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Skincare Gets Raw with Astara
FeelgoodStyle.com| August 2008 | Written by Courtney Carlisle
I was talking to one of the leading ladies in “green” spas, Sara or Sara Elizabeth Skincare in San Diego, a couple of weeks ago when she let me in on a little secret…one of my FAVORITE skincare products (you know, the ones that you want to be blissfully ignorant about if they aren’t good for you) is actually more amazing than I ever knew.
In fact, she is guessing that these raw botanical products are the wave of the future for eco-conscious estheticians.
» Read more on Beauty and Personal Care
» See peer reviews of Green Beauty Products at Green Home
The Astara daily refining scrub ($37 for 6 oz.) comes from a line of products that uses high quality natural raw materials and does everything it can to preserve the integrity of nature-derived ingredients. Recognizing that our internal health is related to what we eat, they believe that our skin (the body’s largest organ) also relies on the best of foods to keep healthy, strong, vital and youthful. Because of this, Astara only uses lower-temperature, efficacy-preserving processing methods, never exceeding 105º F (36º C), to ensure fresh, live, active biocultures to benefit the skin.
The daily refining scrub is gentle and effective and leaves my skin feeling so soft. I love using it to wash away all of the dirt and stress of the day. |
Boutique Bliss
San Diego Magazine| November 2008
Clients of Sara Elizabeth Skincare leave the stylish Mission Hills hot spot with radiant skin, polished nails and must-have beauty products from her in-house boutique. Sara Elizabeth Kuite carries a number of handpicked, high-end skin-care lines, including TRUE, Astara, Pevonia, Priori and Medicalia. Not sure which one is right for you? Skincare expert Kuite will help find the just-right products for a specific skin type. She also stocks the latest in Spa Ritual’s vegan, nontoxic line of nail polishes and products (check out the new scrub and masque). Other popular purchases: luxurious pajama sets by Bed Head, cute cosmetic clutches, jewelry designs by Elisa Gonsalves, organic baby products and bibs, Cielet Mar candles and elixr health tonics.
4026 Hawk Street, Suite H, San Diego
619.297.7546 |
www.saraelizabethskincare.com |
Beauty Picks
juli b San Diego | August 2008 
Good Vibrations
first, raw food took over your diet and favorite restos, and now, it's taking over your favorite spas too. the raw vegan organic facial ($125) blends the vibrational energy of live botanicals with japanese massage techniques to help harmonize your skin. available at sara elizabeth skincare. 4026 hawk street. at fort stockton. 619.297.7546 |
www.saraelizabethskincare.com |
2008 Platinum Awards
944 Magazine | August 2008 
Get a killer facial
Sara Elizabeth Skincare & Nail Boutique
4026 Hawk Street,
Mission Hills | 619.977.7546
www.saraelizabethskincare.com |
The Best Green Spa of San Diego
San Diego Magazine | August 2008
Green Spa
Eastern ideas, Western technology and an organic, fragrant product line make Sara Elizabeth (4026 Hawk Street,
Suite H, 619-977-7546; saraelizabethskincare.com) a standout spa. Sara is known for her personalized service
and natural treatments such as the vegan hand and foot rituals, a divine manicure and pedicure
sans the smelly chemicals. |
Hand & Foot
Want Magazine | March 2008
Eco-Conscience Meets Style-Conscience
SpaRitual (Totally Vegan) Nail Laquer, $10. |
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Spring Training - Nails
San Diego Magazine | February 2008
Spring Training
The look: Flirty shades of red, burgundy and pink. Sara Elizabeth Skincare in Mission Hills performs manicures and pedicures using SpaRitual's vegan, nontoxic polishes and products. SpaRitual's spring line, dubbed Awakened, includes six new shades showcasing the hot hues of the season: creamy nude, soft petal pink, flamingo pink, tangerine, classic red and deep berry. "A creamy, neutral tone on clean, natural nails is always in fashion, adds Sara Elizabeth Kuite. |
Face Facts - Muscle Madness!
Rivera | January 2008
Beauty Call
Facial yoga may be the next emerging beauty craze, but it's hardly a new concept that toning once's face muscles just might be better than, um, paralyzing them. Sara Elizabeth Skin Care got that memo too; at this Mission Hills haven, Sara Elizabeth Kuite's addictive Ginseng Herbal Facial incorporates Japanese Kobido massage, a 500-year-old muscle reconstruction technique that she leanred, Kill Bill-style, under skincare sensei Shogo Mochizuki in a Colorado mountain retreat. She also worked alongside famed facialist Christine Chin—whose Lower East Side spa counts Gisele Bundchen as a client—before setting up shop here, where girls flock to Kuite for major face time. |
Black Tie
944 San Diego | October 2007
944 Picks
It's true that beauty is more than skin deep. Yet, as devoted clients of Sara Elizabeth Skin Care & Nail Boutique will attest, feeling beautiful often starts at the skin's surface. With its inconspicuous Mission Hills location, Sara Elizabeth is a skin destination – a tranquil escape known only by locals and promoted via word of mouth referrals until recent media attention uncovered it from "hidden gem" status. Now one of the top skin-focused mini-spas in San Diego, the boutique offers everything from facials to micro-dermabrasion treatments to massages to waxing. Its namesake proprietor, aesthetician Sara Elizabeth, studied under skin authority Ling Chan and built a strong client base in New York before relocating to San Diego. Her boutique embraces Eastern philosophies rooted in healing and respecting the entire body and in achieving balance. Sip on a peach-infused Virtual Buddha herbal tonic from the elixir bar before indulging in the Beluga Caviar & Pearl Facial, which infuses antioxidants and botanical ingredients to enhance skin firmness, radiance and hydration. Or choose from a range of exclusive services not offered anywhere else in San Diego County, such as the Ginseng Herbal Facial or the Supersonic Dermabrasion – a cleansing cosmetic ultrasound that flushes out debris and toxins lodged within the cellular layers of your skin. Now that's deep. |
San Digeo
W Magazine | October 2007
The Best In Day Spas
Catering to everyone from rock star to the domestically chic... Grab your goblets, this hyped-but-hidden boutique-style day spa will make you think you've discovered the fountain of youth. Sara Elizabeth Skin Care & Nail Boutique specializes in healthy alternatives. Masters of amazing, sustainable face and body skin care, other services include their coveted Brazilian waxing, and a custom turbine bronzing that leaves you feeling like you stepped off the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition. Exotic manicures and pedicures will stimulate all seven of your chakras with aromas and wild-crafted ingredients from around the world. Warning: side effects may include absolute bliss, radiant features and the desire to pre-book your appointments to the year 2020.
