Artisanal Handcrafted Shoes Made by a Fabulous Mom
Months ago, I was at a MNO and was admiring the gorgeous shoes of a beautiful and hip mom in my son’s kindergarten classs. I told her they were beautiful and totally my style, and asked where she got them because I wanted to run right out and get a pair for myself. To my surprise she said, “I am a shoe designer and these are mine.” Wow, really?! Gotta love multi-tasking moms! I was so taken with her shoes, that she kindly offered to gift me a pair 
Let me tell you about the lovely and creative Taline Farra. After years of honing her skills as a designer, Taline’s natural talents led her to designing shoes. Having grown up in the shoe making business, Taline slowly developed a keen eye for shoes and shoe design. Building on her natural design flair and talent for shoe making, she decided it was time to launch her own label. Married to an architect, further inspired Taline to create symmetrical designs that showcase timeless classic styles, resulting in unique hand crafted shoes. Her designs are inspired by the carefree California disposition and tend to have a modern artisanal flare and understated funkiness which I absolutely love!
Each of Taline’s designs are custom made and one-of-a-kind. She buys recycled leather in small quantities in order to give each shoe a unique look and texture. All of her shoes are feminine, comfortable, versatile, high quality and hand crafted in Los Angeles from start to finish. Supporting a local mom and product, I am all for that!
The shoe I coveted is called the Maui Wedge Sandal This is a slip on wedge style platform sandal in a soft and yummy distressed latte brown leather. I can’t get over how comfy they are, how hip they are and how high quality the craftsmanship is. The love that goes into the creation of these shoes is totally evident. I dig the slightly asymmetrical cut of the leather and how sexy it looks from a side view. This is the type of shoe that goes with everything, you can dress it up or down and it is built to last. A perfect summer shoe.
Let’s hear it for this awesome, fab mom and her creative brilliance!
Check out the entire Taline Farra collection HERE
Beauty Buzz: Fun Happenings in the Beauty World
Greetings loyal followers, I have been busy, busy keeping up with all that is going on in the beauty world, hence the lapse in posts. Below, you will find a sampling of some fun things that are popping up in the beauty world, as well as some of the trend scouting missions and events that have been keeping me busy. Enjoy!
MAC Venomous Villains The blogosphere is all abuzz about the Fall release of MAC’s latest inspired collection called the Venomous Villains. I am particularly excited about this special collection because not only am I a beauty maven, but I am an avid collector of all things Disney female villians (which I call the Evil Queens.) Can you say Malificent, Cruella, and Ursula?
Here’s the official scoop: MAC Cosmetics is teaming up with Disney to create a limited edition color collection, intended to launch globally in late September in all MAC locations. The products will feature four Disney characters, on which the brand is keeping mum at the moment — although with a collection name of Venomous Villains, it is assumed that we’re not talking Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse here. Lipstick, powder, lip gloss and blush shades will be sold, ranging in price from $12 to $29.50. I will be all over this fabu collection!! Click on this link for a fun teaser of this new collection: Sneak Peak of MAC Venomous Villians
CEW Award Winners Cosmetic Executive Women, Inc. (CEW) is one of the leading trade organizations in the beauty industry, comprised of members who are some of the most influential people in the beauty business (including yours truly ) The CEW Beauty Awards are one of the industry’s highest honors because they recognize some of the most innovative beauty products of the year, as voted by CEW members and industry experts. Winners of this award gain tremendous exposure in the beauty category. The 2010 CEW Beauty Award Winners were just announced, click HERE for the list.
[/caption]Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in celebration of NYX Cosmetics 11th Anniversary. This brand is probably best known for making high quality, professional make-up at affordable prices. In honor of this milestone, the brand hosted this great event to celebrate its established presence in the cosmetics industry. I brought along another fabulous blogger TravelsWithTwo, and we enjoyed hanging poolside, checking out celebs (like Carmen Electra & Katherine McPhee) listening to great tunes, sipping the signature NYX-tini (a yummy grapefruit pink girly concoction), eating yummy morsels (loved the petite burgers and the Guinness Beer milkshakes), and playing with samples of NYX Cosmetics. We left with lots of NYX make-up goodies and I am especially enjoying their yummy berry flavored and slightly tingly Mega Shine Lip Gloss.
