L’Appartement 217: Ultra-Chic Spa

Natural products star at the ultra-chic spa called L’Appartement 217. Finding it is an adventure, as it’s hidden inside a courtyard and up three floors on staircase B. Once you’re inside the deliciously scented entrance hall of this beautiful 19th-century apartment, though, all stress melts away in a feng shui atmosphere where every detail is designed to delight. Treatment rooms here are not cabines, they’re full-size rooms with high ceilings, carved woodwork, single walls painted in vibrant shades of turquoise, orange and bright green, and fireplaces with flames licking out of sleek metal containers that burn organic fuel.

Owner Stéphane Jaulin, who worked for years with Guerlain, Kiehl’s and the Colette boutique, is passionate about natural, organic products. He uses the famed Dr. Hauschka line of biodynamic creams and lotions and also has a selection of his own organic products on hand for his made-to-measure facials. Even the linens and kimonos here are special: made from microfibers of Scandinavian pine (organically grown, of course), they’re silky soft and biodegradable.

Compared to larger spas the menu here is short and focused, with three facials, two body massages and several other innovative treatments. Jaulin’s custom two-hour facial is called Skin Oxygen Therapy, and there’s also a skin renewal treatment that uses acids derived from flowers to achieve the same effect as a peeling treatment but without irritation.

Another novelty here is the Iyashi Dome, a slimming and detoxifying ceramic cylinder inspired by the Japanese tradition of hot sand baths—30 or 40 minutes of intense perspiration rids the body of heavy metals, fats and water weight. The spa’s boutique carries a small selection of products including nutritional supplements, the pine-fiber linens and the spa’s own marvelous scent, a mixture of fennel, sage, orange blossom, basil and mint called 217.

217 rue Saint Honoré, 1st. 01.42.96.00.96. website