Category Archives: Travel

Posted on April 2, 2012 at 2:18 pm

Beautiful in Seattle

I travel a lot for work. Mostly to the same places (NYC, LA, New Orleans, Charlotte), but once in a while I have the opportunity of discovering a new city, as I did this week-end. There are two ways I like to discover new cities: through their beauty boutiques and spas, and through their culinary offerings. This week-end, I did both in Seattle. To read about my culinary experiences, please click here. If you want to learn more about Seattle’s unique beauty destinations, keep on reading.

The goal of my trip was to visit two existing Alchimie Forever clients that I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting face to face – I have to admit I am old fashioned that way, and I love knowing my clients “for real” as opposed to just by email and Facebook. My first meeting was with the beautiful Suzy, who took a leap of faith and brought Alchimie Forever to beauty.com. That visit took me to the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, to the corporate headquarters of this beauty giant (which also encompasses drugstore.com, and another favorite Alchimie client, skinstore.com). While not a beauty destination per se (you can’t really go there and purchase products), I always love touring beauty companies’ corporate headquarters… the air always smells like products…

Alchimie Forever at Ward & Co.

The second Alchimie Forever client I visited with is our first and only bricks-and-mortar client in the Pacific Northwest, men’s grooming boutique Ward & Co., located in Rainier Square. During my coffee meeting with the owner, Mark, I learned that while his core customer is the downtown business man, tourists are a significant client segment (almost 1 million tourists visit Seattle due to cruise ship stopovers starting in May). We talked about how tools (all types of razors and more) had become his most significant revenue category, and about how much more loyal the male beauty consumer is when compared to his fickle female counterpart. From Café Migliore, we walked over to the boutique, a chic, 400+ square foot haven of men’s grooming products and accessories. Michael runs the day-to-day operations (Mark’s day job is to be an architect) – and clearly knows what he is talking about. Savvy about skin care, about shaving methods and tips, and with a background in upscale men’s fashion, he is the go-to expert customers come to visit time and time again. Alchimie products are in good company: you will also find such unique men’s grooming products as Taun (a new line out of NYC) and Kyoku.

Right around the corner from Ward is a Calidora Skin Clinic. This Seattle-based medical spa chain (they have 7 locations in Washington state and California) has been on my radar for a while as one of the few that has somehow managed to grow and successfully roll out across multiple locations (some of you may remember Sona Laser Centers for example, with a similar yet unsuccessfully implemented business model). While Alchimie Forever products are not (yet!) in Calidora, the clinic I visited was beautiful, busy, and the front desk manager truly pleasant.

Also on my list of places to visit, in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, was Essenza. Since 1998, Essenza has been supplying the area with hard-to-find skin care, fragrances, and makeup, as well as unique jewelry, baby gifts, and bathrobes. There, I had the pleasure of meeting Becky, the owner and brain behind the store (she also owns a clothing store right around the corner). Obviously, she understands her customers’ wants and needs, having owned this indie boutique for 14+ years. She was intrigued by Alchimie, hopefully my next visit to Seattle will be to train her and her team on my line!

In planning this trip, and in doing research as to which hotel to stay at, I came across Hotel 1000 thanks to its Spaahh. I was introduced to Juanita, the spa manager, by email, and thanks to her discovered this fabulous hotel with fabulous service. And a fabulous Spaahh. A must for any jet-lagged, travel-weary business woman (aka yours truly).

Finally, randomly across the street from the hotel, I discovered Parfumerie Nasreen, a European-style jewel-like boutique with hard to find fragrances (they even had Jicky, my ever-harder to find perfume by Guerlain!). A testament to the boutique and its eponymous owner, Nasreen: it has been there for 26 years and business is going strong.

If you ever are in Seattle, do stop by these unique beauty destinations. Of course, there are more, which I didn’t get to this trip. I am saving Gene Juarez Salon & Spa (true Seattle institution), Frenchy’s (a Parisian inspired day spa and boutique), and Blackbird (in Ballard) for my next visit…

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Posted on December 21, 2011 at 1:41 pm

The pleasures of holiday travel

I love to travel. Good thing, as I just realized earlier today that this calendar year I will have travelled just over 100,000 miles. And that’s just on US Airways (which is 80% of my travel, Southwest gets the rest…). Good thing I do love to travel, I am on the plane, my second plane of the day, from Philly to Zurich. I am taking the roundabout route from DC to Geneva (DC-Philly-Zurich-Geneva). A few minutes aog, I had to get my passport checked at the gate check-in desk. The nice US Airways flight attendant looked at my boarding pass and said “Wow, Chairman, you must travel a lot, that’s a lot of miles.” I smiled, nodded, as she continued: “Are those your dad’s miles… you look so young…” I assured her they were all mine, and was somehow happy she asked if they were my father’s instead of my husband’s. May I don’t look like the globe-trotting beauty entrepreneur that I am, but at least I still look young enough that I must be getting perks from my father, not from my husband… Small victories.

