Hotfoots it to Mayfair - Mayfair Times

42
health & beauty
Get fresh
THE BAMFORD BODY COLLECTION is a
luxurious range of botanical products
designed to cleanse, protect and rejuvenate.
Made in England from organic ingredients,
the aromatherapy-based collection combines
modern cosmetic science with natural
ingredients and fragrances. It includes hair,
body and hand care products plus an organic
baby collection, in fragrances that reflect the
freshness of the British countryside.
The collection, which can be found in the
rooms of The Connaught and Claridge’s, is
available to buy at luxury retailers including
Liberty in Great Marlborough Street.
Turn back time
Naturally
beautiful
NUXURIANCE IS AN anti-ageing range created
specifically for women aged 35+ to target the effects of
ageing on mature skin. It includes Anti-Ageing
Re-Densifying Day Emulsion (£40 for 50ml) – a multipurpose
day cream that is rich in organic acids which
are said to improve the texture of the skin while
tightening pores and creating a luminous complexion.
The range also features a day cream with Jericho
rose and Meadowfoam plant oil, which hydrates the
skin; a night cream containing maca root and araucaria,
which help to eliminate toxins; and serum with bakau
plant cells and araucaria seeds to brighten and plump.
You’ll find the collection at Space NK, 45-47 Brook
Street.
Go wild
INSPIRED BY WILD, ancient hedgerows,
Green & Spring’s latest skincare additions
– Deep Face Scrub and Gentle Face
Refiner – work together to leave skin
smooth, supple and glowing.
The scrub (£24 for 70ml) features
tiny granules of walnut, clary, sage,
hyssop and lavender, which combine to
boost circulation and lift out embedded
grime, while extracts of horse chestnut
and comfrey are said to increase
elasticity.
Let yourself
blossom
THE ORGANIC PHARMACY
has launched its first fragrance
collection and, in keeping with
the company’s philosophy, it is
100 per cent natural and
organic. Priced at £110 for
100ml, it comes in four different
fragrances: Citron (inspired by
the southern Italian Riviera),
Oriental Blossom, Jasmine and
Oud – with the scent of an
Arabian souk.
NATURAL AND ORGANIC
SKINCARE IS A RAPIDLY
INCREASING MARKET, AS MORE
OF US THINK ABOUT WHAT
WE’RE PUTTING ON OUR FACE
AND BODY. TAKE YOUR PICK
OF THIS PERFECT BUNCH
Feel divine
FRENCH NATURAL-beauty company
L’Occitane’s Divine Immortelle
skincare features organic Immortelle
essential oil that stimulates the
production of collagen, improves
circulation and protects the skin from
free radicals.
It also contains myrtle essential
oil, which enables mature skin to
recover youthful cells to help slow
down the skin-ageing process.
The collection, which includes a
cream, serum and eye cream,
is available at L’Occitane
at 149 Regent Street
and at Selfridges.
The Gentle Face Refiner (£38 for
30ml) combines essential oil extracts
and a fruit formula that work
together to remove dead skin cells
and brighten the skin. It is made
from a blend of five botanical
extracts: bilberry, sugar cane,
maple, orange and lemon, which
contain naturally occurring alpha
hydroxy acids that increase the
rate of cell renewal. You’ll find the
range at Liberty.
Peace
mission
On the path to creating a luxury beauty range that was both ecologically and
socially responsible, Mayfair-based Davina Peace got used to being told: “No”.
Suppliers she approached kept insisting that organic, natural ingredients simply
couldn’t create products with the texture, scent and results of other luxury brands.
But when her brand Davina Peace launches in Harrods next month, she may prove
her sceptics wrong.
The gorgeous 29-year-old with flawless skin shows me videos her team filmed
daily to record every step of their journey. The videos, which will appear on the
brand’s website where she blogs, mark the ambitions, rationales, difficulties and
triumphs in creating body creams, oils and even candles that stand up to ethical
scrutiny. Upon testing the products, any difference in quality is indiscernible.
“As a woman you want to feel sensual, sexy and pampered,” says Davina,
believing that choosing to live “eco” does not have to not mean sacrificing this
experience – even though she was told compromise was inevitable.
One of the highest hurdles came in the challenge to replace silicone. “Everyone
said that you can’t avoid the use of ingredients like silicone because that’s what
creates the cushion texture, the gliding feel, mops up all the residues,” she explains.
Davina wanted to exclude silicone because it was non-biodegradable and came
from a finite source, meaning that if her products contained it, her range would not
be certified organic.
The solution to this potential show-stopper was, unexpectedly, crambe oil –
extracted from the Crambe Abyssinica plant, traditionally grown in the
Mediterranean. The company convinced a farmer in the North of England to cultivate
it, and claims that this is the first use of the oil in a UK beauty product.
Since starting work a year ago, the small team has spent its time questioning
suppliers who openly doubted its vision and finding others who were ecstatic at
what it was attempting. Its efforts were rewarded by a Soil Association certification.
The fervour that this mission must have demanded suggests that Davina’s drive
is personal. “I don’t think what we’ve done in the last 12 months is possible unless
there’s an emotional connection to it,” she says.
Following an environmentally aware childhood in Wales, Davina worked at the
Soil Association while at university. But her passion for all things organic later
became truly ingrained when she was forced to leave Saatchi & Saatchi, where she
worked, due to endometriosis and an unsuccessful operation.
“I was given quite a grave prognosis and researched how to get better. I
completely transformed my life.” Her diet became entirely organic but when she
looked for natural, organic products to pamper her skin with, she struggled to find a
brand that was both eco and luxurious – which prompted her to create one.
“You can’t categorically claim that organic and natural products are healthier,”
she admits, “but I just believe that surely it’s better to work in tandem with your body
and use natural wherever possible, not to challenge your system. We have a lot of
life-pollution. Why expect our bodies to process things they shouldn’t?”
DAVINA PEACE WAS DETERMINED TO
PROVE THAT A LUXURY BEAUTY RANGE
COULD BE ENTIRELY ORGANIC AND
NATURAL TOO. SUPPLIERS TOLD HER
IT COULDN’T BE DONE – BUT HER NEW
BRAND, PROVES HER DOUBTERS
WRONG, WRITES ADELE JARRETT-KERR
HEALTH & BEAUTY: Selma Day selma@pubbiz.com
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health & beauty