Products used in spa treatments reflect a trend to national branding. Who sets standards?
Is the ‘body beautiful’ slogan a marketing myth to sell cosmetics and skincare products? Pioneers like Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubenstein, and Estee Lauder created branded products that appeal to your desire for exclusivity and elegance. Now this worldwide phenomenon has morphed into a multi-million-dollar lifestyle market.
Towering above Biscayne Bay in Miami, the first Clinique La Prairie Lifestyle Residences will feature a new concept by the Swiss center for revitalization: a spa and wellness center exclusively for residents of the fifty-story Ten Museum Park condominiums. But the famed La Prairie cosmetics may not be on the spa menu. Instead, their new line Swiss Perfection will be featured when the glamorous spa opens at the end of this year. After selling the Clinique La Prairie line to a German producer of skincare products, the Swiss Clinic’s owner and president Armin Mattli built a new production facility in Switzerland. Working with his son-in-law, Miami architect Chad Oppenheim, Mattli conceived the two-story spa-in-the-sky with glass walls, floating steam showers, a fitness center, and garden. However, Mattli, age 84, is said to be selling the Swiss clinic founded in 1931 by Dr. Paul Niehans.
Rejuvenation of the original Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland climaxed last spring with the opening of a full-service spa that rivals the best European and American resorts. Located in a leafy suburb of Montreux, the three-level structure has views of Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps. Set amid formal gardens, the spa is connected to residential buildings and the medical clinic as well as the formal restaurant and bar. Guests can relax after surgery or aesthetic treatments by swimming in the indoor pool, and sampling thalasso baths and wraps. Fitness classes and private training sessions are available as well as an exercise pool energized by marine salts. New Beautymed packages expand the clinic’s range of advanced treatments for aging skin, cellulite, and hair loss, including laser-enhanced complexion care, Botox, and anti-stress programs as well as dental and plastic surgery. I experienced my first-ever laser treatment in the hands of Dr. Roland Ney, who specializes in aesthetic medicine, and the results were amazing. For more information on the Swiss clinic/spa call 41 (21) 989 33 11 or visit www.laprairie.ch.
The Golden Door conjures images of an exotic retreat where all your needs become a priority. The California resort was founded by Deborah Szkeley in 1958, but now has siblings at resorts in the new LXR Collection. The Doorites who regularly return to the hills north of San Diego for a week-long revitalization, experiencing facial treatments in the hands of experienced estheticians, can also enjoy fabulous skin away from the Door by taking the Golden Door Skincare line with them. The signature facials at the Door rely on these top-of-the-line products, each of which works synergistically with the next. And as they are in the California sun, estheticians apply and strongly recommend the Walkabout Sunblock Moisturizer SPF-25 as well as the water-resistant Sun Defense SPF-30. During the week my daily hour in the salon included a seaweed face mask with Phytomer products from France. Even nail and hair care is included. The camaraderie that binds guests, limited to 41 per week, adds to the experience. For more information call (760) 744-5777 or visit www.goldendoor.com.
Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance in Scottsdale, Arizona, set the standard for women-only retreats in the 1980s. (My tour was when the ladies lunched.) There were private cottages amid groves of orange trees for celebrities like Mamie Eisenhower and Barbara Bush. Ladies enjoyed the unique wax bath into which you were dipped, as well as shopping trips to Neiman-Marcus. All that disappeared when The Phoenician resort expanded. Yet, Arden day spas continue the tradition through a new company, Red Door Holdings.
Their flagship in Manhattan opened in 1926 on Fifth Avenue. Red Door salons are in Saks Fifth Avenue, Dallas, and Boca Raton, and are opening ten additional locations this year. Some of the Red Door Salons are found at resorts, like the Wigwam in Scottsdale, and Marriott’s Seaview Resort near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, however, are made by a separate company.Their brands include 752 products for skin and body care, as well as cosmeceuticals and the Floriana organic line made in Italy. For more information visit www.rdspas.com.
Trendsetters today include the spas at Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Manhattan, Miami, and Washington, as well as Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Architecturally unique, all maintain the same high levels of service, feature E’SPA products and treatments as well as skincare with indigenous origins.
When the worldwide Starwood Hotels & Resorts created the Starwood Spa Collection, just 180 properties met criteria: programs for beauty, life balance, harmony, aquatics, vitality, natural living, and nutrition. Supported by ‘Starwood’s Seven Pillars’, this elite collection ranges from a Sheraton resort‚ in Israel to the St. Regis in Manhattan. For more information visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
Who sets standards? Ultimately, you the spa-goer.
By Bernard Burt
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