Sadly, my neighborhood doesn’t have this kind of salon or maybe I haven’t found it yet. The only semi-decent salon that is within 1 km radius from my house is a Johnny Andrean and I have stopped going there ever since one of the manicurists removed my cuticles with such force that my fingernails were bleeding!
Anyway, thankfully, not too far from where I live, Cempaka Putih to be exact, there is this great local salon which I recently discovered. My sister has been going here since…forever, she even had her first pre-marital brazillian wax in this place and have been raving about it. But not until a month ago my mom and I finally tried this salon and the only thing I can say is…I wish I had gone there sooner!
It’s called Prema Beauty Clinic and just like any other local salon, it’s located in someone’s house (though I doubt anyone’s still living there) and they offer services from haircut to coloring, manicures and pedicures, cream bath, wax, etc.
I have only tried manicures (IDR 50,000), pedicures (IDR 90,000) and cream bath (IDR 85,000) so far and I must say I wasn’t disappointed at all. I asked for a hair spa which they massaged on my scalp (oooh heaven!) and proceeded with massaging my neck, back and shoulder and they even scrubbed my back and ended the treatment by applying some soothing mask on my back and shoulder! This is the best cream bath I have ever tried and I don’t think I will look any further.
For the pedicures, they used Gehwol products which consist of cuticle cream, massage lotion, cooling feet spray and rich body cream (Their website is a bit gross though). After releasing my feet from its previous, sorry state, the pedicurist applied OPI base coat, Bogota Blackberry nail color (a deep berry red) and top it all off with a layer of glossy top coat. Believe it or not, my last pedicure in this place lasted for almost 3 weeks and I was using close-toed shoes all the time!
The manicure was also something I really enjoyed. The manicurist cleaned, poked and buffed meticulously without once hurting me in the process. She then continued with a hand massage. Whenever someone massages my hands, I will start feeling all relaxed and sleepy and the manicurist did a great job of almost making me snore in the middle of the small salon. After the hand massage, she slathered on some soothing mask (the same one they use on my back and shoulder) and left it on for several minutes. Total bliss. I then chose OPI’s Dulce De Leche – a creamy, nude caramel – for my fingernails and afterwards, I couldn’t help staring at them ‘coz they’re so shiny and pretty!
So if you happen to live near Cempaka Putih and you desperately need some pampering after a long, arduous week at work – I suggest you stop by at Prema. Or try going to the local salons near your house that you usually ignore. You might be pleasantly surprised!
