Abigail James Natural Healing Facial

Abigail James Natural Healing Facial

Immaculate, gentle and adept, Abigail James is an intuitive facialist who has acquired a devoted following among celebrities and beauty industry luminaries. Abigail has "the touch" – hard to define but you know it when you feel it.

I visit Abigail at the Chelsea outpost of Lomax, the ultra hip bespoke health concierge company. Preternaturally pretty, she is the apotheosis of an advertisement for her profession. Abigail opines instantly that I sleep predominantly on my left-hand side (true). Whilst the odds of her correct divination of this fact are admittedly pretty high, her levels of perspicacity surpass those of any facialist I have previously visited. She confidently (and accurately) surmises that I cleanse with a Clarisonic, and even identifies my brand of toner (Guerlain’s ‘Super Aqua’). This before I have divulged any skin secrets in the comprehensive questionnaire with which she subsequently presents me. Pre-treatment, I am already impressed.

Abigail’s approach towards skincare reflects her predilection for natural products: she believes that biotic treatments are more simply synthesised by the skin than often abrasive chemical compounds. Whilst employing the purest organic skincare unguents (Live Native and Dr Alkaitis), however, she is not afraid to incorporate state-of-the-art elements to optimise anti-aging effects. These include anti-inflammatory LED light to “clean” skin peels (comprised of fruit acids) and a dermal roller. “I think you can step up your facial without traumatising the skin,” Abigail declares. “I use some more high tech elements on clients with troubled skin to get them to a nice base and from there I turn them onto organic products to maintain their skin health.”

Each of Abigail’s facials contain multifarious manual skin manipulation techniques – rhythmical massage strokes that induce a state of tranquilisation, holistic therapies such as facial reflexology, craniosacral therapy and myofacial release (which unlocks tension in the connective tissue), and Vodder school manual lymphatic drainage (to resculpt and tone the facial muscles). The upshot is a treatment that not merely revives the face, lifting the contours and imbuing the skin with luminosity, but one that also revitalizes the client internally. Abigail is adamant that internal emotional blockages manifest themselves outwardly, and contends that muscle has a mental memory besides a somatic one, maintaining, “there can be a definite response that’s not physical from my facial.”

Unlike many other facialists who send you on your tod blotchy and oleaginous, Abigail ensures that you leave looking luscious. Undoing the thick cotton wool bandeau she has wrapped around your hairline – et voilà: radiant skin and no oil in your hair, either. Perfect for pre-rendezvous primping.

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Abigail’s treatments are available in London at Lomax in Victoria and Lomax, Chelsea (www.lomaxpt.com) and OSKIA Spa at Good Vibes, Covent Garden (www.oskiaskincare.com). Home visits are available in the Cotswolds and London and Abigail is also one of the experts at the award-winning Village Barn detox retreat in Oxfordshire (www.village-barn.com). www.abigailjames.

To book please contact a@abigailjames.com / www.abigailjames.com