I know, this is a skincare blog, so why, Emmaline, are you talking about my gut? What does my gut actually have to do with my face? Most of us have probably heard of the gut skin axis by now and we're becoming much more aware that what we put into our bodies can have a pretty big impact on our skin. What I don't think we always realise is just how closely the two are connected. Long story short... you can't out-serum poor gut health. You can have the vitamin C, retinoid, pept

Life is so, so busy nowadays. It's just non-stop, isn't it? I actually think that with the introduction of working from home and simply being online all the time, it's allowed us to become even more productive. We can get more done than ever before. You don't even need to commute between meetings now, you simply click "end call" and start another one. You could probably squeeze an extra couple of meetings into your day with all the time you've saved. Now, that's great from a

Every time I open social media someone is 'maxxing' something. I saw eye-maxxing the other day. I think it had something to do with eye shadow but, in all honesty, I scrolled straight past because I'm almost maxed out on all of the maxxing... well almost. After writing about my Tsui Life Pyramid last week and explaining how each layer can influence our skin and overall health, I found myself wondering whether there was one thing that could positively affect several layers at

I know I start a lot of posts like this, but honestly, the number of new skincare trends popping up every single day is wild! Every time I open social media there's another miracle ingredient that's supposedly going to change my skin forever. If I have this problem, then apparently all I need is that ingredient to fix it. Cue eye roll. I've been saying exactly the same thing for more than twenty years and I'm about to say it again because, despite everything that's changed in

Out of all the posts I've ever written, this is possibly the most important one I need you to read from start to finish. It will literally take you a few minutes and could save you or someone elses life... After twenty two plus years of looking at skin all day, every day, I think one of the biggest lessons I've learnt is that skin cancer rarely looks how we expect it to. When I first became a facialist, I assumed skin cancers would always look obvious. I imagined these angry

...or insert any other trending ingredient right now pretty much! This is one of the most common questions I get asked in the clinic, along with... "Do I need Botox?" "What are polynucleotides/exosomes/peptides?" etc. "Should I use Vitamin C?" Or one of my personal favourites... "I've started using this serum. I don't really know what it's meant to do, but I bought it as someone was talking about it on TikTok/Instagram". Don't worry, I understand it's incredibly overwhelming.

The term 'anti-ageing' is a bit old hat now and I'm gradually working on removing it from my branding wherever I can. It just feels a bit... well, old fashioned. Firstly, because the term doesn't really make sense. Nobody is actually anti-ageing, are they? We're all ageing. That's kind of how life works and, thankfully, it's generally moving in one direction only. Secondly, because when it comes to topical skincare, there isn't a cream on the market that's going to make us lo

I feel like the majority of people reading my posts probably fall into this category in one way or another. Perimenopause can begin years before the menopause itself, sometimes up to a decade earlier, which means a lot of us may be experiencing symptoms without even realising they are connected to our hormones. When it comes to the skin during perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause, there can be a lot of changes. The main ones I tend to see in clinic are: • Feeling like y

As much as I am an absolute skincare junkie, that obsession I've had for years doesn't stop with cosmetics. Those of you who've followed me for a while will know I'm just as interested in what happens inside the body as what we put on the skin. Great skin doesn't just come from a serum alone. It's influenced by what we eat, how we sleep, how we move, our hormones, stress levels and, as I'm talking about today... our gut health. I'm also not someone who gets excited about ever

Have you ever looked in the mirror in the morning and thought your pores suddenly look huge overnight? This is one thing I get asked about a lot in clinic. In fact, it could potentially be one of the biggest skin concerns I hear about in my treatment room. One of my pet peeves with the industry is the number of products that claim to “shrink pore size”. As lovely as that would be, unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Now, don’t get me wrong, we can absolutely reduce the a

I have spoken about this for years and have probably already done a post on it before, but can we please stop using social media as our sole source of skincare and wellness advice? I get asked over and over again (which I genuinely don’t mind) whether something is “good” or whether a certain product actually “works”, and my answer tends to be the same every time. It depends. I am an avid social media user. I weirdly enjoy it and hate it at the same time. One of my biggest fru

They say there are three ages in a woman’s life where she looks in the mirror and thinks, “I’m sorry… who is that?!?!” Apparently those ages are thirty-nine, forty-four and sixty. As someone who has already passed the first age and can confirm, that is, so far, absolutely true. Also, the number of women I’ve spoken to about looking in the mirror and suddenly feeling old is probably running into triple, if not quadruple, figures. The sad thing is that a lot of the time, we hav

