The Latest Spa Trend: Bottle Service

Sweet Skin Care

Natural is the name of the game at Napa Valley’s Calistoga Ranch. The Bathhouse Spa features honey grown on-property in one of the ranch’s four hives; recently, the ranch partnered with Michele Steinert, owner of Michele’s Apothecary in neighboring Sonoma County to offer an exclusive line of spa products made of local natural and organic ingredients straight from the ranch’s grounds—including lavender that guests have the option of hand-picking. While the products can promote themselves, according to the spa, the real value in the line is that it helps to teach guests how they can make the switch into using all-natural beauty products in their skin- and body-care routine.

Botanical Balance

Named for the Native American word for eternal flower, Spa Aiyana is nestled in the treetops overlooking Carmel Valley Ranch’s rolling hills, fields of lavender and flowers, ancient oaks and abundant wildlife. The spa uses lavender ground on property in its spa treatments, and also incorporates honey harvested from the resort’s apiary of more than 60,000 Italian honeybees. The spa team recently paired with a botanist to develop the spa’s own product line (after being inspired by the on-site gardens), all of which incorporate fresh herbs, botanical extracts, and floral, aromatic and herbal oils.

Tropical Treasures

Fiji’s Laucala Island’s spa kitchen makes a range of scrubs, soaps, shampoos and lotions that are prepared daily according to age-old recipes for each guest’s personal use throughout their stay. Serious spa-goers take one of the soap and lotion-making classes where they blend customized scents (there’s a bar of tropical herbs and spices such as vanilla, cocoa, lemongrass, cinnamon, nutmeg, coffee, ylang-ylang, pepper, and ginger to choose from) to create their choice of at-home bath products; guests may even create their own essential oils in the island’s distillery with pickings from the spa garden.

Elemental Zen

Developed with the help of a Santa Fe master herbalist, Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa natural and organic signature body care line features nine products of custom- blended scents derived from pure essential oils, and wild-crafted herbs and plants like yucca root, calendula and geranium, indigenous to Northern New Mexico. But not all the products are purely botanical: The star ingredient found in Ojo’s Mica Creme is, in fact, mica—a glittery mineral harvested from the mica caves at Ojo. Native Americans were known to crush the mica and adorn their bodies with the sparkling chips for sacred ceremony; it acts as a crystal and creates a barrier to protect the skin while magnifying and reflecting light. 

Luxury Apothecary

Although they have a take-home line (lavender-infused hair products, geranium and lemongrass lotions) that incorporates indigenous ingredients, Ojai Valley Inn & Spa’s Artist Cottage and Apothecary is a popular choice for guests looking to get more creative with their skin care. The setting provides the perfect stage to create your own personal, essential oil–based scent, which you can add into products, such as lotions, gels and creams, that are then branded with your name.