What is it? We've heard about it for a long time and always wanted to try it, so we finally satisfied our curiosity today at Elixir Spa in Toronto. We tried the Youthful Radiance facial, which is a microdermabrasion/oxygen combo. It began with the microdermabrasion, which is a type of deep exfoliation that polishes your skin by sloughing off dead skin cells using crystals and suction. It softens fine lines, eliminates blackheads and refines skin texture. It feels like a teeny tiny little vacuum cleaner lightly polishing and sucking on your face. It was surprisingly painless and soothing and left our skin feeling all tingly.

Next, the esthetician applied the oxygen. Imagine going through a cotton candy cloud. If you've ever stuck your head out the window while driving through a cloud patch in the mountains, you've experienced what an oxygen facial feels like. It is a refreshing cooling feeling with a teeny bit of moisture. Elixir adds vitamins and minerals to their oxygen facials, which smell like strawberries and cotton candy as it caresses and rejuvenates your skin. We were tempted to stick out our tongue and taste it, it smelled so good.

The oxygen, our esthetician explained, helps your skin look more youthful and refreshed. As we age, our skin does not retain oxygen as well. By opening up the pores first with microdermabrasion it is more receptive to the oxygen treatment. The youthful Radiance Facial (1 hour) included a face, scalp, neck, arms and hand massage. We nearly drifted off to sleep during the treatment.

At the end, we left with glowing skin and a new belief in the restorative powers of oxygen. Get $25 off any facial at Elixir Spa before December 31st, 2006, or bring in a friend and get two facials for the price of one!

For more details on the deal click here, or check out the reviews on Elixir here.