Oh the deep, deep, delight of being able to work right up till the doorbell rang, and then spend the next two hours in serious pamper heaven!
Karen, owner of Harmony Balm Spa in Sale, is perhaps one of the lovliest people I know, which makes any pamper session even more special - and this time she's come up with a corker of an idea!
I've probably confessed this before, but I'm a strange combination of always busy but naturally lazy. I work from home and there's always a last email to send, or a deadline to meet, and this usually results in me either cancelling or rearranging what I have come to term 'all about me' appointments. To the point, in fact, where the last time I had my nails done was early 2012! It's all just too much hassle!
So, when I learned that Karen had decided to introduce a mobile service, my fingers fell over themselves in their haste to make an appointment. And what an appointment! Cashing in a voucher my dear hubby had bought me for Christmas (he knows what I like) I booked a full body massage AND a mani-pedi!
Karen arrived on the dot and was soon set up in my sitting room; delicious spa fragrances filled the air as we picked through the range of nail colours she'd brough along for my choice.
There's not much to say about mani-pedis, but Karen is very good! I usually avoid pedicures - my tootsies are delicate flowers that don't take well to being filed and prodded and rasped and whatevered, but this was wholly painless, plus I could see afterwards that it really does make a difference!
But the massage...oh the massage! Karen mixes her own essential oils for massage, and also works with Spieza Organics, a wonderful business based in Cornwall, whose ethical and innovative approach to creating truly effective skin care products means you can trust them with your skin, no matter how sensitive.
In addition to delightfully fragranced oils, Karen uses hot shells. These very pretty palm-sized tiger clam shells come from villages in the Philippines where their contents form part of the daily diet. A teabag-like sachet is placed inside each shell; this is the 'LavaGel' (a mix including algae and sea kelp) which, when combined with salt water, generates enough heat for an hour-long massage.
The heat produced is consistent and controlled, unlike a hot stone massage, and the shells fit snugly into the palm of the hand, but curve outwards too, allowing a really deep tissue massage without any digging in or poking about!
Karen is a truly skilled masseur. I have endured several lectures in my life from physios trying to fix neck and shoulder issues (I'm a WRITER, of course I'm online all day!) and Karen's smart fingers went straight to the source of the problem...but unlike physios she resisted any attempt to 'cure' and simply went for 'ease'. Bliss. Pure, unadulterated bliss.
I can't recommend Karen and Harmony Balm enough, whether you want an excuse to escape daily life and visit the Spa itself, or want it to come to you - you're in for a premium treat.
www.harmonybalm.com/about/
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