Le Petite Spa, a new day spa utilizing organic-based products, has recently opened at Dr. Bard J. Levey’s Smile Design Studio at 1 Baltic Place in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. This unique synergy is designed to take wellness one step further by offering clients an enhanced opportunity to look and feel their best.

Le Petite Spa specializes in customized facials, featuring naturally-harvested exotic botanical products, organic source vitamins, minerals, and phyto-nutrients to deliver the most beneficial skin care possible. These products contain no artificial colors or preservatives and are never tested on animals. The spa also offers massage therapy and reflexology, which is acupressure on the feet to encourage a beneficial effect on other parts of the body.

“Dr. Levey and I set out to create a more holistic approach to wellness, and together, we will now be able to offer the best in oral health care, skin care and relaxation modalities,” said Mary Prenon, owner of Le Petite Spa.

Ms. Prenon is a New York State Licensed Esthetician and holds a Certification in Reflexology, For the past three years, she has worked in local spas throughout the area providing facials and body treatments. Most recently, she worked with The Woodhouse Day Spa, a national chain destination spa, in its Hudson Valley location. She is a graduate of the New York School of Esthetics in Tarrytown, NY.

Ms. Prenon is also an accomplished public relations executive and freelance writer, who has been published in national, regional and local media outlets. Throughout her career, she has worked as a newspaper reporter, radio news anchor and reporter, and radio morning show host in the New York metro area. She has received awards from the Associated Press, as well as local community organizations, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Greater Ossining Television (GO-TV). Ms. Prenon holds a B.A. in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Levey, a recent winner of Westchester Magazine’s Top Dentist Award, has been providing general and cosmetic dentistry services for almost 20 years. He is one of the most highly-trained cosmetic/restorative dentists for adults in Westchester County. His advanced training includes over 1,000 hours of continuing dental education since graduating from D.D.S. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Levey has designed his office to allow him to treat his patients as individuals, and not like a “dental factory” so common in today’s world of medicine. ”I learned a valuable lesson from my father, who was also a dentist — attached to each tooth is a person, and you are treating the whole person, not just the tooth,” he said. Dr. Levey is also a National Winner of the Best Smile Makeover, Empress Cover Model Competition of 2005.

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Wink Eco Beauty Bar proudly announces its Grand Opening, set for Tuesday April 7, 2008 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. W!NK is an eco-chic parlor offering clean, friendly, and healthy professional beauty services to enhance one’s life. From the product lines carried, to the service protocol and sustainable storefront design, W!INK Eco Beauty Bar has created an environmentally conscious and social environment for treatments and beauty services designed for men and women alike.

Tani Chambers, Owner of W!NK Eco Beauty Bar states “While Greening my lifestyle, I realized that would have to include my beauty products and regimens as well. Shockingly, there was no place in Brooklyn to accommodate my needs where I didn’t question sanitation and the safety of the products used. Not to mention that every place looked the same, so I decided to create W!NK Eco Beauty Bar, a place that addressed all those needs.”

For the environmentally conscious consumer, W!NK offers Brooklyn’s first Green beauty bar. While the list of green practices and sustainable design elements at W!NK is very long, some highlights include the usage of reclaimed & surplus wood for construction and custom furniture, energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lights, water conservation rules, biodegradable salon slippers & toe separators, materials printed on post-consumer recycled paper w. plant, soy or vegetable based ink, and personal care products free of parabens, phalates, synthetic fragrance, toluene, formaldehyde and other harmful chemicals. The Apothecary Bar gives customers the option to select from natural, vegan, and/or organic products to create custom blended body care products for use at W!INK or at home. W!NK utilizes products from Farmaestethics, Spa Ritual, OPI, Zoya, Stript Vegan Cosmetics and much more to comply with their Green protocol.

Located on the now historically-landmarked Vanderbilt Avenue amidst some of Brooklyn’s most beautiful neighborhoods, W!NK’s clients are treated to a warm, cozy haven where discriminating beauty and rejuvenating needs are met. The fresh sea blue walls are contrasted by copper accents, espresso furniture and floors. A 12-foot bar table accommodates five clients at a time for manicures and blending sessions from the Apothecary Bar. The Pedicure lounge accommodates up to three clients at a time in unique relaxing loungers along with beautiful hammered copper foot baths not found in your typical nail salon. The Brow Bar is accented with two stunning 6ft mirrors and fully reclining styling chairs for the utmost in client comfort. The treatment room offers plenty of sunlight and a view of the garden. W!NK also invites clients to visit the boutique area where beauty products, cosmetics, fashion accessories and gifts are available to complement the eco-friendly services. With eco-minded features and plush, inviting furnishings, Brooklyn’s neighborhood nail salon and beauty treatment destination has a whole new feel to it.

