Two weeks ago, Elizabeth Arden opened its first-ever boutique in Singapore, and it was quite a big deal. After all, this New York brand began in 1910 (yes, really), when Ms Elizabeth Arden herself opened her store on the famous Fifth Avenue to provide her signature facial features.

Singapore’s very own Elizabeth Arden boutique is a long time coming, given that the brand has had a pretty established presence here for quite some time already. Besides having a dedicated space to experience the brand’s skincare, makeup and fragrance lines, the key feature of the boutique is most definitely the menu of Red Door facial services, provided in the lush private room nestled in the back of the boutique.

We headed there to give it a try recently, and when offered a whole selection of facial services to choose from, we unashamedly went straight for the most extravagant one: the 90-minute “Ultimate Arden Facial”, which promises “a pampering facial”, “a tranquil warm stone upper body massage for deep relaxation”, “an intensive hand treatment” and a “relaxing scalp massage” (we were already completely sold on this facial by the time we read “tranquil warm stone upper body massage”).

So, off to the Red Door Boutique one Monday evening, where our therapist Michelle lulled us into deep relaxation almost immediately by gently massaging the makeup off our faces and going through the usual skincare steps including toner, serum and moisturiser, using products such as the Visible Difference Skin Balancing Exfoliating Cleanser and Visible Difference Skin Gentle Hydrating Toner.

Following this routine, she broke out the snazzy skincare machinery that Elizabeth Arden has become known for. The Ultimate Arden Facial includes a Diamond Peel Microdermabrasion, which actually just involves a metal nozzle-resembling device being put repeatedly on your face, and you’ll feel a small suction effect that’s the skin resurfacing process in action – no pain, promise. Michelle did it on half of our faces for a visible comparison, and we observed less visible pores, and an almost-ridiculous smoothness in the skin texture.

Michelle then did a gentle extraction using just her hands after the Diamond Peel – no Dr. Pimple-Poppe-level zit-squeezing here – and proceeded to do an Oxygen Beauty Blast. How this works is a serum of your choice is loaded to the device, and your skin is then treated to a mist infusion, that also comes loaded with stabilised oxygen and hyaluronic acid. You get a choice of 4 different serums: Brightening, Hydrating, Lifting or Detoxing, depending on the state of your skin.

While a mask was left to sit on our faces, there was the warm stone upper body massage as promised; Michelle also did an amazing arm massage using the Body Cream from the new White Tea scent range. Thanks to her magic fingers, we were quickly lulled into half slumber, and it was legitimately 90 minutes of one of the most indulgent facial treatments we’ve tried yet.

The Ultimate Arden Facial is the most expensive one on the menu at $280, but the Red Door Boutique offers quite a few other options for brightening and anti-ageing, with the introductory Essential Facial starting at $120 for 60 minutes. There are also quick facial fixes that take just 15 minutes, should you need a quick oxygen blast or lip facial (yes, they have those) after your lunch break. In the meantime, we’re already budgeting for our next Ultimate Arden Facial.

Elizabeth Arden Boutique, B2-46 ION Orchard. Call 6509 9832 for more information. elizabetharden.sg