‘The Spell’ Foot Treatment at Lush

If ever I’m looking for a melon-shaped soap or blue powdered bath bomb, I might step into that shop of a thousand fragrances, Lush. But it wouldn’t occur to me to get my feet massaged there in an abundance of mystical rituals. Yet now you can as Lush has launched its newest product, ‘The Spell’, at its Kings Road spa branch.

The Spell is billed as ‘an enchanting take on the concept of a foot treatment… a magical journey to help you move forward in life by focusing on the tensions in your feet, shoulders and legs’. At just over an hour for £50, it’s around the cost of any foot massage but also incorporates elements of reflexology.

The experience is saturated with rituals and spell-like elements. Even the spa is nothing like the usual white sterilised lab. It’s decorated with pewter jugs, copperware, pictures with nature motifs, oak country dressers – everything to give you a rural feel.

First, you write a worry onto paper placed into a copper teapot which is later burnt. Then, after a brief consultation, you accompany the therapist – and all Lush spa therapists are professionally trained – around the store choosing products that will be part of your treatment.

The first part of the foot massage involves the therapist washing and scrubbing your feet in a pail before you are laid down to soothing music. The music itself has been specially composed, each treatment having its own soundtrack. Mine was a folksy number and immediately I was transported to a land of frog croaks, birdsong and a woman speaking affirmations.

Not only were my feet massaged but I also had a hot stone grounding my stomach, a head and shoulder massage and a light leg frisk. The reflexology means that it sometimes feels like a whole body massage as other bits of your body – in my case, my solar plexus – are jolted into feeling as the soles of your feet are gently pummelled.

After a very soothing hour of pretty smells and strange incantations, I was given some lemon and ginger tea as well as an affirmation to carry around with me. OK, so I’ve lost the affirmation already – a bit of card with instructions to feel grounded and move forward – and yes, it’s all a bit Wicker Man. But it’s a really enjoyable hour of being cast under a spell and you come out smelling of, um, melons and things.

Lush Spa
123 Kings Road
Chelsea
SW3 4PL

Tel: 020 7349 9648

Image by Furryscaly courtesy of Flickr