Beauty & Spas in Stanford

Owner, aesthetician, and skincare devotee Brandi Colton oversees Capricious Skin Care's staff of beauty pros, whose areas of expertise run the gamut of skin pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, facials, and waxing. Bathed in light from a sparkling chandelier, customers rise from the lobby's zebra-print chairs as staffers lead them to private treatment rooms, where soft lighting and fresh flowers inject an air of tranquility into each facial, chemical peel, and massage. For the uninitiated, the free skin bar lets customers befriend their own skin therapist, who will perform a face analysis and dole out free samples of AcquaCures and Dermalogica products as heaps of steaming towels serve to open pores and perfectly cook clients made of broccoli.

Aesthetician Julie Maciel holds a strong track record in turning first-time guests into regulars. Working out of Gemini Beauty Lounge & Boutique, she tends to guests with personalized beauty-enhancing services such as facials and massages—each customized using a detailed skin assessment. She considers such epidermal factors as moisture levels, sun damage, and how many days until the guest’s next molt to craft a custom product regimen. Julie also happily makes product recommendations for clients’ at-home care.

For more than 27 years, California Skin Care & Day Spa owner Elena Aleteanu has navigated the world to collect Russia's, France's, Germany's, and Dolly Parton's best-kept cosmetic secrets for use at her own spa. Elena lavishes her clients with beautifying body wraps and nutrient-laden body masks, and her spa's spray tans give bodies a healthy glow. Elena's team also applies permanent makeup, doles out massages, and administers eye-catching manicures and pedicures.

Attention to detail separates Le JJ Belle Pedicure from its fellow salons and spas. The staff understand the power of peace of mind, so they use glass sinks without any of the standard spa fixtures in which bacteria might establish footholds, such as jets, filters, tubes, and petri dishes. With that same sense of cleanliness, they carry out an array of manicures, pedicures, and waxing services. For instance, during deluxe chocolate mani-pedis, technicians soak feet in a warm milk-and-honey blend. They then apply hawaiian chocolate body sand to eliminate dry skin before finishing with a dark-chocolate moisturizing cream.

At Beach Club Tanning, 14 rooms play host to tanning beds, UV and UV-free spray booths, and custom airbrush sessions. Five levels of tanning beds deliver the desired level of bronze, and are kept in tip-top shape thanks to an onsite trained factory tanning-bed technician. In addition to gilding services, Beach Club Tanning helps shed inches and wedged inner tubes with the fat-busting Fit body wrap, and boosts collagen production with red-light-skin-rejuvenation-booth sessions.