Ace-Makeup

Winter skin: make-up artist Sarah Jagger reviews a gorgeous spa in the Cotswold

Spa review from Sarah Jagger

Spa review Sarah Jagger
Saying goodbye to ‘winter warn’ skin in luxury

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that keeping the skin hydrated this time of year can be really tricky – I’m glad it’s the season to cover up legs in tights and trousers because mine seem to stay dry and scaly no matter how much moisturiser I slather on them. My husband and I have a little ritual where each winter we escape to a spa for the day to recharge our batteries and cheer ourselves up in the midst cold and gloomy winter weather. We’re both on the same page when it comes to choosing places that have a natural or organic spa menu and this year we headed to Barnsley House in The Cotswolds, making it just in time to be snowed in for two days. Now let me tell you- if I’m going to be stuck indoors for two days it may as well be in a magnificent 17^thcentury mansion! The Garden Spa at Barnsley House is a completely holistic experience. The spa uses a lot of Aromatherapy Associates products and we both chose the ‘Enrich’ experience – a head-to-toe treatment to get to work on both body and mind. The treatment begins with a full body brushing, which was slightly uncomfortable but I put up with it because I knew the results would be worth it (no pain no gain, right?). Then there was a salt and coffee body polish followed by a triple layering of serum, oil and body butter, finished with a full face and body massage. Hands and feet were treated to an extra hydrating mud mask. Each product from the enrich range was created, my therapist tells me, by Aromatherapy Associates, to evoke the feeling of being in an exotic Moorish spa. The blend includes geranium and tuberose for their uplifting benefits, luxurious jasmine and tonka bean to nourish and revive, while b

abassu oil takes care of deep moisturisation with powerful antioxidant properties. Vigorous body brushing aside, the whole experience was an hour and a half of complete bliss and my skin has never felt better. I loved it so much in fact that I promptly bought half the Enrich range to take home with me. It may not transport me to a Moorish spa every time I use the body butter it but it does take me back to my romantic weekend at Barnsley House; and I may even be able to bare my legs by the time summer arrives. The Enrich treatment at the Barnsley House Garden Spa costs £95 (85 minutes).

www.barnsleyhouse.com