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We're about done with the drab rainy weather we're enduring here in Illinois, so we're turning our thoughts to sunny beaches, relaxation and Spring Break. In preparation, we've all started our daily self-tanning regiments so that we're looking beautiful and bronzed by the time we take off for the islands. Our self tanning regiment of choice is, unanimously, the range of St. Tropez. Forget "turning orange" or gross hands or streaks, lines or splotches. Using a truly unique and professional formulation, St. Tropez tanning lotions and whipped bronzers create an even and natural looking tan, every time. The neatest part is that St. Tropez offers a variety of products that give lighter tans or darker tans, quicker tans or gradual tans with special products for legs, face or body. For the month of March, receive a FREE St. Tropez Everyday Airbrush (usually $36) with any $50 St. Tropez order. Order soon; our supplies are limited! Click here to start shopping St. Tropez!

Phyto has recently revamped their entire Phyto Pro line and released eight new Phyto Professional products. These salon quality products have been expertly formulated to provide great hold, shine, shape and flex in a variety of hair fashions.

But what is it about the "Professional" that sets these products apart? All of Phyto's products use a botanical formula to provide hair with the essential nutrients needed for professional looking styles. However, Phyto's newest Professional products introduce acacia collagen to every single formula. This miraculous active is used in hair and skin products to provide deep moisturizing.  In the Phyto Professional products, acacia collagen hydrates and protects hair from external damage like sun, heat styling, weather dryness and pollutants, while smoothing the hair cuticle.  The result: hydrated hair with a gorgeous natural shine and a silky, healthy looking finish.

Phyto describes the Phyto Professional range as for "the eco-conscious, hip stylist and consumer alike who sees that fashion and beauty combined with the finest plant research and ingredients is the ultimate indulgence." (source)  We totally agree! We're proud to offer all of these incredible products for purchase at Beauty of a Site. Click here to browse the great Phyto Professional products!

Private red- what every woman wants! My pet peeve: standing in the drug store guessing what shade of lipstick will look best on me.  You can rub it on your hand, look at it under different lights, but four tubes of lipstick (and many dollars) later, you're still without a great shade of red lipstick. Our staff loves DuWop makeup because they have a solution for everything! DuWop's Private Red Lipstick is a classic shade of red, which after applied, adapts to each woman's individual skin tone.  The perfect red, the very first time! Receive a FREE tube of Private Red lipstick with any $30 DuWop order in January at www.beautyofasite.com!  Click here to start shopping DuWop!

Our newest favorite gifts for this holiday season are Phyto haircare gift sets. They are even in a super cute packages!  Check out the awesome savings you can get by buying these as sets instead of individual products: Buy the Phyto Coveted Collection Gift Set, valued at $100, for only $65! The set includes travel sizes of the following items:

• Phyto 7 Daily Hydrating Botanical Cream
• Phytodefrisant Botanical Hair Relaxing Balm
• Phytomist Instant Hydrating Conditioner
• Phytovolume Actif Volumizing Spray
• Phytolisse Shine Serum

Or try the Phytocitrus Ultimate Color Care Gift Set, usually $80 now for $62.  Sealed with a bow, this citrus-y set includes:

• Phytocitrus Shampoo
• Phytocitrus Mask
• Citrus Scented Candle Tin

Check out these unique, thoughtful and practical gift sets for the hair care lover on your list.  A gorgeous way to show that you care!

UPDATE: These gift sets are sold out, but we have others for you!

• Phyto Winter Essentials for Dry Hair: $62 value for $48!
• Phyto Winter Essentials for Damaged Hair: $56 value for $48!
• Phyto Huile Soyeuse and Secret de Nuit Hair Set: $59 value for $48!
• Phyto Huile Supreme and Secret de Nuit Hair Set: $59 value for $48!

See all Phyto products here!

The perfect excuse to let your hair go that second day: Blow Faux Dry Dry Shampoo.  Absorbing oil and adding volume, Faux Dry eliminates second day greasy hair on contact.  With every use, Faux Dry helps to extend your hair an extra day, effectively "shampooing" it without the need for water. You call it a miracle product.

So... how do you use it?