One of the reasons I love to travel is the people watching at the airport. Have you ever noticed that airports seem to be these “unreal” spaces, out of time, out of space, out of our usual accepted behavior? Hence beer drinking at 7 am (which I have most seen at BWI airport). Or meltdowns at ticket counters where we forget all decorum and behave like 3 year olds. And the sweeter scene that I just witnesses, two sisters on my flight, one about 20, absolutely European, the other about 15, European but “Americanized” as my Mom would say. The older is encouraging the younger to drink Evian (did I say she was European?) and do some pre-overnight-flight stretches. So sweet. We smile at each other, that smile of older sisters taking care of younger sisters, and I think about Roxane, my young “Americanized” sister whom I will see tomorrow.

Today, I am particularly excited to sit on this plane for what I hope will be 7 hours. I can’t wait to sleep. No internet, no cell phone, just quiet time 30,000 feet up in the air. I am comfortable in Coach, and I wanted to share with you my travel tips. I know I share travel tips often (I do travel constantly), but the ones today are geared to overnight flights during the Christmas holidays.

  1. Extra time. I got to the airport in DC 90 minutes before my flight to Philly. I booked my flight from DC to Philly to have a 2.5 hour layover in Philly – just in case we would be late… which happens. Especially over the holidays. I love the US Airways lounge, and always thought the $40 day pass was the best investment even before I had access for free. Space. Quiet. Outlets to charge various devices. Nice bathrooms. Free wi-fi. Free wine. Free food (the warm kind). It is worth every bit of $40 if you don’t have automatic access.
  2. I can’t travel in sweatpants. I can’t even travel in yoga-wear. Not even for overnight flights. Instead, I have an all-cashmere outfit. Cashmere pants from White and Warren, which I bought years ago this time of year from my BFF’s boutique, Treat. A gray cashmere turtleneck from Apostrophe, my favorite boutique in Geneva. I can’t give up my heels – my travel heels are Lillybees of course. But at least I do take them off on the plane, to put on my bright pink Life Is Good socks. The whole outfit feels so good I get excited the day before knowing that I will get to wear all of this.
  3. My favorite eye mask – pink, silk, and so used that the elastic is a bit loose… I got this as a gift a few years ago from BFF Virginie, and haven’t used another since.
  4. My own bottle of water. There is nothing more uncomfortable than being thirsty on a plane, and while US Airways service is great even in coach, I hate to have to rely on someone else for water.
  5. Raw almonds. I don’t eat on overnight flights – I just get on, and go to sleep. So I need my emergency food.
  6. My very own Kantic+ intensely nourishing cream. Last night, I did our Kantic mask (as does Sharilyn Abbajay before every flight J), but throughout the flight, I need to moisturize.
  7. Judith Jackson Luna Body Elixir. It’s a roll-on, travel-friendly, and it smells so calming and soothing. Helps me relax, helps me not smell like plane.
  8. A toothbrush. Have you ever left your house in the morning without brushing your teeth? No. I don’t do it off a redeye either…  
  9. Similasan Dry Eye Relief eye drops. Next to being thirsty, having dry eyes is the most uncomfortable feeling on a plane.
  10. A pashmina (which I think of as the adult woman’s blankie). More cashmere – a girl can never have enough cashmere. The one I have tonight is pink. Just in case it gets cool. Or in case I need a pillow.

The pilot just came on to say our flight will be 7 hours and 5 minutes. And boarding is complete, I have no one next to me. Tonight, coach feels very luxurious! And I need to turn off my computer.

By the time I post this, it will be Wednesday morning and I will be in Geneva, hopefully with my two suitcases filled to the brim with holiday gifts…. Is this how Santa Claus travels? In disguise? Happy holidays!