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 The Little Black Book
Want Magazine | October 2007
Sara Elizabeth Skincare specializes in health skincare alternatives, and features the only Raw-Vegan-Organic Botanical Facial in the United States. This facial will definitely rock your green world! You can also enjoy this facial in the " Vegan Package". Which consists of an invigorating aromatherapy or firming body polish, an exclusive Raw Botanical Facial, and a Vegan Hand and Foot Ritual while you sip on exotic and tantalizing Elixir Tonics. (2hrs 45min) |
About Face
Tips from a Mission Hills skincare marvel for achieving complexion perfecton.
San Diego Magazine |
February 2007
San Diego Style
In the charming and historic neighborhood of Mission Hills among the tree-lined streets and quaint houses, lives San Diego's best-kept beauty secret: Sara Elizabeth Skin Care Boutique.
Native san Diegan Sara Elizabeth Kuite left home to learn her craft in a bigger arena. "I wanted to explore what 'true beauty' really meant, where it stemmed from," she says. And explore she did. Kuite worked as a cosmetologist in Illinois, then for Estee Lauder Skincare in New York City. But it was under the tutelage of Manhattan-based facialist Ling Chan—owner of the famed Ling Skincare—that Kuite took her interest in skincare to a whole new level. "Apprenticing for Ling, I leanred so much about proper skincare," she says.
So if you're living the high life in the Big Apple, at the top of your profession, why leave? "I adore Mission Hills!" she says. "It's such a relaxing, comfy neighborhood. Plus, I saw a void out here for premium skincare; San Diego was kind of in the Dark Ages in terms of facials."
Armed with knowledge of both Eastern and Western skincare techniques, Kuite lets us in on her secret to getting skin in shape: The Idebenone Facial. "Right now, that's what it's all about," she says. "It's our most popular treatment and it gives every skin type an all-over radiance." Idebenone— skincare's trendiest new ingredient—is a synthetic form of coenzyme Q10, an essential antioxidant that adds a healthy glow to most skin tones. Kuite also maintains that great skin does not have to have a million-dollar price tag attached. "This facial is partculaly effective," she says. "You should get one about every six weeks, but even with two a year you'll see a difference." |
 The White Issue
Want Magazine | January 2007
TRUE Anti-Aging Youth Revealing Complex (left) - Helps skin return to a smoother, un-stressed, younger-looking self in a matter of weeks. KOBIDO Organic Body Butter (right) - Uses the cleanest naturalist ingredients possible. Provides maximum hydration and protection against dryness.
Available at Sara Elizabeth Skin Care |
San Diego
W Magazine |
September 2006
The Best In Day Spas
Take a deep breath and release it as you sip on exotic and tantalizing Elixir Tonics and relax in this tucked away Mission Hills skin care boutique that caters to all clients from the rock star to the domestically chic. Sara Elizabeth Skin Care is a state of the art skin care boutique offering a full range of unique facials, including Kobido, a 500 year old Japanese facial massage used to reprogram the facial muscles and provide a non-invasive face lift effect, speed relax waxing, air brush bronzing, invigorating body treatments and massage, and a full product line featuring the coveted True cosmetics. Warning! The experience is highly addictive. Side effects may include absolute bliss, radiant features and the desire to pre-book your appointments through the year 2010.
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Bath & Body
San Diego Magazine | August 2006
Look Better Naked at-home spa treatment, $29, includes soy body facial, lemon grass salt scrub and lemon-grass body butter, from Get Fresh. Available at Sara Elizabeth Skin Care, 619-977-7546; saraelizabethskincare.com or ebubbles.com. |
Best Esthetician
San Diego Magazine | June 2006
The Best San Diego
"They're my friend first, client second," says esthetician Sara Elizabeth Kuite of Sara Elizabeth Skincare. The personal attention is one reason for Sara's popularity (book at least one month out); another is her passion for skincare. her treatments are both affordable and innovative, blending Eastern philosophy with Western technology.
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STUFF - Skincare
San Diego Magazine | April 2006
Face Wash and Toner: Medicalia Medi-Soothe for dry, sensitive, rosacea skin, $25, is a gentle cleanser perfect for everyday use. Its clean spa scent leaves your skin feeling fresh. Follow with Medi-Soothe Gentle Toner, $23, in a convenient spray perfect for face and neck. Sara Elizabeth Skincare, 619-977-7546; saraelizabethskincare.com.
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Rivera Magazine
We love Mission Hills for its quaint streets and relaxed chicness, but it's the corner of Hawk and Fort Stockton that has made us wannabe residents of this burgeoning neighborhood. Sara Elizabeth Skin Care has moved in, leaving behind her A-list clients and the wilds of NYC for Mission Hills. The top esthetician, who has studied with famed skincare specialist Ling Chan, helps create personalized skin regimens for mega glow.
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