It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas, and I, for one, am loving it! Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and the sweet aroma of Christmas cookies and puddings, baking and steaming away, but not only in the kitchen…
Devarana Spa is found in Dusit Hotels around Thailand, in Manila, Guam, The Maldives, Nairobi and Cairo, and they are getting into the festive spirit, with a holiday season rejuvenation package: Christmas Body Essence.
The name alone sounds delicious, but just wait until you experience it for yourself. If you’ve ever wanted to smear yourself in sugar cookie dough, bathe in Christmas pudding mix or cuddle a life-sized gingerbread man, then this is most definitely the decadent Christmas spa treatment for you!
Available throughout December 2017, this 90-minute package, the Christmas Body Essence experience, includes a 30-minute gingerbread sugar body scrub, followed by a 60-minute aromatic oil massage of your choosing. This is a bundle of Christmas bliss.
The gingerbread sugar scrub, is perfect for the winter season, spiced with Christmas flavours of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and grapefruit, together with brown sugar and oatmeal. It is a gentle exfoliating scrub to remove dead skin cells and replenish with moisture. The spice mix is warming and has natural antibacterial properties – a boost for the circulation and for the immune system.
Devarana Spa is always an impressive treat, but pampering just got that bit sweeter. You’ll receive all of the usual courtesies that come with the signature Devarana spa luxury. You are greeted with a welcome drink and a cold towel, caring smiles and a thorough consultation, before being guided through to your treatment room.
Every care is taken to ensure your absolute comfort, whether you feel a little chilly or need a glass of water, nothing is too much trouble. My therapist Jan in the Bangkok Devarana Spa deserves a special mention. She spoke excellent English and instantly put me at ease.
She wanted to ensure that I was comfortable being scrubbed under my arms and such, in case I was ticklish, and warned me before placing hot towels or warm water with the scrub on my skin, to make sure I wouldn’t experience the slightest discomfort: the consummate professional!
It was a glorious experience, but I wish I had remembered to have breakfast first, as the delectable scent made my stomach rumble more than once! After the scrub, I was assisted to the shower, so I wouldn’t slip on the cookie-dough-esque layer on my skin, and the powerful blast from their amazing showerhead had me clean from top to toe in mere minutes.
For the massage portion of the proceedings, I opted for a Swedish massage, with their custom-designed ‘Mellow’ oil, consisting of rose, lavender and chamomile essential oils. ‘Cherish’ was my favourite, with sandalwood, but I was feeling ‘Mellow’, and its always good to go with your instinct, based on your mood, when it comes to essential oils.
The Swedish massage was relaxing and fluid, as Jan seemed to effortlessly float around the table without so much as a squeak of a floorboard. She could well have been on a Back to the Future hoverboard for all I knew, my eyes were closed and I was deeply entrenched in bliss-mode.
The price of this festively inspired indulgence is: THB 3,450 at Devarana Spas in Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai; PHP 3750 in Manila; USD 150 in The Maldives and Guam; KSH 8,500 in Nairobi; and EGP 1,650 (plus tax and service charge) in Cairo.
If you don’t get chance to visit a Devarana Spa before the end of the year, then a new programme will be launched in 2018. Taking inspiration from traditional Thai recipes and medicines, known as ‘Tamrab’, six different spa packages will be available throughout the year at all of their spas worldwide.
I wish I didn’t have to wait for the penultimate one, from September to November 2018… Their ‘Athlete Reviver Devarana Tamrab’ sounds like something tailor-made for the likes of me! Watch this space, as it might be a November birthday treat for myself…
For more information on Devarana Spa or to make your own reservations, visit their website: www.devaranaspa.com
*Some images courtesy of Devarana Spa