Shecky’s Girls Night Out Last week was a busy week for me, I also attended Shecky’s GNO with my bestie. Shecky’s is a nationwide lifestyle and shopping event that introduces women to emerging lifestyle brands and designers. There are lots of free giveaways, samples, and sponsored alcohol to drink. I attend this fab event in LA twice a year and look forward to finding unique products and trends. This year, I once again fell in love with the beautiful vintage necklaces by Eda and Betty Heirloom Couture, found an amazing assortment of bold statement making bling rings and was surprised by how much I enjoyed Michelob Ultra Snapdragon Peach (a light slightly fruity beer but not sweet.) Once again, it was fabulous girly fun and I look forward to the next time!
These Feet Were Made For Walkin’
As a beauty blogger, I get lots of opportunities to try out unique treatments in hopes that something will strike me as new, different and inspired. Recently, I was invited to the Ona Spa in Los Angeles for a totally novel treatment that I had never experienced before: a Full Body Massage conducted predominately with the feet. I have had many, many massages but never one done with the feet, this was a whole new arena of me–I was intrigued!
This signature service is called the Ona Pada (Pada is the Sanskrit term for foot) and it is a full body massage treatment using the feet as the massaging tools. This unique approach to massage therapy is supposed to increase joint mobilization and release tensions in the large muscle groups. What is unique about using the feet to conduct a massage is that they can exert much more pressure than the hands can, however the surface area of the foot is much bigger than the hands, so this more intense and stronger pressure is more spread out. In other words, it’s a much more powerful massage, but you feel it less cause the intense pressure is spread out.
So let me tell about my divine Ona Pada with Daniel, the creator of this extraordinary massage, who has the gentle presence of a healer and the feet of a God. We meet in the relaxation room to discuss the treatment, how it is different, what to expect and he gives me an opportunity to share any specific problem areas I have (Yes, my neck and shoulders please!)
We enter the Pada treatment room, and I notice that above the massage table mounted to the ceiling are bars and harnesses to support the masseuse when the feet are doing the massaging. OK this is going to be REALLY different and I love it! The massage actually starts with me seated upright in a little supportive chair and a couple of drops of Jasmine oil that I rub into the palms of my hands to increase the feelings of euphoria (way to start!)Starting upright, gives Daniel an opportunity to loosen and stretch my muscles before the foot work begins. I have never been stretched like this before a massage, and I really liked it because it instantly showed me how skilled he was and it also allowed him to get into my problem areas right from the start. Already I could tell this was going to be good!
Then I climb onto the table and nirvana begins. Daniel rubs the most aromatic ginger and lemongrass scented massage oil (reminiscent of the Far East where the inspiration for this treatment came) on my back, climbs on the table and the foot magic begins. At first his feet are cold, but they warm quickly and he gradually works his feet around my back and body getting into my problem areas rather quickly. It feels really cool (as in different), relaxing and therapeutic at the same time. I couldn’t believe it was his feet that were working this magic. It was so relaxing and satisfying that I almost dosed off several times. I really like the kind of broad pressure the feet can exert and feel it did a really effective job releasing my tension.
When the massage is finished, I feel relaxed and calm but somehow different. It is more than a massage, more like an experience that transforms you and puts you into a rejuvenated state of mind. I kid you not, this euphoria and lack of tension lasted for days and made me wonder why it has taken me so long to discover the magical healing powers of the feet. I highly recommend checking out this terrific treatment if you are in the Los Angeles area.
Ona Spa 7373 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 931-4442 or www.onaspa.com
