LUSH SPA 'THE PLANETS' TREATMENT REVIEW
An Amazing Spa Experience That Will Take You To The Moon & Back
by Kitty Von Tastique
Some people like their spa treatments fast and furious, while others prefer to take the slow, road to ‘chill town’.
I, on the other hand, prefer my spa treatments to deliver a lot more than that. I like my spa to give me theatre, a good storyline, a soundtrack and an epiphany. Sounds like quite the high bar until…you visit a Lush Spa!
I am a long time Lush Spa stalker. I have now accrued at least five trips to the Lush Spa under my belt but none have come close to the epic treatment that is ‘The Planets’.
It was a cold, wet day when I scurried in, off bustling Oxford Street in London and into the Willy Wonker style emporium that is the flagship Oxford Street Lush store.
Before I could get distracted by the colours, fragrances and pools of fizzing bath bombs, I was soon scooped up by someone holding a sign with my name. It’s a little bit surreal to be summoned from the thronging masses to descend to the glass walled spa below.
In a scene that felt a little bit like ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ I was taken behind the smoky glass windows to the peaceful haven that lay within, to experience, ‘The Planets’!
Like the name suggests this is a treatment of the vast and magical variety, lasting well over three hours. It takes you on a journey through The Past, The Present and The Future with a custom soundtrack, lashings of theatre and plenty of interactivity.
The treatment starts with a consultation of twenty minutes. You choose a card with a planet that determines which focus your treatment will take. From here you head to the comforting, cloistered walls of the treatment room, filled with twinkling galaxies, pink lights and the sounds of birds, looping surreally like the entranceway to another world.
The Past
With the distant ‘toot’ of a vintage steam train, we begin our journey. This is a 90 minute body massage which draws on various ideologies to create a thoughtful experience that allows you to reflect on what might be troubling you. ‘The Planets’ uses the idea that thoughts and problems can be stored in the body. Whether this is true or not is really irrelevant, as what the treatment actually does is bring you to a place of contemplation. As each knot is discovered, the possible cause is discussed and the therapist simply listens. Have no fear, there is no pseudo advice dispensed, it is simply like a one-way spoken meditation; a conversation with yourself. As each ‘drawer is closed’ using hot and cold stones, the massage works its way through the whole body, finally bringing you to…
The Present
After the journey that was The Past, it is pleasant to close that chapter and move on to The Present. This is a hand and arm treatment with a difference. After being given a Harry Potter style robe and slippers, you are invited for tea (very Alice!) and chocolate before having a ‘palm reading’ and, hand and arm massage. Theatrics are on point as an ‘Intergalactic’ bath bomb is dissolved with dry ice to create a smoking cauldron of wonderment. Your palm is literally put under the spotlight to find out who you might be and where your strengths may lie.
The Future
Moving on, we head to the future with an ‘uplifting’ facial and scalp massage, that utilises vegan brushes to uplift the facial muscles, some interesting flapping movements of the arms and even fans to create the feeling of flight! The music at this point is in a wonderful crescendo, giving you the feeling you could probably take on the world. While the first two sections involve some verbal interaction, this section leaves you free to simply drift and fly away with the music.
Along with the incredible narrative journey woven throughout the entire treatment, it also incorporates an amazing, custom, orchestral soundtrack and bespoke orb-like massage balls (that smell a bit like lemongrass sherbet).
Although the treatment is a little on the expensive side, you do get to take home complimentary versions of the body, arm and face massage balls and serums, a slice of gourmet soap, an exclusive Rose & Lemon face mask and even your slippers.
At the end of the treatment you aren’t pushed out the door, instead you get to take as long as you like to float off the treatment bench and back into your civvies. Back in the consultation room you are offered fresh fruit and water as you come back to the ground, before heading back out to the real world again.
Lush Spa treatments always contain a little bit of magic compared to your run-of-the-mill spa offerings. It’s this extra attention to detail that makes them an ‘experience’.
I am a serial over-thinker of the worst kind and it is no mean feat to stop my brain for more than a few moments. I love the Lush Spa treatments because for once I am not only ‘stopped’ but also transported and it not uncommon for me to have an epiphany-like experience. ‘The Planets’ was for me the closing of a very long and hard year, and the opening of a new hopeful chapter.
Like everything in this world, things are what you make of them, but to me this experience was the perfect opportunity to step through the looking glass and fly away for a few hours until that little white rabbit of life came knocking at my door again. Luckily I was prepared with my empty baggage and magical lemongrass massage balls, ready to take on the world again!
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN VINTAGE LIFE MAGAZINE MARCH 2017
*The writer’s opinion is entirely independent. No in-kind or monetary arrangement was paid for this review.
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