The brand new Spa at Gleneagles by ESPA, ESPA Life is the second ESPA Life to open, joining the flagship ESPA Life at Corinthia in London as a leading voice in the next generation of spa.

Set within the hotel’s 850-acre Perthshire estate, the spa offers a new approach to health and wellbeing whose experts seek to address the pressures and stresses of modern lifestyles. The award-winning spa is home to a hand-picked team of alternative health and fitness specialists, offering treatments and personal programs with one simple aim: to help guests feel their best, inside and out.

Spa professionals, acupuncturists, physiotherapists, osteopaths, herbalists, and personal trainers are all on hand. The highly-qualified and experienced team is led by a skilled naturopathic practitioner known as the ‘Gatekeeper’ who meets with each guest for a private consultation. The Gatekeeper recommends programs or treatments tailored to the specific needs of the individual. Personal lifestyle programs can be crafted to help guests meet individual goals or complementary and alternative therapies can be booked à la carte.

Special Launch Offer
From now until March 31, 2012, the spa will be offering ‘Taste of ESPA Life’ to introduce the new wellness concept. The offer includes breakfast and a private consultation with a Gatekeeper for each person. The Gatekeeper will address each client’s lifestyle concerns and create a customized spa experience, including one spa or
fitness treatment, suited to each person’s needs.
Rates: From £315 (approximately $500) based on two people sharing a classic room. Offer valid Sunday to Thursday until March 31.

It’s the beginning of a new year, and a new you! If you’re resolving to be healthier this year, why not kick start your new fitness regimen on board an ultra-luxe cruise ship? Crystal Cruises is now offering complimentary Pilates and yoga programs on board both Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity on nine sailings each throughout the year. Travelers can attend several classes per day during their cruise, or arrange private one-on-one sessions of either interest (for a fee), as well as men- and couples-only yoga instruction.

Every Crystal Cruise offers a host of complimentary classes such as stretch, spinning, abs, circuit training/boot camp, and more. Crystal’s state-of-the-art fitness center, the only Feng Shui spa and gym at sea, features Kinesis strength training equipment, LifeFitness® treadmills with individual flat-screen TVs, cross trainers, recumbent and upright life cycles and steppers, free weights, and other strength-training equipment. Golf instruction, tennis, Nordic Pole walking, WALKVEST® Training, personal trainers, and a bevy of dietary choices offer the perfect opportunity to kick-start, or comply with, your healthy lifestyle.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2012 aboard Crystal Cruises!

For more information on Crystal Cruises, visit www.crystalcruises.com

The Alps are alive with the sound of music! Every year, over 120,000 music lovers gather to catch classical music’s legends and up-and-coming stars perform at Switzerland’s famed music festival, the Lucerne Festival. The festival was founded in 1938, and has earned the status as one of the world’s premier music festivals by attracting legendary orchestras, conductors, and soloists from around the world. The first festival took place during the summer, but it has expanded to include an Easter festival and a special pianist festival in November, in addition to the original summer event.

When the curtain drops, concert-goers will love wandering through Old Town Lucerne, exploring the city’s many famed bridges, and admiring the spectacular views of Lake Lucerne and the Swiss Alps. Although the formal festival will take place under the lights of Jean Nouvel’s famous concert hall, the musical greats have been known to hold impromptu jam sessions in local hotels, restaurants, and bars.

Palace Luzern, Lucerne’s luxurious lakeside hotel and a festival sponsor, is the perfect home base for music lovers looking to soak in all of the exciting happenings of the festival. The hotel offers the Spa and Sounds package during the festival for those who want to completely unwind and enjoy the music. The two-night package includes a Balinese hot stone spa treatment, breakfast buffet, concert tickets, and butler service. To truly escape, the package also includes the option of leaving your cell phone with the concierge, who will answer all calls and return the cell phone with a call back list upon check out. The package starts at CHF827 (approximately $913) per person.

Lucerne Festival at the Piano (November 21-27)This year’s Lucerne Festival at the Piano is dedicated to 19^th century piano master, Franz List. In honor of his 200^th birthday, Yefim Bronfman, Andreas Haefliger, Lise de la Salle, Alexei Volodin, and many others will bring Franz back to life through lively interpretations of his great works.

