Make spa dreams a reality for the harried names on your holiday list with Caitlin Agnew's picks for indulgent treatments
SWEET TREAT
Located in Toronto's Shangri-La Hotel, the Middle Eastern-inspired Miraj Hammam Spa is a growing labyrinth of treatment rooms and ultra-plush places to lounge. A signature treatment, the 60-minute Caudalie Grand Facial is customized for each skin type with Caudalie Paris's resveratrol-rich skincare, leaving features relaxed, complexions restored and moisture levels regulated, while a relaxing massage extends from scalp to fingertips and toes. Enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of baklava before making your way back to reality.
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Miraj Hammam Spa by Caudalie Paris Caudalie Grand Facial, from $170 (www.mirajcaudaliespa.com).
WINTER WARM UP
Vancouver-based Vida Spa has partnered with the city's YYoga on the ultimate cure for winter blues. Available at its downtown Burrard Street location, a Winter Wellness Package combines a class at YYoga (high-intensity or a soothing yoga practice) before retiring to Vida's private spa lounge for a customized hour-long massage, which incorporates elements of Ayurveda. The final step is a session in the infrared sauna.
Vida Spa and YYoga's Winter Wellness Package, $125 (www.yyoga.ca/winter-wellness).
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FACE TIME
Known for its quick 30-minute facials, Blitz Facial Bar has four Toronto locations (plus one in Brooklyn, NY) that tend to skin in a hurry. But as the offshoot of Body Blitz Spa, a women's only therapeutic waters circuit, Blitz knows a thing or two about relaxation. The hour-long O2 Blitz Facial combines a carboxy gel and sheet mask that sends signals to cells to oxygenate, with results that increase over the following ten days.
Blitz Facial Bar's O2 Blitz Facial, $190 (www.blitzfacialbar.com).
EXTENDED REST
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Toronto's Hammam Spa has been bringing its take on the Turkish hammam experience to King West for 11 years. Beyond traditional Turkish services, its facial treatments incorporate rituals handpicked from cultures around the world. Decleor's Luxury Aromatherapy Facial is offered as a decadent 90-minute session and includes a customized skin treatment, back massage and an emotional rebalancing courtesy of Decleor's natural essential and botanical oils.
Hammam Spa's Decleor Luxury Aromatherapy Facial, $175 (www.hammamspa.ca).
SKIN COMBINATION
There's nothing in the world like Montreal's floating Bota Bota Spa. Clocking in at 90-minutes, its Immersive Indulgence Treatment is just the thing for a body that's been hiding under layers of sweaters and parkas. A cranberry and pomegranate scrub is followed by a chocolate truffle wrap and completed with an express firming facial. Magnifique.
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Bota-Bota Spa-Sur-L'Eau's Immersive Indulgence Treatment, $130 (www.botabota.ca).
STYLE HAPPENINGS
- Two The Globe and Mail contributors are teaming up this week to talk drinking on the silver screen. On Dec. 14, join Christine Sismondo and Nathalie Atkinson at Toronto’s Revue Cinema for Designing the Movies’ presentation of The Thin Man, a 1934 classic about a carefree, wisecracking couple concerned with the finer points of mixing martinis (and solving crimes). For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/designing-the-movies-the-thin-man-1934-tickets-37550856623.
- Canadian paper artist Calvin Nicholls teamed up with David Yurman on the jeweller’s holiday campaign and diorama window displays. The woodland creatures, including owls, bears, rabbits and wolves, were all hand drawn by the artist and crafted in paper before he applied elements like feathers and strands of fur. Known for his sophisticated, realistic paper sculptures of wildlife, Nicholls rarely accepts commercial commissions. For more information, visit www.davidyurman.com.
- Montreal retailer Off The Hook and footwear giant Adidas are re-issuing the Montreal 76 shoe, which was originally part of the employee uniform when the city hosted the Olympic games in 1976. The sneaker features Adidas’s signature three stripes in sky-blue on a navy blue suede upper and an embossed rubber sole. For more information, visit www.offthehook.ca.