Let's March into Spring!

The lovely sunshine this weekend after all the storms we have had definitely signals Spring is in the air and with March 1st on Tuesday next week it is officially the start of Spring. Brighter days, longer evenings, warmer temperatures and more sunshine are on their way!

If you have plans for the Summer now is a good time to start focusing on your skin to make sure it is on tip-top condition ready for being more exposed.

A good product to start using is a body scrub, once or twice a week in the shower. It only takes 5 to 10 minutes. Concentrate on drier areas such as knees, elbows, but work all over your body working upwards towards the heart and rinse off. The Body Smoothing Shower Gel from ESPA is a lovely product to use. It is a naturally foaming body scrub with Jasmine and Ylang Ylang. Walnut shell powder gently exfoliates and Coconut and Yucca purify leaving the skin really soft.

You will need to use a body cream or oil afterwards to keep skin hydrated and nourished. My favourite from ESPA is the Smooth & Firm Body Butter. It's a rich cream but soaks in beautifully and I can get dressed straight after application. Larch and Pumpkin seed extract hydrate and Rosehip and Vitamin E nourishes and moisturises. It smells lovely to! Apply it in firm upward circular movements until fully absorbed after shower or bath.

Our limited edition treatment for March is 'Spring Awakening'. Scrub away the Winter and nourish your skin with a head to toe pamper. Your skin will be body brushed and scrubbed before a nourishing body cream is massaged to rehydrate the skin. Completely relax with an instant refresh facial and scalp massage to finish. Perfect for Mother's Day gift too! (available as a voucher but must be used during March 2022) 1 hour 30 mins treatment time, £75.00

Daffodils are out! Dad always used to say they shouldn't be out before St. David's day but ours are out already and I do love their cheery yellow trumpets of Spring. Enjoy the sunshine and the rest of your Sunday 😊
Liz xx

February can be the start too!

Can you believe it's the end of January already? We've made it! If you made new year resolutions, started a new diet and fitness regime or decided to do 'dry January' I hope you were successful BUT if you weren't, don't be disappointed - as they say, tomorrow is another day and you will have good days and bad days.

I know several people who have started new regimes and although some of the time they haven't managed to always do what they set out to do, on the whole the scales are going in the right direction and the exercise challenges are getting completed so well done to everyone for giving it a go.

What are you now planning after the end of January? With easing of restrictions it feels like there is more optimism in the air and people are definitely making plans, finally, and doesn't that feel good?

We've spent a few hours in the sun today in the garden, I do love a sunny Sunday even if it's not that warm but the birds were singing, the cats were with us too and there are signs of life emerging. Our snowdrops are out, there are little green buds appearing on plants and bushes and it just feels great to be alive and reconnect with the garden after the winter months.

I know technically February is still winter but it feels like spring is inching ever closer. On these bright sunny days, it stays lighter longer, last night it was just after 5 and it was still light!

If however you are struggling a little in terms of feeling positive here a few tips you could try to ensure you enjoy the here and now. We can all get bogged down with stress from the day before or anxiety and worry about what will happen in the future, but try to take a moment in your day to be fully present and do something you enjoy:

• Listen to your favourite album/playlist/musician
• Go for a walk in nature and reconnect and breathe...
• Follow a mediation or mindfulness exercise
• Spend time with family or friends, face to face or virtually
• Reading a book
• Learn a new hobby, which will keep your mind focused, a goal to work towards and you will get a sense of achievement

Hope you have a great start to February and let me know if you have any tips for keeping that positivity going, would be great to share what works.

Thanks for reading, stay positive 😊
Liz x

2021, what a year!

This was going to be my last blog for 2021. I wanted to do a round up of the year and celebrate with you all that we achieved last year. Obviously the last week of the year didn't go to plan for me personally but I still wanted to share with you what a great year 2021 was and how we are looking forward to this year and what it has in store for us as a salon community.

2021 didn't start as we had planned that's for sure. On Christmas Eve 2020 when we wished you all a great Christmas and said see you in the New Year, we didn't think we'd be closed until the 12th April! What a shock!

However, with all your support (again) we held a Positivity Challenge and tried to keep each other motivated through January. I really managed to get my step count up each day which was great. We had a suggestion every day to keep up spirits and many of you joined in.

February saw our Virtual Skincare Enthusiast course. We got great feedback from you and lots of you asked questions, had one to one advice sessions and purchased products from us off the back of that. It was satisfying to see so many of you getting into better skincare habits.

Karis and I also did several doorstep flower deliveries to clients not on social media or that use email just to check in and make sure they were ok and know we hadn't forgotten them.

March saw us hold several Virtual Skincare evenings. Again, everyone seemed to enjoy these and as a team we have agreed to hold these events a couple of times a year to discuss a specific skincare issue and have an evening of pampering from home. Fun for everyone and so good to "see" familiar faces even if they were on camera and not in person.

In March I was a finalist in the BABTAC Inspiring Beauty Awards. These were new awards that were designed to celebrate the best of the beauty industry in challenging times and it was overwhelming to be recognized by our industry.

We found out at the start of April we could reopen so it was all hands-on deck to contact everyone and start getting you booked back in. It was wonderful to know people did want to come back and we certainly hit the floor running once we could reopen.

From May and through the summer lots of you booked with us and tried our monthly promotions, treated yourselves to more relaxing treatments and it was a very positive few months in the salon. Karis had her hair cut off and donated to The Little Princess Trust and was overwhelmed with the support from everyone.

In August we won several awards in the British Beauty Awards and were over the moon. These included Gold for 'Manager of the Year' and 'Excellence in Customer Service' and Silver for 'Beauty Salon of the Year' and 'Top Rated Salon of the Year'. As a team the pandemic has actually brought us closer together and it was wonderful to feel our efforts were recognised by our industry.

September saw the launch of our Focus Dual machine. All about lifting, firming and toning the skin. We have had great results so far for our clients who have started this treatment with us and we are enjoying designing bespoke packages to enhance and optimize our clients skin and working with them to get the best from their skin that they can.

Autumn going in to the Winter the salon has been busy, all of the team managed to get away somewhere in the UK and have a break too. We also held our Autumn Bliss virtual evening focusing on preparing your skin as the seasons changed and we had positive comments from everyone who did it with us.

We had a lovely meal out with the team from Two's Company early December and in the last few weeks of December it was fantastic to see everyone, treat you all and feel so supported as a business.

For 2022 we have our new Illumi facial coming from Lynton, using our IPL machine and light therapy for skin rejuvenation and who knows what else?!....

Thank you for your support as always. It really does mean the world and we cannot stay open without you booking regularly and turning up for your treatments. For that, we will always be grateful.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year. Bring on 2022!
Liz xx