Pink and Undecided: indonesian spa

Review : Complimentary Mini Treatment at House of Mustika Ratu

Hi guysss...

This is a very rare post because... I'm about to review a spa treatmentttt :p...

Well... Sort of. It's just a mini treatment but that's still rare because i don't normally go for any body treatments since i am uncomfortable having people touching my body *LOL*.

I only went to a real spa once in my life (then i got traumatized for life because the scrubbing and massaging made me almost peed myself and the manicure that we got at the same time as the treatment went wrong when the nailist cut my cuticle too deep, blood spurted out of my finger, and i passed out -___-. I think i told this story before in this blog WTF. Needless to say i'm forever terrified of spas and manicures ever since. I've overcome the fear of manicures a few years ago *when i started going to Me-Nail* but i still do not feel any desire whatsoever to go to a spa) and i thought i would never go for another body treatment again (never say never, and yes that annoying song by JB immediately played on my mind GRRR) until this happened.

Got this Complimentary Treatment Voucher from Mustika Ratu

Because i am ~~too kiasu to waste this~~ quite curious of what kind of treatment Mustika Ratu has to offer at their House of Mustika Ratu (in The Grand Palace, Grand City Mall, Surabaya). I read about little treatment places some brands have in their counters and always thought of them to be strange (i mean.. in a department store? Really? I wouldn't mind body treatments, but face treatments... That would mean going to and fro the mall bare faced? Not that i care about that, but i still find it strange) so... This is the right time to find out the deal for myself!

On Thursday i dragged my lazy ass to House of Mustika Ratu, accompanied by L (who somehow gotten hold of the same voucher *LOL*), Wynne plus Baby Boy and L's little daughter E (it was quite chaotic *LOL*, we're definitely two disorganized mothers who find shopping with our kids to be a total chore >.<). From the little entrance (that i completely forgot to snap pic of -___-, mainly because L kept on blocking my way when we first arrived so i couldn't take a decent pic, i thought i'd do it later... And promptly forgot about it!!! But you can sort of see the door in my event report of the grand opening that i already linked before, it's exactly the red door next to the body products' shelves), we immediately stepped into their little (everything about the place is little and compact as it is located inside a department store so space is definitely limited!) waiting room.

This is where Baby Boy waited for me (not very) patiently for a bit (playing with his Ipad) before he started poking his head into my treatment room on short intervals. Patience is definitely not one of our strongest suits in this family

They informed us that they only use Mustika Ratu and Taman Sari products only in this place (well, of course. Wouldn't expect them to use other brands for sure!), but i was a bit disappointed when they only used the Mustika Ratu products on me (because i am quite curious about Taman Sari products, heard lots of raves about it but never tried them myself).

There are two treatment rooms in this place, this is the first and the one where i ended up having my treatment at. It is small but very cosy and homey

Everything's decorated in Javanese traditional style, which is very fitting and nice

Hello, me!

Lots of traditional clay pots and even kendi (i don't think there's an English word for it, it's a clay water container used by traditional Indonesian, actually not just Indonesian but lots of other nations according to the wiki. You can see it on the top of the shelves for yourself)

Then i took sometime to snap more pics of the place.

The sink in between the two treatment rooms

The second treatment room, which i think a bit roomier?

They provided a batik kimono (that matches the sheets haha) for you to change into. They also gave me a disposable panties in case i wanted to change (if i'm afraid that my own panties would get in contact with the oil they use for massage), but i was still having my period so i opted to keep my own panties on hahaha

Yoohoo.. Immediately look more Japanese than Javanese, no? LOL. It's the geisha-face effect *___*

Since this is a mini treatment, they only used two products : olive oil and olive body butter

I gotta say i was a bit disappointed because when we first asked about the treatment that we're getting, i head "scrub" as one of the things included. Since i don't enjoy massage, i actually looked forward to the scrubbing part because i want dead skin cells to be off me! Oh well, maybe they gave us the wrong information because it turned out not to be part of the treatment...

Another thing is, they are just so very recently opened that they only have ONE therapist available even though there are two treatment rooms! That means L had to wait for me to be finished before she can get her turn (which she didn't end up getting that day anyway *LOL*).

