_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.