Can't afford to get away to the islands? Try Flic Spa in Bloomfield, New Jersey. It's in a downtown storefront, but you'll feel like you've gone to an exotic island.
Co-owners Oliver Dimaya, a former principal dancer for Philippine Dance Company, and Lerrick Santos, an Estee Lauder alumn, are both owners AND therapists, which is always a good sign. They care! And they have control!
Rose Petal Foot Bath
They both have a passion for creating beautiful, exotic surroundings and treatments you won't find anywhere else. "I want people to feel like they went away on vacation," says Oliver, who designed their exclusive two-hour Royal Pacific Raindance Therapies.
The most popular is the Hawaiian Lomi-Lomi -- not inexpensive at $260 for two hours, but truly worth it. It started with a rose petal foot bath. I settled into the comfortable chair and slipped my feet into the copper basin filled with warm water and rose petals.
The lights were low, and a floating tea light was simply lovely. It was a wonderful way to wind down before the massage. Incredibly, this is part of every sixty-minute service, but it doesn't cut into your massage time.
Spa Treatments As An Art Form
Oliver did the massage himself, bringing all his creative and healing powers to his work. Massage techniques included lomi-lomi, Reiki, chi-gong, Tui-Na and Shiatsu techniques. "You never get the same exact massage," he says. "I want people to feel like they went away on vacation -- and it's a different place every time." He really does approach it as a dance, an art form, and it's beautiful.
Afterwards he led me to a one-person infra-red sauna in the wet room, where I sipped on a fresh coconut water (served in the coconut) and read a book about island vacation homes. Next up was an amazing scrub with decaffeinated kona coffee, virgin coconut gratings and a little Sothys lotion.
The rinse with a Vichy shower was good enough, but then he poured buckets of warm water over me -- and the sensation was beyond wonderful. Most people just won't go to the trouble to create an experience for you like that.
Oliver wants locals to feel like they're on vacation. But this treatment is worth a trip to Bloomfield.
Flic Spa At A Glance
- Type of Spa: day spa
- Location: 388 Broad Street, Bloomfield, New Jersey
- Phone: 973-429-3542
- Services: Along with Flic's exclusive Royal Pacific Raindance Therapies, it offers deep tissue massage, Swedish massage, pre-natal massage hot stone massage, aromatherapy massage, reflexology, Sothys facials, body scrubs and body wraps
- Facilities: Wet room with Vichy shower and personal infra-red sauna. Couples suite.
- Website: Flic Spa
As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary treatments for the purpose of reviewing those services. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
