Inside the new Guerlain spa at Le Normandy, a glamorous French retreat on the Atlantic coast

After 25 years as a beauty editor, I have lost count of the number of spas I have visited. Many disappear into a beige fug of fluffy robes, pan-pipe music and cucumber water. Others stay with you forever. Guerlain’s exquisite spa offerings belong firmly in the latter camp: there’s something deliciously decadent about its brand of princess-like pampering. Having attended perfume masterclasses at Guerlain’s celebrated beauty L’Institute on the Champs-Élysées, my bathroom packed with many of their lotions and perfumes, and I didn’t need asking twice to visit the newly opened spa in northern France.

Sitting like a Fabergé egg inside Le Normandy Hotel at the edge of the Atlantic, the spa occupies what was once the restaurant and retains its original 1952 blonde wood, which bathes the space in warm golden light that makes everyone’s skin look great. On display in the glamorous reception area are oversized perfume bottles filled with amber juice and embellished with Guerlains’ signature golden honeycomb. It’s a nod to the brand’s bee motif, which dates to 1853 when Monsieur Guerlain, created a cologne for Empress Eugénie (the bee symbolising royalty and power during the French Empire).

At the spa’s centre is immersive retail at its chicest, with dressing tables laden with candles, make-up and skincare items inviting you to play. And a magnificent perfume ‘organ’ contains a carousel of fragrances, which guests are invited to waft around themselves with fans that send waves of scented air across the room. The sublime scent is what makes the spa so memorable. Permeating the air during my visit was Cuir Béluga, a soft, comforting vanilla fragrance, like cream-coloured cashmere, making the whole space feel warm and powdery.

Following a consultation questionnaire that was provided along with a spritz of perfume, I was tucked beneath a fluffy duvet on a heated treatment bed while a heated cherry-stone pillow was placed across my abdomen to soothe stress. Over the weekend, I experienced the three treatments created exclusively for this spa. First was Souffle sur Les Planches, a two-hour gallop through Guerlain’s greatest hits: an hour of stretching and massage using black basalt warm stones infused with vanilla-scented oil, followed by a light, brush-led facial designed to produce the rosy-cheeked glow of a brisk walk along Deauville beach (sans its famously vigorous wind).

Next was Éclat de Star, a two-hour facial inspired by the Deauville Film Festival. They wrapped my skin in a collagen-boosting sheet mask while my décolleté was polished to a fine glow. Residual face puffiness from my recent baguette-stuffed ferry trip was miraculously eradicated by a cheekbone sculpting massage and finished with zingy cryo globes – refrigerated sticks that tighten and brighten dull skin. The finale was the vigorous Puissance Équestre massage, in which the therapist hops up on the bed to bend and stretch muscles I didn’t know I had. It was the perfect antidote to my tech neck and left me walking about two inches taller.

Afterwards I headed to the relaxation zone to rest on zero-gravity loungers that gently vibrate while I listened to headphones playing soundtracks intended to ground, energise or deeply relax the mind. Rather than sipping grass-tasting green tea – Guerlain doesn’t do guilt – I was offered sugary macarons, madeleines and calissons. Shimmering on the walls are highly covetable salt-encrusted mirrors by artist Marie Rolland, and in the sauna there's another salt installation next to an indoor pool for gentle laps.

Le Normandy’s 271 bedrooms are decorated with pretty toile de Jouy wallpaper, and mine had one of the best views overlooking the tennis courts and beach beyond. There’s no spartan spa philosophy encouraging clients to stop eating or drinking anything fun and lie down and rest; instead, I was encouraged to visit Le Bar to meet celebrity barman Frédéric Desmars. Two Cosmopolitans in and I was humming along to the resident pianist’s renditions of Elton John’s greatest hits while people-watching: an immaculately coiffed octogenarian wearing wraparound Chanel sunglasses (also worn at breakfast); babies in smocked dresses and Ethan Hawke’s entourage arriving for the Deauville American Film Festival.

My final tip? Look up before leaving. Le Normandy’s pitched roofs are populated by some 50 whimsical ceramic creatures from Poterie du Mesnil de Bavent: cats, cockerels, rearing racehorses and fire-breathing dragons. These ornaments traditionally advertised their owner’s prosperity. The latest addition? A Guerlain queen bee, of course.