Beauty trends are just skin deep
Spa owner Icemichelle Chen says: "Our face is our body's mirror."
She has been in the wellness and beauty business for 20 years.
But one of the biggest problems that local industry veteran and entrepreneur Icemichelle Chen still sees in Singapore women is how they follow beauty trends blindly.
The 40-year-old former beauty queen and founder of the Supreme Q.X. Beauty Spa chain, which started in 1999 and opened its third branch at Oxley Tower last month, told The New Paper: "Some of my clients would tell me that their friends have some skincare products that they should try out.
"But what works for their friends might not work for them, and I think that it is a mindset that they should change.
"Don't follow the crowd, as you will need to understand your skin first. Every person's skin type is different."
Ms Chen added that it's important for women to first know what is going on inside their bodies for them to tackle their skin and weight loss issues.
Which is why she advocates the Chinese Meridian System, which refers to the distribution of energy in the body and how it flows.
“What we need to know first is what causes the problems on our face.”Icemichelle Chen
She said: "Our face is our body's mirror. What we need to know first is what causes the problems on our face.
"For example, dark eye circles can mean that you're not sleeping enough, or there's something wrong with the liver. Redness on the face can mean there's a problem with the stomach."
According to Ms Chen, what distinguishes her beauty spa from the competition is the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in her treatments.
"Westerners make use of electric machines for treatments, while TCM is more of a technique using hands.
"When I combine both together, that's when it works best," she said.
For instance, her popular Supreme Signature Eye Bojin Treatment is customised to each individual and targets the Meridian points of the face.
As an avid golfer for more than a decade, Ms Chen, who has a 20-year-old daughter, spends a lot of time under the sun, which is why she takes extra care of her complexion.
She said: "I always put on some sunscreen before going onto the golf course, and then a water-based moisturiser after washing my face."
As part of her daily skincare regimen, she uses a whitening cream, radiance cream, eye mask and moisturiser, including a different mask every day.
With her slender figure and fair, radiant complexion, it's hard to believe Ms Chen suffered from sensitive skin, which caused pimples and her face to redden, when she was 15.
She used to spend $300 to $500 a month on skincare products and visited different dermatologists, but to no avail.
"My skin was bad to the point where I would cry and not step out of the house sometimes. At 18, it got even worse," said Ms Chen.
Determined to take matters into her own hands, she enrolled for an eight-month beauty course to dig deep and find out the source of her skin problems, and became a professional beautician in 2001.
Her beauty line, Ice's Secret, was launched three years ago, and its Pure Radiance Mask product remains her best-seller.
She said: "I find true joy in educating customers on skincare.
"I want them to feel better and more confident about themselves. Even if they don't sign up for a treatment in the end, at least they get to learn something."
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