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Author Archives: Hilary Lowry

  1. To the rescue.

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    Nail products to strengthen and lengthen.

    Nails are the one thing that are literally right under our nose daily. So, there is nothing worse than when you are conscious about them not being in their best condition.  Also, if you are like me and talk with your hands its kind of difficult to hide them. 

    No 1 rule I would say is to avoid biting picking or pulling them, seems obvious but people don’t realise the damage that they are doing. Especially when you have a product such as a gel overlay on them it can be tempting if one just lifts a little to help them along. The problem is that as you pull and pick a lot of your natural nails comes off along with it. My suggestion would be to book in to have them soaked off professionally or just file the nails gently where they are catching. 

    Also try avoid having your nails in water too much as this does soften them and make them more flexible and easier to break. If it is totally unavoidable then wear gloves, if possible, a great tip is especially when putting on those lovely rubber gloves to clean the house, put a great thick layer of cream on or even some cuticle oil and you will feel like you have had a mini manicure after. 

    Now that we have covered most of the don’ts… lets have a look how you can grow your own nails long and strong. My first and foremost tip would be to have a look at your diet and make sure you are eating a balanced nutritious variety of food.  The old saying “beauty comes from within” is so true, making sure you are getting enough of vitamin B, calcium, iron, zinc and fatty acids. A great supplement to take would be Nail Science by Advanced Nutrition Program, available to purchase in our salon. 

    Another thing to really monitor would be your water intake as you know more than 80% of the body is made of it, make sure to stay hydrated and drink a min of 2 litres a day. I know it sounds very basic, but sometimes we forget, a great tip is to just carry a big bottle to fill up and whenever you see it, take a sip. 

    Keeping your nails on the shorter side will avoid any unnecessary breaks, also avoid using them as tools to pull off labels and open tins, again something we all know but don’t always practice. When filing your nails down use a 180-grit nail file and not a metal file one. Filing is also always a better option if you trying to grow them and won’t take off as much as cutting them would. 

    Apply a good nail strengthener to you nails, one coat every other day removing it totally once a week and starting again. Also make sure you have cleansed the nails totally of oils before you start as this will help it to stays on nails longer. How it helps is by covering the nails and protecting them. 

    A great ritual to get into is applying cuticle oil and hand cream daily, even as often as you remember throughout the day. Especially now that we are sanitising our hands in every place we walk into. All the washing hands and alcohols sanitisers used are stripping our hands and nails of their natural oils. By massaging oils or creams onto the cuticles will help to stimulate the nails to grow, a good cuticle oil will contain vitamin E, lavender and rosemary oil.  

    Now that you have beautifully long and strong nails why not treat yourself to a lovely manicure or gel overlay for that extra special occasion, Also, if done in a professional salon the nail health will be no one priority.  

  2. Ingredients to enhance the skins defences.

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    Ageing skin and pigmentation concerns are amongst the most common skin concerns these days.  Free radicals are linked to aging and a host of diseases, they are responsible for breaking down our skins collagen resulting in fine lines, wrinkles, and blemishes. 

    To keep it as simple as possible, free radicals are unstable atoms that can damage cells causing illness and ageing. There is no escaping free radicals, in fact the body generates free radicals in response to environmental insults, such as tobacco smoke, ultraviolet rays, and air pollution, but they are also a natural by-product of normal processes in cells. When the immune system is triggered to fight intruders, the oxygen it uses spins off an army of free radicals to destroy viruses, bacteria, and damaged body cells in an oxidative burst.

    We all need an adequate supply of antioxidants to disarm these free radicals – they can slow the damage caused to cells by free radicals. The best way to get antioxidants is by a well-rounded diet, supplements can also be of benefit.

    Foods high in antioxidants include:

    Dark chocolate

    Blueberries

    Strawberries

    Raspberries

    Kale

    Red Cabbage

    Beans

    Spinach

    Green Tea

    Supplements worth considering:

    Advanced Nutrition Programme, Skin Vit A, Skin Vit C and Skin Antioxidant.

    Topical Antioxidants have many benefits for skin. In fact, you can never have too many! They will protect your skin from the damaging effects of pollution, keeping your skin resilient, radiant, and younger-looking. Environ skincare centres around Vitamin A and an array of antioxidants.

