A few weeks ago, I was in New York City with a dear friend of mine and fellow beauty fiend. Rather, I should say she’s a skincare fiend.

We were sitting in a cafe in Soho/Nolita (attached to a really hip bookstore, the kind of hip bookstore that carries $10 magazines. Oh I wish I could remember the name of it now!) I was bemoaning the light brown age spots I had discovered on my cheeks just a couple weeks before my 28th. (They weren’t there before! Were they??)

“You do use a serum for your skin, don’t you?” she asked.

“Serum?” I repeated, touching my face with uncertainty.

Then there was a gasp and a look of horror. That’s when I felt it. The stomach-dropping sense of chagrin and personal failure. (It was only later that I remembered, oh yes, I do use my Boots Beauty Serum every night. Nevermind, that I slap it on a bit haphazardly and with very little reverence.)

What I’m getting at is the feeling of failure for the lack of beauty ritual. I do love beauty, but what I love is the careless of beauty that can only come with youth. And now that I am undeniably in my late 20s, those days of careless beauty and slapped together good looks are gone gone gone. I find myself speculating laser treatments and botox and antiaging creams, the kind of stuff I flip past quickly in Allure to get to the good stuff (that line-up of embarrassing pictures of the celebrity cover model when they first got famous and no one would lend them any clothes so they had to wear outfits from — gasp — their own closets. You know you love it.)

Now that my looks take some effort, maybe it is time to get together a skincare ritual? Moisturizing masks, serums, facials. I just don’t want to become a slave to ritual. Not yet.  Not until I’m at least in my 30s.  Is that asking the impossible?

Let me say how amazing modern technology is that Demi Moore can be 45 and appear so young.  But if this is the secret to her agelessness, then I would like to have no part in it, thank you very much.

While I’m thinking Ms. Moore is out of her gourd, I realize that I’ve done some crazy things for beauty myself.  Among the craziest?  Acupuncture for acne.  But that’s not gross/weird, just expensive.  Haha.

What are the craziest things you’ve done for beauty?

I know I wrote about the Lumene Moisturizing Mask not too long ago, but it deserves another shout out for working a miracle on my skin this week.

I came back from LA earlier this week with seriously dehydrated skin. My skin was flaky and had started breaking out. Last night, I pulled out the moisturizing mask and saw a significant improvement this morning. I think a few more days of using the product will get my skin back to normal.

Tell me what are your miracle beauty products?

“What is this?? Fresh mozarella in a jar?”

That’s what popped into my head the first time I laid eyes on the 50/50 Body Balm by Soaptopia. Because isn’t that what it looks like — little balls of fresh mozarella? And while I do love fresh mozarella, what’s inside those jars is even better.

The 50/50 Body Balm is an ingenious mixture of 50% body cream and 50% body oil (grapeseed, olive, hempseed, avocado and jojoba oils) — hence the name. The cream is piped directly into the jars, with the oil poured in afterwards. The result is a moisturizer that is 100% rich and indulgent.

This was definitely my favorite product from the Soaptopia store that I visited last week during my trip to LA. I especially loved the Rose and the Vanilla scents. In fact, the 50/50 Body Balm is so excellent that I must declare it among the “Products That Make Life Worth Living.” It is not easy to win entry into this category, folks, so I definitely recommend you go out and try this balm!!

Hated the traffic, weather was a little frosty, but I absolutely loved loved loved Soaptopia in Los Angeles! I happened to see a little ad for it in the city guide that I found at our hotel, so with the help of the GPS, made my way over to the store.

All of the soaps sold at the store are made in the back kitchen area. They even give tours/demonstrations so that customers can see first hand the magic.

The end products are absolutely beautiful, are they not? I am totally enamoured. Soaptopia uses all natural ingredients in their products, including essential oils for fragrance. They offer an amazing variety of soaps, salt scrubs, bath oils, bath soaks and more. Keep your eyes peeled for a Soaptopia review soon!

Sorry for the radio silence this past week, folks. I was away on vacation in L.A. last week, and then I started a new job today, so it’s been really busy around here. I have lots to share of my adventures on the West Coast. In the meantime, here is some California beauty for you to enjoy…

LaLicious is having a big Spring blowout sale — 45% off their travel sets, and body wash and mitt gift set.

