TRIED AND TESTED | Top 5 natural winter skincare combos

Beautywoome.com contributor Julia Rebaudo gets her skin armed and ready for the winter weather to come. Check out her top picks to from natural brands for the best moisture boost this cold season.

WINTER SKIN needs a little extra TLC to protect against the cold weather and dry indoor heat. What a better (and simple) plan of attack is there than to double up the hydrating routine? I’m already a big fan of layering on a facial oil or serum before moisturising – nothing beats it for day-long hydration and happy skin. I’ve been testing what’s on offer to give me this one-two hydration punch from the natural skincare brands, and here are the best of the bunch.

Click to read more ...

JET-SET BEAUTY | Elemis Custom Flying Facial

BRITISH AIRWAYS Elemis Travel Spa at Heathrow's Terminal 3 is – if you can find it – an oasis of calm just steps away from the retail overkill that now typifies the captive experience on this side of airport security. It has an otherworldly, serene atmosphere as soon as you step through the threshold, and I am immediately handed a cucumber-infused glass of water by a soft-spoken receptionist who simultaneously and deftly helps a relaxed male passenger checkout (clearly, he'd just finished up at the spa).

The pint-sized treatment rooms here are separated by diaphanous (yet still opaque enough) curtains, each equipped with an Intelligent Massage Chair and the undulating walls and gently flowing coloured lights (in calming hues) of a real, luxury spa.

My chair is fully reclined, massage setting turned on (heaven on the calves before several hours of sitting) and the therapist spends a very relaxed 15 minutes cleansing, massaging and moisturising my skin so much so that it remains plumped all the way to JFK. A few sample tubes make their way into my carry-on too. If you plan ahead (booking in your own 15-minute treatment), you'll be able to ditch the dopp kit in your checked baggage instead of lugging it around the airport because Elemis will arm you with the requisite beauty weapons to battle cabin dryness.

All treatments are just 15 minutes so you won't accidentally miss a flight mid-massage. I suppose if you're really jet-set, you'd simply prop yourself up at your airline lounge bar having missed a flight, champers in hand, and wait for the next one. Or you could circle back to the Elemis Travel Spa for a second treatment on the very Intelligent Massage Chair.

Experience the Custom Flying Facial at Elemis's Travel Spa in Heathrow Terminal 3, Terminal 5 and JFK (Contact individual travel spas for pricing). 

TRIED & TESTED | Suqqu Gankin Massage

 

Do you get a stiff jaw from holding tension in your face? I know that’s where a lot of my stress goes but it only occurs to me on the odd occasion I have a face massage (usually as part of a facial) how springy, relaxed and plumped my face looks afterwards 9and how tense it was before). So why I never thought to isolate the massage bit and implement a bit of DIY, we’ll never know. There's no need now because luxury Japanese beauty brand Suqqu (make-up artist Mary Greenwell says their “cream foundation is still the best foundation out there.”) has done it for us and created a three-minute facial massage technique which, when used every day at home, is said to banish muscle tension, drain lymph nodes and enhance blood circulation all with the long-term goal in mind of preventing sagging and wrinkles.

The Suqqu counter, currently exclusive to Oxford Street’s Selfridges, is in the store’s Living Beauty section (just past Clarins turn right). On arrival the pretty assistant manageress Nagi Kawakata explains the Gankin facial massage was developed by ex-Suqqu beautician Yukuko Tanaka (who now runs Y Method) to animate and enliven actors’ features on camera. Integral to the massage is a thick, creamy oil-based Musculate Massage Cream (this year’s limited edition is a potent jasmine scent) to protect the skin from the intense pressure of the massage. I assume any good face massage oil will do, but Nagi assures me this is not the case. 

Click to read more ...