Beauty gurus you need to know

PHOTO: DIOS VINCOY JR FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

The Facialist — Cecilia Westberry (pictured above)
A beauty veteran with three decades of experience in the industry, Mrs Cecilia Westberry has run her beauty salon out of a nondescript 2,000-sq-ft two-storey space at the foot of a Housing Board block at Holland Close for the past six years.

The facialist is a favourite of local socialites, celebrities and magazine editors.

"I can't mention names but many of my famous clients like the humble location of my salon," she says.

"They call it their hiding place."

Last month, Ms Westberry took over the space next to her shop, expanding her salon by another 2,000 sq ft to cope with demand and house her team of 14 therapists.

The 50-year-old Singaporean, who is married to an American engineer, is probably the local equivalent of Los Angeles-based celebrity therapist Terri Lawton, whose famous clients include film actresses Amber Valletta and Kate Bosworth. Both Mrs Westberry and

Ms Lawton are experts in deep-tissue facial therapy, and swear by French skincare brand Biologique Recherche's products.

Mrs Westberry started out as a beautician at a salon when she was 21 but soon grew frustrated with being told what was best for her clients, when she thought otherwise. When she turned 24, she rented a 150-sq-ft space in the now-defunct Marco Polo Hotel and started her own business. There, she became famous for her quick and clean waxing services.

When the hotel was demolished nine years later, she rented three rooms in the Casey Inc salon at Palais Renaissance and remained there for more than 10 years before moving to her current Holland Close location in 2007.

Mrs Westberry trained at the Top To Toe Beauty College for 18 months and earned diplomas from the Confederation of International Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology, and the Comite International D'esthetique Et De Cosmetologie.

Besides facials, the salon offers massages, lash extensions, waxing and nail services.

To stay up to date with the latest beauty trends and techniques, she travels to cities such as London, Paris and Taipei once every two years for training, and comes back to impart her skills to her therapists.

Mrs Westberry and her team are also trained on the body's acupressure points by the centre's in-house acupuncturist, Dr Teng Ngiing Heng.

THE ROAD TEST
One of Mrs Westberry's holistic signature treatments is the Tendon Relaxing Facial ($189 for 90 minutes), which relieves tension in the face, resulting in smoother contours. The treatment includes a massage of the insides of one's mouth and, if necessary, the gums.

"It sounds like a relaxing facial but it is not," says the mother of two.

I found that out first-hand when she performed the treatment on me.

she studied my face and told me I had plenty of tension in my cheeks, chin and jawline, and that was making my face stiff and puffy.

The treatment started out like most facials, with double cleansing and a quick and rather painless extraction.

As I lay on my front on a massage bed in a cosy, dimly lit room, she went on to brush my spine with an apparatus that resembles a hair brush but with thicker and stiffer bristles. The brush is also charged with negative ions to supposedly get rid of fatigue.

It was soothing and relaxing and I soon dozed off.

FACIAL MASSAGE
But I was wide awake the moment she asked me to turn over and started to massage my face.

Using aromatic oil, her fingers and an implement similar to the one used to massage my back, she kneaded deep into the muscles of my face. The complicated strokes felt very painful, to say the least. Every two minutes, she had to remind me to breathe because I was holding my breath due to the pain I was in.

To further relieve the stiffness in my face, Mrs Westberry put on her latex gloves and slipped a finger into my mouth to stretch my cheeks and the areas around my lips. Although I was not used to it, the move got rid of all the remaining tension in my face. At that moment, I knew I would return to her regularly.

She completed the facial with an equally deep rub-down on my neck and a very relaxing arm massage.

The effects of the session were immediate. My cheeks and chin were no longer as bulbous. When I took pictures of myself the next day, I felt my face looked slimmer and my features softer. My smile also looked less strained.

I have a habit of clenching my teeth when I sleep and often wake up with an aching jaw. But the night after the treatment, and for the next five nights, my jaws felt relaxed as I slept.

The Tendon Relaxing Facial is popular with highly stressed individuals, says Mrs Westberry.

It also helps to prepare one for public speaking sessions by loosening the facial muscles, she adds. She suggests monthly treatments to get the best effect.

DEEP RELAXATION
Because my neck and shoulders were so stiff, Mrs Westberry complemented my facial session with a Body Gloving treatment ($165 for 60 minutes).

"It is something like the traditional Chinese gua-sha, but this massage goes deeper into the muscle tissue and tendons," she explained.

I knew I was in for more pain as I lay on the massage bed.

