I recently had a treatment at the Elemis Day Spa in London (more on that later) which included a 10 minute Skinlab analysis – it’s basically a state-of-the-art machine which uses ‘facial mapping’ to look at the condition of your skin.
The machine looks like a dome where you can rest your chin on (like when you go for an eye test and that thing puffs air into your eye) and a photograph is taken (the flash is so bright you have to close your eyes).
I was so taken by my analysis that it’s made me think seriously about skincare and I want to report on my experience on the blog!
The complexion reports mesures Spots, Wrinkles, Texture, Pores, UV Spots, Porphyrins. Scary photo up ahead….
In my defence I arrived at the salon after hot and very sweaty, and after eating a huge lunch downed with some coca-cola!
The main thing I got from the scan is that I don’t have many wrinkles (2) and even those aren’t visible to the eye but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel wrinkly. I learned that I have a lot of dry spots over my cheek that need hydration and my pore problem is concentrated around my nose. I measured 138 for Porphyrins – bacteria – once again concentrated around my nose – I can’t lie I don’t cleanse well enough.
UV Spots was the most shocking - OMG! This one really got to me because I am super lazy with SPF. I guess I think my tough Chinese skin should be ok with the sun and the women in my family look very youthful and have never touched SPF in their life.
But clearly from this scan, I had lots of area which has been affected by the sun – yukky. I am now going to be strict with SPF no matter what!
The therapist pointed out that because I think my T-Zone is oily I avoid putting cream on there so the skin over compensates by producing more oil, hence the blackheads.
From the skin scan I realised that I don’t cleanse well enough and I should be using SPF every day and a high one at that and I just need to be more careful in general and remember to moisturise my dry skin.
Products recommended to me:
Pro Radiance Cream Cleanser
Soothing Apricot Toner
SOS Emergency Cream
Papaya Enzyme Peel
I have a ton of products of course so I won’t necessarily be using Elemis right now, although I have the SOS Emergency cream (more of a thick jelly) and it’s worked a treat on my dry spots.
This service is included pre facial although you can pop along to a counter and ask for a skin scan regardless. The service is complementary although from what I remember, I once went to the Manchester Elemis counter and they were too busy to see me so you might want to call and book in. Check out the list of Elemis stores to see if they have a Skin Lab.
Have you ever had a skin scan?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t had one but I am so going to get this done!
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Eek… I’d hate to see how many UV spots I have. I’ve only just recently started wearing spf.
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Oh,this is so cool. Thanks for sharing. Would love to take such test, too. x
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This just seems like a way to scare you into buying a ton of products to me. I say don’t fall for it, you had the right attitude before. I for one will not be going to Elemis for anything after hearing this.
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Oh wow! Seeing the scans in picture form is kind of scary. Though I do have to agree with emilyjane, I feel like that this is sort of an advertisement strategy. But for the women out there that don’t take care of their skin (very very minimal to none even), it would be a wakeup call. However…then there’s the point that if they don’t generally take that much care of their skin, why would they get this test LOL
I say don’t worry about the bacteria. SPF is good, but most of the bacteria on your skin is good anyways.
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Wow! These scans make you realise that while everything may look great on the surface, underneath, its a different story. I am definitely going to go and get my skin checked out!
x
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