My First Foray Into Beauty Six practitioners tell us which (sometimes embarrassing) products started their beauty journeys.
A
s therapists and practitioners, most of us remember when we first fell in love with beauty – for some it was eons ago, and for the majority, it can be fairly cringe-worthy to look back on! What was the first brand you fell in love with? Did you splurge on an entire regime, mix and match a set of different brands, or home DIY? We’ve asked a handful of industry friends (all now practitioners) to share these moments with us, as we fondly reminisce about how far we, and the industry, have come.
Joanna Newham, Owner Joanna Newham Skin Health Oh gosh, I remember it well… Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturiser, purchased from Boots London! Like most teens, I mixed and matched products, in my quest for skincare on a budget. That little yellow bottle already had a cult following and I loved its scientific history. Created by Dr Orentreich, it was originally sold in his pharmacy as YML (Yellow Moisturising Lotion) and then renamed by an editor who found the Clinique version ‘dramatically different’! Looking back, this purchase was quite a ‘moment’ for me. My first job in beauty PR was for Boots 7 & 17 and to this day, I’m still committed to products that are backed by science. 48 | SPA+CLINIC
Like most teens, I mixed and matched products, in my quest for skincare on a budget.
James Vivian, Owner James Vivian One of my first beauty crushs was Aesop’s Tea Tree Leaf Facial Exfoliant. It was a three-ingredient powder containing crushed walnut shell that you could control the level of exfoliation by mixing a small - or in my case - a very large amount with your cleanser. I would scrub my skin so aggressively and not stop until I was bright red. I did this for years before learning that less is more when it comes to physical exfoliation.
Ana Troccoli, Owner Ana Troccoli Aesthetics “My grandmother used to have all this thermal black clay mask back in her beach house in Brazil when I was probably 13-14 years old. I loved to try all her thermal black mud products from Iguassú Falls and lock myself into the bathroom, and quickly put her beauty routine on my skin, feeling a burning sesation and messing all around to clean it all off. Then would come knocks on the door and me always trying to hide everything from her. Four years later I did my first aesthetics beauty course and fell in love with everything about cosmetics. I like to mix and match products as I’m obsessed in trying new things but as the love for that particular thermal products goes, I still