Make sure the cap is shut and shake it well with each use.  Hold the bottle about 8 inches away from your hair and open the cap. Once turned upside-down, the super-smart spout will pour controlled amounts of a fine powder onto your hair. Apply along roots in about four sections of hair and massage into your scalp. Comb your hair as usual to move the product through the length of your hair (for more volume- work through hair with fingers). And voila- hair style day two. No washing needed.  :)

Click here to browse all of the Blow products.

Smells seem to create the fondest, clearest and most cherished memories from my childhood. Crunchy leaves and campfires, heavy sweaters out of the dryer, pumpkin pies, cinnamon and spiced cider are some of my favorite smells in the world and help me settle comfortably into the swing of the Fall season. And now that I don't always have time to bake, and my house in the burbs doesn't allow for campfires, I rely on Aunt Sadie's Candles to help set the mood for the changing seasons:

The Aunt Sadie's Autumn Leaves Candle is totally my favorite.  It smells of spice & cinnamon and most of all: pumpkin.  I might not need to bake any pumpkin pies this season with this burning in my kitchen! Absolutely lovely. And cute to boot!

Aunt Sadie's Autumn Bouquet Candle is so unique, it's hard to describe.  A fresh and unspicy scent, the Autumn Bouquet candle is scented with cranberry & oranges.  I know it sounds funny, but it truly is reminiscent of the best part of fall, and a fresh change from the heavier and spicy scents we often associate with the season. Whatever scent you may be searching for, Aunt Sadie's most likely has the perfect candle to offer.  Hand made using premium wax and burning for nearly 70 hours, these candles are a bargain!

Shop for all Aunt Sadie's Candles here!

Check it out!  One of Beauty of a Site's favorite products, the Kai Room & Linen Spray, was prominently featured in O, Oprah's Magazine, for August 2009!  In this issue, Oprah highlights "a few things we think are just great" on the "O List," and includes the linen spray among these popular products.  O Magazine says:

Kai's body butter and body buffer are two of Oprah's "Favorite Things," and now its subtle room spray will infuse your linens and living space with scents of lily, jasmine, white musk, and gardenia.

We can't get over how fresh and wonderful our office smells whenever we mist the Room & Linen Spray a couple of times, but we can't talk enough about how relaxing it is to jump into bed linens that subtly smell like a "bouquet in a bottle."

Yee! It's time to put away our heavy winter scents and burst into the smells of spring! Think Hawaii... gardenias... jasmine and lilies. Think of delicately sweet breezes paired with fresh greens - that's Kai. It's been featured in Style Magazine's Top 5 (back in '02), US Weekly, Allure, Extra!, InStyle, and the body buffer from the Kai line was one of Oprah's Favorite Things! Kai Perfume is a favorite to celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, Pamela Anderson, Tyra Banks, Kelly Ripa, Alyssa Milano, Mary J. Blige, Julia Roberts, and Charlize Theron (not to mention our staff!) - just to name a few! Kai also is available in Perfume Oil - a little dab packs a big punch! Beauty of a Site offers the full line of Kai products - check it out here and don't forget about their great perfume - it's a great gift to give or receive!

I always look forward to the days the UPS man brings the Eggwhite Facial Soaps - you can smell their deliciously soft scent as they walk through the front door. They give me a quick pick-me-up as I'm unpacking them and usually make me smile as I laugh at the cute little chickens on the package. But a nice smell and cute chickens aren't the only great thing about these soaps. Gaining inspiration from European and Scandinavian old-world soap making traditions, these Swedish soaps are all natural in color, fragrance, and ingredients.  These Eggwhite Facial Soaps stem from an old school facial recipe that is delicate enough to use daily and each bar lasts through several weeks of everyday use. Also, one box contains six facials soaps - so there's plenty to share with your friends and family! We sell tons of this soap and would love to hear from those of you who enjoy using it as well! What sets these eggwhite facial soaps apart from others? What has the eggwhite facial soap done for you?

