YOU can tell you are in good hands when Deborah Mitchell begins her work.
Of course she's been assessing your complexion long before you lie down on her treatment table - no consultation required.
It is this expert eye that has attracted celebrities including Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham, Michelle Pfeiffer and the Duchess of Cambridge, who is said to have requested a facial days before her wedding.
She is in Glasgow on business, about which I'm forbidden from talking about yet but I'm one of the lucky few who is getting some one-on-one time from the skincare guru whose organic, skincare brand, Heaven, is worth an estimated £30million.
She begins by slathering on a foaming cleanser from her range, which incorporates bee venom, dubbed 'nature's Botox'. Naturally occurring toxins found in the venom mimic the effect of a sting, which causes an increase in blood flow, boosting collagen and elastic and rejuvenating the skin.
It is harvested in humane ways that don't hurt the bee, which allay my animal welfare concerns.
This is no ordinary facial, where product after product is layered on, which can end up feeling like a brand marketing exercise.
Deborah is a master of facial massage and it's a vigorous pummelling that I get. I'm not going to lie, some of it felt a little uncomfortable but I was expecting that as I know the facial muscles carry a lot of tension and most treatments in my experience don't really properly address this.
She says the chronic build up of tension is causing my face to sag (not the look I am aiming for at 46) and my chin is too far forward, which is probably due to computer work.
Massage and acupressure is focussed on the underside of my jaw, below the cheek bones and above my top lip as well as around the eye area while she adds more products into the mix.
My skin is exfoliated with Bee Polish to clear the 'zombie cells', of which I knew nothing until now. A new vegan polish has also been launched, using the plant sting of Nettles.
Normally, dead cells are recycled or cleared out by the body, making way for new, healthy ones. But sometimes, they hang around and build up, increasing inflammation and the ageing process. Some studies have shown the cells have implications for diseases including Alzheimer's.
Deborah does offer injectable treatments but says she would need a lot of persuading to give me Botox, which is refreshing to hear given the slew of twenty-somethings readily given those treatments.
No pain, no gain as they say and by the end of the facial, there are visible results.
Most facials do give you a bit of a glow but there is biomechanics involved in Deborah's approach. My cheeks seem lifted, my top lip is plumper and a stubborn forehead line has evaporated. I struggle to breathe through my nose and this has also improved.
The effects are also still visible the next day. While I may not be able to afford the A-list price-tag of Deborah's treatments, most products in her skincare range start at £28 and DIY facial massage costs nothing.
www.heavenskincare.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here