Poopsie Daisy: The Solid Waste Face (Mask)

*Sniff. sniff.*

Ok, everybody needs to check the bottoms of their shoes. Or the contents of their face mask.

The latest beauty trend we are definitely not stepping in is a face mask said to brighten and whiten skin. The magical ingredient: Uguisu no fun. That's Japanese for "nightingale excrement" (let's pause here for a collective shudder followed by an, "Ewwww!").

The bird droppings are turned into powder before being added to a special face mask. And before it's smeared on faces, this poo-wder is treated with high heat to kill off bacteria.

But...are you ready for this? One bright skin-seeking spa gal described the mask as, "Creamy and rich" (gag me!).

Better idea? These products that brighten skin without the poopy parts:

Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Protective Moisturizer

Brightens, hydrates, and protects with plant extracts, thankyouverymuch.

Rx For Brown Skin Bright and Healthy Regimen Set

Say so long to dry flakes and ashy color, and hello to hydration.

Want more excrement-free brightener? We got 'em. Hey, I'm all too happy to help.

Are You Wearing Any Underwear?

Underwear: a Yes or a No?

I'm talking about when you're at the spa (although this could apply to all the Hollywood starlets who can't enter or exit their vehicles without giving the world visual confirmation).

Do you doff your duds, or wear "the good underwear" for your spa-aaaah time treatments?

Bliss just launched a new blog, "Words of Bliss-dom," and kicked off with the answer to this massage table twister. Rounding up the opinions of experts - real-life massage therapists! - they've got the pros and cons of panty-free muscle rubs (why does that sound so tacky?).

So...would you? Do you?

No!No! Take 1: I Ain’t Skeered!

I'm a little excited and a little nervous about this No! No! experiment. I'm not scared—I did a test patch on my shin last Friday. It's not scary, but actually pleasant and worked perfectly. There's no pain at all, and actually a nice warmth. My awesome coworker, Leela, did a patch on her leg as well. We were both impressed. I'm just nervous because I'll be removing my chest hair once or twice a week (and sharing pics—whoa!). For a guy who's not shaved my chest in years (lost a bet in college), it sounds like a chore. I decided that I'll also be leaving part of my chest to be shaved by razor blade only. That way we'll be able to truly gauge over several weeks the slowing of hair growth from using the No! No! versus a blade. So far, if I shaved a large part of my body daily (no, I’ve got great leg hair, thank you), I'd probably get a No! No! already. It's painless, and doesn't use a blade. Shaving my face is horrible enough as it is—it's something I dread doing (can you say styptic pencil? ouch!). Maybe one day, they'll make a version safe for facial hair. Hint, hint ... —Cade Peterson, Sephora

A New Kind of Day Care?

When the holidays rolled in, did you ever find yourself glaring at your younger sister when she opened her revamped version of your favorite toy? This brings present envy to a whole new level. According to MSNBC, the International Spa Association is reporting that nearly half of the 14,000 spas in the U.S. are offering Child and Teen services. Children in grade school are receiving services such as massages, nail care, facials and hair removal. At Eclips Kid's Day Spa in McLean, Va. little Ashley and Suzzie are ditching the clowns and princesses and having their birthday parties at the spa. Eclips has done so well they are opening a second, larger location in Asburn, Va. When did the old school Birthday Bashes go out of style? When did eight year-olds have style? Instead of gold stars and cartoon time, parents are using the spa as a reward. “My daughter is a good girl and she makes good choices." Says Kiddie Spa supporter Pam Cappo. "I want to reward her and let her know that I appreciate that she’s a good kid.” Whether all this pampering is creating a new crop of princesses or girls fixated on beauty too young, is too soon to call. -Gabrielle Katz, Sephora