Lucerne Festival at Easter (March 24-April 1, 2012)
The Lucerne Festival at Easter will be a week full of Mozart.  Enjoy the Lucerne premiere of Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra Mozart from Bologna, the C major of Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony, and Maria João Pires’s performance of Concerto in D minor K. 466.

Lucerne Festival in summer (August 8-September 15, 2012)
The theme of the summer festival is faith, and the music selections will reflect the many ways that faith has been explored through music. The festival will welcome the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, as well as composer-in-residence Sofia Gubaidulina and many other celebrated musicians.

Alice Marshall Public Relations is thrilled to announce its representation of the One&Only Resort collection. Set in some of the most beautiful locales in the world, each award-winning resort offers guests a distinctive style, genuine hospitality and lively energy that is unrivaled.  Properties include One&Only Reethi Rah, Maldives; One&Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius; One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai; One&Only Ocean Club in The Bahamas, One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico; One&Only Cape Town, South Africa and One&Only The Palm, Dubai which opened in November 2010.

As an authority on luxury hotels and goods for over 20-years, AMPR is adept at identifying trends and reporting news from their clients in a carefully crafted and nuanced way.  From high-end hotels to exceptional cruises, trains, exotic spas and lavish products, One&Only Resorts joins an exemplary roster of AMPR clientele bursting with exciting and original content.

To kick-off the holiday season, we would like to share with you our One&Only Gift Guide. From a mouth-watering cookbook by South African chef Reuben Riffel to a Physique57® Fitness Retreat, One&Only has your gift wrapped up.

Your One&Only Gift Guide

• Instead of the traditional gift of wine, One&Only Palmilla’s sommelier Manuel Arteaga recommends gifting a bottle of Mezcal from his four favorite artisanal producers: Pierde Almas, Alipuz, Ilegal Mezcal, or Los Danzantes. Often touted as ‘the new tequila,’ mezcal is distilled from the agave (like tequila) and has a distinctive smokiness – perfect to warm up a winter-chilled body. For the ultimate Mezcal Tasting Experience, guests at One&Only Palmilla can schedule a private tasting with Manuel and learn about the production process, regions, and categories, followed by a tasting of seven mescals at the Agua bar. $55 per person.

• For the fitness buff, pair Physique 57®’s new book, The Physique 57® Solution: The Groundbreaking 2-Week Plan for a Lean, Beautiful Body in stores nationwide on January 4th, with the promise of a stay at One&Only Ocean Club during one of their 4-night Physique57® Fitness Retreats. Guests enjoy two daily classes with Physique 57® instructors, use of a Balinese-style spa, nutritional cuisine by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, all in a Bahamian paradise. Retreats are scheduled for December 4-8, 2011, January 12-16, 2012, May 3-7, 2012, September 20-24, 2012, and December 2-6, 2012.

• For the chef, One&Only Cape Town’s Reuben Riffel’s new cookbook Reuben Cooks Local, takes home chefs on a journey through one of South Africa’s most well-loved culinary repertoires from his celebrated city bistro. Filled with over 230 pages of recipes and tempting images, readers also learn what inspired this chef and his rise through the South African restaurant ranks.

• Cape Town-bound spa-goers will swoon over ‘The Essence of Africa’ at One&Only Cape Town’s award-winning spa. The new therapy combines traditional African massage tools, such as the ‘Eucalyptus wooden rungu,’ and age old healing ingredients such as Baobab tree oil and Rooibos herbs from the bush to lift the senses, improve skin elasticity, and reduce stress. If you can’t make it to South Africa, try gifting some new in-room bath and body products by South African Charlotte Rhys, just out with her new line of men’s amenities in time for the holidays.

• For the music buff, give the gift of three nights at One&Only Ocean Club during December 7-13 and get VIP tickets to hear country sensation Brad Paisley perform live at the Grand Ballroom at Atlantis, Paradise Island, on Saturday, December 10 at 9:30pm. (Book by December 5.)

Wine

To celebrate

In Argentina, Kaua Club & Spa at Park Hyatt Mendoza’s Wine Antioxident Spa treatment diminishes the effects of an extended afternoon wine tasting. Using grapes to rejuvenate and refresh recipients from head to toe, beginning with a Mendoza’s Wine Body Glow and followed by a facial of choice, aromatherapy massage with wine essence oils, and topped-off with a Grape Body Masque. Restoration is complete!

