Monday, March 29, 2010

Find Jane Iredale's newest spring collection at Spa Utopia

Is there anyone who doesn't look forward to spring? Energizing, renewing, and full of promise, spring is the time to try out a new makeup look on your winter-weary skin.

Jane Iredale's new spring makeup colours are perfect for the lighter looks we associate with the return of warmer weather, with soft honey tones and gentle corals complementing all skintones and hair colours.

Girls-in-the-know will love the Perfectly Nude collection which brings together all the tones of a lightly sun-flushed skin, with highlighters and shaders that allow multitasking for enhancing lips and eyes.

The collection consists of:

Perfectly Nude Eye Shadow Kit. Show but don't tell—a collection of five natural tones that can be used on their own or layered for a look that's uniquely "you." Choose from the gorgeous new shades of Cream, Foxy, Cappuccino, Antique Gold and Copper to make your eyes the unquestionable focal point of your face.

So Bronze 3. Ready, set, glow— the much-awaited threequel to So-Bronze 1 and So-Bronze 2. This beautiful set is suitable for sun goddesses and sun-shunners alike, providing a sun-kissed shimmer that enhances your features with a bewitching play of light. Use separately or mix together to add that special glow to cheeks, lips and eyes. 



Lip Fixation. For staying power that shines— Now you can do double-duty beauty with two great products in one. Each Lip Fixation™ tube boasts a lip stain and a matching, silky lip gloss. Choose between Desire, Fascination and Craving and use as much or as little of the gloss as the occasion warrants. Perfect for the beach, the boardroom or bedroom, Lip Fixation™ contains natural ginger for a plumper pout and avocado for a lasting moisturizing effect. This ultra-hydrating and long-lasting formulation is sure to be a hit for those longer, warmer days of spring!


Jane Iredale mineral makeup is never formulated with oil, talc, FD&C dyes, synthetic preservatives, parabens or fragrance.

You can find the full line of Jane Iredale mineral makeup at Spa Utopia (and remember to ask for your complimentary touch-up following any Spa Utopia spa or salon treatment). If you become a Spa Utopia Facebook Fan (just hit the Facebook link in the sidebar), you will qualify for a $5.00 saving off any item from the new Jane Iredale Perfectly Nude spring collection!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Spa Utopia now offers Smile FX teeth whitening system

Visitors  to Canada's most luxurious personal services venue will be pleased to know that we are now offering Smile FX Naturally White teeth whitening system.

A whiter, brighter smile is an instant uplift. It makes you look younger and healthier, and feel more confident. Having the service at Spa Utopia offers the additional benefit of feeling completely cosseted as you do so.

Smile FX utilizes revolutionary cool blue light technology to whiten teeth faster and deeper. It is safe for tooth enamel and the #1 choice for people with tooth sensitivity. Convenient and easy to maintain, your first treatment comprises three comfortable sessions of just 15 minutes each. If you want to maintain your sparkling white smile, you will need a touch-up treatment every two to six months.

Smile Fx costs hundreds of dollars less than other in-office professional whitening systems, and you won't have to lie in a dentist's chair or sit at home with uncomfortable trays in your mouth.

Another plus of the Smile FX whitening system is that, unlike "white strips" and other bleaching systems, it is also recommended for crowns, caps and veneers, quickly restoring them to their original colour. (You can help maintain your new, whiter teeth with the Maintain FX teeth whitening pen.)

And it gets better...

Spa Utopia gift cards are now in stock at all lower mainland Costco stores for a limited time. You can purchase two $50 Gift cards (a $100 value) for only $79.99 plus tax. This represents a saving of 20 percent, which can be used towards any Spa Utopia service and/or retail products.

When you purchase Spa Utopia gift cards at Costco you'll also save $10 on Smile FX teeth whitening treatment, plus you'll receive an additional $10 towards the purchase of the Maintain FX teeth whitening pen.

This special offer is available at Costco while quantities last.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Baby Nathalia Comes Home...

Spa Utopia warmly welcomes baby Nathalia home!

Proud parents Michelle and Michael held their four-month baby daughter for the first time on the crisp, cold afternoon of January 30, after flying to Ottawa to meet her.

"It was the happiest day of our lives," says Michelle, who works at the Langley location. Two days earlier, Michelle and Michael heard that the long road to bringing their baby home would shortly come to its happy conclusion. Coincidentally, it was Michelle's mother's birthday.

"I picked up the phone and told her, "Happy birthday! Your granddaughter is coming home."

Michelle and Michael have known for a long time that they wanted to adopt internationally, hoping to find a child needing the love and care they knew they could provide. Michelle's long-time friend, Andrea, had two adopted sisters from Haiti and Andrea's family was actively involved in supporting an orphanage in that country. They started the adoption process for a Haitian child three years ago after watching a DVD that Andrea brought home with her from Haiti.

"I saw these children singing in church, the same song I used to sing, but in Creole," says Michelle. "It brought up a lot of emotions. I knew right then that we were meant to adopt a child from here. Despite their situation—they have nothing—they all had big, happy smiles on their faces."

As the weeks turned into months, it became apparent that the adoption process would not be a short one. The paperwork involved to adopt a child from Haiti is overwhelming, involving many stages. At any point, an oversight can happen, and later did for Michelle and Michael. Although adopting a child from another country may have been easier, the couple knew that a Haitian child was destined to be in their future.

"Haiti had chosen us when we watched that DVD," Says Michelle. "We did not make the choice."

Weeks later, Michelle heard from Andrea who had gone to Haiti and found a different orphanage called Rivers of Hope.

"For six months, we believed we were going to adopt a child from there, but then the birth mother showed up," says Michelle. "That same weekend, a baby was born, and given up for adoption. This was our Nathalia. It was meant to be..."

After months of waiting and trying to sort out the tangle of paperwork, in January of this year, Michelle and Michael were scheduled to sign the adoption papers for Nathalia when the unthinkable happened. On January 12, at 4:53 in the afternoon local time, an earthquakeof magnitude 7.0 decimated much of Haiti, causing death and devastation country-wide.

"Our first thought was of course, Is she alive?" says Michelle. "Seven-and-a-half hours later we found out that the orphanage itself was OK, but the director and staff had lost their homes."

As the world knows only too well, the situation in Haiti became worse as aftershocks, and a lack of food and water impacted survivors. Nathalia's caregiver in Haiti, Rachel, strove to find her the soy milk she desperately needed, facing unimaginable tragedy and destruction on the streets. Somehow in the midst of all the confusion, a missing piece of paperwork was found and the Canadian authorities arranged to fly the children whose adoptions had been processed out of Haiti and to their new home.

"It was bittersweet," says Michelle. "Nathalia would be coming home but Rachel, who ran the orphanage and had fought to keep her alive and safe, would be staying behind."

On Saturday afternoon, Michelle and Michael stood with a long line-up of anxious parents at the airport in Ottawa and watched joyfully as 62 Haitian children and babies walked or were carried across the tarmac. Two of the children stopped to touch something they had never before seen: snow. It was a bright, sunny afternoon but the sun could not match the brightness of the smiles that day— both on the faces of the children, and their new families.


















"It felt like a miracle," says Michelle, pictured here with Michael and Nathalia at the airport. "But we wouldn't be holding Nathalia now without the help of so many others—our church, our friends, the adoption agencies, the orphanage, and Spa Utopia, which gave me all the time off that I needed to deal with the last few difficult weeks of Nathalia's adoption."

Everyone at Spa Utopia wishes Nathalia, Michelle and Michael a truly wonderful life together...as you said when you heard Nathalia had been born, "It was meant to be..."