advertorials45 The perfect wedding dress HOLIDAY SHOPPING TIPS ‘Tis the season to get ready for the holidays. I have offi cially started our holiday shopping, and as a real “cosmetical junkie” my favorite gift to our friends and family is the gift of beauty. However, beauty products for others are not always easy to purchase. I hope to let you know that it is not as challenging as it sounds. There are so many beauty products on the market. Remember packaging plays an essential role and the quality of the products inside. A nice moisturizer and body scrub make a good combination for anybody. Look for products that contain shea butter and argan oil for this time of the year. Scrubs with essential oils and sugar leave the skin ready for the body cream. Some essential oils that are nice for this time of the year are lavender, ylang ylang, eucalyptus, and thyme. The other option, which I personally would love to receive, is a gift certifi cate for professional spa services. Instead of trying to fi nd the wonder moisturizer for your wife or your mother, why not leave it in the hands of professionals, they will know the right services and make your gift an unforgettable experience and all the credit will be yours! Some other ideas for small stocking stuffers include aroma therapeutic candles. You light the candle and all the essential oils will develop their fragrance in the room and the wax will turn into massage oil that you can use on your most loved ones. The wax will achieve the perfect temperature and eliminate the risk of burning. Do not worry, even if your massage technique will not be top notch, the fragrances of chocolate and vanilla combined with the warm feeling of the oil will make a unique experience. I also really love to give linen sprays for bed sheets as gifts. We use chamomile for our bed and Maxime seems to sleep much better when we use that on his crib. Many people like lavender or jasmine as well. When you look for these linen sprays keep in mind that the best lavenders and chamomiles are coming from Provence, in the south of France. La ville de Grasse has been considered the worldwide capital of fragrances since the 17th century. It is a complete city dedicated to fl owers, perfumes, essential oils and all ingredients used in the beauty industry. You can imagine when we had the chance to visit Grasse how exciting it was for me. The good thing is that this is not a gift that will break the bank and it is unique. Last note, as much as I personally love husbands running to our place last minute wanting a gift certifi cate at any cost, I can only strongly advise not to wait until the last second to fi nd that very special gift! The Cosmetical Junkie and her Voice of Reason: Angelena and Benjamin Lucheux, owners of Tailormade for You Institute for Face and Body One of the most exciting - or for some, daunting - moments of the wedding planning process is the search for the dress. It’s something every girl dreams of since they were little, so needless to say, it has to be perfect. Luckily for me, one of my favorite things to do is shop. I called my good friend, Karen Parker O’Brien, who I work with at the Z NYC Hotel. She offers VIP shopping tours as part of the hotel’s Insider Shopping Package, so I knew she would know exactly where I should start looking. For me, wedding dress shopping meant that it was an ideal time to get my closest girlfriends together. Browsing through beautiful dresses, drinking pink champagne and reminiscing about old times together - there can’t be anything better, can there? My fi rst order of business was to select a date that worked for all, which was a challenge in and of itself. Somehow, when a wedding is involved, people will jump through hoops to make themselves available! It didn’t matter how near or far my best girls were, they said they wouldn’t miss this day for the world. Unfortunately my mother couldn’t be there as the timing didn’t work but I know she loves me in anything I wear. So picture this, six crazy girls driving in a stretch limo to the bridal shop. Our faces were hurting from laughing so much that by the time we arrived, we were in hysterics. Up to this very moment, I always had an idea in my head of what I thought I would wear on my wedding day but as I walked through the bridal shop doors, all of those visions were quickly thrown out the window. Dresses were hanging on every wall. From tulle to lace to silk and strapless to halter to capped sleeves, there were so many choices and I didn’t know where to begin. Thankfully a professional, and my best girls, were with me every step of the way! Feeling like a princess, I was told to sit on this beautiful ornate chair so the dresses could be presented to me. One by one they came out and one by one they were more gorgeous. As each dress came out, I was able to envision more clearly how I wanted to look on the most important day of my life. I would share my thoughts with the sales woman and eventually she blurted out and said “darling, don’t you worry.I have the dress for you.” Before I had time to say anything else, she was off and on her way to get what I would presume to be my wedding dress. Only time will tell. Lisa Gneo, Director of Sales & Marketing, Z NYC Hotel LISA GNEO
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