IT is often said that consuming one tablespoon of bird's nest a day can keep bad skin at bay. So it comes with little surprise to find that high-end beauty salon Cristalle de Paris has chosen red blood bird's nest as one of its key ingredients for its Lemieon 8° Enhanced In-Classic Treatment ('Lemieon') that promises to deliver instant lifting results.
According to Cristalle de Paris' founder Micheline Ong, she chose red blood bird's nest because it contains a high level of protein. When used as part of a treatment, the bird's nest not only helps to improve the skin's moisture retention ability for continued suppleness, but also aids in enhancing cell activation for the prevention of skin ageing.
Although bird's nest is the main ingredient, Dr Ong - who spent years living in France studying under the French beauty expert Gerard Oleon - explains that she personally customises each Lemieon treatment to suit her customers' skin types and, as a result, the treatment has no fixed price.
The treatment itself is very short and only lasts between 30-45 minutes including cleansing time. There are no machines or special massage techniques involved - for the Lemieon treatment itself is basically a freshly blended mask-like concoction (comprising of bird's nest, sodium hyaluronate, acetyl hexapeptide-3, lactococcus ferment, propylene glycol, lime and mallow extract to name a few) that is left on your face to let the ingredients work their magic.
'I prefer not to use machines because they only come into play when the ingredients used in the treatment are not efficient enough,' adds Dr Ong.
That said, the key thing about the formulation is that it stimulates the dermis (second layer) skin layer by increasing its temperature to between 41 and 42 degrees Celsius. As a result of the heat, the existing collagen gets tightened so your skin is more taut and its elastin fibre gets stimulated which in turn increases the production of natural collagen, thus aiding in removing wrinkles.
Indeed, once the mask was removed, my skin felt very taut and my chin looked sharper although it still remains to be seen as to how long the effects last. With prices upwards of $1,000 however, the treatment doesn't come cheap, but Dr Ong justifies her prices by likening her results to that of a machine like Thermage.
'Only our results are cheaper and faster,' she insists. 'Also, we only use top quality, fresh ingredients without adding preservatives or perfume such as real bird's nest and not bird's nest essence.' In other words, just like what any good 'Micheline'-starred beauty salon would do.
Lemieon 8° Enhanced In-Classic Treatment (from $1,000)
Cristalle de Paris, 56 Temple Street
Tel: 6221 4288
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This article was first published in The Business Times.