My Vaishaly Facial of Dreams!
Eat, sleep, work, repeat, eat, sleep, work, repeat. Seems to be my only diary entry of late, working like a machine, not caring for my body and skin in the way I should and averaging about 5 hours sleep a night, I hit a wall, literally, looked at my face and boom there they were, the dreaded character marks, dehydration lines, sun damage. The time had come. Its time to start spending a little more time on my skin. As most of you know, I am an absolute skincare junkie and have never failed in my quest to always look after it. However sometimes we need that deeper pore cleanse, the hydrating oils and the pressure massage, to help us escape the woes of London life and to creep that moisture deep into my 7 layers of skin.
To google I went to research, "Best anti-aging facial, London" A whole host of random ideals came up and I landed upon a review for Vaishaly facials, what I loved was the clean, descriptive website, the amazing reviews of the signature facials and the fact that it will be tailor made for my skin rather than just a generic procedure. This made my mind up. I emailed the reception and luckily could book an appointment for the Monday coming.
I woke up with a buzz very excited about my facial, jumped on the central line to Bond street then hurriedly walked the ten mins to the clinic.
I was welcomed with a big smile from the reception and instantly offered a glass of water and shown to a waiting area, then my favourite thing, the forms you have to fill out! I am weirdly such a fan of filling out forms, thankfully this was all quite simple and standard procedure at most beauty treatment centres.
Then I met the lovely Louise who was going to be doing my facial today, she led me down the beautifully smelling hall and stairway into a room that looked like paradise, a nice size treatment room with all the mod cons and necessary Buddha's to calm and relax oneself through this lovely treatment. Louise throughly explained everything, not a stone unturned and made me feel so at ease before my treatment began, she confirmed my form with me to be sure I had no other information she needed to know, we talked through my skins condition and worries to be sure my facial was specifically tailored for me. Then I continued to lay down on the treatment bed. I have a bad back so this can sometimes be uncomfortable but there was even a specific under the knee cushion to keep my legs elevated, alleviating the strain on my back, its as if they knew I was coming. Louise then began my facial, she started by telling me she was washing her hands and just opening some clean sponges for our session today, something which I also do when make-upping people hygiene is so important and it is always best to tell people what you are doing, as sometimes they cannot see and do not think you have done these things.
First a deep cleanse and then the extraction, my favourite bit I think!!! Louise pulled down her magnifying glass and light, as I relaxed she went to town all over my T-Zone gently extracting what she could. A very interesting fact she shared with me, was that steam on your face before extraction actually opens your pores too much, so upon leaving the clinic my pores would still intercept the London air and pollution making my skin and spots worse. This totally makes sense and out of the few facials I have had in the past most of them used steam! Also those terrible black, glue, peel off , charcoal masks that are all over Instagram at the moment are a total craze, yes they pull all the dirt out but they are way too harsh and strong and actually damage your skin and pores in the long run, so if I didn't know already, this showed me I was in the best possible hands.
Louise continued to explain all the proceedures she was following and what tools she was using so nothing was unusual or confusing. Microderm abrasion was the fun part too, I have never experienced this before and it was strangely relaxing and really felt like it was gently exfoliating and cleansing my skin, Louise lowered the pressure around my eyes and cheeks as they are more gentle areas of the face, especially the eye area, we also discussed diet and water intake, as I do try to eat healthily when I can but I am partial to the odd good quality burger as most of my friends know, but I am reasonably good at home, nobody is perfect (well perhaps apart from Gwyneth Paltrow) and with such wonderful foods on offer in this world why should we be afraid to eat a little bit of what we enjoy now and then, it will never do any harm. Then the oxygen jet into my skin, this tiny contraption blasts oxygen very softly into the skin to help clean and close up the pores from the extraction, again this felt lovely and like a soft massage, I feel this is what has helped plump up my skin. As the lights dimmed a little more, and the sounds of nirvana echoed around the room, this beautiful smelling oil was applied to my face, it was just heavenly, and in a very soft calming voice, Louise mentioned it was Vaishaly's specific blend of oils for the skin, it was beautiful and then what ensued I can only explain as an outer body experience or what I imagine Elysium to be! It was a beautiful line decreasing, stress relieving lymphatic draining facial massage, including face, neck, head and more face, it felt really lifting and firming, this aids the oils to get into the deeper levels of the skin and help it remain tight and strong.
Then it was time to let the dream come to an end, my hour was up, at my own connivence I had to gently get up and prepare the way, I had another glass of water and slowly left the bed of wonder as I continued up the stairs to the reception, Louise met me at the top and explained how she had prepared a sample of the beautiful oil for me to try, she also explained how she was happy with the skincare routine I had, products I used and was impressed with how I look after my skin, she said to keep going with what I was doing, which made me so happy as I do try very hard to keep looking and feeling young. There was also no hard sell of products or things forced onto me, this makes me more inclined now to purchase the products when my current skincare has run out.
I honestly cannot explain how beautiful my skin feels, smells and looks. I am glowing for the first time in a long time and it already feels plumper and revitalised. The best facial in the world by far. I love how Vaishaly has developed the technique of the massage to really help the essential oils and treatments delve into the lower levels of our skin allowing it to work the core. I have already booked in for my next one with the wonderful Louise, I feel the price is a small one to pay when daily, our faces come into contact with harmful free radicals, we need to look after our bodies as we only get one, I can safely say when I am 80 I will look back and think it was all worth it. Thank you for such a wonderful experience.
My skin as it is right now, no makeup no filters etc, just natural, its the Vaishaly filter!
xxxxx