From Paris with Love: Le Royal Monceau-Raffles
When it comes to elite beauty products and treatments there is a brand that always pops up as a symbol of quality: Clarins. I was working ten years for this amazing brand, it’s a love that never will fade away.
We don’t promise you miracles, we promise results
Jacques Courtin-Clarins
The French brand (distributed in 150 countries around the world), has built a reputation along the years not only by doing innovative R&D and being at the forefront, but also by interacting closely with all those women that have trusted Clarins since the beginning. This synergic collaboration has proven to be correct: by listening to women’s needs, Clarins has enriched their lives and developed one of the most successful and admired company.
Nowadays Clarins has grown into a multinational company whose motto “With Clarins, life is more beautiful” gives us the essence of what actually this company is. It was founded in 1954 by Jacques Courtin-Clarins who had a holistic vision for the business of beauty. Along 60 years, the so many products and treatments have crystallized in a new adventure for the brand: the Spa My Blend.
These spa’s are exclusive not because there are few of them in the world but because of their dedicated, tailored treatments and products only found in these luxurious yet calm and relaxing temples of beauty and well being. In Paris, where the firm was born, there are a couple: one in the recently opened Molitor, and the other one, designed by Philippe Starck, is located in the Royal Monceau-Raffles, a ‘total Starck’ facility where even the glasses have the sign of the most prolific French designer ever.
Mr. Starck had in mind a place with no gravity, a site where one can wander into the lightness in order to purify oneself upon achieving the spa experience. This white paradise was born over a surface of 1,500 m², a realm of white walls, a lot of (my favorite) Venetian mirrors, veils and stainless steel structures whose purpose is no other but relaxation. The complex has a pristine pool of 23 m –the longest of any Parisian palace–, a Watsu pool, a lounge with cozy coaches, a detoxy bar with seasonal products and a lot of charm. There is a humid area, one for men and one for women, comprising a hamman, sauna, laconium and a surprising sensorial shower where you can bath emulating a tropical storm, for instance.
If you should judge a hotel by its spa, then the Royal Monceau-Raffles in Paris deserves its five stars, and its recently acquired Palace rating (only six other Paris hotels have the highly-coveted badge of distinction).
Featuring the longest pool in a Paris luxury hotel, the spa at Le Royal Monceau is run by My Blend by Clarins. It also includes a Jacuzzi, hammam, laconium room and sauna over an impressive 1,500 square meter space, all decorated in the purest white from floor to ceilings… A real haven of relaxation and well-being, where dedicated fitness coaches make sure your personal needs are addressed.
Through the looking glass, paraphrasing Lewis Carroll, would be a suitable analogy to describe Spa My Blend at Royal Monceau-Raffles. Specially while in the pool whose middle part has a transparent ceiling ruffled by water, or while in the dressing room whose lockers are made of mirrors replicating ad infinitum any image. For those wanting to exercise the body, there is also a rather well furnished high-tech fitness area, a pilates studio and a series of individual coaching rooms.
Now, in any spa a key feature is the proposed treatments. And here is the reason why the Royal Monceau-Raffles chose Clarins to run its outstanding spa. The vision of Dr. Olivier Courtin-Clarins, son of the founder, was that every skin is different, like every genetic code is; so, treatments ought to respond to every skin needs according to age and lifestyle. The line My Blend created by Dr. Courtin-Clarins has over 100 mixtures and 400 night/day personalized combinations created by a Beauty Therapist in situ. At the core of My Blend products there is the so called Cell Synergy anti–ageing complex, a blend of 3 unique peptides that facilitate skin inter–cellular communication, enhance its natural defense and convey skin regeneration.
To tune up the right skin approach Clarins has developed My Skin Diag, a Clarins’ software to determine your skin’s biological age, algorithm combined with information such as lifestyle and habits, helps the Beauty Therapist to create the most precise blend for the client. Another privilege of the Spa My Blend is the technique for the treatment.
It ensures the facial that ensues is personally tailored to your needs: the ritual includes a gentle cleaning, deep exfoliating, two masks (mine were a clarifying mask followed by a hydrating one), targeted face and eye creams application. Since my main concern was the eye area, my therapist insisted on that zone with cryo-aesthetic, a healing technique that uses the benefits of cold to relieve congestion and enable the microcirculation.
All Clarins classics are availble at theSpa My Blend
The methods are 100% manual, with precise, ancient movements that are appropriate so the skin can better absorb the products applied on it. Including three steps, its aim is to relax, revitalize and regenerate the body. This protocol can last either 90 or 60 minutes, though there are also programmes lasting from 2 to 4 hours that incorporate several treatments. It is worth to mention that among the formulas used there are unexpected substances as the (Clarins famous) blue orchid essence dispersed in oil, celosia extract and even cherry tree leaves extract.
My Blend uses an in-depth diagnosis based on a questionnaire on your skin and lifestyle to give a personalized recommendation, blending an essential day and night Formula (may your skin be oily, dry and dehydrated, more mature, etc); a Booster (pure active ingredient concentrates) to be added to the essential Formula to answer immediate and urgent beauty needs; and a line of complementary skin care products to enhance the benefits of each Essential Formula and Booster.
Virtuoso, the leading international luxury travel agency network, voted the Spa My Blend at Royal Monceau-Raffles as Best Spa in 2012 in the ‘Best of the Best‘ Awards. The jury justified its choice by quoting that “the hotel spa offers the most alluring environment for rest and rejuvenation, creative and therapeutic treatments, and highly skilled and knowledgeable therapists”. By visiting the place one can feels that in three years since this verdict was issued, the Spa My Blend has maintained the standards by which it was elected ‘Best City Spa 2015′ in Europe by SENSES.
Luxury is all about personalization. And at the Royal Monceau-Raffles Spa, My Blend by Clarins takes personalization to a new level, bringing a revolutionary concept to the customers. Created by the son of the founder of the world-famous French luxury skincare brand Clarins, My Blend by Clarins offers a unique line of products that can be customized and designed for everyone’s specific skin-care needs.
From Paris with Love
Le Royal Monceau-Raffles willalways be one of my most favorite Parisian Hotels. Not only a lunch, a high tea, or a night at the Royal Monceau-Raffles, but definitely, an afternoon at the My Blend Royal Monceau Raffles Spa in Paris is quite an experience. From a relaxing pool session, to a deep facial treatment, with a quite pause in the immaculate lounge area, you will be longing to come back soon enough once your privileged time is over!
My Blend Royal Monceau Raffles Spa
Opening hours:
- Monday-Saturday: 6:30–22:00; treatments and coaching: 9:00–21:00.
- Sundays: 7:30–20:30; treatments and coaching: 8:30–20:00.
- The pool and fitness area close 15 minutes before the hour.
More of Le Royal Monceau-Raffles soon here on Yakymour
Sisleÿa L’Intégral Anti-Âge
Yakymour 