Writing about my lovely experience at Bliss Spa at The W Hotel has been one of those things on my very long to-do list for this blog for a very long time. However, last night, I was treated to An Evening At Bliss (thanks to the lovely folks from Flare Communications and Bliss Spa itself) so I really can’t make excuses any more. So here’s a little rambling about why Bliss is wonderful, with reviews of the two treatments I received (the Blissage75 massage and the Triple Oxygen Facial) to follow…
Why Bliss Spa and The W are a perfect match (even if one likes Grease and one likes Snatch – joke for A*Teens fans only!):
What I love about The W is that although it’s a five-star hotel, it’s not one of the traditional older “institutions” that HK has in abundance. Instead, it’s contemporary luxury with a feeling of individuality to both its design and services (and a few Asian eyebrows were raised at staff wearing Converse!). Similarly, although Bliss is a luxury spa, it’s not of those deathly-quiet ones where you feel like a monk taking holy orders. There’s a sense of fun in addition to the obvious quality on offer and fantastic attention to detail in quirky little touches. Names with a sense of humour, rubber ducks peeking out from every orifice and a Brownie Buffet.
Hang on, did you say Brownie Buffet?!
Yes and it’s amazing as it sounds. There’s a whole buffet full of delectable treats laid on for your gastronomic pleasure, including cheese and crackers, olives, homemade lemonade (delish) and various teas. But it’s obviously all about the brownies, which are actually amongst the best I’ve tasted in HK.
Pic does neither brownies nor view justice - apols
Defiantly un-shop-bought or mass-produced, they’re gooey, chocolatey, fudgey, nutty, melt-in-the-mouth lush. And at Bliss, no mardy therapist will slap away your hand from reaching for your third… or in my case, seventh… brownie. Julie from Bliss told me that in the States, they have cook-offs amongst local bakeries for who produces the brownies for their spas – such a cute idea! They should do some HK variant – daan tart, anyone?!
Other cool things, in no particular order:
- The highest spa in HK (72nd floor, biatches!) means you get amazing views over HK, especially at night, and thankfully they’ve made huge windows for you to enjoy this (as you can see from the banner picture, which I can take no credit for – it’s from their Facebook). And a definite improvement on the claustrophobic cupboards you often have local facials in here.
- Relaxation lounges have an iPod dock so you can listen to your own music whilst you wait.
- The room where you get those messy detox wrap things actually has a shower above the bed where you lie, so you don’t even have to move to get clean. They should clearly install this technology for all beds. But when you do move, you head for these amazing showers that completely immerse you in yummy smells (whilst still getting you clean, obviously). Staff wear flippers. Amazing!
- All this is very well and good, but at the end of the day, you’re essentially going to be spending your time face down on a bed and all the rubber ducks in the world won’t matter unless Bliss’ treatments (and products) are amazing and genuinely work. Which they do. (Phew!)
Leading us nicely onto…
Alas, I’m such a Bliss junkie, most of the products we tried at the evening I was already familiar with – and with names like FatGirl Slim, how can you resist?! In fact, I think some other bloggers thought I was some Bliss mole planted to indoctrinate them to the ways of Bliss such was my freaky product knowledge (alas, not guilty either). Sadly for my bank account, I did meet some new products and I now have some more stuff on my wish-list:
Steep Clean Pore Purifying Mask – The gorgeous Bastian from Flare totally sold this deep-clean mask to me! A small test of the blackhead-banisher definitely made me want to try it out, if only for the dual-coloured-ness of it (it comes out in two streams of blue and green – like toothpaste – which encourages you to really massage it together on your face)! My pores are so big that small animals probably fall into them when I’m asleep so the claim that 73% of people noticed a reduction in size can only be a good thing.
Didn't know Fu Manchu was a blogger
Poetic Waxing – I watched two girls get waxed with this first-hand and was amazed at the results. No squeals of pain, no watering eyes, no fingernail-indentations in the counter, not even much redness. For a waxing virgin like me, it also looks ridiculously easy to use at home – heat in the microwave, apply, tap to see if ready, peel off, look fab. Plus you can pretend you have a moustache like Peggy did (hat optional). We also got to examine the removed wax complete with hairs – luverly. But solid proof that this works.
Body Butter – I tried a sampler size of their lemon and sage body butter before and loved both the scent and the creamy, dreamy effects. Marcia Kilgore, founder of Bliss, is also responsible for one of my other favourite body butters (Soap & Glory’s The Righteous Butter) so the omens are good.
So overall, a great night (and extra thanks to Bastian from Flare and Julie from Bliss for being super-duper lovely to me). I hope I get invited again, although I clearly need no conversion to the wonders of Bliss and you can expect reviews of some of the other products in my goodie bag sometime soon!
[Banner photo from W Hotel Hong Kong’s website]
Through The Looking Glass 