Q&A WITH BELLA BAR SPA

Hello everyone!

I am so excited to be doing a Q&A with Bella Bar Spa! Maddy, the owner of Bella Bar spa is a Medical Esthetician with expertise in all things skincare and beauty. We all have questions when it comes to our skin, skincare and beauty treatments so I thought that doing this Q&A would be beneficial to us all. After putting up a question box on instagram, a bunch of great questions where submitted. Maddy answered them all in detail making this post super helpful. I highly encourage you all to visit Bella Bar Spa for any of your nail, waxing, facial and eyelash services. You can also check out her Instagram @bellabarspa to see all of her nail designs and pricing. I hope you all enjoy this post and find it informative and helpful.

“The skincare brand you recommend most?”

Answer:

I always recommend the brand Dermalogica to my clients since it is an amazing skincare line. Dermalogica is a pharmaceutical grade line that focuses on specialized skin issues and has a product for ever type of skin concern. I use Dermalogica not only on myself, but on all of my facial clients as well. They are reasonably priced for the quality of the brand and you can always find a product that is suited for your skin type or skin concern.

“What item in a skincare routine do you think is worth splurging on and which ones you save?”

Answer:

This is a very frequent question and I love it! Serums are a must!!! There are so many types of serums that can focus on specialized skin concerns and not only make or break your skin but improve its overall health. Serums are packed with antioxidants and vitamins, especially Vitamin C serums. Serums can help exfoliate the skin, hydrate, protect, heal and so much more. Certain serums can reduce pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles and prevent premature aging. Some of my favourite serums are ‘Dermalogica Biolumin-C serum’, ‘SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic Serum’ and ‘Drunk elephant C-Firma Day Serum’

A skincare item you can save your money on is a toner. This is because toners mainly hydrate the skin or can also be used to set makeup or refresh makeup throughout the day, but if you have a good serum and moisturizer then you shouldn’t need all the extra hydration that a toner brings. Some toners have the ability to calm redness or provide antioxidants which is amazing! But if you are only using a toner to hydrate then you can save your money and skip it.

“What do you need to do to keep your hands and feet looking good between services?”

Answer:

Between manicures and pedicures you can use nail oils to rehydrate those nails! Hand sanitizers and soaps cause the nails to become dehydrated and this can cause the polish to peel off or come off entirely. Wearing gloves for an extended period of time can also cause the painted nails to begin to lift off of the nail plate. Most importantly, don’t pick!!! Do not pick at the polish, as many of us are guilty of, even myself at times. Also, if you have nail tips on you need to be more careful with them and watch how you do day to day things such as open soda cans, flush toilets, open doors and more. This could cause stress on the nail and cause it to pop off.

Nails done by @bellabarspa

“Is it okay to scrub and mask more than once a week?”

Answer:

YES! Exfoliation is key in keeping your skin healthy and glowy. You should be exfoliating 2-3 times per week because your dead skin cells build up fast and can handle a good exfoliation 2-3 times per week. Exfoliating helps with circulation, brightening, fine lines, wrinkles, evening skin tone, pigmentation and acne as well. It is amazing for dry skin since exfoliating helps bring oil to the surface and regulate the production of it, which is why it is also good for oily skin types!

Masking is an amazing way to bring added nutrients and vitamins to your skin to keep it healthy and happy. You can mask as much as you’d like but I always recommend masking after you’ve exfoliated so that there is no barrier of dead skin cells and the mask can penetrate farther into your skin for a much better result. As long as the mask isn’t too drying, you can use it 2-3 times per week as well after you’ve cleansed and exfoliated.

“What is the best way to treat hormonal acne?”

Answer:

Hormonal acne is inevitable. All women experience it at one point or another and all we can do is prevent it from getting worse or we can reduce its appearance. One of the best ways to treat hormonal acne is to keep a good and healthy skincare routine all the time. By having a good routine every day, you train your skin to become healthier and improve its overall health which can help reduce hormonal acne. You can also stray away from greasy, fatty foods at that time of the month to help reduce the acne as well. Clay masks can help reduce redness and pull out the extra oils sitting on the top of your skin and prevent it from clogging pores and turning into pustules. Severe hormonal acne can be cause by higher than normal levels of estrogen and in this case a dermatologist should be contacted for medicinal solutions or topical steroid creams.

“How does your morning skincare routine differ from your nighttime routine?”

Answer:

Your morning skincare routine should be about protection. This meaning providing your skin with antioxidants to withstand the daily pollution in the air and atmosphere and be ready to face the day. This is also when you need to include a sunblock in your routine to prevent against UVA (Ultraviolet Aging) and UVB (Ultraviolet Burning) rays which is very important. Your nighttime routine should be about correction. This is when you use your retinols, AHAs, BHAs, lactic acids, salicylic acids or targeted treatments since these are exfoliants and you do not want to use these in the daytime or else you increase your chance of burning and causing pigmentation. Serums can be used morning and night but nighttime allows the skin to rejuvenate itself and you aren’t putting makeup on top of it, you are letting it do its thing! Some serums protect against UVA and UVB rays and are great for the morning as well!

“What are the benefits of double cleansing?”

Answer:

Double cleansing is great for getting a really good, deep clean. If you wear makeup or have oily skin, you’re going to want to double cleanse. This means you use one oil-based cleanser to begin, this is because oil sticks to oil. Makeup contains lots of oils and if you use a water-based cleanser on oily makeup or oily skin, it will not pick up all of the makeup and oils in your skin. By using an oil-basedcleanser first, you are pulling out all extra oils from the makeup and creating a cleaner workspace for your water-based cleanser to then go in and actually do its job, cleaning out the pores and skin. I highly recommend this since it gets out much more dirt and excess oil from you skin, in order to be able to actually cleanse deeper and properly. Dermalogica has an amazing oil-based cleanser suitable for all skin types. It is called “Precleanse”