The promise: With eight treatment rooms, social manicure and pedicure areas and a custom-designed spray tan space, Spring enters the Ponsonby scene creating a new benchmark for beauty and wellness aficionados.
The place: The light and inviting space is indeed impressive, with a stylish neutral fit-out, lifted with cute pops of colour in the mani/pedi/reflexology area. The tiled spray tan room with shower is a spacious standout, compared with the usual cramped cubicles, and two double rooms accommodate treatment for couples.
Many of the interior items and furniture are sourced from Bali, where three larger Spring spas are picking up international awards. Owner Ina Bajaj, who also founded East Day Spa and now splits her time between New Zealand and driving Asian expansion, used another ex-pat, Peter Reid (who co-founded Republic Home), to source her soft furnishings.
The practice: I'm welcomed with the offer of a drink while I fill out my details, before being ushered through to try the Warm Milk & Sandalwood Pedicure.The leaner bed is comfortable and there's plenty of new magazines to leaf through.
I sip on a detox tea and lemon water while therapist Autumn sets about making my feet sandal-worthy so I can step from Spring into summer. (Yes, she’s heard that one before, but is good-natured about it, with Ina having first employed the experienced therapist in Queenstown, joking she couldn’t go past having Autumn follow Spring to Auckland).
After a foot soak and file, comes a sugar rub and then a welcome foot and lower leg massage with capuacu butter, a moisturising Brazilian plant extract. A cuticle serum is applied and then my toes are painted in Vinylux Pink Bikini, leaving them feeling soft and looking pretty dandy.
The price: This 60-minute relaxation pedicure costs $80, with shorter versions available. If your feet are particularly gnarly, Autumn recommends the more vigorous Margaret Dabbs Supreme Pedicure. Having had it at East, I would concur.
This English podiatrist’s products, using emu oil, are especially softening and the pedicure goes to town on dry skin, so it makes a good season starter, with the Milk & Sandalwood choice being more cosseting.
The verdict: The puff is not just hot air. Spring is indeed a fresh addition to the local spa scene, delivering polished and professional treatments in a cocoon of contemporary cool.
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