W!NK Eco Beauty Bar provides over 40 signature services and treatments reflecting a natural, eco-friendly, and fun experience! Come for everyday beauty maintenance like a manicure, pedicure, eyebrow design and hair removal via wax, thread or sugar. When in need of some extra care or rejuvenation, W!NK offers massages, body scrubs, wraps, and detox treatments as well as makeup application. Spa treatments are crafted with clays, salts, sugars, herbs, essential oils, rich body butters, lotions and balms. Some of W!NK’s signature treatments include Acrylics Anonymous, W!NK’s nail restoration program, The Athlete – a series for men who need some attention after a rigorous exercise routine, Four Hand (Tandem) Massage, Green Glama Facial, W!NK’s signature facial and the preferred facial for the eco-fabulous, and Beau-T-Full Brows a treatment that’s more than just a shaping. There are also seasonal Apothecary Treatments, which for spring include “Soul Shine” a body polish & herbal wrap, “Citrus Foot Splash” pedicure and “Awakening” essential oil massage. Even more is in store at W!NK including weekly events such as MANic Mondays, when W!NK is open exclusively to Men and Thursday’s “Girls Gone Green”- an after work social, plus other special promotional events. W!NK is also available for private party bookings.

W!NK Eco Beauty Bar is located at 602 Vanderbilt Avenue. Brooklyn, New York, 11238 Regular Hours of Operation begin with the Grand Opening on April 7th and will then follow the schedule: Mon(By Appt -Men Only)Tues (closed), Wednesday-Friday (11a-8p), Saturdays (10a-7pm), and Sundays (11a-5pm).

There will be a Soft Opening March 28th, W!NK will be open from 10a-7p, Sunday (11a-5p), and Thursday & Friday (11a-8p).

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For years, Michelle Palmer, a lawyer in Manhattan, bounced from aesthetician to aesthetician having her skin cleaned, assessed and exfoliated, simply because she had always heard that facials were the best way to get glowing skin.

“I never did a ton of research to figure out what those products were doing, or whether or not I could get results at home, or whether I was better off going to see a dermatologist — this is what single women in the city did,” said Ms. Palmer, 36, who paid anywhere from $100 to $250 per session.

Aestheticians and spas have long promoted such routine facials as required maintenance for radiant skin. But dermatologists don’t necessarily agree. Today’s bloated and breathless spa menus promise more than a mere facial can deliver, dermatologists say, and have people thinking that monthly facials can be their first line of defense against wrinkles.

“People will say, ‘I’ve had facial after facial and I still have wrinkles,’ ” said Dr. Amy Derick, a board-certified dermatologist from Barrington, Ill. “They have unrealistic expectations of what facials can do.”

Meanwhile, aestheticians say that some doctors downplay how effective their treatments are because they don’t want their patients consulting the facialist down the street. “They’re bad-mouthing us because they want our business to go to them,” said Wendei Spale, an aesthetician of 14 years and the owner of Peace of Mind Skin & Body Care in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. “If my clients go to them, they’re going to talk them into fillers, Botox or a super strong peel they don’t need.”

Facials, a pillar of the $10.9-billion spa industry, are the third most popular service at spas nationwide, after massages and nail care, according to the International Spa Association.

Some facials are marketed as massages for the face, relaxation pure and simple. But most spas and aestheticians also offer a dizzying array of results-oriented facials that claim to do far more.

Aestheticians say that so-called oxygen facials can plump skin, produce collagen and regenerate new cells. A company called Intraceuticals has its technology in 300 spas, resorts and doctors’ offices nationwide. It uses pressurized oxygen to deliver modified hyaluronic acid to the face, but doesn’t have any research to back its machine, said Deirdre Burke, the director of sales and education. Still, the company believes in its efficacy, she said, adding, “If you have had a treatment, you’re a believer.”

