Carola Long: 'A leg massage with creamy chocolate oil is finished off with a brown sugar and egg-white scrub'

Beauty Queen

A recent April Fool's hoax claimed that the "Goo Facial", using the sugary filling of a Cadbury's Creme Egg, was the latest, hottest trend in beauty. It stated that, "in recent clinical trials, beauty experts have found that the sugar-rich 'goo' fondant ... has a surprisingly positive effect on the skin", but the mention of a scientist named Dr Eggerton suggested that all was not entirely genuine. However, in the beauty world the truth is often stranger than, or least as strange as, fiction, and the spa at Brown's Hotel in Mayfair has launched a new pedicure inspired by Easter eggs – albeit rather posher ones (until 31 May, £85 for 90 mins, 020-7518 4009).

It consists of a foot and leg massage with creamy chocolate oil, a scrub with brown sugar and whipped egg white (much nicer than it sounds) and a soak in warm milk. All the ingredients are naturally nourishing. The treatment is rounded off with another massage with chocolate moisturiser, a warm paraffin treatment to strengthen nails, and a re-shape and polish.

Fortunately the treatment can't be called a "guilt-free treat" – that irritating equation of tasty food with female immorality that informs so much confectionery advertising – as it comes with a chocolate martini. Other treatments for Easter include the Chocfoliation Body Scrub at the Spa at Chancery Court (020-7829 7058; £70 for 40 minutes and a body brush).

While slathering yourself in Creme Egg might do little more than attract wasps, high-quality cacao moisturises the skin, increases elasticity and contains antioxidants which protect it from damage. Unlike many cheap chocolate products, a range called Sensation Chocolat (don't let the cheesy name put you off), previously only available in Galeries Lafayette in Paris and now at www.nutri-info.com, contains lashings of real cacao. The range includes chocolate and hazelnut shower-gel, and milk-chocolate body lotion – but be warned, you will need a sweet tooth to handle them.