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Posted on October 25, 2011 at 6:13 pm

Girlfriends

This past Sunday, I celebrated the end of my birthday week. My friend Trisala cooked a home-made dinner for me, in her apartment in Tribeca. And then let me stay with her for three nights (I am here until tomorrow Wednesday) during my Mew York City business trip. You may know this about me: I have a love-hate relationship with NYC. I love it in terms of productive work – days here are packed with meetings with beauty editors, beauty buyers, branding experts. A 12 hour day in NYC also feels like a 20 hour day in DC; this city drains me. The speed of everything, the sensorial overload, the people, the driving (in a cab or otherwise)… Yet after a long day I come “home” to Trisala’s and I feel, well, a bit at home. Actually, so much so that I want to have her home-cooked meals every night. She laughs and says I am her only out of town friend who doesn’t want to go out to the newest, greatest, bestest restaurant in The City for dinner. Go figure. Of course, she has Swiss gruyere and Swiss “mayonnaise” in her fridge at all times. And a pile of French literature and philosophy books on her kitchen counter, some of which she lets me borrow. And the best playlist on her Ipod. And an apartment without a TV. And fabulous bath oils in her bathroom (an inspiration should we at Alchimie ever decide to make bath oils).

On Sunday night, we reminisced about when we met – middle school. Scary. I just turned 34, she is turning 35 in a couple of weeks, which means we have known each other for 20 years. Our friendship has survived the test of time, and of absence. She is the kind of friend I can see after 3 years of absence and feel like the last time I saw her was just a couple of days ago. Actually, when I come to think of it, I think of her every day; at least every day that I am in my house in Georgetown. She has given me three of the things I use most often in my life. My wine opener – the best one in the world. My pillows – the most comfortable ones in the world. And my cashmere blanket – a pure luxury that I live with from October through March.

There is nothing like a friend like her to make me feel at home even when I am in the Big Apple. Merci Trisala. And on that note, thank you to all of my dearest girlfriends. You know who you are.

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Posted on October 4, 2011 at 12:33 pm

10 beauty must-haves every woman needs at all times…

I was catching up on my reading last night and read the October issue of Allure cover to cover. They call themselves “The Beauty Expert,” I think of them as “The Beauty Bible.” One of my top 10 “BHAGs” (big hairy audacious goals, to borrow a term from Jim Collins” is to have Alchimie Forever featured in Allure.

One of my favorite features is their “Fashion Expert: 10 Things Every Woman Should Have.” This month’s column is by Michael Kors. His #4 is white roses, he calls them “the LBD of flowers.” I couldn’t agree more… Reading this feature reminded me that my girlfriend Severine asked me last week when I was in Geneva what beauty items I always had with me (aka in my purse). So here is a modified version of the “10 Things Every Woman Should Have.” My personal version, 10 beauty must-haves every woman needs at all times.”

1. Chapstick. Not having chapstick when my lips are chapped is like not having a bathroom when… well.. you get the point.

2. Lipstick. At least two shades, one that can take you through the day, and one for that unexpected date before which you don’t have time to stop by the house.

3. A tiny mirror. My mom knows how to apply lipstick without one. I don’t, and have stopped trying.

4. A small brush. I have a black small Mason Pearson that I love dearly. (I have had it for years, but wash it regularly with baby shampoo).

5. Small tweezers. Mine are purple (of course), by Tweezerman (of course).

6. Small samples of sunscreen. Who knows when you will find yourself for a long lunch on a sunny terrace. I cherish samples of LaRoche Posay Anthelios 50+.

7. A nail file. Never file your nails in public… but nail emergencies (to be dealt with in private) do arise.

8. Alchimie Forever samples. I carry Kantic calming evening cream samples everywhere. No matter what is going on with my skin, Kantic fixes it.

9. A travel toothbrush and toothpaste set. Enough said.

10. Herban Essentials Lavender Towelettes. For any of life’s small messes.

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Posted on September 27, 2011 at 4:44 am

BeautyViews: Kate Richard, COO, Beauty & Main

Kate Richard, COO, Beauty & Main

Last week I spent three days in Boston. There are so many things I love about this city, where I spent my first few years in the US… Fall foliage, the CITGO sign, Dunkin Donuts coffee shops on every corner, Patriots stickers on so many car bumpers, Harvard square, my friend Aileen who has known me since I was 6 years old and lets me stay with her anytime I am in the area, and one of my favorite clients, Beauty & Main, to name just a few. Indeed, last week I was in town for a two-day event with Beauty & Main, to help promote Alchimie and train the team. I took advantage of lunch with Kate Richard, their chief operating officer, to learn more about her. She fascinates me! Not only because she was the decision-maker in terms of adding Alchimie Forever to the Beauty & Main skin care assortment; also because she is gorgeous (she looks like Ava Gardner), has a bar-tending and bar-owning husband, and loves New Orleans almost as much as I do. Here are her answers to my second Beauty-View. Funnily enough, there are some similarities with some of Sarah Kugelman’s answers from last week…

AR: What city were you born in? KR: Burlington, VT.