    My favourites:

    Environ Antioxidant Gel

    Intense C Boost

    Vita Antioxidant Moisturiser

    Vita Peptide Eye Gel

    RAD sunscreen

    For a consultation on which products would suit you best give us a call or book a virtual consultation via our website.

  3. Tips and tricks to get your makeup to last in the warmer weather.

    Comments Off on Tips and tricks to get your makeup to last in the warmer weather.

    Summertime is great, its lovely to see so much sunshine, but not when the full face of makeup you took your time to apply in the morning is no longer there by mid-day. As a makeup artist I have learnt over the years how to adapt your looks and product choice according to the seasons and not always following the latest trend.

    First off, I would suggest cleansing your face with a great product like Dermalogica’s special cleansing gel it’s a great gentle foaming cleanser that is going to leave your skin feeling squeaky clean without any nasty soaps in it. Then use a good cleansing cloth to double cleanse with just plain water. The reason I suggest this is that in the heat you would want to insure you have removed all oils before apply anything.

    Then tone and moisturise with a light moisturiser such as Dermalogica’s active moist, it is an oil free prebiotic moisturiser. Any oils under your makeup won’t give you long lasting make up when you sweat, as oil and water don’t mix.

    After this I would apply a thin layer of any translucent powder to your entire face using a big fluffy brush and followed by your setting spray.  I am really enjoying the Jane Iredale Pommisst, as it feels light on the skin and helps with adding moisture, it is even lovely to reapply throughout the day when it is very warm.  This will give your foundation even longer wear and take it to next level of a flawless finish.

    Then primer is the only thing that will give you durability in the heat and a big bonus would be one that already contains an SPF such as Dermalogica’s skin perfect primer SPF 30, it has illuminating properties and evens out your skin so beautifully.

    Onto foundations: I would avoid any heavy foundation unless it is absolutely necessary. I would rather suggest a BB cream or a mineral foundation such as Jane Iredale Pure Pressed mineral foundation with concealing any concern areas as you and where needed.

    Bronzing is the new contouring in my opinion especially in the summer months really just to create a lovely glow on the face and I would also use more of a cream-based highlighter instead of a powder one. This can be applied under your foundation to give the skin a healthy glow.

    Thanks to the dreaded ‘covid’ we can no longer wear our favourite shade of lipstick with wearing masks, so here I would opt for a lip stain or long wearing lipstick for the occasion where we are able to take our mask off in public.

    Since we can’t focus on the lips we are really needing to spend more time on making the eyes the feature of the face. A great eye primer would be anything that controls the oil on the eyelids and make sure you use something specific for eyes as the skin is very different to the rest of your face. If you don’t have a primer, you can use a light shade of matt eyeshadow over the entire eyelid to even it out will also help your eyeshadow to stay in place. It would also worth trying out a waterproof version of your favourite eyeliner and mascara so as to not smudge in the heat if you do tend to sweat easily. Brows are also definitely a must , I wouldn’t always follow the latest trend but rather fill them in to suit your face really just frames off the face. I would suggest to use a waterproof brow gel to hold them in place.

    Lastly finish off with a good amount of setting spray for all your makeup to blend well and last the day, also always carry your compact foundation in your bag and a travel lip balm.

  4. Reflexology for Tinnitis

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    I didn’t know a lot about tinnitus until about a year ago when out of the blue my husband developed it. It is a ringing or other noise such as whistling or buzzing sound and can be in one or both of your ears, it is more common than I realised affecting 15-20% of people. My husband sought advise form his GP and also a specialist, the bottom line is there really isn’t a lot they can do. It can come and go, in his case it didn’t go at all, he downloaded the various sounds the specialist had recommended he listen to (a bit like white noise but called brown noise) which I guess distracts you from the high-pitched noise you are constantly putting up with. It can be a distressing and distracting problem and a depressing feeling when there isn’t much the medical world can advise. The first step is to evaluate your overall health and treat any underlying problems. Look at your diet, exercise and sleep pattern, you may notice something that triggers your tinnitus.

    So where does Reflexology come in?