My body treatment was performed by Nathalie, a French therapist who used to be Mrs Westberry's client. Using oil and a glove covered in bumpy nodules, she massaged my upper back, arms and rear thoroughly while I squirmed in pain.

"This is something you would want to put your enemies through, right?" she asked jokingly as I yelped. She explained why certain parts of my body were so sore. For example, my triceps were particularly sensitive because I spend long hours typing at my desk.

After being massaged to a pulp, my body ached like I had been beaten up. But at the same time, my limbs felt more supple.

The soreness lasted through the next morning. I was left with patchy bruises on my arms and back, which is apparently normal after one's first Body Gloving session. The bruises faded after two days.

Call at least two hours in advance for an appointment.

Cecilia Westberry
6 Holland Close, 01-20
Tel: 6774 0449

Extraction Expert — Jenny Teng (pictured right)
Ms Jenny Teng's four-year-old spa, Porcelain The Face Spa, was recently deemed as one of the Best Luxury Beauty Spas in Asia at this year's World Luxury Spa Awards. The results were based on votes and independent reviews. Other winners in the category included the One&Only Spa by Espa Reethi Rah in the Maldives and the Mandara Spa at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London. This is the most prestigious award Ms Teng has won.

Known for her deep-cleansing and extraction treatments, Ms Teng, 50, started her business out of a rented bomb shelter at the foot of a Housing Board block in Jurong about 20 years ago.

Equipped with diplomas from the local schools of Itec (an international examination board that certifies therapists) and the Confederation of International Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology, she earned a following through word of mouth.

But she struggled for years to sustain her business and was hit badly by the Asian financial crisis in 2000 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2004.

Her fortunes turned in 2009 when her elder daughter, Ms Pauline Ng, now 27, a former public relations executive, decided to help grow her mother's business. Her son, 25, is an undergraduate. Ms Teng is married to an insurance agent.

Says Ms Ng, who is now the spa's managing director: "My mother just wanted to treat her clients, not manage the accounts. So I told her to focus just on that and the training of the staff while I took over the backend work and marketing."

Ms Ng also updated her mother's business, then called J Phline (J stands for her name and Phline is the brand of the products she was previously using) with a new name, Porcelain The Face Spa, in 2009.

Located in a dimly lit and cosy 1,300-sq-ft shophouse near Chinatown, Ms Teng and her team of 14 therapists keep the place running.

In 2010, she and her daughter also started their own 17-piece skincare line which is preservative- and fragrance-free and non-comedogenic. Mostly made in Taiwan and the United States, prices start from $41 for a sebum-controlling essence.

"For the longest time, we couldn't find any brand of skincare products that could prevent clogged pores, so we made our own," says Ms Teng, who is also obsessed with getting her clients to stop wearing foundation because "it clogs pores and the problem will be there no matter how often you go for facials".

To walk the talk, Ms Teng, Ms Ng and their staff do not wear any foundation, and minimal eye make-up.

Ms Teng has built her reputation on thorough extractions and clearing up her clients' clogged pore problems.

Porcelain's main clientele is made up of busy executives in the central business district area. Getting a slot with Ms Teng during peak hours - 6pm to 10pm on weekdays and 9.30am to 6.30pm on Saturdays - can be tricky. She does not work on Sundays. People usually book at least one month in advance. For non-peak hours, they book at least three weeks ahead.

THE ROAD TEST
I tried Ms Teng's signature service, the Quintessential Deep Pore Cleansing Facial ($435 for 120 minutes). The treatment was deemed the Best Deep-Cleansing Facial at the Singapore Women's Weekly's Best In Beauty Awards 2012 and 2013.

After a therapist double-cleansed my face, Ms Teng came into the room wearing magnifying goggles and a head lamp strapped to her forehead. I grew a little nervous.

She took a look at my skin and tutted: "You have so many clogged pores and milia seeds."

This was news to me as I always thought I had rather clear skin.

Ms Teng made me hold a mirror and pointed out the little bumps of oil seeds at my temples, cheeks and chin area. But she assured me that she could get rid of them instantly, although I would have to bear with red spots on my face for about a week.

I opted for a milder treatment because I was travelling the next day and did not want to look spotty.

She then went to work with a needle and a pair of curved scissors and expertly snipped off some oil seeds, to my amazement. I never knew they could be removed like that. The pain was bearable at that point and there was minimal bleeding.

But soon, the extraction grew more intense as she pricked and poked her way all over my face. I was tearing, squirming and sighing, but Ms Teng did not stop what she was doing. All she said was: "If you want to look good, you have to suffer."

