A long-standing customer of our Chelsea boutique is also called Donna. Every time I see her we play the ‘hi Donna, hi Donna! Good to see you Donna, you too Donna’ game. When I started to see her more regularly she told me she was frequenting the area often as she was opening one of her famous Hand and Foot Spas in Chelsea. Now I'm a girl who likes a regular mani and pedi. Manicures I do myself - only because I can't stand an imperfect nail so tend to paint them in bed every second evening - but pedicures I have undertaken by a professional. So I was delighted to hear Donna's doors would soon be opening near me.
I made an appointment to check it out properly on a recent Saturday afternoon post-work. Received the warmest welcome by a thoroughly charming girl at the reception desk who was so effusive I thought she must have been told I was a friend of the owner. Down the stairs I went where I was immediately greeted by a young man who asked me what I would like to drink. Sparkling water. ‘Ice and lemon?’ Yes please!
I was then whisked off to the biggest most luxurious pedicure station you have ever seen - these aren't pedicure stations, they’re thrones! My drink was placed beside me and a rack of magazines in front. Then we all looked at my skinny skinny jeans. No problem, they wrapped me in a towel and whipped them off - nothing was going to hinder my flawless pedicure experience. To say these people are professionals is like saying a nun believes in God - they are TOTALLY into what they do and they really do what it says on the tin. There are no facials, waxing or pushy add-ons. They are ALL about hands and feet. It was literally one of the best pedicure experiences I've ever had.
There's something I've learnt recently about a good pedicure and foot massage - it should be undertaken by someone with soft squishy hands for maximum comfort and pleasure. You don't want someone with skinny scratchy hands, and I wouldn't put it past Donna to inspect the hands of all her technicians on a daily basis, so exacting is she. This is a place run like clockwork, with military precision, which is exactly what you want from somewhere that's performing a beauty treatment on you.
After 45 minutes of total bliss I was eased back into my Paige Verdugo leggings, strapped back into my shoes and shown gently to the door. The perfect spa experience (from a woman who's had her fair share).
