Holiday Body Scrub: Using ingredients you are likely to have in your kitchen already during the holiday season, such as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar, you can create an exfoliating Holiday Body Scrub that can be put in a decorative jar with a ribbon for a beautiful homemade gift.

Holiday Body Scrub Recipe:

You’ll need:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup almond ... Read More »]]>

The moisture-depriving winter air is just around the corner! Why not get a head start on your beauty routine by following these tips and recipes by Erika Katz, author of Bonding Over Beauty. Here are some of Erika’s tips and recipes:

Holiday Body Scrub: Using ingredients you are likely to have in your kitchen already during the holiday season, such as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar, you can create an exfoliating Holiday Body Scrub that can be put in a decorative jar with a ribbon for a beautiful homemade gift.

Holiday Body Scrub Recipe:

You’ll need:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup almond oil or olive oil

1 tbsp vitamin E oil

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients well and add to pretty jar and tie with a ribbon for a beautiful homemade gift.  To use:  Massage the scrub all over your body to gently exfoliate the dead skin.  Rinse with warm water.

If you don’t have the extra time to make your own, these two are highly recommended by many:

1. BlissHot Salt Scrub, $36

2. Giovanni Hot Chocolate Sugar Scrub with Crushed Cocoa Beans, $13.99

Cranberry Anti-aging Face Mask: Using fresh cranberries, red grapes and grapefruit juice, you can easily create a mask that exfoliates, tones and provides skin with necessary vitamins and antioxidants.

Cranberry Anti-aging Face Mask Recipe:

You’ll need:

1 cup fresh cranberries

1 cup seedless red grapes

2 teaspoons grapefruit juice

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Directions:

Mix ingredients until it becomes paste-like. Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes and let it thicken. Remove from the fridge and let sit about 10 minutes. Spread the mixture on clean, dry skin, avoiding the eye area. Relax for 15 minutes, and then rinse off with warm water.

The fruit acid is a gentle exfoliant and the grapefruit juice is a toner. Cranberries are rich in vitamin a, which has antioxidant properties. They are also rich in vitamin c, helping with collagen production.

Here are some other great face masks to try:

1. Sephora Fresh Rose Face Mask, $55

2. Sephora Fresh Umbrian Clay Face Treatment, $48

Braided Headband: Save your holiday ribbons. Take three and knot them together at the top. Tape the knot to a hard surface and braid the ribbons for a beautiful braided headband!

Essential Oil Bath: Add a few drops eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil and spearmint oil to water for a relaxing bath that relieves congestion.

Essential Oil bath for Relieve Congestion Recipe:

You’ll need:

6 drops eucalyptus oil

3 drops peppermint oil

3 drops spearmint oil

Directions:

Add the oils to running bath water. Be sure to avoid your eyes.  Relax in the tub and inhale the steam from the bath.

Other great at-home beauty recipes:

Fall Facial toner

You’ll need:

¼ cup witch hazel

¼ cup green tea

¼ cup grapefruit juice

Directions:

Mix the three ingredients and put into a spritz bottle.  After cleansing, spray the tone onto a piece of cotton and clean excess dirt and oil off your face.

Honey Vanilla Bath Foam

You’ll need:

1 cup of olive oil

½ Cup of honey

1 tbsp vanilla

½ Cup of liquid castile soap

Directions:

Mix together these ingredients and put in a beautiful jar to give as a gift.  To use:  add 5 drops to running bath water and luxuriate in the foam.

Kaitlin Vocker is a senior Marketing student at Louisiana Tech University, graduating November of 2011. In her spare time, Kaitlin enjoys being a freelance writer and a Marketing/Public Relations intern for Chic Galleria Publications, fashion in general, and spending time with her friends, family, and fiance. Her style icons are Rachel Zoe, Brigitte Bardot, and the Kardashian sisters. Visit her celebrity style blog at http://www.secretivestyle.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @SecretiveStyle.

