By the end of winter my skin is always tired of the cold and dulled by too much time in the dark. It is lacklustre and drier than usual and so the chance to indulge in a facial at the Gwinganna Wellness Spa was exactly what I needed to get me ready for the shift to warmer weather and back on track with my skincare routine. I chose the Extreme Hydration Facial spa treatment because it promised ‘intense moisturising’ and frankly, because ‘extreme’ sounds like the cool option.
Spending an hour simply sitting in Rhiannon’s spa room would add a few years to your life, such is the life affirming vibe. She has been a therapist for eight years now and has honed an incredible set of skills that make this facial more of a whole-body experience than a skincare routine. I am invited to sit down and close my eyes, taking deep breaths of four natural essential oil-based scents and choosing the one that I want as the foundation of my experience. I choose Wild Woud, a natural, mood enhancing fragrance from the Vanessa Megan range, that feels grounding and earthy. It has notes of Bergamot, Cardamon and Sandalwood that feel comforting and restorative.
When it comes to spa experiences it is the small things that come together to make a luxe experience. The table is curved so that my knees are raised (if you can lie flat for eighty minutes without discomfit you are under 21 and probably don’t need this facial), it is heated, and the music suggests that I am in bamboo forest, not too far from a very happy little stream.
The facial begins with some deep breathes of the fragrance I have chosen, and a strong pressure massage that makes me instantly relaxed. This is my life now. Rhiannon begins by giving me a thorough, and confronting, diagnosis of my skin’s health. There are things going on I have conveniently ignored and other things I didn’t even realise were happening. She tailors the facial to my skin’s needs and begins with a rich, creamy cleanser – Petitgrain Cream Cleanser, explaining as she does that it that is both clarifying and soothing, created with shea butter to clean without drying.
Rhiannon also checks in with me about the sort of pressure I like from a massage. No one has ever asked me about this before in a facial and what you usually get is quite a gentle, if not feathery, touch. I ask for strong pressure. And she delivers. As she cleanses and every time she touches my skin, she is firm and intentional, and it elevates this to a powerful healing routine. After the cleanse, she exfoliates my skin with the powdered Prebiotic and C Polishing Exfoliating Powder, a skin polishing exfoliator with rice enzymes, yoghurtene and grapefruit extract. It is both a natural chemical exfoliator and a gritty, physical one. I already use this product, but Rhiannon uses more of it with less water mixed in and the result is a more powerful exfoliation. She explains the science of what she is doing as she goes and, as someone who spends a lot of time reading about the science of skincare, I am impressed at the depth of her knowledge.
My shiny skin, clear or any epidermal debris, is then cooled with a mist of Rose Hydrosol and sluiced with a Collagen Boosting Gel, rich in skin care’s queen ingredient - hyaluronic acid as well as a suite of phytochemicals and amino acids all of which penetrate the upper layer of the skin and deliver moisture to the cells beneath. More importantly it smells deliciously of liquorice. Rhiannon puts a second serum over the first, this time The Green Coffee and Gotu Kola Beauty Veil, another collagen promoting superstar. She uses a gently vibrating wand to massage these into my skin, explaining that stimulating the skin brings the blood to the surface, encourages lymphatic drainage and actually increases the absorption of your skincare. I can feel the tension between my eyes dissipating.
Because this spa treatment is, after all, ‘extreme’, she uses a rich emollient balm over the top of these serum to penetrate them deep into the skin. The Intensive Dermal Repair balm, already a favourite of my skincare routine is rich in Evening Primrose and Rosehip oils, powerful occlusives. It is then time for a Deep Conditioning mask, a salon only product, rich in soothing Blue Tansy, which is applied in a thick layer across my face, neck and decolletage all the way to my shoulders. While I marinate, Rhiannon asks me to choose which parts of my body I want massaged. I choose my head and my hands, and she uses a Peruvian Flower Nourishing Hand and Body Cream on my hands and arms. It is as wonderful as it sounds. I can barely stay awake but refuse to miss a moment of the treatment.
After the mask is wiped away with a warm cloth, she reapplies the mist and the two serums, this time leaving them on my skin and applying over the top a Marine Collagen cream infused with Tasmanian Kelp and powerful anti-aging hero Banksia. Around my eyes she pats in a Rose and Copper eye cream designed to plump and brighten, and she finishes the facial treatment with a rich lip balm. Finally, when I’m no longer sure who or where I am, she invites me to slowly return to the room, breathe deeply into the scent I began with (a powerful reconnection that is a beautiful addition to the treatment) and finishes with a connecting touch down my body and feet. I am undone. Or rather, redone. My skin looks noticeably brighter and feels in all ways plumper and more nourished. I leave the spa feeling as though my face now looks like it is ready for spring, rather than appearing to have barely survived winter.
- Lynnette Lounsbury