However, after pondering the Mexican theme of the night, I had an absolute brainwave as to how to relate it to Body Café’s business.

Have you ever heard of Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954)?  She was an incredibly famous Mexican artist who took up painting whilst recovering from a serious bus accident.  Frida painted numerous self-portraits and always included her rather striking moustache and superb monobrow.  In fact, her facial hair became a symbol, and to this day in museums across the world, you can purchase all sorts of Frida Kahlo moustachioed memorabilia.  And, get this…there are lookalike competitions where women attempt to naturally imitate Frida’s look.

I have a family member who has been dealing with facial hair from puberty, and has always found it a great source of embarrassment.  The therapists at Body Café have been trained specifically in making your visit relaxing and as stress free as possible.  I can guarantee that they’ve seen things far worse than your issue with facial hair.  Everyone has it, but some people are blessed with thicker, darker or coarser hair than others.  If it has been troubling or embarrassing you for a while, maybe now is the time to book an appointment and gain back that self confidence you may have lost. 

The team at Body Café can have you NOT looking like Friday Kahlo in a jiffy.  Both Brow Tidys and Upper Lip waxing start at $20, and are reasonably quick procedures which will have you in and out within 15 minutes.   FYI, it may not be the least hurtiest* thing you can do at Body Cafe, but the results are fantastic.  And if you need some distraction, the therapists will be able to regale you with stories of the fabulous Christmas Party.

YM

*Hurtiest – no other word seemed to cut it for what I was trying to say

My best friend at school had really good looking feet – high arches with long shapely toes.  There were no weird hairs or patches of dry skin, bunions or calluses.  My toes would curl involuntarily whenever her feet were paraded past mine. 

Summers on the beach were spent with my toes buried deep into the sand while her feet tiptoed gracefully up and down the shoreline, and tweety birds floated around her gloriously windswept hair.

Luckily for you (and me), Body Café has a fantastic range of Pedicure treatments available.  From the Paraffin treatment all the way through to the top of the range “Visual Delight”, Megan and her team have options aplenty.  Imagine a warm foot soak, followed by a trim and file of your nails, a tidy of the cuticles then a foot and lower leg massage you can only dream about topped off with the nails being painted in the colour of your choice.  Total bliss!

After all, it’s practically summer again.  And you really don’t want to be like me with your toes buried in the sand all summer long, do you?  More than anything, toe and foot burial leaves really bad tan lines on your ankles.

YM

click right here to see it!:::    Body Cafe & NZLoyal

Each client you recommend wins YOU $$ for you to spend where ever you like, or for you to take advantage of the Body Cafe Big Spender & spend them in clinic. you will be issued with your own card that magically gets the $$ loaded onto it!

We'll let you know more details soon, but for now, go & check it out the video! (go on, you know you really want to!)

MM

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Body-Cafe/129191010427039?sk=app_135607783795

I’m determined to move on from Ancient Egypt.  I can’t believe how innovative and into beauty those women were.  It is truly incredible.  Anyway, I’ve leapt forward several thousand years because it was time. Seriously.

But all l have to say for the Middle Ages is “ewww” actually, make that “EWWW”.  Girlfriends had a warped sense of beauty back then.  Totally warped.  Thank goodness we’re not all there now because:

1. We’d all be furiously plucking our hairlines to give ourselves a higher forehead (ala Tyra Banks, a fivehead);
2. The Catholic Church frowned upon beauty as sinful, so we would have been forced to wear shapeless sacks for dresses;
3. We’d regularly pop down to see the local apothecary to be drained of a substantial amount of blood, to give ourselves a paler complexion; and
4. As well as “blood letting”, we’d whip up a paste of chalk, lead and flour and use that as a foundation.  Lead?  Ugh.

On the upside (kinda), perfume became extremely popular during this period because the forests were depleted of trees and the fumes from burning coal to heat water were ghastly.  Therefore, people didn’t bathe, and quite frankly for a couple of centuries, it was pretty pongy. 

But the spunky Crusaders (ok, yes, I used a bit of poetic licence) returned from their journeys bearing gifts for their whanau including perfume, and it wasn’t long before every man and his dog was mixing up a concoction by infusing herbs and flowers, and applying that to their pungent skin.  Gotta love the quick fix.  How ironic is it that 800 years later, we still like to be brought perfume from overseas.  It must be fully ingrained into our DNA.

Speaking of fragrances, have you smelt Body Café’s Coconilla range yet?  It is divine.  Maid Marian would be so jealous of this gorgeous concoction.  The range includes massage bars, body lotion, bath salts, hand & body cream, hand & body wash, soap, body polish and even a candle.  There’s plenty of options and definitely something for everyone.  Pop in and say hi to the team and try some of the samples if you haven’t done so already.

And, don't forget to count your blessings that its not 1411.  I will be.

YM

About two months ago, I started renovations and had to take down the mirror in the bathroom and the mirror in the living room.  Both had great natural light and were perfect for putting on makeup and tweezing my eyebrows.  Obviously the mirror in the bedroom isn’t  up to scratch in the lighting department.

Once I had my heart rate back under control, I was able to think straight and the first thought that came to mind was “Body Café will save me!”.  One tweet later and my appointment was made.

Tara at the Victoria Street clinic took me and my two caterpillars under her wing and dealt to us.  For those of you who’ve not tried waxing, I believe that eyebrows are the least painful part of the body to get waxed.  I guess it is because the skin is already quite taut in that area. 