Summer's coming and it's time to get our bodies looking and feeling healthy! Here at Beauty of a Site, we drink lots of water and feel that it's the best way to complement your daily skincare and fitness routine! Now we all know that water helps rehydrate and restore our bodies, but here's a few things we didn't know:

• A healthy person can drink up to 3 gallons (that's 48 8oz. glasses) of water per day! But consuming large amounts of water in a short amount of time (especially during strenuous exercise) can lead to water intoxication. We recommend sticking to the old adage of eight, 8oz. glasses per day.
• Water boosts energy, aids in stabilizing and increasing your metabolism, and can definitely help with mid-day fatigue. Grab a glass in the afternoon, just before you usually hit your energy down-slope, and feel the difference!
• Water is what makes your favorite moisturizer work wonders! Water is the most vital element when it comes to skincare. Without it, the skin rejuvenation process would cease, cellular formation would significantly slow, and your figure would begin to look like a dried up Swamp Thing! Topical moisturizing is still recommended (we like Dermelect Cosmeceuticals Rapid Repair Facial Moisturizer), but coupling it with a tall glass of healthy H2O will guarantee its effectiveness.
• Tap water is just as good as bottled water! Bottled water is purified tap water, nothing more, nothing less. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “An estimated 75 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle—sometimes further treated, sometimes not.” With this kind of research, Beauty of a Site recommends sticking to the tap and finding a cute, reusable water bottle to compliment your lifestyle. We recommend the eco-chic Principessa Aluminum Water Bottle - it beats anything plastic and proceeds from its sales are donated to breast cancer research (awesome karmic bonus!).
• Water is the only substance on earth that transcends all three states of physical matter - gas, liquid, and solid. That's mind blowing....but wait, the human brain is two-thirds water! 'Nough said!

How do you incorporate a healthy dose of water into your day? Let us know and comment on this post!

It's time to put away your winter clothes, furry boots, and your furry legs! While we've all enjoyed not necessarily having to keep up every week on waxing, it's definitely time to get back into a routine and Beauty of a Site has just the right products to remove the stress and the hair!

Shaving and depilatory creams are not always the answer for hair removal since they only cut the hair at the surface of the skin. The hair grows back quickly and coarsely. Although waxing removes the hair from the root, it damages the skin and is extremely painful. With waxing, you need pre/post treatment lotions to repair the damage done to the skin. Sugaring is gentler than waxing; however, it lacks effectiveness in removing all types of hair from the root. With sugaring you are still supplied with after treatment lotions. Moom combines the benefits of these two methods without their drawbacks. The premium ingredients, each carefully selected for its unique properties, will act as skin enhancer in different ways.

Worried about waxing? Moom comes with detailed instructions and its natural ingredients ensure that you won't end up with a serious skin irritation or a horrifying rash! Also, here are some fun tips on waxing that might help you ease your cares and your hairs:

• A few days before your menstrual cycle is the WORST time to initiate a hair removal regiment. You're skin is much more sensitive and you'll be sore longer than you'd like!
• Make sure you have a proper wax warming unit. Hard wax in a warmer should become the consistency of peanut butter (mmmm!) and stay peanut-buttery throughout your waxing experience.
• If you have sensitive skin or often experience skin irritation after waxing, take an over-the-counter anti-histamine before waxing. It will help prevent unwanted bumps and rashes.
• And last, but certainly not least.....NEVER, under any circumstances, wax sunburned skin!! You don't want to know (or feel) what happens - eek!

Got questions on waxing or Moom? Leave a comment! Check out Moom products here!

With Punxsutawney Phil predicting six more weeks of winter I just can’t seem to make the best of these cold days before spring finally overcomes those lions and lambs and comes full swing. I can’t wait for the day when it doesn’t get dark at 5pm and I can walk my dog til 7 or garden after work. So for the next four weeks I’ve decided to beat the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and try a few new routines to get me moving:

• Open the blinds before I go to bed. This way I will wake up to natural light and fight those vampire-ish tendencies to avoid the day.
• Participate in laughter yoga once a day. Check out www.laughteryoga.org for daily laughter yoga videos. (This is way more fun that you might think!)
• Drink hot non-caffeinated tea - warmth + herbs = bliss! Try Tea Forte White Ginger Pear Loose Leaf Tea or check out all our Tea Forte tea products here.
• Say goodbye to chocolate and hello to sweet breads. Carbs can help increase levels of serotonin in your body and generally amplify your mental capacity – making you feel smarter and happier!
• No more napping. Naps are a good way to kill a snowy day but often leave you more lethargic than when you started. Skip your nap and start your spring cleaning early – the light exercise of simple cleaning will give you the energy boost you’ve been looking for.

Got any easy ways to beat the SAD? Let us know!