my 30 minutes origins facial experience

When doing a bit of sales shopping, I signed myself up for a free 30 minute facial at Origins. I was a bit nervous, I didn't want them to tell me that the products I'd bought were completely unsuited to my skin.

The facial couldn't have come at a worse time. My skin was playing up massively. I'd got a bit of dry skin on my chin, my forehead was dry and I'd got a few spots and a lot more under-skin blemishes than I usually have to put up with. I was pretty embarrassed to be showing someone with such flawless skin my mess, but then again, she was there to sort me out!

To say I was right in the middle of a busy department store and beside the likes of MAC and Liz Earle, I was made incredibly comfortable. She sat me on a chair and we discussed my current skin care routine. When I said I used an exfoliator about 4 times a week she almost cried and said that the absolute maximum should be 3 as I don't want to remove good oils. She then handed me a mirror and asked me what I'd like to change about my skin. My main problem was my oily nose, dry forehead and under-skin redness/blemishes.

She started out using an exfoliant for my skin and to remove and make up I was wearing then went ahead to use the 10 Minute Mask on my cheeks and the Charcoal Mask on my nose, forehead and chin. I felt an absolute idiot, but she made me feel comfortable by being chatty and interested in what I do. We even briefly discussed Benefit products and she used to work on their counter. Shortly she followed with the Balanced Diet tonic and lotion. We spoke about eye creams, and she didn't seem surprised when I said I hadn't used one, but she tried out their famous GinZing eye cream. I was slightly surprised at how thick it felt, very luxurious and she told me it's best quality was that I was very brightening as it reflects light, so is perfect to use in a morning under make up.

I asked if I could try their foundation as I'd never thought about their make up before and she seemed more than happy to apply it and apply a blush. This part was where I was very disappointed. She applied it with a pointed foundation brush which made the foundation look streaky and, to be honest, pretty awful. We discussed what colour blush I'd usually go for and said that seeing as she's the expert, she could choose for me. She applied a coral shade which, when on my skin, looked RIDICULOUS.

When it came to the end, she seemed really annoyed that I only decided to take samples of products. I thought it was pretty fair that I did? I'm not going to buy a full size product until I know that it will suit my skin, I don't want to pay £20 for a product to break me out.

With that, I left, feeling very clownish, walking through the shopping centre with my head low and embarrassed. As soon as I got on the tram I had to apply my own make up on top of it as I obviously had no wipes and couldn't cleanse etc.


So overall, the facial experience was brilliant! I now understand my skin more and know what kind of products I should be looking for, but the end of my time was a massive put off.

Have you tried this event? What did you think?