I’ve a big birthday fast approaching, and like many others I have been taking stock of where I’m at and how I can be a better version of myself. If you are a patient of mine you will know how busy I am! With my family life, my clinic, my mentoring and most recently, moving house. I often struggle with juggling it all, but somehow I seem to miraculously turn it all around. This next birthday, being the celebration of four whole decades on this delightful planet, has me plagued by mixed feelings. Excited to embrace the liberation of being an entire forty years old combined with the disbelief that I have actually reached this age already.

Like many of us, I want to look and feel my best, and that means emotionally, spiritually and physically, so I have made a few tweaks of my own that I would love to share with you. Every summer we return to our very own stunning island of Sao Miguel, which is part of the Azores islands. This is my recharge, my solace and my inspiration. Home makes my soul shine bright, and this year being the big birthday year, it will be filled with celebrations…. so of course I want to look my absolute best.

Having chosen a career in Aesthetics it’s important that I maintain a healthy skin, and luckily for me there are some amazing practitioners that I work alongside who help me to maintain it. After all, if I didn’t invest in my own skin what kind of example would I be setting for my patients and mentees? I absolutely wouldn’t dream of treating myself and ‘self injecting’, so I select my own practitioner based on their experience and techniques to deliver natural and precise results. I often receive the most amazing compliments on my skin and how it glows but personally, I love a natural look where you can’t quite pinpoint what has been done, only that the skin looks hydrated, firm, energised and healthy.

However I am now going to let you into my secret… I invest in my skin, with medical grade skincare applied religiously, full face rejuvenation with fillers once a year, Botox, and every three months, boosters. Just to crank it up a notch, this year I am also going to be having some infra red treatment. Alongside my skincare and treatments I also drink ‘Skinade’, a little concoction of anti oxidants that is brimming with vitamins and collagen, for a brighter and healthier body inside and out! With the addition of a little boost of Glutathione taken under the tongue, these droplets of joy reduce sun spots, promote a healthy glow, increase the production of collagen peptides that keep the skin youthful and reduce melanin production.

Having a sensitive skin, I have to ensure I’m also treating my roseacia. Once I feel my skin is able to tolerate a little more I find micro needling a fast and effective way to deliver some serious results working on a deeper level. Micro needling opens up channels in the skin to infuse the lower layers with vitamins and brightening agents that boost the skin. This, in turn, makes my skin care work harder to create even better results as needling also stimulates collagen production and helps reduce my pigmentation.

Every three months I have Botox. I enjoy having some movement and although I do love a smooth forehead, as I’ve mentioned before and I know this is personal, I prefer a natural look, and as my muscles have worked hard over the years they do benefit from some relaxation, and we all do! So, Botox gets to work on relaxing the muscles, flattening them out to achieve a smoother skin.

My yearly full face rejuvenation by my mentor Tristan Mehta, founder of the Harley Academy where I myself trained, is the foundation of my skin investment and maintenance. This is usually planned to take place before my annual summer holiday and my birthday as a little gift to myself. These fillers, combined with 3 monthly boosters, Botox, skincare, micro needling, and daily vitamins deliver my healthy ‘glowing’ skin. The magic happens when you combine a little bit of everything!

As I age, I’ve noticed the need to pay more attention to my décolletage. This area is often forgotten by skincare and treatments alike, and really begins to age during the late thirties. All of a sudden you may notice a reduction in volume and the skin begins to look a little dull. Extending your daily skincare, and SPF of course, alongside treatment gives your decolletage the attention it is craving. You will notice a visible difference as soon as you start focusing on this area, and doing this sooner rather than later will make for better results. I guess the next area I’ll be looking at is the back of my hands… not just yet though, although slathering on the moisturisers and again, the SPF, should always be a priority because after all it’s always the eyes, neck and hands where we notice signs of ageing first.

As I believe that we are what we eat, recently I’ve launched myself head first into embracing the ‘Keto Diet’. Being the curious soul that I am, I’ve pored over many a book and article about the benefits of this way of eating. As we have begun to understand that inflammation in the body is a precursor to many of the modern day diseases, we have found that this way of eating actually reduces inflammation in the body, and helps to drop a few pounds too. What we put into our body fuels what we are able to get out of it, it really is that simple, and understanding the way your body works, listening to your body and what it needs is crucial. This diet has given me the opportunity to understand more about myself and how my body responds to food, it’s also helped me discipline my eating habits. Working long days and weeks, can make it difficult to prioritise meal times, however Keto, for me, is working wonders. Any diet or healthy eating plan isn’t necessarily easy to maintain, but understanding the fundamental reasons why we are the way we are can trigger the response to do something positive for ourselves, being a better version of ourselves.

Where’s the exercise? Well, I’m walking daily for 20 minutes after dinner, which is easier whilst the days are longer and the weather is good, and by doing that I’m dosing up on my vitamin D! I’ve also taken up yoga, both for exercise and for my own wellbeing.

The next step is meditation, and although I have a feeling I will find it a challenge to switch off I do know that it’s greatly needed. As my life is so busy, part of my Four-OH plan is to dedicate some time for myself. With that in mind I have already carved out a few hours from the general busyness of life in September and scheduled in some ‘me’ time, and because I have an understanding that most dis-ease emanates from a stressed out lifestyle with not enough time out, and although I do enjoy my full life, I do understand the benefits both physically and mentally of some down time.

So there we are… and I’m almost there. I know that nothing will dramatically change overnight, but I feel comforted by the belief that I am fully prepared to embrace what comes next when I meet the BIG four-OH.