June Jacobs at Spa Chakra

Posted by Kathleen

on January 21, 2009

Luxurious salons are a dime a dozen in New York, but not always as easy to find across the pond in my home state of New Jersey. I’ve tried many salons in New Jersey on my journeys home, from treating myself or to find a way to pamper my mom for Mother’s Day, and hands down, one of the most luxurious and relaxing salons that I have been to thus far is Spa Chakra.

Spa Chakra is nestled in the unassuming Hilton Short Hills, just across the Short Hills Mall, making it perfect for stopping by after hard day of braving the shopping crowds. Once you enter Spa Chakra through an unassuming marked door in the lower level of the Hilton, you enter a luxury spa oasis, decorated in pure whites.

After checking in with reception, I was a few minutes early, so I got a small tour of the entire facility. Walking along the corridor past reception, I changed into a heavy knit cotton spa robe and slippers in a locker room, noticing that there was a full service gym for use next door. I waited in a room enclosing a embedded pool with floor to ceiling windows. Small tables with wicker chars and cushions surrounded the pool, as well as mini cabana lounges with gauzy white curtains. As I waited sipping my mint tea in my pyramid tea bag, I saw a group of women enjoying lunch in their spa robes after their treatments in a relaxing “Ladies Who Lunch” fashion.

Soon, my esthetician Maria retrieved me for my appointment, and I was led to an elevator, which brought me upstairs to the treatment rooms. My first treatment was a foot bath, and I sat at one of several private foot baths that were divided from one another by white curtain panels. Each foot bath had an embedded foot tub with a comfy sofa and pillows. As Maria soaked my feet in deliciously hot water, she massaged my feet and my calves, and also exfoliated them using June Jacobs Mandarin Polishing Beads, a grainy exfoliator with a zesty, citrusy Orange Grove scent. After washing this off, she applied the June Jacobs Papaya Body Balm, making my legs feel baby soft.

Prior to my treatment, I was given a questionnaire to fill out specifying my requests and needs for the treatment ranging from what I was most concerned about skin-wise as well as metrics for ratings such as how concerning Redness, Moisturizing, and Extractions were to me. Although I love facials, one of the things that I dislike about them is how red my skin looks afterwards from all of the extractions, so I noted this as high in my metric of concern.

The facial itself at Spa Chakra was divine, luxurious, and utterly soothing. My treatment occurred in a private room, decorated with cool colors and gray mosaic tile, and the treatment chair was as comfortable as a bed. As Maria carefully gave my face a gentle cleaning, using sweeping massage strokes across my face, she explained the process of the facial to me, walking me through each step. She looked at my skin and performed her extractions deftly and smoothly, with minimal pain – the telltale sign of a skilled and experienced esthetician. After performing the extractions, she applied a Redness Diffusing Mask to my face to minimize any redness. A cooling Cellular Collagen Eye Serum was then applied to revitalize my face, as well as a Redness Diffusing Serum.

After applying all of these, Maria handed me a mirror after my treatment, and I was stunned to find that my skin didn’t have any of that redness that I normally associate with facials. My skin looked dewy, fresh and clean, and I felt like I was ready to go outside. Normally, I avoid any social activities the night of a facial to avoid going in public with a greasy, red dotted face; but after Spa Chakra’s facial, my face looked like a better version of its natural state and I felt free to go out that night to catch up with a friend.

I can already say that I plan to send my Mom here for Mother’s Day along with a friend to give them a chance to work out, get a few luxurious treatments and enjoy a relaxing lunch poolside.

Spa Chakra is located at 41 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Short Hills, NJ 07078 and exclusively uses June Jacobs products, which you can find at junejacobs.com.