These are some of our favorite local businesses for 2008… they have great products, excellent customer service and make our days happier. Please visit the Seattle Picks archives for more information on them! And while you’re at it, check out the many hundreds of outstanding local businesses we’ve written about this year.

Trust us… it was incredibly difficult to consider all of Seattle’s amazing retailers and service providers and select “the best.”

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The Urban Girls Manifesto

The ultimate guide to the places women CRAVE in Seattle, including more than 100 women you need to know. Third Edition

Hip. Funky. Unpretentious.

Sugaring is the sweetest, smartest way to be hair-free, and The Sweet Spot is Seattle’s top spot to indulge. Sugaring is all-natural, more effective, and less painful than waxing, making it the healthiest sugar addiction around. Enjoy a cup of tea, peruse fun beauty products, or simply sit and unwind in this un-fussy, eclectic space. Just once and you’ll be hooked.

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By Citysearch Editors

We all know summer doesn't truly start in Seattle until July. With July right around the corner, here are our 10 top ideas for enjoying the sun in the Emerald City.

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Sweet Spot Sugaring Studio on Citysearch »

Editor’s Picks
Seattle Bride While the rest of you wax and shave your bodies down to the basal layer of epidermis, some of us more sensitive-skinned gals break into a clod sweat remembering the nasty rash, scalded skin and ingrown hairs incurred after frightening encounters with sadistic aestheticians and their bubbling cauldrons of hot wax. That’s why we totally freaked when we discovered The Sweet Spot, a skin-care salon in Fremont that uses warm sugar in lieu of hot wax for silky smooth, low pain- and...

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By Miss Cherry Pie

Weddingbee

I know, I know, I sound like a sugaring evangelist. There’s a sugaring place called the Sweet Spot in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood and, let me tell you, I am hooked. But I promise they’re not offering me any sweet (har, har) kickbacks for this post.

They do, however, make the best body scrub out there. Hands down…and I have tried many. This lovely concoction is made with chunky sugar and fruit oils to exfoliate and soften skin like nothing else. It smells great, too!

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By Liz Gallagher

Seattle, The Premier Seattle Monthly

This spot is not only sweet, it’s sassy. The two treatment rooms feature deep red walls, soothing but hip music and an eclectic style. It’s low key with a funky edge. Owner Lara Olsha opened The Sweet Spot five years ago, making it the first sugaring studio in the Northwest. She’s also a sugaring educator, so when you go to her for a Brazilian, you’re in the hands of a confident teacher. (And if it’s your first Brazilian ever, you’ll get a lollipop as a reward!). She’ll teach you all you need to know about aftercare—avoid...

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Lifestyle
SeattlePI.com

Taking notes while Lara Olsha gives me my first ever Brazilian via the sugaring process provides distraction from the pain.
Big breath in, blow out really hard...

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Sugar never tasted so sweet! Just a spoonful of sugaring—an ancient form of hair removal—and you’ll be hooked. This sanitary alternative to waxing uses pure, natural ingredients and is notably less painful. Consider scotch tape vs. duct tape. Lara’s sleek, cozy studio welcomes the busy girl with funky works from local artists, fun body products, and fantastic teas.

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by Sally Farhat
Best Places Northwest 16th edition

If you’re not ready for permanent hair removal, The Sweet Spot Sugaring Studio (473 N 36th St; 206/632-3602; www.sweetspotonline.net) might be your thing. Instead of wax, owner Lara Olsha uses an ancient blend of sugar and lemon—still used in the Middle East—to whisk those hairs away. She specializes in Brazilian bikinis—for both men and women.

Purchase Best Places Northwest 16th edition online »

SEATTLE PICKS™
life + style to you: every Friday

We had a friend that thought it would be a good idea to have his back waxed. He had no idea what waxing was or what it felt like. He was actually anticipating a relaxing spa experience, like a massage. So he went in, they poured nice hot wax on his back, ahhhhh, and then like duct tape, they proceeded to yank his hair out, again, and again, as he yelped in pain...

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SEATTLE PICKS™
life + style to you: every Friday

With Halloween just around the corner and those little bags of miniature candy bars on sale everywhere, we just can’t stop thinking about sugar—even when it comes to our beauty regimen. We love warm sugar scrubs in the shower, sweet pink nail polishes with names like “Sugar Plum Fairy”; and when it comes to hair removal, sugaring at The Sweet Spot Sugaring Studio in Fremont is a pretty sweet option...

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by Kathy Schultz
NWsource shopping columnist

Sweet Spot owner and sugarer Lara Olsha has been in the sweet and sticky business for two years. She uses a gummy, all natural combination of sugar, lemon and guar gum to remove hair in a process similar to waxing. Unlike waxing, the sugar paste is discarded after treatments (there's no double dipping with the wooden stick), the paste is lukewarm so it can't burn, and it takes off only hair and dead skin cells...

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What: Fremont’s adorable Sweet Spot offers 15 percent off the ancient method of hair removal all month.
Why: It’s a sweet deal.
When: Thru Oct. 31.
Where: 473 N. 36th St., ste. d (206-632-3602).

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by Kathy Schultz
NWsource shopping columnist

The vibe: Casual, artsy atmosphere tucked away in Fremont behind the Impulse boutique and art collective studios. (While you're there, pick up one of the T's, camis, or boy-short panties with the completely adorable but sassy logo printed on it.)

Sweet Spot owner and sugarer Lara Olsha has been in the sweet and sticky business for two years. She's moving on from her career as a respiratory therapist, so smitten...

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Ok, if you are still waxing-stop now and go here. I waxed before and was not terribly happy. Ingrown hairs, redness, soreness and stray hairs. I went here and could not be happier. Not a trace left behind. It didn't really hurt like waxing and I wasn't bleeding everywhere either. They say that I shouldn't have ingrown hairs- we'll see about that, but as for now, I feel like a porn star.

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5 star ratings
by the people of Seattle

This was my first experience with brazilian, so I was very nervous and apprehensive about the procedure. Lara is very good at putting a customer at ease. She is very knowledgable about not only hair removal, but physiology, biology and a plethora of other subjects. She keeps the conversation at a non-stop pace so that you almost forget that you're having your pubic hairs ripped out by the roots. My main concern going in was pain, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Lara informed me that a traditional waxing is much more painful...

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Recommendations
by the people of Seattle

Following the recommendation in a similar thread a while ago, I've been going to the Sweet Spot in Fremont. Instead of wax, they use sugar in a sticky paste. It's supposedly less painful than waxing. I've never tried waxing so I can't compare, but I can say that the sugaring process is not bad at all.

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Rave Reviews
by the people of Seattle

thought i'd tried it all - waxing (ow plus ingrown owies later on), laser removal (holy mother of god OW ow make it stop ow), even the at-home stuff (ow plus sticky and messy and not really that effective). but my friend introduced me to and recommended 'sugaring' for hair removal, so i gave it a shot at The Sweet Spot in Fremont.

i'm beyond impressed. first of all, it barely hurt and it was a quick process. second, the red bumps lasted for about 1/2 hour then they were gone. third, my skin is smooooooothe...

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get a brazilian bikini wax
43things.com

This is so worth doing I wish I would have done it long ago. Once I made the decision on the plunge, I did some more research and found an alternative to waxing, sugaring. In my mind its a much cleaner way to go as the technician doesnt “double dip” into the mix as they may with wax. Its a ball-size portion of the sugaring mixture that is used through out the process. If more is needed, the get a new portion. The salon I chose is The Sweet Spot in Seattle...

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