Local Polish
On Broadway just below Canal Street, where bargain shops still line the streets, the latest sign of urban gentrification – a day spa – has just appeared. Eden, lit by candles and strewn with orchids, is no mere nail emporium. There’s deep-tissue massage from Michael Becker (who also works at American Ballet Theatre as an in-house therapist) and the facial menu includes a calming treatment with lavender, aloe vera, and ginkgo biloba. There are therapeutic baths, body scrubs, aromatherapy, waxing, and (of course) nail care, plus a lounge complete with giant-screen TV and buffet area. Just make sure those nails are dry before you reach for the watermelon slices (388 Broadway, near Walker Street; 212-226-0515; treatments range from $30 to $160).
Homme Plus
Calypso, the rapidly replicating store stocked with vividly colorful and indulgently girly clothes and beauty items, is getting in touch with its masculine side. In September, the company will be launching Calypso Homme, a new men’s fragrance that reflects the store’s island flavor with notes of tangerine, grapefruit, lemon tree, black currant, hyacinth, and violet. All the better to make your man and your outfit match ($50 at Calypso stores).
On Your Toes
Style Bar in Sag Harbor has a new, olfactory angle on putting your best foot forward. Working on the theory that it’s as important to smell good as it is to look good, the spa has introduced the Sorbet Pedicure ($55), which begins with a thorough scrubbing, filing, and clipping, followed by an exfoliation with wheat germ, and finally a soak in one of three fragrant, fruity flavors: peach, coconut, or lemon-lime. The year-old salon – with its garden room and whimsical trompe l’oeil designs of sky, ocean, and leaping dolphins – has mined this tasteful territory before, offering hot milk-and-almond pedicures in the winter. Our advice? Watch out for mosquitoes – and that hungry person next to you on the beach (Style Bar, 1 Bay Street, Sag Harbor; 631-725-6730).
Hello, Dolly
The personal benefits of cloning may be closer than you think. Two bioengineered skin lines – Natura Bissé, which contains the plant-based skin growth factor, and Ré Vive, which uses epidermal growth factor, a cloned human protein – have been flying off department-store shelves. Both are said to speed up cell renewal, a process that slows down radically after our teen years (let’s hope they don’t replicate all the aspects of teenage skin). Just in time for the sweltering summer, Ré Vive is introducing two new products geared to solving problems created by heat and humidity: Oil Free Oil Control Sensitif ($225), a daytime moisturizer, and Serum Prôtectif ($175), a night cream (both lines are available at Bergdorf Goodman; Ré Vive is also at Saks Fifth Avenue; Natura Bissé is also at Barneys New York).
Editor’s Pick
Estée Lauder Sumptuous Lipstick
Lipstick is mostly made of wax, which (as much of the female population can attest) can give it a heavy feel. But this fall Estée Lauder will introduce a new, gel-based formula that mixes in a polymer film, making the hybrid lighter and smoother – so your significant other will appreciate more than just the way your lips look. Sumptuous ($18) comes in 30 shades and will be available in September at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.