A day at the spa grants sweet respite from a fast-paced world of errands, deadlines, and books on tape read by auctioneers. Savor serenity without speediness, thanks to today's Groupon to Tides Spa and The SkinDoc. Choose from the following options:

• For $25, you get an acupressure-therapy treatment (a $90 value).
• For $29, you get a one-hour custom massage (up to a $115 value).
• For $39, you get a custom facial with a peel (an $80 value).
• For $49, you get a noninvasive facelift with a microcurrent facelift machine (a $400 value).

Tides Spa's technicians tailor each of their convenient skincare services to the face or body. Techs take a medical approach to pampering, using stethoscopes during acupressure therapy to locate tension running silently under muscles like a Cold War submarine, then bombarding it with three minutes of finger-pressured depth charges until its grizzled captain surrenders. Nimble fingers sweep over skin in the one-hour massage, with therapeutic, Swedish, and deep-tissue options customized either with aromatherapy, hot stones, or a body scrub to clear away grime obscuring the bright complexion of a Laura Ingalls Wilder tattoo.

Faces can opt for a one-hour custom facial and peel customized for acne correction or anti-aging, in which aestheticians cleanse, tone, and exfoliate visages before performing extractions, if needed. An alpha or beta hydroxy acid or fruit-enzyme peel then settles into skin, prepping it for a custom mask and serums, and letting faces glow youthfully like the cheeks of a newborn ghost. Alternatively, the microcurrent facelift machine provides a gentle current from its handheld wand device, stimulating tissue at the cellular level, increasing elastin and collagen production, and toning facial muscles more effectively than taping free weights to cheekbones.