I asked Bobbie about her favorite skin care and makeup lines. Bobbie, speaking on behalf of Venus… “When I travel I always have Venus Spa Breeze Disposables.” Bobbie loves her Spa Breeze razors. “I love Venus razors in general. The Spa Breeze is a beauty tool, not just a hair removing device. It’s got that great smell and three blades. Anytime you have a double duty beauty tool is fabulous.” The rest of Bobbie’s must have’s: “I love GloMinerals pressed powder and Perfect Veil. When I do use lashes, I use Ardell. It’s a drug store brand. And I love rotating lip gloss. I’m using Givenchy right now.”

Bobbie is suggesting, for those of you who are on a budget, creating a Spa Stocking as a gift this holiday season. She says it’s accessible, everything can be found at a drug store, you can customize it to what you need, it’s practical, it’s pampering and you can save on expensive spa treatments. Bobbie’s list of suggestions for a Spa Stocking are: (all can be found at most drug stores)

Venus Spa Breeze:  $9.99
With its white-tea scented shave gel bars and light lather, this three-bladed razor is a must-have for every woman who wants an indulgent, close shave.  

Lavender / Mint Essential Oil by Paul Mitchell:  $12.99
The combination of natural oils provides a soothing aromatherapy session that pampers mind, body and spirit. 

Burt’s Bees Pore-Refining Mask: $7.99
This 100% natural green clay mask deeply cleanses pores and refines the skin’s texture for a healthy glowing complexion 

Caswell-Massey Cucumber Eye Pads: $5.00 (pack of ten)
Every slice is pre-moistened with pure cucumber juice, chamomile, aloe vera and green tea. As eyes cool, puffiness and dark circles under the eyes are reduced

Crest Whitestrips: $22.99  
A perfect travel companion for the girl on the run this holiday season, Crest Whitestrips will brighten your smile in time for all of those holiday photos!

Have fun putting together your own Spa Stocking. I love the idea!
Thanks Bobbie!

Related reviews:

1. Clinique for the Holidays
2. My Skin Affair Holiday Picks
3. Aveda for the Holiday Season

Take cue from Elizabeth’s book release party and have a red carpet skin care party of your own. Be sure to have couture appetizers. At the Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin party, recipes from the book were used to create a beautiful selection of appetizers that were served. Yummy! Citrus Crabmeat Salad, Dover Sole with Carrot-Ginger Puree and more. Plus, the gift bags were fabulous! They included green tea and pear candles, self-filtering water bottles, teas, and Elizabeth Tenhouten’s Trail Mix blend and Clay Mask.

It was such a pleasure to meet the extraordinarily lovely Elizabeth TenHouten in person. After my previous interview with her about Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin, I was completely taken with her passion for healthy living. In person, Elizabeth is the perfect example of radiant skin. Her complexion is flawless. Must be all of those antioxidant-rich recipes!

My Skin Affair loves using Elizabeth’s “Beauty Bytes”…all found in her book. Elizabeth has been gracious enough to lend several skin care tips from her book to My Skin Affair. I’ve used a couple in the past as my “Skin Care Tip of the Week” and plan to treat you to more in the future. She’s got so many great tips!

I loved the party and was so pleased to support the release of Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin.

Photos courtesy of www.shaunalexander.net

Related reviews:

1. Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin
2. Oopsy Daisy Beautiful Baby High Chair Hair Care
3. We Care Spa, Desert Hot Springs

Elizabeth TenHouten is on a quest to redefine beauty and I’m all ears. If you were on the receiving end of our conversation, as I was, you would be too. She talks about nourishing ourselves from the inside out with enthusiasm and love. I was hooked from moment one. Elizabeth talks about antioxidants with more passion than I can explain and she makes pomegranates sound like they should be on your Christmas list…and every other list for that matter. Antioxidant power! This is a lady who loves her antioxidants and really wants you to know how to incorporate them into your diet so that you can have beautiful skin and great health.

Elizabeth’s book, Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin, will be released on November 29th and will be available at Barnes & Noble, as well as Amazon.com. I will definitely be purchasing a copy for myself. Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin is packed with over 75 antioxidant-rich recipes, that will help you to keep your skin looking radiant. Also, one of my favorite things about this book are what Elizabeth calls “Beauty Bytes”. Elizabeth’s “Beauty Bytes” are simple, natural and easy skincare tips that you can do at home to help improve the quality of your skin.

I asked Elizabeth a few questions about her skincare favorites.

Elizabeth’s favorite skincare products are: La Prairie Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Sun Cream SPF 30, Coppertone Waterproof Sunscreen SPF 45 for body and face, and Nivea Shaving Gel for men. She says it “works great and has no fragrance”. But what I loved most about Elizabeth’s favorite products is that she included olive oil on her list. She loves using olive oil for shaving her legs. I can’t wait to try that!

Elizabeth’s favorite spa: Aida Thibiant European Day Spa in Beverly Hills.

Elizabeth’s favorite spa treatment: Deep tissue massage. “I’m little but I can handle deep tissue and it’s great for releasing toxins”.

How does Elizabeth pamper her skin: “I do my facials at home. I steam my face over hot water to get the toxins out. I do it weekly. It’s so relaxing. It’s totally free and great for your skin”.

After having discussed Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin, I asked Elizabeth if she could add 5-10 items to my grocery list, what would they be? (I have to tell you, during our phone interview I was in Los Angeles and Elizabeth was in New York. But when I asked her what she would add to my grocery list, she was so passionate about it that I came dangerously close to asking her to fly to LA to go grocery shopping with me. There was NO way she was only going to list 5 items. She‘s way too passionate about this topic and I love it.)

Elizabeth’s Grocery List for me:

-Rainbow Carrots: High in vitamin A, great for acne, they’re sweet and you can juice them.

