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Bedashing’s Busy Bee chair
Not getting enough attention over your usual simultaneous mani-pedi? Our new favourite beauty lounge, the Bedashing (originally Dashing Nails) branch on Khaleej Al Arabi, has a multi-treatment chair designed just for you in its own private room. The Busy Bee chair tilts back and has hand soakers in the arm rests, so on top of your mani-pedi and shoulder massage, someone can also thread your brows or apply eyelash extensions. I went for the weekly grooming package for Dh400. Koralia applied a Redken hair treatment before I settled into the chair, then the ladies got busy: Marivic on my pedicure, Kathrena on my manicure, Fazia on my threading and then Jenny on my shoulder massage. I wrapped it up with a blow-dry back in Koralia’s chair. With all that attention at once, I went from feeling like busy bee to queen bee. To book, call 02 417 1999.
* Mo Gannon
So Jennie alcohol-free bubbles
What’s a sober socialite to do in the business-class lounge without a glass of champagne? Qatar Airways has the answer. It serves up alcohol-free “luxury” bubbly called So Jennie in a glass flute, from a beautiful bottle silkscreened with 14-carat-gold butterfiles. Made by the Paris-based Le Manoir des Sacres and named after its creator, Jennie Kergoat-Ruelland, the blush-coloured bubbly is made from premium white and red grapes, with no added sugar or sulphite. The resulting taste is something very fine, like none of the sugary pretenders you’d buy in the supermarket, and at 32 calories a glass, who needs champagne? For now, you’ll have to fly Qatar Airways to sample it or dine in high-end hotels in Paris and Tokyo, but I discovered it’s coming to Abu Dhabi and Dubai very soon, where it will be available for delivery. For more information, go to www.sojennie.fr.
* Mo Gannon
Coya’s Private Members’ Club
The Dubai branch of the Peruvian tapas restaurant Coya, with its lavishly designed old-world-meets-new interior, had me at hola. But then a suave mustachioed man on staff ushered me behind a door in the wall to the private room, and, well, there’s no going back. On a busy Thursday night, the salon-style atmosphere was charged with an air of intrigue, with a mix that made me want to mingle; we returned for a more relaxed dinner in the lavish yet delapidated drawing room on a Saturday night. The only drawback is that it’s for members only. The US $2,000 (Dh7,345) annual membership is something to think about, as it gets you exclusive access along with three guests, priority booking for members’ tables as well as, in the restaurant itelf, your own gold-embellished locker, invites to special music and cultural events in the club and, for the first year, access to Coya’s other clubs in Miami and London. For more information, go to www.coyarestaurant.com/dubai
* Mo Gannon
Entertainer Body
I’ve bought the book in years past but found that not all spas were versed in another way it can be used, which is as a true two-for-one system: one treatment now, one treatment later, with double-bookings allowed. That’s all changed with the new Entertainer Body. The app works just like the dinner versions, allowing you to search and sort by locations. It offers a mix of high-end and affordable, with lots of two-for-one deals on many more of the places ladies are probably already going to for treatments. There are deals for men, on items at shops including Bath & Body Works, and for workouts, too.
• The Dubai Body 2015 App is Dh295; the book is Dh350. The Entertainer Abu Dhabi Body 2015 App is Dh245; the book Dh275. Go to www.theentertainerme.com for more information
* Ann Marie McQueen
Foreo Issa electric toothbrush
This high-end design wonder may take some getting used to, but it is well worth the effort. The Foreo Issa replaces nylon bristles with soft, gentle-yet-effective silicone, boosted by high-intensity pulses. The rubbery feel of the curved handle is a bit awkward at first and at times it can feel as though some of the bristles are a bit too big to fit between each tooth, the way smaller nylon ones can. But overall, a brush with a Foreo Issa leaves the mouth feeling just as clean as a regular toothbrush – maybe cleaner. You can can rinse it right off and see that it’s clean, unlike with all those suspicious nylon bristles that could be harbouring bacteria. The head only needs to be replaced once per year and it’s great for travel, taking just one hour to charge and promising 365 uses (The brush is going on three weeks now and it’s been used a lot). Also worth a check out from Foreo is the mini Luna, a silicone facial-cleansing brush, which has been giving the Clarisonic a run for its money since its launch in 2013.
• The Foreo Issa toothbrush sells for Dh900 and is available exclusively at Harvey Nichols in Dubai
* Ann Marie McQueen
English