Is there anything more amazing than a good massage? I mean aside from when Eric from True Blood whips off his shirt… or when SARS says ‘hey there little girl! We’ve decided to give you back this fat chunk of cash…’ Seriously. Like what beats a really good massage?

I always say I’m going to put time and money aside to treat myself to a decent rub down but invariably get crazy busy or end up having to blow half my salary on stupid pretty things like, you know, rent… or consumables that aren’t shoes… So ja, you can imagine how thrilled I was to be offered a full body hot soy candle massage from the Equinox Spa in the Cape Royale hotel.

It’s the perfect treat for a cold, miserable day as the hot, warm wax feels amazing on your skin and my therapist, Maxine, was beyond awesome. Despite being little like me, she’s got super strong magic hands and wasn’t afraid to get stuck right into my super tight shoulder muscles and dig her fingers into the spot just above my heel which is often especially eina. (Initially I worried it might be reflexology’s way of telling me I’m dying of bowel cancer or had a rotting liver or whatever nasty li’l innards are supposed to match up to that particular spot but soon stopped stressing when my boyfriend pointed out that living in stilettos probably had a li’l something to do with it…)

Anyway, getting back to the massage… Equinox has several different organic soy candles that you can choose from. Maxine picked for me, selecting a vanilla and raspberry one simply because it smelled delish, like a warm berry-filled pastry! As soy has a lower melting point than regular wax, it won’t burn your skin when you drip it onto your body. (This is something I wish to God I’d known back in the day when I wrote all those ‘How to get it on in the dark’/‘Kink it up tonight’ stories for Cosmo; I’d have saved a generation of Cosmo girls from burning the living shizz out of their men’s’ more sensitive bits with stock standard bedside scented candles…)

By the time my hour was up, Maxine had rubbed the tension from my back, neck, scalp, feet and hands. (It’s AMAZING how much tension you hold in your hands. You have no idea until someone starts to rub their thumb into the large muscle the base of your own and your whole body feels like it’s going to levitate from the awesomeness…) In fact, the only kak bit about the whole experience was that it had to come to an end.

Anyway, if you’d like to indulge in spoilicious ‘me time’ treat, give Equinox Spa a ring on (021) 430 0511. Their soya candle massage is R480 for a full hour. They’re also running a very cool special until the end of this month; you can book an hour long Swedish full body massage for both you and a friend for a mere R400 (that’s R200 per person) provided you come in before 4pm between Monday and Thursday. (My darling Karis Piss reviewed it the other day on her bloggetjie, Love Affair with Cape Town, you can read up about it over here.)

Love, love

Leigh