Skin Deep, September 3, 2010
The latest health and beauty news with Sarah Fung.
Mind over Mouth
It’s hard to resist eating your emotions when there’s an MTR slimming center ad featuring a scrawny lang mo right next to a delicious Mrs. Fields outlet. But as we all know, crash-dieting and faddy slimming treatments aren’t much good for your waistline or your mental health. Enter “Mindful Eating,” a far more sensible approach to weight management. Through a series of four workshops led by health coach Julie Chiu, you’ll learn to better read your body’s fullness cues, improve your relationship with food and learn more about proper nutrition. With the support of a friendly group, you’ll be able to create safe and realistic weight-loss goals and learn more about your feelings towards your body and what you put into it. Sounds better to my ears than a magical, mystical lard-dissipating machine. The workshops will be held at the Bamboo Grove Facility Room, 74-86 Kennedy Rd., Mid-Levels, starting Tuesday Sep 21, 7:30pm-9pm, and will run weekly until Oct 12. Cost: $2,500 for four workshops. Or for a taster workshop at the YWCA (3/F, 1 McDonnell Rd., Mid-Levels), drop in on Monday Sep 13 from 10am-noon. $120 for YWCA members, $180 for non-members. For more info and schedules, log onto
www.mindfuleatinghk.com.
Crazy For Daisy
How fortuitous that I was leering covetously at the Marc Jacobs duty free counter in Bangkok Airport last Sunday, only for a limited-edition bottle of the designer’s “Daisy” fragrance to arrive at the office on my first day back at work on Monday morning. The planets have finally aligned! Inspired by pop art, this bright lacquer-red bottle comes topped with a cluster of cute retro flowers in black and gold—unfortunately the look doesn’t really jibe with my white antique-style dresser/overflowing makeup repository at home, but it smells so lovely I’m happy to overlook. Richer than the usual fragrance, it offers a base of natural wild strawberries, plus violet petals and a blend of gardenia and jasmine. But it’s not too sweet as it’s cut with hints of birch and cedarwood. If you want to be the first among your friends to own this limited ed, pick up a bottle at Sogo between now and Sep 7, or else visit any Lane Crawford outlet, Harvey Nicks or FACES after Sep 8. $830 for 100ml.
In another lifetime, I think I’d really like a job as the person who invents the name of different shades of nail polish. The creativity one needs to give a name to the thousands upon thousands of shades is simply astounding (for example, I’m pretty sure the color difference between OPI’s peachy pink Hearts & Tarts and Privacy Please is imperceptible to the human eye. Don’t believe me? Check it out at www.opi.com). So whoever holds this title at NARS has obviously gone a bit peculiar and has sought inspiration from vintage film and television titles. Feeling combative? Apply a little army gold-green M*A*S*H to your nails. Or else spirit yourself away to the seventies with Midnight Express, a deep navy blue. My personal favorite? The anarchic Full Metal Jacket in a shiny, gunmetal gray. The bottles are $160 each, available from NARS, B/F, The Landmark, 15 Queen’s Rd. Central, 2523-3805.
Massage to Mumbai
I know, I know, posh hotel spas are way out of budget for most of us mere mortals, and I do endeavor to not mention them too much, but this new promotion at the Four Seasons Spa is too good to ignore. They’ve brought out two skilled therapists from the Four Seasons Mumbai to provide traditional Indian therapies between now and September 12. Try the ancient Uzhichil massage ($1,050, 60 mins), which promises to improve your health and give you a great night’s sleep with its long, soothing strokes, or the Gotu Kola body polish, which uses cardamom, walnut, rosehip oil and the traditional gotu kola remedy to buff and smooth the skin ($750, 45 mins). My personal must-try? The ndian head massage ($550, 30 mins) which relieves stress and tension in the neck and shoulders and nourishes the hair with medicated oils. But here’s the interesting bit: anyone booking into the spa to try out one of these special treatments will be entered into a lucky draw to win two business-class tickets to Mumbai with Jet Airways, plus three nights in the Four Seasons Mumbai, including breakfast and a 60-minute spa treatment. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
The Four Seasons, 8 Finance St., Central, 3196-8900
Breathe Easy
Breathing, it hardly needs to be said, is crucial to our existence on this planet. But how many of us, particularly in polluted Hong Kong, are suffering from respiratory related ailments such as sleep apnea and asthma? The Buteyko breathing method, developed by Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, teaches practitioners to breathe more effectively in order to minimize symptoms such as high blood pressure, dizziness and anxiety. It has been proven to reduce symptoms of asthma with long-term practice. Buteyko practitioner Jac Vidgen is in Hong Kong to hold a series of free talks around the city to teach people more about this healthy breathing method, starting with a session in the Island Health Family Practice in Discovery Bay on Sep 6. If you like what you hear at the lectures, you can sign up (and pay) for the workshops, which will be held at the Shakti Healing Circle in Central, and the Methodist Centre in Wan Chai, from mid-September to the beginning of October. Check www.buteykoasia.com for more locations and dates, and call 9378-5185 to book.
Getting needled isn’t always a bad thing! Check out this week's Eight Great and let these experienced acupuncturists give you a little prick.