I went to Moscow end of October and came back inspired for the upcoming holiday season. If you’ve ever visited The Red Square, you can understand why. The Kremlin looks like a gingerbread house and the entire square lights up at night, the trees lining it all the way around are evergreens and then of course, St. Basil’s Cathedral looks like sugarplums and fairies live there permanently.
While in Moscow, I thoroughly enjoyed the decadence of the culture I was exposed to and the way the women dressed. Everything was over the top and in just the right way. I felt like I was on a movie set, so, I wanted to bring that back with me and host a dinner party that felt the same…. but, California style.
I grew up in the midwest where we have the change in seasons and Christmas always meant cold and snow so, sometimes it’s hard for me to feel like Christmas. The closest thing I could do is sprinkle snow on the table and tell all the girls to dress up in fancy clothes and pretend it was cold. We blasted the air conditioning for a chill in the air. Just kidding…
We had the pleasure of having Ashton Keefe, celebrity food stylist and private chef, fly in for the evening out of New York City. We felt very fancy… so much fun:) She made us Beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and a long list of other entrees that are sure to make your mouth water. Not only was it beautifully styled but it tasted just as good as it looked. Thank you again Ashton.
Jody Burnham hosted us at her beautiful waterfront home and the setting could not have been prettier or more California-dreaming-esque. Susannah of French Buckets created a lush winter wonderland aesthetic with florals that adorned the fireplace and hung from the light fixtures. Jacquelyn of Beijos Events styled the tabletop with gold, candelabras, faux snow and a color story that screamed winter in an unexpected and fresh way. Jo Allen aka Dirty Eraser created custom artwork for our invitation, table settings and menus with illustrations of St. Basil’s Cathedral that mirrored the appropriate color scheme and my team at A+B Consulting set the tone appropriately with proper typeface and graphics.
The evening was hosted by us and Giovinezza, a skincare specialist team that led a discussion on conservative approaches to anti aging and looking our best for the holiday season. We absolutely love the work that comes out of Giovinezza because they are expertly trained injectors who would much rather err on the “less is more” side of the tracks which we very much appreciate. We want to take great care of our skin and that means different things to different women. Some are comfortable going under the knife, some are comfortable with lasers and injectables and others are comfortable with regular facials and gentle peels. Caron is an expert injector who really thinks outside of the box. I had my very best friend do a case study with them and Caron, Emily and Amy, the dream team, put Humpty Dumpty back together again after falling off the wall many of us know and love called – getting pregnant multiple times in a row, breastfeeding, losing sleep and being married. That can really do a number on the face we used to know and love in our twenties and when we surface in our thirties and beyond it can be a shock to see the aftermath. Crows feet, undereye bags, smile lines, jowls that appear from gaining and losing weight… a dull surface to the skin…. sound familiar? It can all be addressed and done in a way where it’s subtle yet makes all the difference. The goal is to look like the former, well-rested, not stressed you and then keep it up because let’s face it, the 20 year old in us is a figment of our imagination now. Unless you’re 20 and reading this and if that’s the case, enjoy your face while you can:) Alrighty then. Merry Christmas.
Have a look at this before and after below. She is beautiful, was a model before having babies and needed some self-care after having twins and a toddler. Norelle had a series of peels and facials with Amy, a few IPL’s with Emily, Botox in her forehead, in between her eyebrows and crows feet. She also had filler in her cheeks and temples to lift and smooth out the smile lines and restore a little fullness to her face. This is crafty because most inject filler right into the parentheses ( ) that frames the mouth creating a full, heavy, chipmunk-y bottom half of the face – we’ve all seen it. Adding filler to the temples and the cheeks lifts your smile lines from above and makes such a pretty and subtle difference. We also put some filler in her top lip – just “a dab will do you” kind of filler because no one wants a top lip that protrudes and ladies if that’s what you have, knock it off. There are other ways to create a more full looking mouth and prettier smile line than just shoving tons of filler inside the actual lip cavity. When the sun hits your face we can all see those lumps and bumps and that is NOT a good look. Ask Caron for the “lip flip” (a VERY LIGHT lip flip otherwise you won’t be able to talk) and to do a dab of Botox where a mustache would go to help a gummy smile… ingenious.