Miami Blog

Do you sometimes have to hide your tresses under hats and scarves? Feel like bad hair day is a description of your very existence? 

Luxe hair-care line Kerastase is offering a solution and it's titled one of our fave phrases: Our Treat. Whether your hair is color-treated or sun-damaged, dry or weak, there's a treatment for you. And tomorrow only -- get it, plus a blowout, for the price of none.

 All you have to do is visit their website, print out a coupon, call a participating salon to book your appointment and voila, you'll have flaunt-worthy hair again. And if your frizzied friends have snapped up all of the appointments, don't even think about solving your problem with a razor. The salon at Canyon Ranch is keeping the promotion going throughout the month of May. The catch: you have to pay $40 for the (usually $75) blowout.

With the end of the legislative session in Tallahassee last week, and Charlie Crist widely expected to announce his Senate intention tomorrow the dominoes should quickly fall as down ticket politicos all over the state start positioning themselves for 2010.

So far, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who has been mentioned as a possible democratic candidate for Governor or Senate, has decided to serve out her term. St. Pete's Republican Mayor, Rick Baker, won't be running for anything either.

When Alex Sink, Florida's CFO, previously announced she'd just run for re-election instead of trying for Senate it was assumed it was because her eye was ultimately on the Governor's chair, she didn't count on Crist entering the Senate fray leaving the Gov's mansion temptingly vacant. Though, she seems to have backed off her earlier statement, and it's pretty much widely expected the Dems will rally around her should she run.

Bill McCullom, the state's Republican Attorney General, is expected to enter the Gov's race, and Ag Commissioner Charles Bronson, who is term limited, has announced he may as well.

Adam Putnam is expected to mount a serious challenge for the Agriculture gig, but that leaves the possibility of big question marks in the CFO and Attorney General position. Who would you like to see? Anyone local? We hate to keep pimping out Manny Diaz, but he still hasn't announced his post-mayoral plans.

 

Recession blues are so not pretty, and increasingly, consumers have been cutting back on life's little luxuries. That definitely includes spa visits and appointments for facials, massages, and manicures.

Well, here's a treat for frugal fashionistas and budgeting beauties who want to stack paper and still look fabulous.

Spa Week takes place from April 13 to 19. Over 750 spas nationwide will be offering up to three spa services, normally $100 or more, for a discounted price of $50. And you need to book an appointment ASAP if you want to get in on this sweet deal! Trust me - speaking from personal experience, these spots get filled up fast.

 
All kinds of establishments will be offering the discounted deals -- day spas, med spas, and fancy-pants resorts. This year's list of participating venues ranges from West Palm Beach and Boca, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, to Miami Beach, Coral Gables, and downtown. Here are the local offerings, so all you need to do is pick up the phone and dial!

If you're a woman of color -- even in a city as beautifully diverse as Miami -- it's easy to walk into a department store and feel like your options are limited. Even some of the biggest brands have the audacity to offer less than six shades of foundation, or eyeshadows with pathetic amounts of pigment that barely show up on brown skin. 

Now that Pretty in the City has been touring the salons and spas of Miami for over a year (we missed our own anniversary - January 14!) we can look back and reminisce on some of the finest establishments in the city. And we gotta say, we've seen the top of the mountain and it is beautiful.

The minute I met Michelle O'Neill and Irene Cuesta, creators of Aromessence body and beauty products, at last year's Honey Shine Holiday Bazaar, I knew I was on to something special. The ladies were so genuine and their products smelled so heavenly! And the story behind these all-natural aromatherapy-infused products is just as sweet.

Not every Christmas gift needs to be something you can wrap in shiny paper and stash under a tree. If you ask me, the best kinds of gifts are given in a small box, or an envelope. Yup -- Mrs. Pretty in the City isn't receiving averse to jewelry, gift cards, and especially spa certificates for the holiday season. Here are the top ten things we think any Miami beauty lover would adore for the season. Pay attention, significant others and spouses - get your lady something off this list and you'll definitely be her Christmas angel.

1 -- An oceanfront massage at the Spa at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne. In case you haven't heard, this Ritz has an extra-special spa that Lots of local spas offer fabulous massage packages. But we can only think of one spa that faces the Atlantic, and provides massages in a beautiful private gazebo. What could be more relaxing or romantic than the Just for Two package? A 50 minute couple's massage, then manicures and facials for him and her. Approximately three hours, and it's only $565. A steal, no? No?

If you whiz through Dadeland Mall's parking lot anytime this weekend, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you encounter. The cell-phone wielding SUV moms will be smiling, instead of giving you the finger as they steal your parking spot. The typically sullen mallrat teens will have a spring in their step and an unusually sunny disposition. Is it the spirit of Christmas? Kind of.

Thanks to Clinique's Happy Weekend, holiday shopping might actually be fun!