Feel at Home for the Holidays
Chocolate Body Wrap, Swedish Massage & Elasticity Facial
Madison-Spa New York City

In this busy holiday season, we often forget to take that moment to ourselves.  Sure I wanted to go to Madison-Spa for their Chocolate Body wrap, a Swedish Massage and a Elasticity Facial, but where would I find the time? For Madison-Spa I made the time. And you should too.

Upon arriving, I was swiftly taken to a room where I could change into my thick plush robe and slippers.  The spa was instantly warming to my chilled body and the calmness that it exuded slowly started to melt away my tension.  I changed into my robe and then went right into the chocolate body wrap treatment.  I had never had a body wrap before and wasn’t sure what to expect, though being a choc-aholic, was definitely looking forward to it.  Margarita, my therapist, asked me to lay down on my stomach and then she went to work. She explained that the treatment was helpful in both exfoliating and moisturizing the skin.  Excellent for girls like me with drier skin, especially in this cold winter weather.  She began by applying the chocolate...body lotion.  That’s the best way to describe it.  But it was softer and silkier than lotion and didn’t really soak in as fast.  It smelled, of course, delicious and it felt even better.  Margarita didn’t just apply the lotion she massaged it in all over my body….. even my stomach!  For a while I thought that my massage and body wrap were happening at the same time, which I later found out wasn’t the case, this was just a bonus massage.  After about 40 minutes or so she asked me to cross my hands on my stomach (I was turned over on my back now) and she began to wrap me in several layers of blankets, including a thermal blanket which reflected my own body heat back to me.  I was as snug as a bug and cozy as can be!  I closed my eyes to rest for the 15 minutes and continue my escape from the chilly and  frantic holiday season.  In just 2 minutes or so Margarita came back into the room to give me a head massage.  Yet another first for me.  She managed to find all remaining tension in my forehead, ears and scalp and it took every brain cell to concentrate on not falling asleep, you should feel free to fall asleep, but I had to write about this later! 

After these 15 minutes of heaven, which felt like forever, I was wrapped in a robe and guided slowly to the shower room.  Margarita said to use no soap, just rinse the chocolate off.  The lotion had dried to a brownish tint on my skin and smelled just as delicious coming off in the shower.  I then dried off, wrapped in my original robe and peeked out.  Margarita was waiting and she led me back to the massage room for my Swedish massage.  I realized then that the chocolate body treatment wasn’t the massage and I felt like I was getting an early present.  My heart leapt!  As relaxed as I already felt I couldn’t imagine having another massage.  It was such a treat. Oksana gave me the massage and she was wonderful.  She has an amazing fluidity to her movement and somehow she knew of my pressure tolerance and it was just perfect for the entire massage.  My muscles were already prepped and ready to give in to some tissue work.  Deep tension, from shivering and trying to beat the cold, was found and dispersed and my major muscle groups were relaxed one by one. For my back, this was extremely beneficial.  The first massage was warming, light and relaxing.  This second one was tension releasing, therapeutic and enlightening.

By the time my Swedish massage was over I was barely able to get off of the table.  Of course, hearing that Irina is waiting to give you an Elasticity Facial in the other room is extremely motivating, sooooo, I pulled myself up and made it over there.  I lay down on the table, Margarita covered me in a cozy blanket and then the rest, I will admit is blurry.  The honest truth is that Irina has a gift.  From the moment she touches your face you realize you are in for a treat.  Her touch is light and soft but occasionally she puts pressure just where you need it, to help open your sinuses or release anxiety.  Every product she put on my face smelled wonderful in a very subtle and natural way.  This is because everything she uses is organic.  This is another biggie for me.  I have extremely sensitive skin and am always a little worried when I’m not sure what is being put on my face.  My skin will get red just from a rub of my husbands chin if he hasn’t shaved so even things like exfoliation can be a bit scary.  Honestly, there wasn’t one product or part of the process that felt anything less than wonderful for my skin.  Even though I know we did exfoliating and I know there were about a dozen different products, masks, vitamins, etc, on my face; when it was all over, my face looked and felt incredible.  It was as if it had gotten lighter in appearance and it definitely had that glow thing going on.  To touch it was believing. It was soooo soft and smooth.  Especially in this dry winter air, it was a great moisture drink for my face. 

In fact, the whole package; the chocolate body wrap, the Swedish massage and the elasticity facial are all great treats for our skin, our muscles and our spirits!  As if that wasn’t treat enough, it all ended with a steamy cup of tea and some delicious Russian chocolates in the cozy ‘antique’ room.  I took my time, indulged a bit—it is the holidays – and then finally got back into my clothes to face the chilly night that had fallen while I was in my dreamlike spa package.  While walking back to the train I passed the Rockefeller tree and realized what a great treat this was for myself.  I stopped for a second to enjoy it’s glow and then continued on.  Somehow though, the crowds didn’t seem to bother me like they did on my way in and the cold didn’t seem as biting.  In this season of shopping and running and rushing around, we sometimes forget to decompress and take a moment to take it all in.  Allow yourself a couple moments in this holiday season--- indulge in yourself a bit!  If you’re anything like me, you’ll be truly glad that you did and Irina’s staff at Madison-Spa will be sure that you’re warmed and relaxed to the core!  Enjoy!

Erin Wilk
Beauty Editor - www.spa-nyc.com 

Learn more about Madison-Spa

Tips for the Chocolate Body Wrap, Swedish Massage,  Elasticity Facial at Madison-Spa:
- Remember if you are happy with this or any other spa service tip at least 15 - 20 %.
- Remember to tell them Spa-nyc.com sent you.