Irondequoit, NY Spa and Massage

For more than 20 years, the beauty specialists at Spatique Salon have helped to bolster clients' outer beauty. Nail maintainers buff and trim finger caps, and wax technicians remove unwanted bikini stubble or remaining evidence of one's werewolf heritage. Experienced hairstylists mold unruly manes into trendy configurations through style sessions preceded by soothing shampoo soaks, and airbrush-tan artists bronze physiques to a custom hue without UV-ray exposure.

Sighs of contentment echo across all corners of Auras Salon & Spa, where skilled beauticians work to maintain sleek and elegant physiques with natural nail services, full-body waxing treatments, and a range of anti-aging facials. Stationed at manicure tables or kneeling beside plush pedicure thrones, technicians brush nails with a traditional or chip-resistant Shellac polish and peel away dead skin cells with soothing paraffin-wax treatments. Similarly obsessed with silky skin, the spa’s aestheticians call upon International Dermal Institute–approved Dermalogica products as they hydrate and exfoliate complexions. Over at the salon, highly-trained hairstylists pace around chairs as they tame rebellious strands with shears and prevent manes from shedding their distinctive cheetah spots with Pureology color-care products.

A curled sidewalk delivers patrons to the temple-like entrance of Shear Effects. After crossing the threshold, patrons enter a Colonial Revival–style red-brick residence, where owner and stylist Amy Bast and her team of beauty professionals foster beauty and wellness. Double-hung windows shed natural light on stylists as they cut, color, or texturize strands in the salon. Voyeuristic squirrels cast their unremitting gaze on nail technicians who groom fingers and toes in a mani-pedi room. Beneath the vaulted ceiling of an upstairs massage area, a licensed massage therapist doles out soothing strokes and certified myoskeletal-alignment therapy, which combines muscle-balancing techniques with joint mobilization to alleviate neck and back pain.

"Escape," says the writing on the wall, printed in playful letters between two white pedicure thrones. Visitors who step inside Studio 22 Salon and Spa may indeed feel they've made a quick getaway, from the parking lot of a semirural road into a space with a serene but distinctly urban feel. Botanical prints, woven-metal artwork, and lengths of gauzy fabric hang from walls painted in cool pastels, standing watch over hardwood floors and marble countertops. The salon's continually educated staff moved into these chic environs in early 2012, ready to make hair silkier, skin softer, and feet more banana-peel resistant.

Head To Toe Essentials' team of stylists, aestheticians, technicians, and massage therapists lives up to the salon's name by offering services for the whole body, and Katie Shane plays her role by specializing in color, cuts, and special-occasion hair design. Using skills honed during six years in the business and products from Benefactor and Goldwell, she nurtures and tames hair, sending her male, female, and child clients out the door with a rejuvenated 'do that no longer attracts birds looking for a new nest.

For more than a decade, Carol Kennedy has explored the potential of massage therapy, eschewing the idea that massage is a mere luxury in favor of a staunchly therapeutic paradigm. When she isn't continuing her education, she massages clients in two quiet, calm settings. Inside her St. Paul Boulevard office, plum-colored walls and wooden bookshelves surround clients as they lie next to a faux fireplace adorned with a red-and-white tapestry. Her Perrin Drive location is inside a stately two-story house, where Carol rubs elbows with two chiropractors. She kicks off each massage session with a brief health assessment before she employs a medley of techniques—including deep-tissue massage, trigger-point therapy, and hot-stone massage—to mend muscles burdened by stress or by their overly ornate shoulder pads.