Tea Amo

If it’s Monday morning and you’re reading this, odds are I’m hustling to get ready for a stressful day at work, and I am drinking a strong cup of tea. I believe I made mention of my love for tea before, but bear with me while I gush for a moment. There are few beverages more pleasurable to me than what my mother refers to as a N.C.O.T (Nice Cup Of Tea). I drink black tea when I wake up in the morning (the first thing I do in the morning is put my kettle on), I typically order iced tea when I get lunch, I get the green tea frap at Starbucks, and often, I drink a cup of yerba mate or rooibos before bed.

I love tea for its health benefits, flavor, and variety. So when a friendly PR vixen contacted me about Tracy Stern’s products, my interest level was extremely high. Beauty products infused with tea? That’s a match made in Afrobella heaven.

Now on the surface, Tracy Stern and I seem pretty diametrically opposed. She’s a wealthy socialite, I’m a hardworking writer. But at least one thing unites us – a firm belief in the practice of afternoon teatime. A cup of Lipton’s red tea with Harvest Strawberry and Passionfruit puts the entire rest of the day in acceptable perspective for me. I’m still itching to get my hands on Tracy’s Salontea line of loose brews, specifically blended with adorable titles.

How fitting – Chai, my favorite kind, is dubbed “The Writer.” Even more so, Chocolate Chai is “The Lover.” I’m a lover and a writer. Sounds sweet to me!

My interest is particularly piqued by the Beauty Teas. I really want to try the Toxic Beauty which combines St. John’s Wart, mistletoe, lemongrass, blackberry, nettle, and ginkgo leaves to rev up weight loss and antioxidant levels, and the Natural Beauty, which promises to assist with glowing skin, long hair, and nail strength. (Hey, the Beauteas come in an adorable gift package! What a great idea for Christmas!)

Tracy Stern’s beauty products are all infused with tea as well. I was lucky enough to get two of the Salontea Signature Soap Bars, in The Society Hostess, an enchanting black tea vanilla bar, and The Romantic, green tea with jasmine flowers.

I adore scented soaps, and I love them even more when the ingredients aren’t the kind of multi-syllabic words that I can hardly pronounce.

Tracy Stern soaps are made with olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, soybean oil, green tea leaves, fragrance, and alkali. Nothing more. I’ve been showering with The Society Hostess (well that sounds weird, doesn’t it?) and I adore it. The scent fills the bathroom and lingers on my skin. The soaps aren’t drying, and the fragrance is strong and long lasting, but doesn’t clash with my perfume (like some other soaps that the husband insists on buying).

Each bar costs $12, and for the tea lover in your life, one of Tracy Stern’s pretty pink packaged Beauty Gifts might make for a lovely Christmas package.

I also puckered up for Tracy Stern’s Lipbalm tea, and while the Green Tea rose scent was mild and pleasant, there was no flavor or pizzazz about this lipbalm for me. Call me obvious and cheap, but my current balm of choice is Skittles Strawberry. I’m just saying, I want my lipbalm to taste like something yummy if I’m paying $6 for it. Perhaps the chai is better.

Despite the lack of flavor, my lips loved this emollient balm that slicked on smooth and made them kissably soft. Again, the ingredients reveal a less-is-more philosophy; the balm is made of coconut oil, beeswax, grape seed oil, jojoba, rose oil, and vitamin E. All good stuff.

So if you’re like me and nothing beats a good cuppa, then I suggest you submerge your senses with an infusion of Tracy Stern’s tea products. They’re available online, and a chi chi boutiques, spas, and funky shops nationwide.