/ / / / / / / /

The Bold, The Odd, and The Beautiful: Spa News You Can Use

July 20, 2012 at 6:33 PM | by | Comments (0)

The weekend is upon us and all we can think of is having a Calgon moment. A soothing, it’ll-be-all right session seems about due, and we’re certain you can use one as well. The stars must be in alignment because we received a great mix of spa news this week, so we’ve gotta share. Chances are, some of you need a good old massage, and the spa gurus are searching for the new treatment du jour. And because it’s summertime, that means kids are hopped up on ice cream, candy and the like, so they need to calm the heck down, too. Just thinking about these treatments are already calming our nerves.

Kid Friendly

The new Chillax Lounge at Vermont’s Stowe Mountain Lodge is tailor-made for the hyperactive whippersnapper set. Kids come in fresh from a day at the pool or on the mountains, wrap a plush robe around their clothes, and hop into a cozy Pier One-style papasan chair drapped with a covered massage pad (the kind you can get at the Sharper Image). After they get over pressing the buttons and settling into the right vibrations—the relaxing and pampering begins with a chocolate face mask, cucumber slices for the eyes, and well a soothing scalp massage. The room looks right out into the mountains, so the view is incredible and the destimulation begins. What’s amazing is, according to Stowe's spa director, this service is booked more by preteen boys than girls! Apparently the guys are better at kicking back, enjoying the silence, and decompressing for a while, while girls tend to turn into chatty Cathy’s after a few minutes. Hmm, go figure.

The Spa Cottage at Jamaica's Half Moon Resort (it's now a Rock Resort) 25 minutes from Montego Bay, is a self-contained unit with two rooms as well as a full-size heated outdoor Jacuzzi. The massage room is actually big enough to fit four massage tables so getting treatments becomes a family affair! For safety reasons, the kids therapists are the same sex as the child, and teen facials and massages are on the menu of services.

Mexico’s family-friendly Azul Beach Hotel by Karisma in Puerto Morelos, just announced the addition of the new 8,075 square foot Vassa Spa to its facilities. We love that, but were stoked to hear about the Perfectly Pink Spa designed especially for the tweenie set to have massages, manicures, and pedicures. We're huge fans of any spa that wants to teach young girls at an early age to take the time to take care of themselves both mentally and physically!

Over-The-Top Treatments

When we saw Bliss Spa’s “Fabulips” treatment being demo’d last year at a Spa Magazine event, we thought “puhlease, who’d need a service like this?” Well, it turns out lots do—from skiers who brave the cold, and surfers in the sun, to those suffering from frequent chapped lips due to illness or other factors. We felt bad for judging. Somehow we landed in the Bliss booth chair and experienced a brief demo of the treatment. All we can say is wow! move over Angelina Jolie! Your lips are actually scrubbed, a gentle exfoliating peel is applied, as well as a tingly lip-plumping collagen mask. Then a tinted lip wax is applied and you’re left with a sexy, come-hither mouth that didn’t require scary injections. And, because we’re good sports (hee), we then planted a kiss on the Bliss Guy, an honor given to one very special hunk of a guy. In fact, the new Bliss Guy 2012 was (crowned?) last night at the W Fort Lauderdale (hairstylist-to-the stars Ted Gibson was a judge! Inappropriate Swoon!), one of the W locations where this treatment is available. So if you see him there, give him a kiss, too!

The Fish Pedicure is banned in the United States (some think it’s unhygienic) but we’ve experienced it several times before from London to South Africa and love it so much, we think it beats a regular pedi by spades. So, we were happy to discover the Le Blanc Spa at the eponymous Cancun resort just added two fish aquariums to their space and now offer the Fish Pedicure treatment. Because our feet were a hot mess and in desperate need of exfoliating measures, we gave the tiny Garra rufa (aka "Doctor fish" a hearty snack. It’s tingle-icious!

What’s the oddest spa treatment you’ve tried? Let us know!

[Photos: Karisma Hotels, W Hotels,]]

Hotels mentioned in this story

Comments (0)

Post a Comment

Join the conversation!

Not a member? .
Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). © Condé Nast. Your California Privacy Rights. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
Ad Choices