Last month I purchased the Cognito Spa Cocoa Rose treatment box. This beautiful box contained enough products to do 5 full cocoa rose facials. This allowed me to try the products while being able to offer my clients a limited edition treatment that isn’t normally on the menu.

The rise in popularity of the beauty box has been phenomenal over the last few years, think Birch box, Glossy Box and even Miss Glitter Box, a monthly subscription glitter service for nail techs. Cognito Spa has tapped into this trend in an ingenius way by offering beauty professionals a treatment box. The boxes are on sale for a very limited time. All the products are handmade so can  take a few weeks to arrive.

So who or what is Cognito Spa? Cognito Spa is a Suffolk based business that makes handmade beauty products, soaps, bath salts, wax melt, lip balms and various other beautiful smelling products as natural as possible and in small batches to ensure freshness.

What was in the box? The box arrived beautifully presented and contained: one large wax melt in white choc and raspberry scent, 3 smaller wax melts in rose scent, massage chocolate also to be melted before use, rose and vanilla massage oil, rose cleansing balm, rose moisturiser, whipped chocolate exfoliator, white choc mask, chocolate truffle mask, Turkish delight lip balm, solid cocoa butter  and  white chocolate and raspberry lip balm. A nice added extra was a few little gifts such as a herbal tea bag and a packet of Skittles (which my children quickly spied and snaffled).

What did the treatment entail? I offered my clients two options, the Cocoa Rose facial on its own or they could upgrade to include a hot cocoa back, neck and shoulder massage. The facial routine I followed using advice advertised within the Cognito Spa VIP stockists group. We started off with a deep cleanse using the rose cleansing balm, followed by a warm oil  face, head, neck and shoulder massage using the rose and vanilla oil.  Here comes the fun part: the chocolate. I exfoliated using the gorgeous whipped chocolate exfoliator then applied the chocolate truffle mask. The rose scented products are very gentle on the senses,  moving then onto the cocoa based products is a real treat. While the mask is on I massaged hands and arms with cocoa butter warmed and melted down. I finished off with a spritz of toner and application of the beautiful rose scented moisturiser.

For clients having the luxury upgrade I mixed the rose and vanilla oil with warmed and melted massage chocolate. I then proceeded to perform a back, neck and shoulder massage. This part was slightly messy so I advise you have couch roll on top of your towels and keep clients clothes well away from the mixture. It was fun and smelt amazing.

To melt the cocoa butter, massage chocolate and warm the oil I used hot kettle water in small bowl and placed the products in bowls which I sat on top of the bowl filled with water. The products melted quickly and easily. Any leftover cocoa butter and oil I used to mix in with the massage chocolate. Just take care any hot water is no where near your client and is on a safe sturdy place  where it can’t be knocked over.

All of the products I used apart from the toner and eye gel were contained within the box.

The treatment left my clients skin unbelievably hydrated and soft. Being mobile at the moment I tried to set the scene a little with a little gift on the bed for my client. The gift was a single chocolate, a rose wax melt from the treatment box and a little handwritten note card. All ideas from within the marketing support.

The routine and advertising ideas were made by Debbie Goodall of The Spa Diva on behalf of Cognito Spa. Marketing support with the treatment box was fabulous within the stockists group, and included eye catching MeMe’s for social media like the ones below.

What did the clients think? The following review was kindly submitted by one of my regular clients, she was the second person I treated using the Cognito products.

‘From the first whiff of rose and hint of cocoa (good enough to eat!) I knew this facial was going to be special and so it proved……I submitted my tired winter skin to the magic hands of Jo my beauty therapist and the cocoa rose products.

From start to finish it was fabulous. My skin drank in the richly moisturised products full of anti-oxidants and sloughed off the dry skin cells of winter. The magic came after…revealing the new beginnings beneath. I can’t wait to try other facials from this range. Excellent products which leave you with a feeling of well-being and total relaxation. Thank you Jo and thank you Cocoa Rose Facial’

Would I buy from Cognito Spa again? Yes, yes, yes. My clients loved the experience and the scents. I think in the right environment (setting the scene can be difficult when mobile), this facial experience would be something extra special,  Using the marketing support I managed to book in 4 facials within a week of the emails going out. 3 of which were with the cocoa massage upgrade. This was thanks to the fab support and advice within the stockists group. I would definitely buy a treatment box again to allow me to offer limited addition treatments to my clients.

Cognito Spa also stock a variety of handmade products suitable for retail such as wax melts and bath salts. I will be looking into this once I finally have my beauty studio up and running. Cognito Spa have really nailed the beauty box trend for therapists. The stockists support group makes you feel part of the company, and demonstrates excellent customer service. I was always asking questions within the group on the lead up to the release of the treatment box and never once felt like a nuisance or silly for asking.

If you would like to check out the products, to order or find out more please check out the website :

www.cognitospa.co.uk

If you are a therapist looking to learn more I would advise you search on Facebook for ‘Cognito stockists VIP group’ and ask to join. It’s the perfect place to get your questions answered and be up to date on the latest products, offers and treatment boxes.

I hope you have enjoyed my review, however in my usual blog style I have added a few mummy moments below to keep you entertained,

sparkle on,

Jo x

mummy moment: finding a small manky orange with a finger hole mashed into the middle of it on your bedroom floor, only because you manage to stand on it getting out of bed #bedroomjuicing

mummy moment: snow days are fun. Especially when the toddler gets their hands on a shovel and insists he’s ‘going out to clear your path’

mummy moment: being unable to use the loo as the now toilet trained toddler uses a full roll of toilet paper at a time #calltheplumber

**This review was an entirely independent review based on my own experiences. I have not been paid to review these products.