A stressed-out Lauren Pyrah enjoys chilling out with a massage and some warm oil.

ASECRET worrier by nature, massage has always been my favourite beauty treatment.

So when the features editor asked me try out a new massage and exfoliation treatment, I practically snatched the invitation out of her hand. “There’s one slight catch,”

she said. “The treatment involves dripping wax from a massage candle onto your skin.”

“Right…” I said, immediately conjuring up that rather steamy scene in the Golden Raspberrynominated Body of Evidence, where Madonna burns Willem Dafoe with candle wax, before pouring champagne over the wounds and having her wicked way with him So, with a slight hint of apprehension, I arrived at Beauty Angels, in Sedgefield High Street, for my appointment. Here, therapist Nicole explained that it was a new treatment from renowned Mediterranean spa company Germaine de Capuccini.

The candle is simply lavender and mandarin essential oils solidified with a little beeswax and palm wax, which melts at the temperature of warm massage oil.

Beauty Angels offers three Germaine de Capuccini treatments – the two-hour Treats from Nature, a full-body exfoliation followed by a body wrap and application of custom-made thermal stones; the hour-and-a half Mediterranean Light, where thermal stones are applied before a full-body candle oil massage; and the two-hour Mediterranean Dusk, which combines the exfoliation, massage and thermal stone treatments.

I opted for Dusk. Nicole applied Essence of Mediterranean Scrub, which includes argon shell, olive stones and grape seeds as exfoliation agents, before putting on exfoliating mitts and using long, firm strokes to slough off all the rough, dry skin cells.

The treatment was applied to my legs, arms, back, stomach and décolletage, although the mitts weren’t used on the more delicate areas.

Next, Nicole placed warm stones along my stomach and chest. The stones are mixed from powder and water before being shaped by the therapist for each client, and had a warm, relaxing and pleasant effect.

While the warm stones were getting to work, Nicole used a pinda – a small muslin bag filled with warm crushed stones and essential oils – as a compress around the sides of my body to prepare me before my massage. It felt very indulgent, pampering and relaxing.

Although I could feel myself tense up a little before she tipped on the candle oil for the massage, my fears literally melted away as the oil touched my skin. It was relaxingly warm, not hot, and extremely pleasant on the skin.

The massage was the perfect pressure for me – firm, but not overly hard.

I had walked into the salon tense and with skin like sandpaper after a hard few weeks at work and a winter of central heating and icy blasts. Two hours later, I was calm and relaxed with baby soft skin.

■ Beauty Angels, 3 High Street, Sedgefield. 01740-623869