The Old Course Hotel is one of Scotland’s most famous luxury resorts – lucky for me, St Andrews is just a short drive away and we visit fairly regularly to see family and look around the quintessentially Scottish seaside town, often choosing the Old Course Hotel as a good spot for breakfast or coffee.
So, when I was invited to go along and try a seasonal treatment at the hotel’s famous Kohler Waters Spa (the only one outside the USA) I didn’t hesitate to accept. I chose the Resurfacing Transformation Pedicure; the perfect preparation for summer and my upcoming trip to the South of France. Having had my feet hidden away in socks, tights and boots for most of the year so far (yep, even in June we’re still pulling out our ankle boots in Scotland), my tootsies were in dire need of some serious attention.
The Resurfacing Transformation Pedicure sounds like a bit of a miracle treatment, doesn’t it? Well, it kind of is. It involves using a glycolic solution alongside the new technologies of the Pedisonic Brush System, which is an electric buffer for reducing hard skin. My therapist soaked my feet (the pedi chairs at the Old Course Hotel are super comfortable) before using the Pedisonic to remove tough skin from my feet. Rather disgustingly, it wasn’t quite enough so out came the classic manual foot file to really get rid of the stubborn hard skin on my heels. Another quick soak, and my therapist applied a glycolic mask to my feet with a small brush, which she left on for around five to ten minutes after swaddling my feet in towels. While I waited, I was given a heated neck wrap and warm pebbles were placed between my toes. After the mask was removed, I enjoyed a foot and lower leg massage, which nearly sent me off to the land of nod.
Like with any pedicure, my therapist tidied the cuticles, filed the nail and applied a polish. Standard pedi procedure, right? Wrong. This pedicure was all about the detail: the time and effort spent on each toe to ensure the nail was completely prepared for the polish was second to none. My therapist took care to pay extra special attention and she worked away at all the tiny bits of skin to make sure everything was set for the polish. The Old Course Hotel spa uses Vinylux polish (from the makers of Shellac), which doesn’t require a base coat and dries in seven to ten minutes – a major advantage and saves a lot of time – much less hanging around after the treatment waiting for your polish to dry. Even with two layers of polish and a top coat, my nails were ready in a jiffy.
My overall thoughts? The glycolic mask really made a huge difference to the condition of my skin (still as good three days later) and, with the help of my therapist’s vigorous buffing, my feet were super soft and touchable (something I tend to avoid doing at all costs). The nail was a beautiful shape and length and the polish looked absolutely brilliant. My feet and nails just looked perfect – really pretty – and the nails looked like something out of a magazine beauty editorial. It’s the best shape and polish application I’ve ever had. The Resurfacing Transformation Pedicure really gets the very best out of your feet and is a must for anyone who plans to wear summer shoes this year.
Ten out of ten.
Images courtesy of the Old Course Hotel / Kohler Waters Spa.