Over the last few months I’ve realised that we are actually all living in our own worlds now. I mean, not physically of course… well, not yet anyway, but digitally we absolutely are. I’ve spoken about this quite a lot recently with friends and clients, but honestly it’s starting to freak me out a bit. Think back, way back, to pre social media. What a time to be alive. Remember all the stuff we used to watch on TV? Well that was for everyone, wasn’t it? We all watched the same

Peptides are becoming a huge trend right now. We’ve heard about them for years, but all of a sudden I keep getting asked about them on socials and in the clinic. Plus, I’m seeing a lot of “peptide cocktails” being offered as injectables, and “peptide infused” is another term doing the rounds. Unfortunately, like with a lot of trends, these buzzwords get thrown around constantly, but nobody really knows exactly what they mean, what they do or what they even are… they just know

We’re at a point now where every time you go onto social media, or at least for me, your feed is full of diet and wellness advice. I thought I would talk (or politely rant) through some of the top trending ones and give you my completely unsolicited opinion on them. The funniest part is that half of them contradict each other, so it’s basically impossible to follow them all anyway. Here are some of my favourites… Hit your protein goals Every supermarket now seems to be slapp

I feel like this trending term is starting to fade away a little to make way for new buzzwords like “glass skin” (cue eye roll), but I do still see it around and wanted to explain it properly. First of all, the term “clean beauty” sounds like the right option, doesn’t it? You automatically think it doesn’t contain any nasties and that it must be organic, vegan-friendly and made in an ethical way. It feels like it has to be healthier for us and overall a better option… but wha

Inflammation is one of those things that people tend to think of as something you can see on the skin, such as redness or irritation. This isn’t always the case though, and in reality, inflammation is often already happening long before you can actually see it. I would say that a lot of the skin concerns I see in clinic start underneath the skin rather than on the surface. Inflammation is a bit of a buzzword at the moment, but in simple terms, it’s the body’s natural response

I’ve been a facialist now for over twenty-two years, and I can honestly say I’ve heard it all when it comes to ageing… or should I say, the fear of ageing. Why is that? Why does the world have us believe that ageing is such a bad thing? Surely ageing is a privilege. Why does everything have to be “anti-ageing”? We’re constantly trying to tighten, smooth, lift, fix and reverse ourselves. It’s what we’ve been taught for years, and if I’m honest, I’m getting a little fed up wit

So, continuing the ‘skin science’ topic, after speaking about collagen last week, I feel like it would be rude not to mention elastin as well. Collagen and elastin go together like Bonnie and Clyde. It’s one of those terms we hear all the time, but nobody really knows what it is or what it actually does. So in skin school this week, we’re going to talk about it properly so you understand exactly what it is. Put it this way, you could have all the collagen in the world, but wi

I have been doing a lot of posts on socials and on my blog recently about collagen. Mainly because I think it’s important for people to actually understand what collagen is and how it works. It’s definitely one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around constantly, and everyone seems to think they need to be “on it”. But what actually is it? Do we take a drink, a powder, a tablet, or is good old-fashioned bone broth going to do the trick? Here are your notes on collagen from

I have said a million times in the past, there is just so much noise out there, especially when it comes to skincare treatments and cosmetics. It’s so overwhelming and there are so many trends and buzzwords that it can be easy to think that you need to have them all… but of course, this is not the case. I see a lot of the time in my clinic clients with skin concerns such as dullness, fine lines, poor skin laxity and a lack of radiance wanting to do more. So what do they do? G

I have decided to start a series titled “A Facialist’s Notes On…” (I think I will use the AFNO abbreviation) and I’ll be talking in depth about a skin concern or wellbeing topic, sharing tips, tricks and a basic understanding of what it is and why it’s helpful to understand from a skincare perspective. Today, I’m going to teach you a little bit about the skin barrier and why it’s so important to keep it healthy. Side note, it was actually ‘National Skin Barrier Day’ the other

I know it's not just me as I have so many clients who struggle with waking up in the night as well. What can I say other than it is beyond frustrating. My current wake time varies between around 2:17am and 3:09am. Yes that sounds very precise, but for some reason you always seem to remember the exact time when it's the middle of the night. So what should you do at this time? Well we all know what we should be doing (trying to go back to sleep of course), but our brain likes

I don’t know about you, but I feel like the wellness industry for me has become completely overwhelming. And I say that as someone who works in this space and loves this space but something is wrong. I almost can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't feel right anymore. I think maybe it's because of instead of it making us feel better, it feels like it’s making us more stressed. There is so much information, so many “rules” and so many things we should be doing, that it