Juniper
I’ve become a coupon addict with so many deals flooding my inbox everyday. Some of the deals are irresistible as I’m sure many of you will agree. One of the deals I purchased recently was Serenity Sense Beauty’s Full Body Hot Stone Massage with Lymphatic Drainage on Groupon.
Serenity Sense Therapy is easy to locate as it’s just next to Maybank in Sri Petaling. Even if you aren’t that familiar with Sri Petaling, you will be able to see Serenity Sense Beauty as long as you head towards Sri Petaling Hotel.
Opened merely 4 months ago, Serenity Sense Beauty hasn’t completed sprucing up the place as the consultation area which is just beyond the reception looks rather bare and spartan. There is room for a sofa set or more displays of their wares.
Nevertheless, I have learnt never to judge a book by its cover so I was determined to put all prejudices aside and judge the service itself. After all, if we can have a good meal in a shack, who’s to say we can’t get good body treatments at places which don’t look like your regular uptown spa?
After filling up the consultation form, I was asked whether I wanted to add another half hour of hot stone massage to the 1 1/4 hours I’d prepaid via the voucher and/or whether I wanted to have a body scrub which would have cost an additional RM30 and RM28 respectively. I declined both add-ons.
No problem, the consultant didn’t push the up-sell and I was led to my therapy room which is along a narrow corridor. There are 6 rooms altogether, the entrance is through a curtain. I was a bit confused as to what to do next as there was no shower cap or underwear on the bed. When the consultant came in to check on me, I was told to remove my bra and keep my panty on. I put on my own hair tie and lay face down on the bed. Later, I asked the consultant why there was no disposable panty/shower cap available and she explained that disposable panty is only available if I’d taken the add-on scrub and a hair tie would have been given on request.
For a change, the therapist wasn’t Indonesian or Filipino but a local Chinese who was very skilled with the massage. I’d requested for a firm massage in my consultation form and she obliged. Hot stones were placed on different areas of my body intermittently. I hope it did promote blood circulation.
It can get seriously hot and one of the stones felt scalding on my shoulder at one point but being the masochist that I am, I didn’t say anything. I wanted to see how long I could endure. Not too bad, my skin wasn’t singed although it sure felt like it.
Throughout the massage, lavender oil was used. They only have lavender oil, it seems. The hot stones were therapeutic as my body felt warm and soothed as they glided up and down my back. My only grouse is the hot stone massage could have been a bit longer because it felt like they were only used for half the session. After a while, someone else removed the hot stones from the room and the therapist massaged me with her hands for the rest of the session.
Afterwards, I was asked if I wanted a second session at RM99 or to sign up for a package of 6 sessions at RM594, both of which I declined as I have several places to test out in the coming weeks. To her credit, the consultant wasn’t pushy when I declined. My therapist was Connie who was friendly and unobtrusive, she spoke only to ask if the massage was okay and whether the stones were too hot. I thought her massage skills were commendable and I would recommend her if anyone is going there for a massage.
Serenity Sense Beauty is located at 9G, Jalan Radin Anum, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, K.L. (03-9057 5999). It’s a no-frills place for facials and massages but if you look beyond the spartanness, the place is clean and the service on par with a posher place where I have gone to for hot stone massage.
I bought the same voucher, I think they didn’t massage me for 1 hr 15 min as advertised in the voucher. The hot stone massage was not up to my expectation but I decided to give them another try, RM48 per hour for aromatheraphy massage…simply because I stay very near. Hope the aromatheraphy massage not a letdown.
I agree with you, hot stone massage could have been longer for me. That’s the thing about buying vouchers for such services. I just had a facial (at another place) which should have included a shoulder massage but never got one and the slimming session which should have been 40 mins was only 15 mins.