Lisa Snowdon's £1,000 gold mask: Star tweets terrifying photo of herself in facial

It's not every day you see a celebrity lying prone in a towel with their face covered in gold. But it's not every day that a celebrity is offered a facial with a £1,000 price tag.

Lucky Lisa Snowdon, the face beneath the precious metal, is the latest recipient of the ultra-luxe Gold Bee Venom facial, performed at The May Fair Hotel in London.

The star tweeted a rather arresting photograph of herself mid-treatment, reclined on the spa bed with the glittering gold mask covering her face.

Golden girl: Lisa Snowdon tweeted this picture of herself undergoing the NOTOX 24 carat facial at the May Fair hotel

The mask, which gave her more than a passing resemblance to an Egyptian Mummy, is part of the process of Rodial's gold and bee venom facial - a new and ultra-luxe treatment that uses real gold to encourage radiance and vitality in the skin.

Said to be a 'complete skin rejuvenation treatment to smooth, "freeze", lift, plump and brighten the complexion', the treatment, which launches this week, uses a bee venom cream by cult beauty product firm Rodial, available at Harrods for £380, that has been described as nature's alternative to Botox.

The gold facial is said by its creators to be able to tackle a 'multitude of complexion complaints' including lines and wrinkles, loss of elasticity, hyper-pigmentation, a dull or sallow complexion, irritation and inflammation.

Trendsetter: Lisa tweeted the pic with the hashtag Golden Lady

Glowing: Lisa Snowdon as she looks normally

The facial treatment - dubbed a 'sensual healing ritual' - uses Rodial's Bee Venom 24 carat gold super essence along with the pure gold.

Rodial's Hana Kelly, who developed the treatment, says it is unique in the market because it combines the ancient healing properties of gold with the most up-to-date skincare technology.

'Gold has been used in skincare and healing for centuries,' she says. 'Cleopatra slept with gold on her face and ancient Ayurvedic treatments have always used gold.'

Hana, who is trained in Ayurvedic treatments herself, explains that the skin is first smoothed and resurfaced with micro-dermabrasion before pure oxygen at 21 per cent (any higher creates free radicals) is blasted onto the skin to push the formula of the serum deep into the skin’s epidermis.

Fan: Ellie Goulding is fond of Rodial's £380 Bee Venom 24 carat gold super essence, which is the cream that is used in the treatment

The face is covered with a layer of real 24 carat gold leaf layered with a mask made of 24 carat gold, hyaluronic acid and collagen. The gold dissolves into the skin when you massage it in using a signature technique that stimulates individual muscle groups.
Light therapy is used to soothe, calm and rejuvenate skin tissue while stimulating collagen production.
While the gold facial works its magic, a massage is performed with Rodial's 24 carat gold body cream, designed to 'tighten and brighten tired, dull, sagging skin'.
The face feels 'lifted' afterwards, says Hana. 'People often say their face feels frozen, like they've had Botox.'
Lisa Snowdon, who would have been given a shot of gold, collagen, hyaluronic acid and vitamin C to 'refresh and vitalise the palate' afterwards, certainly enjoyed it, tweeting afterwards that the treatment was 'gorgeous', along with the hashtag #GoldenLady. 
'We wanted to offer the most luxurious facial in the UK,' says Hana. 'It's available at The May Fair, or I will go to people's homes with everything we need to carry out the treatment. We always give a gift of the serum [the £380 bee venom) at the end so that the client can go on experiencing the radiance once the facial is over - the Colloidal gold in the serum will carry on giving radiance if it's used continually.
'This isn't the sort of facial you have once a month and have a course of ten. This is your red carpet facial - you are having it that day and you're going to look fantastic,' she says.
'It's about giving that luxury experience, healing but also making you look gorgeous.'