Beauty

Favorite Organic Hair Products

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In the jungle of all hair products out there, we occasionally find some favorites. I started using only organic hair products without harmful chemicals, such as sulfates, mineral oils and silicons about 3 years ago and I constantly try new ones. I have truly benefited from using natural hair care and my days of flaky scalp and thin, flat hair are gone! But, it very much depends very on what I use, here are some new favorites – Enjoy! 

Ogario London, Revive and Shine Scampoo and Conditioner Purely Perfect - Cleansing Creme (requires a few washes) VM Shampoo (Blueberry - fantastic result) John Masters Organics - Leave in conditioning mist (Savior, no need for conditioner) Neils Yard - Hair treatment Moroccan Natural - Argan Hair Treatment

Ogario London, Revive and Shine Scampoo and Conditioner
Purely Perfect – Cleansing Creme (requires a few washes)
VM Shampoo (Blueberry – fantastic result)
John Masters Organics – Leave in conditioning mist (Savior, no need for conditioner)
Neils Yard – Hair treatment
Moroccan Natural – Argan Hair Treatment

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Skin supplies for the spring season

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Even though there are some (but not many) advantages of cold weather; for your skin it is torture.  Harsh winter winds and dry, hot indoor climate often leaves your skin dehydrated, fed-up, pale and stressed out.

Now when spring has finally arrived to Stockholm and the humid springtime air calls for a change in your beauty regimen! It is time to boost, freshen up and prepare your skin for the summer season. What do we then need to think about? At winter time we normally use heavier moisturizers to compensate for the lack of humidity in the air but as spring arrives many of us can switch to a lighter cream, preferably one with sunscreen already included. The SPF protection should be high if you use a thin layer of your cream (as many of us do) since the thinner you put on the lower the SPF. Start to rejuvenate your flaky skin with a gentle exfoliator to get rid of the dead skin and give your dull face new life. A good eye cream that cools down and reduces puffiness around eyes is also a good investment in allergy-seasons like spring.

I would recommend you to book a facial to get help to remove the toxins that are embedded in the pores and allow fresh oxygen to circulate in the skin. If you seldom treat yourself with facial treatments, this is the perfect time of year to book one. An eyebrow and eyelash tint is also o great investment this season to cut down some makeup and enhance your natural beauty.

Make sure to get rid of old products that have past the expiration date, looks/ smells odd or products that appear dry and crusty. Clean all makeup tools thoroughly.

I thought I would share my highlights on products tested last month that have helped me this spring:
Skin

1. Patyka – Repair Face Cream
This light, fresh and fast absorbing face cream repairs skin and gives a fresh and soft result lasting the whole day. Love it.
2. Dr Burgener – Green Caviar Crème
This is just a fabulous, fabulous, perfect cream to use both day and night. Feels light once applying but is rich in its formula and gives me that perfect surface. Works all by itself and that is rare for a serum/boost/oil lover like me…
3. Subtle Energies – Facial blend
Charming scent, exclusive texture and glowing result is what you get from this tiny oil bottle!
4. Organic Pharmacy – Self Tan
I have mentioned this one before, but it is just the best self tan exsisting. And it is pure and organic.
5. Jurlique – Herbal Recovery Gel
This product is my true skin savior in all times. It is a pure moist gel that repairs, moisturizes and restores my skin, whatever products or climate that might have made damaged to the skin. Perfect for spring and for skin like mine who sometimes gets sensitive.

Happy spring!

/Josefin

Wellness Trends 2013 – Part 2

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Last week i touched upon the fitness and health & wellness packaged food, this week the second part – enjoy!!

Beauty industry trends

According to Euromonitor consumers wants when it comes to skin care

  • Understand the benefits
  • Buy organic
  • Buy anything labeled “Anti-aging”

The McCann Group conducted 7,249 online interviews, a conjoint study, and 40+ focus groups in 15 global markets resulted in the very interesting “The Truth About Beauty 2012”. Among the findings were

  • 76% believe that the right beauty products makes us look longer
  • Almost 70% of women in Brazil and Mexico consult a beauty blog for tips and advice at least once a month
  • 63% of Chinese women and 55% of Brazilian women change their beauty routines once every couple of months or more.
  • 70% of women globally think that being beautiful helps them get what they want out of life
  • 70% believes that beauty equals happiness (and vice versa!)

The rise of the WHOLE beauty

Women are looking within for beauty. And according to McCann there are four key components that women think about when it comes to building and maintaining their beauty: Foundation Beauty (skin care), Enhancement Beauty (color cosmetic), Wellness Beauty (food sleep, fitness), and Emotional Beauty (confidence, charisma).

The Whole Beauty Ecosystem is a virtual circle; women around the world believe that if they look more beautiful then they will feel healthier and more confident…and if they feel healthy and confident then this will shine through, making them look more physically beautiful.

 

Retail trends

Retail is the spa industry Achilles. We are always struggling with retail sales and motivating the staff to enhance the guest’s result with products (or why not food!).

