NoLIta-based fashion designer Pixie Yates has been so busy assembling her fall 1999 clothing collection and planning a show for Tokyo in the spring that she can barely remember the last time she relaxed. So she’s ready to spend January cooling her heels – but has little time for actual salon treatments (except from the manicurist who’s throwing Yates’s office holiday party). Instead, she relies on a regimen of fragrant products that do the trick at home. Over a cappuccino at Spring Street’s Ceci-Cela, she shares some favorites.
One treatment she does make time for is a $20 yoga class and steam bath at the Soho Sanctuary. “It really is the best,” she insists. “They have great fluffy robes, and it’s amazingly relaxing, like drinking a martini, but you feel so much better.” For the rest of the pampering, she heads home, slips into a pair of $22 Capezio ballet shoes, and assembles the necessities. A soak in a hot tub spiked with Kiss My Face’s Anti-Stress Soul Soother, a eucalyptus-scented bath gel ($9), is followed by an all-body application of Dr. Hauschka’s Lavender Body Oil ($20 for 3.4 ounces at Whole Foods). Which, Pixie claims, “just totally revitalizes your senses.” Next, a dab of Aunt Bee’s Royal Lip Jelly keeps her lips shiny and doubles as an astringent ($2.69). “And I’ve heard you can eat it, too,” she notes. Finally, she ensures a good night’s sleep with a bedtime dose of Relaxing Tea from Chinatown’s Ten Ren tearoom ($2.35 for twenty bags). “It doesn’t taste pleasant,” she admits. “But it completely knocks me out.” And when everything else fails, Yates counts on Stila’s Twilight Eye Shadow, a sheer silver powder, to make her look fresh ($15, at Sephora). “That’s the one thing that always works!”
Soho Sanctuary, 119 Mercer St. (334-5550); Capezio Dance Theatre Shop, 1650 Broadway, near 51st St., second floor (245-2130); Whole Foods, 117 Prince St. (982-1000); Ricky’s, 590 Broadway, near Houston St. (226-5552); Ten Ren Tea & Co., 75 Mott St. (349-2286); Sephora, 555 Broadway, near Prince St. (625-1309).
Picks of the Week
Floris of London, the queen’s pick for bath stuff, is taking half off many of its most popular items, including men’s toiletries in last season’s packaging (a shaving-bowl-and-soap set is now $12.50), women’s toilet-water splashes that are now $26, and bath salts, now $7.50. 703 Madison Ave., near 63rd St. (935-9100); A.E., M.C., V.; Mon.-Sat. 10-6, Thurs. till 7; 12/29-1/30.
Gracious Home is putting tons of hardware, housewares, and home furnishings on sale for 20 to 50 percent off regular prices. A six-arm chandelier, was $530, now $265; faucet set, was $488, now $244; cordless phone, was $230, now $150. 1220 Third Ave., at 70th St. (517-6300); and 1992 Broadway, at 67th St. (231-7800); A.E., M.C., V.; call for hours; 1/2-1/31.
The MOMA Design Store and the MOMA bookshop across the street are selling off seasonal and discontinued stock at up to half off regular prices. A stainless-steel fondue pot, was $175, now $125; Philippe Starck cake server, was $95, now $69. 44 W. 53rd St. (767-1050); A.E., M.C., V.; call for hours; 12/28-1/15.
Totem showcases furniture and home accessories by avant-garde craftsmen. For two days, most stock is up to half off: wooden bookcase, was $650, now $390; vinyl sofa, was $4,600, now $3,200; aluminum lamp, was $175, now $88; easy chair (pictured), was $2,625, now $1,838. 71 Franklin St. (925-5506); A.E., M.C., V., checks accepted; Tues.-Wed. 11-8; 12/29-12/30, and by appointment.
ALWAYS A DEAL
Free Spirit
When it comes to their saturday-afternoon Falun Dafa meditation class, the folks at Revolution Studio have one cardinal rule: You can’t put a price on peace of mind. That’s why their 90-minute session (and use of the gym’s locker room) is offered to all comers at no charge. The class patiently trains novices as well as experienced meditators to practice mind-calming exercises and develop their latent benevolence and truthfulness – no small feat in New York, especially after the holidays. 104 W. 14th St. (206-8785). Class size is limited to 25; call for reservations.