Review of Lush Spa, Chelsea

Lush Spa, Chelsea - 4 bubbles

A London treatment rooms that offers one treatment. In a shop. In the basement. It is testament to Lush Spa's imaginative, innovative and quirky approach that our picky Sensitive Spy loved her spa-as-theatre experience so much that she forgot where she was, when she was, and who she was. The Lush synaesthesia massage is based on solid aromatherapy principles, so if you're looking to visit a spa to develop your sixth sense (and sense of humour), point yourself in the direction of the King's Road.

First impressions?

How did they welcome you?

What happens next?

Which treatments did you have?

What were the treatments like?

How did you feel afterwards?

What happens afterwards?

Long-term effects

Was it worth it?

What else could you have?

Any special features?

Who do you think would like it?

Why did you give the spa this rating?

Would you go again?

First impressions?

A busy Lush shop! Lush Spa is in the basement of Lush's King's Road store in London. The shop had just been re-fitted when I was invited to visit in May 2009. The bright white and natural wood décor made all the colourful Lush products shine like jewels. The candy-coloured bubble-bath bars piled up on cake-stands looked particularly tempting.

How did they welcome you?

I made a bee-line for one of the friendly-looking members of staff and explained that I had an appointment in the spa. It turned out that I'd made a bee-line for Mo, who was going to be my therapist.

What happens next?

Mo took me through a secret door at the back of the shop and down a flight of stairs to the subterranean Lush Spa. At the bottom of the stairs, you meet a huge, distorting glass from a hall-of-mirrors. It's the first indication that this is going to be no ordinary spa...

Go past the wobbly mirror, and you'll find yourself in the main spa reception and relaxation area. This extraordinary room is a winning mix of Severus Snape's kitchen and an old-fashioned tea-room. There are kitschy vintage plates and paintings of cottages on the walls, and an antique chest of drawers laden with intriguing-looking potions in glass jars. The shelves are lined with dinky boho tea-cups, and glass jars of tea with mysterious hand-written labels: "Mind Cleansing", or "Feel Younger". The whole effect is completely other-worldly: you feel that anything could happen. Something hopefully involving scones.

Before we got down to spa business, I visited the bathroom. More plates and tea-shop nick-nackery on the wall, marvellous old-lady's-parlour wallpaper and enough B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful products to fill a boudoir. B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful is Lush's sophisticated cosmetics and fragrance range. Plenty of perfumes, powders and potions to play around with. Good stuff.

Back in the "kitchen", Mo asked me to pull up a chair at the big paint-splattered wooden kitchen table, gave me a glass of water and asked me to fill in a consultation form. Then she explained about the treatment I'd be having.

Which treatments did you have?

I had the Synaesthesia "multi-sensory massage" (£125, 120 minutes). Lush describe this treatment as "the most extraordinary blend of experiences, music, birdsong, colour, scent and a carefully choreographed massage, which takes you into a world of dreams".

I didn't know what to expect!

What were the treatments like?

Mo gave me a card, and asked me to pick one of the words on it that best fitted what I would like to achieve from the treatment. I could have ambition, or self-esteem; relax, have more perspective, feel younger, be unihibited... It was hard to choose. I was tempted by the offer of enlightenment but plumped for a treatment that would "develop my sixth sense and my sense of humour".

Once I'd chosen, Mo explained that she would be using a massage bar of natural butters and essential oils during the treatment. She let me have a sniff of the bar embossed with the word "humour" -- a heady, zesty lemongrass scent. Mo then asked me to choose one of the potions sitting on the dresser, which she would also use in the treatment. She went off to prepare the treatment room while I chose. Each of the different coloured bottles had a handwritten label, and a little tag tied round the neck with string. I was lured by "forgiveness" in a pretty violet bottle, but chose a bottle labelled "curious" on the label and "but quiet" on the tag. It felt like a scene from Alice in Wonderland. Curiouser and curiouser indeed...

Mo returned to the "kitchen" a few minutes later and took me through to the treatment room. This good-sized room was warm, dimly lit, and already full of the heady scent of "humour". Dry ice was pouring from a couple of sconces in the wall, and there was a big bunch of fresh flowers, lit by an orange light, casting psychedelic red and green shadows on the wall. It was all very dramatic.

Mo asked me to get changed while she left the room, and asked me to ring a little bell when I was ready for her. There was an enormous grey-tiled shower room for me to use, with a great selection of Lush shower gels, shampoos, conditioners and dusting powders. I had a quick power-shower and then hopped onto the heated couch, under some warm, brown towels. There's something very decadent about reclining on a couch and ringing a delicate little porcelain hand-bell to let your therapist know that you're ready.

