Wahanda Beauty Event - Highlights (Mammoth Post)!

On Thursday evening I attended a beauty evening that I had been invited to, hosted by Wahanda at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. I arrived later than I intended but was promptly given a nice glass of the fizzy stuff (that’s Champagne, not lemonade) and a little goody bag which took the stress of the train journey away rather quickly, and was then taken through to a large conference room with a buzz of activity going on in all directions.

The first thing going on that caught my eye was what I could only describe as a star wars mask at that point, but actually turned out to be a Fine Light Skin Rejuvenation system being demonstrated by SPA in the CITY who are based in Manchester city centre. It was a bit freaky looking at first glance, especially as the person wearing it wore small goggles under the mask/helmet type thing that made their eyes look completely black... very odd, don’t you think?

Apparently the Fine Light mask stimulates the dermis to energise the cells which then promotes the production of collagen and elastin which helps to plump the skin and reduce fine lines and wrinkles! I have no idea if this works – I got the opportunity to try it later on in the evening, but unfortunately I couldn’t for reasons I’ll explain below. However I do think it looks great and will definitely try to find out more about it soon.

Also from SPA in the CITY was a tank of Garra Ruffa fish... bliss, I love fish spas (as you may already know from previous posts) so this was great for me to see at the event. I didn’t put my feet in as well frankly I didn’t fancy getting my feet out in front of everybody, but I did put my hands in instead as I’ve never had it done on my hands before and let them have a good old nibble (well suck) on them instead!

These photo's of me were taken by the talented Lily from Beauty's Bad Habit!

If you haven’t been to a fish spa before I really do recommend it, there are plenty of them around these days... and if you’re a bit fish/sea phobic usually this is a great help if you can conquer it. I actually managed to snorkel with tropical fish in Egypt since conquering having my feet in with the fish in Malaysia last year!

Also demonstrating some of their treatments were The Beauty Lounge who are based at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. This is actually where I had my first ever spray tan done a couple of months ago; you may remember me posting about it here!

They were spray tanning anybody who fancied it (shown above) – although only really on legs/arms and shoulders so that people could keep their modesty intact!

Jessica Manicure

They were also doing manicures with Jessica products, both normal and gel manicures too – I would have loved to have been able to have a gel manicure but there was always a queue and as I was trying to get around and find out about things, and take photographs, it just wasn’t possible for me to stand in the queue and wait.

 Jessica Gel Manicure Application.

Jessica Gel Manicure Curing.

The manicures all looked amazing though, and I’d definitely recommend them for anybody who is thinking about it – especially the gel ones, which can last up to 3 weeks. The lady doing the gel manicures actually said that instead of having the polish soaked off when it starts to grow out that you could actually have it filled in to get another week or 2 out of it which sounds great to me.

Botox: Frowning.

The final treatments that I saw were being done by doctors from the Re-Enhance Clinic (based in Hale but with clinics in other places too), Botox and dermal filler demonstrations to be precise, and these were the ones I wanted to see the most as I had been toying with the idea of having at least some Botox in the very near future (on my frown line mostly, but maybe in other areas also) but had never managed to commit myself, I think possibly just through fear of something going wrong!

The first demonstration he did was on a girl who had Botox on her forehead, it actually seemed very straight forward, she said it didn’t hurt and I believed that as she didn’t even flinch when the needle went in. I’ve took a few photographs but unfortunately I was at the wrong angle for the most part, so sorry about that.

All done!

Before the demonstration of the dermal fillers I spoke to the event organisers from Wahanda about seeing the Botox demonstration being done and that I thought it had alleviated my fears of having it done, only to be asked ‘do you want to have it done?’ – I found my mouth saying yes whilst my head was mainly going ‘OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD’, and so it was arranged that I would be having Botox on that very night.

Even though I had seen it being done I was still very nervous, although this was definitely mixed with a big dose of excitement too. As I was having it done my nerves went away as I found that it really didn’t hurt that much (I’ve actually had tummy cramps whilst I had gastroenteritis that hurt more than the needle) and also that I hadn’t died on the table either *phew*. The weirdest feeling was after the Botox was in when the doctor (Martin Kinsella) gave a little squeeze to the frown line; I think to distribute the Botox through the area. It’s a feeling I can’t really describe either – it wasn’t painful, just a little bit sharp and unexpected.

Lovely Lily from Beauty's Bad Habit 'papped' me having my Botox done!

I was told that the effects wouldn’t be apparent until maybe 2-3 days after treatment with the full effect showing up to 2 weeks later, and this has definitely been the case so far. I’m starting to notice a small change and it’s just about 2 days since it was done. I am photographing the progress at least once per day and will start posting about it, with photographs from either tomorrow, or Monday. This is also the reason that I didn't try out the mask, as mentioned alll the way up at the top of the post!

Before: Although this lady had dermal fillers approximately a year ago.

The dermal fillers demonstration was something else that I was very interested in, I’ve seen horror stories of things going wrong on TV and really wanted to see what it was like in reality to have it done. Unlike Botox, having fillers gives an instant effect which also allows the doctor to make sure everything is symmetrical and positioned as it should be. I took a bit of video of it being done (shown below, sorry they're sideways) and in it you’ll see that Martin is actually using his fingers to kind of sculpt the filler into position.




The finish of the filler was surprisingly natural, and I think this is due to Martin’s expertise in the field – as you can hear from his explanation, avoiding certain areas stops you getting the pillow effect that quite a few celebrities sport.

After.

The fillers (he used Juvederm) last up to a year once done, and whilst slightly more firm to begin with, do soften in time. I felt the skin after the treatment and to be honest, it wasn't really that hard at all. I’ve always said that I wouldn’t mind having ‘work’ done, although I’m not entirely sure I’d go fully under the knife so this was a great demonstration for me to see.

I completely recommend Dr Martin Kinsella though, he really seems to know his stuff (thankfully) and he was so friendly which made me feel completely at ease too. If you’re thinking about having something like this done then I would definitely check out his sites.

His clinics seem to be quite a family orientated business with both his mum and dad working with him - which I think is a rather nice thing, as I really think it would make it feel like a more personal experience! The other areas that his clinics are based are Abersoch, Derby, Hayfield, Wirral, Worsley and he even has one in Majorca too.

Finally, I couldn’t write this post without mentioning the gorgeous cakes at the event made by ‘Katja’s Kupcakes’ (www.katjaskupcakes.co.uk) – seriously bad for a diet, but SO worth it. I was allowed to bring 2 cupcakes home (so Mr Beauty Scoop could have one too, which was very kind of them) and they were delicious. Highly recommended.

The more fancy looking cakes can take up to 20 minutes to decorate for each small cupcake – that’s some patience needed, probably more than I’d have but fair play to them as they look every bit as good as they taste (and vice versa)!

It was a fantastic night, and a great opportunity to see some of the fabulous companies, spas and clinics that Wahanda work with and really get a feel for what they're about. I'll certainly be looking for the deals even more now I've seen it all first hand!