Eclair Exotica

THERE are those Dead Sea salt scrubs and even the bouncing-off-the-wall coffee bean ones, but a chocolate rubdown? Just the idea of being sw...

THERE are those Dead Sea salt scrubs and even the bouncing-off-the-wall coffee bean ones, but a chocolate rubdown? Just the idea of being swathed in the gooey goodness gave me a head rush, and I8217;m not even one of those Hershey8217;s-an-hour kind of people.

The Franck Provost day spa at Juhu, Mumbai, was offering a deal: A love package for couples which included massages, steam and all sorts of coochie-coo. The head aphrodisiac position was taken by a chocolate scrub8212;that8217;s all I was interested in.

My plans of quickly getting high on the bean were dampened by Coline Jauneau, a 45-year-old French lady, who habitually pampers the faces of celebrities like Preity Zinta. She was determined to teach me a lesson in patience.

8216;8216;We8217;ll start you off with a foot and hand oil massage, move on to a fine facial and then scrub you down with the chocolate treatment,8217;8217; she said. That sounded more like a three course meal, and all I wanted was to skip right to dessert.

However, good things come to those who wait, right? So there I was, lying in a wood-panelled treatment room, bundled in fluffy white, while two of Coline8217;s helpers worked on my feet.

Next was a massage with a cleansing scrub, followed by a minty lotion, a mechanical exfoliating brush, a hydrating mask and many more layers of delicious smelling gunk from Guerlain but no chocolate yet.

Coline8217;s hands were magical, but I kept asking the obvious. 8216;8216;Why are you fixated on the scrub?8221; she chided. 8220;This whole process is to de-stress and relax you.8217;8217; I figured I was treating the facial like a stepchild, and stopped trying to anticipate how the dark, rich8230;

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CHOC FULL

8226; The Aztecs drank chocolate in a bitter drink of chillies, cornmeal and hallucinogenic mushrooms
8226; In chocolatier jargon, praline is a mix of chocolate and crushed hazelnuts
8226; Ganache, a smooth mixture of chocolate and cream, was born in France in the 19th century when an apprentice knocked some cream into a tub of chocolate. His boss called him un ganache, or an imbecile
8226; Chocolate contains phenylethylamine PEA, a natural substance that stimulates the same reaction in the body as falling in love
8226; Chocolate syrup was used as blood in the famous shower scene in Hitchcock8217;s Psycho

Most of the world8217;s leading spas offer treatments where they team cocoa butter the fat extract from crushed cacao beans and chocolate with seaweed, essential oils or thermal mud.

Coline8217;s scrub was made using a special variety sourced from a chocolatier in Paris. It would moisturise my skin and make me smell like a chocolate eclair. 8216;8216;It8217;s also a mood elevator,8217;8217; said Coline. At that point, I got a whiff of a familiar sweet scent. Not long now!

She showed me a bowlful of deep brown liquid and my fingers involuntarily reached out for a bit. 8216;8216;You can8217;t eat it, it8217;s got salt and aroma oils,8217;8217; she said. But if my taste buds didn8217;t get any of the action, the rest of me sure did. Warm liquid was rubbed into my back and arms, the aroma permeating everywhere. It was more like an exotic massage than a scrub8212;I barely felt the fine salt on my skin.

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Relaxing strokes moving up and down pushed the virtues of the cocoa deep into the skin, until all that was left was a dark sheen.

After the 15-minute massage, the scrub was left on to sink in. I wanted to know if I could polish off the remains8212;salt, oils and all. I quickly popped a greedy finger into my mouth: It was bitter, salty, grainy, but definitely rich, pure chocolate.

On the way to the shower, I caught a glimpse of my back8212;just the colour of Naomi Campbell8217;s.

As I floated out in a chocolate-induced haze, I could have sworn I caught a few people sniffing.