Archive | January, 2012
Salon Acote – A Breath of French Air on Boston’s Newbury Street

Salon Acote – A Breath of French Air on Boston’s Newbury Street

Seeking to make the “Best Tressed List” with a stunning haircut and color? When you’re in Boston, there’s only one salon for those in-the-know: Salon Acote.

Salon Acote, owned by Alexander Safar, is a sunny, beautifully appointed salon on Boston’s posh Newbury Street where you can get flawless, fashionable haircare, listen to foreign music, enjoy a complimentary cappuccino, admire the beautiful floral arrangements, and in spring and summer, sit on the gorgeous outdoor patio.  The team of international stylists will pamper your hair with products including Rene Furterer and Oribe, the latest techniques (including hair extensions), exquisite updos, state-of-the-art hair straightening and even unusual cult products such as Moroccan Oil, a favorite of Mr. Safar. Complimentary gourmet goodies are always served on weekends too, to make your visit all the more sweet.

Salon Acote is owned by a second-and third-generation of handsome  hairdressers – the Safar family —  who hail from Marseilles. What does that mean?  It means, quite simply, that you’ll receive top-notch treatment from expert professionals who can offer you the latest-and-greatest cuts, colors, treatments, and styles, as they have done on Newbury Street for more than 30 years.

Salon Acote (which literally in French means “the salon next to you,”) caters to international students and famous celebrities such as rocker Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Known as “Boston’s Most French Salon,” Salon Acote is renowned for its chic French haircuts and color. The salon even makes ‘house calls’ to Saudi Arabian princesses, other royalty,  and simply well-heeled clients who are in town, staying at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston, and desiring of hair appointments in privacy. Always ahead of the trends, Salon Acote is the address for clients who want hair that stands head and shoulders apart from the competition. If you are a regular client, and a soon-to-be-bride, the salon will even do your hair, complimentary, on your wedding day.

I’ve been getting my hair done at Salon Acote for years, and people constantly stop me on the street, all over the world, to ask me who does my hair! I’ve got buttery blonde highlights, lowlights, and finally,  thanks to Coppola Keratin, the straight hair I’ve desired since I was a child. With hair like this, I belong in Hollywood! As a professional beauty writer, I know a good thing when I see it.

COPPOLA KERATIN COMPLEX TREATMENTS

In his quest to keep Salon Acote ahead of the fashion-and-beauty curve, Mr. Safar offers the life-changing Keratin Complex Treatments, and has received nothing but rave reviews. This amazing treatment will, like magic, transform your tresses from frizzy and wavy to sleek and stick-straight.  (I’ve had this service myself, and I can vouch for it: you’ll get rock star-hair, which is so beautiful you’ll claim it as an anti-aging treatment.)

“We do between five and seven Coppola Keratin treatments per week, and our clients love this service,” Mr. Safar explains. He adds: “Our clients have been amazed at how soft and sleek their hair is after a treatment, and I like to provide the service myself, each time, to assure that the results are consistent. Clients usually return every six months for another treatment, which is great for our business.  Another terrific advantage is that Keratin Complex is now available in a formula just for blondes – which is a great boost for women with highlighted hair.  I firmly believe that Coppola Keratin treatments are the best in the business and absolutely the best products on the market.”

Salon Acote, a breath of fresh air on Newbury Street, features its own garden atelier (where it offers services and refreshments in summer), and has been featured in prestigious media that include Lucky Magazine, Elle Magazine, Marie-Claire Magazine,  newspapers such as The Boston Globe Style Section (www.boston.com) as well as on the air at FOX-TV in Boston, where Mr. Safar showcased caring for your hair with simple products from your kitchen cupboard.

Mr. Safar and his family recently opened the stunning Safar Miami salon on South Beach (www.Safarmiami.com). “We also provide Coppola Keratin Complex at the new salon, and it’s been wildly popular with locals who don’t want to deal with the effects of frizz and humidity on their hair,” says Mr. Safar. “Scores of satisfied clients have told us that they don’t know how they ever lived without a Coppola Keratin Complex Treatment!”

