About Time: You Discovered the Best Summer Facials in LondonBy Gemma Perlin
Looking for a healthy glow? Fear you’ll never remove the layer of dirt from the Central London from you skin? Introducing our summer skincare saviours – all style, all substance – the beauty treatments that really work. Here’s the facials in London we’re loving for that fresh-out-of-Cannes look:
1. For Definition: The Signature Electrical at Face Gym
The Lowdown: The UK’s only gym for your face – they use a combination of face massage and muscle stimulation targeting the 40 muscles in the face. We had the most popular treatment, The Signature Electrical, which is their most common face massage accompanied by 10 minutes with their unique electrical device which kneads and pumps your skin.
The Treatment: They begin with a warm up and finish with a cool down, where the face is firmly massaged. For a jaw clencher and grinder like myself, I would go just for the release of tightness and pain, the bonus was how de puffed and energised my face looked after. The usually gloomy section under my eyes had disappeared away and my cheekbones looked tighter and more defined. I bought a jade roller following the treatment and inspired to try my own workouts at home. They recommend a weekly session.
Price: £85 for 55 minutes
Where: Locations here
2. For Hydration: The PH Balance Facial at Vaishaly
The Lowdown: Vaishaly Patel, super facialist and eyebrow specialist, has created two highly effective facial treatments in her London clinic. An unbalanced PH level in your skin can be the cause of havoc in your skin from wrinkles to spots, this treatment claims to transform your skin in as little as 25 minutes.
The Treatment: The facial uses a very exciting tool of ‘high frequency’, which dries and closes pores after extraction with a germicidal effect killing any bacteria in the skin. They also combine it with through extraction to remove blocked pores, spots and blackheads. They use electrodes to transport the key PH ingredients into your skin. The treatment is shorter but more intense; we would say these treatments are great for dehydrated skin, but not necessarily spotty skin.
Price: £105 for 55 minutes
Where: Vaishaly Clinic, 51 Paddington Street, London W1U 4HR
3. For Acne-Prone Skin: Bespoke Facial at Daiva Beauty House
The Lowdown: Daiva Kamysova runs a facial clinic from her house in Hammersmith, where she gets to the bottom of problematic skin. She is a trained make up artist and facialist and creates a facial appropriate for whatever your skin is showing. For me, that was a glycolic acid facial with lots of peels and extraction.
The Treatment: Daiva is excellent. She understands acne and speaks with confidence about how to get to the bottom of it. What I loved was that the products she recommended weren’t going to the break the bank – a halfway house between the bankrupting, expensive products I had been using (to no avail) and cheap merchandise of my teenage years I had purchased in Superdrug. I have been back to see her six weeks later, and I have got faith she is going to get on top of my spotty skin. It feels brighter, clearer and softer and generally happier.
Where: Daiva Beauty House in Hammersmith, click here to contact her to make an appointment
4. For a Celebrity Facial: HydraFacial at Dr Nima London
The Lowdown: In 2018, the HydraFacial was performed on someone every 15 seconds. It’s a great treatment, as the skin doesn’t need time to recover in the way it would with other facial treatments.
The Treatment: The HydraFacial uses Hydradermabrasion to flush out the skin and leave that perfect template for make-up artists. The process uses a gentle vacuum-like technology to clean out pores and supply the skin with the moisture and active ingredients it’s craving for a plumper, dewier, smoother look. Plus, it can help smooth fine lines, discolouration and wrinkles. The entire facial is a four-step process, including exfoliating cleanser, glycolic peel, salicylic acid peel, serum packed with peptides. There’s also a quick round of LED light therapy – blue light helps rid the face of acne, and red light helps calm the skin.
Price: £249 with Dr Nima
Where: Location here
5. For a Skin Reset: GlowGetter Facial at The Facial Bar
The Lowdown: The GlowGetter Facial hits reset on your skin and fight hyperpigmentation, dehydration and dullness. The Facial Bar believes that true beauty comes from within, their result driven facial treatments are designed to simplify and change the way you look at your skin. Their number one responsibility is your skin cell’s welfare and wellbeing, boosting life back into your skin.
