Health & Beauty
Health and beauty services, treatments and shops in Melbourne
Beauty in Melbourne
The Nail Art Shakedown
From likenesses of your favourite pet to burgers you've loved, you can get nearly anything painted on your digits these days. Nail art became popular in the ’80s and ’90s, but it was also super tacky (hello, claw hands). Luckily, things have progressed since then, and Melbourne has embraced the nail art revival, hard. But does one nail art salon hold the upper hand? For more pampering and primping, visit our guides to Melbourne's best massages and waxing salons.
The best cosmetic clinics in Melbourne
If there's one thing that anti-wrinkle injections, laser treatments, tattoo removal and chemical peels have in common, it's that you wouldn't want to put your faith in the wrong hands. We've searched the city to bring you the most reputable and bang-for-buck cosmetics clinics in Melbourne – now all you have to do is make an appointment. For more pampering ideas, try these top massage parlours and spas and bath houses.
The best waxing salons in Melbourne
Waxing is a delicate operation – you're dealing with sensitive areas and hot products, not to mention the fact that you don't want to be pencilling in your brows forever after because some overzealous beauty therapist went wax-happy on your face. It goes without saying that a good waxing establishment needs to be hygienic – that's a given, but diplomacy and skill are also essential. If you're in the need of some post-wax relaxation, you may want to visit one of our favourite bath houses and spas. Or maybe you just need a quiet beverage, in which case check out our guide to Melbourne's best bars.
Where to get pierced in Melbourne
Thinking of adding to your collection of stylish piercings? Finally ready to brave your first? Melbourne is full of body mod salons, but these are our favourites. If you love rocking a unique style, then check out our fave alternative fashion shops.
Wellbeing in Melbourne
Where to try hot yoga in Melbourne
What is it? Yoga, practiced in a room heated to 37-40°C. Usually it will be Bikram Yoga – that 90-minute, unvarying set of 26 postures – but there are studios popping up where you can also sweat through a little Hatha and Iyengar. You'll need to drink two litres of water before class and it will all end up on your towel. Bring a spare for showering, or rent one along with a mat, and wear as little clothing as possible. It sounds awful, why should I do it?Hot thighs! Better discipline! All of your skin sloughed off in a tidal wave of sweat! Some yogis claim Bikram doesn't have enough inversions and that the hot room makes you push dangerously beyond your natural flexibility. But the whole idea of yoga – any kind – is to have your own journey, and to work sympathetically with your body's abilities. So tell them to suck it. We like it hot because warmer muscles really are bendier muscles (so you can get your rear closer to your face), and because the sweat session leaves you as smooth and soft as a mango pancake. Also because we'd rate this on par with bear wrestling in terms of exercise extremity, yet we always feel some inner-peace despite the outer turmoil.
Amara Wellness Centre
Dr Zara Celik is passionate about holistic health and wellness, and believes that beauty is reflection of our inner wellbeing and health. She believes in organic, natural, non-invasive treatments that aims to improve wellbeing and health of individuals and makes them beautiful as a result. The rear of her Amara Wellness Centre in Brunswick is a hammam, providing a nurturing steam, massage and bathing ritual to Melbourne’s tired and weary, in time-honoured Turkish tradition. The front section is all about skin renewal and tightening, courtesy of the LPG Endermotherapie and Endermolift treatments. The hammam After a day of first-world problems I’m feeling pretty drained and not in any mood to be taking my clothes off. Thank god I’m here to do a job, because after three hours in this Sydney Road hammam, experiencing an authentic and wellness Turkish and Moroccan bathing ritual is now top of my advise-everyone-to-do list. Zara Celik, a chiropractic doctor, came to Australia from Turkey when she was 15 years old, and found she missed the ancient bathing rituals of her country. Determined to introduce the experience to a wider Australian audience, she toiled away on creating this beautiful hammam, decorated from top to bottom with intricate mosaic tiling (Zara looks a bit pale when we speculate on how long that must have taken). Each steam room has domed ceilings and heated marble slabs on which to lie. Customers strip down to a bikini – or shorts – and are joined in the ro
Beyond Rest
Have you ever felt truly, and absolutely, weightless? When staying afloat takes no effort at all, to the point that you begin to lose any sense of your own body? If you’ve visited the Dead Sea, then these feelings might be familiar. But add total darkness, silence and stillness into the equation and things start to get a little more… interesting. I find Beyond Rest in an alleyway just off Chapel Street, where I’m greeted by owners Nick and Ben Dunin. The space – clean, curved lines, low lighting and scented candles – imbues a sense of calm that the brothers have taken care to create using principles of 'sacred geometry' (patterns found in nature that make up all living things). I’m led through this temple of relaxation until I reach my private room, which is dominated by a huge, white tank, filled with 1000l of purified water and 500kg of Epsom salt and magnesium sulphate. The door locks behind me. I take a deep breath. Floatation tanks haven’t always enjoyed the best (or most accurate) reputation. The concept was developed in 1954 by American neurophysicist Dr John C Lilly, who was interested in the meditative effects of sensory deprivation achieved by floating in ‘isolation tanks’ (and, to be fair, by taking LSD). Dolphins were also involved; I’ll let you Google that one yourself. Floatation theory became popular in the ’70s, but took a downturn in the ’80s during the AIDS crisis, when public health fears caused public pools, spas and tanks to shut down. In the mainstrea
Natural beauty tips from Richie Angelo
