Today, I finally had the opportunity to use the gift certificate I received from Ryan’s very kind co-workers last year, for a “Mom’s Escape Day” at The Face and The Body Spa.

I was welcomed at the desk, and given a glass of orange-scented water, which was amazingly good.

I was then led back to the “locker room,” so that I could change into a spa wrap and robe before beginning my spa day. If only the locker room in high school had been this nice, gym class might have been more fun.

My first spa service of the day was a Swedish massage. I’ve never had a massage before, and I was not disappointed! As far as I could tell, the table was heated, which was very nice, the lights were turned down low, and there was relaxing music playing softly in the background. I could have fallen asleep right there, but I didn’t want to miss any of it! And at the end, I got a rub down with hot towels…heavenly!

After that, it was back to the spa waiting room for more water (or coffee, tea, or hot chocolate), while I waited for the esthetician.This waiting room was in a more secluded area of the salon…very nice for customers wearing wraps and robes, and they even gave me a blanket, in case I got cold.

Up next was a European spa facial. This is another thing I’d never had done before, and I had no idea what to expect. My face was washed, toned, and hydrated, then exfoliated and steamed. I had some pore extraction done, which was the only unpleasant part of the morning, and not something I’m keen on doing again. After that, I had a clay mask put on, at which point, I got to lay back and relax, while listening to more calming music. The put heated booties and mittens on me, which felt wonderful. After the mask had been washed off, I had several treatments put on, including a moisturizer and eye cream.

The facial concluded the spa portion of the day. After changing back into my own clothes, I went to the lunch room.

My lunch, which I had selected from a menu upon my arrival, was a chicken caesar salad from The Pasta House Co. They even asked me if I’d like to have some wine with lunch…of course, I chose red!

Back to the waiting room until the sylist was ready to cut my hair. The salon has another, larger waiting room for clients who are in street clothes. It was also quite beautiful, but I think the fireplace would be much more enjoyable at a different time of year. There was also another coffee/tea bar available for customers to sample.

There was also a third waiting area, this one clearly for husbands waiting for their wives to finish up. This amused me.

I then had a consulation with a sylist prior to getting my hair cut. Ryan added this to my package…the basic escape day come with a hair style only. I haven’t had my hair cut anywhere but Great Clips style places since probably my wedding day, so this was a real treat. The stylist was very knowledgeable, and I basically told her to do whatever she thought would look best. I was very happy with the end result!

There was a really cool wall fountain seperating the hair cutting area from the shampoo and nail area. It added to the calm feeling of the salon, even though this area was, by nature, a lot busier and noisier than the spa area.

The final service of the day was the application of  a light finish makeup. The same stylist who did my hair also did my makeup, and I enjoyed hearing her ideas about my skin tone and colors that would be good for me. She confirmed something that I’ve puzzled about for years…I have both warm and cool undertones, which can be both a challenge and a blessing. Still, it was nice to hear a professional verify something I’ve suspected all along. I loved that this area was at the front of the salon, in front of the windows, offering the best possible lighting for natural-looking makeup.

Against my better judgement, I’ll even include the before and after shots, but only because this is the closest to the before and after on What Not to Wear that I’m ever going to get!

Before

After…I got bangs!

It was a fun day…I could totally see this becoming an annual event!