The Guerlain skincare tradition

*** Beauty Match in Paris ***

The Guerlain spa located on the Champs-Elysées is one of Paris’s most respected addresses when it comes to anti-aging skincare. Women travel the world over to get facial and body treatments from the expert hands of Guerlain trained aesthetician.

Unless you book a treatment, you won’t get a chance to visit this pristine spa, so we thought we’d give you a bird’s eye view of what we saw during our recent visit. That said, if you are visiting the Champs-Elysées it’s well worth visiting the boutique.

Guerlain’s incomparable history is as rich as the many luxurious ingredients they use in their products, but we thought of highlighting some of the more interesting facts:

* The perfume end of the Guerlain business was created in 1828 by Pierre François Pascal Guerlain.

* In 2008, Guerlain will celebrate 180 years of excellence.

* The boutique located under the Spa opened in 1914 which was decorated at the time by Charles Mewes (the creator of Ritz Carlton).
* The Guerlain Spa on Champs Elysées was built in 1939 and it comprises 10 beauty rooms. The original design team included the brilliant vision of Jean-Michel Frank, Giacometti and Christian Bérard.

* The boutique and the spa were renovated in 2005 by the design-power-duo of Andrée Putman (the grande dame of French décor) and Maxime d’Angeac.

* You can still find today 2 rooms that are still decorated with Jean-Michel Frank’s original 1939 art deco furniture (it’s quite stunning). These two booths were renovated in 2005 by Maxime d’Angeac.

* The spa has a private booth for VIP visits.

* There is a magnificent “twin-room” that is perfect for couples who are looking for a duo-treatment or for friends who want to chat while being pampered.

* Two booths are set for water treatments (a hydrotherapy booth and a jet massage shower cabin).

I’ll be honest, this is a snippet that pales in comparison with what we saw. Once inside the world of Guerlain, it’s difficult to want to leave. Everything about the spa located on the Champs-Elysées says absolute perfection.

We’re just getting started with our visit at Guerlain. You’ll want to read the coming posts to learn more about the sublime experience we had.