AP: What city do you live in? KR: Providence, RI. I’m a true New Englander…  

AP: What is your middle name? KR: Elizabeth. My mom wanted it to sound royal. 

AP: What is your astrological sign? KR: Aries.

AP: What is your favorite thing about the beauty industry? KR: My favorite thing is that I get to meet a lot of powerful, smart, driven women.

AP: Least favorite thing? KR: My least favorite thing also centers around working primarily with women. Sometimes we can be a bit catty…  

AP: What is your most prized possession? KR: My child, although I am not sure I can call her a possession. Her name is Ava, she just turned 3.

AP: What is something about you most people don’t know? KR: I overanalyze everything and I fret in private.

AP: Do you wear a watch? KR: Yes, always. AP: If yes, what model? KR: Giorgio Armani.

AP: Diamonds or pearls? KR: Pearls.

AP: If you could have dinner with the person of your choice, who would it be? KR: Either Eleanor Roosevelt, who is my personal hero (for guidance), or Elvis Presley (for eye candy).

AP: What is your secret to work/life balance? KR: I fully embrace the reality that most things can be finished tomorrow. I don’t do it all – I delegate as much as humanly possible and I force myself to put work away and finish tomorrow. The world won’t stop turning because of it.

AP: What are your three top tips for travel? KR: 1. Spend a little more to be comfortable. 2. Do your research and immerse yourself in the local scene. 3. Leave your kids at home. 

AP: What is your favorite book? KR: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

AR: What is your cocktail of choice? KR: Old fashioned. My husband JR makes the best one.

AP: What is your #1 beauty secret? KR: Blush. Don’t skip it. Right now, I love the RMS Beauty cream blush.

AP: What fragrance do you wear? KR: I wear Odin #1. It is a unisex fragrance, and I like masculine scents in general.

AP: Botox or not? KR: Botox.  

AP: Hair color: natural or not? KR: Not! Not since I was 14… I just went back to red a month ago, I like the Framesi colors.

AP: 3 songs on your ipod right now. KR: Asteroids Galaxy Tour. They are Swedish; their whole album is on my ipod. Johnny Cash is my favorite. And Yo Gabba Gabba… for Ava.

AP: Quote to live by. KR: Whatever will be, will be.

AP: Who is your mentor? KR: My husband. He has been there, done that, and knows me well enough to advise me properly. He also has a cooler head than I do, which is helpful.

AP: Words of advice for young women starting their careers today. KR: Be really smart about the way you spend your time and money. Create a path and stay on it, but do allow for deviations along the way. What has been successful for someone else is not necessarily what will work for you. Be open to compromise but keep your eye on the prize.

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Posted on July 10, 2011 at 4:31 pm

The magic of Tinos – a letter to my grandfather

I am in terminal F of the Philadelphia airport, trying (not very successfully!) to ease my way back from paradise to reality. And I am thinking of my maternal grandfather, Yaya, as I called him. He has been gone for over twenty years, yet this past week he was with me every day. Every day I thanked him for finding Tinos, a beautiful island in the Cyclades in Greece. For finding this paradise, for designing and renovating the house we still have there, for making this island a part of my life.

While we used to go there as a family when I was a child, I re-discovered this magical place last year. I loved it so much that I returned this past week – I hope this trip can now become an annual tradition. On the 11 hour flight from Athens to Philly, I could not help but re-live this past week, trying to remember every detail, every moment, every memory.

Tinos is not an easy place to get to – there is no airport on the island, which is part of what keeps it quiet and unpopulated. An eleven hour flight form the Northeast is followed by an hour cab ride to the Rafina port, which is followed by a two-hour ferry (if you take the fast ferry). Paradise awaits when you step off of the ferry. The island is a small mountain, it rises above the water, with patches of white and blue, the various villages visible behind the town of Tinos. Mykonos, Delos, and Syros are the neighboring islands visible in the distance.

