The ten best summer beauty treatments in London

Top treatment: Desperately Seeking 'Smoothin', 60 mins, £100

Top-to-toe exfoliation, fresh natural ingredients and a Madonna pun – Bliss's Desperately Seeking 'Smoothin' packs all three into an hour long body buffing treatment. Book in before breaking out the fake tan to slough off dry skin from the knees, elbows and ankles, cleverly avoiding the notorious giraffe effect.

Top treatment: Milk Priti Pedi and Mini Mani, from £13

Always fancied having a manicurist on speed dial? Thanks to Milk's crack team of beauty therapists, you can live the dream and bring the salon to your living room. A mani-pedi using polishes from catwalk favourite Priti NYC is a mouse-click away: appointments are available seven days a week, and can be slotted in outside work hours.

Top treatment: Vita Liberata spray tan, from £25

As well as dishing out playfully retro-inspired make-up, Benefit’s boutiques also offer a similarly chirpy salon experience. Away from the bustle of the shop floor, you can pop in for a deftly-administered spray tan in a natural-looking golden hue. 

Top treatment: Murad Summer in the City Facial, £70 for one hour

Sad but true: thanks to free radicals generated by airborne toxins, city dwellers get wrinklier quicker than country folk. Dr Murad's Summer in the City facial fights the ageing effects of pollution and sun damage with a barrage of antioxidants, stimulating collagen production to ease fine lines and soothing and replenishing burnt or damaged skin.

Top treatment: Brazilian Blow Dry, from £170

The beauty secret that South Londoners won't tell you about? Myla and Davis, the lovely indie hairdresser chain with branches in East Dulwich, Herne Hill and now Brixton. To keep your hair as sleek as a show pony - humidity or no - it's worth investing in a Brazilian Blow Dry. A few hours in the salon chair will leave you with a shiny, easy-to-manage mane, with the effects lasting for around three months.

Top treatment: The Refinery Sole Therapy treatment, £50 for 45 minutes

Combat hobbit-like feet with a course of Sole Therapy at swanky men's grooming salon The Refinery. A heavy-duty fruit acid peel removes rough skin from the soles and heels, followed by a massage using an intense moisturiser. Feet are left soft and sandal ready.

Top treatment: Aromatherapy Associates Summer Skin Cooler, prices from £90

Nothing says British summer time like painfully sunburnt Anglo-Saxon skin. Aromatherapy Associates' Summer Skin Cooler uses a cocktail of natural healing ingredients to refresh, soothe and restore distressed skin. A hydrating face mask and tension relieving Ayurvedic scalp massage rounds off the treatment.

Top treatment: Ark Derriere Facial, £49 for 45 minutes

Just when you think you've heard it all, the beauty world comes at you with yet more bizarre sounding treatments. Ark's Derriere Facial combines cellulite blasting body brushing with the cleansing, exfoliating and moisturising you'd expect from a conventional 'face' facial.

Top treatment: Dress Size Down Size, from £85

If you're after rapid results and don't mind splashing out, head to Notting Hill's luxurious Atelier Beauté, curated by star colourist Josh Wood. Dress Size Down Size is a one-stop contouring treatment, combining a waist targeting massage, a heated body wrap and a less-terrifying-than-it-sounds rubberised algae body mask. Expect a visible difference after one 90-minute session.

Top treatment: Blow Ltd blowdrys £25, make-up £15

Blow Ltd have brought the speedy New York beauty bar to Covent Garden, guaranteeing glossy hair in 30 minutes. Summer sees two updates to their menu: the Undone Bun, a beachy up-do, and the Bronze Face, a subtly sun-kissed 15-minute makeover.