Beauty Booty
Lots of exciting stuff going on at the Sense of Touch spa in Lan Kwai Fong. The entire first-floor reception area has been transformed into a cool retail space, selling some of the founders’ favorite beauty brands, accessories and books. In addition to offering Dermalogica, Aromatherapy Associates and Elemis, you can also buy organic mother and baby skincare label Erbaviva as well as Becca primers and powders and SpaRitual vegan nail lacquers. I was just getting over a cold when I went down to visit last Wednesday, and what a shame that their Vermont cold & flu healing patches had already been snapped up by eager spagoers. Gah! Also happening at the city’s favorite day spa chain: there’s a new Sense of Touch opening in Sai Kung (77 Man Nin St., Sai Kung, 2791-2278) with four treatment rooms and a private courtyard for events.
Various locations, including 1-5/F, 52 D’Aguilar St., Central, 2526-6918.
Secret Spa
Oh happy day! I’d always known that there’s a tiny little day spa somewhere in my building, but I hadn’t had a chance to give it a go until last Friday, when I surreptitiously grabbed the elevator to the 16th floor to You Shine, a one-woman operation run by the lovely, friendly Brigitte Weber, who offers top-notch facial treatments by Elemis, Murad and La Therapie at a fraction of the price of fancier day spas. The set-up is pretty simple, but once you clamber onto the decadently soft treatment bed and Brigitte’s magic hands start doing their stuff, you could pretty much be anywhere. I went for the newly-launched Naturelle d’Orient facial, which uses Argan oil (an oil made from the nut of the Moroccan Argan tree—prized for its beautifying properties and very “in” right now) to nourish the skin. It was beautifully uncomplicated: just a cleanse, face massage and masque followed by a soothing scalp massage—but that’s just my kinda facial. As of press time, Brigitte hasn’t yet released the prices for the facial I had, but treatments at You Shine start at $500 for a 60-minute Elemis Skin Specific facial, going up to $690 for a La Therapie Hydrapeel treatment.
1604B, 16/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Rd., Sheung Wan, 2581-1339. www.youshine.net.
Did I mention that I’ve been sick all week? Certainly, everyone I work with has been subject to my hacking cough, nose-blowing and overall air of martyrdom (“No, I couldn’t possibly go home and rest just yet, Skin Deep must be written!”), and everyone has been thoughtfully dispensing advice and remedies, left, right and center—from gargling with salt water to um... drinking a pint of wine. But one remedy my friend D swears by is oregano oil, which you can put into a drink or directly on your tongue. “It’s hard to find here,” she tells me. Well, I immediately took it upon myself to locate a vial of the stuff in Hong Kong, if nothing else but to prove her wrong. So, D, Oregano oil can be purchased from health foods store Little Giant (15/F Chung Wai Commercial Building, 447-449 Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay, 2573-3610, www.littlegiant.com.hk), costimg $360 for a 60ml bottle. Who needs Mr. Know-It-All, eh?