Beauty in the Basement

So I went to my appointment at the Beauty Basement in Holborn to make use of my free facial today.

I found it fairly easily because I made sure I had enough time and I had a good proper look at a map before I got there.

I was a bit worried about it all as I've never had any beauty treatments in my life - I'm not really that kind of girl - although I'm sure I would be if I could afford it. I was apprehensive about whether I'd worn the right thing, whether my face should or shouldn't have make up on it, whether my hair should be washed, up, down......many concerns that were ultimately pointless worrying about.

I arrived with a few minutes to spare, and no one was there in the tiny basement. I sat down and helped myself to a magazine while I waited. Shortly after someone came out to tell me that I would be dealt with shortly.

I was shown into a tiny treatment room and had to sort of take my top off (because the therapist didn't want to get any product on my clothes). I got on the bed, under a towel while the therapist lit some candles and put on some generic relaxing music. It was actually very calming and relaxing.

She then did a series of things to my face which I can only assume involved cleansing, toning, exfoliating and moisturising. There was one moment when she upped the lights and did a sort of skin consultation, where she asked what my skin care routine was and had a good look at my skin and talked me through it. My main problems are dry skin and needing to exfoliate dead skin cells, and rehydrating by drinking more water.

It lasted over 30 minutes which was double what I was told - which wasn't in any way inconvenient, it was a lovely surprise as it felt like she really took her time over me. After it was over they offered me a 20% discount on a further treatment if I booked it then, but I needed time to deliberate so missed out on the 20% deal. She also recommended a product for me, which I thought might have been a bit hard sell-esque but then I realised that I really need advice when it comes to buying beauty products for myself.

It was overall a great experience and I'm now much less scared of the beauty industry.