Beauty & Spas in Santa Monica

Exhale Spa seeks to transform its clientele inside and out. The founding team of fitness professionals and aestheticians sought to create an environment where they could empower visitors with pampering spa treatments, invigorating fitness classes, and lifestyle education, helping clients attain a sense of control and holistic balance. Now with 19 locations across 11 cities, Exhale Spa and its signature services have earned mentions in numerous national publications, including People magazine, the New York Times, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Exhale's signature Core Fusion classes incorporate dance-inspired stretches, yoga poses, and Pilates exercises into total-body workouts that build long, lean limbs and sturdy abdominal muscles over time. For an even more varied workout, the instructors introduce boot-camp techniques, cardio exercises, or multiplication tables to select sessions. Yoga classes present a similar amount of breadth and variety, drawing inspiration from a number of introspective and physically oriented styles. To help hasten physical transformations, nutrition and wellness coaches teach attendees about the impacts of diet. These sessions build an awareness of healthy eating habits through custom meal plans and by teaching clients how to identify the edible parts of a fruit basket.

Many of the center's traditional spa services seek to inspire confidence. Facials pamper and refine skin using everything from green tea and fruit extracts to microcurrent technology, and mani-pedis revitalize digits before glazing nails with a vibrant new coat of color. Bodywork treatments look beyond physical relaxation and focus on holistic concerns. Massage therapists can use Eastern or Western modalities to soothe overstressed musculature, and acupuncture treatments and reiki sessions jump-start natural healing processes by encouraging the free flow of inner energies.

Guests arriving to The Raven Spa may find themselves feeling like they've traveled a thousand miles away from their everyday cares. The aesthetic is both spiritual and indulgent, with stone statues that stand sentinel beside a plush purple couch and lush, sun-drenched drapes and glistening chandeliers holding court over an eastern-inspired communal massage chamber. A colorful patio overflowing with exotic flowers welcomes visitors to sit and soak in sunlight streaming between red and white umbrellas, creating a peaceful oasis for quiet reading or self-reflection. "Whoever comes here feels like it's their own," a front desk manager told LX TV's 1st Look, "Our whole goal is to take you away from whatever's out there."

The spa's international decor also mirrors its diverse menu of services, which includes acupuncture, facials, and hammam––a traditional Turkish soak that corrals plant extracts and herbs to nourish and detoxify the body. Therapists work out imbedded muscle kinks through seven varieties of massage including traditional Thai massage, which combines rhythmic kneads with yoga-like stretches and Hawaiian lomi lomi massage, which often sees practitioners using their elbows to nudge tension until it gets the hint and leaves.

Darque Tan's arsenal of beds, booths, and nourishing lotions infuses visiting bodies with sun-kissed color. Along with at least 20 tanning beds, each location brims with tan-savvy staff members—each certified through the International Smart Tan Network—who can work with you to customize a program based on your tanning goals, skin type, and relation to black-and-white movie starlets. Sessions take place in private rooms that line a column-flanked hallway, where five different levels of UV beds give skin the perfect level of tanning. Mystic Tan and VersaSpa sunless-tanning systems imbue clients with a hydrating, natural-looking glow, which can be customized according to skin tone, desired shade, and spirit animal. A full-time cleaning staff keeps each center in pristine conditions by referencing a 50-point inspection system. Most locations have books, televisions, and kids’ play areas to keep children entertained while adults are bronzing.

Mary Alice performs facial services at Saving Faces Skin Care Salon, a day spa tucked away in Marina Del Rey. It’s in this eclectic space, complete with futuristic floor lamps, white furnishings, and chic wallpaper, that she performs services which blend together holistic and science-based treatments.

To combat signs of aging, the on-staff aestheticians arm themselves with Dermalogica and AQ Skin Solutions products during ISUN Platinum facials, working to balance moisture levels and reduce irritation. Add-on treatments, such as a pumpkin enzyme peel that stimulates blood flow, can further bring a healthy glow to the face. In addition to performing skin-based services, staffers can be found pampering clients with organic spray tans and lash extensions. They can also wax unwanted body hair, adhering to a strict “no double-dipping sticks” policy.

Inside nestled inside a hip art gallery open from noon 'til midnight, Nitespa’s technicians augment organic facials, waxing, and mani-pedis with creative extras and complimentary wine that earned them a feature on Pop Sugar. The team lends an understanding ear during Tea and Sympathy, expediting the healing process with a basic manicure, foot massage or mini facial, and cooling mask for puffy eyes or burns incurred when setting old love notes on fire. They exercise extra patience in the wake of overindulgent nights, stepping lightly as they unleash the Hangover Helper treatment's emergency kit of detoxifying pressure-point massages and elixirs. Calming music adds a soothing soundtrack of the team’s work, providing a steady beat for relaxing massages or a chilled-out theme for postmanicure victory dances.

When Dr. Nasimeh Yazdani received degrees from UCLA, the University of Iowa, and USC, her medical quest had just begun. After earning board certification in internal medicine and nephrology, she opened her own practice, where she and her staffers offer services ranging from general medical care and checkups to nephrology (kidney treatments), anti-aging medicine, and weight management.

As you might expect of a practice located less than a mile from the beach, the office itself isn't exactly cold and clinical. Upon arrival, clients sink into plush leather couches, where they snack on a homemade cookie, sip a beverage, or scream into a crocheted baby hat. They then head back to a private treatment room done up in pale mauve hues and decorated with silver-framed artwork.