But without scientific evidence, many dermatologists remain unconvinced. “Show me the data that oxygen facials make the skin better,” said Dr. Jeffrey Dover, a director of SkinCare Physicians, a comprehensive dermatology practice in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Exhale spa, with outposts in Dallas and in Santa Monica, Calif., promotes a $195 “non-surgical face lift” on their Web site that entails using “sub-sensory microcurrent waves to tone and lift facial muscles.” And the Manhattan flagship store of Dr. Nicholas Perricone, a board-certified dermatologist, offers an electro-stim lifting facial, which his site says is a “non-invasive ‘face lift’ ” that will “stimulate facial muscles to perform more youthfully….”

Dr. Derick, who isn’t familiar with these two particular facials, suggests that massaging of the skin alone can cause temporary swelling, which may be responsible for that lifting effect after a facial.

What then can consumers expect from deep cleansing, microdermabrasion and other staples of today’s facials?

To rid oneself of some of the outermost dead-cell layers, old-fashioned exfoliation, microdermabrasion or a glycolic peel will do the trick, many dermatologists say. A salicylic peel may help diminish sun spots, they say, and acne sufferers may benefit from a meticulous extraction of clogged pores.

More and more dermatologists are hiring aestheticians to perform such services. Ms. Palmer, now married, found her facialist of three years, Rowena Woo, at her dermatologist’s office, Tribeca Skin Center in Manhattan. “If client wants an ‘anti-aging’ facial, we don’t have that,” said Ms. Woo, who sticks to basics like cleaning, extraction and exfoliation.

Dr. Arielle Kauvar, the director of New York Laser & Skin Care in Manhattan, doesn’t offer facials per se, but she does offer microdermabrasion as well as glycolic and salicylic peels. “From a pure budgetary standpoint, facials can add up,” she said. She’ll advise patients who dislike their frown lines or crow’s-feet and spend hundreds of dollars on anti-aging facials to consider Botox. “The same amount of money would at least erase those wrinkles,” she said. (Temporarily, of course.)

Dr. Leslie Baumann, a dermatology professor at University of Miami, ignited a firestorm recently when she wrote on her Skin Guru blog for Yahoo that facials are a waste of money. Outraged aestheticians and their followers made up a lot of the 1,453 commenters. Two criticisms were particularly sharp: that aestheticians “often don’t know which products are right for the skin of each client” and that facials cause breakouts most of the time.

Dr. Baumann has since said that aestheticians play a vital role advising clientele about home care and the wearing of sunscreen. However, she is astonished that some of her new patients “throw facials in at the level of sunscreen.”

Dr. Baumann said: “Getting a facial is a great cost to cut,” because, unlike sunscreen, “it’s not doing anything preventative or anything long term for your skin.”

Some aestheticians and their satisfied clients wouldn’t agree. Nancy Girten, a 50-year-old geologist from Los Angeles, used to have sun spots on her face, but since she started getting lactic acid peels 12 years ago from Ms. Spale, she is convinced that her skin tone has evened out significantly.

Dermatologists are also wary of facials that aren’t customized. “If you drop into a hotel, they do a similar thing to everybody,” said Dr. Dover, who has had aestheticians on staff since 2000, and is the co-author of “The Youth Equation.” “It’s a recipe.”

Such one-fits-all recipes where the aesthetician may not even do an initial skin assessment can backfire. Take the case of Dr. Dover’s wife, who is also a dermatologist. “She’s gone for spa facials where they put things on her skin that should never be put on,” he said. “Then they do a massage, and she breaks out in deep tender pimples.” Now she gives to others any gift certificate she receives for a facial. “The standard in the industry has to include a complete analysis of the skin,” said An G. Hinds, the president of Catherine Hinds Institute of Esthetics in Woburn, Mass. “Every aesthetician should know this.”

But often the consumer is the one to guess which facial might work. Dermatology Partners, a practice with three aestheticians in Wellesley, Mass., circumvents this by only booking the hour, not the service, said Milena Turok, the director of aesthetics. “We analyze,” she said. “It’s dangerous for a patient to pick a treatment.”

Demand customization, advised Celeste Hilling, the founder of Skin Authority, a product line used at 62 resorts and 37 doctors’ offices nationwide. “At the end of the day whether you’re spending $40 or $400,” she said, “if that facial doesn’t have active ingredients for what you want, it’s not worth it.”

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Riverview Salon and Day Spa owners roll the dice in Newburgh
In awful economy, business provides jobs, full array of services

NEWBURGH — Everybody told Daniel Frank he was crazy.

Opening a business in this economy? Sinking $300,000 into it? Putting up his assets as collateral to the bank?

