Beauty & Spas in Elgin

Natural light pours through the floor-to-ceiling front windows onto hardwood floors, dark-rose tile work, and olive-hued walls at Lucid Salon. Throughout the modern space, chandeliers also cast a honey glow on workstations, where skilled stylists alter manes with sleek layers and bold highlights. They also defrizz finicky curls with a signature straightening treatment and fashion elegant updos for weddings and sumo-wrestling matches.

A division of Provena St. Joseph Hospital, Bella Vie Medical Spa rejuvenates skin with services performed under the direction of board-certified internal-medicine physician Dr. Ana Gephart. As Janelle Walker reported in the Courier-News, Dr. Gephart's journey toward skincare services began when a friend and former burn victim—now an aesthetician at Bella Vie—convinced her to explore the life-changing skin treatments available through modern laser technology. Today, Dr. Gephart keeps her staff abreast of the latest developments in the industry to keep expanding an aesthetic arsenal of ways to boost clients' confidence and self-esteem.

Complimentary consultations help determine the best course of action for each patient, be it a long-lasting Radiesse injection to combat wrinkles, a medical-grade peel, or a laser skin treatment to address age spots. The spa's walls broadcast colorful artwork and calming phrases that inspire guests to imagine peace, count their blessings, and brush their skin 50 times each night before bed.

Reflecting the cascades of natural light pouring in through floor-to-ceiling windows, Cut and Color’s sleek, black, freestanding shelves brim with premium Redken, Moroccanoil, and Rusk products. Stylists nourish, sud, and shape locks, and many on the team specialize in SoCap USA hair extensions, which are made, like a witch’s broom, with natural human hair. Along with à la carte hair and nail services, the salon bundles treatments into red-carpet-themed packages, such as Movie Night and Strike a Pose, that combine nourishing services such as hair repair or keratin treatments with a cut and color. Through its Show-U-Care program, the team also gives back to the community with contributions to Friends Are By Your Side and the St. Baldrick's Foundation, charities that help women and children battling cancer.

Tucked away in downtown St. Charles, Eliza Jane’s girlie-girl boutique glimmers with trendy accessories and colorful jewelry crafted by 35 local artists, three of who are teen entrepreneurs. A pressed tin ceiling and soft lights hang above a hardwood floor, where the colors pink and white feature strongly among accessories—such as kitchsy purses, vintage bracelets, and stuffed animals—that overflow from tall glass shelving units and tables covered with printed cloth. After customers snag a specialty gift for baby, teacher, or self, Eliza Jane's staff can swaddle it in complimentary pink and brown wrapping. Ladies in need of a pick-me-up can pamper bodies with nonchip mani-pedis, facials, and waxing treatments.

Lucid Salon's aestheticians blend the traditional with the modern, updating time-tested beauty treatments with current industry trends. Beyond cuts and color, stylists can also renovate manes with custom hair extensions or GKhair keratin defrizzing treatments. Nail technicians call upon classic hot-oil and paraffin therapies for manicures and pedicures and shield digits with the advanced technology of no-chip polish. The team also travels to prep brides, bridal parties, and frazzled cake toppers with on-location hair and makeup services.

The blend of old and new is echoed in the salon decor, as chandeliers plunge from ceilings interlaced with exposed piping. Clients breeze past a pair of tasseled curtains to the shampoo chairs, whose black leather planes cradle bodies better than a hug from a coat rack.