Recently due to a lot of stress I’ve been under my skin has been protesting. I keep getting breakouts, spots, you name it, it’s horrible :( So I thought I’d pop along to one of my local beauty salons Kavala to see if they could do anything for me.
I was offered a SOS Purifying Facial, which even includes a hand and arm massage and a mini-head massage. (Fantastic, due to my headaches.)
So I went! And oh my god it was fantastic.
The actual salon itself is situated in the town centre, right near the railway station and a bus station, which I think is one of the weirdest places to have a day spa.. But, hey. When you actually get in you totally forget where you are. There’s ambient light, soft music, reaaaally comfortable chairs in their waiting area – far from the world outside (which was a crappy, rainy afternoon otherwise.)
I was talked through what was going to happen by one of Kavala’s therapists and then was left in the room to remove my top and take my bra straps down, but leaving my bra on and leaving myself covered with a towel. These kind of things don’t really bother me, but I can see that other people might be a bit worried about another person seeing their body. In honesty, the therapist doesn’t see anything. You’re basically lying on a really comfortable chez-longue/bed kinda thing and essentially tucked in to the towel, as if you’re laying in bed, with just your shoulders above the cover. So really, there’s nothing to worry about.
Now, I can’t tell you exactly what went on because I was so damn chilled out, it is so relaxing.. They have music or you can bring your own, but I like the kinda relaxation music they had going on so I was happy with that. The therapist talked me through every step of the way, but that was because I told her I was going to type this up on my blog. At your request they can either talk to you and let you know what’s going on, or just be quiet and let you enjoy the facial.
I had a myriad of treatments, including Vitamin-C booster serums, a steam pore-opening treatment, some amazing smelling orange and citrus oils massaged in to my skin (I have oily skin, so you think “oil?! What?” But trust me, it works.. Somehow it clears up the excess oil produced itself by the skin,) and I also had a Papaya Enzymatic peel, which smelled of pineapples and was very mild, as I had recently had a few breakouts and the therapist didn’t want to aggravate my skin, otherwise she would have gone with a stronger exfoliator.
Following this I had a Japanese Sulphur Mask placed on my face which felt very odd, but quite similar to clay masks. It was wonderful over my temples and really helped me relax. Especially as, following this, I was given a head, arm and hand massage! I was in heaven.
After the treatment and after I re-dressed myself I looked in the mirror and was actually shocked. I had noticably less blackheads and the redness from some of my spots had definitely gone down. But the thing I noticed the most? The dark circles around my eyes had pretty much subsided – and they stayed like that for about two weeks (my sleep pattern is atrocious, I always get dark eyes.) But I wanted to touch my face all the time, obviously a stupid thing to do for someone with oily skin like myself, it was just soooooo soft! Argh, I want another one!
I’ve been there once before but never wrote a review about it was it was really near when I first started blogging. I had a foot massage last time and I LOOOOOVED it. I can say that Kavala is consistent with their quality of products and treatments. I even got a little bag of samples to take home with me and try on myself – something every customer who gets an Elemis facial gets to take away with them. I haven’t used them all yet but the ones I have used are lovely.
This whole thing lasted just over an hour, for £50 I would say that is WELL worth it. If you pay another £25 you can get a back massage with it also, which I could only imagine is fantastic. I’m definitely going to be returning to Kavala in the future and when I do I’ll post here, but for now… I just have to say – wow.
I’m probably going to ask my Mum to buy me some Kavala gift vouchers for Christmas because for what you get the prices are actually really, really good.
Definitely something to add to your Christmas list.
