Georgette Klinger
501 Madison Avenue, between 57th and 53rd Streets
(838-3200)

“Electric facials? We don’t have anything so nouveau here,” says the receptionist at this day spa for the debutante-at-heart. The skilled aestheticians (I met Miss Claudia and Miss Ruth) do things here the old-fashioned way: During their steam treatment, for example, they drape a towel around your head and position your face above a pot of steaming chamomile tea. Face and décolleté massage is long, luxurious, and delivers, at long last, the cream of spa memory. The spa has made at least one concession to the approaching millennium: an intensely cleansing oxygen facial that begins and ends with a heavy misting from a mini oxygen tank.

Lia Schorr
686 Lexington Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets
(486-9670)

Lia Schorr’s pristine, no-nonsense day spa offers twelve facials (including one geared for teenagers with problem skin). Skilled hands move with precision across your face, and strong European aestheticians perform body massage. If you don’t have an afternoon to kill in the name of beauty, the accommodating staff will surround you for a 75-minute-long wonder session that includes a facial, a manicure, and a pedicure for a very reasonable $118; an ionic treatment to perk up tired eyes is an extra $35.

Skin and Body Care, Inc.
50 East 78th Street
(585-4228)

When Denise Margulies and Diana Ward opened their small, personalized boutique day spa this fall, they decided to keep it strictly state-of-the-art. Their gizmos include an endermologie machine and an electronic facial-toning device that works with galvanic and ionic currents. “I asked the electricians to install a big power box so I can start using all my gadgets,” says Ward. In another room, they offer cellular-memory-release massage -- deep kneading that aims to release tension stored from the frustrations of childhood. Are you crying from catharsis? It might just be pain. This bone-reaching massage may be worth it, but brace yourself.

URBAN SPAS, UNPLUGGED

Characterized by candlelight and whiffs of essential oils, L.A.-style spas prefer to go the natural route. Therapists at these places are ready to strangle Enya.

Aveda Institute Lifestyle Store & Spa
233 Spring Street
(807-1492)

The New Age music has you unwinding before you even hit the Aveda sanctuary, separated by a door from the SoHo apothecary that’s made aromatherapy a household word. You might opt for the $45 stress-relieving half-hour of neck, shoulder, and scalp massage, but the splurge here is the Himalayan Rejuvenation Body Treatment, available for $125. “First there’s a dry, rough exfoliating massage to get rid of dead skin,” explains an employee. “Then the person lies down and water is dripped in the middle of the eyebrow.” Didn’t there used to be another name for that? Actually, it’s warm essential oil of your choosing that’s dripped onto your third eye.

Bliss
568 Broadway
(219-8970)

If you could get an appointment at Bliss, you might be treated to its carrot-sesame exfoliation; or its new Pulp Friction (another near-edible scrub, with fresh grapes in the mix); or its papaya scrub, during which the fruit enzyme begins to break down your epidermis like meat tenderizer. Sad to say, your yearning for facial fruit salad will likely go unmet -- Bliss’s staff is generally too busy sloughing the skin off celebrities like Uma Thurman and Julia Roberts (several calls made in November yielded no appointment until January).

SoHo Sanctuary
119 Mercer Street
(334-5550)

There’s an emphasis on earth-mother power at this women-only spa, which features a spa package called the “Goddess Sampler” and displays images of female nudes on the walls. Reflexology comes with a sage foot bath; the heated mud wrap (the Moor Spa minifacial) mixes 1,000 herbs and organic substances meant to purify, tone, and relax the body; the “perfect facial” uses wild herbs intended to restore the skin’s balance. Befitting its name, the SoHo Sanctuary also offers yoga, meditation, and a reading room.

Stressless Step
48 East 61st Street
(826-6222)

Sixty-first Street between Park and Madison. The address may be swank, but industrial flesh-tone walls, dingy shag carpeting, and treatment rooms the size of a broom closet decorate this spartan day spa with a post-hippie feel. Questionable décor aside, this spa’s great massages make it one of the most popular around. Whoever does the hiring at Stressless Step is choosing well, and at $60 an hour, $35 for a half-hour, it’s a great value. Unfortunately, the “half-hour” massage clocked in at just over twenty minutes, and they’re strict on the cancellation policy.