USP 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.

AMBIENCE The grand portico entrance leads off the bustling high street through elegant wrought-iron gates into the airy salon. Upstairs the ceilings are high, the room is pale and airy and there’s a soft hubbub of stylists chatting to clients.
It couldn’t be more different to downstairs, where the spa treatments are done.

The subterranean network of treatments rooms below the salon felt dark and close after the freshness of upstairs – the ceilings are low, walls are painted in sludgy greens and browns and it’s silent apart from the soft rhythmic tribal music playing throughout.

Once I got used to the change of surroundings I relaxed, and was soothed by the soft glow of candles and quiet ambience. My treatment room was sparse, with natural wood floors, tea-lights and piles of dark stones on the shelves for decoration. The towels and sheets were spotless, the temperature in the room just right and the ethnic music was interesting without being distracting.

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There’s no separate changing room which means no wandering round the spa in a bathrobe for the bashfully-inclined.

EXPERIENCE I had a Purifying Stone Infusion Massage then an Aveda Elemental Nature Facial with Botanical Skin Resurfacing, which lasted an hour each.

The massage started with a foot cleanse in a bowl, then I chose a ylang ylang aromatherapy massage oil from a selection of three oils. My therapist, Salima, was a consummate professional – she started me off inhaling a few breaths of delicious mint oil to clear my head then gave me the firm massage I’d asked for, but kept checking I was happy with the pressure and room temperature.

Afterwards I felt that the knots in the shoulders had been loosened, I’d been cocooned from the real world and my worries for an hour, and pampered – just the desired effect.

I was equally happy with the facial. It 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.

After an odd-tasting cup of Aveda tea and glass of water, the therapist said I’d benefit from a course of treatments, which sounded a bit like a sales pitch together with the Aveda product list she gave me at the end. That said – it was tempting to buy the products, all fashionably designed in simple packaging and stacked in neat rows on vast shelves upstairs.

I finished my morning spa session had a Hair Spa (45 minutes – 1hour) with Patrice, a trendy Parisian girl. It started in a dedicated Hair Spa salon downstairs with a hair wash, scalp massage and complete hair conditioning treatment plus hand massage, and finished with a blow dry upstairs.

This is a unique treatment and one I’d definitely have again – it revives hair that’s been battered by products, blow drying and styling, and if you have the blow dry, you leave feeling glamorous.

FOOD Food and drinks on-site are provided by the nearby Natural Café, which offers smoothies, muffins, quiches, wraps and other more or less indulgent goodies. There’s also the funny Aveda tea and constant offers of water and freshly-made coffee.

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

WALLET WATCH The Purifying Stone Infusion Massage costs £90 for one hour or £50 for 30 minutes. The Aveda Elemental Nature Facial costs £70 for one hour and £50 for 30 minutes, plus an extra £15 to include the Botanical Skin Resurfacing. The Hair Spa costs between £50 and £90 depending on the experience level of the stylist (£25-£45 without blow dry).

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

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