Prevage Anti-Aging Night Cream

"The morning after never looked so good" if new Prevage Anti-aging Night Cream is applied at bedtime, according to Elizabeth Arden and Allergan, Inc. Sold at Red Door Salons nationwide, as well as medical offices, the product line has had good reviews so why not try the night cream? "Proof, not promises" is the product battle cry. Prevage Anti-aging Night Cream is proven to help "enhance skin's own natural repair process, restore skin's natural resilience for a firmer look, reverse dryness with intense hydration, and give skin a brighter, even toned, more radiant appearance."

Given three samples that would last about two weeks, this skeptical somewhatforty+ woman of multiple serums, moisturizers and wonder products put Prevage Anti-aging Night Cream to the test. Remarkable. The first morning was shocking -- no creases in the skin appeared. Rushing to the 10X mirror only magnified the results. Hmmmm. Told to only use the product every other night for the first week, I was intrigued. After two weeks I am hooked. On the nights I remembered to apply the product I awoke with no lines. Purchasing this product and using it nightly is in my immediate future. While $125 for 1.7 ounces seems like a high price to pay for crease reduction, Botox and injectable crease reducers cost $500 or more per treatment. Prevage is looking like a much better and certainly less painful deal. Give it a try. Maybe some old jars and tubes can even be thrown away and that would be remarkable.

Photo attribution: Elizabeth Arden

Pedicure Experience

Pedicures are an expensive and appreciated luxury, aiding relaxation in stressful times. At $30 per foot at most spas in Chicagoland, relaxing pedicures include softening Solar Oil, warm sloughing lotion, callous and cuticle remover, bubbles, massages and sixty minutes. Soaking one's tootsies in warm water is only the beginning of the relaxing spa experience. Previously thought to be expensive, all that changed today after a three hour pedicure experience at the local Cosmetology and Spa School proved the old adage, "you get what you pay for." For $12 you can imagine what I got.

When signing on for any salon service there is an assumption the provider will be skilled enough to complete the task within a reasonable amount of time and within a reasonable skill level. So to with students completing a $13,000.00 nine month long course in cosmetology (including hair cuts and color, perms and relaxers, facials, waxing, and nail treatments) who are advertised as "salon ready." Not necessarily. While expectations of service vary as much as the customers, leaving with softened soles and oiled and painted nails is considered the norm.

The scheduled 1:00 pedicure began at 1:40. The service provider appeared to be 11, maybe 14, and reported this was her third pedicure (out of the required 25). Arriving at the bubbling foot bath involved moving through a maze of four rooms of hair cutting, coloring, perming and what ever was going on in the fourth room. The large relaxing spa pedicure chairs were missing, replaced with small plastic rectangular containers filled with warm water. Left brain was saying run, while right brain said give it a try. These ten toes have been proud pedicure recipients every other week for far to many adult years to mention. Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons offer a basic pedicure, which is fine, or an Olive Oil pedicure which is awesome but expensive. Not so with the school girl pedicure which included nothing -- no oil, no lotion, no understanding of what a pumice stone is, and no skill.

The lesson here is to look before you leap, run when directed to do so, appreciate the good things and be willing to pay for desired services, regardless of the cost. Since The Red Door Salon is on speed dial, the next relaxing luxuriant pedicure will be exactly as advertised and behind the big red door in a local Chicagoland spa in a few short days. Complete with Solar Oil. Photo attribution: morleyhairandbeauty.com