Sometimes I need to take what I like to call a ‘maintenance’ day on the weekend and get some beauty stuff done. That means nails done, brows done, pedi done and a massage. Now often I have to go to several different places in my neighbourhood to get these treatments. This place for the nails, that place for the brows and another place for the massage. After weeks of being so busy and having absolutely no time for myself I finally decided that it was time to have a pamper day or in other words what I like to call a ‘maintenance’ day this past weekend at Scissors Palace.
I live in the Holland Park/Shepherds Bush area so I’ve been around the block or two when it comes to finding the best beauty treatments on the weekend to get some beauty maintenance work in. And making about 4 appointments between 4 different places puts me off of getting anything maintained because it’s hard to get all the times to coordinate nicely together. So the simple solution is to get them all done in one place!
So on Saturday I headed up the road to Scissors Palace in Holland Park which is a lovely little salon situated along the lovely leafy Holland Park Avenue. Scissors Palace in fact, does IT ALL when it comes to beauty and on Saturday after weeks of needing my nails/toes/brows/body/hair done it was time to just go for it. At Scissors Palace I was delighted to discover that I could get everything I wanted done, with one treatment after another in the most efficient way possible!
So first up was a massage with Barbara for one hour. I need regular massages to ease my achy muscles which get knotted up really easily. My legs often feel tired as well and so far the only way I’ve found to relieve this feeling is by getting a massage. I am pretty picky about massages as well – having gotten about a million of them in my lifetime I’m pretty saavy when it comes to knowing how good the therapist is.
Luckily I was in very good hands with Barbara, who also happens to be a physio! So every single touch and movement that she performs has a purpose to relieve an achy part of your body. Her movements are long and smooth which helps with circulation but she also really focuses on areas of tension in the back and shoulders as well as pressure points on the legs and feet. Her pressure was perfectly firm and I enjoyed every second of this muscle-melting massage (I think I could have stayed on that massage table forever!). So if you are looking to get a massage with purpose to blast any tension I would HIGHLY recommend booking in with Barbara.
After my lovely relaxing massage I was booked in to getting a 4-step hair Joico K-Pak hair treatment. The treatment starts with the Joico K-Pak Shampoo and follows with the Joico K-Pak Intense Hydrator which really works on hydrating the hair. Each step is applied with a soothing head massage so you can’t go wrong! After that the Joico K-Pak Conditioner and then Joico K-Pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor is applied which has amino acids that help repair hair that has been overexposed to styling tools or harsh environmental stresses.
The hard water in London really does a number on my hair so it was lovely to be able to let someone massage in the treatment which has four steps and smells absolutely divine like coconut. And when someone massages your head it feels like pure bliss doesn’t it? I had never had a Joico hair treatment before but was thoroughly impressed when later I had a blow-dry (which I will explain later) I could feel my hair was as soft as silk! So not only is the treatment sure to provide silky tresses but the head massage also melts away stress and tension as well.
After my amazing hair treatment I headed upstairs to get my nails done. I had done a big no-no and had gotten so busy that I had left my shellac on for about 7 weeks. You are supposed to remove it every 2 weeks to reduce damage on nails and I had definitely gone past my due date. My nails were in serious need of some TLC. The lovely Anna did my nails and she really had her work cut out for her with removing my shellac which seemed to be stuck on my nails after leaving it on for so long. My poor nails were quite dry underneath after removing so she suggested simply doing a mani with the normal OPI long-lasting nail polish to give my nails a break from the gel. I couldn’t have agreed more and listened to her recommendation. After reshaping the nails to a lovely shorter oval shape, trimming the cuticles and adding the polish my nails looked amazing and definitely well-groomed!
I always feel so much nicer and put together when my nails are done. Would you agree?
Next up poor Anna had her work cut out for her with my toes which also hadn’t been looked after in weeks and were in desperate need of a pedi with the works – cuticle trimming, filing and a scrub to remove any dead skin cells. Again I had left my polish on for too long on the toe nails which had stained my nail bed – another no no. So lovely Anna scrubbed my feet and pretty much made them new again with the same lovely autumnal shade of berry from the OPI long-lasting nail polishes.
While my nails and feet were being re-made my hair was blow-dried and styled by the lovely Giulia. Again after the Joico treatment my hair was really, really soft as silk and felt fantastic. Giulia was really gentle with my hair as well which I really appreciated and I liked that while I was getting my hair done I could get my nails and pedi done at the same time to be more efficient. This is the good thing about booking at Scisssors Palace is that you can book in several treatments at once and they will get done simultaneously to save some time which is great. And in fact someone even went out and got me a coffee from next door – now that’s service!
Once my hair was styled beautifully by Giulia I could finally feel I was starting to feel more human. Relaxed, nails done, pedi done and hair done there was only one thing left to do – brows! Anna took over the brow job and applied a tint which instantly made my brows look naturally thicker and then threaded the rogue hairs to make sure everything looked nicely shaped and groomed.
Once my brows were done I truly felt that I had been fully ‘maintained’! I would highly recommend if you like to get several treatments done at once and are short on time during the week to check out Scissors Palace!
You can visit their site and see the services menu HERE.
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