Peel Away!

January 23, 2020 Pila Xian

By Heaven on Earth Aspen Medi Spa client M P Mueller

I’ve been lucky to travel a bit and one of my favorite things to do on the road is treat myself to a facial. I’ve gotten to experience all kinds of aestheticians and their treatments, from London to Bora Bora, to the Aeolian Islands of Sicily and points in between. One that stands out happened at an elegant salon on the Texas coast. Unfortunately, the aesthetician appeared to be having some kind of emotional crisis. He would come in to the treatment room, apply a cream or masque to my face, then get weepy and run out. This sequence was repeated three or four times until he simply didn’t return. I wiped the last layer of solution off my face and beat it out of there. The facial was a gift from my sister and I didn’t want her to know it went south. So I simply thanked her for a one-of-a-kind experience.

On the other end of the one-of-a-kind facial experiences, spectrum is a session at Heaven On Earth medspa. It certainly lives up to the promise of its name. I stumbled across HOE and Pila when I visited Aspen in the winter of 2017. The dry and frigid air had my skin needing some serious TLC. An Internet search yielded some wonderful reviews for Heaven On Earth’s Oxygen Facial. That facial more than revived my skin. I left there looking like a Throwback Thursday photo of myself on social media—it took five or so years off my face.

Since moving to the Aspen area in January of 2019, I’ve enjoyed many visits to Pila’s medi-spa. She always works her magic. Recently, I asked if she could do a peel on my face that was feeling a little ragged following a summer of outdoor goodness here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Unlike past peel experiences, where estheticians put a really strong peel on my skin in the dead of summer without asking about outdoor, sun filled activities—or arming me with SPF—Pila took a really thoughtful approach.

She had me first take a survey about my skin type, exercise habits, cleansing routine, etc. With this information, she divined the best peel and pre- and post-products from the Lira line she uses. Lucky me, I had a pumpkin peel! Not only did it smell good enough to put a dollop of whipped cream on and spoon into my mouth, I could feel it’s enzymes doing their “let’s get rid of some not so fine lines on my face”. There wasn’t any of the usual stinging that peels can pack.

Used to be we didn’t feel we had a real peel unless there was some degree of pain involved followed by a week of shedding like a lizard under a sun lamp gone bad. What I learned about the Lira line is they offer a new generation of peels. Healing ingredients are mixed right in them so your skin starts repairing itself right away. Yet you still get the same skin renewal and collagen-building benefits, without the risk of developing dark spots.

With a couple of peel sessions, spaced a few weeks apart, my skin was firmer and quite perky to the touch. Every session is served up with Pila’s genuine warmth and caring touch, in an atmosphere of flickering candles and soft music that puts you into a state that’s just east of Zen. Pila sent me home with a Lira face serum and daytime cream that has kept the glowing going for nearly two months now.

If your skin is asking for some high elevation renewal, a Heaven on Earth Med Spa peel by Pila will work miracles.

~ M P Mueller is a writer who found herself in Aspen during her gap year 6.0