Being at peace with what we have, and accepting our life as it is, is half the battle to be happy. Who says so is the positive psychologist Catarina Lino, who I met recently at a “Wellbeing” session in Vilamoura. Invited by the French brand Payot and Tivoli Spa, I got to know the new line of facial products and tried a professional firming and face lifting treatment in a cabin. The familiarization session and the experience of the famous Payot facelift with 42 massage movements, took place in a place I really like and which I’ve already talked about here, the Tivoli Spa at the five star hotel Tivoli Marina de Vilamoura.
The session for the press and specialized blogosphere included a workshop on “Wellbeing” and a yoga session led by psychologist and yogi, Catarina Lino. Lunch with healthy dishes and fruit smoothies was at the Beachfront restaurant at Puro Beach. The day was extraordinary and I was immensely happy to be able to learn a little more about cosmetology, the history of the Payot brand which was created by Dr Nadia Payot in 1920, and to have reflected on some emotional coping strategies, guided by Catarina Lino’s calm wisdom. I returned home with prettier skin and a calmer, more assertive mind.
Healthy lunch at the Sea Front Puro Beach restaurant in Vilamoura.
The Face Lifting & Firming treatment by Payot
Amy is from Chiang Mai, Thailand, but has been living in Portugal for 10 years. She studied Marketing and Cosmetology, however the opportunity to work in Europe came as a Spa therapist. She knows by memory the steps of the facial protocol of the French brand Payot and her frail fingers are transformed into a trained machine capable of performing to perfection the 42 massage movements. There is one movement in particular, which resembles a pulley and which Amy performs with remarkable perfection. Dr. Nadia Payot, who invented these lifting techniques last century would be happy to meet this therapist so dedicated to her work.
I am still settling in when I feel a mist falling softly on my temples. The scent of flowers transports me to a flowery meadow. Amy then carefully cleanses the skin on my face with the cleansing cream to remove any impurities and make-up. In the eye area she is especially careful and applies a specific product to remove makeup from the lashes. Then comes the moment to apply the tonic. The feeling of freshness on the skin combined with the scents of berries make me feel calm. The ideas and strategies of well-being proposed by Catarina Lino still swirl in my mind, and I decide to practice the state of acceptance. I accept life as it is, full, full of good things, but also of some challenges that I will be able to overcome in time.
While I meditate, the therapist begins a light exfoliation, removing dead cells and preparing the skin for treatment. At the end, she removes the excess with a damp towel and between each step she applies a tonic: “it’s to balance the PH of the skin” she tells me. Now I feel a fresh mask with grapefruit extract, with a detox effect, and the massage movements begin. The therapist’s fingers move with certainty and without hesitation on my neck, jawline and chin, cheeks, temples, nose, forehead and eye region. They are up, down, vertical, horizontal movements, with more or less pressure, but all executed with a perfect cadence. This is the real secret of the facial with Payot lifting effect: the protocol of 42 movements designed at the beginning of the last century by the founder of the brand Nadia Payot and which is still more than up to date today. The movements simulate some passive exercises of facial gymnastics and were idealized thinking of the skin of the Russian dancer Anna Pavlova, who suffered from wrinkles and lack of elasticity.
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After the massage comes the application of the disposable film mask on the face and neck with technical hydrogel support and active ingredient Osilift. The Lifting & Firming treatment combines a pre-cut mask and the results promise a visibly refirmed skin and an immediate tensing effect. Following the great oriental beauty trends, the Lift Absolu mask is disposable and pre-cut to fit the face and neck.
When you put the film on, you feel a freshness that chills you momentarily, but then becomes very pleasant. The pose time is approximately 15 minutes, while the therapist applies a gentle reflexology massage to the feet and hands. The treatment concludes with the application of a serum and a moisturizing cream, a final step known as “Réveil en douceur” or the awakening in softness.
Application of Hydrogel mask with Osilift
The results were visible immediately afterwards, my face looked taut and I’m sure the small expression wrinkles disappeared. What’s more, you know those puffiness under the eyes of those who spend too much time at the computer? Well, they diminished and the contours of the face became more defined, due to the modelling work of the massage. The effect lasted at least two or three days.
PRICE: This treatment is available for ¤115, and lasts for 1h15, at the Tivoli Spa at the Tivoli Marina de Vilamoura Hotel. It is especially suitable for mature skin or people whose face needs firmness and elasticity.
Products used in the “Lifting and Firming” Payot Facial
The products in the photo gallery are for professional use and can only be found in the cabin treatments performed by trained therapists.
After the treatment I had a short information session about the products of Payot and what’s new in the new line. Sónia Crispim, trainer of the Sorisa group, was kind enough to explain me the active components in each of the jars and answer all my questions (and I ask a lot of them…).
To continue the Lifting & Firming treatment at home, Crispim recommended the following constellation of products, which can be purchased in good Beauty Centres, Perfumeries and selected SPAs:
Payot line indicated for mature skin or in need of firmness and elasticity
At home, the optimal care to have with the face skin must include: hygienization and cleaning with the oxygenating foam; application of a concentrated primer “Suprême Jeunesse Essence”; application of the cream “Techni Liss Cica Expert” and finishing with the cream “Perform Lift Vitality” during the day or the “Créme nº 2 Nuage” at night.
