This is one hell of a chic spa with confidence written all over it. I love the fact that this spa is right off Lexington Avenue, it has the potential to be showy and ostentatious, but it isn’t. I had to walk straight up to the directory at the door to know I was in the right place. That speaks volumes of confidence all over to me. When I got off the elevator, the front desk was the first thing I saw. I didn’t even have to look around and figure out my surroundings because the girls behind the desk welcomed and directed me right away. I knew immediately that this place had great direction.

I was led to the lounge room, or as it’s called, “the quiet room,” where I waited for my Clean as a Whistle facial. There were a couple of binders on the bottom shelf with clippings of newspaper and magazine articles on the spa. I poured myself a glass of water, had a snack bar, and did some light reading with them. Read my lips - Wowie. Cleo, the petite and amazing woman whose metaphorical baby is this spa, fetched me from the lounge and led me down the hall to my room. I have no idea how she did it but in the little bit of instruction she gave me in changing into the robe and getting under the covers, she made me feel completely natural being where I was. It doesn’t matter how accustomed or unaccustomed you are to going to spas – it takes a special touch feel like that.

There are twenty-five different facials to choose from. I was getting the Clean as a Whistle facial that was actually customized with elements of other treatments. I highly, highly recommend getting skin treatments with Cleo. She made me feel that I could trust her and her assessments. That’s probably no surprise – I mean, she does develop her own products, which she uses at the spa! She has a firm and gentle touch that made the treatment really soothing especially when she used high frequency to clean my pores. The zaps don’t hurt but you definitely do feel them and they’re kind of startling. That could be why I liked that there was a lot variation in temperatures during in this facial too. It was a pleasant surprise, a refresher, when Cleo put a cold towel to my face, when normally I dread the cold.

Anybody who goes here is absolutely going to discover a gem of a spa that doesn’t need a big, grand flashy sign. Cleo gave me the low-down on my skin too and advice on all sorts of little things I could do to improve it. For example, I’m drinking at least a cup of water more a day than I use to. I wouldn’t have thought that the spa actually lives up to the name Metamorphosis. But anyway, I’ll wait until my appointment for next month to see more of that. I felt so natural there I look forward to going back and feeling right at home.

The Metamorphosis Day Spa’s at 127 E. 56th St. #5 between Park and Lexington Ave. Call to set up appointments at (212) 751-6051 or go to www.metaspa.com.