Spending 24 Hours in Sligo, Ireland With VOYA Skincare
I spent 24 hours in Sligo, Ireland with VOYA skincare - here's what we got up to!...
A few weeks back myself and Ben took a short flight one Saturday morning to Sligo in Western Ireland to spend the weekend with skincare brand VOYA, it was my second visit to Ireland (I took a trip to Dublin about six years ago), and we absolutely LOVED it - we stayed in Strandhill just a few miles from Sligo and it was just SO stunning! From spa treatments to seaweed harvesting, see how we spent our weekend with VOYA!...
Saturday: On Saturday morning we boarded a short flight from London Luton to Knock in Western Ireland, hired a car, whacked on some Catfish and the Bottlemen then drove for around an hour until we reached Strandhill near Sligo. OHMIGOD the view was SO picturesque, I've only ever visited Dublin before and wasn't 100% sold, but this trip alone sealed the deal on my love affair with Ireland because WOW what a stunning country! Driving through the countryside was everything I'd ever imagined it would be and SO much more (check out my vlog for footage of our drive - V scenic!). After driving for around we arrived at the Strandhill Lodge & Suites before taking a walk down to the beachfront where we took a stroll then met with the wonderful marketing girls from VOYA for some yummy lunch at Shells (a MUST if you're visiting Strandhill/Sligo - the food is fab!). After lunch we wandered along the beach - we were honestly blessed with the BEST weather, it was so hot! We were super lucky as we'd heard the weather isn't all *that great over on the west coast of Ireland (sure enough the next day was super grey and rainy!).
Our treatments with VOYA: After our lunch and beach stroll we were booked in for spa treatments with VOYA (VOYA products are produced in Strandhill which is where we were staying, and that's also where there wonderful spa is too!). The first part of our treatment was a 50 minute seaweed bath in a Victorian cast iron bath filled with hot seawater and steamed seaweed - I've never had a seaweed bath before and whilst it felt slightly odd at first, I soon relaxed and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! The heat releases the seaweeds rich,essential oils which left my skin felt so incredible afterwards!
To follow on from our seaweed bath, we both had a full body massage where we were both scrubbed and massaged with essential oils, it was SO dreamy and the perfect treatment to follow on from the seaweed baths! After nearly three hours of spa treatments we practically floated out of the spa and back to the hotel where we freshened up before heading out to grab some dinner! We didn't last too long as we were both so sleepy and relaxed from our treatments... a Saturday well spent I'd say!
You can shop VOYA products HERE / You can visit the VOYA spa in Strandhill, Ireland HERE
Sunday: Sunday morning we woke up feeling SO fresh and relaxed (we didn't shower after our spa treatments so we could let all of the essential oils really sink into our skin and reap the full benefits of our massage... HELLO SMOOTH SKIN!), we took a walk down to Shells again for some brunch (that place is seriously good!). After brunch we checked out of our hotel and the wonderful Paul from VOYA picked us up so he could spend some time showing exactly how the seaweed for the VOYA products is actually harvested. We drove to a spot around 10 minutes from Strandhill, popped on our wellies and set off to collect some seaweed! It was so great to get an insight of how the seaweed for the products is harvested - what a fab way to spend a Sunday morning! *Tip - seaweed is really hard to walk on... we learnt the hard way haha! After our harvesting tour we took a short drive into Sligo, grabbed some dinner then it was time to catch our flight home (BOO!), what a magical 24 hours we spent in Sligo with VOYA skincare!
CHECK OUT MY VLOG FROM OUT TRIP TO IRELAND!
I'm currently trying out some incredible products from VOYA and will report back soon on my favourite pieces! Have you ever tried anything from VOYA? Have you visited Sligo/Western Ireland before? Ever had a seaweed bath - what did you think?
* A HUGE thank you to the wonderful team at VOYA/ Chalk for organising our stay in Ireland, we had the BEST time!