Tara offered me the choice of either waxing or tweezing, but I chose waxing because of the little blonde blighters that had crept up on me since the reno’s began.  A discussion about renovations and interior design followed and within ten minutes Tara was putting a soothing cream onto my newly shaped brows. 

Because the brow tidy went so well, I’m just going to leave my brow shaping to the Body Café team from now on.  It saves me the hassle, and means that I can have a nice, relaxed natter about whatever’s on my mind whilst being pampered on their comfortable beds.

In closing, I’d just like to say…need a brow renovation?  Make an appointment with Body Café, you won’t be disappointed.  Promise.

YM

When my sister and were little we used to pretend that bubble bath was for kids and bath salts were for princesses.  At Christmas time, good old Santa usually remembered our preference for bath salts.  The little cubes would dissolve away, and we’d soak away our 5 and 6 year old worries in luxurious bliss between Christmas and New Years when the cubes would invariably run out.

Where did bath salts originate from?  Imagine my surprise when I found out it wasn’t Ancient Egypt!  Thank goodness for that.  China lays claim to having developed bath salts in 2700BC.  Bath salts mimic the properties of natural hot springs.  They can leave the skin soft and supple, and often aid in exfoliation.

Hamilton’s own Body Café has launched bath salts as part of its new line of products.  With sleek, stylish and understated packaging, Body Café’s bath salts have an exquisite coconilla fragrance, and are sure to help you soak away the stresses and strains of modern life.   A large bottle will set you back just $19.  Go on, you deserve it!

If only Body Café’s version had been around when I was 6.

YM

Besides Egypt, the people of ancient China, Japan, India and Greece also practiced massage.  The Chinese are credited for developing hot stone massage.  Best. Invention. Ever.  Well played ancient China, well played.

Last week, my friend Janine (who took the gorgeous photo above) and I booked the double room and had a hot stone massage together (as in two of us, two separate beds and two therapists).  Janine's therapist was Tara who she generally sees for all her beauty treatments at Body Café, and Stephanie was my therapist for the day.

Tara and Steph gave us a moment to strip off our tops and we were told to lie face down on the scrummy, comfortable beds.  A towel was provided for modesty and warmth.

I am not a touchy feely person.  My last massage was forced upon me by my sister in Bali for a birthday many moons ago.  Admittedly, it was lovely back then, but not as divine as the hot stone massage I received from Stephanie.

Stephanie was so adept, that it times it felt like there were two pairs of hands working on my tired old body.  Every so often I could feel new, warm massage oil being applied to my back, but how it got there, I’ve got no idea because Stephanie’s hands never seemed to stop moving. 

The room was so silent.  Exquisite background music was playing, but not the type of trickling stream music that makes you want to powder your nose.  It was just the restful sounds of nature including tweeting birds and rustling leaves.

I nearly fell asleep, and that’s saying something.  Being a highly-strung non-touchy feely person (HSNTFP for short), who would have thought that a hot stone massage would make me so relaxed? 

The one thing that kept me awake was the thought that I could never, ever perform massages for a job because I’m sure my tummy would rumble or my shoes would squeak or my earrings would jangle or something! Honestly, there wasn’t a sound.  It was completely blissful.

I cannot recommend a hot stone massage enough.  I’ve even talked my Mum into having one and she’s a HSNTFP too!  And, if you’re slightly nervous about it, book the double room at Body Cafe and take a friend with you.  It’ll be the highlight of your week.

YM

BUT, that’s all coming to an end in September (which by the way starts on Thursday of this week)!  Our staff would REALLY like if it you’d step out of your comfort zone and perhaps book a treatment you haven’t tried before. 

Maybe it’s time for a lash tint and eyebrow tidy?  Have you considered a spray tan?  What about a skin rejuvenation treatment?  Perhaps you could try a forearm, chin, whole leg or even a hair-raising Brazilian wax! 

September is Body Café’s “step out of your comfort zone” month.  Treat yourself and try something new.

Oh, and keep an eye on this blog…we've got a great special coming up for September.  All will be revealed.

YM

It seems as though we may be in a bit of a historical time warp. This week, we were hoping to move past Ancient Egypt, but imagine our surprise when we discovered that besides Brazilian style waxes, the women were keen on nail polish.

In Ancient Egypt, the leaves of the henna shrub were dried then ground into a paste and then mixed with oil and Arabic gum which was applied to the nails.

The Chinese also formulated a nail polish several thousand years ago. Their concoction was made of Arabic gum, egg whites, gelatine and beeswax (seriously, who had the time to figure this stuff out?!).

In China, royalty often wore gold or silver coloured polish.  In Egypt, Queen Nefertiti preferred bright red while Cleopatra had a thing for crimson coloured polish.  Neither wore pink polish, as that was considered beneath them.  

Whizzing back to modern day, and luckily for you, Body Café stocks the OPI range of nail polishes.  A family owned business started in 1981, OPI products have a reputation for quality, innovation and excellence. 

At Body Café, we’re now running a manicure special, and if you buy your OPI polish from our range in the clinic, you will receive a voucher for a free nail file and paint with Michelle, Steph or Liana. 

Alternatively, book in for an “Island Inspiration” manicure and you’ll get a free upgrade to our “Pleasure Island Blend”.  These offers with purchase expire at the end of August, so get in quick Hah, see what we did there?

Red, crimson…pink, etc…the choice is yours.  Nef and Cleo might spin in their graves if you go for pink though.  Just sayin’.

YM