Treatment review: 23 Carat Gold Body Ceremony at The Spa in Dolphin Square

With an authentic Moroccan offer, Dolphin Square has created a strong point of difference in csntral London. We drop by to try the spa's 23 Carat Gold Body Ceremony

The story: The Spa – Dolphin Square prides itself on its authenticity, and has worked hard to recreate a little corner of Marrakesh in London, UK.

It offers a range of highly authentic treatments including hammams, rhassouls, massages and facials. It refers to its therapists as “tellaks” which translates to “bath attendants”.

These tellaks guide guests through a labyrinth of lamp-lit rooms including the hammam, the salt-infused steam room, treatments rooms, and finally a bedouin-style relaxation room, before serving them a delicious platter of fresh fruit, soft dates, and sweet mint tea.

The treatment: Dolphin Square offers a range of signature rituals using oils, spices and precious minerals including amber quartz and gold. I struggled to choose between an array of promising treatments.

“The Journey of the Spices” uses “a highly specialised blend of spices” to “brighten the skin and uplift the soul”, while a facial using amber quartz offered to help me to “drift into a profound sense of calm” while the therapist focussed on “areas of need to ensure your complexion and your inner-being are left sparkling with renewed and precious energy.”

In the end, I plumped for the most opulent treatment on the menu: their 23 Carat Gold Body Ceremony. All visits to Dolphin Square start in one of the relaxation rooms. So my tellak first got me to lie on a warm stone slab and relax.

I felt my muscles gradually loosen. After 15 minutes or so she came back into the room, and led me into the salt-infused steam room. She used a “kessa” glove – a rough woven mitten – to scrub me all over with La Sultane de Saba Black Soap, made from crushed olives, olive oil and eucalyptus. After the scrub she covered me with rhassoul clay, to purify the skin, and left me in the warm steam for the clay to work its magic.

Having showered off the clay, she took me through to the treatment room for the massage and facial. The flowers placed under the face hole of the massage bed were a nice touch and smelt heavenly.

The massage and facial with gold and precious oils was perfect. For the massage, La Sultane de Saba's professional-use Shea Butter with 23 Carat Gold Powder was used, and for the facial, it was La Sultane de Saba's Face Elixir, packed with argan oil, vitamin E and particles of 23-carat gold.

People were commenting on how my skin was “glowing” for days after the treatment.

Business boost: Dolphin Square's menu is well-balanced – from the treatments clients can indulge in weekly, to the big-ticket items such as the 23 Carat Gold Body Ceremony, which they may save for special occasions. And having unique, authentically Moroccan, products is a great way to demonstrate the quality of the treatments on offer.

Tried by Frederika Whitehead

The 23 carat gold body ceremony lasts 2 hours and 25 minutes and cost £199 at Dolphin Square Spa.