A hardcore beauty regime feels like an efficient way to keep your skin in good nick, but when you can find some of the same ingredients in manufacturing processes – it can’t be good, right? Richie Angelo, an experienced beauty therapist and natural skincare expert, says no. Richie’s passion for natural and organic skin care coincided with her first pregnancy. First, she became more interested in what she was ingesting and later curious about what she was absorbing through her skin. Her journey led her to become an advocate for natural skin care – skin care made from naturally occurring ingredients as opposed to compounds made in a lab. Richie primarily uses Sodashi and MV Organic products, both of which are high performance Aussie brands that use only plant-derived ingredients and no synthetic chemicals – no parabens, petrochemicals, preservatives or fragrances. Richie shares some of her skin care wisdom with us. Tip #1: Your nan was right You’ve gotta be regular. “You need to poo daily,” Richie says. “A lot of skin issues, especially acne, happen because your body is not eliminating as it should. If you’re not having a daily poo, toxins get reabsorbed and expelled through the skin.” Tip #2: Don’t strip your skin It’s oddly satisfying to wash your face until it squeaks, but don’t do it. “If you use skin care that over-strips your skin you remove the natural oils that your skin is supposed to have and it creates a pretty chaotic chain reaction,” Richie explains. “A clean
Beauty and grooming for men
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This Hamlet will lip-sync for his life (and death) at Melbourne Festival
Following the yellow brick road led performance artist, actor and lip-sync master Dickie Beau past Judy Garland and on to a murder of Hamlets in Melbourne Festival highlight Re-Member Me. Beau’s interest in lip-sync was sparked by a chance meeting with the impeccably-named San Francisco drag queen Suppositori Spelling. He says he was, “quite blown away by the virtuosity of what she was doing,” expanding on the traditional lip sync territory of power ballads and torch songs with spoken word performance. At the time, Beau had been wrestling with how to use the witty, and infamously cranky, tapes made by Garland in preparation for a memoir she never wrote. “It seemed inconceivable to do that and not use her voice, so [Blackout] was the first lip sync show that I did,” he says, chuckling. “Since then I’ve developed quite a heady artistic rationale as I’ve carried on for about ten years now.” Blackout shows featuring the vocals of Marilyn Monroe and Amy Winehouse followed before Re-Member Me, which is haunted by the ghosts of tragic princes past. Beau inhabits the dulcet tones of Sirs Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis and others as he explores the irresistible – occasionally egotistical – pull of Shakespeare’s most-sought after male role. “There’s this academic called Andy Lavender who talks about how behind every production trails this army of ghosts,” Beau says. “Actors do it because then you know you’ve really made it. Directors do it because of the gravit
Win a San Telmo feast and Argentinian wine tasting for you and seven friends
Oh boy, this is a fantastic prize for anyone who loves grilled meats and South American wines. Time Out and San Telmo are giving away a lunch at the restaurant for eight (!) guests featuring all the San Telmo best-selling menu items – empanadas, vacío (flank steak), chorizo, morcilla, and other traditional dishes and dulce de leche desserts. This lunch comes with a wine tasting of four Argentinian wines and an information session hosted by Emilia Flotts – an Argentinian-born Melbourne wine expert. If you win, the lunch can be redeemed any day from January to March 2019 (Saturday to Tuesday only), bookings subject to availability. Winning is simple: just sign up below before October 25, 2018. Want to increase your chances of winning? Why not share this link with seven friends and you can all enter? Good luck! ENTER HERE
Hauntville
A huge, immersive Halloween festival is coming to Melbourne for the first time this October. Hauntville is a festival celebrating all things spooky, scary and macabre, and it's popping up at Burnley Circus Park in the lead-up to Halloween. Scaredy cats are advised not to come – Hauntville isn’t for the faint-hearted. At the festival you’ll find two hair-raising haunted houses, creepy performers, carnival games, food trucks, the ‘Fright Night’ bar and a haunted graveyard (tread lightly lest you wake the dead). Scared of clowns? You will be. Hauntville’s Cirque du Slay haunted house is crawling with demonic clowns and creatures summoned by dark forces. Make it through alive and you’re ready for the Yarra River Coffinworks, a dank and musty haunted house infested with snakes, spiders, rats and the screams of the undead. If you need a breather after that, drop into the haunted food festival, where you can grab a bite from food trucks like Bavarian Bangers, Poke Time and 196 Below. Want to imbibe? The Fright Night Bar has just your poison, plus Halloween-themed brews like pumpkin ale and spooky Sangria. Throughout Hauntville you’ll run into zombies, circus freaks and other performers there to make sure you stay scared. Try out the Halloween carnival to play Angry Crows, Zombie Head Ring Toss and to score a peck at the kissing booth (careful – there’s a nasty twist). Brave guests can also take a stroll through the haunted graveyard and hear freaky stories. Despite the fear
Girls to the Front
Melbourne’s music scene is one of the best in the world (no bragging but we’ve more live music venues than milk crate-seats at cafés). To celebrate the beating musical heart of Melbourne, we suggest heading along to one of the city’s most famous live music venues, the Corner Hotel, every Sunday afternoon for Girls to the Front. Head up to the Corner Hotel’s rooftop bar every Sunday for Girls to the Front, a chilled-out afternoon sesh featuring tunes programmed by some of the hotel’s fave female and gender non-conforming local musos. Each week features a different guest DJ spinning tracks that celebrate the music of women and GNC artists. When they say girls to the front they mean it – this Sunday sesh isn’t pinned down by any one decade, destination or genre, with each guest DJ simply seeking to showcase some of the best new and established women and GNC artists. Girls to the Front has more than just a killer line-up of music. During the weekly event, the rooftop bar is also kicking things up a notch with $15 Campari and Aperol spritz specials so you can relax in style. No summer Sunday hang is complete without a bit of grub either, preferably cooked al fresco. Hence why the Corner Hotel hosts their Sunday barbecue, with a different nationality featured each week. Grab a plate, grab a seat and say goodbye to the weekend in style. Girls to the Front is on every Sunday from 2pm to 6pm at the Corner Hotel. Entry is free.
