Spa review: Sense of Touch’s new HydraMemory facial packs results with mild products

Long regarded as one of Hong Kong’s top day spas, Sense of Touch has stepped up its game once again with the introduction of a new skincare brand touting effective, natural beauty solutions.

Launched in 1996, Comfort Zone is a high tech Italian skincare brand founded by pharmacist and cosmetologist Dr. David Bollati, and while it uses cutting edge molecular technology to take care of our most common skin concerns, it also creates products that are rich in natural active ingredients. Nourishing the skin is foremost, while equally important to the brand is delivering effective results from natural and earth-friendly sources. There are no harmful silicones present in Comfort Zone product (to the skin or to the environment), instead replaced by rich natural oils and butters to impart that sought-after silkiness. Just so you can get a sense of the brand’s ethical roots, products are also made in Italy via renewable electricity, and the packaging is entirely recyclable.

With this in mind, Sense of Touch has devised three facials using the entire suite of Comfort Zone products, available at Sense of Touch Repulse Bay, Central and Sai Kung.

I’m no stranger to Sense of Touch’s convenient, though compact, Central location, where I went to trial the latest Comfort Zone range. After filling in the standard spa forms, I trudged up to the top of the fifth floor spa and got changed.

I was recommended to do the HydraMemory Facial (HK$980/60 mins), best for skin that needs deep hydration and anti-oxidation from the dealings of day-to-day pollution and tiredness. Other treatments on offer include the Sacred Nature Facial (HK$980/60 mins), using organic ingredients for sensitive and mature skin types, or the Sublime Active Lift (HK$1,280/60 mins; HK$1,580/75 mins with eye treatment), also aimed at more mature skin that needs a zap of rejuvenation.

I was given a quick brief on what was to entail with the HydraMemory Facial, where my therapist mentioned she would be applying the products using brushes. There was also a Comfort Zone facial massage, which would help with circulation in the face, neck and décolleté. At the mention of massage, I was ecstatic to begin.

The treatment began with an inhalation ritual, where my therapist rubbed together several drops of a Tranquility scent blend in front of my face, and asked me to take several deep breaths. The sweet, warm floral scent smelled like a comforting hug.

She then proceeded to the makeup removal and double cleansing step: once using micellar water, then again with cleansing milk. The gentle scrub that followed afterwards tickled at my cheeks with her firm strokes. Without too strong a scent, the therapist’s fingertips almost coaxed me into a light nap, but this was interrupted as a gush of warm steam was directed at my nose. The next step was definitely hard to sleep through: I powered through what seemed like an eternity of painful extraction, with sharp nips and squeezes at my nose and chin to rid of all my whiteheads and blackheads. This went on for perhaps 10 minutes, but felt way longer.

Blinking away a silent tear or two, I was more than relieved when the next step came: the biphasic mask, consisting of an activating cream and a hyaluronic acid gel, and packed with nutrients to quench thirsty skin. While this was brushed on and left to set, the therapist massaged my shoulders and decolletage until I drifted in and out of consciousness. I felt my face and neck wrapped in a cocoon of clean-smelling nourishing oils. Wiping away the mask, the facial rounded with a layer of Hydramemory serum, and a 24-hour cream gel on my neck and shoulders, light massage-like dabs of hydrating eye gel around the under-eye area, and an SPF 30 to send me off on my day. Then, the treatment ended just like how it began: with a deep inhale of that comforting Tranquility scent, with my skin feeling utterly balanced and recovered, and my mind feeling refreshed and clear as if I’d just woken up from a well-deserved nap.

In the mirror, I saw a markedly sharper jawline and cheeks, with pores looking refined and clean. There were spots of redness from the brutal extraction, but I knew these would clear by the next day (they did, and with my new oil-based cleansing routine at home, my whiteheads are finding it tough to come back). My skin was left slightly oily to the touch, thanks to the silky, buttery consistency of the products, but it felt soft and supple, luminous, and completely detoxed. For a skin-clearing, nice and gentle (save for that extraction needle!) facial treatment that packs a punch, you’ll want to look into booking an appointment for the HydraMemory treatment.

Sense of Touch, 1-5/F, 52 D’Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2526 6918; See other branches here.