PHYT’S

Liberté, Égalité, Beauté: Virginie Claire Beauty Centre

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

This is a little bit cheeky — ha, ha, it’s about a facial! — but I was only thinking about this very treatment this very day, and I decided to re-blog it, cunningly presented as a new post. So, since I’m telling you, it’s not so bad, right?

Two things:
1} To remember a facial one year on is pretty significant.
2} I was thinking about this facial because I was getting a treatment — a full body exfoliation and massage — and it developed into a train of thought I’ll write about anon, as regards self-care, and the ‘treat’ part of ‘treatment’.

Anyway, just about a year ago this week, I toddled out to Rathmines to the Virginie Clarke Beauty Centre, and received their gorgeous Radiance Facial, which I have never forgotten. Happily, the same deal commemorating Bastille Day is on offer again, and starts on the 8th of July through to Saturday the 13th. Virginie says, ‘All participating salons, country-wide, will offer the facial promotion, with the extra benefit of having a great promotional discount on the PHYTS products. If you buy one skin care product, you can get the second at half price.’ Bon!

So, without further ado, here’s that Haiku Review.

Haiku Review: Phyt’s Radiance Facial

Oh my God! Oh, my!
God! Nothing like a facial
To soothe your whole self.

Phyt’s is a French brand, and first came to Ireland in 2007. It’s chemical-free, paraben-free, not tested on animals, and the VIRGINIE CLAIREpackaging is 100% recyclable. I’ve had a few of the products cross my desk over the last few years, and wasn’t terribly interested in them. More recently, I got a sample of the Ativ’ Peel, a facial exfoliant, which I liked loads: it foams up nicely, which allows the granules to distribute gently but thoroughly, and it has a lovely lemon-y scent. So when news of the Virginie Claire Beauty Centre’s Bastille Day special  came in the email, and a voucher for the 60 minute Radiance Facial came in the post, I duly followed through.

Oh, sure, I said to myself, ‘Radiance’ Facial, uh huh. I think I cultivate my cynicism because I am perversely delighted to be proven wrong. After all these years, I tell myself that I am inured to the all the bells and whistles that accompany beauty marketing — I suppose I am, superficially, but deep down, I am ready and willing to be shocked and awed.

I was entirely all of the latter following my treatment. Is this an outcome specific to the quality of Phyt’s products? Is it the wholly down to the prowess of Virginie Claire, the proprietress herself? Or, is it my willingness to give myself over to the process?

It’s probably all three, and that last one interests me, because it is in direct contradiction to the whole cynicism thing. So maybe I am not really cynical.

Long story short: at the end of the facial, I sat up and looked at my face in the mirror and laughed because it was like I was standing centre stage in Carnegie Hall under a spotlight, my face looked that clear and bright and lit up. In a word… radiant.

***

There really is nothing like wrapping up in a terry-cloth tube-top and lying down on a massage table. Every synapse in my brain takes this as a cue to to just relaaaaax, and my whole body follows suit. It’s amazing how much of the tension we feel ends up in our faces. As Virginie began the treatment with a comprehensive cleanse, tone, and exfoliation, I could feel the boulders that had been collecting in my jaw begin to disintegrate. As a result, the clenching in my forehead released — and I felt that release all the way down to my neck. Wild.

Next came a real highpoint: application of Serum Capyl-Rose, massage-style. This was perfection, and Virginie paid particular attention to the area around the eyes. I’m not entirely sure what happened next, because then I got a shoulder/arm/upper back massage, and I went away to my happy place.

Highest highpoint? The Aqua Peel-Off Mask, which is it bit pongy with rosemary, but otherwise feels like it is coolly and soothingly getting right down to the bottom of your pores and cleaning them out. And: oh! The sensation when it is peeled off your face, in one piece! So satisfying! Unfortunately, kids, you can’t try this at home; I asked as soon as I was able to form thoughts again, and Virginie said it’s too messy — she tried it herself and even she, a professional, found it too fiddly to do on one’s own.

In other details: the salon is super quiet for a day-spa-type place, certainly the quietest I have encountered yet; Virginie is supremely well-informed and up-front about things, as well as being knowledgeable and personable and adept; I took the 16 bus from Camden Street and was at the centre in ten minutes.

Did you realise that both American and French Independence days are in the summer? We had a laugh about that: if either revolution had failed, at least they could have fecked off to the beach.

Is that cynical? Nah, just practical, right? Anyway: yet another failure to be disenchanted! Success!

***

Virginie Claire is located at 255 Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6; 01 4978833

***

Lip Balms That I Have {And Have Loved}

/ brightandbeautyfull / 6 Comments

I’ve been upfront about my lip balm affection before, but the balms featured in that post? Gone, daddy, gone. There was also the one about the boots, which when I scrolled down to it, I was like Wha’? and then it made sense.

