A new approach to skincare at the Spas at the Delamar

Biologique Recherche’s Skin Instant Lab assesses the skin’s strengths and weaknesses in a jiffy. Photograph courtesy Delamar Spa.
The Skin Instant Lab analyzes your skin in a matter of minutes to detect challenges and the right Biologique Recherche products and treatments to meet them.

As with virtually everything else in this world, skincare has gone high tech.

Witness Biologique Recherche’s Skin Instant Lab, available at the Spas at Delamar Greenwich Harbor, the Delamar Southport and the new Delamar West Hartford. As the name suggests, The Skin Instant Lab analyzes skin in a matter of minutes to detect challenges and the right Biologique Recherche products and treatments to meet them.

Having enjoyed all my previous visits to the sensuous yellow and slate-blue Spa at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor, I couldn’t wait to try the latest in skincare technology, even though I barely know a megabyte from a gigabyte. Cheryl Jordan, regional spa director, was on hand to apply five probes gently to my forehead, cheeks and chin. (It felt as if she were resting a small microphone against my face.)

The probes measure hydration, trans-epidural water loss, elasticity, pigmentation and sebum levels. The results of the readings are fed into a database in Paris that then tabulates them, recommending appropriate products and services on the spot. This is a resource available at Biologique Recherche spas around the world so you can analyze your skin at any time, Cheryl says. 

Having had excellent skin that tended to a little dryness all my life, I was nonetheless somewhat surprised to learn that my skin was very dehydrated, despite the arsenal of moisturizers I employ, even in summer. Clearly, I need to drink more water.  Then, too, aging has produced some lines and sagging but especially bags and dark circles under the eyes, for which I swear by Almay’s and Dermablend’s concealers.

That was the bad news. The better news was that my Goldilocks skin — not too thick, not too thin — has good elasticity, low pigmentation (a good thing) and an excellent lipidic shield. A lipid, according to Merriam-Webster, is “any of a number of substances containing fat that are important parts of living cells.” Finally, my fat cells were good for something.

Now it was time for a little pampering. Cheryl had signed me up for the Skin Rescue Facial, for which Ajcharaporn “A.J.” Bellas was my expert aesthetician. I slipped into a snap wrap and a warm bed that soothed some aching muscles. As we chatted about this and that, A.J. whisked her magic fingers over my face, décolletage and arms, using Lait VIP 02, an antipollution cleanser; Lotion P50V, a rebalancing exfoliator; the oxygenating and moisturizing Masque VIP 02; and three intensive creams — Crème ADN Elastine Marine Collagène Marin, Crème Dermo-RL and Crème Masque Vernix.

There’s no question that afterward, my skin had a degree of hydration I hadn’t achieved, well, ever. My makeup, too, had a new, velvety texture. And my Cleopatra eyeliner — Marc Jacobs, Sisley Paris and Trish McEvoy are all excellent — sailed on as if to meet Mark Anthony. Equally fine: I was given a goody bag. You know how I love product.

Clearly, I was ready to take on the Roman Empire. Or at least a lovely lunch with a dear friend downstairs at l’escale restaurant bar.

For appointments and more, visit delamar.com.

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