Eats-inspired Spas
Hot new treatments add some culinary flair to relaxation
Starving to be pampered? Hotel, resort and day spas around the globe are serving up relaxation therapies that seem like something whipped up by a pastry chef. And it seems patrons can’t get their fill of food-based spa treatments.
“People love knowing that what they are putting on their skin is safe enough to eat,” says Kate Weinberg, director of skincare at Oasis Day Spa, New York, which offers a Pumpkin Pie Body Treatment complete with a brown-sugar scrub ($150).
The trendiest foods for spa products are pomegranates; ingredients derived from wine or grapes; and indigenous edibles of all sorts.
Here’s a sampling:
-Pecan and Brown Sugar Manicure ($40) featuring an exfoliating scrub made with finely ground Texas pecans; Mokara Salon & Spa, Mandalay Hotel, Las Colinas, Texas.
-Pomegranate Pedicure Glow ($50): a fruity, exfoliating scrub followed by flawless paint application; Gansevoort Spa & Lounge, Hotel Gansevoort, New York.
-Caviar and Champagne Facial ($195): a marine mask made of protein-rich fish-eggs followed by a refreshing flute of bubbly; Revive Spa, JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, Phoenix.
-Shiraz Body Scrub ($120): crushed Napa Valley grape seeds with an intoxicating aroma; The Spa at Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham, Mass.
-Mocha-Chino Experience ($300): a Jamaican coffee scrub followed by a warm milk bath and chocolate-oil rubdown; Red Lane Spas, Sandals Resorts, the Caribbean.
The popularity and proven health benefits of antioxidant-rich foods have led to their proliferation in spa-product formulas. “But are the benefits from topical products equivalent to ingested foods? Probably not,” says Dr. Brooke Jackson, dermatologist and founder of the Skin Wellness Center, Chicago.
The doctor’s orders: “Relish your spa treatment. Just make sure to have a glass of red wine, some dark chocolate or some blueberries afterwards.”
 |
