[trip style = spa + sun + beach + luxury]
"Tell me if you feel a tingle," my aesthetician told me as she gently pressed a NASA-developed red LED light and impulse microcurrent into my skin. Part of me wanted the space-age machine to steam and sizzle every time it touched me, but my wish to feel an eletro-jolt was not granted. The K-Lift skin-tightening facial at Willow Stream Spa in the Fairmont Kea Lani works without searing.
I first heard about this marriage of {outer} space and spa last year when I was speaking to the Fairmont Maui's team about Willow Stream's new technologies and its multi-million-dollar reno. When I heard that they held one of only a few NASA-developed age-management systems capable of re-educating muscle tone, triggering DNA regeneration and fading my sun spots, I almost booked a one-way ticket to the Valley Isle. I would have, save for being in the final stages of pregnancy with Baby Styler.
When I arrived on the island two weeks ago, I had a clear directive: Get this facial {in addition to crunching on shave ice and watching the sunset with a cocktail, of course}. My rationale: If NASA can build the technology to send humans to the moon, I have no doubt they can tap into the fountain of youth.
In search of skin that appears as smooth as Baby Styler's bottom, I arrived at the spa early to take advantage of the hydro facilities {a Eucalyptus steam and a trio of rain showers mimicking the island's tropical rains} and the DIY mud bar, which infuses local ingredients such as volcanic ash into body masks. Coated in mud and dripping from eucalyptus mist, I considered hiding in the towel hamper at closing so I could continue my spa-cation into the night.
Trip Styler Tip: If you need a vacation from your vacation, secure a day pass to the Willow Stream Spa. Hydro bliss costs a mere $25 for Fairmont President's Club members {$55 without membership}.
Inside the treatment room, the facialist applied a tingly exfoliating multi-acid peel and targeted my age-prone areas with the machine, capable of yielding a non-surgical facelift effect.
At the end of the techno-treatment, my skin sage asked "how do you feel?" I replied "fizzy and fabulous; my face feels like it just gulped a bottle of carbonated water!" Later that day, one of my friends described my skin as looking plump and fresh, and I noticed a visible overall improvement. So, I guess you could say I achieved lift-off.
[Photos courtesy of Fairmont Kea Lani, a hotel I've stayed at for eons, and a treatment I wanted to investigate—and was gifted—for light years. Mud bar photo by @tripstyler.]