Vitamin Daily

After a dreamy weekend at a luxurious hotel, we come home wishing we could live like Eloise every day.

Now we can thanks to Hotel Le Germain’s new shopping site. Plush goodies include soft silk blankets (from $300), finely-weaved Egyptian cotton sheets (from $160), goose-down duvets ($300) and the handcrafted Germain mattress ($800). We also love the site’s bed-making tips, guaranteed to ramp your bedroom up to five-star style.

If only purchases included maid service.

www.collectionsg.com

For every Arcade Fire success story, there are hundreds of bands just trying to get noticed.  

M For Montreal is a three-day event that does just that. Co-founded by Glastonbury Rock Festival’s chief booker Martin Elbourne, this intimate showcase gives local musicians the chance to schmooze with industry-types and strut their stuff.

This year’s line up includes 20 plus bands like Franco-popsters Pas Chic Chic (Nov 20) and Beatrice Bonifassi’s jazzy Beast (Nov 21). Each band is given 30 minutes to impress big wigs including TV music supervisors, festival bookers, record labels and music critics from Europe and the US.

Be there, or be a one-hit wonder.

M For Montreal, November 20 to 22, www.mformontreal.com
Three-day Showcase Passport, $40, available at www.admission.com

These may be tenuous times, but a frilly pair of knickers can sure add the spring to a weary gal’s step.

We’ve gone girly-gaga over one-of-a-kind under things by Russian-born, New York-based designer Yana Gorbulsky. Her handmade Supayana line includes '50s-style baby doll tops with vintage buttons, and panties made from soft, reconstructed t-shirts adorned with lace.

We know they’re pretty, but please try to keep them under your pants.

Order a Supayana original at etsy.com or sign-up for a make-your-own underwear workshop on Atelier Woodenapples. November 22, 1 p.m., $45, Atelier Woodenapples, 5403 Parc Ave. Register at 514-315-8912, www.atelierwoodenapples.com

You’ve steamed it, peeled it, and covered it in goop. If your nightly ritual is starting to feel like a gourmet recipe gone bad, it might be time for mindful advice.

For gleaming skin, we’re gleaning tips from Dr. Amy Wechsler’s book, The Mind-Beauty Connection.

This psychiatrist-turned-dermatologist offers great advice on ways to combat what she calls stress aging:
• Take a Breath: Deep breathing oxygenates skin
• Get Busy: Exercise boosts circulation and gives a healthy glow
• Get your zzz’s: Sleep is free cosmetic medicine!
• Pucker Up: Kissing releases soothing oxytocin

Available at Amazon.ca, $18.89.

We love wandering the stalls at Jean-Talon Market but who has time to take all that fresh produce home and actually cook it?

Luckily, Milliner Créativité Gourmande will do it for us. This mouth-watering boutique uses seasonal ingredients to create frozen dishes (many gluten-free) that beg to be taken home and heated-up. Choose from Milanese Osso Buco ($16.25), grilled grain-fed chicken with homemade ratatouille ($10.25) or a lamb tagine with vegetables and fruity couscous ($10.25). They’ll even prepare and deliver four-course gourmet lunches straight to your door.

Now if only they did laundry….

Milliner Créativité Gourmande, Marché Jean-Talon, 7010 Henri-Julien, 514-270-0004, www.milliner.ca

We already know you steal your baby’s shampoo, so why stop there?

You’ll love the bamboo baby washcloths ($14 for 5) from the new Vancouver company www.bamboobino.com and the Mommy-and-me bath mitts ($12) come in an adorable mismatched pair (one little, one big).

While the ingenious bamboo towel wrap ($45) will bundle baby in a flash, we can’t help wondering how well it would work on our hair….

View products and shop at www.bamboobino.com

A night on the town is divine, but when temperatures drop, our nesting instincts kick in hard.

Despite lazy evenings on the couch, we’re keeping our style factor in check thanks to a few basics from Montreal’s Mission Fitness. From comfy yoga pants and long-sleeved t-shirts to stylish jackets and capris, these pretty pieces (from $25) make our curves look long and lean. And the sunny palette of colours (turquoise, cranberry, sea green) helps keep winter blues at bay.

At this rate, we might even attempt a few crunches in front of the TV.

Available at Mimi et Leelou, 2188B Mount-Royal St. E., 514-690-1133.

It may not be the capital of big-budget theatre, but Montreal does offer some pretty unique options for local theatrophiles.

Last year, Sidemart staged a production in a bar basement, and now director Alain Goulem is setting his latest show in a working freight elevator.

Set in the 1930s, Hellavator is about three unlikely characters thrown together in an uncomfortable situation. Inspired by playwright Ned Cox’s own 11-hour stuck-in-an-elevator saga, this black comedy just might have you taking the stairs next time.

On until November 16, tickets $20, 3861 St-Laurent Blvd, 514-812-7722.

Despite our best efforts, our handbag is as organized as a teenager’s bedroom.

Thankfully, days of frantically digging for a ringing cell phone and lash-lengthening mascara are over. Featuring three large compartments and several smaller ones, Tagalong’s Purse-Onifier ($18) holds everything from our iPhone to our favourite Stila lip gloss. Best of all, this organizational wonder fits into almost any sized bag, so we can switch carry-alls as often as we like, without forgetting a thing.

Happiness really is a clutter-free purse. Mint?

Available at The Bay, 585 Ste-Catherine St. W., 514-281-4422, www.thebay.com

When our longtime colorist went AWOL (and took our recipe card with him), we suffered through greenish-blonde streaks, screechy stylists and questionable zebra stripes.

Then along came Hugo Mainville.

Hed Salon’s russet-haired genius has our undying loyalty for his no-nonsense approach and natural highlights. Mainville’s strength is blending tones that make skin look radiant. But if you’re looking for wild-and-crazy, don’t even bother: “I tell them to go else where. After all it’s my name on their hair.”

You may need to book him two months in advance, but trust us he’s worth it…and so are you.

Catch Hugo on TQS’s Beauté Express (Tuesdays, 7 p.m.). Hed Salon, 4267 St Laurent, 514-845-0007, www.hedsalon.com