WIN IT: A 3-month supply of Imedeen Time Perfection

It's been a fair few weeks since the official end of the holiday party season. Now, time to get that complexion looking a bit less pallid.

We'll help you start down that path straight away with a 3-month supply of Imedeen Time Perfection skincare supplements (worth £115.50). After all, beauty most certainly comes from within. 

Nutritional expert; Dr. Lars Lindmark
Healthy, beautiful skin and optimum nutrition go hand in hand. One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is, 'Why can’t I get all the vitamins and nutrients I need for beautiful skin from diet alone?' In an ideal world, it may be possible, but lifestyles have changed, processed foods have become more commonplace and food nutrient values have declined through soil depletion, increasing the need for supplementation.  Also as we age our metabolism slows down and becomes more difficult to absorb nutrients through diet alone. Look for supplements that have a proven effect on the skin. All IMEDEEN® skincare tablets contain naturally-based ingredients chosen for their synergistic anti-ageing effects, and have been clinically and scientifically proven to have a positive impact on skin condition. 

Terms & Conditions: Promotion only open to residents in the UK, IOM, CI and ROI excluding employees of Ferrosan, their immediate families or anyone connected professionally with the promotion; Limited to one entry per household; Winners will be selected at random; Promotion ends 28th February 2010.

Tried and tested: evolve beauty eco smart skincare

The panic I felt just days before my most recent trip to London made my ears ring and my skin burn... wait. My skin was burning for other reasons. In fact, it was the impetus for my panic. I was stumped. Why had made my face go red, tight, bumpy and scaly (from temple to nose) and hot (no, not as in Angelina hot... as in to the touch) right before I was meant to board a plane for a week of back-to-back meetings with beauty industry folk?

Two things caused it, I have no doubt. One, my skin went on a 4-month makeup and skincare detox this summer that even the most cosmetic ascetic among us wouldn't be able to maintain by choice. On my around the world honeymoon-in-a-tent, makeup didn't touch my face, nor did anything, really, but a bar of soap and whatever moisturiser I had at hand. This period of skin calm was destroyed by a tsunami of new skincare, makeup and urban living in late October, when, in one fell swoop, I returned to dozens of products. Within a month, my face was radiating heat, the texture and colour angrily undulating and it became painfully clear that spot cream wasn't going to clear it up.

The second thing that dovetailed so conveniently with my hot-and-cold treatment of the cutis, is the onset of a Chicago winter. What on god's green earth keeps people living on such an icy tundra with such poor public transit? It's so cold there's no moisture (it's been at least 15 degrees below freezing for days) in the air. It's also as flat as a dinner plate, so no skiing here and ice rinks are strangely far and few between. It's moisture-free, wind-swept outdoors or drying, heated indoor spaces for me.

But as panicky as I became, it was comforting that my industry of choice wasn't, say, fashion, the most unforgiving (and backwards, in my opinion) of them all. Beauty people are fascinated by conditions and questions and how to fix them. My problem was greeted with genuine interest (not of the schadenfreude variety) and desire to find a solution, on which we all agreed.

It was clear I had to go cold turkey on the beauty bumpf until the flare up subsided and then, gradually, work my way back into a very simplified routine with simple products. An exclusion skincare diet was not on the table as the problem needs to be nipped in the bud immediately. Easier said than done when beauty products are your professional fodder! Facialist Emma Hardie was ardent that I stop using everything and then re-introduce slowly, and she was absolutely right.

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Bikini wax on, wax off with Strip waxing salon

In life, there are beauty duties and there is pampering. Now, in my book, hair removal, especially bikini hair removal, comes under beauty duty. I tend to manicure my bikini line at home, mainly because previous experiences in that area have been none too pretty. My one and only Brazilian waxing experience was particularly harrowing. It lasted what felt like a lifetime (in reality only 45 minutes) because the woman wielding the wax strips kept getting stuck, if you know what I mean. Horrendous.

So it is with trepidation that I enter Strip, the dedicated waxing salon, in Chelsea where I'm reviewing the newly launched i-bar, for all things brow-related, and, gulp, the Brazilian wax. What’s that phrase I'm groping for... taking one for the team?

As soon as I enter the lavishly styled boutique-cum-waiting room at Strip's three-storey boutique, I'm immediately more optimistic about the experience. Stella McCartney, Elle Macpherson Intimates and Calvin Klein lingerie greet me. Then my therapist, the lovely Carleigh Rayner, leads me to the Chocolate room – an opulent boudoir complete with chandelier, comfy bed, velvet drapes and embossed wallpaper. She tells me the treatment rooms are themed according to the ‘flavoured’ Lycon waxes used – chocolate, berry, lavender and gold (this will leave you shimmering). 

We discuss my Brazilian requirements (since you ask, I opt to leave a triangle rather than the ‘traditional’ landing strip. Carleigh says a lot of people don’t realize you can do this.) and Carleigh sets to work putting me at ease by asking me to select what I’d like to watch on the plasma TV (nice touch). I channel surf while she cleanses the area, applying the pre oil so that the wax takes hold more effectively. Then we begin with the wax. I’m told the hard Lycon wax is just the thing for dealing with pesky bikini lines because it really moulds itself around even short hairs and ensures they’re pulled out at the root. Apparently, the thing about using linen or paper strips is that they act as an extra barrier -- a middle man if you will -- between the wax and the hair making the hair more likely to break.

Carleigh speedily whizzes around, going from side to side so if I want to chicken out early I can. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt... but it didn’t hurt much. Because it happens so quickly and the wax comes off directly it doesn’t sting half as much, plus Carleigh’s technique (universal across all Strip the practitioners) of adding pressure immediately after removing wax helps. After she applies cooling Tea Tree lotion and I’m smooth as a baby’s bum. There’s no stickiness, no post-stinging and irritation. And this is still true at bedtime after I’ve been out all evening in skinny jeans.

Now onto hair removal of a gentler variety: I also trialled the new i-bar for brow and lash care, located in the white, airy basement, complete with yet another plasma TV. Tamanna Sahatu is my brow guru – she has 20 years’ threading experience, and she’s soon sized me up and whipped my brows into a flattering, more streamlined arch. And it doesn’t hurt a bit. It’s true what they say - having your eyebrows shaped really does give you an instant facelift.

And, I don’t know if I want to admit this (but I will)... While checking out my brows in the mirror, Tamanna tactfully had a word with me, saying, ‘I think you need your top lip doing’. Now, I’ve been wondering if it’s time I tended to this but was worried about upkeep. I appreciate her honesty. Who else is going to tell me I’ve got a shadow? She soon gets rid of it; this does sting a bit, but it’s worth it. My experience is topped off with an amazing Indian head massage. I leave feeling preened, pampered and like a new woman... not at all like I've just been doing obligatory beauty duty.

• Brazilian wax (£45), basic bikini wax (£22)
• The ‘Brow Rehab’ package (includes 3 threading sessions, one eyebrow tint and specialist guidance to get poorly shaped or thinning brows back to perfection, £49)
• Eyebrow reshape with consultation and pressure point massage (£25)

Available at Strip, Notting Hill boutique: +44 (0)20 7727 2754  |  Chelsea boutique: +44 (0)20 7590 0050

Written by Alison Taylor for www.beautywoome.com.