ADMIRABLE EXTENSIONS

Salon Acote also offers hair extensions to clients, who want the extensions, Mr. Safar says, for two reasons.  First, their hair is too short, their hair just won’t grow, or  they simply want longer hair.  Or, secondly, they have thin hair and desire more density and thickness in their hair.  Salon Acote only uses “Remy” 100% hair, which means that the cuticle lays all the same way;  it is presented in the way hair naturally grows – and it won’t tangle.   “This means that it will look natural, and will be easy to color-match,” says Mr. Safar. The hair is Italian and comes in all colors, and bonded to existing hair on the head with heated Keratin. “It lasts two- to three months, and the removal is included in the price,” adds Mr. Safar. The process takes two to three hours, and the results last up to three months. “If you look at the gorgeous models in cover photographs, with long, flowing tresses – they are undoubtedly extensions, and now everyone can have hair that looks just like that,” says Mr. Safar. “Especially for women with alopecia, or women who have lost some of their hair due to cancer, extensions are a great way to go.”

So no matter where your journey takes you in life, Salon Acote will make sure you – and your hair —  enjoy “joie de vivre.”

Contact the salon, located at 132 Newbury Street, at (617) 262-5111.

 

 

 

 

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GOOD CLEAN ALOHA FUN

GOOD CLEAN ALOHA FUN

I’m all for taking home souvenirs of your trip, and one of my favorite things to do is to bring back beauty products made with indigenous ingredients of the region. That’s why I’m crazy about Island Soap & Candle Works products that I sniffed out at the ABC stores and at Hilo Hatties.  Stash any of these products in your Samsonite on the return flight home – and you’ll have a Maui memory that lasts a long, long time. With these products, you can escape to paradise and relive the swaying of the palm trees and the fruity tropical drinks that a Maui trip is famous for.

Island Soap & Candle Works ‘  handmade products are not only gorgeous, they are environmentally friendly.  The factory uses solar panels.  The packaging is forest-friendly, in that it is made of recycled paper of Forest Stewardship Council certified paper.  And instead of using styrofoam “peanuts” in packing, the company simply uses unwanted surplus newsprint from the local newspaper. (That’s pure genius.) They also do not employ any animal testing.

Bestsellers are the lotions that all list coconut oil as their main ingredient. These succulent scents come in varieties that include Plumeria Blossom, Mango Coconut Guava, Pineapple Passion Fruit and Creamy Coconut.  All also have matching soaps – and they are adorable.  The Creamy Coconut coconut-and-palm-oil soap comes in a green box somewhat resembling a vintage Hawaii poster,  with an image of a palm tree and palm fronds, with orange end caps.  All  you do is push one end to reveal a small oval soap that has the markings of a pineapple.  They’re the perfect gift for you or a friend. A remarkable memento!

Also drool-worthy are the shea butter soaps, that are marbleized squares of just-picked goodness.  The Hawaiian Sunrise scent is awesome – it’s pure orange citrus that you rarely find in skincare products. Other favorites include Island Passion (passion fruit) and Pineapple Paradise, and all come so beautifully packaged you will want to display the boxes in your bathroom.

And like all great companies, this one has a cult item that everyone lusts for.  It’s the Surfer’s Salve, an emollient mix of olive oil, plantain leaf, comfrey leaf, beeswax, aloe, rosemary, tea tree oil and more.  Apparently Jennifer Aniston’s hairdresser, Chris McMillan, uses it on the A-lister’s trendy tresses. Its healing properties work wonders on rashes, sunburn, bug bites and minor rashes. “It has a cult following,” says Jim Psaila, the general manger of Island Soap & Candle Works. This is also now available in a new tube.

