Katie England, The Skin Goddess

This past year while traveling over + back to London to see clients, I started seeing Katie England, the extraordinary facialist come all round beautiful human who.. let’s just say KNOWS skin like no one else I’ve ever met. My best friend introduced me to Katie’s brilliance who, for the past number of years, has held a residency at the Nomad Hotel in Covent Garden in London where clients travel from all over the world to book in for a Katie England experience.

In meeting Katie + understanding her ethos + energy I put my trust in her immediately. We have been working on my skin each time I’m in London + each time I realize I feel somewhat more confident now to leave the house sans makeup, it reinforces my belief that seeing Katie has become one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. As someone who has always felt incredibly uncomfortable in my skin, self-conscious of how red it can be, I am not joking when I say, I feel like that girl who actually glows when she comes out of a treatment - ok like relatively speaking to that girl but I feel better than I ever have.

Katie is more than a master of what she does though, she is one of the most beautiful souls; a gentle + kind presence that welcomes you into her world with an aura bursting with love for her clients + a passion for + knowledge of the far reaching + often highly-generalised topic of skin health. Understanding the complexity of lifestyles + the effect our entire lives can have on our skin, Katie delves deeper than anyone, knowing the health of our skin is about so much more than any one thing.

Thanks to BYONIK, Buccal, Lymphatic Drainage + Katie’s ever evolving mastery, the progress I’m beginning to feel with my skin is all thanks to Katie, her magic hands + expert recommendations. Working with many different approaches + techniques, Katies creates bespoke treatments for each client depending on your specific needs + skin goals, looking at your overall plan with the foundational knowing that there is no overnight success with anyone’s journey to healthier skin + that gaining confidence in it comes of course with the help of treatments but just as much the self-discipline to do the “homework” between sessions so that her work is even more beneficial when you’re in session with her.

I cannot recommend Katie enough + for you or anyone you know who can book in while in London, this is the perfect gift to yourself that will continue to feel good long after you admire your skin in the mirror.

Discover your next facial with Katie + her team —— KATIE-ENGLAND.com

October Musings

With a forward intention of beginning each month here on HAUTE so FABULOUS with an editors-style letter from me to you, a note on the theme of my thoughts, learnings, inspirations - a snapshot so to speak of each particular moment in time, I begin here today with my first monthly note in this Monthly Musings series. Thank you for being here, it is my wish that you find something that inspires you to feel less alone, something that - in whatever measure - enlivens your soul + evokes a sense of freedom to explore your own path more creatively invigorated. This is a place for me to learn + grow authentically, embracing all parts of me from the spiritually inclined to the Phoebe-Philo-launch-can't-come-fast-enough aspects of my being, in real time + where, most importantly, we can do that together.

I made it to my favourite reformer pilates class this morning + after a call with a potential new client, one whom I really hope it works out to work with as it just feels so Universally correct, I sit here writing this, cosy at home with the sound of raining pour heavily outside + my nice hot coffee (on tap) thanks to our new WILFA coffee maker which we are really loving. I might be one of a very tiny percentage of human beings alive who absolutely loves the fact that we are facing into what I consider to be the best time of year, the cosy promise of Autumn + Winter. I love this time of year + all that it represents; the assurance of restful hibernation + a nurturing safety blanket of intimate moments of home. The natural darkness or heaviness that comes with this seasonal change is something I find solace in while knowing, I guess, it will one day be brighter again. I find comfort too, perhaps, in the beginning + the end; the completion of things. Nature is confident in it’s inherently cyclical style of function + each season creates a trust with each rotation. Knowing nothing is forever is something I guess that lends itself to the ease with which we can deal with the shorter days + heavier mood of Winter. Also.. let me not forget a very serious truth too; that one little thing of the wardrobe - those who know me will know, I will take a winter coat over shorts ANY day of the year.

Something that happened me just this week was an experience I don’t know I’ve ever been even close to before. After a really positive work week where I met with new clients + continued on-going projects - both personal + professional, that dare I say.. I am incredibly proud of - I found myself, without an accustomed uncertainty that seems to permanently be fluttering around my head. Shutting my laptop on Friday post my final call of the day, it was with great calm + an internal ease I am not so familiar with that I got Winston (our fur baby) ready with his lead, popped my new BOOK into my tote (this STABLE one I’m loving) + without hesitation my legs somehow got me to the park where I seemed called to sit under a tree + actually relax to read my book. I understand this might seem incredibly basic + perhaps you’re thinking, wow this chick is so weird but for someone who’s monkey mind is in constant sh*t-chat at me that I should be doing this, that or the other, being productive at all times of the day, I found myself somewhat astonished at the level of ease with which I’d gotten there + was actually very much presently there. It was without the usual guilt or self-accusations of idleness in doing something simply for myself that I guess caught me off guard. The inner tranquility I experienced really rooted me in the moment + I found myself wondering how on earth I’d arrived at this sort of serenity on a random Friday evening. A lot of things is the answer. It’s the compilation of a whole host of varying things I’ve been doing (or working to let go of doing) that brought me to that momentary inner peace, all of which I aim to explore more openly with you here. To know this peace in the simple things, to me, is to know happiness. And it reminds me of the idea shared with me by my coach from New York around ‘blissful presence’. Isn’t that what it means to truly be alive, to be blissfully present in this moment? Friday evening definitely made me think so.

It feels as though I have to in some way round this post off in a particular way or add in some links to things I’m loving or what’s on my Wishlist but for this month, just the above alone feels correct. This series is where, as I said, I can step into my explorative self as a writer + be the person I am in whatever that looks like at any given time. And plus, this very much challenges in me my inner critic that tells me something has to be perfect for me to begin. Well here I am, imperfect but starting.

What would you begin if the illusion of perfect didn’t exist?