A little piece of heaven…or space of heaven, if you will! I am absolutely in love with Skintuition! Thanks to Teena C who referred me there for waxing services, I am now a regular client. The owner Katie Slanina is an absolute doll – which is super important when your trusting your hoo-ha to be subject to hot wax. Located right off of Ventura Blvd, the spa is tucked away in a small “french quarter” area which is a complete escape from the business of the city. When you enter the petite boutique, I totally feel as if I am in a different mental space. Katie takes you on a quick tour of the facility, showing you where you can put your stuff, change, freshen up etc. It’s almost like you are going to a friend’s house to get your beauty on…I promise you the vibe is awesome!

I’ve gotten the waxing services so far on a regular basis, and am going to be going in for the detox program which includes the colon-hydro therapy and ear coning. I’m pretty excited because trust me, I feel gunk in my body and while its good to have junk in the trunk, gunk in the chunk is not a good look. At all.

I’ll be posting updates of the different services that I get at Skintuition so stay tuned. I also have a quick list of things you should know to make your visit easier:

1. Parking is metered in the front, free around the corner, and pay-per-time in the parking garage in the back. It is located near a shopping center but if you park there, you may be encountered by the ‘parking nazi” informing you of the fact that it is not public parking. I’ve taken my chances there a couple of times due to running late, not having change for the meter, cash for the parking garage or unable to find free parking…but yea. I don’t advise parking there; bring change.

2. The spa is located inside the French Quarter in Woodland Hills. I posted a pic for quick reference.

Skintuition 20969 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 19
Woodland Hills, CA 91364-6651

Technorati Tags: change, client, doll, garage, gunk, heaven, Katie, Katie Slanina, love, owner, parking, piece, quarter, Skintuition, spa, SPAce, Teena, Ventura Boulevard, Wax, Woodland Hills

As a busy mother of two boys, I have been looking for some easier options for my hair. I have had thick semi frizzy hair all of my life, look at my 80’s high school pics for reference..lol….My typical hair routine is lots of hair product after the shower, anti frizz gel, leave-in conditioner, blowdry, styling spray, ceramic flat iron, shine spray, then a light hairspray. All for a nice smooth sleek look,ugh, exhausting! No wonder I only wash my hair every 2-3 days!

Well hopefully that long process is over and I am here to share with you my new experience with The Brazilian Blowout! After googling the top hair salons, I kept seeing on their service menu “The Brazilian Blowout” . I googled it and found that they actually have a website and it is the newest healthy hair process in Hollywood. The 90 minute process gives you healthy, shiny, straight hair without the frizz, and without having to flat iron. I was excited at that very moment that I finally found a product to eliminate my time consuming hair time.

On the Brazilian Blowout website you can put in your zip code and they will refer you to salons that have trained Brazilian Blowout stylists. This day had been long time coming for me so I immediately called the nearest salon and made an appointment for the next morning. I arrived at the Carlton Hair Salon in the Topanga Plaza. When I made my appointment I asked for their top stylist that is trained in the Brazilian Blowout, she said her manager was fabulous. Well I don’t mess around when it comes to my hair I need skills or you can not come close to my hair. I met with the manager Carmina. She was really great she discussed the whole process with me so I knew what to expect. So as she began the process her salon offered me a mimosa and I took them up on the drink, I was a little nervous.

The 90 minute process is washing the hair with the Brazilian Blowout product, drying the hair and sectioning. Then applying an all natural solution to each section of the hair. After another wash, blowdry, flat iron, I can really see the shine and smoothness of my hair. After the flat iron process we washed again. Then the miracle came, no frizz and she blow-dried my hair with her fingers and a paddle brush for my bangs and wahhlahhhh!!! I love it!

