she has staged more than 30 bridesmaid parties and has 18 planned so far this year. “If you have to do eight treatments, six weeks apart, that could take up to a year,” she said.

Fraxel laser could also set you back $1,200 a session, which even without the economic downturn, amounts to quite a bit. These days, Robyn Bomar, an event planner in Destin, Fla., overhears brides doing cost-benefit analyses. “They will never choose Botox over a great dress, but they will say ‘Maybe I’ll have a buffet over a sit-down at the rehearsal dinner,’ ” she said. Or: “I’ll spend the money on Botox rather than lunch.’ ”

In June, Jennifer Peterson, 31, a production director in Los Angeles, and eight friends indulged in Botox, Restylane, massages, facials and microdermabrasion at Infinity MedSpa in Valencia, Calif. Her friends chipped in for her treatments, but she is considering giving them each a $100 certificate to the spa — a gift she is sure they will appreciate. “Everybody does Botox out here,” she said.

The beauty procedure thank-you gift is becoming more common, said Ms. Bomar, who coordinates about three parties a month. Time was when the bride arranged for everyone to get manicures at the same time, followed by lunch. But today? “It’s much more likely that she is footing the bill for eyelash extensions, airbrush tanning and a bevy of other cosmetic procedures,” she said.

Five years ago, plastic surgeons, dermatologists and tooth-whitening centers “were virtually absent” from bridal expos, said William F. Heaton III, the president of the Great Bridal Expo Group, which produces events in 40 cities nationwide. “Now we’re getting a half dozen phone calls a week.”

This year alone, American Laser Centers, a chain, has participated in 830 bridal shows, said Amanda McInnes, a marketing director.

Two weeks ago, Health Travel Guides, a medical tourism company, exhibited at the Dallas Bridal Show for the first time. “We received 30 requests for quotes among the bridal show attendees — mostly for plastic surgery such as liposuction and breast augmentation,” said Sandra Miller, the company’s chief marketing officer. “But also many for cosmetic dentistry and inquiries for providing quotes for bachelorette getaways that will feature beauty treatments.”

A bride’s request that you whiten your grayish teeth can strain a relationship. Samantha Goldberg, a wedding planner in Chester, N.J., recalled a bride who asked her attendants to get professionally spray-tanned for a Hawaiian-theme reception.

Alas, two women were claustrophobic and couldn’t bear standing in a tanning capsule. “They asked the bride if they could use regular tanning cream from a salon,” Ms. Goldberg said. The bride refused; she wanted everyone to be the same shade. The women ultimately declined to be bridesmaids. “Friendships of 20-plus years gone over a spray tan?” Ms. Goldberg said. “Sad!”

And how does a bride break it to a mother-in-law that she’d love her crow’s feet to be frozen into submission? Very delicately.

“My mother is in her 60s. She’s been talking about it for so long, so I said ‘Let’s do it,’ ” said Stacey Berlin, 29, a marketing consultant, who is having a party at Aquamedica Day Spa in Long Branch, N.J.

It was trickier with her future mother-in-law. “To her,” Ms. Berlin said, “I said it as a joke: ‘You should do Botox for the wedding!’ She giggled, and then I said, ‘I’m serious. It’s exactly what you need to freshen up.’ At first she kind of laughed it off, but the more we talked about it and I told her my mom was going to do it, she said ‘O.K.’ ”

Wrinkle Reduction

Luxury on Lovers has an amazing new laser service called the Refirm and the Matrix. The Refirm laser lifts, tightens, and firms skin and the Matrix plumps out fine lines and wrinkles.

Perfect for that Mother of the Bride that wants to look her best too on the big day. Of course this laser does the facial rejuvenation, fotofacial to eliminate hyperpigmentation from sun, etc. Pretty dramatic results. Virtually painless and no down time.

Luxury on Lovers
4703 West Lovers Lane
Dallas
214-352-8800

Krashada Acupressure Massage

Why do you put yourself through all the wedding planning stress, when you can be healed with a Krashada acupressure massage?

Book an appointment with Kari Avery at Luxury on Lovers and prepare to become energetically aligned. The detoxifying session aids in clearing and infusing physical and emotional pain with pure, positive healing and intensity. Take a break from your wedding planning, and you’ll emerge feeling like you’re floating on air.

Available at Luxury on Lovers, (214-352-8800 or luxuryonlovers.com).

Bridal Spa Packages in Dallas

Experience a pampered day at the spa to calm your nerves.  The Spa at the Crescent offers pre-wedding bliss with eleven refreshing spa treatment packages to get you and even your bridal party going:

• The Ultimate Bridal Package
• Bridal in Focus Package
• Bridal Party Package
• Groom’s Package
• Duet Package

Click here for more information about the Spa at the Crescent.