Best spa in London for: Celebrity treatment
Hyde Park is one of London’s most prestigious addresses, and being a sister property to the Four Seasons Hotel London adds prestige. DorchesterBefore you enter the shining revolving doors of 45 Park Lane. The two hotels have a close working relationship, and guests at Dorchester are welcome to use the 45’s Spa facilities. Collaborative efforts have increased further lately. Uliana Gout of London Aesthetic Medicine is now a Dorchester resident and founder of London Aesthetic Medicine. She offers her award-winning treatments in the 45 Park Lane private rooms every week.
If you want to use the spa, you must stay at either 45 Park Lane or The Dorchester. Guests can enjoy manicures, massages, and Valmont facials in one of just two treatment rooms (book ahead to avoid disappointment), while the scent of rose, clove, and sandalwood floats gently overhead from bespokely created Ishka candles. The designers did a fantastic job of playing with space and light despite the subterranean location three floors below. A high-shined ceiling above the pool and Liberty print mosaic walls create an illusion of height. Honey-toned bamboo beams are strung across the ceilings to dampen acoustics and prevent any unpleasant echoes after a massage.
No space to store your items? No problem. Uliana will be able to help those more interested in skincare than a pool dip and a back massage. You’ll be ushered into a huge room with views over Hyde Park, outfitted with a profoundly comfortable treatment bed, a thick, heavy robe to change into, and an expansive coffee table laden with a selection of teas, home-baked treats, and Gout’s tomes on aesthetics—she’s literally written the book on skin treatments. After the treatment, you can enjoy a glass of green juice.
Treatment to book
Dr Uliana’s LAM Luxe Celeb Facial. Celebrity is definitely the key word: What followed felt like straight out of Hollywood—a laundry list of buzzy ingredients and machines working in unison to tighten, treat, hydrate, and smooth my tired London-battered visage (utterly charming Uliana will not rest until you know what exosomes are and has delivered them to your face with well-practiced hands). For 90 minutes I felt like a Kardashian. It felt a bit like a whirlwind: an extensive questionnaire covering everything from diet to body image perception kickstarts the process, and two additional therapists stay on hand throughout to attend to the light levels and music volume at your exacting behest—and to fan your face after a particularly tingly exfoliant. Five treatments followed. Then, each spot was meticulously found and treated. A radio frequency wand, set to the exact tolerance level, builds collagen beneath the skin’s surface. An exosome brush hydrates, plumps and banishes acne-causing microbes. Then, to finish off the treatment, I took a few breaths of oxygen under a mask. I left in a daze, having had a good chat, new product recommendations for my skin type, having learned some new things, along with a slug of plumping lip salve—a bog standard cleanse and exfoliation this is not.
Insider tip
Every other Thursday Dr Uliana’s residency takes place at 45 Park Lane. She also has a residency across the street at the Dorchester if your stars do not align. Dorchester guests are also free to use 45 Park Lane’s spa—pre-book for a swim followed by cocktails and gooey home-baked cookies, still warm, from the hotel’s kitchen in the relaxation area. —C.W.
