Beauty & Spas in Annandale

Modern Day Spa soaks its clients in sweet serenity with an array of relaxing and refreshing spa services, administered in an environment of tranquility. Turn your soul-suitcase over to the spa's therapists for a 50-minute Modern Swedish massage ($90), which uses ample applications of pressure to gently ease out hornet's nests of hurt and tension. During the 50-minute Modern European facial ($90), Modern Day Spa's skilled aestheticians will exfoliate the skin, cleanse pores, and remove dead skin like autumn's leaves from a computer CD drive. A customized mask will be applied to elicit further radiance from a head's real estate, while a relaxing massage will soothe the face and décolleté. Finally, the Modern manicure ($23) classes up cuticles and nurtures nails, with warm towels and a massage further finessing the fingers for future endeavors in banjo-picking.

The Pilates Room keeps bodies and minds engaged and elastic with a plethora of Pilates classes and massage services, among other body-benefiters. Stabilize your core and strengthen your muscles with a Pilates group apparatus class (up to a $40 value), using equipment such as the Reformer and the Tower, or experience the energy harnessing known only to spilled milk and bearskin rugs with a floor class ($20), available in cardio ball, Hatha yoga, and stretch-centric variations. The Pilates Room puts clients on the road to wellness with spinning classes ($22 for one class, $80 for four), and sore joints and knotty nexuses will benefit under a foot-focused, 60-minute Reflexology massage ($75) or a 45-minute sinus/headache-relief massage ($60). Gyrotonic classes are available, as are airbrush tanning services—ideal for those seeking to add some bronzy brashness after a winter spent working tollbooths in Antarctica.

Canary Orchid Retreat boasts an accredited staff of certified massage therapists equipped with at least 500 hours of training and both Virginia Board of Nursing and Fairfax County massage-therapist permits. Armed with knowledge and super muscular fingers, the therapists employ various strokes and manipulations to untangle muscle knots and remove tension from the body. Massage modalities range from hot-stone therapy and deep-tissue massage to a Hawaiian therapeutic massage, lomilomi, which combines mind, body, and spirit to the beat of tribal rhythms. Other indulgent treatments include reflexology, sea-salt body scrubs, and mint foot soaks.

BioTec USA founder and licensed aesthetician Tanya Gospodinova has been transforming complexions for three decades. After studying medicine and dermatology in Bulgaria, Gospodinova created a day spa that would evolve into a research-based health-care and beauty haven. She wanted to develop topical products that were not only capable of fighting everyday signs of aging but also potent enough to repair skin post surgery. Her Serum Collagen HP, for example, includes active ingredients such as niacinamide, which improves elasticity, green coffee extract, which nourishes skin with polyphenols, and glycoprotein from the Antarctic sea, which moisturizes and promotes collagen production.

Gospodinova and her team employ the powerful, nature-based formulas during results-oriented facials, peels, and microdermabrasion treatments. At each consultation, she uses video microscopy to magnify the skin 1,000 times—enough to spot the tiniest imperfections and determine for certain whether a freckle really looks like Elvis.

A regal lobby welcomes guests into Georgetown Electrolysis Skin Care, with swirled wallpaper accenting a corner fireplace, around which a chaise, an ottoman, and plush couches are situated. As they pass under a crystal-dripped chandelier and into private treatment rooms, guests will discover that the staff members who perform each service mirror the coziness of their confines. The spa’s specialties include deep-cleansing facials, massage, and body wraps that battle cellulite and unwanted inches. Staff members also use electrolysis and laser hair removal to permanently oust unwanted fuzz from the body, as well as from sheep who plan to retire to the Caribbean.

It’s easier to connect The Spa Room’s seeming hodgepodge of treatments if you look at owner Mary Szegda. Her background and training includes a master of arts degree in applied psychology, a certification for infant massage instructorship, a massage-therapy license, and training in the Feldenkrais method—a therapy designed to pinpoint and correct habits that can cause shoulder pain and muscle tension.

Together, Mary and her skilled staff, administer Swedish and prenatal massage, aromatherapy treatments, craniosacral therapy, and spa services such as a hand treatment that combines pomegranate cream and paraffin. The staff holds four advanced degrees among themselves, and several of them have experience teaching at the university level. Most of them have served as lead or assistant teachers at local massage schools. In addition, The Spa Room offers a variety of classes and workshops including massage education, infant-massage instruction, and restorative yoga.