Tour of Beauty

One of Amsterdam's best beauty boutiques has come to the States, and the results are gorgeous. Set inside The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, a luxury resort and casino, Skins 6|2 Cosmetics stocks an astounding array of hard-to-find brands including Australian skin care line Grown, American Mortals hair care, and Maison Francis Kurkdjian fragrances. Featuring testers aplenty and friendly (but not overbearing) staff, the store is an amazing find — and, we hope, the first of many more Skins 6|2 shops to come. Read on to see some highlights.

Since opening in 1954, the legendary Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel has drawn a star-studded crowd with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Jennifer Lopez stopping by. Now, with a recent renovation and the addition of the 40,000-square-foot Lapis Spa, it's more glamorous than ever — and, during the current Miami Spa Month, surprisingly well-priced considering the level of luxury at hand. So if you're headed to Miami, here's why you might want to book a treatment.

Millions of vacationers fly to Mexico's Yucatán peninsula each year, but too few of them venture far from Cancún. It's their loss, because the interior is filled with beautiful sights that no traveler should miss: Mayan ruins, refreshing cenotes, and unspoiled scenery. Among the must-see places is Hacienda San Jose, a former colonial estate that has been restored and transformed into a luxury hotel and spa. While trekking around Yucatán earlier this month, I stayed for a night and pretty much fell in love with the place. Take this virtual tour and I'm pretty sure you will, too.

In her work Essence and Alchemy, Mandy Aftel describes perfumers as the modern-day inheritors of the alchemical tradition, following in the footsteps of those men fervently obsessed with finding the Philosopher's Stone and turning base metals into gold. And when you visit the atelier where she mixes up her highly fragranced potions, you can't help but agree. There's something bewitching about the rare essences, the old books, and the quiet, pretty tinkling of colored glass, and I left fairly well ensorcelled myself. Mandy showed me around, let me take a million pictures, and told me all about how some of the rarest and most controversial ingredients go from the natural world into lovely little flacons. So to learn about everything from ambergris's origins inside sperm whales to how a perfumer comes up with new scents, just keep reading.

Not many countries can claim a spa as its main tourist attraction, but in Iceland's case, it's easy to see why so many people flock to the Blue Lagoon. The milky blue waters of this geothermal spa draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and it's as relaxing as it is picturesque. I'd heard of this beautiful place, but never dreamed I'd see it with my own eyes. So when the Blue Lagoon invited BellaSugar on a trip to see the spa, what could I say but "já"? Read on for a tour of this must-visit spot, but you've been warned: once you've seen Iceland, you'll want to go there. (I'm planning my next vacation already.)