Attendees will also enjoy dim sum and drink specials. The ... Read More »]]>

‘Tis the season for giving–and on Wednesday, December 8, you can give in more ways than one at the “At Your Service 2 ” holiday party and auction. A wide variety of services will be auctioned off: guitar lessons, cooking classes, dance lessons, dinners, and more. In addition to nabbing a holiday gift for a loved one, proceeds will support the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization. CACF is dedicated to the well-being of Asian Pacific American children and families in New York City.

Attendees will also enjoy dim sum and drink specials. The event will be hosted by comedian Helen Hong and music will be provided by DJ VNA.

Visit CACF.org for more details.

Plushy Feely Corp. has just released Kimochis {www.kimochis.com} … Toys with Feelings Inside. Awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2009 Seal of Excellence and Best Vacation Products by Dr. Toy.

Are you a Kimochi Cloud? A Kimochi Bug or Kimochi Huggtopus?

Kimochi (KEY.MO.CHEE) means “feeling” in Japanese and each 13 inch Kimochis character comes with 3 plush “feelings” and a how-to- Feel Guide with tips for parents on ... Read More »]]>

Kimochis is a truly dynamic and innovative brand that is growing as we speak. A brand run by mom entrepreneurs! With an already strong following, even celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Garner can’t resist.

Plushy Feely Corp. has just released Kimochis {www.kimochis.com} … Toys with Feelings Inside. Awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2009 Seal of Excellence and Best Vacation Products by Dr. Toy.

Are you a Kimochi Cloud? A Kimochi Bug or Kimochi Huggtopus?

Kimochi (KEY.MO.CHEE) means “feeling” in Japanese and each 13 inch Kimochis character comes with 3 plush “feelings” and a how-to- Feel Guide with tips for parents on connecting with their kids during emotional moments. Feelings can be messy…Kimochis can help!

Kimochi’s goal is to create compelling stories and loveable characters that will build confidence and self-esteem in our children and serve to strengthen parent-child connections. The toys are for everyone and help with parent-child connections: children with autism to a child who wants to play, the adorable characters help children express their feelings more easily. Younger children can use Kimochis to learn to identify feelings while older children can use the Kimochi to work through communication challenges.

The stuffed toys are revolutionary in that they’re not just stuffed toys. Kimochis is helping kids learn to express their emotions in POSITIVE ways, in hopes of possibly helping to prevent future tragedies. They are meant to teach children and parents how to interact with each other and express themselves, developing their emotional intelligence with the Kimochis Feel Guide book – teaching  parents on connecting with their kids during emotional moments. The bag of emotions (happy, sad, grumpy) allows the child to relate and easily express their emotions to their friends, parents , teachers – holding an emotion and describing what they’re feeling and why.

Now is the right time to invest in the emotional intelligence of our children. With Kimochi, all children and adults can relate to them and it opens the opportunity for communication and education.

Nina Rappaport-Rowan, Kimochis Founder and mompreneur, was struck with the horrible Columbine High School incident, thinking how could something like this have happened? It made her dig deep and question why. What is missing? What are we not doing right with our children that they can be so disconnect and so self destructive? This very thing was the inspiration that drove Nina to create the Kimochis. The goal is to get parents and kids talking to each other. Creating original children’s products and animated family entertainment, the company wants to create compelling stories and loveable characters that will build confidence and self-esteem in our children and serve to strengthen parent-child connections.

Nina was the perfect person to launch such an idea! She is a leader in the field of animation. Producer of the 1998 Academy Award winning Best Animated Short Film, Bunny, Nina is known for her expert knowledge of computer animation and her skill in developing teams that can tackle innovative and complex CG projects. She is primarily know as a Producer in the family entertainment industry overseeing children’s books, animated feature films and animated TV projects. She has other amazing moms on the Kimochi team, helping build the brand.

Nina and her team are reaching out to kids and families in hospital situations, for social workers, adoption and special needs. Kimochis is a toy for everyone with the added benefits!

Chic Galleria and Kimochi is excited to be giving away a Cloud character to 1 lucky Chic Galleria reader.  Just leave a comment on this article and answer this question, “What is Cloud’s favorite color?” You will probably have to visit the website to find the answer! The winner will be chosen at random from those who leave a comment and the winner will be announced November 16, 2009. www.kimochis.com

Congratulations Kiley Smith!