Miami Springs, FL Spa and Massage

A visitor to Diamante Day Spa won’t be hurting for options: between the spa’s 20 different massage styles and 18 distinct facials, clients could be forgiven for having a hard time knowing which treatments would benefit them most. That’s why it’s fortunate that the spas 20-plus professionals, who boast more than 200 combined years of experience, are on hand to advise them. Specialty services encompass mainly Eastern holistic healing practices—chakra balancing, yoga nidra meditation, Tibetan reflexology—which is why it’s fitting that the spa is also home to a zen lounge area complete with fresh fruit, organic herbal teas, and no howler monkeys. Additional services include viche shower rain room exfoliation, slimming wraps, natural nail treatments, hair color and cuts, keratin treatments, waxing, and airbrush tanning.

Behind the vertical columns and manicured hedgerows of the art-deco district's Ocean Reef hotel, the salon and spa’s aestheticians and massage therapists pamper bodies with nourishing head-to-toe therapies. Mere steps from Miami Beach and bustling Collins Avenue, the spa is surrounded by myriad local promenades on which to flaunt physiques newly nourished by hair, body, and facial treatments, as well as waxing. Clients can park cars or their Shetland ponies on the street, or take advantage of Ocean Reef's valet service.

Upon arrival at Facial Spa and Body, stress immediately begins to melt away when a cup of tea or coffee is placed in your hands and you gaze at the robin's-egg-blue walls while waiting for facials, body wraps, and cellulite treatments. The aesthetician then leads you into a private room stocked with products from top skincare brands such as SkinCeuticals, Obagi, and La Roche-Posay. In addition to these brands, Facial Spa and Body also sells Colombian Fajas Salome shaping girdles, which contour waistlines, improve posture, and protect midsections from sucker punches.

Dark hardwood floors and creamy white walls form the basis for Luxe Day Spa's tranquil environs, where guests bask in skin and body treatments that polish them from head to toe. An array of facials harnesses nutrients, organic enzymes, or high-tech LED devices to treat blemishes and reduce the signs of aging, whereas seven styles of massage melt away chronic tension. While reclining in a zero-gravity chair with a heated pillow under their neck and a toenail-themed romance novel over their eyes, guests enjoy relaxing pedicures enhanced by hydrating paraffin treatments. Meanwhile, specialists imbue or remove ink in the skin with permanent makeup, which brightens eyes, brows, or lips with smudge-free color that lasts for years, or tattoo-removal treatments that eschew skin-bleaching lasers in favor of invisible injections.

Marie Swan Black first received her massage training in 1992 in Austin. She felt drawn to aesthetics because, as she explains on her website, "practicing massage without the ability to treat the skin felt incomplete." This led her to offer a more-comprehensive list of services to treat the whole body from the inside out. Today at Acorn Organica, she performs facials with thoughtfully chosen natural products free of parabens and artificial fragrances, as well as microdermabrasion treatments and fruit-based peels. Her bodywork therapies use modalities such as energetic balancing, which relieves stress and energetic blockages, and special therapies to alleviate pain in spots such as the jaw.