Selfie before treatment (you don't expect any less from yours truly, yes?)... My hair looked really ash-colored in this pic, yea?

And then the treatment finally began! The nice therapist had to move the treatment bed sideways so she can easily reach to both sides of my body (coz the space's too narrow otherwise). Since i haven't been getting any body treatment in a long... long time, i was really confused about what to do and how to lay *LOL* how embarrassing. Thankfully the therapist was really kind and friendly, made me feel less awkward immediately (i find it very hard to warm up to strangers unless the stranger's as nice as this mbak).

Pleased excuse the face WTF, and this is the only way i could snap a pic hahaha. She started with cleaning my legs with damp cloth

Then she applied olive oil and began massaging

Lookie, who's here!

Hi Kathy!

I asked her earlier that day if she'd like to go for the mini treatment with me (i had to go that day because the voucher expired on January 5th and it cannot be used on Friday to Sunday! I am leaving for my trip tomorrow and wouldn't be back until the 3rd of January) and she said yes. However she didn't reply my Line later on so i kinda thought that she's not coming, apparently she was driving (her first time driving by herself, congratz!) and being super tense, that's why she hadn't been replying me hahaha.

The therapist is a good masseuse-if you like massages, but like you already know... I'm very very ticklish and cannot take strong massages so i kept on making weird faces and she's super attentive that she kept on reducing her strength, to a point where she pretty much just caressing me LOLOLOLOL. Don't be afraid to ask her to give extra pressure if you're into it, she's slim and all but she's strong!

Then it's the hand's turn. Look at the therapist, isn't she pretty???

Baby Boy got bored and probably not too happy when he saw Kathy sitting beside me and talking to me nonstop

So he decided to join in

After the massage, the therapist cleaned off the oil with damp cloth again and applied body butter all over

And done! LOL. I know, it's very brief and there were only two steps! But it is a mini treatment, and i had people queuing after me so... I guess it's justifiable. I heard that it's probably going to cost around IDR 100.000 per session once they're open for public (for now they're still accepting the complimentary vouchers only), which is a little too expensive for a brief massage and body butter so i really hope they'd throw in a scrubbing session as well!

Having said that, this is a complimentary session (and the therapist' super nice) so i cannot complain, plus even though i cannot comment on the massage (because i am not qualified to do so *LOL*, and she ended up not really massaging me much anyway *double LOL*. But i believe i'd enjoy it if i'm really really tired. Damn, i should've saved it until after my trip, no? LOL), but the mini treatment really left my skin super smooth and silky (a bit oily because there were traces of olive oil in some parts and on the floor, i ended up feeling quite greasy and my sandal very slippery *LOL*, still the positive effects trumps the negatives and i didn't even want to shower later that night because i don't want to wash away the goodness yet *LOL*)!

I was quite amazed by the softness of my skin, and it last for a few days. The dry patches on my elbow also got softened (but now it's dry again zzz. I should apply stronger lotions/butter on those patches!). That means that Mustika Ratu body products are really nice too! I would definitely get myself the body butter (when they have a promo haha) in the future!

It should be L's turn next but she was getting a stroller for her daughter and super busy so... Kathy went in instead!

Sillies...

Kathy's turn

And her epic expression LOLOLOLOL

Kathy also cannot take massages like me, but apparently she's a bit worse! She couldn't stop giggling, it was hilarous! Sorry mbak, you got two silly, very talk active guests that day (she said she liked it though, because the place became very cheerful hahaha)!

It was a very nice experience indeed, hopefully we'll get invited to get a more thorough treatment (but there will not be a full body treatment here because they have no bathtub where you can soak in afterwards) *LOL*. Getting a treatment in a department store apparently wasn't that weird, even though i did end up going around in the mall feeling like a very greasy wok hahahaha,

Thank you Mustika Ratu for the mini treatment and especially the therapist for being so hospitable!

This is going to be my last normal post before my trip officially started, i have some posts drafted and i'll post them whenever i can but it's gonna be quite sporadic for the next three weeks, don't miss me too much!

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