Mo returned, and the treatment began. To call this massage unique would be an understatement. The massage started with Mo wafting more scented dry ice around me, out of a gorgeous silver kettle. Then she began the treatment with a beautiful hot and cold stone facial massage, before moving on to my arms, torso and legs. She used strong, bold massage strokes: really invigorating.

Lush have created a special soundtrack for you to listen to while the Synaesthesia treatment takes place. It's like a spa concept album: two hours of quirky, very English folk music with orchestral swoops, bird song and church bells thrown in for good measure. The music is loud, and totally unlike anything you'll have listened to during a spa treatment before. Enya it ain't. The massage is carefully choreographed to the music. When Mo finished massaging, say, my arm, and moved to my belly, the music changed, too. It was an extraordinary experience. I felt like I was taking part in a theatre piece.

Little humorous touches kept the whole treatment from sliding into overblown pomp. I particularly loved the way that the birdsong used throughout the treatment wasn't just your average tweety birds: I was giggling into the headrest while I had my shoulders massaged to the sounds of crows cawing. Until you've experienced a blissful belly massage to the croaking of a nightjar, you haven't lived.

I didn't doze off to sleep, but I definitely disappeared into a lovely dream-world full of church bells, and men playing the accordion.

How did you feel afterwards?

Quite out of it, actually. The whole experience was really trippy. I'd had a real hardcore aromatherapy massage. There'd been enough essential oil in that room to give anyone a William Blake moment.

What happens afterwards?

Mo said that I could relax on the couch and then, once I'd dressed again, she'd meet me back in the "kitchen". When I'd pulled my senses together enough to find my shoes, I returned to the kitchen to find that Mo had made me a cup of "humour" tea in a pretty vintage tea-cup. She also gave me a little tin, containing a "humour" massage bar and bubble bath bar, so that I could carry on expanding my sixth sense at home.

There's also a lovely herb garden that you can sit in for a post-treatment chill-out, complete with topiary hedges, white wooden benches, and herbs in railway-sleeper planters. It was a bit too cold to use the garden, though, so I stayed in the cosy kitchen.

Long-term effects

This treatment was supposed to stimulate my sixth sense. The night after my treatment, I had the most extraordinary, vivid dreams. I met the goddess Diana, visualised some lottery numbers, and dreamt that Gareth Gates had started working for The Good Spa Guide. It definitely felt like my subconscious had been given a bit of a stir around!

Was it worth it?

Absolutely. I felt like I was the centre of the universe for two hours. It was a very special spa experience.

What else could you have?

The Synaesthesia "multi-sensory massage" is the only treatment that Lush Spa are currently offering. They're planning to expand the spa menu to include facials and other varieties of massage. Once they've written the soundtracks, apparently.

Any special features?

Where do you start? The folk music, the hand-knitted tea-cosy, the garden, the vintage mirror with swallows on it: everything from the teacups to the dry ice was special.

Who do you think would like it?

English eccentrics. Jaded spa bunnies looking for a new spa experience. Lush fans, obviously.

If you don't like folk music: stay well away.

Why did you give the spa this rating?

We gave Lush spa 4 bubbles. Lush is an innovative and quirky spa with a wonderful eye for detail. There were more lovely touches at Lush spa than you'd find in a month of spa days at many places: fresh flowers, fresh fruit, even a heated towel rail for you to put your clothes on while you're having a treatment. How fantastic would that be on a cold day?

Their Synaesthesia signature treatment is pure spa-as-theatre and it works beautifully. It was so refreshing to experience something just so darned different in a spa.

Lush Spa certainly isn't all smoke and mirrors, though. Look behind the theatricality and you'll find a solid base of well thought-through massage techniques and aromatherapy wizardry, along with fantastically friendly, well-trained therapists.

One niggle: it felt like little consideration had been given to what the treatment room would look like from the couch. Some fancy-coloured lighting arrangement would have been a nicer thing to look at during the treatment, rather than a dull, white ceiling. And when I rolled over to get off the couch at the end of the treatment, I found myself staring blissfully at... a stainless-steel hot-stone warmer.

But overall, my two hours at Lush felt like a carefully planned spa journey, from the warm welcome at the start, to the beautifully presented tea at the end. Very impressive for a spa that had only been open for a few weeks.