On She Space Pigments and Pampered Feet

During The She Space's last sale, I ordered several full-size pigments and a couple of quads which I was really excited to get. Heather just mailed them to me this week because she never received a notification of my order and just found out about it after checking her Paypal account. Good thing she shipped my package via Priority Mail (free upgrade) because I just received them last night. They are beautiful! I love the intensity of the pigments and I actually am glad about my lone custom pigment purchase (Round the Town which I chose Gold Twinkle to be added). It makes for a pretty wash on the lid, and I can't wait to play with these! All pigments were swatched with a damp brush:


Doesn't this eeriely remind you of the MAC Smoking Eyes quad from the Smoke Signals collection? Yummy!





I really love all the colors; they are just vivid and the color combinations you can think of are endless. I am also glad that Heather has put up her Custom Pigment Bar so her customers can create the funkiest, most unique pigments they can think of.

Pampered Feet

Many people from California, especially in the L.A. area are probably familiar with the $15-an-hour foot reflexology craze going on. For 15 bucks an hour, Chinese-speaking attendants will massage, stroke, knead and apply pressure on every nook and cranny of your toes and feet and other parts of your body using the ancient Chinese technique to de-stress, detoxify and flush out impurities from your system. I tried one of the better foot reflexology salons in Southern California when I went there several weeks ago, and it left me in Cloud 9 and craving for more. They bring out this bamboo bucket filled with very hot water with herbs mixed in it for you to immerse your feet in. They let you soak your feet for a good 15 minutes then they start a massage on your head, neck, shoulders, back, arms, hands for 20 minutes, then they concentrate on your feet and legs for about 40 minutes. You get out of the salon really sore but totally de-stressed!

I left California with a heavy heart as I thought I'd never find that kind of foot reflexology using asian techniques here in the valley. I have been looking high and low for something like that in my area (and with the same price as well), and although I didn't find service as cheap as that, I did find a foot reflexology spa that is as good, and I'd say even better, than the one I tried in California.

First, for those of you who are new to this kind of massage, what is Reflexology? Wikipedia describes it as "the practice of massaging, squeezing, or pushing on parts of the feet, or sometimes the hands and ears, with the goal of encouraging a beneficial effect on other parts of the body, or to improve general health. Reflexologists posit that the body contains an energy field, invisible life force, or Qi, the blockage of which can prevent healing. Other reflexologists claim to be able to relieve stress and pain in other parts of the body through the manipulation of the feet. Other proposed effects of reflexology include the release of endorphins (natural pain killers found in the body), the promotion of lymphatic flow in the body or the dissolving of uric acid crystals." They say that every part of your hands and feet corresponds to a certain area or organ of the body. Reflexology is a complex system that identifies and addresses the mass of 7,000 nerve endings that are contained in the foot and hands. Reflexology is a completely natural therapy that affords relief without the use of drugs.





Sounds quack-ish, right? It does until you actually experience a soul-reviving reflexology session. Case in point: I have chronic shoulder-neck pain mainly due to working in front of the computer the whole day. After my reflexology session yesterday, the pain just dissipated. I normally would have stiff muscles at this time of the day every day, but now, it's totally gone. Really. I know it will probably get back one day when I am totally stressed out, but a day or a week or a month without this shoulder-neck pain is as glorious as it sounds.









So anyways, I tried the one just a few miles from our home called Pampered Foot and it was the most glorious massage therapy I've had. It's not your typical $15-an-hour massage place with endless rows of reclining chairs facing a big screen TV showing a Chinese singing variety show. This place is tastefully decorated, has very Zen-ish surroundings and the therapy room itself was dimly-lit, with only four buttery soft leather reclining chairs and ottomans (ottomen? lol). Soothing spa music is being played, and you can't exactly read a magazine because the room is dark; you can actually drift off to dreamland if you want. My therapist was this amiable Chinese guy named Jason, and his pressure was the best I've tried - strong, firm, but gentle enough that he didn't sumo-chop me to death. His strong pressure on my shoulders and neck completely eased my tension and my back just felt so much better afterward. And that was just the beginning! The minute he massaged my feet, I was in heaven! There was no square inch on my knees, lower legs, feet, and toes that he left neglected. Even the spaces between my toes were kneaded and applied pressure on. There was some pain but it was a good kind of pain, and he was quiet and efficient, which I prefer (I don't like chatty therapists). It was totally worth the $35 I paid, and I tipped him well, and he was very appreciative. I slept like a baby last night, and you can bet I'm definitely gonna be doing this regularly, if only to ease the pain on my neck and shoulders. The pressure on my feet definitely did good to my body in general as well - I slept better, felt better and tension just evaporated from my body. Best of all, you won't get all stressed out about the price.

All those kneading, massaging, and soaking in hot water made my nail polish peel and crack, so I knew it was time for a pedicure. Today I tried a new nail salon near my workplace, and this is the first time I've ever had a pedicure with really good foot massage (as my feet were still sensitive from the reflexology yesterday, I didn't enjoy it was much as I would have liked). I especially liked their application of hot rocks on my legs and feet while massaging my feet with the rocks, for the price of a regular pedicure. A-ma-zing. My feet really feel so pampered now. I chose MAC's Nocturnelle nail lacquer from the Smoke Signals collection.