Barebones; Pure Kathy

Kathy Phillips is an internationally renowned beauty expert, with an incredible history; a former beauty director at Vogue and Tatler magazine, as well as contributor to many other magazine and newspapers. She is a yoga expert and still contributes to Conde Nast’s international titles, but most prominent of all she has created the sleep, health, skin and body care line This Works.

The line is hugely well respected and has a very clear philosophy behind it which is understandable seeing as Kathy herself has such a rich heritage not just in beauty yoga but in innate understanding of the body clock,  natural ingredients and how this comes together in life affirming treatments and products.

For her and her brand, it all starts with Sleep; a good night’s sleep is as important as what we eat and what exercise we do! Bad sleep can effect our weight (in a negative way of course), it’s generally bad for your health with links to type two diabetes, heart issues and strokes as well as exacerbating depression. Whilst good sleep aids our concentration creativity and productivity helps support a healthy immune system.  This is why there is a huge range of sleep aids within the This Works collection from roll on’s to pillow sprays to oils, and even a candle; start with these for a firm building block to good health and wellness.

Next, our skin is constantly exposed to external aggressors and has to endure a barrage of stress, pollution, UV and blue light, toxin build-up etc. But the good news is we have a built-in system controlled by our internal body-clock, designed to repair and protect itself.  So all the products work around our own inbuilt 24 hour clock.  Our skin  and body works differently dependent on the time of day and along with good sleep ‘knowing’ your own body clock and aiding it is another big step in self help. During the day, for example, the skin’s body-clock is ‘set’ to protect itself whereas at night it is programmed to produce new cells and repair any damage done in the day.  This means in the day we should look first to protect and then boost the skin whilst at night we need to cleanse and detox then follow with good sleep.

This Works intelligent skincare targets to your skin’s needs at a specific time of day, or night. Bare in mind however, skin also changes on a daily basis, depending on your day, your week, or whatever is happening in your life right now, so this is why understanding your own 24hr day is so crucial.

So what do we mean and what is used in way of botanical oils?  These oils that are obtained from plants that are fatty, dense and non-volatile; extracted from the root, stem/bark, leaves, flowers, seeds or fruits of a particular plant, tree or shrub, usually cold pressed or extracted by heat. They can contain nutritious proteins, minerals and vitamins, topical use of oils on the skin, especially oils high in essential fatty acids, are well proven to benefit all skin types as they can help to feed, nourish and re-hydrate the skin . Beneficial oils which contain a variety of bioactive molecules have incredible skin healing and nourishing properties. The fine molecular structure of these plant oils, allows them to be readily absorbed helping to protect, repair and nourish the skin as opposed to man-made structures which are too large to easily absorb into the skin.

So lets talk about a few of the many natural oils used in This Works, some of which may be well know others not so :-

Almond oil is the fixed oil extracted from the kernels of almonds. It is rich in oleic and linoeic fatty acids and contains vitamins A, B1, B2 and B6. It is used as a skin conditioning agent  due to its penetrating, smoothing, softening and moisturising properties.

Frankincense  used in modern cosmetics to rejuvenate the skin and has excellent cytophylactic properties (encourages the growth of skin cells) while being a good all-over skin tonic. It is also effective in helping to reduce skin inflammation. The therapeutic properties of Frankincense essential oil in skincare include that of being antiseptic, astringent, cytophylactic, diuretic, and tonic. The inherent astringent qualities of this oil also act as balance of the skin and reduce any dry or oily skin condition – returning it to normal.

Niaouli oil come from the niaouli tree;  its oil has a long history of use in many different cultures and it helps to increase concentration and clears the head, while lifting the spirits.

Rosehip l is obtained from the kernels of rose hips which are the fruit of the wild rose bush. It contains natural retinoic acid, which is a derivative from vitamin E and around 40% of an omega 6 fatty acid which helps to moisturise and replenish dry and problem skin. It has been found to have excellent skin healing, regenerating and rejuvenating properties. Also rosehip oil naturally promotes skin elasticity and firmness

Ylang Ylang meaning “flower of flowers” in the Tagalog language of the Philippines. Also known as the “perfume tree” for the seductive scent of its starfish shaped flowers. It has a sweet, exotic floral scent which helps to revive the senses and counteract stress and anxiety. On the skin, ylang-ylang oil has a soothing effect and its balancing action sorts out over-dry as well as overly-oily skin by balancing the secretion of sebum

Geranium oil  has many positive effects on the skin from relieving water retention to stimulating the lymphatic system, invigorates the skin and improves elasticity of the skin. Geranium also has unique properties to balance sebum production in the skin  (because it is an adrenal cortex stimulant), making it invaluable for those with combination, dry, dehydrated, or oily skin.

Neroli, also known as Bigarade Orange or bitter orange, belongs to the Rutaceae plant family and it’s native to tropical Asia but now widely cultivated in the Mediterranean region. Neroli’s aroma is a wonderful blend of floral with undertones of citrus. Folk medicine used Neroli flowers to treat mainly nervousness and insomnia.

Should you want to learn more about the natural oils used in This works products click here

The body collection is split into themes and ranges for example, energy bank, clean skin, deep sleep,  in the zone and transit. This means you can pick and choose across the range as to which themes best suit your needs and lifestyles at any given moment in not just a day or week but across the years.  After-all Kathy herself has put a life’s knowledge into this brand which must be working wonders as we can’t see her stopping as of yet!

This Works