DIVINE DECADENCE
A compendium of Canada’s most luxe spa experiences
BY MAUREEN LITTLEJOHN
These superlative services can be called anything from royal, to rare, to decadent, to indulgent. No matter the label, they’re pure luxury. Here are Spa Life’s picks of the most precious delicacies on this country’s spa menus.
Elmwood Spa, Toronto
THE DREAMING
This feels so good you’ll want to pinch yourself to make sure you’re really there and not ensconced in the fluffy clouds of dreamland. Based on Australian aboriginal traditions, this whole body treatment starts with the luscious Miji Jina foot treatment, followed by the Mala Mayi Body wrap with aromatic oils, a desert salt exfoliation, and a slathering of warm Mapi body mud. After rinsing it all away, there’s a Kodo body massage, a Paudi scalp massage, Mirri facial and Miji Polama hand treatment. At the end, you’ll glow like Ayer’s Rock.
3 hours, $360
Hotel Le St-James Spa, Montreal
ANTI-FREE RADICALS MASK
At Le St. James Spa, masks are no longer in the shadow of the all-powerful facial — they’re a revered procedure on their own. The crème de la crème on the menu of wonder-workers is the Anti-Free Radicals Mask Treatment, also known as 'Nature's Answer to Ultimate Repair.' It works hydrating magic on dry skin, or skin that’s seen too much sun.
While the mask is on the face, it dips from soothingly warm to a refreshing chill. This change of temperature stimulates the circulation and the skin feels as if it is drinking up the mask’s nutrients and micro vitamins that work as anti-free radicals. The kicker? You get a glorious foot massage at the same time.
60 minutes, $175
The Spa at Keltic Lodge, Ingonish Beach, N.S.
APPLE POLISHER PEDICURE
Apples are wholesome and healthy, but The Spa at Keltic proves they can also be as indulgent as sin. (Just ask Eve.) Using the famous Annapolis Valley harvest, there’s a bushel of apple offerings, including the yummy Apple Polisher Pedicure. It begins with a milk and honey soak, followed by an apple pie exfoliation scrub with raw sugar, cinnamon, apple extract and natural oils. Lean back and sip a hot mug of apple cider as your toes get painted a candy-apple red. Sweet!
60 minutes, $70
Indulgence Spa, Taboo Resort, Muskoka, Ont.
CRANBERRY-MAPLE BODY POLISH
Maple syrup, also known as liquid gold, is one of the most luxe sweeteners on the market. What better use to make of this native treasure than a spa treatment? Indulgence’s signature Cranberry-Maple Body Polish uses a luxuriously moisturizing and soothing B. Kamins Maple Sugar Body Scrub, containing natural anti-oxidant vitamins, AHA acids and essential mineral salts. After you’ve been sanded to maple taffy smoothness, you soak in an aromatic cranberry Jacuzzi bath. Finally, a liberal layer of cranberry body lotion is applied. Delivered in the spa’s spectacular lakefront suite, this treatment is better than an high-calorie dessert.
60 minutes, $110
Hyatt Stillwater, Calgary
Body Quench Massage
Rich, aromatic body butters make this massage as decadent as rolling in freshly whipped cream. Not only is it a relief to sore muscles, it’s perfect for parched skin. The body butters deliver pure hydration and smell heavenly with choices that include essences of pomegranate and cranberry, mango and mandarin and green tea and lime leaf.
90 minutes, $160
Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara, Vancouver Island, B.C.
ANTI-AGING MANICURE
Signs of our vintage aren’t visible only on our faces: the hands always give it away. This luxurious manicure uses a few hard-to-get ingredients to help erase time’s nasty appearance. First, hands are immersed in pure, glacial water, then cleansed and toned with mineral-rich glacial clay and seaweed. The glacial products are from B.C. company Ancient Secrets, and the result of their use is a fortified, baby-smooth, nourished skin, that’s ready to fight free radicals and pollutants.
60 minutes, $90
Taman Sari Spa, Summit Lodge & Spa, Whistler, B.C.
ROYAL JAVANESE PAMPERING
Flatter your inner Indonesian queen for a day by immersing her in some spectacular royal Javanese pampering. It’s a combination of treatments that includes a classic head-to-toe Javanese massage, an exotic Lulur herbal/spice body scrub, a scalp massage, a Merapi Volcano organic mud body wrap and the luxurious traditional royal facial with extracts of sunflower. Between treatments, royal thirst is slaked with Indonesian natural herbal drinks or 50 loose-leaf teas from around the world.
$410, 4-5 hours
Susurrus Spa, Poets Cove Resort & Spa, Pender Island, B.C.
Rose Decadence Facial
Cleopatra knew a thing or two about roses, since her palace was carpeted with their fragrant petals. No slouch in the beauty or pampering department either, her royal highness would likely love the Rose Decadence Facial. Using the Eminence Organic Skin Care line, the facial is 90 minutes of blissful pampering using a sweet red rose cleanser, a mask mixed with sweet red rose tea, and a whipped moisturizer containing bioflavonoids, sugars, acids and antioxidants. It doesn’t stop at your face, either. Hands, feet and head are all treated to a soothing massage.
90 min, $175
Elmwood Spa
www.elmwoodspa.com/Spa%20Services/litya.asp
Hotel Le St-James Spa & Fitness
www.hotellestjames.com/pages/spa2.htm?id=2#
The Spa at Keltic Lodge
www.signatureresorts.com/resorts.asp?resort=1&page=1
INDULGENCE SPA, Taboo Resort
www.tabooresort.com/ind_body_treatments.php
Hyatt Stillwater
www.hyatt.com/gallery/stillwater/calgary/body_massage.html
Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara
www.grottospa.com/signature.php
Taman Sari Spa, Summit Lodge & Spa
www.tamansarispa.com/treatment.htm
SUSURRUS SPA: POETS COVE Resort & Spa
www.poetscove.com/spa_menu.html