And if your hair and skin crave Surfer’s Salve, your lips will lust after the beautiful lip balms, containing macadamia nut oil, palm oil, olive oil, and beeswax.  Unlike some lip balms that only further dry out your lips, these are completely soothing.  The four-pack of Hawaiian Sunrise, Kauai Kiss, Pineapple Paradise and Island Passion even comes in its own little plastic carrying case. They’re all handpoured, handpackaged and handlabeled every step of the way.

All Island Soap & Candle Works products contain that desirable dose of aloha that you won’t find anywhere else.

For more information, call (800) 300-6067.

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Clarins Day Spa: Doorway To Heaven

Clarins Day Spa: Doorway To Heaven

Enter Bloomingdale’s in the Boston area, at The Mall at Chestnut Hill, and make a beeline to the cosmetics department.  There, amidst many prestigious beauty brands you’ll find the door to the impressive new Clarins flagship Chestnut Hill Day Spa. Here, at this inimitable oasis, you will open the door to a new, intoxicating world of spa services that fulfill the goals of founder Dr. Olivier Courtin-Clarins.  He said, “At Clarins our aim has always been to maintain your sense of well-being and enhance your beauty.”

That it does. The luxury Clarins  Day Spa is a private sanctuary in the store that offers you a unique way to experience and shop for the French company’s high-end, first class skincare products. Bear in mind:  Clarins is said to be the #1 brand of spa and skincare in many European countries.  Dr. Courtin-Clarins started out as an aesthetician in Paris, and the original Clarins spa debuted in 1954. Says Amy Pellicane, director of Clarins public relations: “We are offering a destination where you’ll find quick, efficient service.”

I experienced the Melting Honey Hot Stones Massage ($110 for 60 minutes) and performed by massage therapist Anthony, it was, well, hands down, one of the best massages of my life.  Take it from me: I get many massages in my line of  work as a professional beauty writer, and the last time I got a hot stone massage, the stones were so overheated that I flinched every time one was applied.  Not the case here. Anthony – who used to work on Wall Street, and definitely is one of the most gifted masseuses I’ve ever come in contact with – gave me an extraordinarily relaxing massage using Clarins products.  Three factors set this hot stone massage apart.  The stones are marble and slate, which retain heat better than the traditional basalt stones. Second, the stones come in four different shapes so that they complement various parts of the body – the teardrop, for example is used on the arms and legs, and the diamond, on the back. (Wow, did that diamond ever ease my taught trapezius muscles.) Third, this massage uses a proprietary professional honey gel that changes form three times – from creamy to fluid oil, and then, with the application of water, a milky emulsion.

After this delightful decadence, my facialist, Roxanna, lavished me with a 60-minute TriActive facial treatment that incorporates, according to Ms. Pellicane, “80 proprietary hand motions meant to stimulate lymphatic drainage and microcirculation – it’s a great workout for the face.” And it was. (There are no machines, and no steam or extractions.) This pure pampering ($90 for 60 minutes) included application of Clarins cleansing milk; glycolic exfoliation; massage of the face, scalp and décolletage with a gorgeous Clarins face oil containing cacao (chocolate, yes!) and a peptide-filled finishing mask. When finished, I was served a delicious cup of hot tea. A wealth of other wonderful treatments are available here, including  seven more anti-aging facial treatments, four body treatments, three exfoliating treatments, massages, body wraps, even treatments for men. Vive la difference!

Clarins has a great concept here, and if you want to continue the posh pleasures, there are a wealth of at-home products to select. This spring, Clarins is re-launching is “extra-firming” franchise with its new formulations for its Day and Night creams. The day cream, for example, contains organic banana that Ms. Pellicane says “targets the skin’s protein links.” One standout in the spring collection is the 100%-chemical-free SPF 40 Base UV protection that now comes in different tinted hues and can be used over moisturizer and under your makeup. Other highlights include the new lip Gloss Prodige that is a  hybrid of lipstick and gloss (and available in gorgeous shades), and the terrific new Instant Light Blush in several colors; each delivers a glow plus a fruity fragrance.

Which is all just a long-winded way of saying that Clarins now offers you, in every possible way, complexion perfection.

 

 

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