Passed hors d’oeuvres

Nuts, olives, and caviar

Rehydrate dehydrated skin with Guinot’s Hydra Cellulaire Serum featuring macadamia oil and give skin an extra boost with Guinot’s moisturizing Masque Hydra Beauté with olive wax.

For those indulgent snackers, in Nantucket, The Wauwinet’s Spa by the Sea’s Ultimate Caviar Facial is a 90 minute treatment that hydrates, lifts, firms, and smoothes the skin with protein-rich caviar.

Salad

Cucumber and carrot salad

Banish dark circles and puffiness with Guinot’s Anti-Fatigue Yeux with calming cucumber. To pamper maturing, dry, or stressed skin, spread on a soupcon of ESPA’s Regenerating Face Treatment Oil with carrot extract.

Sides

Cranberry sauce and wild yams

For a radiant complexion, apply Guinot’s Nouvel Eclat fresh radiance exfoliating peel-off mask, rich with cranberry extract, to give your face a “second skin” effect.

ESPA’s Deeply Nourishing Body Cream is the perfect winter moisturizer, deeply moisturizing skin with collagen-strengthening wild yam, along with liquorice, bearberry, and mulberry extracts.

Intermezzo

Ginger, to cleanse the palate

The Lanna Experience at Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa in Thailand uses a species of ginger revered for its ability to cool inflammation, aid digestion, and combat joint and muscle aches during a foot ritual, scrub, body wrap, and massage.

Mains

Instead of wasting perfectly good seasonings on a turkey, use these aromatic herbs on yourself.

ESPA’s 24-Hour Balancing Moisturizer uses white thyme and lavender for a light moisturizing treatment for beautifully soft, clear, hydrated skin.

For an Eastern feast, ESPA’s Men’s Invigorating Body Reviver is bursting with the aromas of lemongrass and thyme – sure to be a hit with the ladies as well.

For a classic English herb, pour a capful of ESPA’s Energizing Bath Oil into your tub and sink back into an energizing rosemary-scented soak. For a double dose of rosemary, slough off dry winter skin with ESPA’s Relaxing Salt Scrub with rosemary and lavender.

Dessert

Pumpkin pie and fruit cake

No vegetable represents autumn quite like a big, orange pumpkin. Sub out the pumpkin pie for a radiant face with ESPA’s Skin Radiance Mask with pumpkin to enliven dull and tired skin.

For a decadent fruity spa treatment, pair Guinot’s Masque Hydra Beauté with its moisturizing fig derivative formula and ESPA’s Pink Hair and Scalp Mud with apricot kernel oil for silky, healthy hair and an immediate moisture boost for soft and supple skin.

Tea and Coffee

Chamomile, Rooibos, and Caffeine

Nothing soothes quite like a warm cup of chamomile tea, so extend that soothing feeling to pacify an irritated or red face with Guinot’s Crème Hydra Sensitive, loaded with calming chamomile.

En lieu of a toasty mug of Rooibos tea, slip on ESPA’s Calm and Soothe Mask, a deeply comforting treatment to help cool and mollify skin prone to redness made with Rooibos tea.

Liven up those limbs with a good dose of caffeine with Guinot’s Double Minceur Ciblée gel cream. The contouring cream helps tone and targets the initial process wherein fat starts to store itself.

Eggnog, pigs in a blanket, champagne, cookies… our indulgences during the holiday season. Dressed festively and attending holiday soirees, from Thanksgiving to New Years, we tend to stop paying attention to healthy eating (and living). Instead of simply resolving to treat the body with a little more TLC next year, be proactive. Here are some post-holiday retreats sure to jump start many a resolution.

Turks & Caicos

Where: Parrot Cay

What: An Ayurvedic escape for the mind, body, and spirit

Why: With its crystal clear ocean and mile-long stretch of white sand, this private island resort is the ideal place to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and treat yourself to a customized, Ayurvedic Program. Pay a visit to Parrot Cay’s own Ayurvedic doctor who will recommend a special holistic treatment plan designed to rejuvenate the mind and body. Whether it is with yoga, a specialized diet, body treatments, detox, or meditation, guests are sure to leave the resort feeling rested and revitalized. The program includes all meals.

