No Excuses Facial Treatments at Ritual 2

We all love the idea of going for monthly facials, highlights, manicures and pedicures, but that can really add up. Hair and nails aren't really negotiable, so it's usually the facial that doesn't make the regular beauty routine. That's unfortunate because our skin is truly the most worthy investment of the lot - unless you have premature grays like I do, in which case it is a tie with the hair.

I get a lot of emails from PR companies with news releases on the newest spas, services and treatments among a slew of other announcements. Generally, unless there is something in the email that really grabs my attention, it gets filed under "G" for garbage because, well, it is impossible to cover everything. So when I received a blast that Ritual 2 on King St. W is offering speedy wallet-conscious MicroZone Treatments, I was intrigued and immediately called their publicist to see if I could test drive one. Lucky me, they let me try two!



The MicroZone Treatments are five quick 20 minute facial treatments for $25 a pop.
Using only Dermalogica Products, these sweet pick me ups are designed to address the following issues:

1. Dull skin? The Flash Exfoliation Treatment polishes and brightens your skin.

2. Bothersome breakout? Extractions are in order to decongest your problem areas with the Blemish Banishing Treatment.

3. Tired eyes? The Eye Treatment concentrates on hydrating and minimizing fine lines, leaving you looking well-rested and refreshed.

4. Rough, chapped lips? Their exfoliating, hydrating and firming Lip Treatment is designed to plump your pout.

5. Feeling dehydrated? The Hydrating Treatment quenches environmentally stressed skin.




My appointment was set for Saturday to try the Flash Exfoliation and the Extraction treatments. I thumbed through magazines for 10 minutes while I surveyed the bustling little spa. The concrete floors, white walls and pink accents are quaint and cheery. The front section is a full service hair salon with a little Dermalogica products corner where anyone can walk in, test the products and take home a sample or two. Tucked in the back, behind a thick curtain is the spa area.

After a short wait I was greeted by my esthetician, Samantha who carefully explained the treatments and did a "face mapping" of my skin telling me how the different areas were doing. I did pretty good, with the exception of some "pinking" on my cheeks, which Samantha told me can be caused by issues with your lungs, usually caused by smoking or extreme temperatures. Since I've never smoked a cigarette in my life it's fair to split the credit between Winnipeg's Artic winters and Toronto's smog. Thanks! I scored a "B" for my chin area, which actually means "breakout activity" thanks to a sizable zit that has taken up residence there.

Samantha expertly slathered and massaged my skin for the exfoliation (very nice!) and then turned up the lights for the extractions. I never look forward to extractions as they can be quite painful. It's like getting excited before a bikini wax. You don't. It hurts, but it makes you look better. I don't know if it was Samantha or the way they all do extractions at Ritual 2, but these did not hurt at all. It was surprisingly pain free. The 40 minutes went by in a blink and I was sorry when it was over. For a combined retail price of $50, these treatments lasted approximately 45 minutes and were well worth it.

There was no heavy sales pitch at the end of the treatments. Samantha actually said to keep doing what I was doing, but step up the exfoliation to 3 times a week for the summer.

Having never visited Ritual 2, I was struck by how friendly the staff were. There is absolutely zero attitude here. This makes perfect sense: Owners Maria Cristina and Bruna were former bartenders - an excellent occupation for honing great people skills!

For $25, I have now have no excuse not to add these treatments to my regular beauty routine. I will definitely be back!

www.ritual.ca

Read my review on ChickAdvisor

How Far Do You Walk in High Heels?

Someone needs to invent some heels that are actually made for walking. With 2 1/2 inch heels. That look sexy. I am one of those who would rather be in pain with nice shoes on, than wear flats that make my legs look like thick pegs. Yes we live in North America and flip flops are the universal shoe of summer, but isn't it about time that changed? Can't we step it up a little and at least attempt to compete with our sisters in France?

I live downtown and walk pretty much everywhere, whether it is to a cafe 20 minutes away or 20 blocks to the main shopping drag. I walk there, shop, wince, pause at a cafe, and hobble home. Since a large part of my job involves attending events of every kind, I'm in heels for those too. Take Wednesday for example. A photoshoot from 12 - 4 and two back to back events from 6 - 10:30. That would be 8 1/2 hours standing in my favorite David Dixons, wishing I could slice my feet off at the ankles. Thankfully I have been introduced to Airplus for Her, which does help somewhat, but what I'd really like to see is a hot pair of heels with all of the cushioning and comfort of my RBK runners. I'm picturing it now. If I had any photoshop skills I'd try to create an artist's rendering, but you can see from the image above that I clearly don't. Seriously though, is this too much to ask? How hard would it be to invent something like that?

