SpaFinder Lifestyle, a new online magazine at SpaFinder.com—that I’m heading up—just launched this week!

So The Spa Treatment has a new home there, alongside the savvy articles on spa escapes, beauty, and well-being, and very cool interactive tools like the Massage Matrix, which tells you which type of massage is right for you. Here’s a peek:

Use the Massage Matrix to learn about a dozen types of massage—and discover the one right for you

To keep reading my blog on the latest spa beauty products, spa treatments, deals, and news, please visit me at SpaFinder Lifestyle and The Spa Treatment.

I snapped this photo of the tree-house spa treatment room and a spa therapist on my trip to the Lapli Spa at Discovery at Marigot Bay last year.

One small curse of writing for a luxury spa magazine over the past four-plus years is that I can name a zillion fabulous spas that cost a bundle to visit and about four that don’t. So, it makes me incredibly happy to share with you what is truly the best deal EVER — but you must act now. Well, WEDNESDAY morning at 8:00 a.m. sharp.

That’s when the Leading Hotels of the World—which has some super solid spas that I’ve personally vetted, such as Discovery at Marigot Bay on St. Lucia and The Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, California—offers a “limited number of the world’s most-coveted hotel rooms” for just $19.28 per night, in U.S. dollars. (This means a stay of three nights is cheaper than cab fare to JFK.) The super-deal is thanks to the Leading Hotels 80th’s anniversary.

The window of opportunity is just 80 minutes long, so I advise doing your homework tonight. I know I will be. Banyan Tree Bangkok, here I come! For details, visit www.lhw.com/1928

A new era of globe-trotting spa therapists

It’s plausible that experts in far-flung treatments from all corners of the planet will be visiting a spa near you, thanks to a new trend of spa therapists spending “a semester abroad.”

Given all the fabulous spas that are a $1,000 plane ticket away—and that I can’t get an authentic lomi lomi massage on the East Coast (I’ll pass on the knock-offs, thank you very much)—it’s a development I really appreciate, since it potentially brings the skilled practitioners to me.

Some examples: In mid September, Chiva Som, Thailand’s top destination spa, dispatches three therapists experienced in meditation and meridian tapping for Gwinganna, a new destination spa on Australia’s Gold Coast that’s getting great reviews for its progressive programming. This spring, Iceland’s Blue Lagoon brought its unique geothermal seawater treatments to Cornelia Day Resort in New York City, and in October, the Spa at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong will host two therapists steeped in traditional Thai therapies from the resort spas at the Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai and Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui.

Expertise and authenticity are two big benefits for spa-goers—and I appreciate the host spas that aren’t willing to fake it. (I mean, I know Gordon Ramsey can cook but I wouldn’t have him make my sushi.) And since it’s so-often specialists that draw me to a spa, I can’t wait to see more spas sending their therapists packing for places where their craft is hard to come by. Can I recommend a spa close to me?

A fragrance traditionalist

A selection of Presidential soaps by Caswell-Massey slipped into to my office yesterday. (Just in time to scour myself spotless for a season of mudslinging?) The soapmaker, which dates back to the first days of American politics, venerates George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy with three triple-milled bars—and not the current candidates (which, by the way, is a brilliant idea that would likely lead to profuse bath-time wisecracking). So I kind of expected the soaps to look like commemorative coins. That would be perfect for the Spa of Colonial Williamsburg!

But instead the soaps represent the fragrances “known to be worn by the three Presidents.” Who knew our forefathers were such dandies?

“George Washington” is scented with Number Six, Caswell-Massey’s original fragrance, which was “first purchased by Washington in 1780 long before the Continental Congress convention when he was unanimously elected President.” It smells faintly of oranges. President Eisenhower was supposed to have favored the Almond Cold Cream bath soap (apparently it’s still used today at Blair House, the Official Guest House of the White House), and Kennedy, the preppy president, wore Jockey Club, with musky hints of leather and amber. No surprise there.

Caswell-Massey Presidential Soap Collection

If these fragrances fit our former politicians, just what are the signature scents of today’s candidates? Until Chandler Burr, the NY Times perfume critic, tells us, I’ve asked some SpaFinder colleagues to name a scent they’d associate with the current candidates. So what scents do our November candidates mostly conjure up in my petite poll?

Barack Obama: mint and citrus (and one patchouli)
John McCain: rose, lavender, and a few “oatmeal” (even thought it’s not technically a scent)

I’ll leave the interpretations to you.

From runway to Missoni lifestyle hotels

Yes, says Rosita Missoni. The Italian fashion house has partnered with a Belgium-based hotel group to launch Missoni “lifestyle hotels” with spas, aimed at a design-conscious traveler. According to a company rep, the first two (in Edinburgh and Kuwait City, destinations that are way, way ahead of the curve?) will launch in 2009, followed by 30 more in the next 10 years. I don’t have to tell you that’s a staggering number.

