Get Your Glow On: 4 Luxurious Spa Treatments to Try This Season

With December festivities ramping up, it’s time to achieve that much-desired luminosity with help from the city’s top spas.

1. Nature’s Indulgence Facial

Indulge in an afternoon of holiday bliss at the award-winning Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Pacific Rim. For magically radiant skin, try the new Nature’s Indulgence facial ($289, 90 mins), which employs potent, all-natural ingredients—willow bark extract, honey and prickly pear—from products in the Tata Harper skincare line. The quadruple-masque system, thermal-eye treatment and the spa’s signature facial massages will have everyone asking what your secret to gorgeous skin is.Afterwards, relax in the luxurious lounge with a cup of tea or take a dip in the outdoor jacuzzi.

2. Cinnamon Enzyme Facial

In between gift shopping and entertaining, unwind at a sumptuous hidden oasis in downtown Vancouver: The Spa at the Wedgewood Hotel.Start your pampering off with 15 minutes in the eucalyptus steam room and feel the Yuletide tension leave your body. Next, rejuvenate your skin with the acclaimed Cinnamon Enzyme facial ($180, 90 mins). Dissolving those dead, unwanted skin cells with products from Epicuren (it’s all about the proprietary enzyme protein complex), this luxe treatment, often described as a “non-surgical facelift,” promises celeb-worthy glowing skin!

3. MAX+ Customized Facial

What better place to get your glow on than at Project Skin MD’s Glow Room? This recently unveiled addition to the facility on South Granville offers express facial treatments (you’ve got to check out the peel bar!) and life-changing medical-grade facials. For pre-fête perfection, try the MAX+ customized facial ($255; 75 mins). Your aesthetician will assess your skin’s needs and choose the appropriate SkinCeuticals products to cleanse, exfoliate, treat and hydrate your skin. The pièce de résistance is the 30 minute MAX+ treatment—a revolutionary skin therapy that uses multiple LED colours to rebalance and care for compromised, aging skin cells…kind of like a multivitamin! The result? A joyous glow that looks lit from within.

4. Hammam and Gommage Treatment

With all of the sassy party dresses you’ll be donning this season, you’ll want your skin to be in tip-top shape. We recommend that you treat yourself to an out-of-this world cleansing and purification ritual at Vancouver’s authentic Hammam ($100, 60 mins).The Miraj Hammam Spa, located at the corner of Granville and West 6, greets you with striking tiled floors and elaborate ironwork—you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to an exotic land. After disrobing and wrapping yourself in a sarong, your treatment begins with 15 heavenly minutes in a private steam chamber (the Hammam). Next, you’ll lay on a Jerusalem gold marble bench while your entire body is washed and exfoliated with authentic black Moroccan soap (Gommage), then rinsed with cool water. As you revel in how buttery soft your skin looks and  feels, you’ll be led to a room for the final part of your treatment: a bliss-inducing oil massage. Before leaving this urban sanctuary, visit the cozy Sultana Lounge and tranquilize on an oversized velvet daybed while sipping on traditional Middle Eastern tea and nibbling on sweet cake.

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