The expense was half the price of the Japanese press. Carmina said it should last up to 12 weeks but everyone’s hair is different so we shall see how long mine lasts. I did purchase the shampoo, conditioner masque, and hair serum, which is an extra expense on the pocket book but I think worth it if it helps prolong the process. For all my Valley readers definitely check out Carlton Hair and ask for Carmina. This process requires someone knowledgeable and who knows what their doing. The salon’s hospitality was great! I am in day two and I woke up looking like I just walked out of the salon. I will keep you posted on the weeks ahead, so far I love it!! What do you think? Check out the pic!

p.s. A special thank you to my girly Sylvia for allowing me to be contributing writer on her website. I am truly honored!

Technorati Tags: appointment, blowdry, Blowout, Carlton Hair, Carmina, Conditioner, frizz, hair, Hollywood, iron, minute, process, product, salon, shine, spray, Sylvia, time, website

Yes, people…I have found the best spray tan in the city! $15 will get you a full coverage – all over spray tan at A Tan for All Seasons near CSUN.

It’s a booth, so your not standing there buck naked in front of a 17 year old girl with a spray gun who is probably thinking “omg, is this what I will look like when I’m 39?”, it’s super quick, and one of the most important things is that you have the option to have the bronzer or no bronzer. I opted for the bronzer, but next time I’m totally going for the no bronzer, because the solution develops overnight so your all good to go.

The solution? Unlike the Mystic Tan is totally un-sticky. You can even go out after getting your spray with no problem. Other sprays will have you driving home all sticky AND stinky waiting for it to dry like a big ass piece of flypaper Most Mystic Tans have 4 jets spraying you in a single shot, but the Magic Tan has 27 jets of fine streaming jets to get a much more even tone.

The solution is a pink-brown mixture so that you won’t turn Real Housewives of Orange County signature orange, and it lasts about a good week. The better news?? On Sundays, the sprays are ONLY $10!!! For REAL!!

Spray on, lovelies…spray on!

A Tan for All Seasons
8678 Lindley Ave.
Northridge, CA 91325
818.993.1888

Technorati Tags: booth, bronzer, buck, City, coverage, CSUN, front, girl, gun, Mystic, Orange County, solution, spray, standing, tan, year

Build strength and donate your tuition to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti with a special pilates group reformer class starting Wed. Jan 27 @ 1PM a continue every Wed. for 4 weeks.

It will be by donation and ALL the funds will be donated to the Doctors Without Borders organization. You don’t need to of taken Pilates before to do this class and you can come 1 week or all 4. It will be fun and for all levels.

Come try it out and do a small bit to help Haiti at the same time! Space is limited so call the studio to sign up. 818-509-0914 or go to the website: www.pilatesstudiocity.com

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 1:00pm
Pilates Studio City 818-509-0914
11650 Riverside Drive
Studio City, CA

To learn more about this organization visit: www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

Technorati Tags: ALL, Borders, Build, charity, City, class, donation, feelgoods, group, Haiti, Jan, organization, pilates, reformer, strength, Studio, tuition, Wed, week, www

I made an appointment with Dr. Kranson Blair, dermatologist because I just don’t know what to do about these continual flair ups. I told him that Dr. Marks had given me a prescription for tetracycline, an antibiotic taken internally to treat acne breakouts from within. He looked at my face and said that it didn’t look too bad, that perhaps I was freaking out because I simply wasn’t used to having bumps on my face, albeit small, they are indeed a nuisance.

I was prescribed Epiduo which is a topical cream that you put on at night. The first night I slathered it on like it was regular night cream. Nothing major. The 2nd night, same thing. And the 3rd. By the 4th night, my skin felt like I had smeared napalm on it and was about to catch fire.

The 5th night, I only used a tiny bit and only on the most prevalent breakout areas, and it still felt like hot fish grease on my face. I took a few days off to give my skin a rest during which time I had a really bad breakout. I had also gotten kind of lazy on taking the tetracycline so that most likely added to it too. I resumed Epiduo again, and used it very, very cautiously, in tiny increments. Today my face is a bit more clear. The big breakouts are gone, but my face feels like turkey jerky. Hopefully, it doesn’t LOOK like turkey jerky.

