Marine beauty is a speciality at Love the Salon in Barnwood, Gloucester, where they use French beauty brand Thalgo, and next week, there's a chance to sample treatments at two VIP days.

Looking after you will be senior beauty therapist Kelly Brown, who is a Thalgo ambassador – an honour hard won when she was runner-up at a national competition to find the best Thalgo therapist. It followed hours of hard work, customer recommendations and visits from mystery shoppers.

Her success means Love the Salon is the only salon in the south-west to offer such expertise.And you can tell she loves the Thalgo therapies.

"I really do love it heart and soul. I've worked with many brands like Clarins, Dermalogica and Guinot, but Thalgo is the best," she said.

The VIP days offer facials and body treatments, followed by a complimentary blow dry in the hair salon.

Beauty manager, Charlotte Lyttlejoyce, said: "It's a great way to try our hair and beauty treatments, get expert advice and most importantly relax and unwind."

I tried the Algae Wrap, an intensive detoxifying treatment full of goodies from the Dead Sea which help ease skin conditions from dryness to eczema. It's perfect for aches and strains too.

First Kelly applied something called Plasmalg Gel, massaged from the feet to hips then over your arms and body. It acts as a catalyst to break down the skin's barrier, allowing maximum absorption of algae nutrients.

Then the warm dark brown algae paste is applied – it felt quite hot as it went on but cooled quickly, and a faint seaside smell of rock pools and seaweed filled the room. You're then cosily wrapped up in heat retaining foil for 10 minutes while you drift off and enjoy a scalp massage.

It's then under the shower to get the thick paste off and you're left with lovely soft, smooth skin.

Next I tried the Purity Ritual Facial, where marine essential nutrients are tailored to your skin type. Hydration was top of my list, so Kelly used the rich Cocooning Cleansing Milk and gentle Softness Exfoliator with jojoba oil micro-beads. Reviving Marine Mist toned and revitalised before a Moisture Quenching Mask was massaged in.

The finishing touches were a revitalising eye contour cream and, for my dry skin, the Oxygen 3 Defence Cream, an anti-pollution cream to hydrate and prevent premature ageing.

And you're not quite finished once your treatment is done. A real bonus is the wash and blow dry – you're then ready to face the world glamorous, revived and relaxed.

Love the Salon is at Centre Severn, Barnwood. The VIP days are on Thursday and Friday and offer the Purity Ritual Facial or a body treatment for £25, redeemable against two or more products on the day. To book, call 01452 634434 or visit http://www.lovethesalon.co.uk