I used to flinch when a fragrance company, a cosmetics brand, or a fashion house migrated into spas. But I’m revising my stance:

Bulgari did it successfully in Milan and Bali, probably by aligning itself with solid spa management (ESPA, in the case of Milan). Miuccia Prada created some surprisingly good skin-care products a few years back, and hired a talented North American to create Prada facials for a handful of Ritz-Carlton spas. And Guerlain’s new luxe spas, run by Spa Chakra’s team of perfectionists, are opening one after another. (Next up: Waldorf-Astoria.)

So now I’m far more curious about them: And here’s why: Too many spas tout the same design, share the same treatment menu, and offer life-enrichment programming that’s now decades old. This is instead of evaluating what’s been working, scrapping what doesn’t, and adding something completely innovative by drawing on the world beyond the spa gates. (Ian Schrager made this point at the 2008 Global Spa Summit, when he encouraged spas to look outside their industry for new ideas. See Susie Ellis’s blog entry for more on his keynote address.)

A guest room at Missoni Kuwait

What I’m seeing now, with outside industries coming into the spa world, is that they bring with them intense creativity, new spa-going terms, and a new tone—instead of a checklist of familiar must-haves. Who will up the ante and take us into a 21st-century-style of spa-going? Maybe the Missonis. Maybe not. But I am willing to be surprised.

(*A nod to Domino Magazine.)

Fifth Avenue

There it was in WWD—facialist Cornelia Zicu has returned to the spa scene in a new senior management role at Red Door. That’s some big news, which looks to be part of the part of the brand’s modern makeover (Fifth Avenue flagship, included).

It must be fate. Just yesterday I was investigating the new Lumina Facial at her former stopping grounds, the luxurious Cornelia Day Resort. It uses the spa’s new Jewelry for Skin line that contains crushed crystals and gems. (Favorite products: Emerald Eye Crème and Citrine Lip Plumper). Giving my radiance-boosting treatment was Alicia Villanova, whose youth belies her skill—though her absolutely gorgeous skin should have been a tip off. Turns out Villanova is a protégée of Zicu, the Romanian refugee turned New York City skin-care icon, who parted ways with the spa in January 2007, and had previously made a name for herself at the Peninsula Spa in New York.

Cornelia may have left the building, but her legacy lives on at the Day Resort in facialists like Villanova. By working alongside the experienced, almost supernaturally skilled Zicu in two-therapist facials (an offering and training program virtually unheard of at spas), Villanova received more direct mentoring than 95 percent of aestheticians today. “She taught me so much about skin—how to look at it, how to treat it, and little details they’d never cover in school or at other spas I’ve worked, like matching the pace of facial massage to the client’s breathing. In school, fast work was what made a good aesthetician,” she said. “I owe my success and skills to her.”

Zicu has been off the radar until now; I’d heard rumors of her consulting for European spas, but never got specifics. At Red Door, she will drive the creative and guest experience in the company’s 31 spas worldwide. (So unless your last name is Jolie or Longoria Parker, I guess she won’t be giving her signature facials.) In a press release, Todd Walter, CEO of Red Door Spa Holdings, said hiring Zicu was part of a goal “to re-establish Red Door Spas as the world’s preeminent spa company by providing unparalleled customer service and professional expertise.” In that case, I hope they put her in a classroom, too.

This seems a sensible move that’s been a long time coming, in my opinion. The Red Door brand, even with its 100-year-old legacy and fresh cherry-red flagship, hasn’t begun to realize its modern potential in today’s booming spa market. Perhaps Zicu is just the one to give the spas a much-needed anti-aging infusion. But I’m not sure a gifted tutor makes a gifted corporate-level manager. Of course, I’ll get my name on the Red Door appointment book before long to see for myself.

Here begins my somewhat feminist tract on body hair, a pair of words as unseemly to the polite lady spa-goer as third helping.

I invoke the historic form of the tract, because I find myself in the middle of a long-standing American beauty contradiction, one that should have probably gone out of fashion with the corset (not the Vivienne Westwood one):

At the same time I am test-driving a new eyelash renewal serum called RapidLash to fill out my spotty lashes and brows, I’ve been slathering on Bliss’s Get Out of Hair!, a body lotion meant to minimize hair re-growth, as well as exfoliate and moisturize. See what I mean, dear reader?

Bliss says its main fuzz-fighter is Narcissus Tazetta bulb extract, which must be a two-faced ingredient, because it’s also an anti-ager in the Elizabeth Arden’s Intervene range. (Face-waxers, I’d definitely reach for this foundation.) And at $49.95, RapidLash happens to be a fraction of the price of similar products and contains a load of promising peptides—I’ll let you know in four weeks if it works.

But back to my didactic tract: the prevailing beauty mandate—be bare from the neck down, but have lush, cow-like lashes and a shiny full mane—doesn’t correspond a bit to biology, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. And so, with lasers, tweezers, and women named Eliza, we’ve created our own highly idealized female pattern baldness. And while it’s definitely easier to attain with 21st-century skin-care products and technologies, a modern lady can’t help but feel a bit caught in Penelope’s predicament, weaving a robe only to unravel it each night.