No way. Frank said yes, I can. And his bankers at Walden Federal said yes, we can, too.

Frank fell in love with a space on Newburgh’s waterfront about eight months ago, so even when the economy took a serious turn for the worse, he decided to move forward with his plan to turn it into a new business, Riverview Salon and Day Spa.

“This is probably the worst time that I could possibly think about doing this, but an opportunity opened with a location on the river, and I didn’t want to let it go,” he said. “If I waited for the economy to turn around, I would have lost the location. So I rolled the dice.”

Now Frank and business partner Jeanie Tomita are open for business and have hired 22 people. They expect to employ about 30 — hair stylists, massage therapists and others — when they’re fully staffed. Some of the staff came with a client base, but others are fresh out of school. So Frank has created jobs. A sort of miniature economic stimulus package.

Four or five banks turned him down for financing, including his own bank, the deeply troubled Bank of America. He finally went to Walden Federal, which knew the building, liked Frank’s business plan, and gave him the line of credit he needed. It’s not concerned about Frank’s chances, even in this economy, said assistant vice president Anthony Casillo.

“Based on the products and services they’re focusing on, understanding the demographics and traffic that area can generate with the ferry and the restaurants and the culture that’s down there on the waterfront, I have no doubt that he will do very well,” Casillo said.

Newburgh, especially, needs the jobs. The area has been the focus of revitalization efforts for years, efforts that are starting to gain traction with the opening of a number of new businesses in the area.

Mark Mallia, chef/owner of The River Grill, welcomes Frank’s business and supports other efforts to develop the rest of the waterfront, but he would like to start seeing a broader collection of businesses in the area.

“Business generates business — the more lights on, the more activity; but I do feel we’re kind of overwhelmed with restaurants and bars,” he said. “Do I think any type of new business can help the waterfront? Absolutely. Do I think service infrastructure like doctors’ and lawyers’ offices and shopping would be better? Absolutely.”

So far, Frank’s gamble seems to be paying off. Business has been good, and for Frank, who also tends bar at neighboring Gully’s, the business-begets-business philosophy is inspiring.

“I’m very surprised, with the economy the way it is,” he said. “It’s so uplifting to me, because I haven’t slept in probably seven months worrying about this.”

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Blue Salon & Spa

Only a jitney ride away, Blue Salon and Spa is really a diamond in the shopping center rough. The spa is located next to Ann Taylor, just a walk across the parking lot from the movie theatre. This newly opened salon offers high-end goods and services from Aveda, a company known for it’s botanically-based, environmentally- friendly makeup, skincare and hair care products.
Blue Salon was opened in September 2008—a tough time for any fledgling business. However, they have enjoyed a flourishing first few months; owner Lisa McKnight attributes their success to the fact that they are one of the only high-end salons in the area.
Although the spa strives for a luxurious experience, haircuts are very reasonably priced for such a salon. For $30, an associate designer will give you a wash, cut, dry, and even a scalp massage, all using Aveda’s beautifully-scented products. For $40 and up, McKnight, a master designer will put her 22 years of hair-cutting, dying, and styling experience to use perfecting your coif.
Massages and facials are also very popular at the salon. Blue features a “Corrective Elemental Nature” facial for stressed skin, which includes exfoliation, face and neck massage, and addresses your individual skin concerns, whether you have dry, sensitive, or oily skin.
Blue also offers a “botanical skin-resurfacing anti-aging facial,” a “skin- renewing treatment” that improves skin slowly over the course of several treatments, a “plant peel,” to exfoliate skin, and a “rosemary mint awakening body wrap.”
Not one to skimp on the perks, Blue also includes a free footbath with each facial, as well as the scalp massage with each hair service. Additionally, be sure to ask for the Aveda tea. It’s rather pricey to buy—about $14 for a box of 20 tea bags— but it’s complementary at the spa and delightfully relaxing.
The salon’s hours are also quite generous; many salons aren’t open on Sundays or Mondays, and often close rather early. Blue Salon, however, is open 10-9 from Tuesday to Saturday, 12- 5 Sundays and 2- 9 on Mondays.

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Founded by wife and husband team, Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas, Caudalíe revolutionized the spa world in 1999 when they introduced the first-ever Vinothérapie Spa in the heart of the Châteaux Smith Haut Lafitte vineyard (Bordeaux, France), harnessing the untapped, restorative power of grapes and grapevine polyphenols.

