I was not looking my best. Summer heat and too much food, discriminately consumed, had played havoc with my skin. It wasn’t pretty the day I rolled up to Madame Korner, the oldest name in Sydney beauty salons. Someone came to look at my face. How long since I had last had a facial? "Um, about four years…"

There was a shocked silence, before I was told that it’s best to have a facial every four to six weeks. But how could I find two hours every four to six weeks to sink into a chair like this, or justify $93.50 for the Deep Acting Neutralising Facial to which I had just been steered? But after a few minutes under the ministrations of Malthi Mani, the beautician assigned to me, both price tag and time seemed utterly possible. Even essential.

Here I was, lying under a towel, a cloth shower cap over my hair, listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Norah Jones. I felt a knot of tension uncoil itself from my shoulders.

First up, an exfoliating mask, which smelt good enough to eat. Perhaps it was: Malthi said it contained mint, oats and almonds. Madame Korner uses all its own, natural products, but there’s no pressure to buy. Malthi’s hands flew over my face, neck and décolletage in fluttering movements. Soothing pads were placed on my eyes.A steamer wafted warm, moist air over me.

"It softens the skin for extractions," Malthi explained.

Then came a long, very relaxing massage - face, neck, back of neck, shoulders – with a nourishing cream. I was a rag doll by the time Malthi donned gloves and took out a lancet in preparation for the "extraction" process. I was suffering an outbreak of what she delicately called "congestion" – if I were younger, they might have been called pimples – which she proceeded to lance and squeeze into oblivion. Some of Madame Korner’s own Rapid Healer, a putty- coloured ointment, was applied, and then an infra-red lamp was wheeled in for a five-minute blast. Malthi had promised I would look fine, and I did.

Then came a CO2 mask – a luscious, light unguent applied with a brush – an eyebrow wax and eyelash tint. And then it was over. My skin cleared up miraculously and, weeks after, it continues to look better than it has for…oh, probably four years.

Madame Korner has recently opened in new premises at 1 Union Street, Pyrmont. Facials from $66 for a Facial Refresher to $104.50 for an Electronic Facelift.

Madame Korner
Ph: 02 9518 9979.