Alexandra Wagner - The Art Of Skincare

One of my favorite people to run into around the neighborhood is Alexandra Wagner, usually seen out walking her darling dog, Mylo. After talking about it for literally years, I finally made an appointment to have Wagner work her facial magic on me at her Abbot Kinney studio, Alexandra Wagner Skincare.

We jumped into the facial before the chat, and I settled in to her bright, airy treatment room, where we pretty much chatted the whole time anyway. Wagner was born and raised in Philadelphia, and that down to earth Philly style is ever-present in this gal. She has always been an artist, and after getting her BFA from UC- Boulder, Wagner made the move to New York, where she began a painting business. While she always painted her art, her business was more like painting rooms on scaffolding painting. This type of work takes a toll on one's body, so Wagner would get weekly massages, and really began to appreciate the art of making people feel good. Then one day a well-intentioned friend asked Wagner what she used to moisturize her face, because she could write the word "Dry" in it (this was New York, remember). That small comment wound up changing the direction of Wagner's life, when she began to get facials, loved them, and started thinking she might like to work in an area that made people feel beautiful, inside and out.

Wagner got her esthetician start working at Jurlique in New York, but the Southern California weather started looking real good to her, and she transferred to Jurlique out here. After a short time on Montana Avenue, Wagner needed some flavor. It was too clean over there ... but Venice was perfect. She rented space at the now gone Tree House, and then had a space located above (also now gone) Culcha. Now you can find Alexandra Wagner Skincare in the Beauty Bungalows at 1636 Abbot Kinney (along with Lavish Tan, Kelley Baker Brows and Stephanie Hobgood Hair - a wonderful, one-stop beauty mecca) in her lovely space, complete with a deck overlooking the boulevard.

The signature facial I received was pure bliss (aside from those always gnarly but necessary extractions, but Wagner made even those very tolerable). Everything smelled good, it felt great, and I emerged from the room like I'd been in a time machine ... I think Wagner may have shaved a good 10 years off of my face! The best part was when my face was kind of stinging from the extractions, suddenly a wonderful, soothing wave of liquid calm was applied, and just as I was about to say "What is that, it feels amazing!", Wagner said, "Oh, and this is my new White Tiger serum."

The White Tiger Serum. Wow. I'd attended Wagner's launch party for the new product a couple months ago, but as the party was so packed (and fun), the samples of the serum were already gone. I can't really explain how good it felt when she applied it to my freshly buffed out face, so you should really check it out for yourself. It contains white turmeric and tiger grass stem cells, hence the White Tiger name, and I don't really know about the science of it all, just that it felt like nothing I've had on my face before. Sublime (and soon there will also be White Tiger cleanser, etc...).

I felt even better about that facial when I learned that with every signature facial Wagner gives, she also gives back. As a fine artist, Wagner loves to share that gift. When a doctor friend invited her along on a trip to Cambodia in 2008 she brought along $2000 of art supplies to give to needy children there. She painted with kids afflicted by HIV there, and said the experience was so intense and beautiful, that she wanted to bring that feeling back with her to Los Angeles. Once back, she decided that with every facial, she would give an art kit to a child in need. Since then, kits have been delivered to homeless kids in Hawai'i, kids in Kenya, and recently 100 kits were donated to Grandview Elementary right here in L.A. ... so it's a facial you can feel REALLY good about.

The fine art part of Wagner's life also continues, as she paints as often as she can in her home studio. She had a great art show at the now long-gone Epoxy Box space on Venice Boulevard (remember that fun?), and hopes to launch another one as soon as her time permits ... which, with all she's got going on, could be a minute, but will certainly be well worth the wait.

Wagner loves to walk the block or so to work every day with Mylo ... and loves walking to dinner, walking to a friend's house, walking to the beach ... living in a place where you can walk to it all. I mentioned at the outset that I love seeing her walking, and we both lamented that with all the changes happening in town, you don't really see people as much. Now all the people walking down Abbot Kinney seem to be strangers as all the locals kind of avoid it, especially on the weekends, when you would see everyone out and about. The community is the real reason we all love it here, and I know I'm a broken record about all that, but I don't care. It matters. As Wagner reminded me, "We have to stay positive."

Positive is easy to stay when you're in the company of Wagner. "I want to make people look and feel more beautiful, to encourage them to want to take care of themselves. Giving your skin a little love makes you and I both feel good." That was a true story, because I left there feeling all aglow, inside and out.

But don't just take my word for it, take Vogue's:

http://www.vogue.com/13253093/best-facialists-new-york-los-angeles-celebrity-model/#comments

And now you can book your own appointment to be - and feel - pretty as a picture.

