Spectacular Skin

How to Face the New Year Looking Good

If you want to put the best face on 2012 with smooth, luminous skin (and who doesn’t?) winter isn’t exactly the most cooperative season for getting your glow on. But hey, it’s a New Year. You can still resolve to try!

“Young looking skin is hydrated skin,” says Terry Conrad, A.P.R.N., founder Naturall You a skin aesthetics practice in Greenwich. Besides sleeping with a humidifier near your bed, drinking more water and slathering on some rich moisturizer at night, there are some more effective ways to transform your skin from lackluster to spectacular. If you want clinical results — and don’t object to cosmetic interventions such as injectable fillers — we’ve tracked down some of the area’s best medi-spas and practitioners devoted to erasing years from your face.

Or if a dewy glow is all you have in mind; sit back, relax and treat yourself to a restorative facial.

Here’s our town-by-town survey of some of the best places to put your face first.

Darien

Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa

Start the New Year off with a pampering toast to beauty! Book a supremely hydrating champagne and rose facial. Naturally, it leaves your skin petal soft.

Lanphier Day Spa

Leave your tired complexion at the door and unwind with a Decleor aromatherapy facial to plump, replenish and moisturize your parched winter skin. It’s the perfect antidote to the harsh elements.

Fairfield

The Spa

With an interior inspired by tropical beaches, there’s no better place in town to unwind and relax than at this day spa devoted to the providing tranquil beauty treatments. Try the Alpha Vital Facial with Fruit Acid Mask to get your complexion in shape for the New Year.

Turquoise Medical Spa

Turquoise is a full-service day spa affiliated with an established Fairfield medical practice and offers traditional day-spa style facials as well as more potent rejuvenating fixes such as fillers, IPL light treatments and chemical peels; all under doctors’ supervision.

New Canaan

Aesthetic Dermatology of Fairfield County

Harvard-trained dermatologist Dr. Sharon J. Litzi is an expert on the latest skin rejuvenation techniques and her well-regarded private practice is devoted to improved aesthetics using the latest, clinically-proven techniques. Here, you can get the annual skin cancer screening you need and explore restorative options including Fraxel lasers, injectables and peels. Dr. Litzi also has her own skin care line and take-home regimens for a variety of skin types and conditions.

Aetheria Relaxation Spa

Aetheria means heavenly in Latin and this day spa lives up to its name with divine organic facials. This Best of the Gold Coast winner is perfect for anyone seeking an all natural glow. Try the Parsley and Cucumber Oxygenating Facial to diminish sun damage and hyperpigmentation or the Fruit Pulp Treatment for an organic sloughing with alpha-hydroxy acids. The results? Supreme radiance.

Greenwich

Celia B. Skin Care

This Best of the Gold Coast winner boasts a loyal following for its signature facials. Get naturally dewy with a Blueberry Smoothie Peel or go for something more aggressive with its medi-facial series which includes glycolic peels and treatments targeted at specific issues such as wrinkles, acne and rosacea.

Naturall You LLC

Enthusiastic word-of-mouth led us to the affable Terry Conrad, a clinician so skilled at facial rejuvenation techniques she’s called on by major pharmaceutical companies to teach other medical practitioners how to administer wrinkle-erasing wonders such as Botox and Juvederm. Despite being completely low-key, her boutique practice boasts a celebrity following. One informative consultation later, we understood why: Conrad’s thorough evaluation included an array of approaches for smoothing out frown lines, evening our skin tone and taking a few years off our face with options ranging from fillers to her private label retinol-based night cream. Conrad encourages patients looking for dramatic results to take things in baby steps. Which is why before we considered anything more drastic, she sat us down for a simple, but effective glycolic peel. It left our skin looking radiant and smooth — not dry and flaky — just in time for the holidays. 

Stamford

Noelle Spa for Beauty & Wellness

Famous for its traditional European facials, this Best of the Gold Coast winner offers customized treatments using prestige Decleor products to treat skin conditions from aging to acne. This time of year we’re all about Noelle’s Maximum Moisturizing Facial. The dewy name says it all. 

Southern Connecticut Dermatology

Dr. Robin Evans has a comprehensive dermatology practice and is Stamford’s go-to expert for all types of clinically-proven anti-aging regimens. At her full service medi-spa she offers state-of-the-art laser therapy and IPL light treatments and dispenses potent prescription-strength creams and serums that can truly turn back the face of time. She’s also a skilled hand administering wrinkle-smoothing injectables such as Botox, Juvederm and Restalyne.

Westport

Dream

This Best of the Gold Coast’s winner’s recently launched multi-platform Serious Skin series promises we-mean-business results for problems such as fine lines, hyperpigmentation and dryness. Intrigued, we put ourselves in the skilled hands of one of Dream’s top esthetician’s, Beata Bibok, for an utterly relaxing facial that included ultrasonic and light therapy, applications of hyaluronic acid and collagen creams and a gentle exfoliation of the skin. “I don’t love treatments that leave skin looking dry, flaky and red,” she told us. “Sometimes a little less, is a little more.” Serious Skin left us seriously impressed. Afterwards our skin looked instantly refreshed and glowing, not dry and parched the way some more aggressive therapies have left us. (Six treatments are recommended for maximum benefit). The gentle shoulder and hand massage that came with our session was an added bonus.

Meanwhile, if you want something a little less serious a collagen facial will plump your skin up to face the winter.

Dr. Ellen A. Mahony, M.D.

Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Ellen Mahony specializes in cosmetic surgery on the face, breast and body, but her boutique medi-spa is devoted to minimally-invasive facial enhancements including cosmetic fillers, peels and skin resurfacing. Her pleasant manner and woman-to-woman approach to skin rejuvenation is an added bonus to the clinical effectiveness of her cosmetic work.