Éminence Organic Skincare Prescriptive Facial

This week's tried and tested...
20 July 2012

“Small but perfectly formed” are the words that come to mind on entering Marylebone spa Chi Yu Wellness.

“Small but perfectly formed” are the words that come to mind on entering Marylebone spa Chi Yu Wellness. A tiny shop front opens into a little front room, with Japanese-inspired decor of white and wood, and I’m shown to a little sofa to fill out the now de-rigueur spa questionnaire. I dash off answers as quickly as I can so we can get down to what I think of as the real business of spas: lying on a cosy bed and being cleansed and relaxed into a light doze. Lovely.

But after my therapist, spa owner Mami Tsang, leads me down a little staircase into the cool basement treatment rooms, it seems she has other things in mind first. There’s a five-minute grilling about my skin - the good, the bad, and the spotty. This isn’t just about relaxation: the prescriptive facial from Hungarian beauty brand Éminence Organic Skincare focuses on serious results.

I’m told the various elements are personally prepared for each individual, and that’s born true by the endless bottles and unctions lined up and ready to be mixed together according to skin demands. Mine is thirsty in some areas, and oily in others, I’m told, so different masques and cleansing potions are picked for different areas of my face. There’s coconut milk cleanser to gently remove make-up, stone crop gel wash with tiny cleaning granules, rosehip & maize exfoliating masque, AHA fruit pulp treatment and a bunch of soothing serums.

Even with a bit of mixing going on in the background, after only five minutes of amazingly relaxing movements I’m already half asleep: my therapist, the spa’s owner Mami Tsang, had amazingly firm but soothing hands. My nose was enjoying it too: instead of chemicals, the products are all natural and mostly made of fresh fruit, with the light scent of a fruit salad.

I’m told Éminence is the favoured brand of Renée Zellweger and Jessica Biel, the latter whom once flew the company’s founder to her film set for a facial spruce-up. Even after over an hour’s relaxation, that left my skin super-soft, I still think that’s ridiculous - but still, if I had that kind of cash rolling around, I reckon I might do it too.

Luckily, living in London, Chi Yu is here and there’s no need. One of the most thoughtful parts of the facial was the sprinkling of Eminence’s Sun Defence Mineral Powders at the end. It means you can get back out onto the streets without looking like a red, shiny ball. And with the spa tucked away behind Bond Street and near the Wallace Collection, there’s lots to go and take your newly-facial’d face and blissed-out body to go and see.

Éminence Organic Skincare Prescriptive Facial, available now, £80 for 60 minutes at Chi Yu Wellness Centre, Marylebone. (chi-yu.co.uk)

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