Beauty & Spas in Tonawanda

Audubon Women's Medical Associates' female nurse practitioners, licensed aesthetician, and board-certified physicians focus solely on meeting the needs of fellow women—whether examining future family members with ultrasounds, clearing away unwanted fuzz with laser hair removal, or soothing the day-to-day stress of balancing work and home life with massage. In addition to checkups and aesthetic treatments, the healers make over daily routines with their Transitions Lifestyle System, a nutrition-oriented program that incorporates meal planning, fitness and exercise, and behavior modification.

Since creating her aesthetic care center in 1984, owner Brenda Romanow has focused her attention on biochemical advancements in the skincare industry to provide her clients with the most effective anti-aging treatments. Under Brenda's watchful eye, Desired Image's trained staff employ a skin analysis to assess the client's dermal health, type, zodiac sign, and stress level before constructing a beauty blueprint that can include everything from chemical peels, targeted facials, and body-detox wraps to specialty treatments such as laser spider-vein removal. The beauty haven also stocks its shelves with a professional, chirally correct skincare line that helps combat inflammation and sensitivity with molecularly compatible solutions that can easily bond with the skin's lonely receptors.

Candy Kids Spa combines things that kids love—including more than 100 types of candy, candy-flavored facial masks, a heaping helping of personalized attention, and fun activities such as karaoke—into one memorable experience. It should come as no surprise that the company's formula is a successful one, since it was, in fact, inspired by a 6-year-old. As she told Elizabeth Carey in a 2010 Buffalo Business First feature, owner Ayanna Williams came up with the concept when her daughter requested her own special treatment after seeing the pampering going on at a traditional spa.

Williams and her daughter decided to retrieve some frosting out of the cabinet and had a good time creating their very own tasty "facial." Williams's daughter told her friends at school about it, and soon Williams started traveling to people's homes for mobile parties. She then bought a storefront on Niagara Falls Boulevard, gutting the building herself and painting the walls in bright rainbow colors. Williams eventually expanded the business to include two more locations in New York state and is in the process of creating franchises elsewhere.

The innovative spa, which has been featured on WKBW Channel 7 News, offers services ranging from candy-colored mani-pedis to a spa factory where kids can make their own lip gloss and candy-scented perfume. They also host parties to celebrate a birthday or a long-awaited truce in a war over which sister gets to sleep on the top bunk.

Shanthy Jayakumar prescribed many medicines during the nine years she worked as a medical consultant for Mother Teresa Medicare in Sri Lanka, but you'd be hard pressed to find any of them in a typical drugstore. That's because her prescriptions consist of herbs, holistic therapies, and even certain types of food. According to Shanthy, many patients initially come to Harisa Massage Therapy & Ayurvedic Wellness Center for Western-style massages or organic facials, but return for the Ayurvedic medicine that she introduces to them.

Treatments such as herbal nasal cleansing absolve the body of physical impurities, and relaxing Shirodhara head massages quiet inner monologues or AM radio signals as a slow drizzle of heated oil drips onto the forehead. Panchakarma therapy cleanses the three Ayurvedic systems that govern the body by combining healing massage therapy with internal cleansing induced by carefully selected herbs.

Recently featured in Entrepreneur magazine, Vanessa Williams founded The Flawless Group to free up time for busy folks through luxury-concierge and mobile-spa services. As a concierge, Vanessa can take care of day-to-day errands including arranging travel plans, picking up the dry cleaning, and chauffeuring clients around town in a luxury car or adult-size stroller. As a licensed aesthetician, her spa services can take the edge off of workaday stress with massage therapy, meditation, and facials. Whether an individual, corporate entity, or educational institution, each of Vanessa's clients saves time and might become superhuman.

Brothers Richard and Philip Samuel operate Maximum Tan, pitching in daily to maintain five levels of tanning equipment at seven salons. A computer system monitors the freshness of lamps in every lie-down and standup UV bed, tracking each bulb's hours so that it can be changed before the standard recommended time. The employees, who are trained in skincare, tanning hygiene, and equipment operation, can bronze bodies with custom airbrush tans or escort guests to self-operated VersaSpa booths. Each store is kept cool so that customers can stay comfortable after tanning sessions or long days babysitting electric blankets.