USP Along with massages and therapies, the resort’s Como Shambhala spa
lays on two Dr Perricone “age-defying facials”, olive oil and vitamin C. To
tackle from within what these can only achieve on the surface, Parrot Cay’s
chefs will also feed you Dr Perricone’s 3-Day Nutritional Face Lift, a diet
of salmon three times a day for three days, plus salad, steamed vegetables
and seasonal berries, washed down with mineral water and green tea.
AMBIENCE Perfectly lovely, but strangely SouthEast Asian, on account of
all the Indonesian vases and massages, Javanese baths, Singaporean
landscaping and Balinese and Thai therapists. The karma is so calm it’s
almost spooky. With nothing to furrow the brow, Dr P’s programme is almost
superfluous, though the sight of salmon for breakfast on the third morning
could provoke a moue.
EXPERIENCE Thanks to a permanent scowl, four decades and some simian
genes on my father’s side, my face is as wrinkled as linen after a long-haul
flight. Parrot Cay, a Caribbean island hideaway, has just what the doctor
ordered: Dr Perricone, that is, a New York dematologist who has spent
decades researching “cellu-lar-level ageing”. The olive oil facial mixed
fluttering finger movements around my jowls with lots of circular working in
of oil, steam from a nozzle and blackhead removal. It went as far as hands
and feet, with effective and agile thumb pressure. Licking the lip plumper
was the closest I got to a sticky dessert in three days. I felt warm and
greasy and less saggy afterwards. The vitamin C facial involved a thick,
sticky mask and some vigorous rubbing to remove it. In conjunction with the
diet, the Dr P programme is said to get rid of puffiness and improve the
contour of the jawline, probably because you lose a chin or two thanks to
the carb-free diet. After three days, and for about ten more, my fish face
did feel unusually soft: I looked relaxed and, possibly, smoother.
FOOD Forget seasonal and local; it’s all flown in from Miami.
Croissants as big as your face, pancakes and maple syrup; club sandwiches;
Caesar salad. The spa menu, devised by the nutritionist for the fashion
designer Donna Karan, has grilled tofu burger with peanut sauce, cucumber,
carrot and alfalfa. But I ate . . . salmon. Dr P says wild Alaskan salmon is
the superest of super-foods, the best source of long-chain omega3 essential
fatty acids. But a slab of sockeye for breakfast in the Caribbean three days
running is a bit of a heart-sinker. For brekky it’s grilled, with an
egg-white ome-lette, followed by porridge; for lunch, with salad; for
dinner, with steamed veg; and with all meals there is melon or kiwi with fat
red and blue berries.
IN-CROWD Keith Richards and Bruce Willis are among the select few who
have houses on the island. Otherwise, young professionals from New York. If
the beginner’s Pilates and yoga classes are anything to go by, the standard
of fitness is high.
WALLET WATCH From £1,785 based on two adults sharing, for four nights
in a garden room with breakfast, lunch and dinner from the Dr Perricone
Three-Day Nutritional Face-lift Menu, two Dr P AntiAgeing Facials each,
daily group yoga and Pilates, and flights from London with British Airways
and transfers.
NEED TO KNOW Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies; www.parrotcay.como.bz
. Caroline Stacey travelled with Seasons in Style; www.seasonsinstyle.
co.uk ; 01244 202000
For the best spa news and reviews, at home and abroad, timesonline.co.uk/goodspaguide
