Coffee and kelp help to contour.

When you are approached by a beautiful stranger seeking to use you as a guinea pig (of sorts) for the range of treatments at a new five star spa, you would be forgiven for thinking that the person is a nut and that you should high tail it out of there as quick as your tired-and-in-desperate-need-of-a-good-rub-down legs will carry you.

You would have to then kick yourself with same tired legs, as had you run away from this beautiful stranger telling tales of 90 minute massages and luxurious Hammams, you would have missed out at she was telling the truth!  I have, today, embarked on my journey into the set of pampered people, and will be trying out every treat on the menu of QT’s new spaQ. (I can hear you hissing at me from your room).

The hotel itself is lovely. Vibrant and fun. But it’s the spa I’m after so I head up to Level 1 and into the  spa lobby. The girls all have great skin (which is a good indicator of the calibre of product they will be using on me). I’m not much of a spa person usually as I suffer from ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) and feel like I’m without an arm when I don’t have  my Iphone. I’m also quite time poor between work and home, so a spa treatment has to be really good (or really quick) to keep me happy.

The Coffee and Sea Kelp Contour wrap that I am having today goes for 90 minutes….and that makes me feel faint. How will I possible lie still for all that time!? How many emails will be waiting for me!? Will the world be able to keep spinning without me!? Ten minutes into my treatment, and I realise the answer to these questions is ‘who cares?!’ as I fall into a relaxed doze and have my skin scrubbed to within an inch of its’ life.

I’m not going to lie to you – this treatment is not gentle. It is a treatment for your skin when you need to get rid of all of the layers of tan and makeup and sweat and be scrubbed back to the rosy pink cherub that lies in wait underneath. I adored the feeling, and once the therapist had begun massaging in the mud mask, and had wrapped me up like a doll in calico to let it set, I fell asleep.

The therapist woke me gently and I showered. My skin felt (and still feels) ten years younger. It is firmer and plumper to the touch, and the impurities on my arms are almost all gone. Phenomenal. We finished with a massage that put a lot of moisture back into my skin and I could not believe that it had been 90 minutes when it was time for me to head out of the treatment room to the relaxation area to have my cup of green tea and reintroduce myself to the world.

I want to go back to spaQ. I want to live there. I love my job. Speak next week!