Alexandra Wagner Skincare
1636 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
310.399.0123
AlexandraWagnerSkincare.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexandraWagnerSkinCareCA
Instagram: https://instagram.com/alexandrawagnerskincare/

*Photos courtesy Alexandra Wagner

Lavish Tan Venice - Fake It Til You Make It (To The Beach)!

It's that time of the year where it's too cold out to really get your solid beach day in, and then your whole body winds up being the same color as your ass. I'm not into that. I have also never been into the idea of spray tan stuff, as it always seemed to make my well-meaning friends look like Oompa Loompas. Not a pretty look.

Then I bumped into Kelsey Jones at the Canal Club (a spot we both like to haunt) and she said, "When are you coming in for a tan?!" I've always kind of hedged about it, as if I'm honest, I thought it was a cheesy thing to do when you've got the beach right here. But the beach was FREEZING last week, and I thought, "You know, why not? You can't judge it til you've tried it ..." so I called up Kelsey and went on in to her Lavish Tan on Abbot Kinney. Lavish shares a floor with the other members of the "Beauty Bungalows" - Stephanie Hobgood Hair, Kelley Baker Brows, and Alexandra Wagner Skincare - so you get all these "Best of L.A." spots in one location!

Jones thought it was best if I got sprayed first, so I'd know what she was talking about when we talked. You go in the spray room, get all naked (I left on a little string as Jones suggested "It's more fun to see the difference"), and stand there while Jones sprays your entire body and face with the airbrush hose of tanning solution. It's a chilly sensation, which is balanced by the little warm blow dry she does on you after the tan sauce. The whole thing took like 10 minutes max, then you put your dark, loose clothes on and don't shower for 7 hours while it all sinks in. I immediately looked all golden brown, and not Oompa Loompa in the least. I believe this is why Allure Magazine named Lavish Tan as "#1 Airbrush Tan In The Nation". That's right, Venice.

And organic it is. Totally. As Jones explained, the reason so many spray tans look orange is that they're trying to be natural, and use carrots or beets. Everyone who has ever cooked a vegetable knows that carrots stain you orange, and beets red. So after an eye-opening bout with skin cancer (due to the tanning beds at a salon Jones worked at) that had to be removed (and is gone, Thank God), Jones started to think about better ways to be naturally brown, since the desire to look bronze didn't go away with the skin cancer. Observing how apples and bananas turn brown when left out, Jones smartly figured out that the natural sugars in fruit like that might be the answer to turning people brown instead of orange. It was.

Working with a chemist from Neutrogena (who she found while researching it all on Linked In), they experimented with different formulas and had odd colored stripes on her own body for six months from testing it, until hitting upon the jackpot one that she had just sprayed all over me.  Jones and her partner, Alex Dexter, opened Lavish Tan in 2007 and have been bronzing up L.A. ever since. They've even opened a location in Melbourne, Australia, as Dexter moved there, and those Aussies need this with that big hole in the ozone down there. (*Note: though you should know that the airbrush tan is not giving you a base to protect you better from UV rays - it's just exterior, for looks, so you still need that sunscreen, mates!)
 

Jones was born and raised in Venice, and attended Venice High. Like most of us, she says that her favorite thing about Venice is the community. The people. That she can walk ("or crawl!") to work. That you can head to one of our bars (her faves: Canal Club, Wabi-Sabi, and The Tasting Kitchen) around town by yourself and run into 50 people you know. That it takes you way longer to just run down the street to the store because you'll stop and say hi to ten people you know on the way. That all the women in the Beauty Bungalows all want each other to do well, root for each other, and all bring each other business. "No drama," as Jones says. I love that womanly support, and you can feel it any time you visit any of them.

There have been a lot of changes in Venice, that Jones has seen her whole life. "It's good for business, sure, but we're losing character here." Ummm ... agreed. Having the space on Abbot Kinney has been great (even inspiring an upcoming fragrance Jones and her sister are producing called "Kin" - awesome), but they now do most of their business online, as salons all over the world are catching on that this tanning solution is the best. (Lavish also offers certified teeth whitening, which looks great with your tan, but isn't part of the organic deal.) They're coming out with new products available on the Lavish Tan website, like correcting pens to fill in blanks, for those ladies that have tan lines exposed above their wedding dresses, etc. Just color it in!

Last week was real cold and rainy, and a friend of mine stopped me - on the way to the store - and asked how I was so golden tan when it was so cold out at the beach?! I fessed up to the spray tan, and she couldn't believe it, as real as it looked. So I was proven totally wrong, have a new friend, and looked tan and healthy, all in one brief visit with the super cool ladies of Lavish Tan.

Get yours!

Lavish Tan
1636 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice
310.384.0010
www.LavishTan.com