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Forget yummy mummies – this is a spa for young, hip, good-looking types – be they staff or customers.

Experience: Gina Conway is a trendy spa and salon in the salubrious surroundings of Westbourne Grove, an area that’s overtaken neighbouring Notting Hill in the style stakes.

I had an Aveda Elemental Nature Facial with Botanical Skin Resurfacing, which lasted an hour and included a facial scrub, extraction (squeezing spots), face mask, facial massage and moisturiser at the end. The products were all organic Aveda products and smelt divine. At the end, my face was a little blotchy but my skin calmed down after a few hours and the next day my skin was soft and fresh.

Cost: The Aveda Elemental Nature Facial costs £70 for one hour and £50 for 30 minutes.

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Location: Gina Conway, 62 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5SH; tel. 020 7229 6644; www.ginaconway.co.uk

Ginny McGrath

Oxygen and chocolate brownies

Bliss spa, Chelsea

A blast of the triple oxygen facial at a spartan London day spa that serves wine and brownies with your treatment.

Experience: To call the triple oxygen facial merely a facial is misleading. It starts with a cleanse and exfoliation, a peel and a couple of masks, which are accompanied by massages and finally the blast of oxygen across the face. Notions of claustrophobia were tested by the appliance of plastic over one of the face masks (with a hole over the mouth and nose), which was then covered with a warm damp towel. This was surprisingly relaxing and "opens the pores before extraction", a delicate phrase for the squeezing of blackheads.

The immediate results are not always that pleasing, due to red patches and blotchiness, but a day later my skin looked refreshed and felt smoother. I felt energised after the treatment and strangely relaxed, to the point of smiling at people on the Tube.

Cost: The 85-minute treatment costs £145 and includes cleansing, exfoliating, a fruit acid wash, wrap, extractions, face mask, face pack and oxygen spray, as well as some gentle massage during the wraps, peel and masks.

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