New York City Health & Beauty

Barbara Close studied therapeutic herbal therapies and integrative medicine before founding Naturopathica—so it’s equal parts healing center and spa. There’s an apothecary-like boutique hung with giant glass tincture-dispensers in front where you can sample the brand’s gorgeous, botanical-spiked skincare, health-supporting teas (our fav: the Skin Tea to promote a vibrant complexion), herbal-infused honey, and, of course, said tinctures. There’s a tonic bar serving cold-pressed juices, kombucha (the grapefruit mint flavor—omg), and frothy herbal lattes. The spa itself is a huge, dimly lit, atmospheric sanctuary with a plush consultation space (the wallpaper is unforgettably cool), sound-bath alcove, and absolutely incredible massages, facials, and scalp treatments. The Chill Facial incorporates acupressure techniques and magnesium to release facial muscle tension, the Clear Facial helps revitalize and clarify skin with chlorophyll, colloidal silver, and high frequency technology while the Nourish Facial uses lymphatic brushing, calendula, oats, and honey to hydrate and calm sensitive skin.

Scoring a facial with the actual Joanna Czech is like hitting the skincare lottery—though one with any of her personally-trained aestheticians at her new, soaring downtown studio is, too. Famous for her signature, manual sculpting massage which includes intense massaging and “slapping” (which is more invigorating than painful), Czech’s seemingly-simple methods keep her extremely well-known clients’ skin glowing and healthy. Every facial focuses on skin support at every turn, starting by treating the lipid (top) layer of skin, and moving on to microcurrent, hyaluronic acid patches, oxygen infusion, microneedling, and more as needed. Czech’s eponymous skin care line is clean and absolutely fantastic. There is a second location in Dallas (and a residency at Blackberry Mountain in Tennessee).

A boutique facial studio on the border of SoHo, Ställe Studios is one of the most sought out facials in NYC. Founder and head esthetician Elizabeth Grace Hand (she worked previously at L’Oreal and Dr. Barbara Sturm) knows how to transform skin into the glowiest, freshest-looking version of itself. Each treatment starts with an in-depth skin analysis to create a treatment exquisitely tailored to your skin. Whether it’s the buccal massage, sculptural facial, glass skin peel, or signature facial, each treatment is out-of-this-world incredible.

This stunning wellness studio is 13,000 square feet of soothing neutrals and light toned woods. We love the airy wellness cafe, and the seemingly unlimited menu treatments. The facials are some of the best in the city; their signature one, a totally custom, 90-minute experience, incorporates the LYMA laser and a series of Biologique Recherche products to cleanse, soothe, and hydrate. Plus, you bring home a personalized routine recommended by one of their master estheticians.

Sofie Pavitt, a New York licensed esthetician and certified acne specialist, is famous for her no-nonsense approach, inspired by frequent trips to Seoul. So don’t expect sound baths or whispering receptionists: Pavitt personalizes every treatment with high-tech devices, light peels, LED, and many questions about your lifestyle and routine to get you to your glowiest skin ever. Her namesake product line offers the perfect balance between good-for-you ingredients and potency (the Clean Clean Cleanser is a fan favorite).

Every facial from Madalaina Conti really delivers. The esthetician specializes in inflammatory skin conditions and integrated wellness, so her treatments incorporate modalities ranging from gua sha to radiofrequency, microcurrent, buccal massage, and more. She’s best known for the Synergistic Signature Qi Facial, a treatment that uses 24K gold-plated micro magnets to create an electromagnetic matrix that helps sculpt, depuff, and repair. It’s brilliant for all skin types, but especially fantastic if you’ve got sensitive or blemish-prone skin.

The fact that sought-after NYC aesthetician Jessica Bowers never wears makeup is proof of her skill. Her hidden West Village skin studio (she refers to it as her “skin-care speakeasy”) opened in October 2020 and has been booked solid ever since. Bowers offers customized facials (we love the classic illuminating facial), as well as treatments like microcurrent, scalp massages, and lash tints, which can be booked alone or as an add-on to any facial. What’s surprising is not that she’s busy, but that her super-simple skin routine yields such incredibly glowy results.

Get a facial with aesthetician Crystal Greene at her serene Madison Avenue studio and walk out looking—and feeling—fantastic. Her treatments are a beautifully pampering haze of face massage, firming laser (she uses the obsessed-over LYMA), gentle exfoliation, powerful masks, and a custom blended serum infusion she concocts on the spot for clients’ specific skin concerns. She’s intuitive, radiates calming energy, and her hands—not to mention the results you see—are pure magic.

Hidden on the top floor of a charmingly old building in Tribeca is this sleek skin studio (the elevator opens directly into an airy, high-ceilinged, all-white oasis), where Raquel Medina-Cleghorn’s roster of famous clients go for sculpting, high-tech, skin-reviving facials and body treatments. Medina-Cleghorn employs ultrasound, intra oral massage, microchanneling, LED photobiomodulation, and more to bring skin to life. She herself is a calming presence, and her tattoos and personal aesthetic are striking (her background in fashion and styling is obvious). When you walk out, the difference in your skin is noticeable.

Sought after for her lymphatic drainage massage that models and actors swear by before big events, Baratashvili has been practicing body work for almost 40 years. The native Georgian studied acupuncture and massage in China, worked with the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi to ensure the dancers felt strong and fluid, and now tends to her roster of clients in New York City, Greenwich, Conn, and the Hamptons. Her method is intuitive—her hands can exert break-you-in-half pressure or flutter ever so gently; her treatments for face and body feel utterly heavenly—and the way she sculpts, eases fascial tension, and invigorates muscles is truly incredible.