The oxygenating foam is one of the great Payot novelties, it serves to cleanse the skin deeply, but with the necessary lightness to be used daily. The scent of the “Payot Demaq Masque Peeling” is reminiscent of a fruit and bergamot cocktail (40 ml pink 40 ml propeller pump bottle, €35).
The cream “Techni Liss Cica Expert” is an anti-wrinkle care and is photosensitizing and should therefore be used only at night. In its preparation it contains zinc, which helps skin healing, and hyaluronic acid which serves to fill the skin internally. This cream is highly regenerating and should be used in addition to day or night cream (blue tube, 30 ml, € 34.99).
The primer “Suprême Jeunesse Essence” will prepare the skin to better receive the other creams and lotions. According to Crispim, this essence “paves the way” so that the rest of the line can work to perfection. In this case, “Suprême Jeunesse Essence” has a smoothing principle and restores the skin, thanks to the action of encapsulated hyaluronic acid that is progressively released and the extracts of five rare flowers (100ml, €47.99).
The “No. 2” cream is especially indicated to treat stress conditions and rosacea on the skin. Compared to the previous editions, this one is more fluid and easier to apply, but it is also more concentrated. It has a lavender scent and contains bepanthenol, known for its anti-inflammatory qualities (50ml ¤ 47.00).
But perhaps, the great sensation is the day cream for mature skins, the “Perform Lift Vitality”, full of oxygen and that interweaves the use of three formulas: hyaluronic acids, wakame and renewing peptides and nasturtium with minerals. It is a cream indicated for skins that need firmness or that are devitalised and tired. For example, skin damaged by tobacco or sun abuse, excessive diet or falling hormone levels. Smells like peach yoghurt, raspberries and wild flowers (50ml, ¤ 74.99)
But what is Hydrogel technology?
One of the many questions I asked Sónia Crispim was this. After all, we get tired of reading these pompous descriptions in magazines about the ingredients in beauty products, but most of us don’t know exactly what they mean.
Chatting with Sónia Crispim, training technician at Sorisa – Payot.
Every year, instead of launching new creams, Payot updates the formulas of its best-sellers. Thus, the active ingredients present in the creams are changed, year after year, thanks to research efforts carried out in the laboratory and combining different original patents.
One of these patents is called Hydrogel and is composed of a gel texture with absorbent polymers, which means it is very flexible and can be applied to all face shapes. It has a filmogenic characteristic, which allows better diffusion of active ingredients such as red algae extracts, pro-vitamin B5 and the Asian plant Konjac. The Osilift patent has an immediate and prolonged firming effect on the skin’s surface, adapting to the skin’s relief.
Strategies to be happier
We spend too much time “on”, and not enough time “in”, says Catarina Lino, referring to the number of hours we spend in front of our computers, or on the social networks, neglecting the most important thing – attention to the “me”. I met her at the “Wellbeing” workshop offered by the Tivoli Spa in Vilamoura, as part of the presentation of the new “Lifting and Firming” treatment by Payot.
The psychologist and life-coach, who about six years ago decided to bet everything on the transforming power of yoga, presented us with a series of strategies on how to deal with frenetic life, stress and, essentially, the unreasonable expectations we have of ourselves. Who has never felt discouraged or frustrated with life? So often we are the biggest critics and we demand too much: we should be perfect mothers and fathers, have an ever growing professional career, have this, have that, get that diploma, that medal… not to mention the unachievable goals we set ourselves to have the perfect body and skin…
Catarina tells us that it is important to stop. To take a break and before we continue fighting this incessant war of wanting to have and to be more and better, we must accept what we are and what we have. Acceptance is one of the great lessons that I take away from this session with the positive psychologist. Accept life as it is, full of good and not so good things, and be happy with what we are and have in the today and now.
It’s not about “throwing in the towel” but about being more balanced and positive, avoiding three common mistakes that bring us unhappiness: perfectionism (I suffer a lot from this), comparison with others and “acute self-doubt”, that is, the art of always doubting our capacities. Other tools proposed by the psychologist are Compassion (talk to yourself as you would talk to your best friend), Emotional Agility and Meaning, that is, creating positive narratives about what has happened to us.
I found Catherine’s approach very interesting, grounding her strategies with various wellbeing models from positive psychology. I left with the inner promise that I will be more benevolent with myself and will seek to work on Lino’s formula:
Acceptance + Compassion + Emotional Agility + Meaning
Because what’s the point of doing beauty treatments if we don’t work on beauty and inner peace? I think Payot’s holistic approach to beauty and wellness, as an interconnected whole, makes a lot of sense.
Yoga session given by Catarina Lino at the end of the day
Who is Catarina Lino? Catarina has a degree in Psychology and is passionate about Yoga practice. After several years as a student, in 2012 she decided to go into Yoga research and since then she has studied in India, Thailand, Bahamas, Mexico and Hawaii. She has 3 certifications and over 500 hours of training in Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa Flow, and is the only Portuguese certified in Yoga Medicine, having studied directly with Tiffany Cruikshank, recognized worldwide as one of the best teachers today. Catarina works as a Yoga Instructor and Life Coach. [for more information, see: http://www.catarinalino.com @catarinamlino]
I end this post with a note of thanks to Sorisa, Payot and Tivoli Marina de Vilamoura for inviting me to participate in this very special event.
For further information, please contact
Tivoli Marina Vilamoura
Email: spa.vilamoura@tivolihotels.com
Telephone: (+351) 289 303 771 / 772
