Face & Skin Care in Santa Rosa

For a perpetually beautified pair of brows, lips, or eyes, or even for a brand-new beauty mark, clients visit Permanent Cosmetics by Missy. Years of experience and formal training, along with trusty equipment and a natural knack for the art form, have made Missy the favorite artist of many permanent-makeup-seekers.

Chrystal Lemos, a co-owner of The Polish Salon, began her training with a two-year apprenticeship in an upscale Sonoma County salon. She used this hands-on experience as a jumping off point for her training at the Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica, Goldwell in Baltimore, and the Bumble and bumble Academy in New York.

She teamed up with Leslie Beer to open up The Polished Salon. The studio's modern façade offsets a classic interior of hardwood floors and antiques, reflecting Chrystal's ability to execute both sleek cuts and hairdos in the shape of Edwardian sideboards. She's also experienced in coloring services and straightening techniques, which she pairs with an unfailingly friendly demeanor.

A visit to Elements Skin Care & Massage Studio is as much a treat for the eyes as it is for the senses. In each of the spa’s spacious chambers, the stark geometry of dark wood furniture complements the flowing lines of a sheer curtain, a linen-draped massage table, or a single potted orchid. These aesthetic pleasures only serve to enhance the sensory decadence that the staff of skin specialists, massage therapists, and nail technicians grant their clients. A slate of 10 facials —including a signature service that treats not only the face to a massage, but the feet, legs, back, and scalp as well—help stave off blemishes and fine lines with Bioelements products. In private massage rooms, therapists call on several modalities to ease tension with hot stones, firm pressure, or pregnancy-appropriate strokes, as reflexology foot treatments ease tension stemming from tight shoes or arguments between toes. Feet can also bask in the spa’s many pedicures, which go beyond standard nail-salon services to incorporate heated lava shells, warm neck wraps, and even complimentary martinis.

When Jacqui Carrasco was growing up in England, she and her grandmother would often pluck fresh sprigs of lavender. They'd lug their fragrant haul back home, where they would carefully dry it and concoct lavender-laced oils. Years have passed since Jacqui took her first whiff of lavender, but her affection for what she calls the "aromatic plant which refreshes, heals, and revives" has not waned. Neither has its popularity over the centuries; as Jacqui tells it, lavender has been used for therapeutic purposes since medieval times.

So when it came time for Jacqui to open her own spa, naming it Lavender Touch was an easy decision. Jacqui cleanses and refreshes pores during an array of facials that vary in intensiveness. Though her spa's titular plant is a time-tested beauty and health favorite, some of Jacqui's treatments are distinctly contemporary: she relies on chemical peels and light therapy, for instance, to minimize signs of aging and acne. In addition to facials, Jacqui also administers waxing treatments, back facials, and brow-tinting services.

Tracy Bixby, the certified health and wellness coach behind Wild Blossom Wellness, isn't interested in weight-loss gimmicks or exercise fads. Instead, she works with clients to develop training plans that allow them to take control of their lives, both mentally and physically. As a CHEK trainer, Bixby focuses on corrective exercise and takes a holistic approach to fitness that considers the client's body as a whole. This approach helps clients become physically fit so that their bodies function at optimum levels, helping improve health conditions and issues such as back pain, weight gain, chronic stress, and osteoporosis. All clients begin their work at Wild Blossom with assessments of their current physical, emotional, and mental conditions. Bixby then designs custom programs that address their wellness goals and the underlying causes of their specific dysfunctions.

Like fingerprints, snowflakes, and boy bands, no two skins are exactly alike. That’s why Sumbody & Sumtime Spa's staff custom-blends products using organic ingredients that hail from the very planet we roam upon. Founded by Deborah Burnes, who authored Look Great, Live Green, the spa's signature line of products soothes the hair, body, and nose with natural and locally sourced ingredients. And when Burnes says "natural" she means it. "People tell us every day that they've tried everything on Earth," says Burnes, who quickly turns the question around: "Have you tried the earth itself?" Using elements such as clay, charcoal, sea salt, and honey, she concocts all-natural formulas that she says bring out the best in her clients' skin.