We’re all about a treat yourself mentality come Christmas time, but by no means do you need to limit yourself to the gifts-wrapped-with-bows variety only; you can take the phrase literally too.
Yep, treatments are a great way to gear up for the silly season to guarantee you’re feeling your most gorgeous and glowing when the crazy social schedule commences. Because while a good face mask can do amazing things and a quick hit of glycolic can give you an instant glow-up, there’s nothing that works wonders quite like a truly great facial.
The secret to success lies in nailing your skin’s schedule, and it’s vital to get your treatment timing just right. Because if you’ve ever fallen victim to the ‘I’ll book my peel for the day before so I’m offensively luminous’ trap, you’ll know that more often than not your face usually looks more flaky than fabulous; not ideal.
But if you get in early, by the time we hit Christmas and New Year’s your complexion will have had time to heal and be busy reaping the benefits of whatever treatment you’ve chosen. So start now: whatever your complexion concern, here’s what we recommend…
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If you want to… clear congestion
Struggling with blackheads? Call in a professional to help evict pesky gunk from your pores. How does it go down? Your facialist will clean, gently exfoliate and steam your skin, then apply an enzymatic mask to allow for easier extractions.
They’ll then manually clean out your clogged pores and draw out any blemishes – and yes, it feels as satisfying as it sounds. This bad boy will involve as many extractions as are necessary, so if your complexion is particularly congested try and schedule it for a time where you can skip makeup for a few days – you’re going to want to let the skin recover and avoid re-clogging the pores you just cleared.
And yes, post extraction, your face can look a bit picked apart (because it literally has been, but picked apart properly), so opting for the treatment a month out from party season – any irritation will have ample time to heal, and your pores should still look clear as day (especially if you’re reaching for non-comedogenic products in the lead up to Christmas).
bh suggests: The Deluxe Deep Clean Facial ($205, theclearskinclinic.com.au)
If you want to… shed a layer of skin
Sure, an at-home peel product can help to slough off any surface stuff, but if you want to really reveal the glowy skin living beneath the dull, a medi-aesthetic peel is the way to go.
Medi-aesthetic peels involve the application of a chemical solution that works to speed up the exfoliation process – this specific style of treatment works on a dermal level to encourage normalised cell production, resulting in a revitalised, smoother and more even complexion.
You’ll definitely want this appointment to fall a few weeks out from when you need your face to be at its best, because skin often experiences flaking and peeling post-treatment – don’t stress: this just means it’s working.
bh suggests: Balense Regeneration Peel ($150, australianskinclinics.com.au)
If you want to… fade pigmentation
Want to even your skin tone and fade freckles or age spots before party season? This laser treatment is specifically designed to target and fragment pigmentation.
How, you ask? Well, it’s pretty damn interesting. The laser heats up and actually shatters the pigment; the pigment is then drawn to the surface without harming the surrounding tissue (because the laser somehow knows to only target the pigmented lesion in the skin – impressive, eh?).
Spots will gradually disappear over the course of a week or two, but the process often involves them getting darker in colour and then physically (yep) falling off. If you’re keen to avoid your freckles literally flaking away during your office Chrissy party, try to lock in early to ensure the pigment has adequate time to meet its demise before you need your face to look its freshest.
bh suggests: Pigmentation Full Face Treatment ($349, contourclinics.com.au)
If you want to… boost brightness
Illuminators are basically the MVP’s of all of our makeup kits, but what if you could get your face to glow without wearing a stitch of makeup? IPL (or intense pulsed light) can do just that. So if you’re keen to light up your complexion with next-level luminosity, it’s time to turn to, well, quite fittingly, light.
The light pulses pass through the top layer of skin, diving deep down into the dermis to kick-start production of all the good stuff our skin needs to look gloriously glowy: collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.
There’s no real downtime with IPL, but experts recommend multiple treatments for best results, so you’re going to want to start now if you want to fit in 2 or 3 before Christmas. We hope you’re ready for radiance.
bh suggests: The GlowGetter LED Light Therapy Facial ($60, thelightbar.com)
If you want to… plump up
If your frown lines, crow’s feet or loss of elasticity are weighing on your mind, a collagen-inducing needling treatment is a great option to plump and firm your face before Christmas.
The skin needling works to improve skin texture, smooth wrinkles, soften scars and promote the body’s natural production of collagen, using a micro pen system to create micro ‘injuries’, triggering the skin’s self-repair mechanism (and yep, you guessed it, new collagen).
Redness should settle down within 48 hours, but book in stat to be on the safe side, as your face can definitely feel tender following treatment. It should also be noted that this plumping treatment works as a less invasive alternative to Botox, and so should not be performed within 2 weeks of any injectables or fillers.
Collagen Induction Therapy Skin Needling Treatment ($350, milkdayspa.com)
Main image credit: @nikki_makeup
Which treatments sound interesting to you? Have you tried any mentioned in this article?
Have done some research before and the clear skin clinic sounds amazing- quite expensive but it just seems like a deep clean would be so satisfying
Another article going to my favorites.
Yeah I would rather drink water.