McCann researched the In-Store experience and found that there were 3 top things to address

  1. Able to touch and feel the items
  2. Easy to find
  3. Beautifully displayed

PKF’s “Future of retail report 2012” shows that “Shopper to Shopper Service” is on the rise – meaning “help me to decide which one to buy!” with brand fans share their expertise and provide one-on-one advice to fellow shoppers.

 

Spa industry tips!

We have identified that the next trend in spa retail is “Shop Communication”. This is not dependent on the individual, but is a strategic system that can be put in place with moderate effort.Most buying decisions takes place in the actual shop. Therefore exposure and communication in the shop have significant impact on sales.

Yet, do not forget the power of one-on-one recommendation and create a forum for your guests to recommend items and treatments to other guests.

Shop communication purposes

  • Communicating the retail range in an attractive manner
  • Provide information on product characteristics
  • Help the customer to make purchasing decisions on their own
  • Controlling the sale of the goods with the highest profitability and turnover
  • Inspiring add on buying
  • Communicate the retail brand 

HOW?

Exposure affects profitability. Products given more space and clear exposures will sell more. The products that you want to sell most of should have prominent positions at the entrance, near the checkout and the “main shopping street”.

Some tips…

Eye tracking– There have been numerous studies to show how our eye is tracking the retail item in terms of packaging design, placement, preferences and search behaviors. Studies have then shown that the eye perceives the most exclusive products to be on the top shelf, and budget/low cost products on the bottom shelf. Research has also shown that the most effective retail display is the ones that include a face and those products that are repeated in display and in an actual product sells better, as customers like to purchase products the feel familiar with.

Guest round – The way your customer “walks” the shop; studies shows that 80% of the customer walks clockwise and that they are most interested in the beginning in the “round”. Further that the customer best sees an item from knee height up to just above eye height. This gives you hints on how to strategically place retail products to encourage flow and minimize “cold” spaces.

First impression – Eye tracking has also shown the crucial importance of first impression, capturing the customer’s interest to explore the shop further. The goal is to inspire and simplify the first impression.

Final words

The future is truly bright, one of Susie Ellis and Spa Finders trends for 2013 is “The healthy hotel & Wellness focused traveller” showing that hotels are more and more focusing on ensuring that their guest keeps well with healthy food, great sleep and spas and fitness to relax and rejuvenate in.

Embrace the shift and be creative, start small, trial and error and slowly grow and success will be around the corner.

//Anna

The ISPA Research and trend session

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I was honored to be invited to speak at the general session at ISPA this year, and going around speaking at several events every year, I was truly impressed with their professionalism. Back stage there were make up artists (thank God!), coffee, great technicians that helped with my lost font on my presentation making it look like my 6-year old had made it.

Being a founding board member of the Global Spa & Wellness summit, myself and Mary Tabacchi (professor at Cornell) are responsible for collecting and tailoring the research each year and this was a summary with my analysis.

When it comes to fitness, I only need to say two words 

  1. Personal Training
  2. Functional fitness

And if you are not onto that yet, you need to get on the bandwagon fast.

Health and Wellness packaged food and beverage, there are two new words

  1. Nutroceuticals – which is food and beverage with a purpose, for example “White tea for radiant skin”
  2. Comseceuticals – is a suppment you take for stronger hair, brighter skin etc.

Health & Wellness package food is a USD 680 billion market, 10 times the spa industry and we have a huge opportunity to tap into this market. I found a couple of interesting companies trying to convince the spa market on the Expo, namely Forte Tea and FOHAÅFOH

When it comes to beauty, we find that women are starting to change beauty products more often depending on how well the skin care companies communicate benefits and if it also talks about anti-aging and organic, we are more likely to buy the product.

70% of women believe that beauty = happiness. Hey guys, we are not that complicated, make a woman feel beautiful and we are happy. Simple as that.

Now to the crown jewel. Every year the amazing Susie Ellis releases her top 10 trends for the coming years. The minute they are released they are broadcasted on television, blogs, twitter, magazines and news paper. It is an explosion of Susie’s trends world wide who everyone is talking about. I am not sure if she is spotting a trend or actually creating it, but the truth is that they are very much a reality 12 months later.

Working closely with Susie for the past 7 years on the GSWS board, I asked her if she didn’t want to give me a sneak preview of one of the trends to present – and she did! The trend that she predicts, and I wholeheartedly agree with from our own research, is that the traveler wants WELLNESS when staying at a hotel. Experience is great, but closer to their heart is sleeping really well, eating well, being able to enjoy great fitness offerings to stay fit and simply being well and there are several initiatives that are showing that hotels are catching on. One example is Even hotels www.evenhotels.com Check it out!

A little snippet from ISPA, you will probably hear more the coming weeks, a great event and fantastic people and a whole of sharing.

//Anna

From Beauty Salon News UK – The drive to detox

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Anna Bjurstam will write a monthly column in Beauty Salon News, UK – here is the first one!

Klick on image to enlarge. Continue reading →