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Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Koukla in Salon & Spa — April 9th, 2007 (74 views / Print this article )
Almost every neighborhood has it. It’s usually considered a hidden treasure and noone knows of its existence unless you live around the area. Your whole family go there and everyone knows everyone. You go there because of its familiarity and you always know what to expect there.
I’m talking about your neighborhood beauty salon. Not the crappy ones with dirty towels and pictures of Phoebe Cates hanging on its cracked wall, I’m talking about small (but clean) salon, usually located in the owner’s house and they have friendly, reliable staff who greet you by your first name.
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!
There are 8 comments for this entry. Add yours
mita
i know this one! i live around this area too..never tried any of the treatments there tho coz i think it’s a bit too expensive but yea my sister also had brazilian wax there n she’s been endlessly bragging bout it, trying 2 get me 2 do it as well..if u want a pretty good blow dry try vogue, they’re not bad n ridiculously cheap!hehe..i think it’s also on cempaka putih tengah
April 10th, 2007 at 4:20 am
hanzky
you know what, gue juga sering kesana dari dulu kalo lagi balik (dr akhir taun 2002)..emang staff nya baik baik semua and it’s like a one stop place to get all kinds of treatments (just not a haircut). i’ve tried every treatments in there dari creambath, mani/pedi, luluran, facial, bleaching, waxing…they use the threading technique to remove every last bit of hair.
masih ada stamped card nya nggak tuh disana where you can get a free treatment for every # of treatments you’ve done?
Oh iya salon ini juga ada cabangnya di sunter kan?
April 10th, 2007 at 5:49 am
mirna
Kayanya gw pernah baca review nya deh di majalah penganten gitu soalnya ada paket2 untuk calon penganten di situ. Yang punya orang India ya kalo ga salah?
April 10th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Koukla
Mita, iya sih..untuk ukuran salon rumahan, emang harganya agak mahal. Udah gitu pas beberapa hari yg lalu gue ke sana, ada pengunguman ditempel di dindingnya “bulan depan ada kenaikan harga”. Duuuhhh…
Vogue mesti coba tuh kayaknya gue! Thanks for the info!
Hanzky, I kinda knew you’ve been to this place, secara lo tinggal deket2 situ juga kan ya? Btw, stamp2 itu udah nggak ada kayaknya hanz, gue sih nggak ditawarin. Iya, threading tehnique-nya itu nampaknya mantap ya, soalnya kakak gue kemarin ngerapiin alis dan jadinya bagus. Berhubung gue baru cabut alis jadi nggak nyobain karena takut ketipisan..
Mirna, kayaknya bener, yang punya orang India. Pelanggannya juga banyak orang India. Setau gue emang mereka punya paket perawatan pra-nikah…salah satunya ya brazillian wax itu. Gue sih nggak pernah nyoba..takut sakit! Hehehe
April 10th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Anonymous
gue tinggal di daerah situ tapi kok gak pernah liat ya. ntar deh weekend gue coba cari soalnya gue emang suka banget manipedi! maklum waktu gue distates, ampir tiap weekend gue manipedi. Tiap warna keren yg gue liat di fashion magz pasti gue cari tau, mereknya apaan tuh. belon lama gue dapet info from my japanese girlfriend who lives in jakarta, about this place, called Blossomnails. This nailsalon located at Hotel Intercontinental Midplaza Jakarta. They said i hv to try this one! The treatments are great,and wide variety of colors! They have all latest colors,which u haven;t seen at anycounter! For ur info, they said the owner is foreigner, who always update with latest color and bring back to Jakarta as soon as new colors released! And the good new is.. my friend said the price is reasonable, even it is inside a hotel! hopefully i can go there this weekend, oh ya, my friend also give their phonenumber (jst in case i get lost) 021-5735625.
May 19th, 2007 at 3:09 am
inddya
huhu… jd pengen kesituw, dia jam ’sepi’nya jam berapa ya? atau rame terus?
August 16th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Koukla
Inddya, beberapa kali sih gue ke sana gak pernah rame2 bgt..apalagi kalo weekdays (ya iya lah, hehee) tapi setau gue mereka tutup kalo hari minggu. Telp aja dulu bu….selamat mencoba ya
August 18th, 2007 at 10:24 am
inddya
Duh, gw gak nemu nih salonnyah.. ada ancer2nya gak yaaa? huhu
October 31st, 2007 at 10:15 pm