Stand by for a short series of insights into West Coast spa treatments. We've just put up our Spa Spotlight on Vancouver on The Good Spa Guide. These entries give you more details about the treatments at the spas we sampled.
This large and sociable hotel spa offers three floors of Absolute Spa delight. I was booked for the Absolute Signature Pedicure (60 minutes, $75). Once I was checked in, my therapist, Catherine, led me upstairs to the manicure-pedicure area, where she had prepared a bowl of warm water. I was sitting right by the picture window, with a view of the rain outside, feeling deliciously cosy. I took off my shoes and rolled up my jeans, then let my feet soak in the warmth as I filled in my consultation form and Catherine brought me some cranberry juice. I chose a bright pink LA Positively Hot colour from the OPI palette, and we began.
Catherine buffed my legs and feet with a delicious chocolatey-scented Vanilla Cocoa Luffa Body Scrub, from the Canadian-manufactured Spa Binge Organics line, whose products are not only organic, but free from parabens, vegan certified, carbon neutral and not tested on animals. She then trimmed and shaped my nails, banished my cuticles, and filed away determinedly at the hard skin on the soles of my feet.
Once I was deemed ready for colour, Catherine painted on my chosen polish with a sure hand. It was beautifully bright compared to the grey skies outside. To close, Catherine massaged Vanilla Cocoa Body Shea Lotion into my skin and, for a moment, I could have been in Tahiti.
When the treatment was over, Catherine coaxed my feet into flip-flops, so that the colour could dry, and took me down to the spa's small lunch area. Here, I relaxed a little and ate a complimentary chicken salad -- a nice touch -- although you can also order sandwiches, salads and smoothies. Then, sadly, it was back out into the rain… but now with a colour lifting my spirits inside my shoes.
Try this treatment if: you need presentable feet with perfectly pretty toes.
Get in touch
Call: +1 604 648 2772
Email: [email protected]
Web: Absolute Spa Group
Single Spy
27th February 2014
Spy Likes:
Warm floors when you put your bare feet upon them; heated treatment beds; soft towels; attention to detail, so that your treatment room looks and smells beautiful when you arrive in it.
Spy Dislikes:
Cold floors when you put your bare feet upon them; therapists who use your treatment time to write up a list of product "recommendations" that they hope you will purchase.
