Antoinette Boudoir Newstalgica Salon

Profile

Although she shares her building with a palm reader, brassy, high-heeled, Russian-born owner Clara Raykin has left nothing to fate. Instead she’s drawn on her biochemistry degree and a background in nursing for her modern-day "tribute to Marie Antoinette's powder room," in which red-silk curtains, fringed white-velvet lampshades, and leopard-print fabrics all come into play. Despite the quirky aesthetics, the salon’s extensive menu tends toward the tame with facials, waxing, body scrubs, and spa pedicures. The most unusual offerings may be the Esthebuste bust and décolleté treatments, or the ever-popular Hydro-San Plus colonic—performed in a cramped room with bathroom and sauna nearby. At the back, the thermal self-massaging lounge beds (separated by gold curtains for privacy) also see a lot of lunchtime action from the bauble hawkers from the surrounding jewelry district. — Chanize Thorpe