Yahoo News The best green beauty treatments in London
The last couple of months have been a hard time for me.
Firstly, I broke up with my boyfriend of six years. Then my dear Gran died suddenly. It’s probably the toughest stretch of time I’ve known, and all the ways I reacted went against my usual balanced and healthy lifestyle. Apart from the odd quick illness, I’ve never really experienced such a dramatic loss of appetite and the weight just fell off – I felt weak and scrawny – and my sleeping patterns went totally awry. Not that I was particularly bothered, but I looked absolutely awful.
However, as a model and I still had to earn my living, and this stormy time of life coincided with a particularly busy patch of work. I know my strengths: I’m booked because I bring plenty of energy to a shoot and a ‘healthy’ look: thick hair, bright eyes, good skin. I couldn’t turn up with dark under-eyes and ribs poking through, and it was important to get myself back to looking and feeling vital.
As well as the inevitable single girl cliché haircut, I was also lucky enough to trial some green beauty treatments. Thinking about work helped give me focus, but finding the time for self-care was also important for helping me relax, sleep and get to feeling back inside my body.
Bespoke Skin+Tonic Facial by Kate White
The Refinery E9 is a great space in East London offering classes from restorative yoga to disco Barre classes, as well as a number of therapy rooms. It was here I received a beautifully soothing and balancing facial from Kate White.
This was a simple, wonderfully calming and decongesting facial with the products being worked deep into my skin through massage. I’d arrived hunched, stressed and with a racing heart and left feeling as though I was floating on clouds, and the next day I could see a difference in the plumpness of my skin and the circulation boost helped combat the sallowness.
Kate uses Skin+Tonic products, a brand I was already familiar with for their very simple organic formulations. Their products never contain more than 7 ingredients and if you suffer with sensitive skin I really recommend their Naked Beauty Oil.
Facials at The Organic Pharmacy
I’ve always loved The Organic Pharmacy: I’ll often wander into their store on Great Malborough Street on my way to castings just to breathe in my favourite scents of Neroli, Jasmine, Rose and Lavender that feature in many of their products. Facials here are just incredible: high performing, with effects that last well after the treatment is done.
When I arrived, my skin was shiny in some parts, dry and tight in others with quite a few spots, and troubled sleep had led to puffy eyes and sunken cheeks. Fortunately this facial sorted all of those problems out. It started with a fruit acid peel, which helps boost collagen, followed by the ‘oxygen jet’ part: this helps push a mix of antioxidants and sodium hyaluronate (the latter being fantastic at helping skin retain moisture) deep into the skin.
It was absolute bliss. I think I might have dropped off at one point (hopefully I didn’t snore...) and when I woke up my skin was undoubtedly far more even and glowing. The effects lasted for days after: my whole face felt somewhat ‘lifted’ and I was determined to retain those effects by concentrating on getting back into healthy sleep and diet patterns. I’m also now a convert to their ‘Rose Diamond’ facial cream...At £175 this facial doesn’t come cheap but it’s undoubtedly worth every penny.
Beeutiful Body Candle Massage at The Four Seasons
I’m more likely to treat myself to a rare facial than a massage, but this treatment reminded me how important the latter can be. I walked out of that therapy room de-knotted, walking taller and breathing more deeply, thereby transforming how I presented myself at auditions.
The Four Seasons, Hampshire takes little over an hour to get to from Waterloo and boy is it worth it! I went with my best friend, a single mum with a busy job, both in need of unwinding. The incredible view from the hotel – replete with luxurious spa facilities and swimming pool – had an immediate, buoying effect. My treatment couldn’t have been any more ‘me’: it uses cruelty-free ingredients sourced from a local beekeeper. After deciding what I wanted from my massage (I chose to feel balanced) and which colour lights I’d like for the room (I went with energizing green), I lay down to enjoy my massage.
It was certainly rather different. A ‘Beeutiful’ Rose Spice body candle, made by the local beekeeper, was melted and drizzled on my back, neck and arms. There was no shock at the heat, it simply warmed me to my core. My masseuse, Chloe, massaged first the right then left side of my body, using rolling wave-like motions and stretches that very gradually released the tension from my body. My skin had been dehydrated felt far silkier and looked much more padded out, especially around my knees and décolletage. I emerged serene yet ravenously hungry and thirsty, as though the stress had been melted away to get me back in tune with my body.
Rebecca is a model and writer at modeltypeface.com