How far do you walk in heels?

Update (several minutes later after actually doing some research): It seems someone has thought of this sort of thing. They aren't exactly the comfy running shoe hybrid I imagined, but they are a stroke of brilliance in their own way.

The Sheila Driving Heel is designed to fold into the shoe for safer driving. I imagine you could even ride a bicycle with them! Brilliant! Unfortunately they are in the UK and I don't know if anything ever came of these hot little numbers beyond the prototype.

If they do make it, I would totally buy shares in that...

Whirlwind Meetings with Women of the Web

What a month of crazyness! I appologize for my lack of posts of late. I have been rushing like mad from event to event being spoiled, networking and learning. The best part has been caffeinating myself (yes, I've relapsed) with some of the best young web chicks in the country - and even my favorite Dragon!

If you don't know who Arlene Dickinson is, you're probably not watching much TV... or spending much time on the web. She's the CEO of Venture Communications, has won a slew of awards in Canadian business, is a Dragon on CBC's hit show, Dragon's Den, is an expert on Fortune Hunters, and in fact was the expert for our segment, and is just on all accounts a force to be reckoned with. I contacted her shortly after our show aired in January, and have had the pleasure of meeting with her in person this past month. This is a huge deal for us as Arlene is one of the most powerful women in the Canadian media scene. Despite her enormous success, she is extremely grounded and kind. Not to mention beautiful. I believe she may have the nicest teeth in the business...

In the last two weeks I met Erica Tam, the bubbly and vivacious founder of The Style Spy. We met over lattes at Starbucks and learned how much we have in common. It's amazing how parallel our experiences are on opposite ends of the country! Later, we joined Jen McNeely and Olga Barsky from She Does the City on the noisy patio at Le Gourmand. Olga and I have been rubbing shoulders at events across the city for the last little while and it was fun to get to know her better and to meet Jen, the founder. Both women have impeccable style and it was immediately arranged that we would go shopping in the near future.

Jen and Olga

Ellen of Lipstick Powder 'N Paint and Joy from Makeup Junkie and Anita from I Want I Got have been part of my posse since we started covering the same events ages ago.

photo by David Wile

Joy has been working with us on our new show, doing an awesome job with my makeup, and yesterday she did it again for a photoshoot with David Wile. Joy did not disappoint and her makeup application was flawless, which we celebrated afterwards with a drink at Lusso.

Joy and Ali

David was a genius at getting some really great shots of me. I am one awkward dork when it comes to getting my photo taken. You would be embarrassed by association. But more on that later.

Janine (2nd from left), Krisia, (3rd from left), Gail (middle), Susie Love, Anita, Ali

I have been bumping into Gail McInnes so often in the last two weeks, you'd think we were stalking each other. It began with the filming of our new show three weeks ago, when she happened to be walking down the street looking stunning with a friend of hers. Both were camera ready and more than willing to appear on the show. I then saw her nearly every other day at a series of events. Girl is connected!

Yvonne Kai and I shared breakfast at the Beaver earlier this week. The stylish party maven and I discussed events, some new ideas and ways we might be able to work together. Yvonne has worked all over the world and has impeccable style. We agreed Canada has a ways to go yet, but we're getting there. Slowly ;)

Christa Jean (L) Photo credit: Petitefashionista.com

Christa from the Petite Fashionista threw her first event last Sunday. The petite blond threw a 250+ person bash at the Proof Lounge on Bloor. It was quite impressive and for the first time, I actually felt tall. It was pretty cool looking out over the stylish shorties that amassed for the event. I don't know how she manages, but I guess I'll find out later today. We're meeting up for a coffee. At this point, I expect some shares from Starbucks for my investment!

Ellen (Lipstick Powder N Paint) and Krizia (My Beauty Match)

Janine Falcon from Beauty Geek and Krizia from My Beauty Match have both been a pleasure to get to know these past couple of weeks. Janine is much more comedian than geek and she knows the secrets of the magazine world.

And finally, I had the pleasure yesterday of meeting Lainey from Lainey Gossip and Candace Bushnell at a back to back P&G Beauty event and the Cover Girl Gotta Have it soirée at Forever 21.

