Call me an unreconstructed 20th-century lad, but I had always associated facial treatments with mud and cucumber slices. And daft towelling slippers. I was right about the footwear, but the rest of my session at the hands of a trained aromatherapist came as something of a surprise.

That was partly because I enjoyed it, but mainly because the treatment room, fashioned from dark wood and limestone, appeared to have a miniature water feature in one corner. So, to the strains of classical music and a pond-like gurgling, I lay down and closed my eyes, had them soothed with gel, my skin refined with polish and my face balanced and replenished with treatment oil.

Next came hydrating cleansing milk, mineral mask and the worryingly important-sounding essential protective serum. How did I ever manage without that? More to the point, was I right to wash my face afterwards? It just felt so greasy.

· Aromatherapy facial, £60 for an hour, at the Landmark Hotel spa, London, 020-7631 8010.