Wellness Week Arnotts Floraesque

Last week I attended the Arnotts Wellness Week beauty talk. I actually randomly seen that they were on via Twitter and decided to take a half day from work to pop up to Dublin to go. This year I am really focusing on eating cleaner, drinking more water, increasing my fitness by training towards goals and just trying to be a better version of being me. Since we are 3 weeks into January now it doesn’t just feel like a New Year’s resolution more like a lifestyle change as it is getting easier.

The beauty and skincare talk was hosted by Laura Birmingham (TV3’s beauty guru) and there was a panel of 6 representatives from different skincare backgrounds. I will touch slightly on all as I took away little nuggets away from each 🙂 Hopefully you pick up a tip or two as well.

The Beauty Panel at Wellness Week Floralesque Arnotts
Sonia demonstrating how the airless Moisturiser works

Sonia Deasy from Pestle & Mortar.

This was by far my favourite presentation. Sonia is the owner of Pestle and Mortar a fully Irish owned and developed company. She went through two of their products – one a Pure Hyaluronic Serum and the other an airless moisturiser. Sonia was so easy to listen to and from just 2 minutes of listening you can tell that this woman REALLY knows her stuff. She went through the science behind why people as they age need more hyaluronic acid in their skincare and their product actually looks amazing.

Their moisturizer is an airless one. Interesting eh? Well the theory behind this is that once your moisturiser touches the air it starts to go off (the technical term I know), and well basically because the airless container has a pump it is only when you pump is that it has contact with the air. So the remainder of the moisturizer stays fresh and the ingredients stay active. I was actually so intrigued by her talk that I brought the serum – I cannot wait to start using it!

Denise Behan from Rituals.

Denise was so endearing to listen to. Rituals is a brand that many of us are probably familiar with – they are an affordable, luxuary, Dutch lifestyle brand and what makes them unique is that each collection has a story. I love the idea of this and it certainly warmed me more towards the brand. Interestingly more people are actually deciding to ‘scent’ their weddings. This is not something that had even occurred to me before but is such a great idea – their bestselling wedding scent is their Jasmine scent!

Debbie McVicar from Clarins.

Debbie is actually the Clarins National Trainer so we were quite lucky to have her there. Clairins is such an iconic brand and in my opinion tends to be ahead of the trends when it comes to skincare. They have been talking about the important of anti-oxidants in skincare over 10 years and this year will be the year where environmental pollution starts to be brought much more into the conversation – we all know the importance of SPF but not all of us know how to deal with the day to day toxins that our skin comes in contact with. She believes that women today want to look the best they can for the age that they are – this is a change from previous years where women wanted to look 20 years younger – certainly an interesting point to mull over.

What I found most interesting from Debbie’s talk was how to apply neck cream. I know that this may sounds like an odd one but I have always applied the cream on my skin and then swept my hands up my neck in quite the dramatic fashion. What Debbie advised however was that we press the cream into the skin. The skin in our necks is apparently not as good at absorbing in moisturisers and therefore neds a different technique. Her full technique involves; pump the product into your hand, warm the product in your hand and then press into the skin.

Stacey Downey from Liz Earle.

Firstly – if you haven’t yet tried the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish then I would certainly advise you to try it. This has been a staple product in my skincare regime for the past two years and I just love it. Stacey spoke a lot about this iconic product and we all also got to try it out. It is such a simple product to use – one pump will do your whole face so I always find that it lasts me quite well. Anyway, so to use pump one pump into your hands to warm the product up and then apply to your dry face. Massage into your skin and then remove with warm water with the special muslin cloth. She would recommend using it morning and night as part of your routine. The magic of the cloth is that it also exfoliates your skin due to the tiny gaps in the fabric. I also did not know that these cloths could go in the washing machine! I have been replacing mine – well not any more 🙂

The Beauty Panel at Wellness Week Arnotts Floralesque

Stacy Drumm from Kiehls.

Kiehls is one of the brands that I keep meaning to try out and never seem to but after yesterday’s talk I certainly intend to soon! Stacy started by talking us through their number one best selling product – their midnight recovery oil. This is a cult classic and many people would have heard of it. What I found most interesting is the order in which to apply your creams and potions… 1. Cleanse 2. Tone. 3. Serum. 4. Oil. 5. Moisturiser. 6. SPF. The reason that I found it interesting is that I thought that an oil replaced the serum step in your beauty regime! Another product that she went through was their new day oil– it’s a super zesty oil that we all got to try out and I have to say that the scent alone is amazing- it would certainly wake you up in the mornings.

Neelu White from Neelu’s.

Now I will be honest when I seen this on the agenda I did think that Neelu’s was a beauty brand that I was not familiar with – and well basically I was very wrong. Neelu’s is an amazing beauty emporium area within Arnotts. I did not know about this service before and after meeting the owner Neelu – well now I just have to go!

Neelu actually first brought threading to Ireland. She went through the benefits of threading versus waxing and laser treatments and it certainly was interesting. I loved her philosophy on skincare – what is good for you? She believes that everything is linked – you should eat well and your health will work from within. If you eat well it will double the results of any skincare. She also believes that we should do no harm externally to our bodies when it comes to skincare and this theory follows through all of her treatments.

Wellness Week Arnotts Floraesque

We also got quite an unexpected amazing goodie bag at the end that contained a Liz Earle travel size cleanse and polish (including a muslin cloth), a Liz Earle travel size soothing eye lotion.Rituals foaming shower gel sensation, Rituals relaxing serum and also a Clarins treatment voucher!

Overall it was an evening well spent and I will certainly be keeping a closer eye on Arnotts to see what else they have lined up!

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