Technorati Tags: acne, Adult, appointment, bit, Blair, breakout, cream, Dermatologist, Dr. Kranson, Dr.-Marks, EpiDuo, face, jerky, look, night, Skin, tetracycline, turkey

So….the other day I was walking to the vitamin store, and passed a salon that had a bunch of MS Word fliers posted all over the front of the store window, the phone booth (do people still use public phones?) the pillars of the strip mall and wherever else they felt the need to post them stating “Watch Us On Tabatha’s Salon Takeover” on BravoTV.

*Image Courtesy of BravoTv.com

Ok so here’s my thing. Have any of you actually SEEN Tabitha’s Salon Takeover? Its about a salon that is completely screwed up, filthy, ineffective, and basically about to crash and burn. In a one segment show, Tabitha comes in and with a strong hand, consults on what, how and where to make the business of owning a salon could actually salvage the falling business. Knowing that, why would any one trust a salon that needed such dire help with their hair?? WHAT??

Seriously, I can honestly say that I probably will never go into Plush Salon based on just that whole little occurrence. Am I a diva? Perhaps.

Technorati Tags: booth, BravoTV, bunch, business, Chatsworth, day, front, I, phone, Plush, salon, store, Tabatha, Tabatha Takes, Tabitha, Takeover, Vitamin, window, word

A while back, my son was struggling with puberty -induced acne. I had signed up for the auto-ship treatment package for him, but he didn’t really like it too much as he found it really drying and quasi painful. Not wanting it to go to waste, I decided to try the mask, since I’ve never met a mask I didn’t like…and it really seemed to work in keeping my skin clear. Granted, at the time, I didn’t have acne to treat, but in general, it made my skin feel and look really good.

Over the summer, I started getting some mild flair ups and borrowed my sister in law’s proactive mask, and boom! the bumps disappeared! With these hormone inbalances that are going on and showing up on my skin, I’m going to bite the bullet and buy my own kit, for the adult related acne. What a major bummer…how at 39 am I cursed to deal with both acne AND wrinkles??? WTH??

sigh…and the journey begins. continues, or whatever.

Technorati Tags: adult acne, hormone inbalance, lamicatal acne, proactive, red skin, skincare

So, I’ve gotten alot of inquiries asking what happened to the blog posts here at Spa-View.com so I decided to really do some thinking as to WHY I haven’t posted, and I have come to the realization that since the mid summer of 2009, my body has started changing. Hormones? Age? Diet? Lifestyle? I don’t know…I haven’t figured it out yet, and its been almost 6 months of trial and error.

When I started this blog, it was all about being fabulous, looking fabulous and feeling fabulous. And to put it simply, I haven’t really been feeling fabulous, and have been focusing my attention on getting back there.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to see Spa-View.com turn into a ‘help me, my skin is freaking out” blog, but as of recently, decided that this is indeed MY blog, and I can pretty much do whatever the heck I want with it. In the quest to find that fabulous again…I will again begin the plight. I will be taking you with me on my journey towards finding that balance…yet again.

I hope that my experiences can share some light on people who are suffering through the same trials and errors and maybe provide some relief for those of you who don’t know what the heck is going on…like me.

And so I begin….
xoxo
sylG

Technorati Tags: acne, hormone inbalance, hormones, lamictal acne, proactive

Oooo, I loooove this ad! Look how fun! And not to mention the miracle of makeup & photoshop!! xoxo

Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper for MAC

*credit Huffington Post for photo

Ok so yesterday I took my initial test for the 100 pushups – onehundredpushups program and here are my results as promised:

Day 1 : 6 + 6 + 4 + 4 + 12 @ max = 32 pushups #100pushups

Want to push it up with me? Follow me on twitter and let’s get good! Next pushup day is Friday

Simple, effective and free! Pushups are the key supplement for my spin class. Building strength in the upper body allows me to focus on my core strenght when I’m riding. Does that make sense?? Anyway, here is the program that I followed over the summer, and it totally worked. I took the months of Sept and October off, but it’s time now to grit it out. Who’s in it to win it??

