Why I Chose to Get a Facial

I had a big party coming up and wanted my skin to look glowier without the downtime of a peel or the cost of a fancier facial. With only three days to go before the event, I called Incentives Organic Spa and was very lucky to book an appointment with Emily Yannone.

Emily is new to Incentives, but not new to skincare. She is a licensed and certified Esthetician with experience in medical spas and a vast knowledge of both state-of-the-art techniques and organic skincare. When I have a spa service, I’m always torn by the dilemma – to talk or not to talk. If  I don’t talk, I can more fully enjoy the experience. But I always have a million questions about the path that brought the provider from career explorer to the person sitting on the chair behind the top of my head.

The need to know won, and Emily described her passion for skin, especially acne-prone as she had suffered as a teen herself. She prefers using a combination of the latest advances in skincare combined with safe and effective organic cleansers, peels, masks, serums, moisturizers, etc. Incentives has long-carried the Eminence line, and Emily used these products to achieve what I needed, based on her in-depth look and assessment of my skin under that crazy-bright, no hiding allowed, magnifying mirror.

After cleansing along with a super relaxing facial massage, there was steaming, maybe a mask. Not sure as I put myself into the “quiet” phase of the facial. I woke up fast when the extractor came out and removed stuff we just don’t want hanging out on our faces. One aggressive comedone, a nicer word for blackhead, whitehead or clogged pore, left a red mark in its wake. I noticed it when I got home and thought, “Am I going to be the person at the party with the red spot nose?” The illustration above is not me, but someone much younger than me with lingering extraction redness. There was no need to panic; the redness had abated by the next day, and my skin was as smooth as a baby’s bottom – a nicer word for butt, etc.

The facial ended with a good coating of SPF 44 and a hug. (I may be wrong about the hug, but I felt very pampered, listened to and cared for, so if it wasn’t an actual hug, it was the essence of a hug.) Under no pressure, I bought two Eminence products – Citrus and Kale C + E Serum, an extraordinarily lightweight, watery-textured potion that delivers the all-important vitamin C without adding to the gnarly feeling of product build-up that has me racing for a washcloth by noon. The second product is the Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum, which does have a heftier feel to it, but it earns it by attracting and retaining moisture. According to one study, one gram of hyaluronic serum can hold up to six liters of water. It’s a skin-plumping champion and Eminence’s version bathes it in other natural ingredients and a delicious strawberry scent. I just couldn’t leave it behind. My shopping bag included a nice handful of samples, which I applied the next day with post-facial solemnity.

When All Was Said and Done…

So when all was said and done, my skin was bright and clear, my makeup went on extra smoothly, and I felt like I was literally putting my best face forward at the party. An old friend who I hadn’t seen in a few years told me that I looked better than Chrissie Hynde of the rock band The Pretenders. He added that he was qualified to say this because he had just seen her in concert the prior weekend and had made his way up to the front row. I felt quite good about this until I Googled her and found out that she’s seven years older than me, but I take the compliment in the spirit it was offered. It’s pretty darn good to be the rockstar at a 60th birthday BBQ.

Note: I paid for the service, and my thoughts are my own.

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About the Author

Christine Jelley

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