Facial at Clarins, Ipoh

It was my first time getting a facial at a "branded" cosmetics counter.

I understand that Clarins has "institutes" in the bigger malls like OneUtama, but here in Ipoh Parade, they have their counter and a room. As I am still hunting for a good place to get my facials, I decided to try out Clarins since I had received a birthday voucher for a facial costing RM145, for which I would only have to pay RM68.

So off I trooped to Ipoh Parade. It's quite difficult to get a park on the ground level under the shady trees but I spied one last empty space - only that it was blocked by a large SUV with its driver inside, obviously waiting. Should I just park in the basement? No, I like the ground level parking. So I drew up abreast of the waiting SUV, got out of my car and indicated that I wanted to park in the spot that was being blocked. The driver obliged and reversed her SUV to clear the way - good lady.

Now, the facial. The Clarins representative first gave me an "examination" - gently pressing on my face and pinching softly. She announced that my skin was "fair" and "not dry, not oily". A pretty good assessment, I thought. Then she went on to explain that at Clarins, they provide a facial treatment with cleansing and facial massage with Clarins' pure plant oil. Ok with me....but at the end of the facial, I feel that at the price of RM145, Clarins' facial is grossly inadequate. There was no steaming (to soften the skin and open up the pores), no extraction of oil heads, and no multiple times of cleansing and scrub. Just a very cursory cleanse, scrub and massage with the plant oil. I am not sure if there was even a mask at the end - everything was done so quickly and with so little of the creams, lotion etc. applied on.

For the price that Clarins is charging, I was very disappointed with Clarins. Perhaps the Clarins Institutes do a better facial.