A Spa-tastic Experience at LA's Ole Henriksen Spa

All you Ole Henriksen fans out there, if you haven't made a trip to his spa in LA, you don't know what you're missing. The massage was more than amazing (practically therapeutic) and best of all I was pampered head to toe with Ole's signature African Red Tea body treatment. After a deep exfoliation with an organic sugar scrub, my therapist drizzled organic O.J. from about half a dozen oranges onto my skin, then layered on a yummy mixture of yogurt and African Red Tea. After a warm wrap in this detoxing mask, a rainfall from shower-heads above rinsed everything off as I relaxed face on a comfy table. Of course my treatment wasn't complete without a slathering of African Red Tea Self-Heating Body Soufflé and Face Mist, then I was sent back to my hotel floating on a cloud. I would have taken pictures, but thought they'd be a little risqué (even though I felt more like a pig getting dressed for a luau), so I'll share a photo of me and my skilled therapist Briony, whom you must ask for when you go! Look at me, I'm glowing! I can hardly wait to go back! — Joannie McIntyre, Sephora

A Spa Kind of Week

Nothing like starting your week with some torrential rain and flooding, eh? (See: Ordering lunch online.) But if you dare to venture out—by cab or canoe, your choice—make your way to the nearest spa in honor of Spa Week, which starts today. The week-long event offers $100-200 spa treatments to anyone at $50, as long as you pre-book your appointment online. In the two years since it started, it's grown from 25 participating Manhattan spas to over 230 spas in 10 cities; so you can now primp and polish for less in New York, Jersey, Philly, Boston, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, L.A. and San Francisco. So, if that same old "staying in, watching movies" plan just isn't cutting it, now you have some prettier options. After all, when your hair's playing dead and and your skin's gone soggy, what's better than a deep conditioning treatment or, say, a hot stone massage?

Midnight Beauty Call: Salons Open Late

In my perfect world, things that would be open later: the post office, the bank, that cute bakery down the street and the salon. Well, on that last one, things are lookin' up: Several New York salons and spas are extending their normal hours—giving haircuts, massages, manicures and the like until 9, 10, 11 pm at night—in an effort to cater to a clientele The New York Times is calling "beauty night owls." A few salons jumpin' on this late-night bandwagon: Frederic Fekkai Soho, Okeanos, La Vie Zen Spa, Osaka Health Spa, Red Market Salon and Cleo II Spa. Even better, most have a bit of a "cocktail-hour vibe" too, offering things like free champagne, coffee and music as a bonus. Red Market Salon, for one, serves coffee and wine in its loft-like space, and even throws showcase art parties as it stays open late, primping and polishing until 11 pm. Owner Reynald Richard says there are two types of beauty night owls in this late-night world: the partiers and the professionals. "We do get a young and trendy crowd who are getting their highlights done at 9:30 so they can meet their friends at clubs at 11:30," he said. "But most of the very late clients are lawyers, bankers and traders." And another reason for professionals to visit that salon later? No distractions. "At night, there is never the constant phone ringing, or delivery guys arriving, or daughters chatting with their mothers," said Meghan French, a producer at Viacom and late-nighter at the Paul Labarecque Salon and Spa. "Maybe night treatments are becoming a trend because it's calmer when appointments aren't stacked one on top of another." Beauty, free bubbly and a relaxed atmosphere? Count me in. And one thing's for sure: Those frenzied, time-crunched lunch hour appointments are a thing of the past.

A Berry Simple Facial

Forget what mom told you—for today only, you can play with your food. Here's an easy, good-for-your-skin facial you can try at home, courtesy of dailycandy.com. All you need is a buff puff, some wild strawberries (or another grainy fruit, like a kiwi), sparkling water, a lemon and plain, natural yogurt.

Grandma Gogg’s Strawberry Lemon Peel

Directions: Stand in a sunny window for 30 seconds to warm skin. Gently crush strawberries onto buff puff and, after testing on a small area of your arm, massage into face for 30 seconds (microdermabrasion). Rinse liberally with sparkling water. Mix yogurt and lemon juice and slap a layer onto face for 5 minutes (fruit acid peel). Rinse with warm tap water and apply moisturizer. Beauty is served!

