So, last week, I went to the new Renee Rouleau Spa at One Arts Plaza to check out the digs and try the signature service from none other than the facial phenom herself. I walked in feeling a little blah, but the intimate space was a welcome respite from the rain. As a beauty product junky, I could have spent all afternoon reading about the potions that were perched on floating shelves lining the walls (she’s created 60 products for nine different skin types), but duty called and I went in for my treatment. The takeaway from the experience is threefold.
1. Forget the recliner, and find a Renee Rouleau treatment chair. The minute I sank into what must have been eight inches of soft foam padding, I was a goner. She could have been waxing my bikini line with duct tape, and I would have emerged feeling relaxed and refreshed. Great first impression.
2. You know all the hype about her facials? It’s true. So supremely true. She quickly assessed my skin type and condition as we chatted pre-service—because I’d recently returned from the beach (too much sun!), she performed an exfoliation trifecta. I believe the technical terms are yummy-smelling scrub followed by a fancy water-spraying something, then another scrub. But you’ll have to ask her. The icing on the cake was the thick, cool mask she applied to end the treatment, sealing in all the moisturizing, nourishing products she had applied.
3. I should get more facials. I walked outta there with glowing skin and feeling like a new woman, a nourished woman, a—what’s the word I’m looking for? Ah, yes. This one is for you, Renee Rouleau.
