The Blurb
“Welcome to Paul Edmonds, where we create hair and beauty experiences which accentuate our clients’ intrinsic beauty and enhance their personal style. Whether you want to gently evolve, subtly maintain, or completely transform, we will listen carefully to you, and use our intuition and expertise to create a look that is inherently yours.”
Paul Edmonds has branches in Battersea and Knightsbridge (the Battersea branch benefitting from the Circus West car park underneath it – so good for anyone preferring to avoid public transport in the current climate.) It’s the Knightsbridge salon that I visit on a sunny September afternoon and I’m eagerly anticipating my first facial since March.
The Process
On arrival, I’m asked to fill in a short COVID questionnaire, have my temperature taken and then I’m shown through to a waiting area and provided with a bottle of mineral water to enjoy while I wait. The salon seems quiet, a couple of people are having their hair done but there’s a peaceful air to the place that I enjoy.
The space is beautifully put together: dark brown chairs complement the wooden floors and there are gold accents throughout the salon which give it a modern boutique-y feel. Lights are shaded and flattering.
Soon enough, I’m taken through to meet Gené my therapist for the treatment. Gené is absolutely lovely: very warm and authentic and endlessly accommodating to my requests (i.e to having the bed raised so that I’m not lying flat, which is contraindicated in pregnancy, even though this means she will have to stand). The room she works out of it absolutely tiny, but seeing as I’m lying still it’s not really much of an issue.
Gené casts her expert eye over my skin (she is in fact much more than a beauty therapist: she’s a qualified esthetician with many years experience and over 40 qualifications) and notes that there are some areas of congestion. She suggests a steam and extraction followed by manual lymphatic drainage and a lifting clay mask. Who am I to disagree?
After a good dose of steam, Gené gets to work with her extraction tool. It doesn’t hurt at all, and I can only imagine how satisfying it is clearing out those pores of mine! Next, Gené applies a gentle strawberry and rhubarb dermafoliant to slough away dead skin cells. The scrub smells divine, and Gené reassures me that it’s suitable for more sensitive pregnant skin.
This is followed by an amazing facial massage with apricot massage oil. The massage was focused on lymphatic drainage and lifting and firming, but to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less what the effects were going to be; I was totally blissed out. The treatment is finished off with a firming clay mask by Skinceuticals that made my face feel awake and lifted.
I leave the salon feeling refreshed and pampered and the results of the facial are palpable. For days afterwards I keep getting my makeup bag out to put on my usual touches, but each time I look in the mirror I think “Hmmm, I can get away with no makeup today” which is lovely. I receive several compliments on my ‘glow’ over the coming days. All-in-all I’m a very happy customer.
