_Z6A6672Not that long ago, a new spa opened up in town, as part of the new apart­ment com­plex where Il Casi­no once played host to a mil­lion mar­riage pro­pos­als. We got invit­ed to come and try them out, and so off to upper Tory Street I went in search of some total relax­ation. Oh the sac­ri­fices I make for you, dear read­er!

Spring Spa is a sis­ter to East Day Spa, with branch­es in Auck­land, Queen­stown and Bali already, and has a slick press release

“Built around the con­cept of a ‘social’ spa, Spring is designed to allow clients to cus­tomise their expe­ri­ence to suit their mood – whether that be by bring­ing a group of friends, chat­ting to a neigh­bour or sim­ply draw­ing the cur­tains to relax in soli­tude. And for those who wish to stay con­nect­ed, Spring pro­vides clients with iPads or ful­ly-stocked iPods.. ”

What this trans­lates to is an bright white open space with com­fy look­ing loungers where you can lie back and have your nails done, or what­ev­er else you’ve cho­sen and pre­tend the water they give you is actu­al­ly a cock­tail and you’re actu­al­ly on a beach.

Actu­al­ly, that wor­ried me on first look, because I’d cho­sen to get a mas­sage and a Bliss Peel­ing Groovy Pod Facial (half hour each and on spe­cial for Valen­tine’s Day at $90, though I was their guest) and I did­n’t par­tic­u­lar­ly want a whole bunch of peo­ple watch­ing my sil­ly faces as I got mas­saged. I should­n’t have wor­ried. Of course they have pri­vate rooms too.  

The pri­vate rooms are dim­ly lit, with very sol­id tables (good to know if you’re as sol­id as I). If you haven’t had a mas­sage before, I’ll talk you through it. Your beau­ty ther­a­pist will invite you to take off all your clothes except your knick­ers and will leave the room while you do so. Some places will give you a tow­el to cov­er your back with — at Spring Spa they had the soft­est sheets ever and a love­ly thick blan­ket. It’s like get­ting into an amaz­ing bed with a hole for your face. I did think I might fall asleep at one stage. The ther­a­pist used her whole body weight push­ing down on me at times, and I felt like I was going to cry — not because I was in pain, but because things had been very stress­ful and it was like she was push­ing my release but­tons. It was a good thing! I loved that there was no need to make awk­ward small talk, and I appre­ci­at­ed that the music was very Cafe Del Mar instead of the pan pipes or dol­phin nois­es I have expe­ri­enced in oth­er places. I like my relax­ation to be hip­py-free.

After that glo­ri­ous half hour was up, she asked me to turn over so she could could apply my Bliss Peel­ing Groovy Pod Facial. I got to stay all snug­gled up under the love­ly sheets while she applied count­less lotions and potions to my face and wiped them off. I actu­al­ly lost count of how many things she used, but by the end my skin was def­i­nite­ly glow­ing. I was invit­ed to get up slow­ly and some­how I man­aged to resist the urge to take an extra nap.

I’ll lev­el with you — I am not some­one who par­tic­u­lar­ly cares for their skin. I use super­mar­ket brands and I delight in squeez­ing things that should­n’t be squozen, so despite my defunct beau­ty blog, I am pos­si­bly not the best per­son to knowl­edge­ably review facials. I can tell you though that it was amaz­ing­ly sooth­ing, smelt great and made me feel good. And that’s what mat­ters, right?

I am more of an expert at receiv­ing mas­sages though, and this was one of the best I’ve ever had. I will def­i­nite­ly return for anoth­er some time because this girl has kinks that need work. And also sore parts of my body. And if finances and friends allow, per­haps we’ll go in a group and sit around like fan­cy peo­ple hav­ing a social spa expe­ri­ence togeth­er. The Hot Milk and Almond Pedi­cure sounds espe­cial­ly appro­pri­ate for this town which runs on lattes.

Spring Spa is a love­ly relax­ing space, and while it’s not a cheap expe­ri­ence, prices are def­i­nite­ly in line with oth­er spas around town. If you’re look­ing to treat yo’­self and ignore life for a while, it is worth your while.