Sugar House Day Spa on N. Alfred in Old Town Alexandria. This place is in a beautiful old house and it's all purple and white inside.
Good things:
I discovered my NEW favorite pedicure - the Sugar House Pedicure. Kathy and I sat next to each other in big massage chairs in a nice room with a window while we got great pedicures. Very nice....and a nice shop too!
Fountains on Washington Street in Old Town also.
I'm addicted....well not really, just "a regular" at Fountains. This place is in a really tiny yellow and white town house but beautiful inside (especially after the remodel, they now have a fountain in the lobby to go with their name!)
Good things:
There is a great massage by Jenny who has done really good work. I went because when I changed jobs, the stress was making my neck and arm seize up. She stopped this in its tracks after two visits. And I've returned about every 6 weeks since for very nice times.
I also had a good facial here. It was gentle and introduced me to Guinot products (which I now like and buy). The lady alerted me to an area on my forehead which had a strange appearance (perhaps a precancerous lesion?) and suggested I get it checked by a dermatologist (am going for that in a couple of weeks).
Also have had the rose mud wrap which was really fragrant and left my skin really soft.
So all around, Fountains has to be my favorite locally. It's next to a bakery (tarts and crossiants after spa!), is very clean, has very pleasant and client oriented staff, beautiful decorating. Just don't try and get there on a Friday afternoon....traffic is awful at this location. I'm a little leary about writing anything good about them. Don't want to let the secret out and make them REALLY popular and too busy for me to get in! but my blog doesn't have that many readers so.....
Jouvence Aveda at Pentagon Row
Good things:
Super pedicures given by Rosa. She give great foot massages, even with the basic pedicure which, at around $40, is more reasonable than the usual $60 ones elsewhere.
Alexandre de Paris
Good things:
Strange as this may seem, the best local massage of 2008 came at Alexandre de Paris out at Fair Oaks. A therapist named Kim did a really nice job, asked questions along the way, made it a very peaceful and relaxing experience. You are taken into a back room area where the spa treatments are given which gets you out of the busy hair salon atmosphere of the rest of the place.
Needs work:
Pedicure was not that great. Attendant was kind of rough and the salon setting of the pedicure area did not make for a relaxing experience.
Circe
Good/mediocre:
I've tried Circe in Old Town several times (2006-2007), since I always remember one of the best massages ever (the lady left and they won't tell me where she went! @#*%&@#) and in general, they're pretty good. Manicure, pedicure, massages....all not bad. Nothing that exciting to say but not bad at all.
[I'm revising this one as of 5/30/07.....I did not have a good manicure.....lady cut into the cuticles too much, started to bleed, she seemed unconcerned!) They are always overrun with people in the salon and the spa area is too small to relax much in.]
Lansdowne's Spa Minerale - 2006 visit
The resort is beautiful, as everyone knows and the spa area is also pretty nice looking, nice locker area, large jacuzzi, rain showers, sauna etc.
Needs work:
The relaxation waiting area sucks.
It was fairly small and arranged so that you were very close to other people. It was one of those rooms where when you shut the door, it feels like the air is sucked out so every movement, sound etc. is felt by everyone in the room. Some ladies had eaten lunch in there (perfectly appropriate) but the finished dirty dishes were laying around during my whole 20 minute stay. These ladies were chatting (also perfectly appropriate) but some people have no self-awareness so the fact that the rest of us had to suffer through their stories (inappropriate to be sharing in public) and the hiyena laughter of one of them, all being hightened by the fact that this room was very close in, was quite unpleasant.
Also, every 2 minutes one of the doors at either end of the room would open and a therapist would say someone's name (also appropriate but in this weird room, very distracting). This was the least relaxing room I was in during my 2 hours there. A hint, open up both doors so the room isn't closed off. A little ambient noise would help, have the therapist only come in through one door, clean up the dishes as soon as they're done!
Sorry, now onto the massage, also not good. I think once, maybe twice before I've had a massage like this and it's not enjoyable. The woman therapist didn't ask many questions (thus she didn't give me the aromatherapy massage I had signed up for and I later disputed this on the bill) and proceeded to give me this "quick handed" massage. Strokes were short, quick and unrelaxing. I realize that this may be a specific massage "technique" but if you are a normal person and haven't requested this "technique," you should be warned.
Good things:
The surroundings and the spa area (except for "the room") are nice.
So it's been 3 years since I've been there and was so disappointed! Might be time to update this review.
Natural Body Spa has a weird location, in Ballston mall and an energetic little host guy who hangs out in the large, open product sales area.
Needs work:
The massage I had here was another weird one, that fast, quick-handed style and in this bizarre room - I'd guess 500 square feet with 20 foot ceilings, bright full-on lights, and strange pointed shape. I felt like I was in a section of high school gymnasium.....
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