GETTING UNDER YOUR SKIN

There are three scents that break open the floodgates of my childhood memories, the whiffs of which drive me into a confused state of melancholy and longing: the smell of San-ing on my yaya’s face, the smell of Sebo de Macho on my yaya’s elbows, and the smell of White Flower on my yaya’s shoulders. Mix all these odors together and you have a gaseous potion that is a bizarre form of aromatherapy to an overstimulated child, the thing that my yaya told me would knock me out into a siesta, and then later wake me up in time for merienda. But I knew all along that the primary purpose of those ointments was for vanity – the driver told me so.

What a shame. Yaya should have imparted to me a very valuable lesson that all young girls must learn very early on in life: beauty comes from within. You must think positive, believe in yourself, and love yourself unconditionally. That way, you just naturally glow.

Instead, she taught me that if that doesn’t work, you must apply something from the outside first so that it penetrates your epidermis, dermis, and later your bloodstream, which later plumbs your skin cells and expels toxins, thus making you look radiant in the sense of inner beauty.

Which is infinitely better than dyeing your hair the color of merthyolate and slathering on foundation the color of Caladryl, or later administering Botox, silicone and liposuction, because cosmetics and cosmetic surgery should only be used as a last resort, a desperate measure for desperate times – like when you don’t know what to come as at a Halloween party, for example. But that’s another story.

Anyway, my yaya, wherever she may be, would be so proud of me today, and would probably take credit for my current fascination with Decléor skincare products, aromatherapy at its finest and at its French-est. Decléor (meaning "The Golden Key") is a renowned 25-year-old French skincare company that specializes in aromatherapy-based products, extracted from plants and only plants – absolutely no manmade chemicals, no Botox, no silicone.

I first discovered the line on a brief business trip to Singapore several months ago, while an exhausted girlfriend and I were on the hunt for some pampering. She told me about the brand, her favorite for years, and how they had the most delightful free product demonstration that side of Orchard Road.

The lady at the counter had a very Singaporean bluntness to her, and was quick to inform me: "You have T-zone problems, lah, very dry on some parts maybe from your plane trip, and your skin tone is uneven, from too much tanning, lah." She then proceeded to show me the exact skincare combo that matched my severely wounded complexion. Mine was a mix of skin brightening and anti-shine.

That’s where the magic began.

See, Decléor has this really interesting method of product application, backed by a unique philosophy about the proper absorption of aromatherapy products. First, you must, you must, you must begin your beauty ritual with one of their Aromessence oils, which is a 100 percent natural, 100 percent pure concentrate of a plant extract. The oils are so pure that only a couple of drops are needed, and their chemical composition is such that it is absorbed not just on the surface of the skin, but deep into the bloodstream. The oils act as a primer for the other skin care products you might use – say, moisturizer, skin balm, cream – and magically increases the effectiveness of these other products.

But that’s not only it. Decléor is also a service that actually teaches you the proper face application techniques that were derived from – you wouldn’t believe it – ancient methods of acupuncture! When applying the oil you press on a few crucial points around the face: the inner corner of the eyes, the base of the eyebrows, around the cheekbones, and the jaw bone. Each point has a corresponding vital organ connected to it, i.e. the gall bladder, the stomach, the liver, etc. So you not only improve your complexion, you improve your digestion. How many other skincare lines can do that (unless they’re sold on an infomercial, and again, that’s another story)? It gets even more interesting when they demonstrate how to put on the body lotions – this self-massage is so sensual that you would be raring to practice it on someone else… someone deserving, of course.

Just as my yaya’s aromatherapeutic odors put me to sleep and woke me up, I have since become so devoted to my daily and nightly Decléor rituals, making it an essential (no pun intended) part of my lifestyle in the same manner as all vain Frenchwomen and my au pair. The great thing about Decléor is that it makes you love not only the intended results, but the process that goes behind it. So you can just imagine my utter pleasure when I had recently discovered that Decléor had opened a counter at Rustan’s Shangri-La (prices range from P1,898 to P4,298), and eventually will open another in Rustan’s Makati with a matching spa, meaning I no longer have to scrimp on my remaining drops of oil until my next trip to Singapore or Hong Kong.

And though I usually balk at writing beauty articles, for this particular brand I made an exception, because I was just so relieved to find Decléor in this part of the world. And because this is perhaps the only way I can profusely thank my sorely missed yaya, without whose love and care and vanity, I would not be here writing a beauty article today.