Rated the second best spa in the world by Travel & Leisure and “Hot Spot” by Condé Nast Traveler, the Caudalíe Vinothérapie Spa® is a world-renowned destination whose treatments and techniques were developed exclusively for their spas – a second which opened in the Piémont region of Italy in an 18th Century monastery, followed by a third in the Riojas region of Spain whose property was designed by acclaimed architect Frank Gehry.

With this unequivocal success, a fourth international property is openrd in the fall of 2008 at the iconic New York hotel, The Plaza. This landmark property houses the first Caudalíe

Vinothérapie Spa® in the United States, and be the first Caudalíe spa not located on a European vineyard. To that end, Caudalíe aims to bring the vineyard experience to an urban setting with several accoutrements reminiscent of the wineries and châteaux where the Caudalíe spas are found worldwide. These include:
Wine Lounge – A 800 sq ft. Wine Lounge stocked with artisanal and terroir-driven varietals from the I and French Spanish and Italian vineyards where Caudalíe Spas are located. But also other French wines, champagnes and American wines. This includes Château Smith Haut Lafitte, the family estate and vineyard of Caudalíe founder, Mathilde Thomas. The Lounge features and imposing wine cellar of wood and bissazza with 500 wine bottles, with a floor of slate grey tiles interspersed with elegant rugs and comfortable chairs and couches.

On-Site Sommelier – Caudalíe’s Wine Lounge will house a sommelier, Cliff Rames, to host wine tastings between treatments, as well as offer instructional wine classes. Wines will be sourced and rotated on a consistent basis and paired with regional tasting plates.

Bois Grillé – to further enhance the vineyard sensorial experience, founder Mathlide created a signature scent for the Caudalíe Spa at The Plaza in tandem with French perfumer and friend, Olivia Giacobetti Bois Grillé reflects the aroma of her family’s cooperage, the workshop where wine barrels are still hand-crafted in their ancient tradition.

White Oak staves are charred or toasted and emit sensual wafts of toasted bread, almond, vanilla and grounding, warm wood aromas.
Small Plates – Caudalíe founders, Mathilde and Bertrand, hand-selected favorite foods indigenous to the vineyard regions of France, Italy and Spain where additional Caudalíe spas are found. This menu of “small plates” will be available to guests and paired with select wines from the Caudalíe Wine Lounge.

The 8000 square foot Caudalíe Vinothérapie Spa® at The Plaza encompasses the signature design elements of all Caudalíe spas – warm precious wood, relaxing dark stones and symbolic vine sculptures for an intimate modern ambiance.

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Value Added: A Trip To The Spa

So you want to escape from the economic malaise and set your mind adrift with a 50- minute deep facial or a 50-minute deep massage for $95 each.

Sounds like an unaffordable indulgence these days, doesn’t it? The $11 billion U.S. spa industry, which has enjoyed several years of growth, is expected to get whacked by the same slowdown that is hitting sports tickets, upscale boutiques and private-jet travel.

Elizabeth Snowdon of Nusta Spa sees her business competing not just with other spas, but with other luxury expenses. But Elizabeth Snowdon is betting that the money-minded of Washington will see her Nusta Spa in downtown Washington as downright cheap compared with the $5,000 mink coat for a Christmas gift or the $2,000 New Year’s trip to New York with dinner at the 21 Club and a Broadway show.

It’s all relative, she figures:

“Here is something nice that I can do for myself. I really may not take that weekend away or go on vacation, but I can spend half a day at the spa. That’s going to be my mini-vacation and makes me feel good, and make me feel like I had a break.”

Whether sentiment like that is reality or smart marketing, business owners such as Snowdon are trying to remain upbeat this holiday season in the face of the worst economic downturn in decades. They really don’t have any choice. It’s hustle or watch your business go elsewhere.

The robust economy of the past decade spurred a big increase in the number of spas, according to the International Spa Association. As of June 2007, the most recent numbers available, there were 18,100 spas in the United States, compared with 14,600 the year before. Competition has been heavy, with some spa owners vying for the best massage therapists because of the loyal clients they bring with them.

Eyal Uzana of Eyma Salon & Spa in Bethesda said he has seen some pullback in his day spa traffic in recent months, although the hair salon part of his business is doing fine.