I’m a big fan of the LaLicious sugar scrubs. The packaging is cute, the product is fantastic and every single ingredient is all natural and recognizable. The latter is a really nice bonus considering the all natural angle isn’t really their schtick.

The travel set seems like a great way to introduce yourself to the line — it contains mini versions of their body scrub, body butter, body wash and body oil. Now it retails for $20 instead of the regular $36.

Their sale is to help clear out inventory in time for the debut of their new packaging in April. I’m curious to see what this will look like. I already like their current packaging, so they have big shoes to fill.

After two and a half years, I finally ran out of my beloved YSL Touche Eclat. (Don’t worry — I managed to restock today.)

However, in the two weeks that I was without, I rediscovered Benefit Boi-ing. I’d purchased this product last year after reading some great reviews, but it got lost in my collection of makeup because I found the texture really dry and cakey, and was having a hard time working with it.

Having had a chance to play around with it some more this week, though, I’ll have to say that I’ve warmed up to it. The trick with Boi-ing is to apply it with a light hand. I do that only in the dark areas of my face — under the eyes, around the nose and around the mouth. It really helps brighten up my face.

The second trick — and probably the most important one — is to make sure your skin is well hydrated. The product goes on much more smoothly and naturally this way. This rule applies to all makeup products, but especially this one because it is so dry itself. If it goes onto parched skin, it will just cake up and look terrible.

Having been very pleased with other Lumene products I’ve tried, I went out and purchased this moisturizing mask a couple months ago. I’ve been testing the product for a while now, and am happy to report that my skin is loving it.

I use it once or twice a week as a ten-minute mask after I wash my face. Sometimes I’ll apply the mask prior to a shower so that the hot water can open up my pores to let the moisture really penetrate. The product is fragrance free (great for sensitive skin), and leaves a pleasant chill on my skin as it does its magic.

According to the package, the product contains “pure, arctic spring water and bio-calming oil.” I really gotta chuckle at this because you want to know what the second listed ingredient is, after water? Canola oil.

This is not a knock against canola oil. I actually think canola oil is seriously underrated as a skincare ingredient. But it’s just interesting the difference between marketing and the reality.

That said, I really thought this product was great for my dry skin, and would definitely buy it again.

No, you’re right, it’s not summer yet. But next week, I’m going to be vacationing in LA for the first time — a welcome relief from this cold New England weather. For the past two weeks I’ve had sun, sand and In-N-Out on my mind.

In light of the above, and so the rest of you can get a head start on summer, I’m providing you with these hair care tips from Brad Johns of Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa:

How should you change your hair care routine for the summer months?

In the summer months, there are always more environmental stresses on the hair, such as salt water, sun, chlorine and salt, which add dryness and cause extra color fading. To prevent all of this, I always suggest using shampoo and conditioning treatment that contain UV protectors. Similarly to how you would care for your face/skin, you should take the time to treat your hair the same. In the winter, you should use more moisturizing products. I suggest changing your hair care routine every season, as hair tends to get used to your products and they are not as effective.

What summer elements fade hair color and why?

Chlorine is the absolute worst. Chemicals will harm all colors. It turns blondes green and brunettes orange. Sun and salt water are known to fade color, but usually fade it in a natural way. It sometimes looks good and sunkissed, as long as you’re not in a corrective color mode or have had color problems over the winter.

What is the best way to prevent fading and/or preserve color?

The best way is to wear a hat or a headband. Avoid oil-based hair products, as they attract the sun and magnify the color fading. Hair gels, waxes and crèmes protect the hair like an umbrella.

Brad was actually named NYC’s premier hair colorist in the new book, How Not to Look Old by Charla Krupp.

Brad specializes in blonds, but he’ll be worth his weight in gold (haha - no pun intended) if he can do hair color magic on an Asian girl with black hair. I have been dying to get my hair highlighted for years, but just don’t see how this can happen tastefully or naturally. It’s rare that I’ve seen good color work on an Asian head of hair. Or maybe it’s just not meant to be?