Ali and Candace Bushnell

I saw Candace Bushnell at the Modwomen party recently and made a video from it. Yesterday was a more intimate affair and a chance to meet in person and snap a picture. Despite her enormous success, she's very gracious and kind. She's also very feisty, which explains how she is able to keep up with her jet setting lifestyle. We were pleased to hear she does on occasion leave the house with track pants and no makeup. There is a lot of pressure for women to look perfect - especially if your mug is constantly on display, so going about without the zillion dollar wardrobe and professional makeup can be sort of incognito.

Lainey was hilarious. She does not hold back. She is her blog in the flesh. It was such a treat to be able to sit down with her at Forever 21 to get the smut in person. I was more fascinated with how she is able to write 3,000 + words/day plus all of her appearances and media obligations with Etalk. She just shrugged. When you love what you do it is amazing how much you can accomplish.

Ali and Lainey

It's really exciting to see what these women are accomplishing and I feel truly inspired!

Clean & Clear Flirt with Fame Contest

Win a Super Sweet 16 Fantasy Party!

Clean & Clear and MTV are hooking up to hook you up … By giving you the chance to win a Super Sweet 16 fantasy party!

Does anyone else you know have MTV coming to their B-day Bash and recording it for all of Canada? Not only will you be Flirting with Fame - you’ll be all FAMOUS! All you have to do is enter at www.flirtwithfame.ca … And to make the contest that much sweeter, Clean & Clear is giving away weekly $1,000 cash prizes EVERY Monday!

Prize
• One unforgettable party bash (30 to 50 guests), courtesy of Clean & Clear and MTV, with and MTV DJ (to be held anytime between June to end of September)
• MTV.ca camera crew will cover the Super Sweet 16 birthday party and put it up on the Web site!
• $1,000 cash prizes drawn every Monday for 8 weeks!

Kids' Birthday Party Themes

I remember birthday parties of my childhood. They typically included Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Hot Potato, and Musical Chairs followed by D.I.Y. pizza. If you were really lucky, your mom booked the party room at McDonald's.

In that vein, the last few parties I put together for my kids consisted of turning on the lawn sprinkler and filling the SuperSoakers. Less is more was my thinking. As my oldest starts edging toward double digits, I'm discovering that such simple delights aren't quite up to par. It seems that More is more.

My daughter attended a fabulous party this weekend. My friend pulled out all the stops for her son, planning and executing what may go down as Year's Best among the elementary school set. While I am not usually an overly competitive mom (except for on the soccer field. Yes, that was me that time), she inspired me to put a little more effort into these little shindigs.

1. The Totally Amazing Gross-Out Party

My friend created a team competition inspired by Fear Factor/Amazing Race. Each team had to pass through stations of increasing icky-ness on the way to victory. These stations included (in no particular order):

~kiddie pool filled with cooked spaghetti and several real and fake earthworms. Find at least 10 worms to proceed to the next station.

~a large mop bucket filled with a mixture of water and cornstarch, plus peeled grapes ("eyeballs"). The cornstarch mixture should be thick enough to stand on, but thin enough to liquefy when you hold it in your hand. Find the grapes!

~a window screen dripped with icing sugar/water mix or vanilla pudding. You should dribble it on to mimic bird poo, which the kids have to lick 10 times to move on.

~change a dolly's poopy diaper, filled with lemonade peepee and chocolate pudding doodoo.

The winning team gets first dibs on Kitty Litter Cake! Totally edible, assembled in a litter pan, and served with a Pooper Scooper, this cake has Tootsie Roll turds that'll have your guests totally amazingly grossed out!

2. Treasure Hunt

Load up on pirate costume accessories from the dollar store and play a nautically-themed treasure hunt. You'll need a large yard or park for this.

Prepare a treasure map and clues, with a buried treasure chest at the end of the game filled with loot (this can double as your goodie bag). At each station, the teams find the next clue and must pass a piratical challenge to proceed. If you have access to a pool, the winners make the losers walk the plank (i.e. diving board) with all their clothes on.

3. Academy Awards

Collect Halloween costumes and old clothes, plus a video camera and several script ideas. Ask your budding actors to produce a commercial or short movie, including some basic editing, adding background music, etc.

When the teams have finished, hold a screening in your rec room with popcorn and Twizzlers (cover any windows thoroughly to produce a movie theater atmosphere). Award the winning team trophies for their achievement (you can find cheapies at a dollar store). Burn each child a DVD of all the submissions as part of their goodie bag.

**
Now, I'm not claiming that I'll be doing any of these things come next b-day party. I think, though, that the cop-out days of Twister 'n beanbag tosses are probably over. Do you have any cool ideas for birthday parties?

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