“If you’ve got gray hair, you’ve got gray hair,” Uzana said, referring to the clients who need coloring every five weeks or so. “We have had the spa for four years, and there is a lot of competition. And I feel it with the economy. People are waiting a little longer for a facial or are using cream instead of coming in for a visit.”

Carl Boger, associate dean of academics at the Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston, estimates that 5 to 7 percent of all spas nationwide won’t make it through the coming year. Those that do are likely to see customers skip the high-cost options like stone massages in favor of basic treatments such as facials and massages. “The occasional users are going to cut back,” he predicted.

But that doesn’t mean there’s not money to be made for those who have done their homework.

Snowdon, who went to Stanford for undergrad and got an MBA from Duke, provides an interesting glimpse into the ever-gentle world of wellness. Snowdon’s approach to her customers reminds me of a business case study that I read about Southwest Airlines. Southwest’s competition wasn’t other airlines. The Texas-based airline’s competition was the car. How far would a Texan have to drive before a dirt-cheap hop on a commuter plane became more economical — and convenient? Southwest doesn’t see itself as an airline. It sees itself as a transportation company.

Same idea here. Snowdon doesn’t see her enemy as only the spa down the street, but also the weekend at the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia. Or the Christmas trip to London. Or the new bracelet from Tiffany. Nusta Spa is in the luxury goods business, not the spa business.

“With the overall economic condition and people feeling the impact on their disposable income, the spa industry overall is less reactive to bad economic times than people would think,” said the 37-year-old businesswoman.

Nusta Spa has been open since 2004 and has been profitable since 2005. After bouncing around Wall Street, Snowdon took a chunk of her inheritance (her great-grandfather was a top executive at Johnson & Johnson) as collateral to borrow $1.5 million to start the spa. It’s on 20th Street NW, south of Dupont Circle.

There are about a half-dozen spas within a couple of blocks of Nusta. Snowdon’s second-in-command, Erin Morris, said the spa’s prices are competitive with its neighbors’ and that it hasn’t had to reduce them to pull in clients.

Before opening, Snowdon did her research.

“I had a life coach, and we talked on the phone every other week and he gave me homework assignments,” said Snowdon, a Mount Pleasant resident who attended and sits on the board of National Cathedral School. “My life coach said that between now and the next time we talk, I want you to go and talk with spa managers.”

Snowdon poked around to see how nimble the downtown spas were. “I did a lot of calling up and saying, ‘I’m interested in a massage at six o’clock on a Thursday,’ and they didn’t have availability.” Or she would pop in a place and ask if she could get a facial immediately or that afternoon.

Her reporting told her that there was room for some competition.

Nusta works to accommodate people who want same-day appointments and stays open until 8 p.m. It also touts its green credentials, with soy ink, walls made with recycled lumber from a Pennsylvania barn and eco-friendly facial compounds.

When she was doing her research, Snowdon said, “there was no high-end day spa. You had a hair salon and a hotel spa, but I wanted a place where you got amenities and a robe and slippers and tea without the hair machines going.”

She hired a spa consultant, who taught her the importance of sterilized equipment and pampering. She talked to a real estate broker to start learning the basics of real estate, which involved terms like triple net lease and shared costs. She met with an architect to help her design the space. She even sat in on meetings to learn about heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.

She grabbed the word Nusta from a tribal language used in Peru. The word means “wealth” or “royalty.”

Despite a financial adviser and an accountant who advised her on money, Snowdon’s friends and family told her she was crazy to plunge into an industry where she had no experience except as a client.

“It was, ‘What are you getting into?’ My mom, who is uber-practical, said ‘This isn’t a practical thing to do,’ ” Snowdon said.

She said one of her smartest moves was hiring talented service providers — the massage, facial and nail people — who had a loyal following. She put ads in The Washington Post, the Post Express and Craigslist to lure others. She did lots of interviews: “I would go around and if someone I had heard was a great massage therapist, I would try to get the word in and tell them I had heard they were good and that we were opening a new business.”

Her recruitment efforts paid off.

Snowdon said the spa now employs 21 people, including an on-site spa manager. There are 15 full-time employees. The employees she first hired are paid hourly plus commission, while newer employees are paid straight commission. She said she wanted to guarantee that employees had income when she first started, so she had an hourly wage. Straight-commission employees might receive half the fee, while hourly/commission employees receive $8.50 an hour and around 35 percent of the fee.