The extraction process took about 20 minutes and I was glad when it was over. I wiped away my tears and Ms Teng applied an ice-cold mask to soothe my stinging face.

By the time I left the salon, my face was a little spotty, but most of the redness was gone. Three days later, all the spots had disappeared and my skin felt a lot smoother and looked clearer and brighter. The effects lasted for about three weeks.

In my opinion, the Quintessential Deep Pore Cleansing Facial is best suited for those with a high threshold for pain and seriously clogged pores.

On a separate occasion, I tried out the spa's OxyRevive Treatment ($195 for 75 minutes), which essentially rejuvenates the skin with a powerful oxygen jet spray. It was relatively painless and my pores looked tighter, and my face was clearer for the next 10 days.

Porcelain The Face Spa
15 Cantonment Road
Tel: 6227 9692

ST PHOTO: GLADYS CHUNG

The Rejuvenator — Sally Hew (pictured above)
Tucked away in a corner of the dingy Peninsula Shopping Centre, this no-frills 900-sq-ft salon is a sanctuary for knackered yoga and pilates instructors, and high-flying executives.

Ms Sally Hew, 44, is known for her expertise in lymphatic drainage and has been in the business for more than a decade.

After slogging away at a desk-bound job as a junior secretary for about 10 years, the single mother of three decided to pursue her dream of becoming a beautician in 2003.

Ms Hew spent six months at a beauty college in Hong Kong to learn lymphatic drainage massage and later worked at a local branch of a Hong Kong salon for about two years.

The permanent resident from Malaysia took the plunge and started her own business at Peninsula Shopping Centre in 2005 because she wanted more control in the way she treated her clients.

"I wanted to do things my way and make my clients healthy and beautiful by healing them with my fingertips," she says.

To further equip herself with lymphatic drainage skills, she invited a Swedish lymphatic drainage expert to give her one-on-one coaching in her salon for three months. These days, Ms Hew continues to educate herself on the body's acupressure and meridien points through books.

Next year, she intends to start classes to impart her skills to her clients and beauty professionals.

She runs the salon entirely on her own, with back-to-back sessions every day except Mondays, when she takes a break. New clients should, therefore, book Ms Hew at least two weeks in advance through SMS.

THE ROAD TEST
Ms Hew recommended that I try her signature face ($118 for 45 minutes) and body ($128 for 60 minutes) lymphatic drainage massages.

I was first asked to lie face-down on a massage bed in her Balinese-style treatment room as she worked on my legs and back with a blend of Methode Physiodermie drainage oil from Switzerland and lemon grass oil. Right from the first few strokes, she hit the right spots and I could tell how familiar she is with the body's physiology.

She also seems to have an uncanny knack for being able to tell what is wrong with the body just by touching it. For instance, when I told her that I fell on my right knee a few months ago and showed her the scar, she instinctively touched the lower-half of my right femur and told me it had swollen due to the impact, and massaged it. She was correct. The spot, though not visibly swollen, was particularly sensitive. Before this, I thought my injury from the fall was a superficial one.

The treatment was painful at times but she had warned me beforehand so that I could steel myself.

Ms Hew's body massage is one of the most thorough I've experienced. It includes a soothing scalp massage where, again, she hit all the right spots on my cranium; and kneading of my mid-section to get rid of the bloating. I knew that my lymph nodes were being drained effectively when I had to use the toilet in the middle of the treatment; I had just gone before the session started.

For the face-drainage treatment, Ms Hew used some Methode Physiodermie essence, ampoules from German brand Babor and a Renaissance of Switzerland Lymphatic Gel Mask to boost the efficacy of her massage. She also did ear candling (from $25 per candle), which she says helps draw out the toxins.

With her expert hands, she pressed and massaged the lymph nodes behind my ears, neck and chest firmly. It was excruciating and I was told it hurt because many of the lymph nodes were blocked as I do not rest enough and have an unhealthy diet.

The results of the two treatments were immediate.

I could see that my knees and ankles were less puffy; my abdomen was a little less bloated and my collar bones were more defined. My neck also looked more slender, my jawline sharper and my eyes brighter. The dark circles around my eyes were also less visible and my body felt lighter. There were no bruises and the soreness of the massages went away by the end of the next day.

The effects of one's first few sessions last for about a week. Ms Hew recommends that new clients come for weekly sessions for the first month and then once or twice a month thereafter for "maintenance".

I have already booked my next session.

Devotion Lifestyle Salon
03-18, Peninsula Shopping Centre
Tel: 9337 5398