Last week I went along to the Lush Spa Edinburgh first birthday celebrations. Last year, Lush relocated from one side of Princes St to the other to a larger store (yey) and opened a spa downstairs. I’ve never been into the spa so the birthday celebration was a great chance to see what was down there.

The theme of the evening was based around the story of the Sikkim Girls perfume from Gorilla Perfumes. A dot of the perfume was applied to our wrists and, as the scent developed, we were told the tale of how composer Sheema Mukherjee was warned of the dangerous, alluring Sikkim girls which inspired her to write a softly seductive song which in turn inspired the Sikkim Girls perfume by Gorilla. The perfume itself is a gloriously heady, complex mix of jasmine, tuberose and frangipani which is quite unique. To enhance the experience, we were also treated to chocolates by master Chocolatiers Edward and Irwyn which were specially created to complement the scent. All the while, Sheema, along with musician Simon Emmerson were in attendance at the store playing the Sikkim Girls song.

Next we headed downstairs to the Spa which is really quite unexpected. More like a cosy country cottage than a more formal (and possibly less relaxing?) traditional spa. We were joined by Lush co-founder Liz Bennett who explained that they wanted to offer something a bit different and in line with Lush’s core values. We were then shown into the treatment rooms and the different treatments were explained, including the rum and sea-shanty filled deep tissue massage ‘The Good Hour’ and the zen-like soothing ‘Sound Bath’.

The piece de resistance was The Comforter. The two therapists worked in synchronicity with a Hawaiian style rolling massage while uplifting music played and rose-scented bubbles filled the (pink) air. This room was a bit of a giggle and I will definitely be treating my BFF to this pre-hen party.

Upstairs the fun continued with customised jasmine tea, hand massages, lollipops and popcorn (who else remembers when Lush used to decorate their windows and fill their boxes with popcorn?) and, my favourite bit – DIY Bath Bombs.

I made a Big Blue, which contains sea salt and  seaweed and basically just smells like the sea. I already use their Seanik solid shampoo bar so a bath with both of these will get me feeling like a mermaid in no time!

And of course, I couldn’t go into Lush without doing a little bit of a haul, so along with my DIY Big Blue (which I reckon is looking pretty good), I picked up some Christmas items. I chose the So White, Lord of Misrule and  Cinders bath bombs, the Christmas Eve and Christmas Penguin bubble bars and the cola-flavoured Santa’s Lip Scrub.

I’d like to say a big thank you to Lush for inviting me along to their birthday party, it was a truly fabulous, multi-sensory experience. The staff were on top form, extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and the event was full of small, well thought out details that made it so special. I really hope I can get back for a treatment in the Spa very soon. If not, I’ll be in for some perfume and of course, more bath bombs.