Some beauty companies need help with their branding. Not This Works, makers of Tired Eye Serum, Really Rich Lotion, and Dry Leg Oil, among others. The high-quality aromatherapy line has never minced words. Hence, Perfect Cleavage, a name (and a promise) that might otherwise give you pause. It contains nourishing essential oils, firming algae and plant-derived polysaccharides, and leaves a subtle shimmer—much needed for the fragile skin of the neck and décolleté (it has fewer oil glands than the face, but gets just as much sun exposure).

The brand-new item joins the widening pool of anti-aging products that are meant for use below the makeup line (my spa beauty predictions are coming true!)—only I suspect it’ll fair better than many others. Why?

Its simple syntax. Brands that load up labels with useless adjectives or sci-fi-sounding neologisms make me scratch my head. (Free advice to companies: That’s prime real estate for your product elevator pitch.) If I, a professional product decoder, can’t give sentence diagramming and name decoding more than three seconds (given the flood of beauty items boxing me into my office), will a shopper?

Simple is smarter. That must have been Kathy Phillips’s thinking, the International Beauty Director for Condé Nast Asia (she oversees Vogue, W, and Allure), who is also This Works’s creator. That Phillips sniffed out Sue Beechey and Geraldine Howard, the genius duo behind Aromatherapy Associates, a top spa line, for a hand with the formulations is another feature of the product that speaks volumes.

For a handful of kids, summer camp starts this week at the spa. Only they’re not getting Ice Cream Pedicures, as the WSJ suggests. Instead, from July 12 through July 25, Generation X-Box is attending one of the country’s best weight-loss programs during Family Week at Pritikin Longevity Center Center & Spa, in Aventura, Florida. Pritikin, if you’re not familiar, is the spa Michael Moore made semi-famous and where guests learn to reform their eating habits, lower their blood pressure, kick diabetes meds, and have their accomplishments published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The one- or two-week-long camp, now in its sixth summer, began when Pritikin physicians, many with kids of their own, witnessed just how difficult it is for children to eat healthfully and stay physically active, says medical director Danine Fruge, MD. “Fast food restaurants are everywhere, and gym class is no longer on every school curriculum.” And then, of course, there’s the epidemic rate of obesity in American children.

You won’t hear many adults arguing with the antidote—teach kids that there’s life beyond Grand Theft Auto and Dorritos. Or as Dr. Fruge puts it, getting in habit of eating fruits and vegetables every day and making fitness and healthy living fun. But just how do you teach the kids that?

Well, Pritikin’s camp activities differ from, say, Lake Arrowhead’s daily roster of canoeing and Kumbaya-ing, with every funk fitness and tennis match and cooking class meant to underscore new health habits. And the mess hall here doesn’t pander to picky eaters. Instead it weans kids off McCalories, cokes, and grande frappuccinos. And that’s key to the kiddy reprogramming here. “Because of multi-million TV advertising budgets from the fast food industry, children in this country think that hunger equals happy meals,” says Dr. Fruge.

Pritikin kids do something a lot of New York adults could benefit from and attend cooking classes, and they attempt brave new foods like vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries, and pinto-bean burritos with roasted chicken. “Kids learn new eating and fitness habits by, quite simply, habit. The more they do it, the more comfortable and enjoyable it gets,” says Dr. Fruge, who points out that the family participation is what reinforces the lessons at home. (Parents attend the traditional Pritikin Health and Weight-Loss Program at the same time and participate in some of the children’s group fitness activities.) Not surprisingly about half the campers are children or grandchildren of former Pritikin success stories. According to Dr. Fruge, the other half is made up of first-time families, who see Pritikin as a healthy spa vacation destination, a group clearly not interested in an ice cream pedicure.

Children’s rate for one week $1,500, two weeks $2,500, www.pritikin.com

If “Sex in the City” were still on the air, we would have had some warning. Maybe an episode involving Samantha taking Charlotte to Kegel classes at the local pelvic fitness center. “But it’s embarrassing,” says Charlotte. “Shut up and clench,” replies Samantha, as she renews her unlimited monthly class card to Pelvic Pilates.

Instead, the debut later this month of Phit, a New York City spa run by gynecologist Lauri Romanzi, MD, comes as a bit of shock, dedicated as it is to “strengthening and grooming a woman’s genital area,” reports Natasha Singer, who covered the spa for the Times. Gee, and I’ve spent all this time and money on facials.

It’s a medical spa spin-off I should have seen coming, I guess. After all, next to breast augmentation and butt lifts, what’s left but toning vaginal walls and labiaplasty, surgically augmenting the shape or size of the labia, which is already on the rise.

Apparently most grievances and surgeries of this kind pertain to the minora. And that’s a word I’d use to describe the impact of spas attempting to monetize this terrain, with such alluring treatments as:

Peat Vaginal Tampons offered in Marienbad, a spa region of the Czech Republic. Billed as “localized thermal therapy,” the sulphur-iron peat is prescribed by a spa gynecologist for its “phytoestrogenic qualities” and is indicated for a variety of conditions, including female sterility, incontinence, and menopause.

And the Korean Gyno Spa Cure at Juvenex in New York City, a wooden throne set over a stew of steaming “detoxifying” herbs, has garnered more media attention (and inquiry into its anthropological veracity) than it has paying customers.

But maybe that’s enough?