A good massage therapist can earn $60,000 to $70,000 a year with tips, she said. She tries to maintain morale as well as quality by scheduling sufficient breaks during the day for the staff members, especially the massage therapists, whose job is physically taxing.

“The hardest part is the people-management piece,” she said, and not crossing the line between managing the employees and being their friend. “I am running the business and having these financial considerations, but I want input and want [employees] to be happy, but I also can’t give [employees] everything [they] want.”

In addition to payroll, Snowdon said she spends around $150,000 annually on rent. Other major expenses include insurance and electricity costs. (”You have to be insured in case you push someone off the massage table,” Snowdon said.) And then there’s the $400,000 air-filtration system and the $18,000 microdermabrasion machine, which helps smooth complexions by rubbing away the outer layer of skin. At a cost of $140 a session, the treatment is one of the spa’s highest-margin services.

Big mistakes? Snowdon bought a water wall, which creates a relaxing, bubbly noise, even though “everyone told me, ‘Don’t do a water feature.’ ” The wall leaked and has proved difficult to clean. Snowdon now calls the wall “the bane of my existence.”

All told, Snowdon said Nusta Spa grosses around $100,000 a month, most from massages, facials and nails, while about 15 percent comes from product sales. Around 70 percent of her customers are women, most of whom walk to the spa from the surrounding offices during the week. The spa is open seven days a week.

Customers come from many sources, including friends, word of mouth and employees who bring customers from their established practice. Walk-in business has not been a big part of the practice.

The business has been successful enough that Snowdon pays herself an annual salary, which is drawn in quarterly increments. It’s less than six figures.

“This is never about me having my private jet,” she said. “It’s trying to find that thing that you are kind of excited to get out of bed every day for.”

She eventually would like to expand the company, but she fears overly rapid growth would stretch the business and cause mistakes. The current economic climate doesn’t help, either.

“There are kinks to be worked out here,” she said. “I don’t know how that plays out.”

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Combining the calm and relaxing decor of a traditional European spa with the latest and most comprehensive spa services, C’est La Vie Spa has established itself among the finest spas in New York. Their innovative business model that places the client’s happiness first through team-based management has proven itself viable, and clients can immediately experience the difference.

“I think our customers are attracted to our atmosphere, our culture,” says Paula Fidanza, owner and operator of C’est La Vie. “We have a very strong philosophy and a very strong team environment. That makes us very different than other spas and salons.”

The facility’s employees are constantly in motion to deliver immediate and proper attention to the client the moment they walk through the door. C’est La Vie’s salon provides haircuts, colored treatments, foils, conditioning, perms, glossing, and straightening by stylists extensively trained by Bumble&Bumble to provide the highest quality service. C’est La Vie’s spa services include everything from detoxifying aquatherapy, to upper-body, shoulder, neck and head massage from one of their staff massage therapists. They also offer lymphatic drainage, exfoliation detox, microderm abrasion, Botox and Restalin, as well as Asian reflexology.

“We want to be here for the client first and foremost,” says Fidanza. “Our most important goal is retention: we don’t look at it as a sale for today but a customer for the future. We see and feel the clients’ reactions as soon they walk through the door. They are just amazed and they feel so good about being here.”

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NY Spas

Keeping Up Appearances, No Matter the Dow

LAST year, the idea of opening a luxury spa at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan sounded like a perfect business opportunity to Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas, the founders of the French skin-care company Caudalie. Their goal was to create a luxurious haven for their grape- and wine-based spa treatments, along the lines of Caudalie’s original spa on the grounds of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, a grand cru winery in Bordeaux owned by Ms. Thomas’s parents.

And so, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring, the Thomases began to invest about $6 million in building a 8,000-square-foot space called the Vinothérapie Spa by Caudalie above the Plaza’s Palm Court restaurant.

But as they prepared to open this month in the midst of the worldwide credit crisis, the couple anxiously wondered how many people would be eager to spend $550 for services like the 100 Percent Grape Ritual — a combination of treatments, including a body scrub with crushed cabernet seeds.

$510 for the Impériale massage and facial at the Waldorf-Astoria.

$400 for the house facial, Le Soin Sislëya Anti-Age, at the Carlyle.

“We are scared,” Ms. Thomas said as she sat in the spa’s glass-walled wine lounge where a sommelier prepares tastings for clients between treatments. “We are opening at the worst possible time.”

“I prefer to call it unfavorable circumstances,” her husband said.

Worst-possible-timing syndrome is not limited to Read more…

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