Rates for a three-night program start at $3,140 based on single occupancy and $5,009 based on double occupancy

Bali, Indonesia

Where: COMO Shambhala Estate

What: A stress-free vacation

Why: It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the pressures of work and home, especially during the holiday season. That’s why COMO Shambhala Estate, nestled in the heart of Bali, offers a Stress-Management Program specifically designed to relieve participants from the strains and anxieties of everyday life. The program focuses on the concepts and philosophies of Yoga, Chi Kung, and Tai Chi. Consultants craft a program incorporating meditation, outdoor pursuits, soothing therapies, and wellbeing lectures to ensure guests have the tools necessary to release built-up stress and to return home feeling revived and relaxed. The program includes all meals.

Rates for a three-night program start at $1,700 based on single occupancy and $2,600 based on double occupancy

Geneva, Switzerland

Where: La Réserve Genève

What: A four day anti-aging detox

Why: The holiday season, best known as the most wonderful time of the year, can also be one of the most stressful. Once the presents have been unwrapped, the giant family meals have been gobbled down, and the in-laws have finally left, treat yourself to a much needed post-holiday detox. La Réserve Genève’s Four-Day Better-Aging Detox Program includes a complete checkup and personalized action plan to restore the body’s balance and adopt a new, long-term, healthier lifestyle – just in time for the New Year! With full access to the spa facilities, inclusive healthful meals, daily sports activities, and a range of massages, wraps, and treatments, the stress from the holidays is sure melt away.

Si Kao, Thailand

Where: Anantara Si Kao Resort & Spa

What: A restorative retreat in Thailand

Why: For guests looking for a guided and wide-ranging wellness retreat, the Body Detox Programme at Anantara Si Kao Resort & Spa is just the ticket. Included in this package are private consultations with Naturopathic and Ayurvedic doctors in keeping with the resort’s specialized approach to wellness. A variety of spa treatments accompany these consultations, including detox massages, herbal heat treatments, and an Indian head massage. Participants are provided with a personalized diet program to take home so the wellness experience can continue long after leaving the resort.

Rates for a three-night program start at $753 based on single occupancy and $1,245 based on double occupancy. This package is also available for 1 night, 5 nights, and 7 nights.

Summer is over, that chill is starting to creep back into the air, and pumpkins are showing up in grocery stores and at farmers markets. That tan is lingering, but for how long? No need to suffer goose bumps to get those last few rays of sun through the fall – we’ve consulted with some experts at ESPA and Guinot to find out the best ways to keep that golden tan!

While the sun is still strong enough to give you a bit of a glow…

Step 1: Stock your bathroom larder with ESPA’s Invigorating Salt Scrub, Essential Body Moisturizer, and Body Silk Spray.

Step 2: After catching some rays, be sure to exfoliate once or twice a week. ESPA’s Salt Scrub is an excellent exfoliator and will help the tan go deeper and make the skin hold its color longer. In addition to nourishing and making the skin feel smooth and fabulous, it stimulates pigmentation for a deeper tan, affecting new cells instead of only the top layer.

Step 3: Slather on some Essential Body Moisturizer to instantly quench thirsty skin, deeply hydrating with Bergamot and Lavender.

Step 4: Spritz on a bit of Body Silk Spray to give the skin a silky sheen and radiant glow, making any tan shine brighter.

Step 5: Be the envy of the office for weeks to come.

If the September sun isn’t quite warm enough to lure you into a teeny bikini…

Guinot has just the solution. We won’t tell anyone that you’re cheating – and your dermatologist won’t chastise you

Step 1: Fill the cabinet with Gommage Facile smoothing body scrub, Hydrazone Corps moisturizing body lotion, and Auto Bronze self tanning cream.

Step 2: Lather up with Gommage Facile to make your skin silky smooth and slough off any dead skin cells.

Step 3: Watch your skin become instantly bronzed while applying Auto Bronze self tanning cream – tinted to make application fool proof and to give an instant tan.

Step 4: Keep skin plump, hydrated, and healthy (and extend the life of your self tan) in between bronzing with Hydrazone Corps moisturizing body lotion.

Step 5: Fend off inquiries of your latest trip to the Caribbean with comments like, “Oh, I’m just naturally olive!”

More about the products:

ESPA Invigorating Salt Scrub, an energizing blend of natural sea salts, lime, and menthol to smooth, soften, clarify, and renew skin.

