Behind the Red Door

Something must be going on in Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa, other than the renovation of the first floor of their 5th Avenue salon. I've received two different and unrelated press releases about news from behind the red door.

First, my current nail polish obsession, Zoya , has won some major recognition in becoming the exclusive nail polish brand of the Red Door Spa (in all 31 locations, as well as 20 Chicago-based Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas). It's quite impressive, considering that Arden have their own line of nail lacquer.

The other news is their Ultimate Arden Facial, an 80 minute treatment that sounds heavenly:
"After cleansing, toning and exfoliation, this multi-faceted beauty indulgence lavishes you with a warm stone upper body massage, a hand-softening treatment and a soothing cool stone facial massage. Following a refreshing eye contour treatment, our unique face and décolleté firming mask is applied. A relaxing scalp massage and lip or brow wax are our divine touches. Flawless makeup application crowns this totally transcending spa experience."

Well, heavenly except for that waxing part. Somehow, that doesn't sound as relaxing as the rest of the treatment.
Since this service is new and is just being launched, the price is also quite attractive, at $175. I'm seriously tempted to give myself a birthday treat. Just without the part where someone rips hair off of my face.

Go Figure

The other day I was looking through my makeup stash and found an Elizabeth Arden lipstick I got as a GWP from StrawberryNet. It was still in it's original packaging and I've never even looked at the color. Upon opening it, I discovered a really nice muted red. It has a bit of a brownish undertone, along the lines of Lancome's (old) Sugared Maple or Dior Addict Digital Brown. It's Exceptional Lipstick number 38, aptly named Beauty and it works for me as a daytime red.

Like most long-wearing lipsticks, I found its texture to be a bit dry. It requires a balm underneath and a gloss on top to feel really comfortable. Besame's red berry lip glaze gave it the nice shine that I was looking for. All in all, not bad for something I forgot I had.

Speaking of Elizabeth Arden, am I the only one raising an eyebrow at their ad for the new Intervene moisturizer and lotion? I saw it on page 13 of February Lucky magazine. It features Catherine Zeta Jones who has been photoshopped within an inch of her life, to the point that she's barely recognizable. Good thing that her name appears on the ad, so we can be sure that it's actually her. But it's not just Catherine Z's face. Apparently, she's now sprouting Keira Knightly's stick figure arms. Only problem is that the torso is still hers and the proportions are slightly off.