Beauty & Spas in Dartmouth

Crystal Saulnier](http://gr.pn/GHvbcV) can trace her passion for entrepreneurship back to childhood, when she played store and set up imaginary businesses with her friends. Now that she’s moved past games, she operates SunMe Swimsuit Spa, a retail-spa hybrid. There, she and her staff ready clients for vacation—or make them look like they’ve just returned from an exotic locale. Airbrush artists spray on a custom bronze tan that accentuates each body’s curves or camouflages its suctioned tentacles, and nail technicians polish finger- and toenails after softening skin with warm hand and foot soaks.

After treatments, clients can flip through the racks at SunMe Swimsuit Spa’s swimwear boutique, where fitting experts help customers sizes 6–24 pick out an ensemble for a staycation that includes running through a neighbour’s sprinkler.

Robert's Hair Studio’s master stylist Robert Samson—a champion of eco-friendly, holistic beauty practices—has been honing his passion for colourful, unique hairstyles since he opened his first salon in Newfoundland in 2003. Since relocating his practice to Lower Sackville, Robert and his affable crew of coiffeurs work to gussy up locks with a variety of salon services customized according to each patron’s personal features, style, and legible thought bubbles. The staff lathers tresses in the sulfate-free suds of Pureology products and highlight strands with L'Oréal Professionnel’s ammonia-free INOA colour. Within the studio’s deep-purple walls, hair hewers station themselves at quirky dressers and embellish men’s heads with cap highlights or flatten ladies' curls with X-Tenso hair-straightening treatments that enable smooth ascents for fairytale princes.

Innovation sometimes comes from unexpected places. In 1985, researchers at the German company Wilde Dental realized that their durable, composite, light-cured dental resin could revolutionize the cosmetic nail industry. The idea came to fruition in the form of LCN polish, which lengthens, seals, and corrects natural nails without the damaging effects associated with acrylics.

Today, LCN’s innovative products inspire creative, colourful nail designs at Glamorous Nails: An LCN Boutique. In the comfortable boutique, technicians lengthen nails with glass-gel polish or use magnetic polish to pattern finger tips with bright, metallic stripes, stars, or 3-D disco balls.

When Rosanne Balsom started emOcean, it was little more than a murky saltwater pool. Today, that crystal-clear swimming hole is the focal point among myriad spa and health services, ranging from massage and cosmetics to physiotherapy and podiatry. Adjacent to glass-fronted infrared saunas, aromatherapy steam showers reinvigorate the senses with warm mist, revitalizing scents, and the lilting giggles of complimentary fairies. Whether feeding guests or powdering recently exfoliated cheeks, the spa’s team keeps an eye on sustainability, using organic cotton robes, locally sourced Laughing Whale Coffee, and soy-based body scrubs.