Mud Parties and Sacred Nuts

Spa Menus Vamp it Up with Creative New Treatments from Coast to Coast

by Sylvie Greil

Miami Mojito Scrub minus hang-over in Miami

With spas proliferating like blogs and the nation’s belly fat, there’s a need for bigger and better, nonpareil and ne plus ultra to draw new/more/different customers. From strange and sacred nuts you’ve never heard of to inner-child-pleasing mud parties, the following spas have come up with creative ways to beat the competition.

Kara Spa in Los Angeles invites you to give your thumbs and wrists a break from your Blackberry and indulge in the real (juicy) deal. The thirty-minute “Blackberry Balm Hand Massage” treatment combines stress- and strain-relieving acupressure techniques with soothing rocks and a special “Blackberry Balm” to undo the damage caused by being enslaved to your hand-held communication devices. Cost is $90.

The Sports Club/LA Miami at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami cashes in on the Mojito craze (still going strong) with its signature Miami Mojito Scrub and Massage, designed to stimulate circulation, detoxify the skin and open the sinuses. Afterward, head to the poolside open-air lounge for a Champagne-based bubbly mojito. Fifty- and eighty-minute versions are available for $125 and $185.

The Spa at The Westin Maui on Maui’s Kaanapali Beach has seen a significant rise in the number of men visiting the spa and has adjusted its menu accordingly. The Heavenly Golfer’s Massage addresses the issue of repetitive activity and includes a volcanic scrub. Cost is $130 for 50 minutes. There’s also a Volcanic Men’s Pedicure employing the power of volcanic clay.

Paint Party at the Well in Palm Springs

In Palm Springs, at The Well Spa at Miramonte Resort & Spa, you do it yourself. “More and more guests are looking for fun and different things to do … with their significant others… and with their best friends,” said Jennifer Di Francisco, the spa’s director. Thus they came up with the Pittura Festa painting party treatment, where you get to play with colorful, therapeutic mud such as red Sedona clay. Wash it down with a Swiss shower or a cocktail.

The Painting Party for Two is 45 minutes for $155 or 90 minutes for $325 includes massage).

Sun-worshippers in Las Vegas can baby their precious hides at Spa Mandalay via the Dilo Repair treatment. The Dilo nut hails from Fiji's scared Dilo trees, or "trees of a thousand virtues." Fiji nut oils, Aloe Vera and coconut oil are the other stars in this application created to heal the skin from sun exposure, inflammation and scarring. Twenty-five minutes for $75.

Also in Vegas, Stephanie Doud, the new Spa Director Stephanie Doud of Hibiscus Spa at the Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa, has designed an Ice Cream Pedicure. It begins with a Chocolate, Strawberry or Vanilla Sugar Scrub exfoliation, followed with a delish marshmallow mask and moisturizing vanilla body icing and nail polish. Fifty minutes for $95.