March 9, 2018

Palm Beach's newest salon, an amazing light-based brush cleaner, better skin (and sleep) with Dermalogica and how NexGen manicures rocked my world.

IBB Local: Check out this new swanky salon

There’s certainly no shortage of upscale salons in South Florida, but finding one with the right balance of big-city edge, luxury and celebrity-worthy stylists isn’t all that easy. Between Palm Beach and Miami, we have a handful of top-notch salons to try when we just can’t make it to NYC for a cut or color, and Paul Labrecque’s latest outpost gives us another very alluring option.

Located in the recently-revamped Royal Poinciana Plaza in Palm Beach, you’ll find Paul Labrecque nestled amongst luxury purveyors like Hermes and Kirna Zabete—so the fancy starts before you even step foot in the salon. Upon entering the sleek, modern space you’re greeted by the usual line of stylists’ chairs and an impressive array of retail offerings including skincare, home fragrance, jewelry and Labrecque’s eponymous range of haircare products (natch). 

There’s also a dedicated room for mixing color and shampooing peppered with antique console tables and sparking chandeliers, and if you venture even further you’ll find an enclave for manicures and pedicures along with two serene treatment rooms for facials, waxing, massage and more. 

Beyond offering a wide range of services that are guaranteed to pamper you and get you gorgeous from head to toe, the salon’s location just begs for a girls’ outing. With shopping galore and fabulous food options like Sant Ambroeus, Royal Poinciana Plaza is the go-to destination when you want to escape it all without travelling too far from home—and now you can get head-turning hair, too! I can’t wait to go back for a cut!

Clean your makeup brushes with a touch of a button

Let’s be honest, cleansing our makeup brushes is a chore. Aside from the time it takes to wash and rinse each one, timing plays a role because it can take more than a day for the larger ones to dry completely. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could enjoy like-new brushes that are free of bacteria—without the hassle of actually washing them? Meet Brushean…

This brush sanitizing tool uses UV-C LED light to kill 99.9% of the bacteria living in your makeup brushes in just five minutes, and it’s so easy you can do it every day. It has the capacity to clean 15 to 20 brushes at a time, and it also features a dust cover to keep brushes fresh between “treatments.” Rechargeable batteries mean there are no extra cords on your vanity, and it’s sleek design just might even elevate your bathroom décor.

Currently available for pre-order through a Kickstarter campaign (and priced at a mere $49), you can be one of the first to own this game-changing innovation that makes cleaning your brushes a thing of the past and promotes happy, healthy skin! (Check out this video to see Brushean in action!)

Better skin and better sleep in one jar

At this point in my life, the concept of beauty sleep is almost a joke. I definitely don’t get close to the eight hours I’m supposed to (who does?), and it’s really more complete-exhaustion-at-the-end-of-the-day-sleep—that ends by 6:30am at the latest, pretty much seven days a week. Despite not having enough hours in the day to give my body (or skin) adequate time to restore itself, I try to use the Sleep Cycle app every night to see if I can identify why I sleep better some nights than others. (It hasn’t happened just yet.)

Dermalogica seems to understand that the struggle is real, and their latest offering (which bows March 15) promotes both deeper sleep and healthier skin thanks to motion-activated aromatherapy—and a potent skin-rejuvenating gel-cream formula that helps promote the skin’s natural overnight repair and recovery process. (Your Ambien certainly doesn’t do this.)

Sound Sleep Cocoon features a bevy advanced botanical extracts (like Persian silk tree, Chinese wu-zhu-yu fruit, Kadaku plum and tamarind seed) deliver hydration and antioxidants while they work to enhance radiance and reduce visible signs of fatigue. And thanks to encapsulated lavender, sandalwood and patchouli essential oils, you can actually wake up better-rested in addition to just looking like it.

The manicure that changed my life

About a month-and-a-half ago, I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a while, and I immediately noticed how long and amazing her nails were. She told me it was a NexGen manicure—and raved about it to the point that I was like, How do I not know about this? Three weeks with no chipping, no dullness and nails that are almost as strong as nails. Then I started asking other friends if they had heard of it, and most of them had, so naturally I had to try this ASAP.

I’ve been going to the same manicurist for about 10 years, but alas, she doesn’t do NexGen, and since I’m reluctant to try a new salon, I started asking for recos. My Pilates instructor pointed me to her girl, and I literally booked her next available appointment. When I sat down with Rose, I had no idea what to expect, and when I said it was my first NexGen the ladies on both sides of me, too, began to extol its virtues. 

This was about 4 days in... I forgot to take a photo earlier! (Oops.)

Here’s how it works… First, I had to choose a color, and there are so many it was almost overwhelming. You have to go by those little nail swatches because the actual powder used on your nails doesn’t look like the final results. I decided on a shade identical to OPI’s “Funny Bunny,” and my nails were buffed with one of those electric files. Then, Rose used a clear polish (that smells very much like Krazy Glue) and dipped my fingers into the tub of powder—and repeated this two more times. She then started shaping my nails and filing the actual surface to reduce the thickness until they looked like my natural nails (but better). I was a bit confused because the color was dull but a coat of topcoat took care of that. And perhaps the best part: My nails were completely dry before I walked out of the salon.

18 days in...

The whole process took about 45 minutes, and I’m hooked. first NexGen lasted for 18 days and I totally could have gone a few days longer but I had to pre-plan the timing of my next few manis due to two trips in March. I was nervous before my second NexGen because I was afraid it would wreck my nails like gel manicures—but after soaking off the first one I was astonished at how long and strong my polish-free nails were.

NexGen #2. 

My nails have NEVER been this long. (I'm learning how to type again.)

Beyond saving me the time associated with weekly manicures, NexGen actually saves me money, too. I’ve literally been begging my usual manicurist to start offering this service because I may never go back to regular manicures. And if you try NexGen, you probably won’t either!