Our house is in the village of Triantaros, known for its beautiful views on the town and the sea. Watching the sun rise at 6 am (jetlag…) and set at 9:30 pm from the terrace are two of my favorite things to do. Listening to the sounds of nature (mostly silence, crickets, church bells, and once in a long while a car or Vespa) while enjoying Boutari rosé wine is one of the most peaceful, calming activities. The lack of internet, TV, radio is one of the house’s best features, the ultimate luxury in terms of disconnecting from the modern world.

Our days on Tinos (after jet lag subsides) have a very regular rhythm to them. We wake up around 10:30 am, spend time on the terrace, eat Greek yogurt and have some strong coffee. All outside. Slowly, we make it to the Para Pente Café in town, where the Wi-Fi always works and is really fast (my capacity to disconnect is still quite limited). After making sure the world has not stopped turning while I was enjoying the lack of connectivity of the house, we enjoy an iced coffee while watching the ferries zoom across the sea.

After about two hours at Para Pente, we drive 30 minutes through the windy mountain roads to our favorite beach, Kalivia, near the village of Kardiani. Along the way, we marvel at the Tinos aromas, which range from figs to rosemary to juniper. We count the churches on the way… there are 750 on this island!

We discovered Kalivia beach last year, and we would never dream of going to another beach. The beach bar is owned by Marco, who is from Kardiani and is known as “The German” to his friends (he is Greek, but blond-haired and blue-eyed). Marco is the best host, offering a plethora of beach-side cocktails, all home-made (he also makes his own honey-raki), as well as interesting tidbits about Tinos. The beach is flanked by two hills, which creates the perfect bay to swim in. And swim we do. Back and forth, across and back again. We discuss the wind, the water temperature, the size of the waves, the best technique for rock skipping… We read… We practice our Greek alphabet… We nap on the beach, listening to the Greek conversations around us (vacationers here are mostly Greeks from the mainland) and the sound of the waves… We watch the start of sunset.

Around 8 or 9 pm (sometimes as late as 10 pm), we head to dinner. Our favorite restaurant on the island is Bourou, where the owner Dimitri remembered us from last year. His food is amazing, his wine list surprising, and his attention to the beauty and ambiance of his restaurant, unlike I have ever seen.

Our days usually end around 1 am… although this year we discovered a few of the local bars, which really don’t get going until 1 am… and don’t get really fun until around 3 am….

I have been trying to think of how I can incorporate some of the magic of Tinos in my everyday life. Is it the amount of time spent outdoors? The time spent without connectivity? The quiet? The swimming? The aromas? The Greek salads? Or is it that this trip was a bit like a honeymoon, with Edwin and I by ourselves, spending all of our time together, 24/7? Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it and bring it back. I am already dreaming about going back next year… and thanking my grandfather…

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Posted on July 12, 2010 at 6:09 am

Magical moments in Greece

I am back in Georgetown after two weeks abroad, but this morning, in spirit, I am still in Greece, remembering the magical moments spent on Tinos.

When I was a little girl, my family and I used to go to Tinos often. My maternal grandfather, a Greek philosophy professor, decided to take a sabbatical there when my mother was 16, and moved the family to the island for two years, in a gorgeous, simple, very old stone house. The last time I was there, I was 14. Why I haven’t gone in so long, I don’t know.

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Posted on April 27, 2010 at 2:52 pm

Ada’s travel beauty tips

If you know anything about me, you know that I travel a lot. I love to travel, I travel for work, and for business. Some of you have been asking me about my travel beauty tips. So here goes.

Typically, the day before I get on a plane, I will apply our Kantic Mask. It helps to nourish my skin (airplane air is so dehydrating), and gives me a nice glow – i.e. makes me look like I travel less than I do.

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Posted on March 2, 2010 at 6:32 pm

Love the world, love to travel

I spent the last week in Asia. 50 hours of travel roundtrip, six amazing days filled with new experiences and discoveries.

Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities. My godmother splits her time between Hong Kong and Geneva, and most of the time I envy her (although that flight twice a month might get old). Lane Crawford stores. Joyce Beauty boutiques (where I would love to see my products on the shelf). Mandarin Oriental headquarters and hospitality. Mountainous peaks in the middle of water. What is there not to love?
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