10 58g sachets, $58

ESPA Essential Body Moisturizer, an instantly replenishing moisturizing balm to hydrate, quench, and soften skin.

180ml jar, $54

200ml tube, $54

ESPA Body Silk Spray, a nourishing finale for soft skin and subtle radiance

100ml bottle, $49

Guinot Gommage Facile, a smoothing body scrub that gently scrubs and rinses off easily.

200ml bottle, $40

Guinot Auto Bronze, a self-tanning cream for an instant golden, natural-looking, and even tan.

150ml tube, $38

Guinot Hydrazone Corps, a moisturizing body lotion for immediate and long-lasting moisture for dehydrated and sensitive areas.

200ml bottle, $42

We can’t all be Sukanya Roy, and for us mere mortals when it comes to spelling, things are about to get a little more tricky: “Sensai” is a Japanese spa that is a master of luxury goods and services, not to be confused with the ubiquitous “sensei,” the Japanese word referring to a master of a particular art form or skill.

The editors of Robb Report have awarded Sensai Select Spa at Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken, Switzerland, a coveted spot on their 23^rd annual “Best of the Best” list, the culmination of an entire year’s search for the world’s most exceptional resorts, hotels, spas and more.

Opened in 2010, Sensai offers guests the unique opportunity to experience treatments based around the silk produced by Koishimaru silkworms. These silkworms were proprietary to the Japanese imperial family until the late 1990s, when permission to study their silk was granted to Sensai. The silk they produce triggers the creation of hyaluronan, a natural moisturizer with anti-aging properties. (We’ve never heard of it—but we bet Sukanya can spell it!)

Everyone is trying to get healthy for summer. (Radiant skin and bikini bod? Check!) What better way than with COMO Shambhala Estate’s NEW juices? The resort just added Berry Beauty and Femme Fertile to its already extensive juice menu. No water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper concoctions here. Berry Beauty protects against early aging with a concentrated burst of anti-oxidants and phytonutrients and tasty ingredients including black skinned grape juice, mongoesteen pulp, ripe strawberries, and frozen blueberries. The Femme Fertile is perfect for those hoping for a little bun in the oven – with hibiscus flower, aloe vera, tangerine, passion fruit, strawberry, and cantaloupe, it optimizes the female reproductive system and hydrates skin and hair.

These juices join seasoned favorites such as Stress Reliever (with carrot, red apple, red grapes, ginger, spinach, fennel, beet and beet greens, celery, and sweet potato), Bloat Away (with cucumber, parsley, celery, fennel, pear, and mint), and Liver and Body Armor (with carrot, celery, red pepper, spinach, parsley, fennel, broccoli, and pumpkin seeds).

The Estate is nestled in the Balinese jungle among waterfalls and thick, verdant flora, the perfect setting to cleanse and tune-out. Among its wellness programs is its Cleansing Program, a three-, five-, or seven-day program. Consultants will encourage good nutrition and daily elimination to improve lymphatic circulation and keep those organs in tip top shape.

The three-night program includes:

• Accommodation
• All meals (including standard beverages)
• Wellness consultation
• 60-minute cleansing treatment
• 60-minute massage
• 120-minute body treatment
• Complimentary airport transfers
• Participation in The Estate’s daily schedule of activities
• Services of a personal assistant

Other wellness programs include Ayurvedic, Get Fit, Stress Management, and Rejuvenation.

Best of the Best 2011: Spas: Espa at the Leela Palace Kempinski Udaipur

June 01, 2011

On the shores of Lake Pichola, Espa at the Leela Palace Kempinski Udaipur (+91.294.6701.234, www.theleela.com) opened in February 2010 as the 18-?year-old Espa brand’s first Indian outpost. Away from the congestion of Udaipur’s city center (where elephants and buffalo have the right-of-way), the spa features eight tented treatment suites, some with private pools.

Each treatment begins with an aromatherapy steam, followed by a reading to decipher one’s Ayurvedic dosha, or body type. Based on their reading, guests can choose a customized therapy that fuses Ayurvedic and European techniques, or select from the treatment menu. The four-hour Royal Knights of Rajasthan therapy ($238) involves a facial, an aromatherapy massage, and a padabhyanga—a deeply therapeutic leg and foot massage. Posttreatment, guests can retire to the spa’s lake-view Relaxation Roof Ter­race.

By Jordan Porter