Sure, there was a time when trinket-size shampoo and conditioner and a paper-wrapped soap were the extent of the beauty offerings to be found while traveling—a time when guests with more specific tastes would opt to BYOB (Beauty, that is; the minibar was always stocked). But the hospitality world has seen a proliferation of design-minded, locavore-leaning boutique properties whose attention to every detail manifests in custom room scents, small-batch bar soaps, and sumptuous body oils. Sold in retail areas and even in said minibar—like Royal Botanicals’s elegantly packaged bath salts at Manhattan’s NoMad Hotel—they are as much beauty staples as modern-day souvenirs. Book accordingly.
Rivertown Lodge
At this handsome 27-room hotel in Hudson, New York, which opened last fall inside a former movie house (complete with the original marquee), a cast of well-chosen collaborators helped shape the midcentury-meets-Americana aesthetic. The Brooklyn studio Workstead designed the curvilinear firewood stands and brass sconces; Sawkille, in nearby Rhinebeck, supplied the updated Shaker-style stools. And on the beauty front, the custom body wash, shampoo, and conditioner come courtesy of the local apothecary 2 Note. Bottled in weighty amber glass—the packaging equivalent of an Edison bulb—the trio is an easy shortcut to recreating that vintage sensibility at home.
Rivertown Shampoo, $37, for information: rivertownlodge.com; Rivertown Conditioner, $37, rivertownlodge.com
Mama Shelter Los Angeles
With four locations across France and another in Istanbul, the self-described “urban kibboutz” opened its 70-room L.A. outpost last year, revealing its sense of whimsy in the Bert and Ernie light fixtures installed bedside. To toast the West Coast move, the niche brand Lola James Harper created a candle for the hotel—a heady, beachy blend of tuberose, monoï, and wood. Also available for purchase: Mama Shelter’s botanically minded skin care produced in collaboration with the French company Absolution. With black-and-white packaging and multipurpose formulas—there’s an all-in-one-wash, a face-and-body lotion, and bar soap, each laced with almond and sesame—the minimalist message is one you’ll want to take with you.
Mama Shelter x Lola James Harper Los Angeles candle, $40, Buy it now
El Cosmico
On this free-spirited 21-acre property in Marfa, Texas, the accommodations range from restored trailers to Sioux-style tepees. To help guests weather the elements of the high-plains desert—where the sun bakes by day and the temperature drops at night—the hotel crafts its own skin care, including an all-purpose citrus-scented Salvation balm; a nourishing face oil with anti-inflammatory calendula; and a palo santo–laced body oil. Locally made Marfa Brand soap is custom-scented with lapsang souchong tea and cedar. For a more lasting Texas trail, pick up a bottle of El Cosmico’s perfume collaboration with D.S. & Durga, which pays homage to regional flora like creosote shrubs and pinyon pine.
El Cosmico x D.S. & Durga, $150, Buy it now
The Graham & Co.
If Long Island is the go-to Manhattanite escape, the Brooklyn set increasingly has an eye on the Catskills, and this 20-room hotel in Phoenicia, New York, hits all the bases of a good getaway: smart design, no shortage of hammocks, and hiking trails nearby. Another alluring component: the property’s signature holywood diffusers, which send notes of palo santo, white grapefruit, and amber wafting through the air. For those understandably hooked, the room scent is available for sale, as is a wearable version in a fragrance roller. Fancy yourself a purist? The hotel also stocks classic palo santo incense.
Holywood diffuser, $65, for information: info@thegrahamandco.com
Ace Hotel
Since opening its first hotel in Seattle in 1999, the Ace has made a point to knit itself into the local fabric, whether in Pittsburgh or Panama City. If the music scene is a continual interest, so too is the beauty. Pearl+, a soap studio run by Janet Jay, makes the small-batch Detox bars using pearl powder and activated charcoal, which you’ll find hanging from a rope in the guest baths in Portland and New York City; full-size soaps are also available for sale. And the skin-care brand Farmers’, with roots in Wales, makes two custom balms found at the London property: Awake, with peppermint, lemongrass, and eucalyptus to energize jet-lagged guests; and Calm, with lavender, sandalwood, and chamomile to take it down a notch.
Pearl+ Detox Soaps, $8, Buy it now
The NoMad Hotel
When a freestanding claw-foot tub is a focal point in a hotel room—as you’ll find at New York’s NoMad Hotel—a decadent bath seems more like a mandate than an option. Fittingly, the curated minibar includes a petite bottle of Royal Botanicals’s bath salts, made by the Brooklyn florist Ariel Dearie. The scent is a transporting mix of ylang-ylang, black spruce, bergamot, and vanilla (“warm and woodsy,” sums up Dearie). And the two-serving amount means there’s enough left over to re-create the experience at home.
Royal Botanicals bath soak for the NoMad Hotel, $25, for information: thenomadhotel.com
Faena Hotel Miami Beach
Two seemingly disparate threads weave through this hotel, which opened in time for Art Basel Miami Beach late last year. One is full-tilt opulence—seen in the lobby’s murals by Juan Gatti, the sumptuous collision of red velvet and leopard print (Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin oversaw the interiors), and a gold-leafed Damien Hirst sculpture on conspicuous display. The other is decidedly holistic, via the in-house Tierra Santa Healing House. The spa takes a South American focus, drawing on indigenous ingredients and shaman-led protocols. While the singing bowls used in the Tree of Life treatment aren’t available as souvenirs, a set of the seven Sacred body oils—each tailored to a restorative purpose—can be yours.
Sacred body oils, $25 each or $125 for the set, for information: faena.com
Coqui Coqui
Francesca Bonato and Nicolas Malleville, the chic couple behind Coqui Coqui, have not only built a collection of four intimate retreats in Mexico—they’ve also bottled them, capturing the essence of Tulum, Valladolid, Mérida, and Coba in scent form. The perfumery’s 10-plus scents draw upon nearby coconut groves, a particular May-blooming frangipani tree, and tropical woods, among other local inspirations. Beyond wearable perfumes, the line also includes hand soaps, candles, oils, and linen sprays, the last of which you can put to use as you reluctantly pack to go home.
Coqui Coqui Coco Coco eau de parfum, $90, sold on location and at net-a-porter.com
Castle Hill Inn
When this seaside escape in Newport, Rhode Island, set about launching a spa, it found a like-minded partner in Farmaesthetics, whose locally made skin care imbues high-quality naturals with a modern take on luxury. In addition to custom in-room amenities, there are full-size products for sale, like the beach-ready Cool Aloe Mist. This summer, the Retreat at Castle Hill will launch a two-and-a-half-hour Rose Immersion treatment, as a nod to the property’s garden. One of the new products to be used—Vassar Rose Perfecting Polish—is billed as an alternative to microdermabrasion and promises to leave skin petal-soft.
Farmaesthetics Cool Aloe Mist, $26, Buy it now
The Time New York
Recently overhauled by the design firm Rockwell Group, this Midtown hotel plays host to the first miniaturized set of shampoo, conditioner, body cream, and soap from Maison Margiela, the fashion label behind the cult perfume line Replica. The scented products, available in-room, wax nostalgic for a Brooklyn jazz club. Appropriately so for a clothing company, the other standout amenity is the white cotton Margiela bathrobe—destined to launch a number of chic, towel-turbaned selfies.
Maison Margiela cotton robe, $150, for information: thetimehotels.com
The post 10 Boutique Hotels With Chic Beauty Products Worth Stashing in Your Suitcase appeared first on Vogue.