How a beauty deal should work....

I have just arrived home from the best facial I have had in a long time. I fell asleep — twice — waking out of my massage coma only after starting to snore and then having one of those involuntary muscle spasms that also had me making a weird noise...…I chose to pretend it didn't happen.

The facial was an hour long and where in the past I have been left alone for the time that the steamer and face mask is applied, the beautician I had organised everything so that at no point was I left unattended or feeling like I wasn't having a treatment.

The steam was applied while my face was cleansed, followed by extraction, exfoliation and then the massage that put me to sleep. A little later I had a neck and shoulder massage and then a face mask was applied and left as I enjoyed a head massage.

The atmosphere was perfect. The music playing in the background seemed to coordinate with the whole routine, although I’m not sure if that was just coincidence or my imagination.

The reason I labelled this post 'how a beauty deal should work' is because I purchased the facial as a package (which included a manicure) from Wahanda. I love having facials, but I don't always love the price, so Wahanda and other deal websites allow me to treat myself. The risk with that is you really don't know what you are going to get in terms of service because the pictures and the description can be deceptive. It doesn't help either that reviews can be so mixed.

Putting all that aside, if you do go ahead and book and make it to your appointment you can end up feeling like you are getting a lesser service than full price customers — something I experienced at a well known beauty clinic that allowed me leave with bits of face mask on my skin that I only noticed when I got into the car.

This wasn't my experience today and that it how it should be because now I would actually consider returning and paying full price, which after all the point of running a promotion?

In case you are wondering, I visited was The Retreat based just off Oxford Street in London, which uses Dermalogica products. I found some of the products very strong smelling but this is a minor point. If I had to find a fault it did take me months to secure an appointment that was in the evening (the team appears to be very small) but it was worth wait.