Update: I just finished my initial test for the 100Pushups.com and I’m at a measly 16! OMG. Just 2 months ago, I was knocking out 100, but alas…2 months of drinking, eating and being merry has taken it’s toll! I’ll be posting my daily updates on my Twitter page, so check me out….join in and let’s get good!

WTH is going on here??! I’ll tell you something. I totally empathize with anyone who has ever dealt with excessive oily skin. Its something that I just am not used to dealing with…however the universe has decided that it’s time to shed some of that oil slick with moi. Gee…thanks for that!

I recently did a facebook post to ask my fab friends who actually DO suffer from oily skin what the best oil blotting solution was….and while I got tons of response varying from $14 Shu Uemera blotting sheets for $17 to Clean and Clear $3.99 at CVS, the BEST advise was from Chaia and Nancy who suggested toilet seat covers. I promise you. The toilet seat covers that you find in the public restroom. Grab a bunch (in the middle of the stack IMO), bring home, cut to size, put in a ziplock bag and shazaam…you have truly effective oil blotting sheets that didn’t cost you a single dime – AND they totally work.

you girls rock. Now if I can only swear all of you to secrecy the next time that I’m in a situation where a lovely man is rubbing my face and telling me my skin is so smooth….LOL!!!

Technorati Tags: DIY, Home Spa, oil blotting sheets, oily-skin

And so I finally am admitting and almost ready for fall to be here. Summer was so awesome, that I didn’t post as much as I usually do, and it has everything to do with being out in the sunshine enjoying the weather!

Along with the new season comes new and different wellness circumstances to address, right? Right. And so begins my ‘Fall Fix it Week” which began yesterday with the acknowledgment that it must begin LOL!

Today I added a new workout class to my weekly: Boxing Circuit class at LA Fitness. It was my first class so of course I didn’t really ‘get into it’ like I probably will later because I have no form or any idea of what I’m doing. But it’s a start and will hopefully be just what I need to tone my arms during the colder months.

Tomorrow brings an at home facial. With funds being tight this year, I’m getting my DIY on. I ordered a facial steamer from Drugstore.com and will be giving it it’s first run tomorrow. Review to come! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s facial review/ it’s going to be with products all from Drugstore.com

Technorati Tags: at home facial, boxing, cardio kickboxing, class, com, didn, drugstore, drugstore.com, Everything, facial steamer, Fall, Fix, home facial, post, review, right, season, summer, sunshine, tomorrow, weather, week

Attention Spin-addicts, like yours truly….Ride the Event sounds fantastically fabulous! I already got my ticket in the mail, so I’m gonna hit the virtual rainforest while burning 800 calories at the Avalon in Hollywood. It will be the first time I visit the Avalon sober, but hey, progress comes in many forms LOL!

ps. how have you all been? I took a bit of a hiatus in the event you didn’t notice

Technorati Tags: avalon, Fitness, Hollywood, ride the event, Spin, spin class

Here, here! Remember that entry I made about Zoom! teeth whitening should be labeled as inhuman torture due to the day long horrific pain that not even vicodin will help?? Well I do. I remember it well.

Anyway, as an avid coffee drinker, my teeth tend to get not-so-white after a year or so of not whitening them, even though I use the whitening toothpaste. I had a lump of fear stuck in my throat for the last year or so, because ALL the whitening products made my teeth feel like someone was jabbing me in the grill with a machete. Enter Crest White Strips for 5 minutes a day…gradual teeth whitening on a daily basis – AND IT DOESN’T HURT…AND IT WORKS!! Hallelujah for that, because I was really willing to deal with yellow teeth.

Technorati Tags: Coffee, day, drinker, entry, fear, lump, pain, Sensitive, teeth, throat, toothpaste, vicodin, Whitening, year, zoom