By admin 
Canyon Ranch – one of the best spas in the world – is housed in an elegant mansion in Lenox, Massachusetts, not far from Tanglewood.
Tricia McCormaack Photography
I came, I saw, I was beautified.
Actually, I don’t know if “embellished” is a real word, but I was at the annual one Canyon Ranch spa Enchant Beauty and Wellness Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts, and it was a lot of beautiful experiences, all designed to make you look and feel good.
This usually sold-out, popular weeklong gathering in the Berkshires is a celebration that brings leading beauty brands and beauty industry leaders together with passionate consumer guests – and especially beauty junkies – to this award-winning, world-class spa resort. The next Enchant weeks will be held in Tucson the week of April 6, 2025, and in Lenox the week of September 24, 2025. The cost is $1,200 per night and includes a $200 daily spa and beauty credit; more than 35 wellness classes daily; and $1,500 worth of luxury beauty products in your chic swag bag.
The lineup of speakers for the annual Enchant Beauty and Wellness event at Canyon Ranch is impressive, educational and highly entertaining, as it includes beauty industry experts and luxury beauty brand leaders.
Tricia McCormack Photography
It was a sensation and a beauty bonanza. The comprehensive Enchant brochure reads like a cruise ship itinerary, with tons of fun things to do every hour on the hour, all day long. Some of the activities include a welcome party hosted by Spa ritualfacial treatments from Australian Organic Mukti skin carea fascinating read Opulus Beauty Labs (more about that later), a Davines hair review, vitamin c hand treatments, a Adoratherapy trunk show of their essential oil scents, testing the NIRA facial skin laser – and much more. Speakers included impressive industry leaders, including renowned make-up artist Sir John (creative director for Kilian Paris Makeup), Dani Coleman of PVOLVE (and Jennifer Aniston’s trainer), and Rachel Roy, the founder of Ancient India and her daughter, influencer Ava Dash. There was even a bonfire complete with s’mores. Yum!
The elegant Gifting Suite at the Enchant Festival lets you fill your swag bag with more than $1,500 worth of free high-quality beauty products. It’s the ultimate Ulta!
Tricia McCormack Photography
And the gift suite! All guests at this event were invited to a spectacular gift suite hosted by the participating brands, where each Enchant registered guest could make a selection and fill a bag with luxury products valued at more than $1,500. More than 25 luxury brands were on display, including Eminence organic substancesHungarian Omorovicza, partAnd KneskO. Rolls-Royce recently selected trendy, soigne skincare brand Knesko as a luxury brand to collaborate with, with Knesko featured in a unique book ‘120 Years of Rolls-Royce’ distributed to the Rolls-Royce Enthusiast’s Club . (I recently wrote for Forbes.com about Knesko’s adorable face mask pool cart at the award-winning elegant Halekulani hotel in Waikiki. You can read it here.) Knesko’s founder Lejla Cas is a refugee who used her savings not for a big wedding, but to fund her start-up, which has since become a cult favorite of the rich and famous. It’s quite a story.
One of the most fascinating companies I discovered was Opulus Beauty Labscreated by scientist Dr. Robb Akridge, one of the founders of Clarisonic. The idea for Opulus skin care came to him in a small shop in Paris. And just as French chocolatiers create hollow milks and dark spheres filled with shelf-stable, delicious creams, Mr. Akridge developed cosmetic shells filled with delicate facial skin concentrates (of B12, ferulic acid and vitamins C and E, for example), which leave you in a special small Activator for home use. It mixes them thermally in the same way, with a small spoonful of water, creating an optimally heated skin care for increased product absorption at maximum potency. Voila! How long will it take? “About 100 seconds – the time it takes to make a Nespresso,” Mr Akridge said with a laugh.
Of course, Canyon Ranch also had a regular offering of fantastic beauty and wellness services that are always available – I had one Biological research facial (and the neck and scalp massage was amazing); an impeccable pedicure in the salon; and a seasonal massage that melts your worries away with agave oil and a special honey butter.
The gym is always open – and has everything – believe me, everything you need to get and stay fit, along with a wealth of classes. I’ve probably been to Canyon Ranch about 15 times over the last 25 years and their gym is one of the best in the world in my humble opinion.
I also love Canyon Ranch’s spa kitchen, where all the fat and calories have been removed from all the food, leaving you with a health-conscious, delicious diet of beautiful dishes – and much of it is vegan and gluten-free. Some of my favorites were the mushroom walnut pie (162 calories – it was so to die because I ordered two at dinner); an absolutely fantastic Colombian Ajiaco soup with chicken, corn and coconut milk (I’m still obsessed with it, 150 calories); and the 97-calorie vegan hot fudge that Canyon Ranch is famous for. (Here is the recipe – made with white grape juice. I had it on their homemade chocolate ice cream, which for me was better than Carvel.) The chef, Julien Ardouin, is an impressive Frenchman, who spent more than five years at The Ritz Paris – one of the best hotels in the world – has worked. years, and later, at the Mandarin Oriental in Paris. “We try to keep the main courses under 500 calories,” he told me. “I like to use seeds, grains and nuts.” One of his inspirations is the French Aligot (cheesy mashed potatoes), which weighs in at just 94 calories. His signature dish is a bolognese with harvest mushrooms and walnuts. “I worked hard to balance a vegan dish with a meaty taste.”
Now I’ll tell you what I didn’t like. For the event, Canyon Ranch hired a local caterer to provide some lunch items, and I had a chicken salad wrap that was completely disappointing. It was a huge soft taco that was 99% filled with iceberg lettuce and about an ounce of tasteless grilled chicken, with a tasteless little bit of dressing. Definitely not up to standard. These products were provided at Culinary Rebel, a small cafe near the Main Dining Room, which luckily also offered delicious snacks – the resort’s signature items including Pumpkin Crunch, homemade trail bars, the cookie of the day, carrot hummus, mixed nuts, Greek yogurt and more, along with pizza.
Absolutely everything at Canyon Ranch is homemade —- Chef Ardouin told me, “Everything is made from scratch — the only thing we buy are bagels.”
You can also feed your spirit at Canyon Ranch, and that’s one of the best things about it. These wellness services include consultations such as “Cultivate a Purposeful Life,” “Negotiating Loss, Grief, and Memory,” and “Life Mapping,” although the “Soul Journey” is the most popular and unique journey at Canyon Ranch, which combines neuroacoustic sound bed with meditative practices.
If you book with Canyon Ranch Lenox anytime of the year, be sure to attend the wonderful, life-changing evening lectures from Jerry Posnerthe Ranch’s best kept secret. Mr. Posner offers a series of five excellent lectures on topics such as cultivating calmness, expressing gratitude, and allowing miracles to happen in your life. They are extremely inspiring.
Finally, all participants received a beautiful, daily ‘Five-Minute Journal’ created by Intelligent changethat harnesses the power of gratitude, instills happiness, reduces stress, creates snapshots of your positive experiences, and can help you manifest profound changes in your life. It could just be your magic weapon to create miracles. Each day you will be asked specifically about your affirmations, goals and lessons learned. I have now been on it for five days and it is a powerful instrument that helps you initiate change from within. (I like writing in it because it positively encourages you to live your best life. I’ve been keeping a daily diary for over 60 years – and my god, how do you think I ended up with Forbes write about luxury spas around the world? LOL.) Apparently Will Smith, Jim Carrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger found great value in it too!
To put it succinctly: Canyon Ranch is your get-away-from-home.
For more information about my Wanderlust and Wellness journeys, follow me on Instagram at @DebbiKickham.