In need of a new look? From funky nail art to hair highlights, the Abu Dhabi Week team has tried and tested treatments to update your look
The royal treatment
In need of a pick-me-up, we head over to the Cleopatra Palace Spa for a truly indulgent Moroccan bath. Tucked away in the Khalidiya area, the hunt to find this hidden gem is well worth the effort.
We’re eager to test out one of their most popular treatments – the Cleopatra Royal Bath. The two-hour treatment features a decadent Moroccan bath, massage and blowout for a pamper session fit for a queen.
First up is the bath, where our lovely Moroccan therapist Keltoum takes us to a large steam filled room, to open up our pores. After working up a mild but not wholly uncomfortable sweat, we’re rinsed and prepped before heading to a special steam room within the chamber, to ready our skin for the scrub.
After an intense steaming that really gets us sweating, we lie down on a marble slab to begin the exfoliation. Every nook and cranny is scrubbed and sloughed repeatedly with a coarse black loofah until we’re left with silky smooth skin. To top it off, we’re then lathered with deliciously fragrant soaps and herbs and have our hair washed.
Completely refreshed we are then treated to a thirty-minute relaxing massage. Our friendly therapist focuses mainly on our back and legs and manages to get rid of any knots and tension the steam couldn’t release. It is the perfect calming treat to soothe our delicate skin.
And if that wasn’t enough, we are then ushered to the salon area to get our wet hair blown out. After deciding on what style we’d like (we settle for loose waves) the stylist quickly sections off our hair and gets to work. Once we’re done, we leave the salon looking and, more importantly, feeling great.
Attentive service, fantastic facilities and a decadent treatment are just what we needed to recharge and relax. We know we’ll be back!
Details
What: Cleopatra Royal Bath
Where: Cleopatra Palace Spa, Khalidiya Corniche Tower Block C
Cost: AED 500
We say: Spoil yourself silly with this winning combination.
Contact: 02 222 2141
Bad hair day?
Awazen do an all-encompassing range of hair care treatments to sort out tired, dry or damaged hair, including laser therapy, mesohair vitamin and mineral injections, and coconut, avocado and Argan oil therapy.
We tried the Awazen hair and scalp treatment. Firstly our therapist examined our hair closely from root to tip. She said that our hair was too dry, although our scalp was normal.
She explained the importance of using different products to treat the hair and scalp separately. Some people for example, have oily hair and dandruff and they only use a product to treat the dandruff, dehydrating the hair further making it even oilier; so it’s important to seek professional advice on the correct combination of products to use.
Our hair was washed and a deep-conditioning balm carefully combed through. We sat under a dryer for 20 minutes or so waiting for the treatment to take effect. Next our hair was rinsed and a revitalising product spritzed on.
We ran our fingers through our hair and were impressed with the silky smooth texture and shine. Awazen recommend doing a course of treatments for best results.
Details
What: Awazen, Hair and Scalp Treatment
Where: Al Wahda commercial tower
Cost: From AED 450
We say: Customised hair attention
Contact: 02 441 1944
Look dashing
Denim never really goes out of fashion, so it’s no surprise that nails can now be jazzed up to resemble jeans.
We made ourselves comfortable at Dashing Nails while our therapist got to work trimming our cuticles and tidying our nails. With the routine maintenance work out of the way, she carefully applied two coats of bright blue Ciaté Denim Manicure polish.
To finish off, she used a tool resembling a toothpick to painstakingly position tiny star shaped studs onto our nails, before gently pressing them in place.
The polish dried to give a textured demin-look finish; it felt slightly velvety to touch and the studs gave it an edgy look.
The whole experience was incredibly relaxing; during the treatment we sipped on a steaming cappuccino fresh from the spa’s café, while watching old Friends episodes.
While we were at the salon we heard ladies discussing L’Oreal’s new invention – the Steampod. We had never heard of hair steaming so decided to give it a go.
Our stylist Sanaria Al-Malaika immediately put us at ease by discussing our likes, dislikes and hair condition, and could tell us when we last had our hair cut at a glance. We were extremely impressed by Al-Malaika who came across as the ultimate ‘hair expert’.
Our stylist said the ends of our hair were broken and in need of a trim, and we had a lot of flyaway hairs. This was as a result of tying our hair back in a ponytail too often and not going for regular haircuts.
After the consultation she recommended a course of treatment suitable for our hair; the Force Refill product, which forces the hair cuticles to close and eliminates frizziness, and the Force Vector Massage, which is an anti-breakage product.
The products were carefully massaged into our hair and rinsed off after 20 minutes or so. Next our hair was trimmed, blowdried and our sylist glided a tool, that resembled an oversized hairstraigtener, through our locks.
She explained that the straighteners or Steampod treats and styles hair at the same time by emitting steam, which opens hair cuticles and seals the repair treatment deep into the hair follicle.
We were absolutely delighted with the result and our hair felt as soft and smooth as satin. Surprisingly when we woke up the next morning, instead of bed hair we had a glamorous glossy finish.
Details
What: Denim manicure and steamed hair
Where: Dashing Nails, Khalifa City A
Cost: A basic manicure is AED 55, with an additional AED 5 per nail for the denim finish. The Steampod treatment costs between AED 400 and 500 depending on hair length
We say: They’ve nailed it!
Contact: 02 553 1775
Strand and deliver
We were having a bad hair month. Feeling bored of our natural hair colour we sought expert advice from Dashing Nails’ senior stylist Sanaria Al-Malaika. “Is it wise to go for a such a dramatic colour change – from auburn to blonde? Would it even suit us?” we asked.
After a consultation and thorough analysis of our hair condition Al-Malaika showed us which shade would suit our skin tone, but advised us against dying our hair blond in one sitting. She suggested that we didn’t dye our locks lighter than three shades because hair can’t cope with such strong chemicals and would break.
Our stylist recommended lightening our hair in stages and waiting for up to two weeks for the hairs’ natural oils to return before continuing the process.
Eager to avoid destroying our healthy hair, we take her advice and get comfortable for round one of ‘Mission Go Blonde’ – a full head of foils. Al-Malaika sectioned off our hair with what looked like the pointed tip of a comb, and selected small sections of hair about an inch wide. She carefully painted on peroxide then wrapped each section in tinfoil and we waited for the dye to take effect.
Later our hair was rinsed and a toner applied, before being smothered in an intensive conditioning mask to restore lost moisture. Finally it was time to check out our new look, and while our hair didn’t look dramatically different we loved the subtle highlights.
A couple of weeks later we continued the lighting process, we are delighted that we took Al-Malaika’s advice and now have a total change of colour without a change of hair condition.
Details
What? Going blonde
Where: Dashing Nails, Khalifa City A
Cost: Varies depending on length and thickness of hair
We say: Lighten up, update your look
Contact: 02 553 1775