    Reflexology is a pressure point massage of the feet. The entire body is mirrored on the feet and by applying pressure to specific points on your feet can kick start your body’s natural healing process. Reflexology may not be a scientifically proven medical treatment for disease, but studies suggest it’s a helpful complementary treatment, especially for stress and anxiety.

    When I began treating my husband, he noticed a reduction in his tinnitus almost immediately, and after a few treatments it had reduced to a level he could cope with. It has now gone completely however stress is definitely a trigger and when he has a heavy workload for example, he will notice his tinnitus return. We initially started with one treatment per week, followed by monthly maintenance treatments now to keep this at bay and I’m happy to report that he definitely benefits from these treatments and his bouts of tinnitus are now rare, so if you are suffering with tinnitus it may be worth considering.

    Above all else, Reflexology is a lovely treatment, it induces a state of relaxation and reducing stress can only be a good thing.

  5. Spotlight on Skin Omegas

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    Wearing face masks over the past year has become the new-normal, however it has uncovered a new problem, mask related acne.

    This type of breakout activity is caused by friction and trapping warm air and is the perfect environment for bacteria to flourish. These bacterial imbalances can promote acne and rosacea flare-ups.

    Some basic hygiene such as wearing a clean face mask every day, sanitising your phone and changing your pillowcases regularly will help, however feeding the skin from the inside with good nutrition and supplements will turbocharge your topical home care routine.

    I love Skin Omegas+, they are recommended for overall skin health and hydration so great for dry skin conditions. However many of our clients have been using this Skin Omega+ to help with sore, sensitised skin associated with Maskne. Skin Omegas+ are an expertly calibrated Omega 3 supplement combined with Omega 6 fatty acids and vitamin A to create a specialised, sustainable skin-glowing formula.

    Omega-3 fatty acids play important roles in brain function, normal growth and development, and inflammation. Deficiencies have been linked to a variety of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, some cancers, mood disorders, arthritis, and more. The reduction in inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis and acne breakouts has been a massive self esteem boost to many or our clients struggling with skin conditions they have never had to worry about before.

    Wearing a mask can be tricky and at times just plain annoying, but for now its something we have to live with, when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19, a mask is your first line of defence.

    For further advice on which supplements would be best for you please feel free to book an online consultation ( link on our home page).

  6. Hand Creams to soothe dry, sanitised, winter hands.

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    Is anybody else suffering with dry hands at the moment? This is a really irritating problem most often a cold weather complaint but living through a pandemic having to sanitise with alcohol based products every 5 minutes and frequent hand washing is causing our hands to dry out and feel really uncomfortable.

    Some tips I use that definitely help;

    When you hands are immersed in water, wear gloves, this will help the water from stripping your skin.

    Keep a hand cream with you and moisturise several times a day.

    Treat your hands overnight, vaseline is great to apply last thing at night and apply a pair of soft gloves ( or socks) This is tricky but it makes a huge difference.

    Hydrocortisone is great for inflamed or red skin although ask a pharmacist for advice, never use on broken skin. 

    If this condition becomes very uncomfortable, ask your GP’s advice, there are creams and lotions they can prescribe, usually for conditions such as Eczema) that can help. Often these creams contain Urea, sometimes available off the shelf.

    My favourites:
    Eucerin Cream contains 5% Urea and Lactate, this is a lovely one and leaves the skin feeling so smooth. ( Fragrance free) You can buy this in Superdrug or Boots and of course Amazon.

    Dermalogica Multivitamin Hand and Nail Treatment comes in a handbag size, its non greasy and great for the hands and nails as it contains botanical and vitamins ( Fragrance free).

    Kiehl’s Ultimate Strength Hand Salve is amazing, its thick but non greasy and feels so soothing. It dries in quickly and leaves the hands feeling really soft. 

    How well your hands can withstand winter’s harsh conditions has a lot to do with the strength of our skin barrier,

    The skin barrier is a mix of proteins, lipids, and oils. It protects your skin, and how good a job it does is mostly about your genes.

    If you have a weak barrier, you’re more prone to symptoms of sensitive skin such as inflammation, itching and eczema. To treat parched, scaly hands, you need to replace the moisture that your skin is missing. Drinking water, won’t do that. A moisturiser applied regularly will prevent water from evaporating and give your skin a healthy appearance.

    Prevention is better than cure so start moisturising before there is a problem.

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