Holistic Hotel-ing

Ah, the signs of an oh-so-posh hotel: 500 thread count sheets, attentive bell boys, fabulous movie channels … and now, Korres’ Guest Kit next to that marble bathtub. Korres is offering its luxurious counter-top caddies in some of the ritziest hotels around; a bath-side set of some its irresistible holistic products. Rice Protein Shampoo, Vanilla Cinnamon Moisturising Body Milk, Basil Lemon Showergel and the like—all at arms reach in your room, if you choose to indulge. The classy kits are already glaming up hot-spot hotels like Gansevoort, The Delano, Sanderson and The Shore Club. So forget what you knew about that humdrum mini bar. Those flimsy knick-knacks just won't do.

Rub a Dub Dub, De-stress in the Tub

You’re up to your ears at work, the bill collectors are calling again, and you got a nano-wink of shuteye last night. Let’s not even talk about those dirty clothes dying in your hamper. According to CNN Health, almost half of us are frazzled due to stressful demands at work and home. (Tax season alone does it for me.) But before you reach for those chips to unwind—because, be honest, that cardio-jazz class just isn’t happening—try a hot bath or shower to relax instead. Soothing bath products like Sephora Cooling Seaside Body Scrub, Carol’s Daughter Ecstasy Kit, or Philosophy's Empowermint will calm your mind and muscles more than pesky carbs can, anyway. (And to be the bearer of bad news: Zoning in front of the TV lowers our metabolisms more than sleeping does. So don't even think about that lazy option.) Just start that rejuvenating, de-stressing, hot shower—pronto.

Spa-aah, Now That's Better

Forget restaurants: Manhattan's the land of a trillion spas. So how is a girl to pick one? (Personally, it’s whichever one takes credit cards.) But what makes one different from the other anyway? And which ones are, you know, clean? “Suz’s Spies: The Guide to Day Spas New York City”—a handbook dedicated to finding the city’s best massages, facials, body wraps and the like—might just be the answer. Author Suzanne Burchill, whose own go-go-go work schedule first drove her to the spa, spent two years secretly sampling over 100 Manhattan spas with her spy team. Even the spa owners and managers didn’t know what Suzanne was up to—go go, secret spa girl—so the guide truly is an exclusive, unbiased review of all the rubbin’, scrubbin’ and bodywrappin’ out there. Only question now is: Can I please have her job?

You can, like, so get spa treatment at the mall

Ah, holiday shopping: a few laps around the mall, a swing by the food court for some grease, and, uh, a quick stop for some wrinkle injections? Turns out shopping malls are the newest, all-the-rage sites for medicinal spas, according to WWD. (Why worry about that sweater for Dad when you can get fine-lines erased? Ha.) Now, we said cosmetics were going medicinal, but we definitely didn’t see this one coming. In the last few months, though, these “mall spas” have experienced a sort of retail takeover. There were just 50 in the U.S. in 2002. Now: over 2,500. But before you flock to the mall, remember there are risks. A lot of these spas employ plastic surgeons and dermatologists to oversee mall procedures, but it isn’t required, meaning others don’t. So attention impulse shoppers: misapplied injections can forever paralyze muscles in your face. Want a frozen, saggy eyelid for life? Didn’t think so. Just do your research before you commit to that kiosk. And hey, if it’s still for you – and if you don’t mind that not-so-pretty price tag – then have at it. That grungy mall-rat look? Oh, so very last season.

Bootie-Liscious

Spa facials are heading south—and I don't mean Miami. According to the New York Times, many women are getting facials on their bums. Some treatments concentrate on cleansing and detoxifying, just as with a regular facial. Others use microcurrent therapy or microdermabrasion in more involved treatments, aiming to reshape the silhouette, reduce cellulite and even lift and tone the backside. Clients, who range from stay at home moms to execs to models to men, said it is all about feeling good. “It is like when you have pretty lingerie, and only you know it,” one said.

Skin Deep—And Now, a Facial for the Other End
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/fashion/05skin.html?ref=fashion