Neal’s Yard Event & In Harmony Therapies Natural Facelift

Hey kittens! How are you doing this week? Feeling stressed? Well, today I’m bringing you a blog post with the perfect solution… Get ready to chill out and feel more blissed out than you ever have before. Sit back, relax and enjoy the read.

The other week I was invited to the Neal’s Yard store in Manchester for their blogger event. Located on John Dalton street, it’s pretty central so I was surprised I hadn’t found myself wondering in before. In fact, I didn’t know what to expect at all! I knew Neal’s Yard was a luxury skincare brand, but what else did they do?

Upon entering the store, I was greeted with a glass of champagne and a range of natural healthfoods (surprisingly tasty!). Everyone was so welcoming and I spent a couple of hours at the store, browsing the products and talking to the staff about the brand itself. I was surprised to learn that Neal’s Yard not only specialise in skincare, but also sell natural make-up, healthfoods, vitamins and aromatherapy. Pretty much everything I love then! It didn’t take too long to fall in love with the brand and as well as providing each of us with a generous goodie bag, we were encouraged to ask for any samples we would like to try.

Neal’s Yard has fast become one of my favourite brands, embodying all of the key ingredients I look for in a skincare range. Y’all might remember my video on animal cruelty and my blog post about the EU banning animal cruelty, so I was delighted to hear that Neal’s Yard use standards developed by leading animal protection campaign groups, recognised by campaigners from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection who awarded us a ‘golden’ rabbit and by the RSPCA who commended our stance on the issue. With a great ethical stance against animal cruelty, I can use their products guilt-free and I am dying to try more!

Aside from great cruelty free ethics, Neal’s Yard also believe in organic ingredients and have become the first nationwide high street retailer in the UK to be awarded the CarbonNeutral brand mark, reducing their carbon footprint to net zero. Starting with a health store in Covent Garden, the brand has grown to encompass natural therapy treatments amongst their CV and at the event, we were offered the chance to sample some of their natural treatments – a lovely little touch! We could choose from a backmassage, makeover, Indian head massaged and a natural facelift. I decided on the latter.

I was introduced to Rachel from In Harmony Therapies who told me about the Natural Facelift – a massage treatment based on giving the face a natural lift, without the use of any products. Intriguing. Having a treatment in store was a little strange, but once I lay down on the massage table and Rachel worked her magic hands across my face, I was in another world! I’m not usually one to be able to switch off so easily, but the treatment was so relaxing I couldn’t help but chill out. Heck, I’m a control freak, so this must have been good! In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I arranged to pop back in to see Rachel at the weekend to learn more about the treatment…

When I returned to the store on Sunday, it was a very different atmosphere. The champagne had been replaced with peppermint tea and the bustling bloggers had been replaced with a calming air, filled with the herbal scent of aromatherapy. For the treatment, the lovely Rachel welcomed me into her treatment room; a private massage room off the shop floor, dim lit with relaxing music, candles and of course, smelling amazing. Before the treatment, Rachel gave me a short skin consultation and asked me what to expect from the treatment. Well, I told her I wasn’t sure, but to have her skin would be nice – she’s a great advertisement for the natural facelift, that’s for sure!

After removing my makeup, the treatment itself lasted an hour, which passed quick as a (deeply relaxed) wink. Rachel worked her magic on one side of my face first, first massaging key wrinkle areas such as the brow bone, forehead, cheeks and neck and then using her hands to literally “lift” these areas smooth them out. Halfway through the treatment, I sat up to inspect the difference between the massaged half of my face and the untouched one – there was a subtle lift there but for me this wasn’t the real benefit of the treatment. Aside from the aim of looking younger, it definitely relieved tension from my forehead and eyes that had built up from squinting at a computer screen day-in-day-out. The treatment itself is incredibly serene – there’s something unusual about someone touching your face so much and it makes you so much more aware of all the little muscles we usually forget about.

Rachel’s treatment costs £40 for an hour or £25 for half an hour, although she encourages you visit for regular treatments to get the most out of the massage. I have no doubt that with regular facial massage, it will leave you looking subtly younger. The idea works on the same premise as Crystal Clear’s Lift Away The Years massage wand, but with one big difference – absolutely no products are used. Touching my face after the treatment, it felt soft and moisturised, pretty unbelievable that it was down just to Rachel’s touch. She also offered NYR Organic Holistic Facials, Swedish Massage, Pregnancy Massage (thankfully I will not be trying this one any time soon!) and Indian Head Massage, with all In Harmony Therapies offers treatments that take care of you in a natural way.  If you’d like to try one of these yourself, call Neal’s Yard Remedies on 0161 835 1713 to book an appointment or click here for more information about Rachel’s treatments. You can also “like” her Facebook page here and follow her on Twitter here.

So kittens, have you tried the Leave me a comment below and let me know! And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page and subscribe to my Youtube channel to keep up to date with all things fashion!