Karen's Body Beautiful, Brooklyn

Karen Tappin's namesake spa has a kitchen. The kitchen has no food or frying pans; instead, its shelves brim with jars of shea butter, jojoba oil, and apricot-kernel oils, which skincare gurus use to create nourishing hair and skin products before their customers' eyes. As the serums are brought to life, a team of aestheticians puts them to work, rejuvenating clients' skin with a range of customized facials and body scrubs. While soaking feet from atop the spa’s black leather pedicure thrones, clients can contemplate whether to leave their finger- and toenails naturally bare or don colorful polish, Shellac, silk wraps, french tips, or adamantium Wolverine claws. The beauty haven also soothes bodies in private treatment rooms, where experts melt tension with soothing massages and hydrotherapy treatments amid the space's shades of black and white.