Margaritas & Chocolate: The Spa Treatments You'll Def Want To Sample

It used to be the neck. Up until last year. When all those ads for neck creams started popping up in the monthly mags. Then there was that informercial that started making the rounds, featuring Roz from Fraiser, and one of the actresses from Y&R who isn't Eileen Davidson (who got the coveted gig on The Real Housewives of BH), hawking Perricone's solution for feeling badly about your neck. Btw, if you haven't read the late Nora Ephron's "I Feel Badly About My Neck", go out and get yourself a copy. 

So, the new frontier when it comes to aging is not the neck, it's the hands. Now, I've seen and heard a few things about people getting injections (#cringing), but somehow, doubt that's in high demand because it looks awful. The great news is that yours truly came across an alternative during my recent search for a spa or salon that offers holistic beauty treatments. By holistic, I mean (my definition) treatments incorporating organic ingredients or products, with some aromatherapy and maybe a few cups of hot tea in the mix too. Something you might see on Goop or even on Shiva Rose's Instagram or blog. (Long story short, she was married to actor Dylan McDermott, but is now way better known for her crunchy granola lifestyle in the California countryside that inspires major Insta envy.)

Enter a local day spa (Skin Apeel) which describes itself loud and proud as holistic and happens to offer something called a Margarita Peel Plus (not for the face but) for the hands. Apparently, they use a glycolic peel with LED photo rejuvenation to diminish those god awful brown spots, dry skin, and (of course) any other "visible signs of aging". The Margarita requires 4-6 weekly sessions to work its magic, so it's not something you could really attempt during a week or ten day stay in BR.

True Story: This week wraps up my stay in South Florida and my hands aren't crying out for peels or LED. Not yet anyway. (When the time comes, sign me up.) Also, my Uber driver - Bless her heart! - got a little lost, so by the time I finally arrived at the front desk (Did I also mention mine was the last appointment of the day?), my options were shall-we-say extremely limited. The original treatment I'd had in mind, which ran around an hour and a half, was now off the table. What to do, other than have a breakdown near the Jane Iredale makeup display?

My feet were a hot mess, so the just under 60 minute Cocoa Butterscotch Pedi it was, and luckily for me, since I'm supposed to be blogging about de-aging treatments, it is billed as age-fighting. (Pow, POW! For the record, kick-boxing dropout right here.) Gotta say my feet do look and feel a whole lot better. Not sure if it was the organic chocolate mask with age-fighting CoQ10 cocktail that was layered on my feet and legs before the polish, the new polish itself (a pinky nude) or the massage at the tail end - or if Shiva Rose would approve - but I'd do it all over again in a Boca Raton minute. 

*Apologies all around for so few photos, but there's a strict no phones policy at Apeel and honestly, I don't blame them. 

Ciao for Now,

Patty J

 

Photo Credits: Mani and pedi room, with chairs, photo courtesy of Yelp. All others courtesy of PattyJ.com.