Though it's best known today as a beauty-products manufacturer, Clarins began its life in 1954 as a family-run institute on Paris’s rue Tronchet offering women personalized treatments and health and beauty advice.
More than 50 years later, the company — now run by the sons of founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins — is returning to its youthful roots and adding treatment rooms in stores throughout the U.S. One of the first to open, in November 2003, was New York's Clarins Skin Spa (1061 Madison Avenue). There, sunshine-starved urbanites can bronze and tone up with the signature Sun-Kissed Self Tanner and Ultimate Body Lift treatments, which tan the skin and tone the thighs. A second location, at 247 Columbus Avenue, opened in November 2007 and offers facials and massages.
Clarins also has partnered with renowned hotels such as La Casa Que Canta in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, the Paradis in Mauritius and Le Lana in Courcheval, among others. While the spas differ in feel depending on location, the common thread at each is the belief in the potency and healing properties of plants. Oils and lotions used at the spas are available only to Clarins-trained therapists, who rely not on machines, but on hands-on treatments.
Additional Clarins spas opened in Beijing in August 2007 at Shin Kong, just steps away from the Imperial City, and on Rive Gauche (The Left Bank) in Paris in October, at 10 Rue de Babylone.
Facials from $125, body treatments from $140; clarins.com.
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