Last week I was invited by the skincare team at Environ in Harvey Nichols for a skin consultation and facial which would take 90 minutes. I hadn’t come across Environ in the past and I’m always interested in trying various brands especially for you guys, the readers! This brand is part of the IIAA ( The International Institute for Anti – Aging) so together they aim to help achieve great skin at any age.
When I arrived at Harvey Nichols, I met the lovely Michelle, an Environ staff member who explained what would be happening throughout the session. For the skin consultation, which takes 30 minutes, Michelle went through my diet regime and water intake etc via a questionnaire. She then got into more detailed issues as to how the layers of the skin really work, how they repair themselves and what vitamins/minerals our body really needs from certain foods for a healthy skin balance which I found quite useful.
Next my skin was analyzed by their Visia advanced image technology scanner. It was very quick and by no means scary. You simply place your chin on the small chin rest, close your eyes and three flashes will appear as if someone was taking your photo. It takes less than a minute. By doing this it will give a clear reading to various damage your skin might have picked up over the years from brown spots ,dehydration, open pores, sun damage, wrinkles and even bacteria.
Overall I was really pleased with how healthy my skin actually is. What surprised me, however, was the level of sun damage, as I generally tend to keep my face out of the sun as it never seems to tan. Michelle explained that oddly, it’s not just the sun that can typically cause sun damage, its variations of UVA and UVC rays..which means girls not just the sun but ultraviolet lights too such as our laptops, strong lights etc obviously to a lesser damaging extent than UVA but still can make an impact. And as a blogger this frightened the life out of me!
Useful facts :What Michelle noted is that in order for the skin to repair itself, the body needs the equivalent of 17 salmon steaks a week so it can extract the Omega 3 required for repair and to restore the PH balance. This is why the founder of Environ, Dr. Des Fernandes, developed high quality vitamins to be combined to quality skin care in order to preserve good skin, improve it and see long term benefits that are all based on medical and scientific facts.
For those of us with sensitive and pale skin Michelle also recommends to take a Vitamin C supplement once a day. There are products that are available with pure Vitamin C for the skin itself but she noted that for sensitive skin types this kind of product would be too harsh on the face.
The facial:
The Environ facial itself is one hour long and consists of Ionzyme Active Vitamins. I wasn’t sure if the treatment would actually be in the beauty hall of Harvey Nichols, but what I didn’t expect was to be brought into a lovely private beauty room which resembled a miniature spa which was quite relaxing.
Their treatment is suitable for all skin types including sensitive skin. They differ from other facials seemingly as the technology which is at present the only one of its kind. It’s done by using a combination of pulsed galvanic currents and low frequency sound waves. Together they help penetrate the Environ ingredients by up to 40 times deeper into the skin layers. So if we were to try make this happen ourselves it would mean massaging our skin for 70 hours straight! No thanks! 🙂
The currents are not painful at all, more like a very faint pinching but even then I didn’t notice them that much as I was too busy talking as usual! By using this method, it means that vitamins and minerals within the products used help the skin to repair, look thicker and healthier as it stimulates a number of beneficial skin factors. As my skin suffers badly with dehydration I did find an immediate relief within the hour itself.
The overall experience was really pleasant and my skin felt like silk. I would highly recommend this kind of facial, especially if you might be going through some skin issues or sensitivity at the moment. As the Environ products are aimed at the long term preservation of skin, some of them can be pricey when combining a skincare regime with vitamins. You can however find some reasonable products such as cleansers for around €20 which I think is very good value.
The facial is €120 but I was informed that a person can call in advance to book an appointment and on arrival if you buy any 3 products even the cheapest, then the facial is free! Happy days!
If you want to find out more about Environ and their products they can be found in Harvey Nichols.