- Fish: (especially salmon) Omega 3 fatty acids!

- Berries: Pomegranates, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. Antioxidant berries! Add them to your yogurt, granola and drizzle with honey.

- Honey: It’s an anti-inflammatory

- Organic lemons: She suggests squeezing them onto salads and including them in your tuna fish. They’re anti-bacterial, very cleansing and good for your liver. Great for the wellness of your skin!

- Whole Grains: Nuts, seeds, sprouts. Iron! Great for dark circles under your eyes.

- Goji Berries: Powerful antioxidants! She suggests adding them to mixed nuts if they are too bitter for your taste.

- Dark Chocolate: Yes! Antioxidant!

- Brita Water Filter: Elizabeth adds “Water is the true drink of the Gods. We need to hydrate”.

- Coconut Oil: “You can eat it and it’s a moisturizer. Also, you can add it to sea salt and use it as a body scrub.”

Love her list!

I can’t wait to get a copy of Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin. The parts of the book that I was given to read were fabulous and after my conversation with Elizabeth, I look forward to reading every page of what she has written.

Below, I’ve included one of Elizabeth’s healthy recipes, compliments of Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin. Enjoy and be well!

Pomegranate Tuna 

What could be prettier than tuna on a bed of purple-red radicchio leaves and ruby red pomegranate seeds?  Many stores carry pomegranate seeds in their fresh produce section.  If seeding them yourself, wear an old shirt or an apron to protect your clothes, and latex or rubber gloves to keep your hands from turning magenta.  Use a plastic cutting board as pomegranates will stain wood.  The pomegranate seeds can stain the grout on your counter, too.
 
Ingredients: 
1 medium pomegranate 
1 (6 ounce) can chunk white tuna in water 
4 Radicchio leaves 
¼ cup raw almonds 
1 teaspoon chives, chopped 
Lemon wedge for garnish 
 
Using a sharp knife cut the pomegranate into two or three pieces.  With the sea of ruby red seeds facing away from you, use your thumbs to push the pomegranate pieces inside out, away from 
you, toward a bowl.  Once the pomegranate is ‘popped-out,’ simply pick off the seeds. 
 
Place radicchio leaves on a plate.  Flake tuna with a fork and place inside radicchio.  Sprinkle with almonds, pomegranate seeds, and chives.  Garnish with lemon wedge and serve. 

Thanks Elizabeth!

Related reviews:

1. Skin Care Event - Book Release Party for Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin
2. Clarisonic Sonic Skin Cleansing Systems
3. Oopsy Daisy Beautiful Baby High Chair Hair Care

My visit began with a skin scope. A skin scope shows above and below the surface skin damage on the face. I’m told I have a little bit of sun damage, I’m moisture balanced, well hydrated, and I have no build-up. Sounds like I could have used a little more sunblock over the years, but otherwise I’ve been taking good care of my skin. One way to work on sun damage is to get peels and microdermabrasion which Alexa, my esthetician, suggests for me. So that’s exactly what we did.

While I was getting a glycolic/lactic peel and crystal-free diamond tip microdermabrasion, I had a chat with Alexa. She told me that when she was 15 years old she struggled with acne so badly that she didn’t want to raise her hand in class because it would call attention to her. I have to say, her skin looks flawless and radiant now. She’s a beautiful young woman and it’s hard to believe she ever had a hard time with self confidence. I asked her if there is an appropriate age for someone to start getting these kinds of facial treatments. She explained to me that something like a light salicylic peel could help with acne for a teenager and that once you’re in your teens, those types of treatments are perfectly fine to get. When I was in junior high, all we knew about was Clearasil, Noxzema and Sea Breeze. I remember the days of opening those packages and even getting excited about those products. I’ve always loved skincare products! After my peel and microdermabrasion, Alexa applied a calming masque to my face. While the masque did it’s job, calming my skin, Alexa massaged my neck and shoulders as I relaxed to the sound of “Besamé Mucho” playing from the sound system above. During our session: SkinMedica Calming Masque, SkinCeuticals Epidermal Repair, and SkinCeuticals SPF 30 were all used on my face.

After my facial, I sat down to talk with Dr. Gabriel Chiu. I asked him what the most common misconception about plastic surgery is and he told me that “It’s not a cookie cutter technique and skin care shouldn’t be either”. I like that. He told me that he’s very honest with his patients and that he makes sure all of his patients have realistic expectations. He then took the time to show me several before and after shots of his patients. I was very impressed. His work looks amazing. During our chat, Dr. Chiu gave me a drink to sample that he gives all of his patients before and after surgery. He doesn’t sell it, he just gives it to them. It’s an energy supplement and it’s packed with vitamins. He tells me that he believes in a “multi-disciplinary approach to taking care of a persons body whether it’s before surgery or with skincare”. This brings up a question for me that I’ve always wanted to ask a doctor. I ask him why more doctors don’t talk to their patients about nutrition? He responds with “One side feels it may be beneath them because it’s not their specialty but that’s changing.” We went on to discuss the effects of nutrition as it’s related to skincare. It was a great meeting and quite informative. At one point during our chat when we were discussing the different reasons that people come in for plastic surgery Dr. Chiu says “If the reason is, my husband complains about this all the time“. (referring to a body part) Dr. Chiu says…”Well, bring your husband in here and let me talk to him.” Well said, Dr. Chiu! Then Dr. Chiu ends our chat by saying “You have to do it for yourself“. I couldn’t agree more.

BHPS is a beautiful facility and has a great menu of facial treatments.

Related reviews:

1. Spa Review: Two Bunch Palms Resort and Spa
2. Estee Lauder Idealist Dual-Action Refinishing Treatment
3. Spa Review: Burke Williams