And then my pal Karen over at Lovely Girlie Bits posted about her sincere affection for the balm of lips, and gave us o’er here an auld mention. So, go have a look at alllll the balms that I had hanging about, under my desk, in a box.

I’m not ashamed! Because — because I actually need lip balms in my life!

When I was a child, my lips were so dry that I used to lick them all the time; this happened mostly in the winter, so I’d go out into the freezing cold {because I had to walk miles to school in the snow}{not really} and then they would get all chapped — so I would lick them some more, etc, etc. It was painful, and also not very lovely to look at. Poor wee Susan!

So, you see, my inner child is behind all this. I am healing my inner child. And by ‘all this’, I mean not only the thirteen lip treatments underneath my desk in the box, but also:

BALM on the desk

The three on the top of my desk…

BALM by the couch

The two that sit by my couch…

And most importantly…

BALM sue's bees

The one with my name on it!

I’ve enjoyed Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm in the past, and I find this particular potion, made from vitamin E and peppermint, to be especially ameliorative. Plus: tingly! In fact: I’ve got a wee tin of this by my bed, and it is my go-to good-night lip balm.

So I am happy to celebrate the 21st birthday of this balm, which sells one tube every two seconds, somewhere in the world.

Happily, at this festive time, there is even more good news: Burt’s Bees lip gloss wands are coming soon!

***

Next: what balm suits which mood!

***

Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm is available in all good health stores, and retails for €3.95

***

Haiku Review: Phyt’s Radiance Facial

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Oh my God! Oh, my!
God! Nothing like a facial
To soothe your whole self.

Phyt’s is a French brand, and first came to Ireland in 2007. It’s chemical-free, paraben-free, not tested on animals, and the packaging is 100% recyclable. I’ve had a few of the products cross my desk over the last few years, and wasn’t terribly interested in them. More recently, I got a sample of the Ativ’ Peel, a facial exfoliant, and that, I liked loads: it foams up nicely, which allows the granules to distribute gently but thoroughly, and it has a lovely lemon-y scent. So when news of the Virginie Claire Beauty Centre’s Bastille Day special, running from 9-14 July came in the email, and a voucher for the 60 minute Radiance Facial came in the post, I duly followed through.

Oh, sure, I said to myself, ‘Radiance’ Facial, uh huh. I think I cultivate my cynicism because I am perversely delighted to be proven wrong. After all these years, I tell myself that I am inured to the all the bells and whistles that accompany beauty marketing — I suppose I am, superficially, but deep down, I am ready and willing to be shocked and awed.

I was entirely all of the latter following my treatment. Is this an outcome specific to the quality of Phyt’s products? Is it the wholly down to the prowess of Virginie Claire, the proprietress herself? Or, is it my willingness to give myself over to the process?

It’s probably all three, and that last one interests me, because it is in direct contradiction to the whole cynicism thing. So maybe I am not really cynical.

Long story short: at the end of the facial, I sat up and looked at my face in the mirror and laughed because it was like I was standing centre stage in Carnegie Hall under a spotlight, my face looked that clear and bright and lit up. In a word… radiant.

***

There really is nothing like wrapping up in a terry-cloth tube-top and lying down on a massage table. Every synapse in my brain takes this as a cue to to just relaaaaax, and my whole body follows suit. It’s amazing how much of the tension we feel ends up in our faces. As Virginie began the treatment with a comprehensive cleanse, tone, and exfoliation, I could feel the boulders that had been collecting in my jaw begin to disintegrate. As a result, the clenching in my forehead released — and I felt that release all the way down to my neck. Wild.

Next came a real highpoint: application of Serum Capyl-Rose, massage-style. This was perfection, and Virginie paid particular attention to the area around the eyes. I’m not entirely sure what happened next, because then I got a shoulder/arm/upper back massage, and I went away to my happy place.

Highest highpoint? The Aqua Peel-Off Mask, which is it bit pongy with rosemary, but otherwise feels like it is coolly and soothingly getting right down to the bottom of your pores and cleaning them out. And: oh! The sensation when it is peeled off your face, in one piece! So satisfying! Unfortunately, kids, you can’t try this one at home; I asked as soon as I was able to form thoughts again, and Virginie said it’s too messy — she tried it herself and even she, a professional, found it too fiddly to do on one’s own.

In other details: the salon is super quiet for a day-spa-type place, certainly the quietest I have encountered yet; Virginie is supremely well-informed and up-front about things, as well as being knowledgeable and personable and adept; I took the 16 bus from Camden Street as was at the centre in ten minutes.

Did you realise that both American and French Independence days are in the summer? We had a laugh about that: if either revolution had failed, at least they could have fecked off to the beach.

Is that cynical? Nah, just practical, right? Anyway: yet another failure to be disenchanted! Success!

***

Special offer Radiance Facial: €45; good until 14 July.

Virginie Claire is located at 255 Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6;  01 4978833