Amy and Syd love to get dual massages when they’re traveling, but at-home chocolate pedicures? Administered by aestheticians from New York City’s Just Calm Down Spa, the treatment reminded them of the mud baths they’ve taken on vacation in Europe. Almost as good as an Oreo, says Syd. Right up there with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, according to Amy.
The smell of chocolate is intoxicating, playful and comforting all at the same time.
So you thought chocolate was bad for the skin? Not so, says Jillian Wright of New York City’s Glow Skin Spa, which offers a Bavarian Black Forest facial. Hormone fluctuations, not chocolate, cause breakouts, she says. Plus–and it’s a big fat fudgy plus- the sensual associations of chocolate make the new treatments exceptionally decadent. At another NYC spa -Haven- you’re wrapped in a warm milky paste (see picture right), then exfoliated with a sudsy chocolate scrub. Around the country, other spas (including Chicago’s Spa Space, San Francisco’s Flying Beauticians Salon and the Mandara Spa at Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa) are jumping into the cocoa pool.
NO-CAL BONBONS Clockwise from top, right: RedEnvelope’s Gourmet Body Paint (comes in aset of three); Fresh’s Milk-Chocolate Soap; Absolute Spa’s Binge Chocolate Sprinkles bath salts: Fresh’s Fleurs de Chocolate Shea Butter Moisturizer in Orange Choco- late; Absolute Spa’s Binge Chocolate Body Bar, philosophy’s The Health Bar; Tommy’s Chocolate Cream Pie Body Hydrator; and Laura Mercier’s Body and Bath Sugar Cubes in Crème Brûlee, What does chocolate do? “It activates the ‘pleasure centers’ of the brain,” says Theresa L. White, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience and physiology at SUNY Upstate Medical University.
Here are some desserts that won’t add pounds (just bliss).
BODY CANDY A potpourri of the most choco-licious products around. Clockwise from top, left: Prescriptives’ Luxe Foundation in Rich Cocoa; Joey New York’s Delipcious Lip Balm in Mud Pie; Prescriptives’ Lippity Split in Taffy; CoverGirl’s Professional Eye Enhancers in French Vanilla; Christian Dior’s Diorific Nail Enamel in Plexi-Chocolate; Wet ‘n’ Wild’s Body Pudding in Chocolate; Stila’s Eye Shadow in Toffee; Sonia Kashuk’s Enhance Eye color in Mocha; Too Faced’s Sparklers in Coco Pop; Jeni Lee’s Bittersweet Eyeshadow; Clinique’s Chubby Stick in Vanilla Brownie; and Becca’s Stick Foundation in Chocolate.
CHOCOLATE KISSES (they’re lip-smackin’ good).
clockwise from top: Clinique’s Long Last Soft Matte in Pink Chocolate; Suede Touch Lipstick in Coco Chiffon from Victoria’s Secret; beComing’s Liphoria in Dark Chocolate; LORAC’s Lipstick in Cocoa; Revlon’s LipGlide Color Gloss in Mirrored Mocha; Origins’ Rain and Shine Liptint in Chocolate Cream; Bonne Bell’s Lip D’Votion in Sweet Mocha; Hard Candy’s Super Good Lipstick in Puddin’; Tommy Hilfiger’s Toiletries Lipstick in Caramel Cluster; and Benefit’s Hazelnut Lipstick.
clockwise from top, left: Fresh’s Milk Chocolate bath foam; Serendipity’s Frozen Hot Chocolate Bath & Body Foam; Cocoa Latté Body Wash from The Spa at The Hotel Hershey; Cheeky Chimp’s Body Lotion in Milk Chocolate Fragrance; Fudge’s Hair Shaper; Demeter’s Pick-Me-Up
Spray in Brownie; Perfumers Palette’s Fragrance in Chocolate Base Note; and Catherine Memmi’s Room Spray in Moka.
Produced by Kathy Miller-Kramer
Portraits photographed by Chris Sanders
Still lifes photographed by Brian Hagiwara