The Treatment: This facial combines oxygen and a 3-step hyaluronic acid layering to achieve that great glow. Expect a deep cleanse, with an optional exfoliating peel and a high flow oxygen nasal mask. ADD ON oxygen boosters – oxygen therapy and a vitamin infusion are added for intense hydration, nourishment, smoothness and radiance. You can also add-on extras such as Vitamin C+3 to smooth, brighten and strengthen, Collagen to restore, tighten and volume and Vitamin A to regenerate, clarify and refine.
Price: £95 for 45 minutes
Where: 5 Pont St, Belgravia, London SW1X 9EJ
6. For a Stimulating Facial: Massage Facial at Beata
The Lowdown: Pure Massage Face Therapy is the signature facial from Beata Aleksandrowicz who fuses the best of eastern and western concepts in facial massage and healing techniques. Offered at her private studio in Notting Hill, each treatment focusses on a different part of the face to provide a stimulating, lifting effect. Reducing the appearance of wrinkles, the relaxing therapy brings a sense of calmness, whilst defining the jawline and lifting the whole facial structure.
The Treatment: Educating the muscle, bringing oxygen and energy whilst nurturing the face, Beata works on each muscle of the face in turn. Beata works to release the tissue and muscles and stimulate lymphatic drainage, employing techniques like face reflexology and elements of cranial sacral therapy. She also works on the inside of the mouth stretching the muscles. Clients will learn how to breathe, what to eat and how to make life less stressful, enjoying your inner and outer beauty. Designed as a course of six sessions it has a transformational effect on the face.
Price: £185 for 60 minutes
Where: 237 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 6SA
7. For a Proven-Results Facial: The Cleopatra at Skin and Sanctuary
The Lowdown: Skin and Sanctuary are renowned for their medically advanced facials, designed by leading Aesthetic Doctor Dr Saira Vasdev and her team of skin specialists. Each one is tailored for effectiveness post consultation. Every step, ingredient and product is selected to get results for you.
The Treatment: The Cleopatra is one of their most popular facials. It begins with a thorough cleanse using cosmeceutical products most suitable for a client’s skin type, followed by microdermabrasion, a peel with glycolic, salicylic and lactic acid, Microcurrent technology which trains your facial muscles to appear more lifted, The Bionic Oxygen Facial Mask with PHA and LED Light therapy. You won’t believe the results of this facial.
Price: £300
8. For Bespoke Skin Consultancy: Lion/ne
The Lowdown: Lion/ne is a unique service which cuts through the confusion and clutter of skincare, offering a 1:1 approach to skincare shopping by providing unbiased product and brand recommendations tailored specifically to your skin’s needs. The team at Lion/ne listen to your skincare frustrations and offer honest information about which products you should be using and which brands and ingredients you should avoid.
The Treatment: Every consultation offered utilises the unique OBSERV Skin Diagnostic Tool – a skin analysis tool delivers a deeper understanding of your skin by illuminating what the naked eye cannot see. Simply put, Lion/ne is your skincare confidante: no bias, no filters, no fuss. Founded by Ksenia
Selivanova and Claudia ‘Megan’ Felton following a friendship that flourished from a love of all
things skincare and a frustration of how confusing the skincare world can be. Lion/ne is a unique
service which aims to empower both women and men through expert skincare consultancy, offering a 1:1 approach to skincare shopping.
Price: From £35
9. For Sorting Your Skin from Within: Symprove
The Lowdown: We know, we know, it’s not a facial – but we had to slip it in. Symprove is the probiotic everyone is talking about from slews of celebrities to health practitioners. It’s a water-based multi-strain supplement that contains 4 unique strains of live activated bacteria, which comes in plain flavour and a more palatable mango and passion fruit flavour.
What to Expect: It’s a vinegary, quite pleasant taste and can quickly and easily became part of your daily routine – taken first thing in the morning at least 10 minutes before any food. It takes time to re-balance your gut bacteria, and Symprove recommends a 12 week course. Tip: if you purchase your 8 weeks worth, you’ll recieve the next 4 weeks free.
Why: Because we all know now that having happy skin is having a happy gut. If you’re confused by what probiotic to purchase – in 2014 UCL carried out a study on various different products containing bacteria, and the only product that passed the test, survived the stomach acid and thrived in the optimum part of the gut, was Symprove. Within a month of taking it I felt my skin was feeling clearer and more lively, and after another month the areas where my acne normally resided had become smaller.
Where: Buy directly from Symprove here